It is only since a Vietnamese restaurant opened near our home that we decided to try the Vietnamese kitchen. If you never had the chance to try the Vietnamese kitchen or just simply because you do not have a Vietnamese restaurant nearby, we have found for you this surprising recipe from BBC food. The recipe is for 4 persons, but we liked it so much that we two ate everything. This is a perfect summer refreshing salad dish, not too difficult to make and that you can serve also as a main dish.

Recipe from bbc food

Sweet and sour, crunchy and soft, this contrast is a great opportunity to experience the spring in your kitchen. Without too much difficulties and too much time, this dessert brings a lot of pleasure.

Ingredients for the crumble dough:

• 125g flour
• 125g sugar
• 100g butter

Ingredients for the rhubarb filling:

• 1 bunch of rhubarbs (around 10 stalks)
• 1 tea spoon cinnamon
• 1/2 tea spoon dry ginger pulver
• 1 dl sugar

Preparation:
Preheat oven at 200°C.

Prepare the crumble dough by mixing flour with sugar and butter in small pieces until you obtain a crumble mixture.

Remove the leaves part away from the stalks, then wash and cut rhubarb in small pieces (2-3 cm long).

Mix the rhubarb pieces with 1dl sugar, the cinnamon and the ginger. Put rhubarb in a pie form and cover with the crumble mixture.

Place the form in the oven and cook for 25 minutes.

Then let the pie cool down and serve with crême fraiche or lightly whipped cream.

This Bolognese sauce is ideal for pasta and lasagna and called oficially as the best bolognese sauce by our kids - believe me, we are proud! If your kids are not so keen on eating vegetables, just chop all ingredients finely in the sauce and solve your problems.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion


• 3 green celery stalks


• 1 carrot


• 4 garlic cloves


• 1 red chili


• 450g minced beef


• 150g bacon


• 1 bay leaf


• 1 tea spoon oregano


• 1 tea spoon basil


• 1 tea spoon rosmarin


• 1 cup of red wine or 3 table spoon of balsamico vinegar


• 1 cup of vegetables bouillon or veal stock


• 1 tomato can (400g)


• 2 table spoon of tomato concentrate


• 3 table spoon of olive oil


• milk


• salt


• pepper


• butter

Method:

Warm up olive oil on medium heat in the big pot and put the whole red chili. Take care so the skin will not get destroyed otherwise the dish can be too spicy for the small members of family.

Then add fine chopped celery and saute couple of minutes until it starts to get colour, then add fine chopped carrot and again saute until it starts to get brown. At the end, add fine chopped onion and garlic. Take care that garlic will not be burned it can give bitter taste to the sauce.

Remove all vegetables from the pan and saute fine minced bacon. When fat melts and bacon starts to be crunchy, add fine minced beef and saute everything on a high heat until meat is well browned and fall aparts.

Put heat down to the medium and add vegetables, herbs and wine. Sometimes I do not have red wine so I put balsamico - it gives very nice taste nuance to the dish! Reduce until the wine is disappeared, add meat stock and again reduce.

Then add pureed tomatoes (again we pure them because kids do not like big pieces) and the tomato concentrate and put a spoon of butter on the top. Different type of fat let different ingredients to be tasted more clear. Then cook according to your temperament: Italiens says as longer as better 5 hours is good, but hey ... we have only one life, so 1/½ hour would be a minimum. If the sauce looks to dry add some milk or stock during the process. In the end put salt and pepper according to your taste. Serve with pasta and fresh grated parmesan. Yummy ...

Recipe for 3 medium baguettes:

First phase:

• 15g fresh yeast
• 115 cl water
• 115g flour
• 1 table spoon of sugar

Mix all ingredients during 5 minutes and let the dough rest 30 minutes. At that point, you should be able to see bubbles and a kind of foam forming.

Second phase:

• 115cl water
• 255g flour
• 1 tea spoon of salt

Mix all the ingredients with the dough from the first phase. Form 3 medium baguettes of 2,5 cm wide and 30 cm long. Prepare an oven tray, cover the bound with some baking paper and place your baguettes. Remember to cover your baguettes with a rag to avoid them getting dry and let the baguettes growing for one hour.

Warm up oven to 250°c.

Then throw some water from a glass inside the oven so when we introduce the baguettes in the oven, a special chemical reaction between the bread flour and the water will happen, resulting in making the crust more crunchy.

Pencil the baguette with water and make 2 deep diagonal slahes on each baguette.

Place the tray with the baguettes in the oven and cook for 12 minutes. Finally take the baguettes out and let the baguettes cool down for one hour before eating.

Spring is at the balcony and to celebrate it, we have cooked pancakes using our pancake dough recipe, and served pancakes with some vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries. Delicious!