Easy homemade yoghurt (without yoghurt maker)

     Hi there! We are back to show you how we prepare yoghurt at home without using a yoghurt maker. You will need a wide mouth thermos bottle though... but they are cheap, easy to find and they take much less room than conventional yoghurt makers (this is the one we use)

     If you haven't tried homemade yoghurt you will be surprised with its flavour!

     One of the biggest advantages of homemade products is that you can control the ingredients you use. In the case of yoghurt it is specially interesting to control the amount of sugar, since commercial yoghurt can have a substantial amount! We prepared it using no sugar at all. We like the natural flavour and we like adding some honey in the moment we eat it. If you prefer sweet yoghurt you just need to add sugar during the process, but we would recommend you to try it without sugar first. 

     The best starter you can use for your yoghurt is your own homemade yoghurt, so once you have the first one, go on using it for the next batch. There are some commercial starters that can be used as well, and you can even grow your own starter culture at home (we haven't tried that, but we want to try at some point! maybe a future video?) Just go back to commercial yoghurt or starter every 5-6 batches of yoghurt to be sure you are not growing any nasty bacteria. 

     The process is easy and you will have a cheap, healthy and yummy food. What else can you wish for? We hope to hear your experiences. Here is the video:

     Update: If you end up having a liquid with some lumps just whisk everything to mix them and leave it longer to finish the fermentation. 

Focaccia flower

   We were thinking about different names for this recipe and we decided to call it "Focaccia flower". We thought about other options... like flower of bread, bread flower, flower pizza... 

    Ale, our younger brother likes having focaccia for dinner when he has some friends around, so we decided to give him a different one today. 

    The technique is quite similar to that one used in the apple roses, that we shared not that long ago. 

So this is the recipe:

•  Bread ingredients:

600 g of strong flour
300 ml of water
40 g of yeast
2 teaspoons of salt
a pinch of sugar
and a tablespoon of olive oil 

• Filling:

Spanish Chorizo
Havarti Cheese
Fresh basil leaves

     Bread is clearly a soft spot for us, so we expect to upload lots of bread recipes. If you knead by hand start doing a "volcano" with the flour and the salt. Then, add the sugar and the cold water with the diluted yeast and the oil, until everything is merged. And then just knead until everything is smooth. For this recipe you won't need to knead long. Leave it resting covered for some minutes and cut into 10 pieces. 

     Use the rolling pin to stretch them and form the flower alternating dough, chorizo and cheese. Then you have to wait until it gets bigger, paint with some oil and bake at 185 °C for 25 minutes. 

     You can use thousands of focaccia recipes with so many fillings, both sweet and savoury. We hope you try to make it! 

     You can see our video here:

Leek and Prawns filobites served with Mustard dipping sauce.

   Some years ago I lived in Santander, a nice and small city in the North coast of Spain. I remember a small hotel in a beautiful village called Santillana del Mar. I used to go to this hotel (La colegiata) quite frequently because we really liked the restaurant. This recipe is based in a starter I first tried there, although I am not sure if it is still on their menu, since this was years ago. I know this filled filo pastry bites are not that difficult to find, but I first tried them there and in my mind they are linked to this restaurant. 

     This is our own version, and since I didn't eat them in such a long time, I am not sure how close they are to the original version. I think it is not strange to find them filled with prawn and asparagus. We have used prawns, leek and pine nuts. They can be served without any sauce and they are fantastic, but we cooked a mustard, honey and dill dipping sauce which we think it is a fantastic companion for them. 

     Here is the video... we hope you like it! 

Ginger, soy sauce and lemon marinated chicken

     An easy recipe for today. It would be a fantastic option for... a Thursday lunch (for example!) We had some chicken thighs at home and we marinated them to give them a different flavour. But you can use this recipe with chicken legs, or breast. 

     After marinating the chicken we left in in the fridge for around 5 hours. It can be prepared the day before and leave it overnight. We opted to cook it in a saucepan, but it could have perfectly been cooked in the oven too. As side dishes we chose some rice and some grilled courgettes. Keep it simple, because the flavour of the chicken is intense. The truth is that the chicken was nice! so we decided to share it with you. Here:

We hope you like it! We'll be back soon. 

Apple crumble in an apple

     Apple crumble (or apple crisp, as it is known in USA) is one of the most traditional desserts in British cooking. This all time favourite consists in a baked layer of apples with a crumble on the top (being this a mixture of butter and flour, with sugar in its sweet version) In some versions a base is added to the cake, and there are optional ingredients, like raisins or lemon juice. 

     We bring you a different option to present this classic dessert. Once more, in Cukinando we opt for the individual portions. In this occasion we use the apples to present it. 

     The result is a delicious (as is always the case with apple crumble!) sweet mini cake and you add an original touch. In our recipe we added some cinnamon and raisins to the filling. You can add some cinnamon to the crumble as well, if you prefer a stronger flavour. 

     You can find the video here: 

     Please, let us know what you think. We hope you like it! 

Chocolate, red wine and strawberries cake

   Today we couldn't record the recipe, but we can't stop sharing it with you. Isn't it gorgeous? There won't be too many strawberries this year anymore, so we decided to use them to make these two delicious cakes. The recipe we are sharing with you today is a brownie and red wine based cake, filled with buttercream and fresh strawberries.
   

     To make the chocolate and red wine brownie you will need:

• 200 g of dark chocolate
• 200 g of butter
• 150 g of sugar
• 100 g of flour
• 100 ml of red wine
• 4 eggs

     Start melting the chocolate with the butter and add the read wine and the sugar. Once everything is properly dissolved and not too hot add the eggs and mix everything well. Pour it in 2 baking moulds coated with flour and bake at 180 °C for 20 minutes. Let it cool down before adding the filling.

     To make the strawberries buttercream:

• 200 g of butter
• 200 g of icing sugar
• 250 g of smashed fresh strawberries

     Whisk the butter with the sugar until it is white. Smash the straberries, strain them and add them to the mixture. Pit it in the pipping bag. 

     To make the glazed chocolate:

• 150 g of cream
• 80 g of water
• 90 g of sugar
• 40 g of cocoa powder
•  4 gelatine sheets

     Boil the cream, the sugar and the water together for 2 minutes. Add the cocoa powder and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the (previously soaked) gelatine sheets once it has cooled down. Strain and reserve. Use the shine when it reaches 40 °C.

     Finally bring everything together. Fill the cake with the buttercream, add the glased chocolate and decorate with the fresh strawberries. 

     We hope you like it! 

How to make homemade butter (or buttermilk!)

     The process to make butter just can't be easier. Probably you made it accidentally at some point, when you over-beat cream and it started to separate... in that case, don't throw it away! just keep whipping until you have butter and buttermilk. 

     It is a fantastic activity to do with children, and even more if you start separating the cream from whole milk. They will know where butter comes from, and we are sure they will enjoy it.
    
    Buttermilk is a subproduct of the process and has multiples uses in cooking. It is a fantastic tenderiser for meat. Furthermore, it is a drink itself in lots of countries. You will find lots of recipes to use it, so keep it!

    Here you have today's video:

    See you in our next post! 

How to make bechamel sauce in the microwave

  Bechamel sauce (also known as white sauce) is one of those basic recipes that can be used in an infinite number of dishes, and everybody has their own way of making it to have the perfect result. Today we bring you one of our most precious culinary secrets: how to make bechamel sauce in the microwave. Just in 4 minutes! 

     As a result you will have a light sauce in texture. If using this method, in our experience, if you try to add more flour it is easy to end up with a lumpy sauce. Anyway, you can always fix it using the blender. 

    You will have 250 ml of sauce using the quantities shown in the video. If you want to make 500 ml, just put it in the microwave 1 minute and a half in the last step, instead of 1 minute. 

     You can see the video here:

     We hope you like it!