Valentine's day is inching closer and you might want to prepare a special lunch or dinner for your other half with some aphrodisiac ingredients :-) Today we bring you this delicious feta cheese salad, dry figs and pomegranate.

The soft mix of these three flavors, along with the other ingredients will surprise you!

But before getting into it, we'd like to tell you about why figs are considered aphrodisiacs. This is due to, among other factors its  high content in betacarotene, a substance wich influences the production of sexual hormones, evening levels of estrogen and incrementing desire. It's also been proven that its high sugar content provides an easy and quick energy source for our organism, which contributes to making our serotonin levels higher.

This meal also has some other great properties for your health, especially because dry figs contain high doses in fiber, calcium, magnesium and potassium. This dry fig salad, is not only sweet but juicy and very

aromatic and it can also be more than just a Valentine's day celebration, it could be used for an anniversary or an important date with your partner. Considering what we commented previously, an appetizer like this

will come in handy for a long night in sight…

Ingredients (for two)

• 4 cups of spinach (or any other green vegetable like lettuce, lamb's lettuce etc)
• 2 cups of arugula
• 1 cup of figs El Pajarero
• 1 cup of feta cheese
• 1 cup of dry apricot
• 1/3 a cup of natural or salted pistachios
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Modena vinegar
• Modena syrup
• Black pepper

Step by step

1 Cut the dry figs El Pajarero in half and put them aside.

2 Place the chopped spinach or any other green leaf into a salad bowl.

Then we put the arugula and season it with olive oil and modena vinegar.

Mix everything well to combine all flavors, then put it aside.

3 Distribute over the green leaves, the diced feta cheese, the halves of dry figs and the apricots.

4 To top it all add a bit of fresh black pepper, pomegranate and a bit of modena syrup

5 Before serving, you can add a bit of honey on top

6 Enjoy :-)

Here’s a link to another Valentine's Day recipe, this one is for chocolate lovers :-)

On these cold afternoons, when we feel like a nice cup of hot coffee or tea, there is nothing better than accompanying it with delicious home-made pastries.

Today we bring you the recipe of an authentic Italian delicacy: Il Buccellato. This delicious ring-shaped cake (also known as bagel) is filled with a variety of nutritious nuts that you can easily get your hands on. 

Ingredients for the dough

• 1 kg wheat flour
   
• 300 gr of sugar
   
• 250 gr lard
   
• 3 eggs
   
• 150 ml milk
   
• 1 sachet of yeast
   
• grated orange peel
   
• vanilla
   
• orange juice

Ingredients for the filling

• 400 gr dried figs El Pajarero
   
• 100 gr of raisins
   
• 150 gr of walnuts or pistachios
   
• 150 gr almonds
   
• 200 gr chocolate pieces
   
• cinnamon 
   
• wine (if you like)

Preparation

1. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl. Add the eggs one by one, then add the flour, the baking powder, and the grated orange peel. Add everything and form a smooth and homogeneous dough. Once you have it, wrap it with non-stick paper and put it in the refrigerator for an hour.

2. Now it is the turn of the filling. In a saucepan, place the dried figs, 1 beaten egg, the raisins, and the rest of the dried fruits, and add some wine if you like. Mix everything together and heat over medium heat for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it cool.

3. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out with a rolling pin until it is 1.5 cm thick, form a rectangle and put the filling across the width as if forming a log. Then roll the dough and shape it into a round until you get the shape of a crown or doughnut. Slightly cut the dough crosswise until the filling is just visible.

4. When it has the correct shape, if you have filling left, place it on top. This will ensure that when it comes out of the oven, it will have an excellent color. If you do not have any filling mixture left, you can brush it with beaten egg. Place in the oven at 180º C, cook for 25 minutes, remove from the oven and brush again with the egg or the mixture. Put back in the oven for 5 to 10 more minutes.

5. To decorate, nuts ,cherries in syrup or polished fruit can be placed on top. It is important to serve it cold, because if you serve it hot, the buccellato may crumble.

Enjoy! :-)