Chicken & Chorizo Paella

So, again it has been ages since I have uploaded a recipe… my bad. I was asked by a friend, Leo, why it has taken me so long, so thanks to his motivation to get going again I have put together this meal and very happy to add this as my first recipe of 2012. Paella normally is made with seafood, but I had visitors whom are allergic to shellfish, and decided to do it with chicken and chorizo instead. It worked out great.

Ingredients

1.5 cups of uncooked rice
400g chicken breasts, cut into cubes
3 chorizo sausages
1 cup of frozen peas
1.5 tsp of saffron
3 garlic cloves
1 litre of vegetable stock
1 tsp sea salt
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 leeks, thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil

Method

Heat the oil in a big pan and fry the chicken, onion, leeks and chorizo sausages. I fry the chorizo sausages whole first and once they have become a bit more firm, i take them off, slice them in smaller pieces and fry further. Fry all these ingredients until the chicken is cooked. While the chicken and chorizo is cooking, put the saffron, garlic and salt in a mortar and crush together. Add a tbsp of water to activate the saffron’s color. Once the chicken is cooked, add the rice, saffron mixture, peas and chopped tomatoes to the pan. Mix together and fry for 3 minutes.

Now you are ready to add the stock. Use enough stock to cover all the rice and other ingredients, and if there is some stock left over keep it aside if needed for further cooking. Cover the pan and allow to cook until the rice is cooked. The key with paella is too leave it going in the pan after the liquid is gone and let it burn to the bottom of the pan just a little bit. This add beautifully to the taste.

Serve with some fresh lemon wedges, some wine and enjoy. Great combination.

Steak, Rosemary Potatoes & Creamy Mushroom Sauce

The ultimate Sunday lunch… Fill up the tummy, take a snooze and wake up in time for a game of tennis to “work off” the creamy mushroom sauce. I know, a pretty popular meal, steak and potatoes, but I wanted to share my version with you all. And here goes…

Ingredients for Potatoes

10 small potatoes, peeled
4 sprigs of rosemary, some leaves removed
4 cloves of garlic, crushed in the skin
3 tbsp of olive oil
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Method

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Boil the potatoes in salted water for 8 – 10 minutes. Remove from water, strain and mix together with the other ingredients. Throw everything into a baking tray and roast in the oven for 45 – 50 minutes or until crispy and golden.

Ingredients for Steak

Very simple…

2 rib eye steaks
1 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and black pepper

Method

Rub the olive oil, salt and pepper onto the steak and allow to rest for 30 minutes. Cook on a griddle pan for 5 – 7 minutes or cooked to your desire. We like it medium.

Ingredients for Mushroom Sauce

2 cups of swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
200 ml of thickened cream
1 tbsp of plain flour
20 g butter
2 cloves of garlic, grated
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Method

Heat up a frying pan and fry the mushrooms, garlic, butter and seasoning together for about 4 – 5 minutes. Add the flour to the pan before the all the butter has disappeared and mix well until it almost forms a paste. Add you cream, stir until the mixture is mixed properly and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Serve everything together while still hot and there you go… Your winner Sunday Lunch

Chicken Wrapped in Bacon with Watermelon Salad

So, yes… I guess the fact that there is bacon wrapped around the chicken and more bacon in the salad make it seem a bit Epic Meal Time… but it works, it tastes wonderful and looks amazing.

Ingredients for the Chicken

4 chicken breasts
16 strips of streaky bacon
1/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese
1/2 big red chili, finely chopped

Method

Heat some oil in a cast iron pan and seal the chicken on both sides. Put some oil in a oven tray and lay 4 pieces of bacon per chicken breast. Make sure that the bacon strips overlay each other a little bit to ensure that there are no holes as the bacon juices will help to keep the chicken moist. Sprinkle the chopped chili and feta on the bacon and add the chicken breast. Roll the chicken in the bacon and rub some olive oil over the out side. Bake in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until the chicken and bacon is cooked.

Salad Ingredients

2 cups of diced fresh watermelon, pips removed
1/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup of fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup fresh dow mei
4 strips of bacon
2 tbsp honey

Cover the bacon with the honey and bake in the oven until crispy. About 10 minutes. Combine the rest of the ingredients and add the crispy honey bacon on top.

Serve together with a simple balsamic vinegar sauce. The sauce is very easy to make. Add 1 tbsp of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of balsamic to a pot. Bring to boil and then reduce the heat. Let is cook for about 5 – 7 minutes. After cooking, leave it to stand for a few minutes before serving as it will thicken up a bit. The sauce can be quite rich, so do serve it on the side allowing your guests to eat as per their preference.

Serve when the chicken is ready and enjoy.

Antipasto Pasta

What is antipasto pasta… Well allow me to explain. For those of you living in Asia, you would have noticed that shops have been closed due to Chinese New Year. What is great about this is that it is the perfect opportunity to get creative with what is left in the fridge… I had a couple of typical antipasto ingredients, which is also what inspired the name of this dish. It is very quick and easy to make.

Ingredients

250 g dried pasta
1 large green chili (finely chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1/2 cup sliced small tomatoes
1/2 cup sliced olives
100 g sundried tomatoes from a bottle (keep the oil)
1 avo, cubed
1/4 cup crumbed feta cheese
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Method

Cook the pasta as per the instructions given on the packet. While the pasta is cooking, fry the garlic and chili in a pan with a little bit of the sundried tomato oil. Fry for 2 – 3 minutes. When the pasta is cooked, add all the ingredients including about 3 table spoons of the sundried tomato oil, mix well and serve.

Four Cheese Pizza

Whether you are vegetarian, meat-lover, it does not matter. Add some cheese & tomato on a dough and pop it in the oven until crispy… everyone is happy. The ultimate vegetarian pizza, and yes, extremely tasty.

This recipe makes 2 large pizzas.

Ingredients for the base

2.5 cups flour
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tbsp dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup lukewarm water

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Add the yeast and caster sugar to the luke warm water, stir well and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Sift the flour, caster sugar and salt into a big bowl. Add the olive oil. Do not mix the flour and oil yet. Make a well in the flour and add the yeast. Using your hands (well floured) mix the ingredients together to form a dough. Divide the dough into two dough balls and leave to stand for 30 – 40 minutes, covered with a cloth.

Ingredients for pizza toppings

200 ml tomato puree
1/2 cup sliced sundried tomatoes
15 – 20 cherrie tomatoes, halved
40 ml olive oil
1 clove chopped garlic
2 cups grated mozzarella
1 cup grated parmesan
1 cup grated cheddar
1/2 cup feta
1 avo

Method

Firstly, finely chop the garlic and add it to the oil and set aside. Once the dough has doubled in size, roll it out on a well floured surface. Brush some of the garlic oil on an oven tray. Place the dough on an oven tray, and start adding your yummy toppings. Start by brushing the base with a little bit of the garlic oil. Next it is time to add the tomato puree which will form the base… Add the sundried tomatoes, and then the cheese. (I mixed the parmesan, mozzarella and cheddar together before adding it onto the pizza). Place the halved cherri tomatoes on top of the cheese, and lastly crumble over the feta. Pop this into the oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the base it cooked and crispy. Once removed from the oven add the avo, and serve. Add some beer or red wine… amazing Saturday night dinner.

Tandoori Chicken Hand Wraps

These were super easy to make, and very, very tasty. I wanted to make something snaky, but also filling, and the flavours just compliments each other beautifully. Cheezy… I know, but it is true. So I also want to give some credit to my hubby, he took a beautiful photo of this food. I hope that you will enjoy it as much as we did.

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Ingredients

500 g chicken breasts, cut into bite sized cubes
2 lemons
1 tsp salt

Put the chicken, lemon and salt together in a bowl and allow to marinate for 15 minutes.

While the above is marinating:

Ingredients

2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp tandoori spice
1 cup of thick plain yoghurt
salt

Mix the above ingredients together. Once the chicken is done marinating, throw out the excess lemon juice and mix together with the yoghurt mixture. Allow to marinate in the yoghurt for another 30 minutes.

While this is marinating:

Ingredients

1.5 cups grated cucumber
1/2 cup plain yoghurt

Mix the above together and set aside.

After the chicken has been marinated for 30 minutes, heat a large pan with a little bit of oil, and throw the entire mixture into the pan. The yoghurt will form a nice layer over the chicken, making it super tasty. Cook until the chicken is cook through, and serve with tortilla wraps, cucumber mixture and rocket leaves.

Enjoy!

Chicken & Leek Pie

Just something simple, fairly easy, and very, very tasty. Since I have started working my time to be creative and spend in the kitchen has decreased severely, but when I have the time I try to make something that is not only for my readers, but also a good home cooked meal for my hubby to enjoy.

Here is the recipe, have fun making it in your kitchen!

Ingredients

2 leeks, sliced into rings (5 mm thick)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
300 g chicken, cut into bite size pieces
250 g button mushrooms, halved
1 litre chicken stock
60 ml thickened cream
1/2 cup of plain flour
60 g butter
puff pastry (enough to put on top and line the bottom)
salt & pepper to taste

Method

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees Celcuis.
Heat a bit of olive oil in a large frying pan, and cook the chicken and leeks until the chicken is cooked all over. Add the mushrooms, and cook for another 3 – 5 minutes. While it is cooking, melt the butter in a pot and add the flour, stirring quickly to make sure it does not burn, and there are no lumps. Add the cream first and, stir well, then slowly add the stock, stirring continuously. Once the chicken is cooked, add it to the sauce and cook for 5 – 10 minutes.

Roll the puff pastry out to about 2 mm thick. If you like pastry and would prefer to put some in as crust, layer your baking dish with the pastry and put in the oven until the pastry is cooked. Remember to leave some pastry to cover the pie. When the pastry is cooked, add the mixture, cover with the pastry and cook in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked. Brush your pastry with some beaten egg or milk to give it that nice brown colour.

Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. This helps to settle the filling a bit. Enjoy!

Pepper Roast Beef with Roast Potatoes and Mushroom Sauce

This meal was done because of a bit of guilt. I have been working so much, so my poor hubby either had to cook, or grab takeout for us for dinner, hence no red meat or proper meal for a while. I decided to cook him some real “man” food, and this was the result.

Ingredients

Roast Beef

700 g Roast Beef
3 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
3 tbsp freshly ground sea salt
20 ml olive oil

If you were not as lucy as me, being able to buy the roast beef already secured with string, start off the process by doing that first. Next, throw the olive oil in a bowl and roll the beef until completely covered. Once covered, roll in the pepper and sea salt and ensure that all sides are well seasoned. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Place in an oven tray and cook for 40 minutes on 180 degrees celsius.

Potatoes

Peel and cut 10 potatoes. Add to a pot of boiling water, and boil for 10 minutes. Strain the potatoes, add some salt and olive oil, and place on an over tray. Roast for 40 – 50 minutes on 180 degrees celsius.

Mushroom Sauce

200 ml thickened cream
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
salt and black pepper
50 ml milk

Fry the mushrooms and garlic in the butter for 10 minutes. Add the flour while stirring, making sure that it is well mixed. Add the cream, stirring to avoid flour lumps from forming. Add the milk and cook for 5 minutes. Serve hot along side the roast beef and potatoes.

I served this meal with just plain rocket leaves. They add a nice fresh crunch to any meal.

Enjoy

Pepperoni Pizza

Pizza, pizza, pizza! What better food to accompany a good movie and a bottle of wine. As you will notice on the photo, the pizza is not round, but whom ever said that a pizza needs to be round to taste good.

This recipe makes 2 large pizzas.

Ingredients for the base

2.5 cups flour
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tbsp dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup lukewarm water

Method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Add the yeast and caster sugar to the luke warm water, stir well and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Sift the flour, caster sugar and salt into a big bowl. Add the olive oil. Do not mix the flour and oil yet. Make a well in the flour and add the yeast. Using your hands (well floured) mix the ingredients together to form a dough. Divide the dough into two dough balls and leave to stand for 30 – 40 minutes, covered with a cloth.

Ingredients for pizza toppings

200 ml tomato puree
200 g sliced pepperoni
15 – 20 cherrie tomatoes, halved
10 ml olive oil
1 clove chopped garlic
3 cups of grated mozzarella

Method

Once the dough has doubled in size, roll it out on a well floured surface. Brush some oil on an oven tray. Place the dough on the oven tray and start adding your yummy toppings. Start by brushing the base with a little bit of oil, and add some garlic. Then add some tomato puree, next add the cheese, followed by the pepperoni and then the halved cherri tomatoes.

Bake in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden.

Enjoy.

Four Cheese Lasagna

So, another one for all the vegetarians out there. Was very tasty, and extremely quick and easy to make. A must try recipe…

Ingredients

1 cup grated parmesan cheese
500g ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated mozzarella
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
500g frozen spinach leaves
1 tsp sea salt
2 cups diced tomatoes (from a can)
10 – 15 cherri tomatoes
lasagne sheets

Method

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Defrost the frozen spinach on a low setting in a microwave if you have not had time to let it defrost gradually during the day. Defrost until the spinach is loose, and no longer a solid frozen block. Add the spinach, salt, ricotta and parmesan cheese in a bowl and mix well. Now you can start the layering.

Firstly start with a layer of the lasagna sheets at the bottom of the oven proof dish. Next a layer of the spinach mixture, and then a thin layer of the diced tomato. Start the process again, layer of lasagna sheets, layer of the spinach mixture and then, before adding the rest of the diced tomato, add another layer of lasagna sheets. Top with the remainder of the diced tomato and cover with the grated cheddar and mozzarella. Lastly, place the cherri tomatoes on top of the cheese. Do not cut, leave them whole. They will become nice and juicy.

Bake in the pre heated oven for 30 – 40 minutes, or until the cherri tomatoes are soft and the top has reached the crispiness you prefer. Darran likes to have it very crispy as you can see in the photo. Serve hot, and enjoy.