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.