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.

Pear Salad with Fried Sole

You know, when you see a recipe whether you like it or not. This happened to me as few days ago, when I looked at a magazine published by a Portuguese super market chain Pingo Doce. I looked at it and found the idea inspiring. It was an article about pears and they supplied two recipes. The above caught my eye and I decided to try it
The decision was made to try the dish come Friday as we had the intention to go to the fish market in Quarter. There we purchased the freshest fish ever. You have no idea how fresh it was.
But back to the pears and salad.

The Ingredients are simple

3 Tbs Olive Oil ( the better the oil, the better the taste) I used a extras virgin Portuguese one
2 Tbs fresh lime juice
a little salt
30 g Pine nuts ( I used cashew nuts, as I could not get pine nuts anywhere)
25 g grated Parmesan cheese
2 pears (preferable Rocha ones)
150 g Iceberg lettuce

Mix the oil and the lime juice
Roast the pine nuts
Grate the Parmesan
Wash and shred the iceberg lettuce
Cut pears into slices
Assemble all the ingredients in a bowl
And serve

By the way the recipe states that the salad is "sem glúten", without gluten.

You can serve this salad on its own or with any grilled or fried fish or indeed meat.

Stuffed Vegetables, stuffed Courgettes/Zucchini

The Autumn gives us a plethora of vegetables. One way of using them is to stuff them and bake them in the oven.  Most vegetables can be stuffed, aubergines, peppers, tomatoes and of course courgettes.
The ingredients for the stuffing can be changed, to suit your taste.
If you want a total vegetarian dish, leave out the ham and add more cheese or add some crushed nuts

Stuffed baked Courgettes

Ingredients 

1 large courgette per person

For filling:

Approx

75 g cooked ham

75 g grated cheddar cheese

1 egg

3 tbsp good breadcrumbs

Approx half of the scooped out courgette, chopped finely

1 cup of fresh herbs in season

A little salt

Black freshly ground pepper

Method

First scoop out the courgette with a spoon

Put all the ingredients of the filling and that of the scooped flesh of the courgettes into a bowl and mix thoroughly

Fill mixture into the courgette halves

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 175C, depending on your oven.

Enjoy!

Sataras

As a Teenager I was lucky to have lots of opportunities to travel. This not only opened my eyes and ears but also my interest in food. One of my trips was to Slovenia, then part of former Yugoslavia. There I encountered different tastes, different ways of doing things. I fell in love with their food. I was lucky that Cologne had a plethora of Balkan Restaurants. The political situation in Yugoslavia had encouraged people from Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia to come and seek work in Germany. To this day some family favourites have their roots in the Balkan (for example my savoury rice which is their Djuvec rice or my Yugoslavian bean soup, which is a copy of the Serbian bean soup, to name just two)
My all time favourite though is Sataras. If you look it up on the Web you will find a lot of recipes which are all slightly different depending of whether they are of Serbian, Croatian or Bosnian origin.
But they all have  three main ingredients in common
Onions, Peppers and Tomatoes

Ingredients

nice lean pork steak

1 Pork steak
3 large onions
3 peppers red and yellow
5 large tomatoes
some oil for frying
salt and pepper

How to skin the tomatoes

a panful of onions

mixture of peppers

Method:
Cut the meat into bite size pieces
Fry the meat in oil until brown, salt and pepper
put on a plate
Cut the onions and fry in some oil until glassy, same procedures as meat
Same procedures with the peppers
Skin the tomatoes
Before you put things back into pan, losen the juices with a little water.
Cut the tomatoes also into pieces and put everything back into the pan, add the chili flakes or powder
Simmer gently for approx 40 minutes, stir regularly , adjust the seasoning

The finished result

Note: Serve the Sataras with brown rice or mashed potatoes

Depending on how much liquid is left you can "thicken" the Sataras by stirring in a beaten egg.

This is also helpful if you have  been a little heavy handed with the chili!

Graduation Dinner

This is the first time I am giving you a complete dinner menu. And it is the first time I am writing it a day after cooking it. The reason for that is easy, I don't want to forget how to do the dishes! ( Mind you it is raining all day too!)
I have cooked many dinners for many people in my time and the most memorable ones have been the family dinners for special occasions. This time, the occasion was Stephanie's graduation. Ok, the dinner is a little late, but better late......

The task was to create a dinner with Mediterranean influence. I looked at a plethora of cookery books and got ideas here, a recipe there and somehow in the end we had a menu.

work in process

The following is the result of my endeavors.

Appetizer:          Italian-Style Verrine

Starter:               Fritto Misto a la Grecque

Main Course:     Moroccan Roast Chicken with Almond and Raisin Rice

Dessert:              Persimmons in lime syrup with Sicilian  lemon drizzle cake

                                                    Appetizer

I had seen this dish in a big Italian cook book in the local library and was taken by the "look" of the starter. It is based on the tradtional mozarella/tomato salad. I decided to create an "amuse bouche" with a difference.
(According to Wikipedia a verrine is usually a small thick glass container which is used to present a starter in different and aestetic way.)

Verrine a la Annegret

Ingredients 

Buffalo Mozzarella 

2-3 tomatoes

Tapenade

125 g pitted black olives

Juice of one lemon

2 tbsp capers, drained

1 tbsp parsley

Little olive oil

Blend all the ingredients to a smooth paste

Green Pesto ( this is the recipe from January 2016)

1 cup of pine nuts ( you can use half pine nuts and half almonds if you wish)

1 cup of grated parmesan

1 cup fresh Basil

3 or 4 cloves of fresh garlic

1/2 juice of lemon or lime

1 cup of Extra Virgin olive oil ( I like to use Italian olive oil from the Puglia region)

Put all ingredients into a dish and blend them until you have a fairly thick consistency.

The flavour depends on the quality of your oil and parmesan cheese!

Fill the glasses first with the tapenade, then a thick slice of Mozarella, followed by a layer of fresh tomato pieces. Top the glass with a thick layer of green Pesto

                                                      Starter

Fritto Misto

Ingredients
1 aubergine
1 gourgette
1 red pepper or any other vegetable which can be cut into this slices

Slightly salt the aubergine slices, that stops discolouring

Batter
1 cup plain flour
1 cup cornflour
1 egg
salt/ pepper
sparkling wine or cider or sparkling water
Mix the flour and the egg, add enough liquid to make a smooth batter, set aside for minimum 30 min.
Heat oil in a deep saucepan and dip the vegetable slices in the batter and deep fry them untl they are golden brown

Serve with a Greek style dip.

Greek style Dip

1 cup home made Mayonaise ( or the commercial one you lke)

1 cup of greek yoghurt

1/2 cup fresh cream

1 crushed clove of garlic

juice of 1/2 lemon or lime

salt and pepper to taste.

Mix all the ingredients to a smooth dip.

                                                Main course 

Ingredients

1 large Free Range chicken ( important, for the flavour, it is Free Range)

2 Tbsp Rapeseed oil/ Good olive oil

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

salt and pepper

some parsley,

some fresh thyme

1 lemon

1-2 clove of garlic

2 Tbsp running honey

Moroccan chicken ( what was left before I realised I forgot to take the photo)

Method

Mix the oil, juice and spices and rub the mixture over the chicken. Cut the lemon into half and stuff the chicken with it and the herbs and garlic.

Put the chicken breast-side down in the roasting. This prevent the breast from drying out. Add about 4-5 Tbsp water in the roasting tin.

Roast the chicken at 200 C for approx 50 to 60 min depending on you oven. Turn the chicken breast up and keep roasting for a further 40-50 minutes. Keep basting the chicken with the liquid in the pan. About 20 min before the chicken is cooked brush it with the honey. At this stage you can reduce the heat to 175C. to prevent the top to get burned.

Almond and raisin rice

200g Brown Rice 

2 Tbsp raisins soaked in water ( or fortified wine) for a minimum of 15 min

2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tsp ground cinnamom

50g roasted almond slices

50g butter

Method

Boil the the rice until it is just done, drain. In a bowl mix the rice with the raisins, orange juice, almonds and cinnamon. Put the rice mixture into an oven proof dish and put the butter in small blobs on top. 20 minutes before serving put the dish in the oven to heat up. 

The rice can prepared well in advance.

                                                     Dessert

Deciding on the dessert was difficult as by nature I am not a "dessert" person.  I wanted something fresh and not too difficult or arduous to prepare. Best something which could be done the day before. I had seen a recipe in my Italian cookery book, which looked appetizing and quick and easy to make, but the author was advocating Mango as the fruit to be used. Now the chances of getting a properly ripe mango in Cork are nearly nil. In the shop this turned out to be true but I found a replacement. Sharon Fruit or Persimmons. I had not used them before so I thought it was worth a try.

Persimmons in  Lime Syrup

Persimmon or Sharon Fruit

1Persimmon per person
1/2 cup of unrefined sugar

the rind and juice of 2 limes

2 Tbsp water

Fresh mint leaves for decorating.

Peel the limes and slice the peel lengthwise into thin strips.

Squeeze the juice into a pan, add the sugar and the water. Heat for a few minutes until reduced to a syrup. Add the lime strips.

Cut the Persimons into slices discarding the top of the fruit. you end up with a star pattern on the slice

Pour the syrup over the fruit and refrigerate for a few hours.

Sicialian Lemon drizzle cake

To stay with the theme and the flavours of the Mediterranean I thought this cake would go perfectly with the fruit dessert.

I had seen a recipe for a lemon and Lime cake in the book "Recipes from the English Market".

So I decided to adapt it to what I had in mind. Bearing in mind the advice from one of my daughters, "follow the recipe exactly the first time to see if it works". Well, I did not follow it excatly and it worked out  fine!

Ingredients

180g butter                                                 Syrup

200g unrefined sugar

finely grated rind of one lemon                  120g icing sugar

2 eggs                                                          50ml fresh lemon juice

200g self raising flour

some milk

Grease and line a 1lb tin.

Preheat the oven to 175C

Cream butter, sugar and eggs together, add the lemon rind

Sieve in the Flour, use some milk to make a smooth consistency. It should fall heavy from the spoon.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes

When the cake is cooled, make some perforations with a skewer. Heat the syrup ingredients in a saucepan, stir until you have s syrupy consistency, pour over the car. Before serving dust with some icing sugar.

Have fun trying out the above recipes!  

Chicken Ana Rita

If you have used some of my recipes you know that I am usually writing something about the history of the recipe. This particular recipe was created as a Thank You to a very special person and I am delighted that I am allowed to name the dish after her.
Sometimes you get lucky. I had such a lucky day, when a Portuguese friend of mine brought me a a basket full of fresh home produce from her father's garden. What a delightful present.

As you can see it is quite a Selection! Inspiration was required and after a long walk from Quinta do Lago to Praia do Faro in the Algarve, I decided to use the lemon, lemon grass, parsley and the Chili for a chicken marinade.
The resulting chicken dish is delishes, fragrant, aromatic and light.

Ingredients (2 people)

2 to 3  free  range chicken breasts
2 Tbs olive or Rapeseed oil
1/4l chicken stock
1 tomato cut into small pieces
1 small onion, diced

Marinade the chicken for a minimum of 2 hours!

1 ripe Avocado
1/2 juice of lime or lemon
1 tin of coconut milk

Marinade

5 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 clove of garlic

2-3 tsp fresh or dried lemon grass

1 juice of  one lime or lemon

Grated rind of one lemon

Some fresh or dried Chili ( depending how hot you want the marinade to be)

Some salt and pepper

Freshly cut parsley

Method

1. After marinating the chickern breasts, heat the oil in a frying pan

2. Add chicken and fry at medium heat, until both sides are golden brown

3. Take chicken breast and set aside, add onions to the pan and fry gently

4. Add tomatoes and lemon grass

5. Add chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes

6. Add coconut milk and juice of 1/2 lime or lemon

7. Adjust seasoning, heat up chicken breast in the sauce

8. Just before serving add cubed Avocado

Bom Apetite

Note:

Serve with plain or brown rice