Cold Spiced Apple Soup

By Julie 

A little late but finally, the picnic season has opened! The weather until now has not always been so permitting, so we had our first relaxed picnic last weekend and did not have to put our sweaters on and off depending on whether the sun came out behind the clouds or not. To celebrate this occasion, we wrapped up a range of wonderful international delicacies, and my favourite of them is actually an English essential. The English cuisine unfortunately has a bad image around the world, however it can be quite seductive and savoury as this dish proves in my opinion.

If you serve this to a guest, try not to tell them what kind of soup this is and have them guess the main ingredients - you might be surprised!

© Diana Chaccour

Strawberry Fudgy Chocolate Brownies

    By Diana

   I've always been jealous of other people's brownies! It seems that everyone has a little secret fabulous brownie recipe that they just don’t give away, or even worst, they write it down with an innocent slight twist, leaving out that essential ingredient without which the recipe does not work at all!

     So, in order to end with my resentfulness, I did a little bit of homework and researched a few "famous" British recipes for brownies. Although Jamie Oliver's recipe turned out to be a favourite among the brownie eaters, Nigel Slater offered a fudgy brownie recipe that I just needed to try out, but I do admit that I modified it slightly! The strawberries were my idea though -just to please myself with the word seasonal- and I added a touch of Venezuelan flavour: a tablespoon of rum to spice it up! They lasted less than 24 hours in the kitchen and we are only 2 people in the house... I hope they won't last long in your kitchen either!

© Diana Chaccour

Creamy Chicken Crumble

By Diana

I am moving houses this week and besides all the packing, cello tape, boxes, suitcases and fragile props that constitute the madness of my life at the moment I can't stop thinking about what to do with the content of the old fridge. Since I don't want to waste a bus journey carrying frozen chicken, flour and celery, I decided to make a little bit of a fusion dish, combining South American flavours with the traditional idea of the British crumble.

In our side of the globe we have a traditional soup called chupe, which is basically a stew with meat, vegetables and milk. My favourite of these chupes is the chicken one, with corn and little squares of white handmade cheese, which original recipe I promise to post here some other time. In this opportunity I thought of making a thick creamy chicken chupe/stew topped with Parmesan cheese crumble, an easy-to-eat meal, full of comfort for the moving stress. I hope you enjoy trying this one out!

© Diana Chaccour

Poppy Seeds Muffins with Orange Blossom Icing

By Diana

Originally I was planning to make a seasonal recipe with lots of rhubarb and pink colours everywhere... As I didn't listen to a few of my friends with strong opinions against rhubarb, I began experimenting for the first time with the reddish celery-shape fruit/veg and went back to old times when I didn't follow any recipes -or advice- and just trusted my cooking senses... Not a good idea... The results, as expected were beyond awfulness... My husband trying to cheer me up has been eating the pitiful rhubarb muffins every afternoon between his study breaks since I am still in the denial stage and refuse to proudly throw them to the bin.

To make up my post for the blog this week I started again, this time with no rhubarb and tried poppy seeds instead and orange blossom which I absolutely adore. Georgette, my Syrian grandma, used to make a floating type dessert using this aromatic water and its smell brings back just good Sunday memories, perfect to recover from the rhubarb experience. So here you go, soft poppy seeds muffins with orange blossom icing, to enjoy in the rainy day while watching the Queen floating on the Thames. Happy Jubilee!

© Diana Chaccour

Tarator Ice-Cream

By Julie

Guten Tag! This week I am relaxing at my parents‘  in Germany, enjoying the sunny weather after having spent some very cold and rainy days in Pamplona the week before. Browsing the Feinschmecker magazine, I came across a fantastic recipe for cucumber ice-cream by a North German top chef, Sebastian Zier, and fell in love with it at first sight.  I was reminded of my honeymoon in the Venezuelan Andes, where my husband and I sampled a meagre 8 flavours of a whopping 800 in the Heladeria Coromoto, which made it into the Guiness Book of Records . Surprisingly, the best flavours in my opinion were the vegetable ones – corn or avocado, for example, were fantastic!

 You have to know that both Diana and I love the Bulgarian soup Tarator, a wonderfully light concoction of yogurt, cucumber and walnuts, which is perfect for the hot summery days we are experiencing. However, I am almost certain that Tarator ice-cream was missing on the menu of the Coromoto ice-cream parlour in Merida. Hence, this week’s contribution to the blog will be a refreshing blend of Balkan heat and North German coolness.  Sounds weird? You will love it!

© Diana Chaccour