Creamy chicken and zoodles

I got inspiration to this recipe from PaleOMG but I changed the recipe a little bit.

Ingredients
serves 2
2 large zucchinis, julienned
2-3 chicken thigh fillets, diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 small piece of cabbage, finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1½ tbsp homemade mayo
2 tsp sriracha chili sauce
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
butter for frying

Make noodles from zucchini using a julienne peeler or cut into thin strips. Place zoodles in a strainer or colander. Sprinkle noodles with salt, toss and let sit for 10-20 minutes to release liquid.
Drain water from zucchini and pat dry with paper towels. Heat butter over medium heat and add in the zucchini for a couple of minutes.
Prepare all you other ingredients. Fry the chicken in some butter together with some salt and pepper on medium-high heat, until browned and cooked through. Remove from pan and place in a separate bowl.
Add the onion, garlic, carrot and cabbage to that same pan and fry on the same heat until the onion is translucent. Add in the zucchini, mayo, sriracha sauce and parsley and mix around. Add more salt and pepper if necessary.

Pesto prawn pasta

So I made pesto as you could see in the previous recipe but I didn't quite know what to use it for so I made up this recipe (with inspiration from a Jamie Oliver recipe) which turned out really well.

Ingredients
serves 2
1 onion, diced
1 capsicum, diced
200 g prawns
1 tbsp white wine
2 tbsp chicken stock
3 tbsp pesto
2 medium sized zucchinis, julienned
1 handful mixed lettuce leaves (or just ruccola is fine as well)
salt and pepper to taste
pine nuts
butter to cook with

Start off by making the zucchini pasta. Follow everything except for the last step; sauteing them in olive oil.

Chop up your veggies while the zucchini is draining.
Heat up a pan on medium heat and add the butter. When hot, add in the onion and saute for about 3 minutes. Add the capsicum and saute for another 2 minutes. Add in the wine and the chicken stock and let it simmer for about 5 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated. Add the prawns and let them fry for 3 minutes, until they are almost cooked through. Then add the pesto and mix around so that everything is covered with pesto. Add the zucchini pasta, mix through carefully and heat up for a couple of minutes. Last, add the lettuce and mix through. Season with salt and pepper and serve with some toasted pine nuts.

Creamy pasta salad with crayfish tails

This is a little bit of a summer dish I think but I thought it sounded really nice so I decided to make it even though it's January. I ended up making a bit of a mistake though so I now have lots of leek in my salad. I do like the taste of onion but it can sometimes be a bit too much.

Ingredients 
Serves 4 people
350 g pasta
1 tbsp butter
2 dl garlic mayonnaise (I just mixed some garlic with regular mayonnaise)
1 dl creme fraiche
salt and black pepper
150 g cooked prawns
150 g cooked crayfish tails
1 box of cherry tomatoes
1 dl cucumber
½ dl leek
½ dl red onion
1 big handful of ruccola

Boil the pasta according to the packet. Drain and mix in the butter. Let it cool.
Mix mayo, creme fraiche, salt and pepper for the dressing.
Mix together the pasta, shellfish, tomatoes, cucumber, ruccola and onions. Pour over the dressing and mix it all together. Serve.

Tip! The original recipe also had ½ dl pesto in the dressing. Since I didn't have any pesto and I'm not a big fan of it I took this out of the recipe. However, if you do like pesto I think it can make the flavour of the salad really good.

Pasta with smoked salmon in a creamy sauce

I felt like doing something creamy with smoked salmon so I came up with this recipe. It turned out to be a success and it's very simple.

Ingredients
pasta
150 g smoked salmon
400 g pre-cut vegetables
1,5 dl cream
½ tsp sambal oelek
½ tsp paprika powder
salt and pepper

Boil the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Fry the vegetables in olive oil for about 5-6 minutes. Add the cream, salmon, sambal oelek and paprika powder. Let it get warm and season with salt and pepper. The salmon is quite salty itself so go easy on the salt.

Broccoli and bacon gratin

OK, I know I'm making a lot of gratins at the moment. To be honest; cooking in the oven is the best. You just leave it in the oven and while it's cooking you can clean up the things that you've used so that you don't have to do that after dinner when you're really tired and full. I will try to get better though and upload some other kinds of recipes.

Ingredients

2 big heads of broccoli
½ capsicum
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
5 cm leek
200 grams of bacon
2 dl of boiled whole wheat pasta (if you want)
herbs
1½ dl cream
1 tbsp vegetable stock
2 dl grated cheese

Turn on the oven to 225 degrees.
Cut the broccoli in big florets and boil/steam until almost soft. When done put the broccoli and the pasta in an ovenproof dish. Fry the onion, capsicum and garlic off for a few minutes. Add the bacon and fry for another few minutes. Add this to the dish and add the leek as well. Put on the herbs and some salt and pepper. Mix the cream and the stock together and pour this over the other ingredients. Sprinkle with grated cheese and cook in the oven for 20 minutes.

Here served with some fresh vegetables

Spaghetti with bacon and brussel sprouts

Tonight I felt like skipping the gluten and dairy free diet and make something that's one of my favourite midweek meals. It's a really simple dish and even though it does contain both milk, flour and pasta it's quite healty.

Spaghetti with bacon and brussel sprouts
250 g wholegrain spaghetti
200 g diced bacon
1 shallot (I used two since I like onions)
400 g brussel sprouts
1 tbsp flour
2 dl milk
Pepper
Tomatoes

Clean the brussel sprouts and boil them for about 10-15 minutes. Boil the spaghetti according to the timeline stated on the package. Chop the onion and fry them together with the bacon on medium heat until the bacon is a bit crispy. Sprinkle the flour and add the milk. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes.
Cut the cooked brussel sprouts in halfs and add them to the pan. Season with some pepper and mix together. Serve with pasta and tomato.