Orange Turkey/Chicken

Friday night is my absolute favorite time of the week: the weekend is stretching ahead of you, and there's a world of possibilities. This Friday was even better as, due to some brilliant and completely unexpected circumstances I finished work a bit earlier than usual. When I arrived home, I felt like treating myself to a tasty dinner and a cup of strong coffee and curling up in my armchair to read Dexter In The Dark (a great read, btw). I had an astonishingly beautiful piece of turkey breast, and thought I might somehow enhance it with bacon. However, then I remembered I had seen a pretty cool looking orange chicken recipe over at Dishing Up Delights and decided to give it a try. On Friday I made little turkey breast rolls with leeks and carrots, and then served them with the orange sauce. It was so good I had to make it again today, but this time I didn't bother with the rolls. I just stir-fried the meat with some carrots and followed the original recipe with just a few changes.
Even my husband enjoyed this recipe, and he generally doesn't like Asian cuisine. I, on the other hand adore it, and am really happy that I have finally found a recipe that truly tastes like stuff from a good Chinese restaurant.

Ingredients

1.5 lb/700 g turkey or chicken breast, diced
3 carrots, peeled and finely diced
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup scallions, sliced
2 tbsp corn starch
salt
oil

For the sauce

2 oranges, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 cup chicken stock
3 tbsp soy sauce
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp sugar,
2 tsp corn starch
salt and chili powder to taste

Season the meat with salt and coat it with the corn starch. Fry the meat and carrots in hot oil until the carrots are cooked and the meat golden. Remove from heat and when it cools down slightly, add the toasted sesame seeds, scallions and garlic.
In a saucepan combine all of the ingredients for the sauce, apart from the corn starch. Boil for 3-5 minutes, then run through a strainer (to get all of the juice from the oranges, mash them slightly with a fork). Return the strained liquid to the saucepan, bring to a boil, and add the corn starch dissolved in a tablespoon or two of water. When the sauce thickens, remove from heat and add it to the meat and vegetables. Stir to coat everything. Serve with rice.

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Lasagna

Lasagna is the Italian dish that I crave the most often. I usually use homemade sheets, but yesterday I wanted a quick lunch so I used store-bought. It was the kind that you don't have to cook beforehand, and I was very happy with how it turned out. Delicious and done in no time!

Ingredients

250 g (9 oz) lasagna sheets
500 g (1 lb) ground beef
100 g (3 1/2 oz) smoked bacon
2/3 cup chopped leeks
500 ml (2 cups) tomato sauce
350 g (12 oz) grated gouda
oil, butter
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp rosemary
salt, pepper

For the bechamel sauce

1 tbsp butter
2 1/2 tbsp flour
500 ml (2 cups) milk

Cook the leeks and bacon in a skillet. When the bacon starts turning golden, add the beef. Stir occasionally to help the beef separate. When the beef has separated, add the tomato sauce and simmer for another 15-20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the oregano and rosemary.
In the meantime, in a deeper pot melt the butter and add the flour. Cook for about a minute, stirring constantly. Add the milk, whisking to avoid lumps. Cook for a few minutes, until it starts bubbling and thickens.
Grease a baking dish with a bit of butter and arrange 1/4 of the pasta sheets to cover the bottom. Add a layer (1/3) of meat (spread evenly), then 1/4 of the bechamel and 1/4 of the grated cheese. Add two more layers of everything, and finish with pasta covered with bechamel and cheese. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

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Rice Croquettes

This is my second attempt at rice croquettes. My husband used to eat them when he was a kid (I never did until now), so the first time round I tried his sister's recipe. However, I wasn't too satisfied with the end result, so I improvised a little bit. Basically, I used my onion rings batter, and just folded in the rice and ham.

Ingredients

1 cup rice
3 eggs
300 g (10 oz) ham (diced)
120 g (4 oz) flour
75 ml (1/3 cup) milk
75 ml (1/3 cup) sparkling water
2 tbsp fresh or 1 tbsp dried parsley (chopped)
salt, pepper

Boil the rice.
Separate the eggs. In a large bowl combine the yolks with the flour, water and milk. When the batter is smooth add the ham, rice and parsley and season with salt and a generous quantity of pepper (around 1/2 tsp). Whisk the egg whites, then fold them gently into the batter. Spoon the croquettes into hot oil and fry until golden.

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Cherry Cheesecake

Give me a piece of cheesecake with fruit and I'm a happy woman. It's probably my favorite dessert, but, funnily enough, I have only ever made it a handful of times, and never with gelatin. Up to now, that is. This recipe was adapted from a magazine, and I've been wanting to try it out for months. I finally mustered the courage last night. You see, I find gelatin really intimidating. I must say it wasn't all smooth sailing either: as it turns out, for some reason it just didn't work with the cherries. The instructions on the bag said not to use it with pineapple, kiwi, figs and papaya, but it didn't say anything about cherries. Anyway, I used a bag of vanilla pudding powder for thickening (around here a bag of pudding contains 40 g/1.5 oz of powder and is used for 500 ml/2 cups of liquid). When it was finished it still didn't look promising. To be honest, although it had cooled down almost completely, it was still way too liquid. I was starting to despair when I decided to shove it in the freezer. Which was a miracle really - after about an hour or two in the freezer it was perfect! It didn't freeze, and the consistency was just right. Afterwards I just transfered it to the fridge and it's been heaven ever since.

Ingredients

For the crust

250 g (8 1/2 oz) flour
125 g (1 stick) butter
50 g (2 tbsp) sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla sugar

For the filling

400 g (14 oz) soft cheese
500 ml (2 cups) whipping cream
1 bag (10 g) of gelatin
1 bag (1.5 oz) of vanilla pudding powder
500 g (1 lb) cherries
350 g (12 oz) powdered sugar


Combine all the ingredients for the crust in a bowl. It will be crumbly at first, but with a little patience it will all come together nicely. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Bake in a springform pan for about 20 minutes (200°C/390°F) or until golden.
Combine the cheese with 150g (5 oz) of powdered sugar. Melt the gelatin in 4 tbsp of cold water and leave it for 10 minutes, then melt it (without boiling). Add it to the cheese and sugar, combine, and leave to cool.
In a pan combine the cherries, the rest of the powdered sugar and vanilla sugar and let it rest for 10 minutes. The cherries will release liquid. Add enough water to have around 500 ml (2 cups) of the mixture. Heat it, and when it starts boiling add 1 bag of vanilla pudding powder dissolved in a few (3-5) tbsp cold water and cook for another minute or two, stirring constantly. When both the cheese and the cherries have cooled, whip the cream and combine all three. Pour over the crust and refrigerate overnight.
Serve with whipped cream on top.

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Onion Rings

A bit of comfort food for Friday night!


Ingredients

2 onions
100g (3.5 oz) plain flour
2 eggs
oil
150 ml (2/3 cup) milk

Preheat the oil for deep frying to 190°C/375°F.
Peel and slice the onions into rings about 1 cm wide. Separate the eggs. Combine the yolks with flour, milk and 1 tbsp oil and mix until smooth. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold gently into the batter. Dip the onion rings into the batter and fry for 3-4 minutes. After removing the rings from the oil, set them on some paper towels to remove excess oil and sprinkle with salt.

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Pork And Mushrooms

When I came home from work today, I wanted something quick and decadent for lunch. I had some nice pork, and I came across absolutely perfect huge white button mushrooms at the supermarket. Thus, this idea was born.

Ingredients

1 lb pork (any lean cut)
2 lb button mushrooms
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup sour cream
1 cup grated parmesan
oil
salt, pepper

Cut the meat into narrow strips, season with salt and pepper, and start cooking in a hot oiled pan. Add the garlic and parsley. Wash and slice the mushrooms. Add them to the pork. The mushrooms will release a lot of liquid - cook until it has all evaporated and the meat and mushrooms have turned golden. Add the sour cream and cheese. The cheese will serve as a thickening agent. Cook for another few minutes, until the cheese is melted and the sour cream bubbly. Serve hot with rice.

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Roast Pepper Relish 2

This is the second version of my roast pepper relish, the one I will be storing for winter. It takes a bit more time to make than the first one, but it's definitely worth it! I'm not giving exact quantities, because I usually make huge batches for the winter, with 10-12 kg peppers. Of course, you can just make a little bit to see if you like it and eat it straight away.

Ingredients

1 part eggplant
4 parts red peppers
salt
chili peppers (optional)
oil

Roast the vegetables until the peppers' skin blisters. Peel the vegetables and remove the seeds from the peppers. Run everything through a food grinder. I guess you could use a blender as well, but that's tricky - it shouldn't be too chunky, but it shouldn't be a paste either. Add salt and chilies to taste (I use 100 g of salt for a batch of 6 l already peeled and ground veggies - that's 3.5 oz). Add oil - 80 ml per kg of relish (that's 1/3 cup per 2 pints). Cook on stove top or in the oven for 30 minutes.
Ladle hot relish into hot sterilized jars. Adjust lids and rings. Cover with a dish towel until you hear the tops pop. Refrigerate after opening.

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Roast Pork Loin with Potatoes

Hoorah! My pics have been expertly recovered by my genius of a husband! Apparently there is a great open source (i.e. free) program called PhotoRec that got my pictures back in no time!
The beauty you see before you is a juicy pork loin marinated in mustard and garlic. This is my beloved reliable roast recipe and I seldom make pork any other way. Because I add a teeny bit of water while it's all cooking, the potatoes end up really tender and creamy, and crispy on top.
This piece of meat was around 3 lb, so adjust the other quantities if you're using more meat.
I served the pork and potatoes with coleslaw and tahini.

Ingredients

1 pork loin
3 tbsp mustard
3 garlic cloves - minced, or 1 tbsp powdered garlic
3-4 tbsp oil
2 lb potatoes
salt, pepper




Rub the pork with a mixture of oil, mustard and garlic (and, if you want, your favorite herb), and season with salt and pepper. If you don't have too much time you can start roasting it straight away, but, if you can, leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours to soak in the flavors. Roast it in a preheated oven. Start off with a higher temperature - like 220°C/430°F for just a few minutes, to seal in the juices, then lower the heat to 170°C/340°F. Cook for about 40 minutes. Peel the potatoes, cut them into wedges, season with salt and pepper. Place the potatoes around the meat and add half a cup of water. Cook for another 40 minutes.

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Cherry And Yogurt Muffins

I am so angry right now! I have (by accident) deleted the pictures of the wonderful roast we had for lunch yesterday, as the second course, after the creamy soup! So, unless my computer whizz of a husband manages to retrieve them somehow, I'm gonna have to make it again soon (Oh, hey! Well that doesn't sound that bad!). The roast was my planned post for today, but, due to circumstances, muffins will have to do for now.
This is part 2 of my muffin adventures. This recipe was found on The Pioneer Woman, but I changed it slightly. It was originally meant to be made with blueberries, but blueberries are quite sparse and expensive here, so I used cherries. Because I didn't want the cherries to ruin the color of the muffins, I used frozen ones - clever, huh? I guess you could pretty much use any fruit you happen to have at the moment. I also omitted the nutmeg mostly because I like to keep things simple and I thought just vanilla was enough. The muffins turned out beautiful, soft and sweet, with the occasional tart cherry.

Ingredients

3 cups minus 2 tbsp flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup unflavored yogurt
2 cups cherries
1 tsp vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 180°C/385°F.
In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl whisk together sugar, oil, vanilla, egg, and yogurt. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and fold them in gently. Add the cherries and stir (but as little as possible so that the fruit doesn't bleed into the batter). Line the muffin pans with paper cups (or butter them, if you are so inclined). Scoop the batter into the pans, sprinkle each muffin with a bit of sugar for a special crunch, and press a few cherries on top. Bake for 25 minutes.

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Creamy Vegetable and Chicken Soup

Today I finished work really early (I love my job sometimes), and managed to go to the supermarket and be home by 10 o'clock. This, of course, means I had plenty of time to make us a lovely lunch. I decided to make soup as the first course, pretending that autumn is here and that it's not 30 degrees outside (that's 86° for you Fahrenheit using folks). Oh well, at least it's an improvement on 36°C/97°F we had two days ago...
Anyway, I wanted to use some of that lovely zucchini while it's still around. It turns out the zucchini was a great idea as it gave the soup a wonderfully creamy consistency. Of course, you could make the soup without it (when it's out of season) and just slightly increase the quantities of other vegetables. I must admit that I was slightly surprised at how flavorful the soup was before I even added any meat. It was so naturally sweet, there was absolutely no need to use stock.

Ingredients:

3 onions
4 carrots
4 parsnips
1/2 kg (1 lb) zucchini
1/2 kg (1 lb) chicken breast, diced
fresh parsley
1 cup sour cream
juice of 1 lemon
1 stock cube
salt, pepper
2 tbsp oil
water

Peel and roughly chop up the vegetables. Cook on hot oil until the onions turn slightly yellow. Add just enough water to cover the vegetables and cook until the carrots are soft. Puree the vegetables using a blender. An immersion blender is simpler, but if you don't have one, just chuck everything into a regular blender. Add around 2.5 l (10 cups) water, the stock cube, and the lemon juice. Bring to a boil and add the chicken. Cook for 20 minutes, add the sour cream and tweak the taste with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with fresh parsley.

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