You will need:
1 cup of rise
500g pork, leg or bon fillet
3 tb spoons of dried assorted vegetables
1 tb spoon of oregano
1 tb spoon dried garlic
1 bay leaf
50ml red wine
a handful of chopped carrots
a handful of chopped cauliflower
a handful of chopped broccoli

To decorate:
leafy greens
cucumber stripes
red chillies

• prep time: 5 min
• cooking time: 2-3 hrs
• serves: 6-8

Preparation:
Heat up the butter in a deep non-stick frying pan. Add the pork, chopped in large pieces. Brown the pieces of pork. Add the garlic, dried vegetables, oregano, bay leaf, and wine and toss the pieces of meat until the wine is absorbed and the meat pieces are coated well.
Preheat the oven to 150 C.
Add the rise to the meat and stir until the rise becomes glassy. Add a cup of water and stir until the water is absorbed. Add another 2 cups of water and transfer to a deep large casserole with a lid. Bake at 150 C for at least two hours and until the water is absorbed. Stir every 35-40 min. When ready, serve immediately.
To decorate, prepare some shapes out of the cucumber stripes and leafy greens and toss in the red chillies.

Any good, full-bodied red wine would go well with this dish. Not too young, though. Say a hearty Argentinian Malbec Reserva around five years old.

You will need:
6 tb spoons of brown sugar
10 ml baking powder
2 cups of flour
2 cups of milk
1 tb spoon of butter, melted
100 gr white grape raisins

For the glaze:
the juice of 1 orange
5-6 tb spoons brown sugar
1 tb spoon of butter
2-3 tb spoons of sour cream

To decorate:
dried shredded coconut
sprinkles

• prep time: 10-15 min
• cooking time: 30 min
• makes: 8

Preparation:
Muffins are easy to make and there about a zillion different varieties to choose from. Nearly anything can be used as muffin filing. Sweet, salty, bread-like, cake-like, the possibilities are endless. The rule of thumb is dry ingredients go together, wet ingredients go together and when combined should not be over mixed. The mixture should be lumpy.
This recipe makes 8 standard-sized muffins. To start, pre-heat the oven to 200 C. Sift the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the raisins to the dry ingredients. Whisk or blend all the wet ingredients in a different bowl. Mix together the dry and wet ingredients by gently stirring with a wooden spoon. Stir only a few times so that the dry ingredients are moist but there are lumps in the mixture. Grease muffin tins. Fill at least 2/3 of each tin. Bake for 20-30 min or until golden brown and when testing with a toothpick, it comes out clean.
While baking, heat up a non-stick frying pan and add the glaze ingredients. Stir until the mixture is reduced in half and is thick and creamy.
When the muffins are ready, let them cool in the tins for a few minutes, then remove the tins and let the muffins cool on the wire rack. When cool, carefully glaze each muffin with a spoon. Then sprinkle with some topping of your choice such as sprinkles, coconut flakes, chocolate flakes.

You will need:
2 tb spoons of ricotta cheese
1 t spoon of cinnamon
1 tb spoon of brown sugar
8 dried apricots

To decorate:
cinnamon sticks
shot glasses
black peppercorns

• prep time: 10 min
• cooking time: 0 min
• makes: 8

Preparation:
With this post, I am opening a new section on the blog called Party Bites. Party Bites will be about bite sized delicious appetizers that can be prepared easily for a party. Often the emphasis of a recipe will be on presentation rather than complicated cooking or preparation techniques.
For this first installment of the section, I have prepared a recipe from a recent book I got as a present and I have also added a little twist of my own.
Depending on the amount of apricots you’d like to fill, you will need varying amounts of the filing ingredients. Each 2 table spoons of ricotta require 1 table spoon of brown sugar and 1 tea spoon of cinnamon. The amounts I have shown will make enough of the filing for 8 dried apricots.
To make the filing, add all ingredients in a small bowl and stir until the sugar is absorbed in the cheese.
To fill each apricot, divide in half, and gently add some filing in between the two halves.
To decorate, fill each shot glass with peppercorns, place an apricot and a cinnamon stick.

You will need:
500gr mascarpone cheese
500gr yogurt
200gr cream
1 cup sugar
1 pack of biscotti ‘Savoiardi’
250ml milk
1 rum essence
500gr strawberries
4-5 tbsp coconut powder

1 large bowl
1 deep plate
1 rectangular baking pan 26/38 cm

• prep time: 30 min
• cooking time: 0 min
• makes: 12

Preparation:
The inspiration for this recipe came from my wedding cake.
I haven’t really tasted the cake as I was too busy dancing at my wedding…until recently when I attended another wedding organized by the same caterer I had the chance to guess what’s in the recipe. The original had peaches instead of strawberries, but as the season offers them now I decided to go with them. I totally improvised with the ingredients and measures. The only 2 things I was sure the recipe included were the mascarpone cheese and biscotti. The result was more than encouraging and I will definitely go on with reproducing it again…Maybe including peaches next time
Put the mascarpone, the yogurt, the cream and the sugar in a large bowl and beat them with a mixer. You need to have a nice, smooth, and creamy mixture.
Pour in the milk in a deep plate and add the rum essence. Dip the biscotti one by one and place them on the bottom of the pan. It’s best to use a rectangular pan.
After you have arranged the first layer of biscotti pour in 1/3 of the cream. Arrange the strawberries, which you have previously washed, soaked and cut. Then spread another 1/3 of the creamy mixture. Arrange the second layer of milk-dipped-biscotti. Top with what is left from the cream. Use the coconut powder to cover the cake. Put in refrigerator for 4-5 hours.