Italian Style Puff Pastry

Italian Style Puff Pastry

2-4 persons

Perfect appetizer, or snack, or served with a hot meal.

8 squares of readymade puff pastry dough (5” diameter)

8 thin slices of zucchini

½ sliced/diced onion

½ bell pepper in thin strips, 1-2 inch long

100 gr grated cheese (of choice, but go for one that melts well. I like Gouda)

25 gr grated parmesan

Italian herb mix + salt/pepper

Preheat the oven to 420.

Cover your oven tray with a sheet of wax paper.

Lay out your squares of dough and pinch a small handful of the mixed cheese onto each one. Just evenly divide all your cheese between the eight pastries. Add a slice of zucchini to eaxh pastry, then three or four strips of bell pepper, and some strips of onion. Make neat little piles on one half of the dough squares (we’re aiming for triangles, like sandwiches). Then a pinch of Italian herbs on each, salt and pepper to taste and fold the empty half of your dough over your little piles.

Pinch the dough shut and place them about an inch apart on the sheet of wax paper. Take care that you close the pastry well, otherwise your cheese will run out. Also yummy, but a bit of a pity. Next, place your tray in the pre-heated oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or whenever the dough has turned a nice golden brown.

Serve hot with finger food. Or along with your evening meal. They also work rather well as appetizers and snacks! 

Potato squash mash

Butternut squash

Potato and pumpkin mash.

2-4 persons

30 mins prep time.

Potatoes: 8-10 mid-size. Peeled and cubed

Butternut pumpkin: 1 small. Peeled and cubed

Onion: 2 small, red and white. Chopped

Red pepper: 1 chopped grilled (opt.)

Cheese: 100-150 gr. Chopped or grated

Butter: 50 gr

Skimmed Milk: ½-1 mug.

Olive oil: 2-4 tablesp

Parsley: 1 tablesp

Chives: 1 tablesp

Basil: 1 tablesp

Italian mix herbs: 1 teasp

Sweet chili sauce: 1 tablesp (opt.)

Salt: to taste

Pepper: to taste

Boil your peeled potatoes while you peel and cut your pumpkin. I prefer Butternut squash, but any other will do. For easy peeling, make unpeeled, half-inch slices of your pumpkin and then cut off the peel per disk. Goes way faster.

Bake your cubed pumpkin in the olive oil together with the herbs and the chopped onions (and red pepper, if you opted for that). Mid-high heat and keep stirring so it doesn’t burn until the cubes become soft. Add a splash of milk, and the cheese and continue to stir until your cheese has melted. Turn the heat low. By this time your potatoes should be ready for mashing. Drain of water. Add the butter and remaining milk, then your pumpkin mix and Chili sauce (if you decided to add it) and bring to taste with salt and pepper while you either mash it to one lumpy mass (my preference) or use an immersion blender to make one smooth mash.

Serve with a bit of butter/gravy on top, and meat/salad of choice and enjoy.

Bon apetit!!!

Quick white cabbage/rice wok

This is a recent recipe that worked out really well. Quick to make, which is definitely a plus, and yummy. You need about 20-30 mins at most.

3-4 persons

Wok/skillet

Rice: (boiled) 2-3 mugs basmati or parboiled

White cabbage: ½ Sliced in thin strips

Carrot: 2-3 (julienne or spaghetti thickness) mid-size

Leek: 4-6 inches. Chopped

Garlic: 1 clove, minced

Chives: 2 teasp

Parsley: 1 teasp

Paprika (mild): ½ teasp

Pepper: 1 knifepoint

Salt: to taste

Nutmeg: 1 pinch

Sambal Ulek: 1-2 teasp

Honey: 1 teasp

Egg: 1

Milk: 1/3 mug

Make sure to boil your rice as dry as possible. I tend to do about ten percent less water than usual to get the substance right. But any way will be okay. Cut all your veggies and garlic. Heat your wok nice and hot. Keep the fire as high as possible as you throw in a splash of oil (whichever you prefer, olive, sunflower, peanut or coconut oil) and immediately add your carrots a la julienne. Stir a few times, and then add your strips of cabbage and chopped leek. Keep stirring. Next come the seasonings. Just toss them all in, along with the sambal and honey. Keep stirring while you add your rice.

Get a small bowl and quickly mix your egg with milk in there, along with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Push the mix in the wok to one side, and pour the egg/milk in on the empty side. Wait a moment to allow the egg to bake a little, then stir through the egg a few times first, before slowly mixing it with the rest of the meal.

Bake for a few more minutes and your dinner is ready for consumption.

Serve with krupuk or Naan bread, or papadums, or some flash-fried chicken for the non-vegetarian among you. ;-)

Bon appetit.

Fried Rice

Rich Rice

Personally I am a big fan of parboiled rice, but it’ll work with basmati, or any other rice you prefer. Just make sure that you boil it with a little less water than normal. You want your rice done, but on the dry side. I like to work with a mild curry mix for this one, but you can pick whichever mix you prefer. If you’re into spicy, go for spicy, if you like mild, go for mild. Have fun with it. If it is a little more spicy than expected, serve with fresh cottage cheese, or yogurt with a little of dried cumin and coriander powder through it.

Nutty Fried Rice

 

2-4 persons

Rice: boiled. 500-750 gr. (3-4 big mugs)

Onion: 1 mid size. Chopped

Garlic: 1-2 cloves. Minced.

Coconut shavings: 2 tablesp.

Mustard seeds: 1 tablesp.

Peanuts: 4 tablesp. Chopped

Peanut butter: 2 tablesp. (Optional)

Milk: ¼ cup (only if you use the peanut butter)

Olive oil: 3-4 tablesp.

Parsley: 1 teasp. (dried. If fresh, 1 tablesp.)

Sugar: 1 teasp.

Salt: 1-2 teasp. (to taste)

Pepper: 2-4 turns. (2-4 knife points)

Curry mix: 1-2 tablesp.

Sweet chili sauce: 2 tablesp. (Optional)

Sweet soy sauce: 2 tablsp. (Optional)

Heat your olive oil in a wok or big skillet, with your mustard seeds in them. Mid heat, low if you’re afraid it gets too hot too fast. Add the garlic. Stir. Then your spices (curry mix) coconut shavings, and peanuts. Bake for a few minutes, until your mustard seeds start to pop (a little like popcorn). Add your onion. Keep stirring and increase the heat a little if you feel it is not baking properly. Wait until your onions are nice and yellow from the spices before you add, pepper, salt and sugar.

Toss your rice (rinsing it before use will make the grains less sticky) on top and start stirring it all together until it’s all equally yellow.

If you opted for the chili sauce or soy sauce, or both, now is the time to add it.

Same goes for the peanut butter and milk. Open up the center of your rice until you see the bottom. Drop in the peanut butter and milk and start stirring that center, gradually pulling in more and more rice until it is all equally dispersed.

Bake it all a little longer…small crusts make it even better…and then serve with vegetable(s) of choice.

Cauliflower on the side

Cauliflower

I am a big fan of cauliflower; there are such diverse ways of preparing it that it is definitely one of my favorite veggies…now don’t start thinking that you don’t like the smell, I have several recipe’s where you won’t smell “that” smell at all, so don’t worry. Added to the fact that I love the taste of it, it is also extremely healthy (lots of vitamins) and very good for people who feel the need to watch their carb intake...cauliflower is often considered a potato replacement.

The recipe I’m going to put down is fast (about fifteen minutes of actual baking time) yummy, and it will serve well with boiled or baked potatoes, rice (boiled or fried) or even pasta if you opt to make it with a cheese sauce.

Fresh garden herbs today. If you don’t have them, go with a dried basic Italian or Sicilian herbal mix, or use the individual dried herbs (amounts of the herbs need to be quartered in that case).

Green herb Cauliflower

Serves 3-4 as a side dish. 2 as the main course.

Cauliflower: 1 mid-size. Small parts.

Onion/Leek: ½. Chopped

Tomato: (optional) 2. Quartered

Bell pepper (optional) ½. Chopped

Garlic:  (optional) 1 clove. Minced

Butter/Olive oil: 1-2 tablesp.

Cream/Milk: ½-1 mug

Sweet chili sauce: (optional) 1 tablesp.

Salt: 1 teasp. To taste.

Sugar: 1 teasp.

Pepper: 1-2 turns. (1 knifepoint)

Basil: 3 tablesp. Chopped

Oregano: 1-2 tablesp. Chopped

Parsley: 3 tablesp. Chopped

Chives: 3 tablesp. Chopped

Thyme: (optional) 1 small branch. Just the leaves. Chopped

Rosemary: (optional) 1 small branch. Just the leaves. Chopped

Heat your butter or olive oil in a skilled, or better yet, a wok…if you opted for garlic, bake it for a minute prior to the cauliflower. Throw in your cauliflower and keep the heat high, stirring frequently. Add your onion and herbs and salt. Keep stirring. When the cauliflower start to soften and crust a little add your cream or milk and the pepper and chili sauce. Then, if you opted for either the bell pepper or tomato, add that now, too.

Keep baking until you can easily “spear” the vegetable with a fork…al dente (hot and barely softened…so just a little baked so it isn’t raw anymore) is nicest.

Serve with the staple food of choice and add a salad and/or meat for a full meal.

Enjoy.

Broccoli on the side

Broccoli

Broccoli delish.

I’m a big fan of Broccoli, not because I’ve always been a Broccoli fanatic…in fact I used to hate the stuff because I just didn’t like the taste…but because I’ve found a way to prepare it that I actually love the darn stuff that has changed drastically.

Added to that I’ve discovered that it is ridiculously healthy, and so easy…well, it just deserve a spot or two in this cooking blog. Forget simple steaming, or cooking…seriously, there is a reason why kids usually hate broccoli, guys. Get out your frying pan and give this a whirl. Should take you about fifteen to twenty minutes and if you’re feeling lazy you can just eat it as the main course and leave out the rest. Hah

Usually I serve this on the side of a pasta fungi or baked potatoes, though, but it’ll do fine with another veggie side dish with some rice, or other staple food of choice.

Tender Broccoli

2-3 persons

Broccoli: (preferably fresh, frozen optional) 1-2 trunks (700gr). Small. Similar to the picture.

Onion:  1 mid-size. Chopped.

Leek: (optional) 3-4 inches. Chopped.

Butter: 1 tablesp. (Olive oil, margarine or coconut butter will work, too)

Cream (or milk): 1/3 mug (150 ml)

Basil: 2 big tablesp. Chopped.

Parsley: 1 big tablesp. Chopped.

Salt: 1-2 teasp. To taste.

Sugar: 1 teasp. (honey if you don’t like sugar)

Pepper: 1 pinch (1 knife point).

Heat your butter or oil in a wok or skillet. Toss in the broccoli, keep the fire medium to high, stir occasionally. Add the onion and leek, your herbs and salt and sugar. The broccoli should become a brighter green within just a few minutes. Once they’re shiny and green, turn the heat a little lower. Keep stirring. Add the cream or milk and keep baking until the liquid is almost completely gone. Your Broccoli should be slightly beyond al dente and delicious with your main dish. Enjoy.

Asia with a twist

Take your pick

Stir-fry for two.

You get home from work, you’re tired as a dog, and yet you want something to fill your stomach that won’t make you feel like you’re living on fast food. This is a really easy one that’ll see you through a meal with mostly left over veg that you find in your fridge (hopefully anyway). If you don’t have one or two of these ingredients, leave it out, or see if you can substitute it with something of a similar substance. I.e. you don’t have carrot, try some parsnip, or cauliflower, pumpkin, sweet potato…or if you’re very adventurous, red beet. (Careful with Broccoli, it has a very dominant taste. Same goes for Brussels sprouts.)

Opted for dried herbs again. It’s winter and my herb garden is more than struggling…It’s dead. *sigh* Need to get some new ones. Remember that if you use fresh ones, double, or triple the amount indicated below. All these veggie ingredients are fresh, if you don’t have them, aim for frozen and only in extreme emergencies resort to canned.

Sweet & Salty potato-veg stir fry

Potatoes: 6-8 small ones. Cubed to half an inch. Unpeeled

Onion: 1 small. Chopped

Leek: 3-4 inches. Chopped

Carrot: 1 small. Quartered and sliced

Bell Pepper: ¼. Chopped

Green beans: 4-6. Chopped

Zucchini: 3 inches. Chopped

White Cabbage: Thin strips. Handful

Olive oil: 3-4 tablesp.

Milk: ¼ mug

Peach jam: 1 Tablesp.

Sweet chili sauce: 1 teasp.

Oregano: ½ teasp.

Basil: ½ teasp.

Parsley: ½ teasp.

Italian mix: 1 pinch

Salt: ½ teasp. (to taste)

Cayenne pepper: 1-2 pinch (1-2 knife points)

Use a big skillet or wok. Heat the olive oil for about thirty seconds and throw in your chopped potatoes. The beauty of this recipe is that if you get the sequence right, you can basically cut your veggies above the pan, saving loads of time. Stir frequently and turn the fire to medium when you notice that your potatoes begin to crust a bit. Add onion and leek. Keep stirring. Add your herbs, salt and cayenne. When onions begin to become transparent a bit, add carrot slices. Make sure they’re thin. About three minutes on medium fire needs to pass before you add the sweet chili, milk, and the jam, keeping a steady stir going. If you don’t think the mix is baking properly turn the fire higher again. If you look at your veggie list, that is basically the sequence in which you should gradually stir the remainder of the veg through your potatoes, leaving the cabbage strips to last. Once your cabbage begins to turn soft, glassy almost, you’re done.

This recipe can be served as a full meal, or a side dish to noodles or rice. If you need to stretch it for more people, you can add half a kilo (2-3 mugs) of boiled lentils to the mix. Or serve just the stir fry with French bread, pita, naan or a meat of choice…cubed chicken filet will go well with this. Make sure to bake the chicken crispy in olive oil with pepper and salt and a pinch of rosemary. If anyone dares to make it with fish (baked in olive oil with some sage), I’d love to hear how that worked out.