Egg spread

Another really easy spread which can be served as party food or inside a sandwich.

Ingredients

• 6 hard-boiled eggs
  
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise

1. Chop the eggs and and mix with the mayonnaise.
2. Serve in a bowl with with toast or crackers on the side or put some of this spread in a sandwich with some lettuce.

Tuna spread

This really easy spread is great as a sandwich filling or as party food.

Ingredients

• 2 tins tuna
• 2 hard-boiled eggs
  
• 2 pickled cucumbers
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise

1. Chop the eggs and the pickled cucumbers and mix all ingredients.
2. Serve in a bowl with with toast or crackers on the side or put some of this spread in a sandwich with some lettuce.

Pasta with fresh tomato and basil sauce

This is a very simple dish which tastes much better in summer, when tomatoes ripen in the sun and you can pick fresh basil from your garden or (in my case) a pot on your kitchen window. Why a recipe for something as simple as pasta and tomato sauce? You'll find out the answer once you've tasted this recipe my mother taught me. But you have to do exactly as the recipe says. Don't cheat by using tinned tomatoes or not peeling and seeding them.

Ingredients (for five)

• 10 sun-riped tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic
• olive oil
• 8 fresh basil leaves
• salt

1. Using a knife, draw a cross on the skin of each tomato and place them in a bowl
2. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes and let them stand for 5 minutes
3. Meanwhile, peel and chop the garlic and put it in a saucepan with a generous amount of olive oil.
4. Remove the tomatoes from the water and peel them with your fingers (the skin will come out easily)
5. Cut the tomatoes in half, remove the seeds with your fingers and chop the rest.
   
6. Heat up the olive oil with the garlic and, when the garlic starts to "dance" in the oil, add the tomatoes
7. Chop the basil leaves and add them last, together with the salt
   
8. Cook for around 10 minutes
9. Serve with any kind of pasta, cooked al dente.
   

Barbecue vinaigettre

This vinaigrette has become a classic whenever we have a barbecue. Perfect to go with a sizzling hot barbecued picanha.

Ingredients

• 1 large onion
• 1 large tomato
• lots of parsley and/or coriander
• white wine vinegar
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
  
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

1. Chop the onion finely
   
2. Pour boiling water over it and let it stand for a couple of minutes before straining (this will remove the strong onion taste)
3. Chop the tomato and the parsley and/or coriander and add them to the onions
4. Add vinegar and olive oil
5. Season with salt, pepper and a touch of sugar.
   

Vó Dora's chocolate cake

Arguably, the best cake in the world. Just ask any of Vó Dora's daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The only problem is that my late Hungarian grandmother never wrote down a recipe. She was a fantastic cook, but was never able to explain how she achieved such mouth-watering results. When asked about this recipe, she would say "Oh, just a little flour, some eggs, sugar and butter". Fortunately, one of her daughters decided to watch her making this cake with pen and paper at hand, and took notes of everything Vó Dora did. She was then able to pass on the recipe to her sisters and whoever else wanted to know the secret of this absolutely delicious cake. Here at home, it has become our traditional birthday cake. The one in the picture is for Júlia's 15th birthday. Happy birthday, Júlia.

Ingredients

• 350 grams unsalted butter at room temperature
  
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 6 eggs at room temperature
  
• 1/2 cup milk at room temperature
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 or 4 tablespoons sugar-free powdered cocoa
• 3 or 4 tablespoons vanilla-flavoured sugar
• a drop of rum
• 4 tablespoons apricot or strawberry jam

1. You'll need two large mixing bowls and one small one; separate the egg yolks from the whites, placing all 6 whites together in a large bowl, 4 of the yolks in the other large bowl and the remaining 2 yolks in the small bowl.
2. Whip the whites till fluffy, adding 1 cup of sugar little by little during the process.
3. To the bowl with the 4 yolks, add 200 grams butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 cups flour and mix well.
4. When the above is homogenous, mix in the milk and then, last of all, the baking powder.
5. Pour the whipped egg whites onto the above and mix everything very gently with a wooden spoon, always in the same direction.
6. Place the cake dough in a well-greased baking tin and bake for around one hour in a medium-hot (170 degrees Celsius) oven (for baking, electric ovens far better than gas ovens).
7. To test if the cake is cooked, when you think it's done, stick a toothpick into its centre and see if it comes out completely dry - only then will it be fully cooked.
8. Let the cake cool to room temperature and slice it in half (horizontally) for the filling.
   
9. To the small bowl with 2 yolks, add the vanilla-flavoured sugar, the powdered chocolate, 150 grams butter and a drop of rum, then mix well with a fork.
10. Spread a little of the above chocolate spread onto one half of the cake, then spread some jam on top and put the two halves back together, as in a sandwich.
11. Cover the whole cake with the remaining chocolate spread.
    

Fish cake

A great way to transform leftover fish into something new or frozen fish fillets into something tasty.

Ingredients (for 6)

• 400 grams frozen fish fillets or cooked fish leftovers or a mix of both
• 4 thick slices of a good quality loaf
• 2 onions
• 3 carrots
• 1 stalk of celery
  
• 1 clove garlic
• a bit of parsley
• 2 tablespoons grated emmental cheese
  
• 3 eggs
• salt
  
• pepper
• olive oil
  

1. Soak the bread in cold water
2. Chop the onions and stir-fry them in olive oil until soft (use a medium pan)
   
3. Chop the carrots, the garlic and the celery very finely in a blender and add them to the onions
   
4. Place the fish over the vegetables (if using frozen fish, cover the pan to steam cook the fish for around 8 minutes)
5. Shred the fish with a wooden spoon and mix it well with the vegetables
6. Season with salt and pepper and turn off the heat
   
7. Chop the parsley and add it to the fish and vegetable mix
   
8. Squeeze out the excess water from the bread, mash it with your fingers or in a blender and mix it with the fish.
9. Add the cheese and the eggs last and mix well.
10. Place everything in a greased baking tin and bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes

Serve with a green salad

Pasta (with meat sauce) bolognaise

My children have always called this international Italian favourite "pasta with meat sauce". However, I use far less meat than most recipes for pasta bolognaise. It tastes just as good and is consistent with my 2010 resolution to eat less meat (a small contribution to the environment).

Ingredients (for lots: prepare it once and freeze the rest for days when you don't feel like cooking)

• 750 grams lean minced meat
• 250 grams soya granules
• 4 onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 carrots
• 1 stalk of celery
• 2 large tins of peeled tomatoes
• 1 small packet of tomato puree
  
• olive oil
  
• 4 tablespoons salt
• cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon sugar
  

+ any kind of pasta cooked al dente
+ grated parmesan or grana padano

1. Soak the soya granules in cold water
2. Chop the onions and stir-fry them in olive oil until soft (use a very large casserole)
3. Add the minced meat and keep stirring till the meat is browned
4. Chop the carrots, celery and garlic in a blender and add to the meat
5. Chop the tinned tomatoes and pour them in, together with the remaining liquid in the tin and the tomato puree
   
6. Season with salt, cayene pepper and sugar
7. Strain the soya granules and add them to the sauce
8. Cover the pan and let the sauce simmer for around 40 minutes