Chocolate truffles

I have two words for you ...chocolate truffles. I made these amazing treats/desserts this weekend and my family went nuts for it. It is such an easy and creative dessert. 

My younger sister is the biggest chocoholic in the world. Whenever I make something sweet she instantly asks "Are you doing something chocolaty? " . If I leave some chocolate on the sides of a bowl while I'm cooking, she is more than happy to volunteer to eat it. Even when she has breakfast (wich is chocolate cereal) she gets the chocolate bar from the cupboard and grates some more into her bowl. She is so glad when we make these truffles together and afterwards she can eat all of them. :) Oh, well every family has a chocolate fan.

INGREDIENTS:
340g dark chocolate (or milk chocolate if you want it to be sweeter)
100 ml cream (tejszín)

to cover the truffles: 
cocoa powder
grated white chocolate
chocolate sprinkles

Melt together the chocolate and the cream in a saucepan. Place the chocolate mixture in a separate bowl, let it cool and then put it in the fridge for about 1 hour. After it has cooled down start rolling little chocolate balls (I like to use an small ice cream scooper or a spoon to get the same amount). Then cover the balls with either cocoa powder, grated white chocolate or chocolate sprinkles. 

(It makes 24 truffles)

When you are craving something chocolaty, definitely try this recipe and if you do then make sure to write a comment or take a picture of it and upload it to instagram or twitter and also don't forget to tag me in the photo.

instagram: @breakfast_at_katas 

twitter: @breatkatas

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/breakfastatkatas

Time Out Mercado da Ribeira

Last week was my elder sister's last weekend here in Portugal before she went back to University, so we made a family weekend out of it. We had amazing breakfast together, we went to the beach, visited friends, and we also watched old family home videos. For the last dinner on Sunday we wanted to go to a good restaurant and so we went to a place which is one of the best places I have ever been to. It is the Time Out Mercado da Ribeira in Lisbon. This big hall used to be a fish market (from the 13th century) and now it is like a big restaurant or stylish food court which has Lisbon's favourite food shops and restaurants.

When you walk in there is a big bright open space full of people (especially on the weekends). The outlook of the shops and restaurants have the same style, but they all have different food and drinks. You can walk around and look at all the open kitchens of the different stalls, and see, smell and experience all kinds of Portuguese specialities.

It is really hard to choose from all of the lovely looking food, but whatever you pick you can't go wrong.

Soup:

There is this fantastic soup place where every day there are 4 or 5 soups that you can choose from. We tasted a mushroom (with cheese and toasted onions), a mango (with almond) and a pepper soup(with toasted bread and bacon). All of them were amazing, but out of the three soups the mango was the best, because it was just the perfect combination of sweet and salty. Also I loved the titles of the soup containers. :) 

Mushroom soup

Mango soup

Pepper soup

Main cours:

For the main cours we decided to choose from various places. My older sister had pork (from the Alentejo region) with mashed potatoes, cabbage and bacon. I have never eaten pork that was so soft and heavenly and the bacon was just perfect with the cabbage. This dish was my favourite out of all. My mom decided to order a portuguese Bacalhau com natas which is an oven-baked dish made out of layers of fish (bacalhau), onions, potatoes and cream. My younger sister likes to keep it simple so she had a cheeseburger with fries. It is so simple but they managed to make something so mainstream so delicious. My dad ordered something more adventurous a Ceviche made from fish. :) It is made of raw fish with mango and some tortilla chips and salad on top. I tried the bruschetta wich was also very tasty. We shared all the food and tried everything we ordered and everyone agreed that the pork was the best of all.

Pork with mashed potatoes, cabbage and bacon.

Bacalhau com natas

Cheeseburger with fries

Ceviche

 Bruschetta

Dessert: 

We ate a lot of different food and so by the time we got to dessert we were full, but we couldn't miss out on the best ice cream. Santini has the best ice cream I have ever had. I always recommend it to people to try this place when they come to Portugal and nobody has ever regretted tasting it. I decided to have mango and raspberry and they were amazing, because they both tasted just like the actual fruit. My older sister had peanut and cantaloupe and my younger sister asked for a pancake with two scoops of ice cream on top (chocolate and chocolate chips).

We also tasted some macarons from another shop and we tried the peppermint, the chocolate and the coffe.

We had a blast, we laughed a lot and ate a lot and it was just great.I just loved everything about this place, the design, the food, the atmosphere the idea and the concept of it. I know that this wasn't the last time I went to Time Out Mercado da Ribeira.

A little father daughter arm wrestling

When you find out you are going to eat ice cream at Santini

I hope you've enjoyed this post and feel free to comment here on the blog, on facebook, on instagram, or on twitter. Have a lovely sunday! :) 

instagram: @breakfast_at_katas

twitter: @breatkatas

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/breakfastatkatas

Carbonara

There are so many times when I want to eat something filling but I'm too lazy to spend lots of time in the kitchen. These times I make an easy carbonara pasta, just like I did this weekend. I was tired from my week at school and I just wanted to eat something delicious so I made this quick and yummy dish. This pasta is also my little sister's favourite so she was more than happy when she came in to the kitchen and saw what I was making for lunch. 

I actually don't like this pasta in restaurants so I just make it  here at home the way I like it and now you can also make it if you feel like. It is a simple pasta so I recommend using a cheese with stronger taste like parmesan. 

INGREDIENTS:

0,5 kg pasta

2 cloves of garlic

5-6 stripes ham or bacon

250 ml cream

1 egg
salt and pepper

your choice of cheese ( I used parmesan)

Add some salt to boiling water, and cook the pasta in it. In a large saucepan on a medium heat fry your garlic and then add the sliced ham or bacon and let it fry also. Pour in the cream and add salt and pepper. Let that simmer for a 0,5-1 minute and to make it thicker add 1 egg. Strain the cooked pasta and put it in the saucepan and mix together the sauce and the pasta. Let it fry for a few more minutes (I also like to save half a mug of the water that I made the pasta in and pour it in the saucepan, but this step is optional). Put the pasta on a plate and grate some parmesan cheese on top and you are done. 

On a lazy weekend definitely try my carbonara recipe and if you do then make sure to write a comment or take a picture of it and upload it to instagram or twitter and also don't forget to tag me in the photo (instagram: @breakfast_at_katas , twitter: @breatkatas).

Fritters (tócsni)

These 4 moths since I've started my blog have been so great. I couldn't have imagined a better start for my blog. I enjoyed making delicious food, taking pictures and also writing posts. 

This year I am going to keep on doing all of these things with the same enthusiasm but with even more creativity. I want to thank everyone who reads my blog and likes Breakfast at Kata's on any of my social meadias!

So let's start 2015!

This year's first recipe is a fritter recipe and this is a food which my grandmother makes for my family regularly and we just can't get enough of it. My grandmother lives in a small city in Hungary and she is a big motivation for me, because whenever we go to my grandparents' place a delicious smell fills the house and something tasty is waiting for us. 
I usually make "tócsni" for lunch or dinner but this can also be a breakfast food. 

INGREDIENTS:

5 potatoes

3 eggs 

3 tablespoons of plain flour

salt and pepper(to your taste)

First, peel the potatoes and grate them (use the bigger holes in the grater). Mix the potatoes with the 3 eggs and the flour and season it with salt and pepper. Get a frying pan and fill it with sunflower oil and on a medium heat start putting chunks of the potato mixture in it. Fry them until they are golden brown and then you are ready to eat them. I like to eat mine with some sour cream (tejföl) and you can also put cheese in the middle of two fritters (like a sandwich) and if they are still hot the cheese will melt. 

Definitely try these fritters because they are really tasty and if you do then make sure to write a comment or take a picture of it and upload it to instagram or twitter and also don't forget to tag me in the photo (instagram: @breakfast_at_katas , twitter: @breatkatas).