Monday 26 October 2015

Courgette and Carrot Spaghetti with Turkey Mince Meatballs


COURGETTE AND CARROT SPAGHETTI WITH TURKEY MINCE MEATBALLS AND MUSHROOM AND TOMATO SAUCE

With so many of us trying to live healtier these days, we are trying to come up with more fun ways of packing our meals with vegetables, at the same time reducing the amount of carbs we consume. Turning courgettes or carrots into 'spaghetti' is one of those ways. You can invest in a spiralizer, the prices of which range from £10 to £40, you can teach yourself how to julienne your veg, or (like me) you can pop in to a nearby supermarket and buy ready spiralized courgettes or carrots. All you need to do is briefly boil them and drain them thoroughly.

For your meatball: mix 500g lean turkey mince with 2 tbsps of breadcrumbs soaked in milk, an egg, chives, salt and pepper. Form little balls and fry them on a tiny amount of rapeseed oil until golden brown.

For the sauce: slice half a red onion, 2 cloves of garlic and some white mushrooms. Fry them on a teaspoon of butter. Add tomato pasata, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with grated Grana Padano.

Enjoy the low carb feast.

 


Friday 16 October 2015

PULLED CHICKEN AND BEANS with ZESTY SALAD and TORTILLA CRISPS

Pulled pork has become an absolute street-food favourite in trendy London. Pork pibil sandwiches and brioche buns appeared on every market and in every burger restaurant, reaching sky high prices. 
However, this recent culinary hit has its shortcomings: it takes mighty long to prepare ( if you are after authentic pork pubil, it might take as long as 7-8 hours), it being pork, it is not the healthiest or cheapest option.
But the popularity of this simple dish got me thinking whether similar techniques and flavours could not be applied when cooking chicken? Then I found some extra inspiration in the latest issue of Good Food Magazine. And here you have the result; at only around 270kcal and £1.20 per portion

PULLED CHICKEN AND BEANS with ZESTY SALAD and TORTILLA CRISPS
(serves 4-6)



You will need:
- 4 halved chicken legs
- Tabasco sauce
- 4 crushed garlic cloves
- 1 sliced large red onion
- 400g can of black beans
- 400g can of kidney beans
- tomato pasata
- chopped parsley and lots of it
- 1 iceberg lettuce
- 1/2 cucumber
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- lime juice
- 2 plain tortillas

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Rub the chicken with Tabasco sauce (as much as you can handle), salt and pepper. Mix crushed garlic, sliced onion and tomato pasata with seasoning and pour into a roasting pan. Place the spiced up chicken legs on top. Cover the whole thing with foil and leave in the oven for 60min.


2. After an hour, take it out of the oven and mix the beans into the tomato sauce. Cook for another 25-30min.



3. Prepare the salad: slice the iceberg lettuce and the cucumber, sprinkle with parsley and a bit of salt, drizzle with olive oil and lime juice. 
For the crisps, cut the tortillas into pieces. Spread them on a flat roasting pan and chuck into the oven for 2-3 min, until nicely toasted.



4. Take the chicken out of the oven and shred it with knife and fork. Discard the bones. Mix the meat with beans and tomato sauce. 




5. Serve the chicken on a big platter, accompanied by the zesty salad and still warm tortilla crisps.



Thursday 15 October 2015

Foolproof and Fail Proof Tiramisu Cheesecake


No one prepares a better cheesecake than my mum. A baked one. It never ceases to be a special Christmas or Easter time treat. It's light and fluffy, sweet but not overpowering. She soaks the raisins in vodka or rum overnight, so that they add an edge to it. Sure, sometimes it cracks slightly, nothing that cannot be fixed with a chocolatey, glistening top layer. It never sinks though! Never.

Well, I am not that lucky. I folow my mum's exact recipe and directions. I make sure nothing, no matter how small a detail, is omitted. Yet my cheesecake, even if it grows stunningly during baking, always sinks during cooling. Always.

Eventually, I gave up on attempting to equal my mum in the art of cheesecake baking and decided to look for an easier, fail proof and foolproof recipe. I think I finally found one. I've tested it twice on two different groups of friends. Both batches seemed to be extremely popular, so I'm pretty sure I'll be going back to this recipe for:

THE TIRAMISU CHEESECAKE

You will need:
1kg of smooth curd cheese (or ready prepared cheesecake cheese from a Polish shop)
250g Mascarpone
3/4 glass of sugar
3 tablespoons of potato flour
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract or essence
2 eggs
100g of Amaretti biscuits
cup of sweet coffee
cocoa powder 
fresh fruit or mini meringues for decoration (optional)

1. Prepare your cake tin (20x25cm) by lining it with baking paper. Heat your oven to 180 degrees, around 160 with a fan.
2. Mix curd cheese with Mascarpone, sugar, potato flour and vanilla. Then add eggs and mix again.

3. Soak your biscuits in coffee on both sides.
4. Pour 1/3 of cheese mixture into the cake tin, top with 1/2 of coffee soaked biscuits and sprinkle them with sieved cocoa powder. Pour another 1/3 of cheese mixture on top and put out the rest of biscuits covering them with cocoa again. Top with the remaining cheese mixture.
Bake for around 35min.

5. The cheesecake might crack slightly during baking, but it should not matter too much. To avoid bigger cracks, you can place another cake tin filled with hot water at the bottom of the oven.
6. Cool the cake. Before serving, sprinle it with sieved cocoa powder and you can decorate it with fresh fruit, mini meringues, etc. 



All done! ENJOY!!!

Monday 12 October 2015

Spinach and Cheese Pierogi - how not to scare your non-Polish guests off the Polish food



As a Pole living in London, I like to treat people around me to some of the traditional Polish cuisine from time to time. Even though there are so many of us here, it so happened that in my closest group of friends in London there are very few Polish people. Therefore, cooking Polish food for my guests is always quite exciting, as you never know what they are going to make of it and how they are going to react. Are they going to genuinely enjoy it or eat some out of politeness? Arrrggghhh... The stress!!!

Well, last Saturday we were having a little catch up at my place with some friends and colleagues from work. None of them Polish. I thought it would a good occasion to introduce them to PIEROGI.

Now, I will not be going into details as for Poles pierogi are almost a work of art and one could easily write a trilogy about them. Let me just mention a few basic facts:
- pierogi is a Polish dish, let's get this straight - the Russians or Ukrainians might want to claim it, but all their efforts are in vain as... Pierogi = Poland.
- they come in a wiiiiiiiiide variety of flavours; they can be savoury (with sour cabbage and wild mushrooms, with pork mince and cheese, potatoes, onions and curd cheese, etc.) or sweet (with blueberry compote, plums or sweetened curd cheese ).
- they're delicious fresh straight from the boiling water, or even the next day, fried with a bit of butter
- the sour cabbage and wild mushroom variety is a traditional dish during Christmas Eve celebrations, however pierogi are extremely popular any other day of the year.

Seeing as my guests' knowledge of Polish cusisine is understandably limited, I did not want to scare them off with some of the funkier flavours that only an Estern European palate could appreciate. That is why, I have prepared a very gentle version of pierogi. A good introduction to this fantastic dish. So here you have: 

SPINACH AND MIXED CHEESES STUFFED PIEROGI (around 40-45 units)

1. Prepare the dough. Mix 300g of plain flower with 125ml of hot water, an egg, 20g of soft butter and a pinch of salt. Work until the dough can be formed into a smooth ball. Leave it to rest.
2. In the meantime, prepare your filling. Thoroughly wash and dry 300-350g of fresh spinach. Chop it roughly and wilt it on a wide pan. When cooled, mix it with 150-170g of feta cheese, 150g of ricotta and 150g of grated mozzarella. Add quite a big pinch of garlic powder, generous sprinkle of black pepper and a bit of salt.


3. Divide the dough into small parts, roll it till around 2-3mm thin. Using a glass, small bowl or a round cookie cutter, cut out circles in the rolled dough. Top the circles up with a teaspoon of filling and close them pinching the edges together. Every Polish cook has her own style, so don't try to imitate mine as it certainly is not perfect. Work on your own, individual style instead. 



 4. While working through small batches of dough, boil a pot of water with a pinch of salt and splash of olive oil (to prevent pierogi getting stuck to each other). When the water has boiled, cook your pierogi until they float on the water surface. Take them out and dry out the excess of water. Serve immediately with hot melted butter/sour cream/tomato sauce and Parmesan or leave to cool and fry till crispy later.



Trust me, my guests loved them. And I am certain you will enjoy them too.
What are your favourite pierogi fillings?

Monday 5 October 2015

Protein Packed Dinner Salad


CHICKEN BREAST, EGG, COUS COUS, STEAMED VEGETABLES AND WATERCRESS SALAD

This flavoursome yet so so healthy and full of protein salad is filling enough to be served for dinner. It would also make a perfect lunch if you reduce the portion a little bit.

  • Cut the chicken breasts into bite sized chunks, season them with your favourite spices (paprika, garlic powder, oregano), coat lightly with rapeseed oil and chuck them into the oven on small roasting pan. Cook for about 20-22min in 190 degrees in the middle of the oven.
  • Hard boil a couple of eggs.
  • Prepare the cous cous. Simply measure it in a bowl, pour boiling water onto it, until it's just about covered. Leave for 5-7min with a lid on.
  • Wash and cut your vegetables. I used asparagus, baby sweetcorn and pickled roasted red pepper. Steam or boil asparagus and corn for about 3 min with a pinch of salt. 
  • Fluff up the cous cous, add all the veg, drizzle some olive oil, season to taste and mix throughly.
  • Take the chicken out of the oven, peel the eggs and wash the watercress.
  • You can either mix everything together, or follow my serving suggestion. It's super tasty anyway!

Perfect Monday night dinner - Lean Steak Mince and Mixed Veg in Tomato Sauce

Loosely inspred by Spaghetti Bolognese or Chilli Con Carne, here is my take on beef mince in tomato sauce, whatever you wanna call it. For added nutrients, I've packed it full of colourful vegetables. Yellow and red bell peppers are in season right now. They come quite cheap, so why not use what they offer? And they come oozing with vitamin C, carotenoids and other antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients. No need to follow an exact recipe. It's very much about what you have in your frindge right now.  So a perfect Monday night dinner then... :)

LEAN STEAK MINCE AND MIXED VEGETABLES IN TOMATO SAUCE 
WITH PASTA




Prepare your vegetabes: chop the onion (I've chosen the red spring onions for their vibrant colour and spicy sweetness), crush the garlic (4-5 cloves), wash and roughly cut your peppers (any colour, I've chosen yellow and red as they are full of antioxidants) and some white mushrooms. Throw in some frozen peas (or fresh if you prefer). Put them all into a large pan and fry briefly until softened. You can choose any vegetables you feel like. Your fridge should be the main inspiration as no one really has time to go shopping on Monday, straight after work. Beware however, that some vegetables (like carrots or green beans) will require longer cooking time. Move the mixed vegetables to a bowl when cooked.
 
Toast the spices (paprika, black pepper, tumeric) on the same pan you used for vegetables, until fragrant. You can add cumin, cinnamon or even a bit of cocoa powder for the chilli con carne flavours, or some basil, oregano for the more spaghetti bolognese feel.

Fry the steak mince on no or very little rapeseed oil until it's brown. Add some tomato paste, tip all the cooked vegetables into the meat. Mix thoroughly. You can add some cream cheese or flavoured Boursin to take the edge of the sour tomato sauce. Season to taste.