Fusilli in mushroom cream

May 20, 2014 Hortense 3 Comments

Ingredients for 5 portions:

500g fusilli – Precooked
300g bacon
2 carrots
1 medium onion – Finely chopped
Salt & pepper
3 garlic cloves – Finely chopped
Vegetables oil

Method:

Peel both carrots, cut one like carrot sticks (julienne), cut the other one length way paper-thin (you can use a potato peeler for this). Keep them separately.

Cut the bacon as on the picture to the size of carrot sticks, set aside. Your pasta should be precooked by this time. Now time to combine all the ingredients.

In a large sauce pan, heat 3 table spoons of sunflower oil. Fry the bacon for 5 to 7 minutes until crisp. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Without cleaning the pan, fry the chopped onions, with the garlic and carrot sticks. Stir for 3 minutes, then, pour in the whole tin of cream of Mushroom soup. Add black pepper and leave to simmer for 3-5 minutes until the soup becomes much creamier and begins to stick to the sides of the sauce pan. Don’t forget to stir.

Add the bacon back in the now creamier mushroom soup and stir for another 2 minutes to allow the bacon absorb a bit of the mushrooms.

Now fold in the precooked pasta, mix well, to make sure that the cream has covered the pasta, adjust the seasoning, cover and leave on medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. If you’ve got some cheddar in the fridge, this will be the time to grate some and add to the mix.

Now remove from heat and gently mix in the paper-thin carrots slices. Cover the pan and allow another 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy.

General, Hot dishes, Recipes, Uncategorized

Veggies and sausage parcel with beetroot coleslaw

May 19, 2014 Hortense Leave a comment

Ingredients for 5 portions:

3 medium parsnips
4 medium carrots
1 large sausage (long life) or 4 hot dogs
1 large leek
1/2 tin of tomato soup
1 onion
2 beetroots
Mayonnaise
1 Jus-Rol short crust sheet
Vegetable oil

Method:

Preheat the oven at 200C before starting the prep.

Cut the medium onion in 2. Keep half for frying and half for later. Peel 2 carrots, the 3 parsnips then, cut each of them in 4 length way. Cut the leek same way. Place them all in a large bowl.

Fry the smaller saussage cuts with onion for more flavour — Fry the smaller sausage cuts with onion for more flavor

In a frying pan, heat 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Fry one half of onion that has been diced, then lightly brown every side of the browned sausage.

All covered with the tinned tomato soup... — All covered with the tinned tomato soup…

Once that is done, pour the content of the frying pan on the vegetables. Also add the 200ml of tomato soup, salt and Pepper. Then, crush 1 stock cube on the melange before mixing all the ingredients together. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

All in the Jus-Rol pastry sheet... — All in the Jus-Rol pastry sheet…

Spray a bit of oil on the oven tray and lay on it the pastry sheet. Then, carefully place on its middle all the vegetable and the sausage. Making sure that the sausage is placed at the heart of the vegetable heap. Now bring up the sides of the pastry so the content will not fall to the side.

After 40 minutes ... let it cooldown — After 40 minutes … let it cool down

If necessary, cover it all with foil to maintain the shape. Place the parcel in the oven for 40 minutes at 200C. Serve with a small beetroot slaw.

Preparing the coleslaw: peel and grate the beetroot, and the 2 remaining carrots. Also grate the leftover onion. Place all in a bowl. Add salt and pepper, plus 3 full tablespoons of mayonnaise. Mix and set aside. The onion can be replaced by white or red cabbage. If you are not fan of coleslaw just serve the parcel with a simple green salad and a light vinaigrette.

Hot dishes, Recipes, Vegan

Vegan Chilli con carne

May 11, 2014 Hortense Leave a comment

Chilli con carne served with barley

Ingredients for 4 portions:

200g Barley
2 kidney beans tin
100g mince soya meat
1 tinned tomato
50g leek
1 medium onion
1 scotch bonnet (chilli pepper)
1 teaspoon of Paprika powder, coriander powder & cumin powder
3 garlic cloves

Method:

Start by soaking the soya mince in boiled water for 10 minutes. When rehydrated, the mince will double in volume. Drain, squeeze out the water and set aside. Also put the barley to soak in cold water for 20 – 30 minutes.

Blended condiments, hydrated soya, kidney beans

Chop and blend 1/4 onion with the tomato, leek, the chilli pepper and garlic cloves. Set aside.

Finely chop the rest of onion and fry it in a sauce pan with 3 table spoons of oil. Once the onion is browned, add the now rehydrated soya mince and with salt and black pepper. Stir fry for 3 minutes until the mince takes a bit of colour. Now add the blended ingredients and stir well with a spatula, then cover for 10 minutes.

Remember to stir from time to time to avoid burns. All you should hear by this time is frying noises from the pan. This means it is the time to add the kidney beans with the coriander, paprika and cumin. Stir, then pour in 400ml of water. Cover the pan and leave it to simmer for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, rinse the barley and place it on the hob with 250ml of water, 1 table spoon of oil and salt.Living the pot uncovered on high heat, allow the water to evaporate for 20 minutes. Once the water has evaporated, fluff the barley and add another 10ml of water, then cover. This time, cook on low heat for 10 minutes to complete the cooking process with steam only. By this time the chilli corn should be ready. Serve and enjoy.

Barley is a good alternative for those who do not like rice, cooking it without soaking beforehand can take up to 80 minutes, it is therefore best to soak it before hand to save on energy.

Recipes, Sweet, Vegan

Closed pie with pear and dark chocolate

May 10, 2014 Hortense Leave a comment

Ingredients for 5 portions:

100g Dark chocolate
Tin pear
100g almond powder
100g sugar
1 lemon zest
10ml corn or any vegetable oil
1 Jus-Rol puff pastry sheet

Method:

Preheat the oven at 180C.

Drain the halved pears and cut them in 2 making each piece a quarter. Dry every quarter with paper towel and set them aside.

Mix the almond powder, lemon zest and sugar, together and set the mix aside.

Now prepare the chocolate sauce in the same way as for the sponge and orange sandwich (search the blog).

Spray some vegetable oil on the oven baking tray and lay the puff pastry flat on it.

Cover the pear quarters in chocolate and gently place them length ways on the pastry sheet.

Now, cover the pears with the almond, zest and sugar mix like on the third photo on the top. All you have to do now is just fold the pastry over the pears to create an envelope.

With a knife or fork score the edges of the pastry to seal the envelop. Using a baking brush, gently brush the top of the pie with some vegetable oil before placing it in the oven for 40 minutes at 180C.

Once the pie is ready, let it cool down for at least 10 minutes before serving. The dark chocolate can be very bitter for children, so, serve it to them with an ice cream or a fruit sauce. Enjoy!

Hot dishes, Recipes

Spaghetti & meatballs

May 9, 2014 Hortense Leave a comment

Ingredients for 5 portions:

500g spaghetti
400g mince beef
3 garlic cloves
3 spring onions
1 stock cube
1 big onion
Salt & pepper
1 tinned tomato & ketchup
Vegetable oil

Method:

Cut the onion in two, grate one half and finely chop the other half. Keep both separate. Chop the spring onions and set aside.

To make the meatballs, put the mincemeat in a mixing bowl. Using a garlic press, mash the garlic into the mince, add the grated onion, salt and black pepper. Also add 2 tablespoons of oil to the mix then, using your hands, massage together all the elements and form the meatballs.

Put the balls in a sauce pan, cover and place on high heat for 5 minutes. This will extract the water from the meat and when there is no more liquid coming out of it, the meat will start to fry and brown in its own fat. Just make sure that it browns on all sides.

Once this is done, remove the meat from the pan and set aside to rest.

Without rinsing the sauce pan, fry the chopped onions in the meat residues. Brown for 2 – 3 minutes, add the spring onions and the tomato. Season with salt and pepper, then, cover for 10 minutes the time for the juice from the tomato to evaporate.

Now, put the meat balls back in the sauce with a tablespoon of ketchup and 100ml water, then cover for another 10 minutes.

In the meantime, cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the package.

Serve as suggested and enjoy.

Hot dishes, Recipes, Vegan

Potato rosti and beetroots

May 8, 2014 Hortense Leave a comment

Ingredients for 2 portions:

200g sweet corn
2 medium precooked beetroots
100g leek and 50g celery (optional)
1 big potato or 2 medium ones
1 small onion
Salt & Pepper
Garlic granules & Ginger powder
Dry thyme
Sunflower oil

Method:

Peel the beetroot and cut it into small pieces, cut the leek and onion in the same size, set aside separately. Drain and rinse the sweetcorn, set aside. Peel and grate the potato length ways to obtain the longest possible “straws”.

Squeeze out the extra water coming out of the potato, lightly dust with salt and pepper mix well, set aside. You will need a frying pan and a wok to cook this meal. A large sauce pan could be used instead of the wok.

In the wok, heat 2 tablespoons of oil, and brown the chopped onions with a pinch or two of thyme. This should take about two minutes. Now, add the leek and celery then stir for 3 minutes. Time to add the beetroot, corn, a bit of garlic granules, a bit of ginger and salt. Stir all to mix well. Adjust seasoning. Now add 3 to 4 tablespoons of water then, stir continuously for 4 to 5 minutes the time for the water to dry out and for the beetroots to absorb the other ingredients. Once this part is done, remove the wok from the hob, cover and leave aside.

Now onto the potatoes rostis, also called “pomme pallaisson” in French. These are simply small potatoes pancakes and with a big baking potato for example, you can easily obtain 4 small pancakes.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and make sure the surface of the frying pan is covered. When the pan is hot enough, divide the potatoes straws in 4 little mounts and place them on the pan.

Gently flatten each one and fry each side for 2 to 2.30 minutes. Only use a thin spatula or a large bread knife to turn the rostis over. Serve as suggested below.

Recipes, Sweet

My rice puddings

May 7, 2014 Hortense 3 Comments

There are many ways to make rice pudding more and enjoyable. Just find your preferred ingredients around the house and create until you find the best way you like your pudding.

Ingredients for 2 portions:

120g Ambrosia rice pudding
3 Kiwis
3 short bread biscuits or ginger biscuits
Jam or Marmalade
Plain pumpkin seeds

Liquidised Kiwi, sliced kiwi, chopped seeds, shortbread and rice pudding

The option below has: liquidised kiwi, rice pudding topped with short crushed shortbread.

This next one was simply served in a wine glace with marmalade and poppy seeds. Any jam will do, but like the contrast between the bitterness of the marmalade and the soft sweetness of the rice pudding.

The next one was simply layered in the following order: Rice pudding, diced kiwi, chopped seeds.

You can also top your rice pudding with cooked berries and red fruits jams. Just have to find your own combo… Have fun.

Download the booklet to find out facts about ingredients in the did you know section.

Did you know? Pumpkin seeds are a very popular ingredient in Mexican and West African cuisine? In Cameroon for example, the seeds are dried then, turned into a flour that will be used to cook a savoury loaf in the style of a meat loaf. The seeds can be used also to make dumplings in some sauces. These seeds are very, very high in Iron.

Hot dishes, Recipes, Uncategorized

Beef casserole

May 6, 2014 Hortense Leave a comment

Ingredients for 4 portions:

100g celery – chopped
1 big onion – cut
600g baby potatoes – rinse and roughly cut
400g Beef casserole
Vegetable oil
Salt & pepper
1 beef stock cube
Thyme

Method:

In a deep pan, heat 3 tablespoons of rapeseed oil. Fry together thyme, onion and celery for 2 minutes, then add all the potatoes and brown for 5 minutes.

Now add 700ml of stock, cover and leave to simmer for 20 minutes until the potatoes soften. Now add the contents of the casserole tin over the potatoes, adjust the seasoning and cover for another 10 to 15 minutes on high heat. Check that the potatoes are firm, but, starting to dissolve. If not, leave for another 5 minutes but, stir to make sure that the bottom of the pot isn’t burning.

The casserole is ready.

Generally there aren’t many pieces of meat in tinned casseroles. So, if you’ve got some bacon in the house, feel free to add them from the beginning of the cooking process with the onion and celery.

Bon appetit!

Download the booklet here to see what I’ve used from the parcel for each dish and also the shopping tips at the bottom of each page

From the parcel: tin of beef casserole.

Shopping tips: Celery, leeks are great ingredients to always have in the house. Lidl often has these two on offer and 3 large leeks can be bought as a bundle from 89p – £1.

Hot dishes, Recipes, Vegan

Homemade tomato soup

May 5, 2014 Hortense 2 Comments

Ingredients for 2 portions:

2 precooked mini baguettes
1 scotch bonnet
4 garlic cloves
50g leek
1 tomato tin
Vegetable oil
Dry basil
Salt

Method:

Peel the potato and cut it very finely. Cut the leek, onion and garlic too, set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan, fry chopped onion and potato until brown, then, add the leek and 3 chopped garlic to wilt, stirring continuously for 1 minute.

Now pour in the tomatoes and add the scotch bonnet. Also add in 200ml of water and cover for 20 minutes. What we are looking for here is for the potatoes pieces to be completely soft. After that, blend the content of the pan while it is still hot.

For the bread, preheat the oven at 180C.

Cut the bread into wedges, mash the remaining garlic and rub it on the wedges. Place the bread on a baking dish and drizzle with oil. Sprinkle on some dried basil and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

Done. Serve. Enjoy.

Do check out the booklet for some useful shopping tips and the “Did you know” section.

Uncategorized

Corned Beef Pizza

May 4, 2014 Hortense Leave a comment

Ingredients for 4 portions:
• 6 slices of brown bread
• 150g Corn beef
• 100g tinned mushrooms – sliced
• 2 mozzarella balls – thinly cut
• 100ml tomato sauce
• 1 big potato (or 2 depending on size)
• Paprika – 1 teaspoon
• Vegetable oil

Method:
Preheat the oven at 180C.
Start by preparing all the toppings and set aside ready to use. Then, remove the crusts from the bread and cut the slices into triangles (from corner to corner).
Lay the bread on the oven tray ready to add the toppings.

For each piece of bread add toppings in the following order: tomato sauce, corn beef, mozzarella pieces. Once it is all done, set aside to prepare the potatoes wedges.

Rinse and cut the unpeeled potato, cut it into wedges. Add a teaspoon of paprika, a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Mix well and precook for 5 minutes, then, spread the wedges on an oven dish.

Now, place both (potatoes and pizza) dishes in the oven for 25 minutes at 180C. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before serving with ketchup or mayonnaise. Enjoy.

Make some bread crumbs: You know the bread crust that you cut, do not throw them away. Just cut them in smaller pieces, add a pinch of salt, sprinkle any dried herbs, a drizzle of oil, toss and place in the oven for 15 minutes at 180C. Why not put in with the pizza and potatoes to save on energy?
These crusty crusts will serve as topping for salads or soups or even snacks.

Et voila!

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Fusilli in mushroom cream

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Veggies and sausage parcel with beetroot coleslaw

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Vegan Chilli con carne

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Closed pie with pear and dark chocolate

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Spaghetti & meatballs

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Potato rosti and beetroots

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My rice puddings

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Beef casserole

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Homemade tomato soup

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Corned Beef Pizza

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I may not have much, but, I am Royalty.