White Beans with Greens and Tomatoes

Although dry beans often come to mind as a winter, comfort food, today's recipe for a bean dish is a perfect transitional dish from winter to spring. It is not a very rich as a bean dish can be, thanks to fresh herbs, spinach and tomatoes.

Bean dishes are quite popular in the Mediterranean cuisine, especially northern Italian. The inclusion of Feta cheese suggests that this one comes actually from the Greek culinary tradition.



White Bean Baked with Greens and Tomatoes
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
1/2 pound dry cannellini beans, which must be washed and soaked overnight in water,
1 medium onion,
1/2 bunch of spring onion, finely chopped,
1/2 cup chopped dill,
6 oz bag of baby spinach,
1 lb plum tomatoes, cut into small cubes,
1 cup crumbled feta cheese,
6 tbsp olive oil,
salt and pepper.

Preparation:
1. Put the beans in a large pot, cover with water and cook on a medium heat until beans are cooked but still very firm. Drain the beans and save about a cup of water.
2. Preheat oven to 375F.
3. In a large frying pan heat 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add chopped onion and fry until transparent. Toss in spinach leaves and cook them until wilted and water evaporates. Add chopped spring onion and dill and cook together for about 2 minutes.



4. Mix the beans with cooked greens. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to an oven proof dish.
5. Drizzle the remaining 4 tbsp of olive oil on top of the beans. Pour in about half a cup of the leftover water from cooking the beans. Cover the top of beans with chopped tomatoes and sprinkle with crumbled feta.



6. Cover the baking dish with a lid or aluminum foil and bake for about an hour, until the beans are soft. If the water evaporates and beans are still hard, add extra water and let it bake a little longer.



Serve hot alone or with country breads.

Celery Root Mousse with Mortadella

Celery root is a popular vegetable in Poland, so I have known it since my childhood. In Poland, it is mostly used to prepare soups and a vegetable salad with mayonnaise. Celery root is also quite popular in French cuisine. For instance, I ate a celery root gratin and a marinated celery root as a salad. Recently, I also found some recipes with celery root in the Italian cooking magazines.

During my recent trip to Italy, in one of the restaurants I visited, I saw a celery mousse being served. It looked very interesting and elegant so I tried to recreate it at home. Celery root has much more flavor than celery stalks and it takes a somewhat sophisticated taste to appreciate it. In this particular dish it tastes very pure and almost bland, but it complements the dish very well as it contrasts the taste of a flavorful mortadella. A small bowl of mousse served with bread of can make a great dinner started or Sunday lunch.



Celery Root Mousse with Mortadella
(Makes 4-6 servings)

Ingredients:
1 medium celery root peeled and cut into smaller cubes,
2 small shallots,
2 tbsp olive oil,
1 cup light cream,
salt and pepper,
4 slices very thin cut imported Italian mortadella,
2 tbsp slivered Pistachios.

Preparation:
1. Heat the oil in a frying pot, add chopped shallots, and fry until transparent.
2. Add pieces of celery, cover with water, and cook for about 20 minutes, until celery becomes soft.
3. When the celery is already soft and water almost evaporates, add cream, salt and pepper, and let it all simmer for about 2 minutes.
4. Turn off the heat, cool down slightly and purée with a hand blender.
5. Divide mousse among small glass serving bowls and cool to room temperature.
6. Cut mortadella slices in half, then into strips and top the mousse.




Sprinkle with pistachios and serve with bread.

Chocolate Cream

This chocolate dessert is so impossibly simple and wonderfully delicious at the same time that it can be served to finish any elegant dinner. I make it very often for my kids who love everything chocolate. Good chocolate is all you need to make it. And it can be the chocolate you favor.

It can be made with bitter chocolate or, as I like it, milk chocolate, or combination of different pieces that I usually find in my pantry hidden and forgotten. I used recently leftovers of Swiss and Belgian chocolates and it turned out to be sublime. Obviously, you can eat those pieces hard but I think eating molten chocolate with a spoon is even more indulging.

I serve this dessert in very small glass cups that my friend recycle for me after desserts she buys, but small vodka or liqueur glasses would work as well. I sprinkle it with salt to bring out the taste of chocolate.



Chocolate Cream
(Makes 6-8)

Ingredients:
8 oz good quality chocolate (about 2 tablets) broken into smaller pieces,
1 cup light cream,
3 tbsp unsalted butter room temperature,
3 tbsp grated chocolate to decorate,
Fleur de sel or Himalayan pink salt.

Preparation:
1. Pour the light cream and 1/4 cup of water in a small pot and, on a low heat, bring it to the boiling point.
2. Add the chocolate and stir until chocolate melts completely. Take it off the heat and add butter. Stir again until a smooth cream forms.



3. Divide the cream among small glass cups and let chill for 4 hours.
4. Serve decorated with grated chocolate and sprinkled with a tiny amount of salt.