Tiramisu

Original Italian recipe from Torino!

What you'll need:

- 2 packs of mascarpone cheese
- white sugar (~3 tbsps)
- 6 eggs
- coffee
- 2 packs of Italian ladyfingers (I like the ones from Vicenzovo and the Biscotti Savoiardi)
- cocoa powder

How to do it:

Mix the egg yolks with the sugar (I use ~ 3 tbsp of sugar, add more if you like it sweeter) and mix until creamy. Add the mascarpone and mix very well until homogeneous. Whip the egg whites and fold in the mixture.

Prepare the coffee and add some sugar. Dip the ladyfingers in the coffee and put on a tray side by side until covering the whole area. Pour a layer of the mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers. Add another layer of ladyfingers dipped in coffee and another layer of mascarpone. Put in the refrigerator for at least 5 h. Sprinkle with the cocoa powder before serving.

Mie chinese noodles with vegetables and shrimp

Very easy and fast.

What you'll need:

- mie chinese noodles (or other noodles or any pasta)
- medium size shrimp (I bought mine frozen)
- 2 green onions (cebolinho, in Portuguese)
- 1/2 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 small red pepper
- 1/2 tomato
- 1 thai chilli  (it was really spicy! add only 1/2 if you don't like spicy food; if no thai chilli is available add 1 small malagueta - Portuguese chilli)
- black olives
- salt, pepper, paprika

How to do it:

Boil the mie noodles in water with salt for 10 min. Separate the noodles with a fork and cook for 5 more minutes or until the pasta has the consistency you desire (I like mine well done). 
Cut all the vegetables in small pieces. Smash the garlic cloves. Put a bit of olive oil in a wok, add the shrimp and fry for a while. Add the vegetables and the spices and cover. Cook for 10 - 15 min until the vegetables are soft. Add the noodles and mix everything. Decorate with black olives.

Chocolate Cake

Delicious!

What you'll need:

- 150 g dark chocolate (I used 85% cocoa chocolate)
- 125 g butter (unsalted)
- 250 g raw/brown sugar
- 6 eggs
- 100 g flour
- 1 tsp baking powder

- whipped cream (whip 200 ml of whipping cream with 1 tbsp of white sugar)

How to do it:

Melt the butter with the chocolate in a water bath (banho-maria in Portuguese; just put the chocolate and butter inside a small pan and put this one inside a bigger pain containing hot/boiling water).
Mix the egg yolks with the sugar until you obtain a cream. Add the melted chocolate + butter mixture, then the flour and the baking powder and mix well. Whip the egg whites until they are firm (claras em castelo) and in the mixture. Pour into a baking pan (previously covered with oil and a bit of flour) and bake in the oven at 180°C (350°F) until done (~40 min).
Wait until cold, remove from the pan and pour the whipped cream over the cake, if desired.

Kidney beans soup with cabbage

This is a very heavy soup (in Portugal, sopa de feijão encarnado).

What you'll need:

- 2 cans kidney beans
- 1/2 green cabage (couve lombarda ou couve-coração)
- 1 big potato
- 1 onion
- 2-3 carrots
- 2 cloves of garlic
- a bit of vermicelli
- salt

How to do it:

In a big pan put water with salt and add the liquid from the cans of kidney beans. Peel the potato, onion, carrots and garlic cloves, add to the water and boil until tender. Add half of the beans. Blend the whole thing to a liquid cream. Add the shredded cabbage and bring to a boil again. Add the vermicelli and cook until the cabbage is tender. Then add the rest of the beans.