Mozart balls

This is a type of sweet that we have had in my family every Christmas since I was little. They've always been my favourite of all the special sweets you make for Christmas in my family.

Ingredients
200 g almond paste
125 g nougat
150 g chocolate (dark or milk, I used both)

1. Cut the nougat and almond paste in 20 equally big pieces. Push them together and roll them to small balls.

2. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water.

3. Put the balls in the chocolate and make sure they are completely covered in chocolate. Put them on a plate on the side.

4. Once all the balls are covered in chocolate, put them in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Wrap with bacon and quinoa

Maybe not the most exciting dish but oh so simple. Barely involves any cooking; you just need to cut up some things and mix it all together. I made a little sauce to have with it because I thought it would be a bit too dry otherwise.

Ingredients
2 dl quinoa
1 red onion
1 avocado
10 (approx) cherry tomatoes
120 g bacon
2 tortillas

yoghurt
garlic
salt and pepper

Cook the quinoa according to the packet and let it cool. Cut the bacon into pieces and fry it. Let it drain on some paper towel. Cut the red onion and avocado into small pieces. Cut the tomatoes in half. Mix bacon, avocado, onion, tomatoes and quinoa. Crush the garlic into the yoghurt and add some salt and pepper. Warm the tortilla in the microwave for a few seconds. Fill the tortilla with the bacon and quinoa mixture and serve together with the garlic yoghurt.


I also figured out what we're gonna have for New Year's Eve. It's going to be a bit of work but hopefully it'll turn out good and it'll be worth it.

Chorizo stew

I found the inspiration for this dish at tasteline.se but I modified it a bit. It was tasty but I think I should've used a different kind of chorizo.

Ingredients
400 g pre-cut vegetables
1 garlic clove
250 g chorizo
400 g crushed tomatoes
400 g kidney beans
pinch of chili powder
salt and pepper

Fry the vegetables and garlic for a few minutes. Cut up the chorizo to smaller pieces and add this to the vegetables. Add the tomatoes, kidney beans, chili powder, salt and pepper. Let it all simmer together for about 5-10 minutes.

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.

Picture of the delicious avocado salad with low GI

A couple of months ago I made a salad with avocado, egg and bacon: http://hannasfoodetc.blogspot.com/2011/10/dinner-31-10-2011.html

Today I decided to make it again and this time I took a photo of it, so here you go.

Easy individual apple pies

Ingredients
4 apples
20 g butter
0,5 dl sugar
cinnamon
two sheets of puff pastry

Cut the apples into chunks. Melt together the butter and sugar on low heat until the sugar melts and you get a caramel sauce. Add the apples and cinnamon and let them simmer together for a few minutes. Cut out big enough circles of the puff pastry. Put the apple mixture in small serving dishes and put the puff pastry on top. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes on 225 degrees.

Coq au vin à la Bowen

Ingredients
500 g chicken
1 large onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, finely diced
150 ml white wine
200 ml chicken stock
50 g plain flour
50 g bacon, diced
10 shallots
baby carrots, pre-cooked
bay leaf
thyme
parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Fry onion and garlic on low heat in butter or oil for a few minutes. Flour the chicken together with some salt and pepper and brown this in a separate pan. When browned, add this to the onions and pour over chicken stock, wine and herbs. Cover and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the bacon and shallots by frying them off in a pan. Add them to the pot after the 30 minutes and let simmer together for another 10 minutes. Add the carrots a few minutes before serving in order to heat through. We served it with mashed potatoes but it also goes well with roast potatoes or even rice.

Thai almond pork

This has been one of our favourite dishes since we started looking into cooking without wheat and dairy.

Ingredients
1 1/4 pounds pork tenderloin, thinly sliced
1½ tbsp coconut oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp almond butter
½ cup coconut milk
1 chili
1 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 broccoli head
2 capsicum
1 tsp grated ginger

Mix almond butter, chili, fish sauce, sesame oil and coconut milk together until smooth. Put the broccoli and the capsicum in a non-stick wok together with 1/4 cup of water and cook on medium-high heat for about 6-8 minutes. In another pan, fry the onion and ginger in the coconut oil until onions begin to brown. Add the pork and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
Once the pork is brown, add the pork, onion and ginger to the wok and pour in the almond sauce. Cover with a lid and let it simmer on low for about 10 minutes.

Fish soup

Ingredients
300 g leek cut into slices
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp curry powder
4 dl crushed tomatoes
10 dl water
2 fish stock cubes
500 g potatoes, cut into chunks
200 g carrots, cut into chunks
400 g white fish, cut into chunks
creme fraiche
dill
oregano

Fry leek and garlic together with butter in a pot. Powder the curry powder on top and let it all fry for about one minute. Add tomatoes, water and stock cubes. Add potatoes and carrots. Let the soup boil for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
Add the fish and the dill. Let it simmer until the fish is white and firm, this takes about 5 minutes. Serve with some creme fraiche and sprinkle over some oregano.

Pan-fried tilapia with garlic flavoured kale

This is one of those recipes that I found on the internet and I thought "oh, that sounds nice and healthy". I've now been pushing this recipe from day to day because I thought that it sounded a bit boring and a bit too healthy for those days. However, I now had to cook it since I already bought the ingredients and the expiry date was today. It turned out it's not so bad and it a very light meal. I added some lemon squeeze on the top of it and that makes it really good.

Ingredients

about 500g kale (I'm using packed and already chopped)
125g unsalted butter
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
80ml olive oil
35g plain flour
about 550g tilapia fillets, skin off

Heat butter and extra virgin olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and chilli, then cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add kale, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Cook for a further 10 minutes until tender.
Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Season the flour and use to coat fillets, shaking off excess. Cook fish for 2-3 minutes each side until golden.

Tomato and chicken paella

This was my first time making paella and I don't think I really succeeded. Mine looks more like risotto than paella but at least it tastes good. I found this recipe on www.taste.com.au a very good website with lots of differet recipes.

Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
600g chicken thigh fillets, excess fat trimmed, cut into big chunks
1 large red onion, halved, cut into thin wedges
1 red capsicum, deseeded, cut into 2cm pieces
2 garlic cloves, crushed
330g arborio rice
1 x 400g can diced tomatoes
1 tsp ground smoked paprika
Large pinch of saffron threads
1L chicken stock
125ml water
1 x 300g pkt frozen broad beans, thawed, peeled
150g frozen baby peas
1 tbs fresh thyme leaves

Heat the oil in a 30cm non-stick paella pan or frying pan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook, turning, for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to a plate.
Add the onion, capsicum and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the rice, tomato, paprika and saffron and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until combined. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, without stirring, for 15 minutes.
Add the chicken to the rice mixture and cook for 10 minutes or until almost all the liquid has been absorbed. Add water and sprinkle over the broad beans, peas and thyme. Cook, covered, for 5 minutes or until the rice is tender and all liquid has been absorbed.
Season the paella with salt and pepper.

Hanna's vegetarian tikka masala

I used to make much more vegetarian food before. Can't really remember why I stopped but today I really felt like making something without meat.

Ingredients
1 onion
1 capsicum
1 dl red lentils
1 jar (400 ml) Patak's Tikka Masals sauce
1 cup kale
1 can (400 g) chick-peas
½ head of cauliflower

Chop the onion and capsicum. Rinse the lentils. Fry the onion and capsicum in some vegetable oil and add the lentils. Also add the tikka masala sauce and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. While simmering; grate the cauliflower and place it in a bowl with a lid. Place in the microwave on high heat for about three minutes. Add the chick-peas and the kale to the tikka masala sauce. Let it all get warm and serve together with the cauliflower.

Salmon pytt i panna

This is a modified version of a Swedish recipe which is based on just putting together simple left overs and making a dish out of it. It's so easy and perfect for a Sunday lunch.

Ingredients
Potatoes
Carrots
Leek
Salmon
Salt and pepper

Chop the potatoes and carrots into pieces; the smaller the pieces the faster they will cook. Fry them on low heat in some butter until soft. Add the leek and the salmon and fry until ready. Serve.

Chili con carne

My all-time favourite! It's so easy and almost everyone likes it. It's one of those perfect dishes to just throw together after a hard and late day at work. I usually just throw in whatever vegetables I have at home and serve it with a salad but today I didn't have any ingredients for salad at home. It's also good to have some bread and sour cream with it.

Ingredients
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
1 capsicum
1 carrot
500 g mince meat
400 g crushed tomatoes
lima beans
chili powder
salt
pepper

Cut the vegetables in pieces and crush the garlic. Fry all vegetables for about 5 minutes. Add the mince meat and fry until it's gotten some colour. Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and chili powder. Let it all simmer for a few minutes. Et voilà! Done in no time.

Chicken in tomato and curry sauce

I was actually quite looking forward to making this dish. When I mixed together the ingredients for the sauce I thought it looked really good already.

Ingredients
1 kg chicken legs
2½ dl cream
1 tsp chicken stock
3 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp curry powder
chili powder
quinoa (or rice, couscous etc.)
peas
capsicum
leek
kale

Turn on the oven to 180 degrees. Put the chicken legs in a ovenproof dish, add som salt and pepper. Mix together the cream, chicken stock, tomato paste, curry powder and chili. Pour this over the chicken legs and put in the oven for about 45-50 minutes.
To cook the quinoa follow the instructions on the package. Fry off the peas, capsicum, leek and kale for a little while and mix then in with the quinoa. Serve and enjoy!

Salmon with coconut

I'm quite bad with cooking fish. One reason is that I'm not a huge fan of fish and the second reason is that I don't know what to cook. Today I decided to try the below recipe. It turned out very well.

Ingredients
4 salmon fillets
2 tbsp oil
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 chili, finely chopped
1 small capsicum
10 snow peas
1 dl sieved tomatoes
2 dl coconut milk
shredded coconut
salt and pepper

Turn the oven on 200 degrees. Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the garlic, onion, chili, ginger, capsicum and beans. Fry off for a few minutes. Mix in the tomatoes, coconut milk and shredded coconut. Let it simmer for a little while. Put the salmon fillets on a big sheet of aluminium foil, pour over the coconut sauce and add some salt and pepper. Close the parcels well and put the in an ovenproof dish. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes. Serve with some rice if you want.

White chip chocolate cookies with nuts

Because the peanut butter cookies turned out so well last week, I decided to make another batch of cookies this weekend as well. These did not turn out as good but they are still really tasty.


Ingredients
225 g butter, softened
440 g white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
250 g plain flour
90 g cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
100 g coarsly chopped white chocolate
100 g coarsly chopped unsalted mixed nuts


Preheat oven to 180 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the white chocolate chips and nuts.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on to ungreased baking trays and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until cookies are set. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Coconut and banana pancakes

I felt like making a nice breakfast for my beloved this morning so I decided to make some nice pancakes.

Ingredients

4 eggs, separate yolks from whites
250 ml coconut milk
150 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 ripe banana


Place egg yolks, coconut milk and a pinch of salt in a bowl and whisk until combined. Gently fold in the sifted flour and baking powder. Mash the banana and fold in to combine. In another bowl, whisk eggwhites to stiff peaks, then fold into the batter.
Heat a non-stick frypan over medium-low heat and brush with melted butter. Using a heaped tablespoon of batter for each pancake, add 3-4 spoonfuls to pan and cook for 2-3 minutes each side until golden and cooked. Keep warm while you continue with the remaining batter.

Served with bananas, caramel sauce and shredded coconut

Super simple tomato soup

I learnt this recipe for tomato soup from my mum. It is really simple and perfect if you don't have that much time.

Ingredients
2 carrots
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 can (400 g) crushed tomatoes
1 beef stock cube
pepper and herbs

Cut the onion and carrots into slightly larger pieces. Fry off the onion and the crushed garlic in some olive oil in a pot. Add the carrots and the crushed tomatoes. Fill up the can with cold water and add this to the pot as well. Put in the stock cube, the pepper and some herbs. Bring to the boil and let it boil for about 10 minutes.

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

Gratin with ham and curry

This dish had been on my list for weeks but I never got around to actually cooking it. Now it's done and it was actually quite nice. I'm a huge fan of creamy sauces which makes this 'non dairy' diet extra hard but I know that it's probably better for me to cook with it as little as possible. I didn't have any carbs with this meal but I think it would be really good to have some rice with it in order to soak up sauce.

Ingredients
1 brown onion
1 red onion
1 leek
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp curry powder
600 grams of shredded ham
5 mushrooms
1 red capsicum
1 yellow capsicum
1 green capsicum
2,5 dl cream
2 dl creme fraiche
chili powder
salt and pepper
grated cheese (as much as you want)

Put the oven on 225 degrees.
Chop the onions finely and fry them in a frying pan together with some butter and the curry powder. Put them in a oven proof dish. Add the ham to the frying pan and let it soak up the curry flavours. Put the ham on top of the onions in the dish. Cut the mushrooms and capsicums in slices and fry them in the frying pan as well for about 5-10 minutes. Add these vegetables to the oven proof dish.
Mix together the cream, creme fraiche, chili powder, salt and pepper. Be careful with the salt since the ham is probably already quite salty. Pour this on top of the rest of the ingredients.
Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes. Take it out and add the grated cheese and cook for another 15 minutes.

Peanut butter choc chip cookies

Ingredients

2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp butter
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
100 grams chocolate

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Mix together sugar, butter, egg, vanilla and peanut butter. Add baking powder to the flour and sift it to lightly combine it with the rest of the ingredients. Chop the chocolate into chunks and mix it in. Usa a small ice-cream scoop to form cookies and flatten with a floured fork. Bake on a papered tray for 10-12 minutes. When taking them out of the oven let them sit for a few minutes.

Prawn stir-fry

Ingredients
Prawns
Broccoli
Onion
Garlic
Ginger
Carrots
Capsicum

Warm salad with low GI

Ingredients
150 g bacon
6 mushrooms
2 red onions
butter
100 g green beans

Dressing:
1 tsp honey
1 tsp lemon squeeze
1 tbsp french mustard

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp fresh thyme

1 garlic clove

salt and pepper

Cut the bacon into pieces and fry until crispy, then let them drain on some paper towel. Cut the mushrooms and the onions into wedges and fry them in butter. Add salt and pepper. Boil the green beans in lightly salted water for about two minutes. Pour out the water when done. Put the beans, mushrooms and onion in a bowl. Mix together mustard, thyme, honey, lemon, oil, garlic, salt and pepper and pour this over the salad. Mix in the bacon. Serve as a side dish to for example chicken.

I served my salad with some smoked chicken filet.

Beef in black bean sauce

Ingredients
Beef fillet, cut into thin strips
light soy sauce
rice wine
sesame oil
black bean sauce
onion, sliced
garlic cloves, sliced
capsicum, sliced
broccoli
oyster sauce

Mix the beef, soy sauce, black bean sauce and rice wine together in a bowl. Heat the oil in a wok, add the onion, garlic and broccoli and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add the beef and fry for another 5 minutes. Add the capsicum and after a couple of minutes also the oyster sauce and some more black bean sauce. Stir-fry for 2 minutes. Serve with normal rice or cauliflower rice (= grated cauliflower, put in a bowl with a lid and microwaved on 700 watt for approx 3 minutes).

Pasta with hot dogs

Today I had quite a small lunch so I felt that I needed something 'real' for dinner. Therefore I ditched my diet (less/no dairy and carbs) and made a very simple pasta dish. I used vegetarian hot dogs since I haven't really found any good hot dogs in this country. But vegetarian ones work just as well.

Pasta sauce with hot dogs
Pasta (preferably wholemeal)
5 small hot dogs
1 red onion
1 red capsicum
1 garlic clove
10 cm leek
2 dl tomato and basil flavoured creme fraiche
pepper to taste

Boil the pasta. Cut the veggies in bite size pieces. Fry the onion, capsicum and garlic. Add the hot dogs and leek. Let it all fry for a few minutes. Add the creme fraiche and let it simmer for only a couple of minutes. Serve together with the boiled pasta.

Delicious avocado salad with low GI

Today I made a version of the below recipe. I just have to post this recipe here since this is one of the best salads that I've ever tasted. I added chicken and kidney beans. The most important thing is the dressing. For the rest you can put whatever you want in it.

Avocado salad
3-4 ripe avocados
3-4 hard boiled eggs
120 g bacon
1 piece of leek
2 tomatoes

Dressing
5 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 crushed garlic clove
2 tsp dijon mustard
1-2 tsp italian salad herbs
1 tsp aromat seasoning

Mix it all together and enjoy.

Two course dinner 30-10-2011

Toast Skagen à la Hanna

served with a glass of white wine and a snaps

Roasted chicken with brussel sprouts and potato wedges

Beef Wellington with potato and parsnip gratin

Beef Wellington

1 piece of tenderloin

mushrooms
mustard
Parma ham
egg
pastry
salt and pepper

Season the beef and sear it in a frying pan for a few minutes until it gets brown. Let it cool. Chop the mushrooms finely and fry them without oil in a frying pan in order to get the juices out. Let them cool as well. Brush the beef with the mustard. Lay a sheet of cling film on a work surface and arrange the Parma ham slices on it, in slightly overlapping rows. Spread the mushroom paste over the ham, then place the seared beef fillet in the middle. Keeping a tight hold of the cling film from the edge, neatly roll the Parma ham and mushrooms around the beef to form a tight barrel shape. Twit the ends of the cling film to secure. Chill for 15-20 mins to allow the beef to set and keep its shape. Roll out the puff pastry on a floured surface. Remove the cling film from the beef, then lay in the centre of the pastry. Brush the surrounding pastry with egg yolk. Fold the ends over, then wrap the pastry around the beef, cutting off any excess. Turn over, so the seam is underneath, and place on a baking sheet. Brush over all the pastry with egg and chill for about 15 mins to let the pastry rest. Bake it in the oven on 200 degrees for about 30 minutes (for medium).


Potato and parsnip gratin 
(serves 3 people)
325 g potatoes (cut into 2 mm thick slices)
325 g parsnip (cut into 2 mm thick slices)
1 onion
rosemary
1½ dl chicken stock
1 dl cream
15 g butter

Preheat oven to 190°C. Grease an oven dish. Place the potato, parsnip, onion and rosemary in a large bowl and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
Spread the potato mixture over the base of the prepared dish. Pour over the stock and milk. Top with the butter. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until golden and the vegetables are tender when tested with a skewer. Set aside for 5 minutes to stand. Serve.

Here served with a red wine sauce.

Stew with mince meat and root vegetables

500 g mince meat (lamb or beef)

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp tomato puré

1 small piece of celeriac

2 carrots

10 cm leek

2 sweet potatoes

1 bay leaf

1 tsp thyme

salt and black pepper

5 dl sieved tomatoes 

2 dl water

3 dl canned beans 

Chop the onion and garlic. Peel and cut all the root vegetables and leek into pieces. Fry onion and garlic in oil until soft, then add the mince meat. When the mince is brown, add the tomato paste. Add thereafter  the vegetables and the leek. Season with bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper. Add sieved tomatoes and water. Let it boil for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Add the beans and let everything get warm.

Broccoli gratin with ham

Ingredients
1 broccoli
1 onion
2 dl cream
200 g shredded ham
1 dl grated cheese
salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Cut the broccoli into large chunks. Put the broccoli pieces in boiling salted water and blanch lightly for about 3-4 minutes. Grease an ovenproof dish with butter and add the brocolli once finished.
2. Melt butter in a frying pan. Chop the onion and fry until it becomes soft. Add the cream.
3. Add the shredded ham, cheese and the spices. Let simmer on low heat for about five minutes.
4. Pour the sauce over the broccoli and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Chicken and brussel sprouts

Haven't been very good with updating the blog lately. The reason is actually that I've been quite bad with eating well and cooking good food. Anyway, today I decided to try and make something good and healthy.

Hanna's chicken and brussel sprouts
Clean about 500 g of brussel sprouts. Boil them for 10 minutes. Let them cool down.
While the brussel sprouts are cooling down, fry 1½ onions in a pan. Add 1 thinly sliced chicken fillet. Let it fry for a few minutes. Add pieces of bacon and a couple of minutes later two shredded carrots. Cut the brussel sprouts in half and add them to the pan. Mix together and it's all done. If you want to you can add some chicken stock. Don't forget salt and pepper.

Almond and coconut Tilapia

Almond and coconut Tilapia
3/4 cup almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut
4 Tilapia fillets
2 egg whites
Salt and pepper

Coarsely grind your almonds in a food processor. Combine coconut and almonds.
Season the fish with salt and pepper. Dip the fish fillets in the egg whites and then in the almond and coconut mix until thoroughly coated. Put on a wire rack and bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes on 220 degrees.
Serve with veggies.

Chocolate fondant

Last night we made a delicious treat. It was so good that I ate two of them.


Chocolate fondant

125g butter
150g 70% cocoa dark chocolate
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
125g castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
55g self raising flour


Grease 4x150ml capacity oven proof ramikins with butter and arrange on a baking tray.
Melt butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl place over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally. Allow to cool slightly.
Place eggs, yolks, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and whisk until thick and pale. Fold in flour until combined. Gently fold in chocolate mixture, pour batter into moulds, filling each ¾ full. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until risen. Puddings will be set but wobble in the centre. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, run a pallet knife around the edge of each pudding to loosen and invert onto serving plates. Serve with cream and some raspberries.

Left-overs 07-10-2011

Today I got rid of all my left-overs from the week.
I had two pieces of chicken left from yesterday and then I fried up some carrots together with some zucchini that was left over from Wednesday. Simple and really good.

Pecan crusted chicken

Pecan crusted chicken
4 chicken filets
½ cup mustard
2 tbsp honey
1 cup of pecans

Mix the honey and the mustard. Crush the pecans. Coat the chicken in the mustard/honey sauce and roll in the pecans. Place the chicken filets in a greased oven proof dish and bake in the oven on 200 degrees for about 35 minutes.

I served my chicken with carrots and some spinach.

Mince meat and zucchini gratin

Mince meat and zucchini gratin
Mince meat
Onion
Garlic
Chili
Capsicum
Crushed tomatoes
Oregano
Basil
Salt and pepper
Zucchini

Cut the zucchini in slices lengthwise. Salt on both sides and let them water down for about 30 minutes. Rinse and wipe dry.
Chop the onion, capsicum, garlic and chili. Fry this in a frying pan together with the minced meat. Add crushed tomatoes and the herbs. Let it simmer for a few minutes.
Put meat sauce and zucchini slices in a greased dish. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Serve with a nice salad.

Salmon with bean salad

Today I decided to make something quick and easy.

Salmon with bean salad
Salmon fillet
Melted butter
Cayenne pepper
Onion powder
Sea salt
Black pepper
Dried thyme
Dried oregano

Mix together all the spices and herbs. Brush the salmon with the melted butter and rub in the spice mix on all sides. Ideally this should be fried on a grill pan but I didn't have one so I just used a normal frying pan and it worked fine.

Kidney beans
Black beans
Capsicum
Tomatoes
Red onion
Avocado

Mix a vinaigrette consisting of garlic, chili, vegetable oil, white wine vinegar, italian herbs and a bit of salt. Chop up the veggies, mix together with the cooked beans and mix in the vinaigrette.

Pumpkin and leek soup

Now we can feel a bit more that the autumn is coming. It's been quite hot lately but soon I think the season of rain, darkness and coldness is coming. Then you need something to make you nice and warm. Here is a recipe that I tried out for the first time today.

Pumpkin and leek soup
Pumpkin (peeled and chopped)
Leek
Onion
Garlic
Ground cumin
Chili powder
Chicken stock
Coconut milk
Bacon (fried)

Sauté the onion in cooking fat for a few minutes. Stir frequently to prevent from burning.
Add the garlic and the leek. Cook for approximately 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle in the cumin and the chili powder. Add the chicken stock and the pumpkin. Bring to the boil and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. Remove the soup from the heat and mix in the coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper. Puree the soup with a blender. After pureeing add in the bacon pieces and serve.

Try it! It is delicious!

Beef steak with sweet potato fries and broccoli salad

Dinner today was the following:

Beef steak with sweet potato fries and broccoli salad

For the broccoli salad you need the following:

Broccoli (steamed)

Bacon

Dressing

Sunflower oil

White wine vinegar

Garlic

Dijon mustard

Herb salt

The sweet potato fries are baked in the oven on 200 degrees for 25 minutes together with olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper. 

Instead of having just water with this dish I was inspired by Jamie Oliver and made the following drink:

Ice

Juice of ½ lemon

Juice of 1 pomegranate

A few leaves of mint

Sparkling water

Sunday breakfast

Today I decided to make a slightly more luxurious breakfast than the normal eggs and bacon. I decided to make pancakes. I did not use the original recipe for pancakes but one without dairy and gluten.

2 eggs
½ cup coconut milk
½ cup almond flour
a little bit of shredded coconut (optional)

Mix together and fry like normal pancakes. Do not make them as big as crepes since they don't seem to stick together as well as crepes. Make them the size of American pancakes. Serve with fresh fruit.

Simple pork stir-fry

The days when I don't really feel like cooking up something big I usually end up making stir fry. They are so easy and especially if you already have everything prepared. Today I just put together some pre-cut veggies, pork pieces and some wok sauce in a pan and there was my dinner. So easy and I didn't even have to use a cutting bord.