Pea and courgette soup

It is not very often you come across a recipe which you want to try out immediately. When I am in the Algarve, I get the magazine of one of the major super markets, Pingo Doce, "Sabe Bem". I have found their recipes very easy to follow and they turn out very tasty indeed.

Last year I tried out the chicken with pears and a pear salad. You find them on my blog and hopefully you will like this as well.

This is where I found the recipe but needless to say I changed some of it to suit our taste! 

Ingredients

I medium size onion

1 to 2 cloves of garlic

1 medium courgette

2 to 3 cups of frozen peas ( depending on the size of you cup!)

approx. 750 ml stock ( chicken or vegetable)

some oil for sautéing

a handful of roasted cashew nuts or almonds or sunflower seeds

vegetables be sautéed

Method

Cut vegetables into small pieces.

Sauté onions, garlic and courgettes for a few minutes.

Add the frozen peas and the stock, simmer for approx. 25 minutes, then purée the soup

soup before puréeing

Serve the soup with the roasted nuts and if you have, a leaf of fresh mint!

The finished result!

Lemon-Lime Cream Chicken with Tagliatelle

"When it rains it pours", that old saying it true for many things including new recipes. (While I am writing this, it is actually raining heavily!)
I needed to do a quick dish,  as we had an appointment around Tea Time, so Pasta came to mind.  I wanted to be able to prepare something in advance and the rest could be done while the Pasta, in this case, Tagliatelle were cooking.
As Better Half is not keen on Pasta, I try to make the "Sauce" with ingredients he likes,
but I wanted to please myself and visiting eldest Granddaughter as well. I decided that the usual suspects were out, aka Bolognese, Carbonara, green Pesto etc.

The following is what I thought  would fit all our tastes.

The Ingredients

Ingredients

2 big free range Chicken Breast, cubed
1 large sweet red pepper, chopped
1 medium oninon, chopped
1 lemon
1 lime
250 ml fresh cream
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp chili flakes( or more if you like chili)
150 ml chicken stock
Oil for frying (preferably rapeseed oil)

Method

1 Cut the chicken into cube size pieces, smaller rather than bigger and fry in the pan until they are cooked.
2. Add the onion pieces and pepper pieces

3. Add the chicken stock and simmer gently
4. Grate the lemon and lime and add to the mixture
5. Add the juice of half a lemon and half a lime
6. Add the cream and bring to the boil.
7. Season the mixture with salt, pepper and chili

At this stage you can stop the cooking and leave it until you want to use it later.  If you want the peppers to be crunchy. Fry them on their own in a little oil and only add them when you heat the mixture up.

All ingredients simmering gently

I served the "sauce" with Tagliatelle, but you can of course use any Pasta. I think though it suits larger Pasta better. We also had a mixed green salad as a side! (optional)

The finished result!

Moroccan Cauliflower and Almond Soup

Another Moroccan recipe, this time in the form of a soup. I have probably said it before, but soups are one of the quickest ways to produce a tasty and nourishing meal.
Use only the freshest of cauliflowers. They should have white and firm little rosettes and the green should be really green, just like on the photo below.
This soup is very quick and easy to make, and yet so very tasty.

Ingredients

1 large head cauliflower
1 l vegetable or chicken stock
50 g toasted almond flakes
half a cup of fresh coriander /cilantro
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 to 3 tsp harissa chili paste
1/2 tsp  ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/4 tsp salt (optional, depends on the saltiness of the stock)
1/2 tsp pepper

Method

1. Cut the cauliflower into small pieces and sauté them for a few minutes in the olive oil.

2. Add the stock, vegetable for vegetarians and vegans or chicken stock

3. Add all the spices and the chili paste. Before you add any salt or pepper, taste the stock, as some stock is more salty than others.

4. When the cauliflower is cooked, ( after approx. 20 min), puree the soup, add the fresh cilantro/coriander and add the toasted almonds just before serving.

As it happens, for once I did not take any photo of the finished Product. The soup was gone before I thought of it. So I decided to show you a wonderful display of vegetables to motivate you to use more fresh vegetables to make tasty soups.

Courgettes filled with Ricotta cheese, walnuts and roasted red pepper

I have been thinking for awhile what kind of a starter would work with the Moroccan chicken. I wanted something fresh, tangy and light. I found the answer in an Italian cookbook, which was hidden on a shelf in the local library. I have used courgettes in many different ways, but mostly cooked in ratatouille, grilled, baked in the oven or in batter like the Greek cuisine does it. I have never used it in its raw state. I was surprised how much I liked the end result.

Ingredients

2 medium courgettes

6Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar ( use a good quality)

1 x 250 g tub of ricotta cheese

1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

50g walnuts coarsely chopped

Small handful shredded fresh basil

250g ( approx) chargrilled red/yellow peppers in a jar, drained and cut into small squares to suit the slices of courgettes

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Using a vegetable peeler, shave the courgettes lengthways, into long strips.(  I would recommend 4-6 rolls per person) The above recipe serves 4-6 portions

2. Pour half the oil and half the vinegar into a large dish. Lay the courgette slices in the mixture. Drizzle the remaining oil and vinegar over the top, cover with cling foil and put it into the fridge to marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes. See picture below

Courgette slices marinating

3. Meanwhile place the ricotta in a small bowl. Add the lemon juice, walnuts and basil, season with salt and pepper. Stir to combine the ingredients

4. Place a spoon of ricotta mixture at one end of each courgette strip, lay a piece of red/yellow pepper on top and roll up.
Repeat until all courgette strips have been used up.

Now roll 

I served the courgettes rolls with a mixed leaf salad and a lemon, honey and red chillies dressing!

Finished result

A big "Thank You" to my friend Margret, who motivated me to get back into writing my recipes!

Moroccan chicken

When the winter is a long as this one, one needs  tasty, comforting food.

And on a horrid wet and stormy day what better way to spend my time  than to share with you this recipe. On a day like today the best thing is to have a slow cooker on the go or a Tagine or a Casserole in the oven with the beautiful smell of something delicious cooking, wafting through the house, ( and you will be ravenous before it is done!)

So I hope you will enjoy this as much as we did.

Moroccan chicken

 Ingredients

1 medium diced onion
1 Tbsp olive oil
6-8 chicken thighs or 3-4 chicken breasts or any chicken pieces you like
1 Tbsp fresh coriander/cilantro
1 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 cup golden raisins or sultanas
1/2 cup chopped green olives
1 medium lemon sliced
2 cloves garlic crushed
1/2 chicken stock
4 cups of cooked brown rice

just in the slow cooker

Method

Fry the chicken pieces in a little oil until they are browned.
Then place them in the slow cooker or casserole.
Pour the chicken stock into the pan to take up all the juices and add all the rest of the ingredients, bring to the boil and then pour this over  the chicken pieces .
Cook for approx 3 to 4 hours in a slow cooker. ( or longer if you use medium setting)
If you don't have a slow cooker/crock pot then use a heavy casserole and cook it in the oven at 150C or 300F for approx 2-3 hrs.

When I read the recipe in an American cookery book in January, I was not sure if I would like olives together with the raisins. Reading to the end of the recipe, the author said that she had been hesitant in using the olives but was mighty glad she did. I decided to be courageous and added them. I am delighted to say, I agree with her. The result was a wonderfully tasty chicken dish.
You can serve this with rice or mashed potatoes or anything you like. Dipping fresh crusty bread into the sauce is allowed!

Serve with fresh coriander/cilantro

Brussels Sprouts

Just in time for the festive season I discovered interesting new recipes using an old winter vegetable.

Often abused, aka cooked to mush, many shudder at the thought of having to eat these little cabbage balls. Well, I hope that these two recipes will change your attitude towards them. 

I found the idea for the following recipes in an American cookery magazine, "Cooking Light" and adapted the first for easy cooking in the oven. Bearing in mind that neither on Thanksgiving nor on Christmas one has too much time watching and minding pots and pans. The second recipe can be prepared well in advance.

Ingredients

1 1/2 Tbsp butter
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme
1 lb Brussels Sprouts, trimmed and halved
1 large onion, thinly sliced
3 to 4 garlic cloves thinly sliced ( depending on how big the cloves are and how much you like garlic)
1/4 cup pure Maple Syrup
3 Tbsp sherry vinegar ( you can use red wine or cider vinegar, I would not advise Balsamic vinegar)
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper

Method

Mix all the ingredients in a shallow oven proof dish and bake for approx 20 to 25 min at 175C

Mixture before it goes into the oven

Note: For a Vegan dish, leave out the butter and replace with olive oil.


Bacon and Brussels Sprouts Salad

Note: For a vegetarian salad, simply leave out the Bacon!

This recipe is out of the same cookery magazine. We prepared it a few hours before we wanted to eat it and we felt that it improved the salad. I was afraid that the recipe asked for too much vinegar, but after standing for a while, it proved perfect. Again this is quick and easy.

Ingredients

2-3 Carrots
3-4 thinly sliced Spring onions ( or red ones)
1/4 cup (1 or Tbsp ) good Mayonaise
3 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 bacon slices cooked and crumbled
350 g fresh Brussels Sprouts, shredded
1 Tbsp toasted sliced almonds

Method
Simply mix all ingredients together and  let the salad sit at            
least for one hour. Then serve.

 Brussels sprout salad with out bacon

The same salad with bacon and roasted almonds

Enjoy the Spouts!

Roast chicken with pears and walnuts

The following is again a recipe I found in the magazine of the supermarket chain Pingo Doce. September /Octobee edition.
Confident that it would be as nice as the Pear salad, I got down to translate the ingredients.
To be honest the ingredients were kind of easy, the method took a little longer, between guessing and using the dictionary I managed to get the hang of it.

And the result was simply delicious.

So without further ado here are the ingredients:

Ingredients

3 to 4 Tbs virgin olive oil

1 ts salt

2 cloves of garlic ( crushed)

4 sprigs of thyme ( or 1 ts dried thyme)

4 chicken breasts or 4 chicken thighs or like in my case 1/2 a chicken

100 g red onion

15 g walnuts

2 Pears (Rocha if you can get them)

Method 

1 Preheat the oven to 200 C. Mix the oil, salt, garlic and thyme together and paste the chicken with that.

2 Put the chicken into an oven proof dish, add the onion, cut into slices. Roast the chicken for approx 30 min.

3 Add the pears cut into thin slices and roast for another 10 min. and add the walnuts at the same time as the pears. 

Depending on your oven temperature the times will be slightly longer or less.

I served the chicken with a savory rice (Put 1 to 2 Tbs oil in a frying pan ad some crushed cashew nuts, fry gently, before the nuts turn "beige" add cooked rice, then add one or two Tablespoons light Soya sauce. Mix all the ingredients for a minute until the rice is fully heated up).

You can of course use any other side dish of your choice.