Healthy and Delicious Mushroom Straganoff

Straganoff is a Russian dish normally made with beef strips but a few clever substitutes can turn this traditional creamy casserole into a low fat, low calorie and delicious meal.

Mushroom Straganoff

Ingredients: (Serves 3)

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 onion (I used two small onions)
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 400g mixed mushrooms
• 250ml vegetable or beef stock
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tablespoons low fat sour cream (I used low fat cream with a squeeze of lemon juice)
• small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
• 250g cooked brown wild rice

Ingredients

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and soften the onion for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and the paprika and cook for 1 minute more.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook on a high heat, stirring often for about 5 minutes.
4. Pour in the stock and the Worcestershire sauce. Bring to the boil for 5 minutes until the sauce thickens.
5. Then turn off the heat and stir in the cream and the parsley. Make sure the pan isn't too hot or the sauce may split.
6. Serve with the cooked rice.

Healthy and delicious

Use yesterday's Pesto recipe and make today's Pesto Pasta!

For lunch today I decided to use what I made yesterday, add a couple of minor ingredients and make a delcious Pesto Pasta. The dish came out beautifully... Appealing to the eye as well as to the tastebuds! Try it, it won't disappoint.

Simple Coriander and Almond Pesto Pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 batch of the coriander and almond pesto (recipe on blog)
• 250ml sour cream/creme fraiche (I used creme fraiche)
• 1 bag of pasta
• 1 handful of shaved almonds
• Parmesan cheese, grated.

Ingredients

Method:

1. Boil your pasta in boiling, salted water.
2. While your pasta is boiling, in a bowl, mix together your pesto and sour cream/creme fraiche, creating a light green in colour and creamy consistency'd sauce (add more or less to your liking)
3. Fry the almonds in a dry frying pan (lightly toasting them). Be careful to not burn them.
4. When the Pasta is al dente, drain, and put into your desired serving bowl.
5. Pour the sour cream/creme fraiche and pesto mixture over the pasta and toss. (making sure that all the pasta has some sauce on it)
6. Put the desired portions into serving dishes, sprinkle with toasted almonds and some freshly grated parmesan, serve and enjoy!

Enjoy!

Vegetarian option for the day...

This vegetarian dish (Melenzane Parmigiana) is delicious. Whenever we have a glut of aubergines in our vegetable garden this is one of our "go to" recipes! It is flavoursome, filling and fairly easy to prepare. Try it if you haven't before...or even if you have and you know you'd enjoy it! The recipe called for basil leaves, but in Cape Town basil is not in season at the moment, so I went and bought some basil pesto to replace it. It actually worked really well and gave the dish a wonderful taste. Unfortunately I did not put the basil pesto in the "ingredients" photograph as I went to buy it at the last minute.

Here is the recipe:

Melenzane Parmigiana

Ingredients:

• 3 medium aubergines
• 125ml olive oil + extra for greasing the dish and frying the onion.
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped.
• 2 large cloves garlic, crushed
• 120ml flat leaf parsley, chopped finely
• 1 tablespoon dried oreganum
• 1 tin tomaoes/ 6 really ripe tomatoes, peeled.
• 25ml tomato paste
• salt and pepper
• 250g sliced/grated mozzerella
• 250ml basil leaves chopped/ 50ml basil pesto
• 100g parmesan grated
• 400ml cream (only if you planning on freezing this dish and reheating it)

Ingredients

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade
2. Slice the aubergines lengthwise in thickish slices (Don't peel), lay them in a collinder and sprinkle with salt and allow them to drain for 10- 15 minutes.
3. Fry aubergine slices in olive oil until soft and cooked, put aside.
4. Fry the onion in a pot until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, parsley and oregano and fry over a low heat for 1-2 minutes. Do not burn the garlic.
5. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, pinch of salt and black pepper to the onion and garlic mixture. Cover and cook gently for +/- 35 minutes. (If it seems to watery, reduce it for a bit with the lid off)
6. Grease a deep baking dish with olive oil.
7. Cover the bottom layer with aubergine, follow with a layer of the tomato sauce, then a layer of mozzerella. Repeat until you have run out of one of the ingredients.
8. Finally sprinkle with a generous layer of parmesan.
9. Bake for +/- 40 minutes.
10. If you freeze this dish and reheat it, then about 3 minutes before removing it from the oven add 50ml or more cream (depending on the size of your dish) .
11. Serve with a side, green salad, enjoy!

Ready to enjoy!

Recipe Source: Sumptuous, Marlene Van Der Westhuizen

Vegetarian Pasta Dish

You may feel as though I am repeating one of the previous pasta recipes that has been posted on this blog, but this one has some slight alterations and I thought I might as well share it with you. This tomato based pasta dish is really so versatile and one can basically do anything to it, but here is what I did with it this weekend.

Here is the recipe

Creamy Tomato and mushroom pasta, with toasted almonds:

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of penne pasta
• 10 or more field mushrooms, diced (chunky rather than sliced)  
• 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 tin chopped, peeled tomatoes
• 45ml cream
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
• 5ml chilli flakes or 1 dried chilli chopped.
• 15ml tomato paste
• 30ml olive oil + extra for pasta

Some things that I added at the last minute that aren't in the picture, but that are an asset to the recipe are:

• 60ml red wine
• 5ml dried oreganum
• 100ml shaved almonds, toasted
• salt and pepper
• Parmesan

Ingredients

Method:

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil, add salt to the water.
2. Add the pasta to the boiling water and allow to cook until al dente. Then drain.
3. In a smallish pot heat up the olive oil and add the garlic. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Add the mushrooms to the garlic and olive oil and brown.
5. Add the tomatoes to the mushroom mixture and fry for 1-2 minutes.
6. Then add the tinned tomatoes and tomato paste and allow to simmer for 3 to 5 minutes.
7. Add the red wine and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
8. Add the oreganum and chilli flakes and cream and allow to simmer for 2 minutes.
9. Taste sauce and add an appropriate amount of seasoning.
10. Pour some olive oil over the cooked pasta to help it not to stick together. 
11. To dish, fill a bowl with the pasta, add sauce, sprinkle with grated parmesan and toasted almonds and enjoy!



Wonderful!



Home-Made Chicken Pie

It was my turn to make dinner for my family tonight and I felt like something warm and delicious but at the same time was quick and simple as I didn't have a lot of time. So I came across this recipe and decided to give it a try.

Roast Chicken and Mushroom Pie

Ingredients

• 2 onions (diced)
• 50g butter
• 400g portabellini mushrooms (halved)
• 8 fresh sage leaves
• 4 garlic cloves (crushed)
• ¾ cup white wine (optional)
• 500ml chicken stock
• 1 cooked free – range rotisserie chicken (shredded)
• 1 cup cream
• 2 – 4 teaspoons corn flour
• Puff pastry
• 1 egg for the egg wash
• Salt, pepper and seasoning to taste (I used some chili flakes and some mustard powder for heat)

Ingredients

 Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
2. In a saucepan over a medium heat, fry the onions in the butter for 5 minutes. Increase the heat and add the mushrooms, sage and garlic then fry for 10 minutes.
3. Add the wine, stirring for 2 minutes, before adding the stock.
4. Simmer for 15minutes or until thickened then add the chicken, cream (I used reduced fat cream) and corn flour, 1 teaspoon at a time until thickened to your liking.
5. Simmer for a further 5 minutes, then season to taste.
6. Spoon onto a large ovenproof pie dish.
7. Cut out the pastry and put onto of the chicken mixture. I made two decorative leave and a simple boarder for fun.
8. Remember that everything that you put on as decoration must be washed with egg too.
9. Brush the pie with the beaten egg and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden and crisp.



Mmmmmm...



This would also be really sweet as mini individual pies instead of one big one.

Pasta with Butternut, Sage and Pine Nuts

I’m forever searching the Internet on food blogs or websites or whatever comes my way for new and exciting recipes to try. My dad found this recipe and it looked delish so I just had to try it. This is a great vegetarian meal, you wont miss the meat at all.  Butternut and sage is a classic combination and this is a great twist on an old favorite. Give it a try...

Pan- Fried Pasta with Butternut, Fried Sage, and Pine Nuts

Ingredients: (serves 4)

• 1 medium butternut
• 1 small sweet onion, peeled and diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• Olive Oil
• Salt and pepper
• ½ cup of sage leaves
• 500g Farfalle pasta
• ¾ cups pine nuts, toasted
• About one cup of Parmesan shaved or finely grated



Ingredients



 

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Cut the butternut in half and scoop out the strings and seeds out of the middle.
3. Cut the squash into about 2.5cm cubes.
4. Toss the onion, garlic, a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper.
5. Mince about half of the fresh sage leaves and toss with the butternut.
6. Spread the butternut mixture in a thin layer on a large baking sheet and roast for about 40 minutes or until the squash is soft.
7. Heat the salted pasta water till boiling and cook the Farfalle until al dente. Drain and set aside.
8. As the squash finishes roasting, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large high-sided sauté pan.  The oil is ready when it pops and sputters (don’t let it start smoking). Drop the rest of the sage leaves and fry for about a minute or until they begin to shrivel up.
9. Remove with a slotted spoon and salt lightly. Crush with the back of a spoon.
10. Add half the pasta to the pan, along with half the roasted butternut mixture. Crumble in half the sage. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or until the pasta is heated through and getting crispy on some of the edges.
11. Add the pine nuts and cook for another minute. Stir in half of the cheese.
12. (Don’t forget to add salt and pepper to taste)

 For a more luxurious version bacon and creamy Danish feta could be added.



Frying the pasta with the butternut





Delicious and ready to enjoy


Pictures courtesy of The Kitchn Food Blog
www.thekitchn.com/recipe-pasta-with-buternut-sq-64966

Feeling like some pasta? Here you go... Enjoy!

last night I had to make dinner, and I was having a pasta craving. I have this craving quite often as I am a bit of a pasta glut, but what can I say? I just LOVE pasta! So my choice of pasta and sauce for the evening was a good old 'Pasta carbornara." It exceeded all expectations, that I even had it for breakfast and lunch today! try it!

Here is the recipe

Pasta Carbonara

Ingredients: Serves 4

• 1 packet dried spaghetti
• 1/4 cup double thick cream (I used a bit more than a 1/4)
• 4 eggs
• 1 packet of streaky bacon, diced.
• 1 teaspoon extra virign olive oil
• 1 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• parsley for garnishing

Ingredients

Method:

1. Bring a large pot of water seasoned with salt to the boil.
2. Saute the bacon in a pan until crisp, remove bacon from the pan and drain using paper towels.
3. Place the spaghetti into the boiling water and cook for +/- 9 minutes until al dente.
4. In a bowl mix together the cream, parmesan, olive oil, eggs, salt and pepper until well combined.
5. Drain the pasta, toss with the cream mixture, add the bacon and season further if necessary.
6. Garnish with parmsan shavings and some fresh parsley.

Delectable!

Delicious Butternut soup with a dash of heat

Soup can be the perfect meal. Some people may think that soup is boring and that it takes ages to prepare for something that isn't very filling but this recipe is quick, simple and hearty.  Anything can be added to a basic butternut soup recipe. Add a protein to make your soup more filling and any spices or extra ingredients you enjoy. Here I added a variety or spices and bacon and Chorizo (a spicy Spanish sausage) to make it more of a main meal. I also used yoghurt instead of cream as a fat free option. Play around with flavour combinations until you find the perfect one.

Serve your soup with a fresh loaf of your favouite bread.  

Spicy Butternut soup with Chorizo

Ingredients: (serves 2 to 3)

• 1 medium onion (I used spring onions)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 50g butter
• 900g pumpkin or butternut
• 1 tablespoon of coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon dried red chilly
• 1 litre of chicken stock
• 8 rashes of smoked bacon
• 100ml yoghurt or cream
• chorizo and crutons to serve



Ingredients

 Method:

1. Peel and roughly chop the onion and the garlic.
2. Melt the butter in a large, heavy based saucepan and cook the onion and garlic until soft and translucent.
3. Roughly chop the pumpkin into cubes and add to the onion.
4. Cook until the pumpkin is golden brown on the edges.
5. Toast the coriander, chilly and the cumin in a small pan over a low heat for about 2 minutes, until they tart to smell warm and nutty.
6. Grind the roasted spices with a pestle and mortar.
7. Add the spices to the onion and pumpkin.
8. Cook for a minute or so, then add the stock.
9. Leave to simmer for 20 minutes or until the pumpkin is tender
10. Fry the bacon and sliced chorizo in the pan in which you toasted the spices it should be crisp then cut it up into small pieces.
11. Whizz up he soup with blender or food processor until smooth.
12. Pour in the yoghurt or cream and taste for seasoning adding salt and pepper to taste.
13. Serve piping hot with the bacon and chorizo bits on top with some crutons



Success!

Simple Chicken Pad Thai

So last night it was my turn to make dinner so I decided to make a quick and easy meal for my family. I love Thai food and am always looking for something different and fun to try, with the Woolworths Pad Thai Noodles it makes this meal so easy and is ready within minutes!

Simple translated Pad Thai means "Thai style fried noodles". I had some chicken in the fridge so i used that but you can also use prawns or even tofu. The vegetables are only limited by your imagination any combination will be delish. I used my favourite veggie of the moment Tenderstem Broccoli and some frozen corn i found in my freezer.

Here's the recipe:

Chicken Pad Thai

Ingredients: (Serves 2 to 3)

• 2 tablespoons of Sesame oil
• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 clove of garlic (crushed)
• 1 teaspoon of ginger
• Handfull of broccoli
• 1/2 cup of corn
• 400g Pad Thai Noodles
• 2 tablespoons of Indonesian Sweet Soya sauce
• 125ml of Oyster sauce
• Fresh coriander and crushed roasted peanuts to serve



Ingredients

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a large wok.
2. Add the sliced chicken breasts and stir fry for 3 minutes.
3. Add the crushed garlic and the ginger and stir fry for a further 1 minute.
4. Add 1 handful of broccoli and  the corn (or your choice of vegatables) and stir fry for a further 2 minutes.
5. Add the noodles and mix through 2 tablespoons of Indonesian Sweet Soya sauce and 125ml of Oyster sauce.
6. Stir fry for a further 2 minutes until the noodles are heated through and serve with fresh coriander and a handful of roasted crushed peanuts.

Mmmmm...

  





Left over chicken? What I did with mine:

So we had left over chicken from Sunday's roast and I wasn't interested in eating the same thing for dinner on Monday night, so I decided to make it into something else along with the mushrooms we had lying in the fridge... At first I thought a pie would be nice, but then I didn't feel like that either, I then thought maybe a lasagne, but couldn't find a recipe that tickled my tastebuds... so I opted to make a pasta sauce from my head, to add to some pasta, as time too was limited.

It was quick to make and delicious to eat.
Heres what I used:

Creamy tomato, chicken and mushroom pasta:

Ingredients:

• 1 packet of Penne Pasta
• 200g cooked, boneless chicken diced
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 100ml water
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and put into 20ml olive oil
• 15ml coriander, chopped
• 100g mushrooms, chopped
• 125ml cream
• salt
• pepper
• chilli flakes (optional)



Ingredients (Excluding the water, salt, pepper and chilli flakes)



Method:

Boil a pot filled with water and a pinch of salt. Once the water is boiling add the pasta for +/- 8mins

Put the onion and garlic oil and chopped coriander into a medium sized saucepan on a medium heat and fry until the onions are soft and glassy.

Add the mushrooms and continue to fry until mushrooms have shrunken and are browning.

Add the chicken.

Add the tinned tomatoes and water and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the cream

Season with salt, pepper and chilli flakes if desired

Serve on the pasta and garnish with some grated parmesan and a few coriander leaves

Bon Appetit!