Food can bring us Happiness

Good morning !!!

How are you all feeling this morning? I hope you are having a good one. How does your coffee taste today?Are you spoiling yourself with a nice breakfast?  I hope you do, cause we are what we eat and a good tasty breakfast and a sweet aromatic caramel macchiato or a Brazilian espresso can totally change your whole day and your mood for the day.

If yesterday i spoke about bad food, today i'm gonna speak about good food, about food done the proper way. And delicious food as well as the coffee or even better can turn a bad day into a fabulous one, and can bring Happiness to our stomach, mouth, nose and even eyes.
We get hungry and we know "We want!" something on the minute we see something that looks absolutely delicious, we don't need to taste or smell, our eyes decide for us, leaving all the other senses behind. We delight ourselves through our eyes, feeling already the taste in our mouth before even trying it.

We all know that there is the usual day to day cooking and there are the times that we cross our limits and we go for something new, for something Wow, for something that even us didn't know we could do. Well as i said before, lately i tend to do that more and more. I like to make the usual food to look unusual, to look like a restaurant style food. Most of the time we pay more attention to the taste than to the aspect and as good as it would be, food has to look appetizing as well and that's where the plating takes its role. We all know how to put some parsley or scallions on top or our food as a decoration, or powder sugar on our tarts. But can we do more than that?
Of course we do, we all can and it takes almost the same timing as cutting the greens :) Its just a matter of research, inspiration, patience and willing. You can become a 2 Michelin Stars Chef in your own kitchen. Oh, yes you do!!!
 I might not be one of those, but i will share with you 2 recipes today that you all can do in your regular kitchen, big or tiny and a few tips of plating.  So you can cook delicious food but it's up to you if you want your dish to look like this:

or you want them to look like this:

Today i will give you the recipe for Corn Soup with Seared Scallops and Veggie Risotto with Seared Scallops in a Mango sauce.

Recipe: Corn Soup with Seared Scallops

Ingredients: ( i used the ingredients for 2 servings)   

Sweet corn- 1/2 a can

Onion -1/2

Garlic- 1 clove

Potatoes -4 baby potatoes

Butter- 2 spoons

Fish stock - half a cube 

Cut cubes the potatoes and slice the onion and garlic. Put them in a pan together with the butter, stir them for a minute then add the corn.

Dissolve the fish cube in 2 cups of water and add it in the pan with the veggies. let it boil then blend it until you get a smooth paste.

Wash, dry and season your scallops and sear then on a pan with olive oil for 2 minutes on each side. You are almost done. 

Tip: To have a better look, place first the scallop in the plate then carefully pour the soup around it. You can add chilly sauce and parsley or any other eatable flower or green for taste and decoration.

Second recipe is: Risotto with scallops in a mango sauce. (4 servings)

For the risotto you will need the ingredients:

1 pack of mushroom

1/2 of an onion

1 can of sweet corn

1 cup of Arborio rice ( or any rice you have)

3 tablespoons of white wine

50 ml of heavy cream

1 cube of chicken stock

2 spoons of butter

30 gr of Parmezan cheese

salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pan, add the corn, stir it for a minute then add the mushroom and onion. Stir for another minute so that all can take the flavor of butter. Add the wine and mix it until is evaporated then add the rice. Stir it for another minute and start adding chicken stock till it covers the ingredients and let it boil. Keep on adding chicken stock to cover it every time it gets fully absorbed without mixing it. When you feel that its almost done, add the cream and and Parmesan cheese, mix it well, switch it off, cover it and let it stay for 10 min.

Scallops are being seared as for the upper recipe, 2 min on each side. season them with salt and pepper.

For the mango sauce you will need:

1/3 of a fresh mango

50 ml of mango juice

1 teaspoon of honey

1 tablespoon of butter

Melt the butter in a pan and add the mango cut in small cubes, stir it until it becomes softer and add the spoon of honey, let it incorporate well and add the mango juice. Mix it for 1 min at a low fire and you're good to go.

Start plating your food and i assure you you will have a delightful meal, with rich flavors, delicious tastes and aroma that will make you crave for more.

Bon Appetite and eat food that makes you happy!

Have a lovely day!

Xo Xo