Stuffed and breaded mussels

I must admit that, unfortunately, this recipe doesn't belong to the fastest ones. First you have to scrub the shells, then steam the mussels, remove the dead creatures from the shells, chop them finely and then add to the rest of the stuffing ingredients. After that you stuff the shells, dip them in beaten egg and cover with breadcrumbs, and finally you have to fry them in oil until golden brown. These stuffed and breaded mussels are called here simply mejillones rellenos (stuffed mussels) or mejillones tigres (tiger mussels), because they tend to be (more or less) spicy. They are served cold or hot as a tapa to a glass of wine or a beer.

Strawberry-banana and orange juice smoothie

Since the beginning of strawberry season, which starts here in March, I've been preparing banana and strawberry smoothie with milk (often replaced by oat or rice milk) more then twice a week. Last week, however, I came up with the idea of replacing milk with orange juice and this is how today's strawberry-banana-orange smoothie was created. If you haven't already tried to combine these three fruits into a refreshing drink, I encourage you to give it a try, because it's really worth it:) - on a very hot days you may want to add a few ice cubes to make the smoothie more cool and refreshing.

Cod with roasted red peppers

Cod is commonly associated with Portuguese kitchen, but it's hard not to notice its presence in neighbouring Spain, where many traditional dishes are also based on that fish. A dish called bacalao a la tranca is a culinary classic in a little-known by tourists province Zamora in Castile and Leon. This dish is essentially a fried cod with ajada  (a sauce made with fried slices of garlic and smoked paprika (pimentón)) and is often served with potatoes and finely chopped hard-boiled eggs. It's prepared mostly during Holy Week period,  dominated in Spain by this kind of fish. Today's recipe inspired by a recipe from delicious blog mercadocalabajilo.com, apart from a typical ajada also contains roasted red peppers.

Eggplant in vinegar with garlic, parsley and olive oil

These are the eggplants that I ate for the first time about 10 years ago while leaving in picturesque Andalusian village called Laujar de Andarax. I lived there with Spanish family, owners of quite small but cosy hotel and restaurant, which serves delicious traditional dishes. It was my first contact with a truly Spanish family, with Spanish cuisine and with Spanish language in situ. One of my favourite dishes there were berenjenas mediterráneas - Mediterranean eggplants - cooked in water with wine vinegar, then drizzled abundantly with olive oil and sprinkled with finely chopped garlic and parsley. Eggplant prepared in this way can be eaten alone or can be put on a slice of toast or fresh bread and drizzled additionally with high quality olive oil.

Omelette with asparagus, tomatoes and goat cheese

May has started with quite busy, but relaxing, two short trips. First one to Catalan la Garrotxa (I strongly recommend this part of Catalonia to everyone who likes long walks in nature and to lovers of sausages and dishes with white beans - a pork tripe sausage (butifarra) and Santa Pau beans are the must-try dishes in this part of Catalonia), and then there was a short trip to Poland (lots of Michałki chocolates, chocolate covered dried plums, pork sausages called Kabanosy, sweets with rhubarb and of course Polish dumplings:). After such a binge, now is the time for something lighter. Today's dish is an omelet, called in Spanish tortilla francesa with grilled asparagus, cherry tomatoes and goat cheese - in Spain there are 2 basic omelets (tortillas): Spanish tortilla (tortilla española) - with beaten eggs and potatoes - and French tortilla (tortilla francesa) - made just from beaten eggs.

Polish cabbage rolls with seafood

Classic Polish cabbage rolls (gołąbki) are stuffed with ground meat and rice, but these have a Spanish twist because they contain shrimp, mussels, green asparagus and oyster mushrooms. After dumplings with Catalan green onions (calçots) and romesco sauce, this one is my second recipe which combine Polish and Spanish cuisine and which I've added to the category fusion. It's definitely quite a simple way of preparing meatless, modern and still delicious version of stuffed cabbage.

Blue cheese salad with pear in puff pastry

The combination of pears and blue cheese isn't certainly the culinary novelty, but what if the pear is wrapped with strips of puff pastry and baked in the oven?. Will you agree with me that this is a very original addition to a fairly popular salad?. Unfortunately, It wasn't my idea, but I've seen it on one of the popular Spanish blog La Receta de la Felicidad, whose author Sandra Mangas has recently released a book Las recetas de la felicidad - I haven't seen it yet, but taking into account the delicious recipes and beautiful photos from her blog, I'll probably also like the book:). Apart from the pear in puff pastry, I've added to the salad some blue cheese, walnuts and lettuce mix. Finally I've sprinkled it with dressing made of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and honey.