Moroccan picnic

Some pics I discovered of the food I made for hubby & I for a Valentine's picnic (moved indoors because of the wind & our laziness) with a Moroccan theme.

The menu was as follows:

Roasted Red Pepper & Aubergine Chunks drizzled with Balsamic syrup, olive oil & copious amounts of fresh mint.
Fried Halloumi - Halloumi coated with spicy flour (salt & pepper, paprika & a tiny bit of chilli powder)
Garlicy-Lemony Chicken Wings - 'nuff said...
Homebaked Not-so-flat Bread - I used part whole-wheat flour which made it a bit heavier than intended. You live, you learn.
Dukkah - to dip the not-so-flat bread in
Olive oil/Balsamic - to dip the not-so-flat bread in
Minted Marinated Olives - using pretty much the same flavourings as for the red pepper & aubergine, just subbing plain balsamic for the balsamic syrup.

And of course lovely chilled sparkling wine.

Oh, and my lovely hubby!

Foodporn: Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Another one that I can't remember how I made - was something to do with some bellpeppers, mayo, spinach... and then it starts to get a little fuzzy. I think the oven shot looks pretty good if I have to say so myself...

Pasta deliciousness

A bit of food porn - I took this pic of a supper I made a while ago, but for the life of me can't remember what I put in it... Does look good though!

Paneer

Fresh Indian cheese... What could be more wholesome? And as easy it is to make, it sounds pretty darn impressive if you can say that you've made your own cheese! I have only ever eaten Paneer once before, but boy oh boy, what a difference the home-made factor makes. Adapted from this recipe on Recipezaar. I found that it's delicious cooked with spinach in a dish called Palak Paneer.

Makes about 100g of cheese

1L fullcream milk
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vinegar

1. Heat the milk in a large pot and bring to a rolling boil.
2. Add the lemon juice & vinegar and simmer for a few minutes (approx 10 - 15 minutes). The milk will curdle and the whey will seperate from the liquid. If needed, add a few more drops of lemon juice to encourage the milk to curdle more.
3. Line a colander with cheesecloth (I used a thin indian scarf - don't be afraid, there won't be a cheesy residue or smell on the cloth afterwards!), and pour the curdled milk with the whey into the cloth.
4. The liquid will drain off and the whey will clump together. When most of the liquid has drained off (shouldn't take more than a few minutes), tie the ends together and hang your cheese (in the cloth) up somewhere cool to drain. I just hung mine in my kitchen window for a day and it was perfect (we don't get a lot of sun in winter).
5. Take your cheese out of the cloth, and press together into a ball. This doesn't make a lot of cheese - I could fit mine into a small bowl. Place a weight on top of the cheese in the bowl to compact it even further and let stand for a few hours or overnight. Use within a few days.

Spaetzle with Bacon and Celery

This is YUM YUM YUM!!! Please don't be put off by making the spaetzle from scratch, it really is quicker to make than you think. I made this last night and the whole thing took me 30 minutes from start to finish.

I first read this in a cookbook about Eastern-European cooking. Unfortunately I can't remember the name, but would love to buy the book - they have some very good recipes in there, including Uzska, some lovely little Polish filled dumplings, rather like ravioli... But I'm going off on a tangent again. The spaetzle is unbelievable and the addition of the bacon & celery just elevates it to heavenly. I'm 1/8th German (my grandmother's father came here from Germany), so this dish makes me feel all German! Or maybe that's just my excuse for eating copious amounts of it's buttery goodness??

Warning: those on diet better stay away from this one, it contains a ridiculous amount of butter. I try to make up for it by using low-fat (3g) bacon, but I think I might just be fooling myself...

Serves 3 - 4 people (depending on your appetite - last night me & hubby went back for seconds and managed to eat everything between the 2 of us, it's so yummy!)

250g (1/2 lb) bacon, chopped
1 big bunch of celery, chopped (I usually include the leaves as well, but it's up to you if you just want to use the stems)
1/4 - 1/3 cup of butter
salt & pepper to taste

For the Spaetzle:
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup milk
2 eggs

1. First make your Spaetzle - mix all the ingredients together until smooth. Set aside, while you bring a big pot of salted water to the boil and get started on the bacon & celery topping. 2. Dry-fry the bacon in a frying-pan until nice & crispy. (if you're using very low-fat bacon, you might have to add some butter here). Add the celery, turn the heat down to medium low, add half the butter and cook until softened and fragrant. Add salt & pepper to taste. I normally add a little bit of garlic to this as well, but not everyone is a garlic freak like I am, so feel free to leave it out!
3. By now your water should be boiling. Spoon the spaetzle mixture onto a big plastic/glass chopping board (I find those handle easier than the wooden ones). Now the labour-intensive bit starts, but don't worry, it goes very quickly! Holding the chopping board over the pot of boiling water, scrape the spaetzle mixture bit by bit into the pot, so you're forming little strands of spaetzle. Don't add too many pieces at once, I normally do this in 3 of 4 batches, depending on the size of the pot you have. The spaetzle will quickly rise to the top of the water - this means they are done and you can scoop them out with a slotted spoon. Continue until all the Spaetzle has been cooked. This should take no longer than 10 minutes for all of them.
4. Now add your spaetzle to the bacon & celery mix in the pan, add the rest of the butter and fry for a minute or 2 to coat the spaetzle with all the flavours. Add salt & pepper to taste & serve while still warm.

Optional: you can grate a bit of cheese on top if you want to go the full artery-clogging way (like we did last night...), but really it's just as delicious without.

Spinach Tart

This is from one of the well-known magazines in South Africa - Die Huisgenoot (The Housemate).My mom often makes this one and that's how I came to make it too. It's a firm favourite with everyone except my brother who doesn't like spinach. I, on the other hand, LOVE it!

A one-meal dish - just the way I like it...

Serves 6 - 8

5 or 6 medium sized potatoes
1 big bunch of spinach, chopped
250ml sourcream (you can subsitute with plain yoghurt for a lower-fat version)
a pinch of nutmeg (optional - I just leave this out if I don't have it)
a little bit of oil, for frying
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
3 tomatoes, chopped
250g bacon, chopped
Cheddar cheese, grated
2 eggs
salt & pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Put potatoes in a pot of boiling water and cook until soft. Alternatively, microwave until cooked through. Peel the skins off (let cool down a bit first...) and mash the potatoes finely. Add a little bit of milk if you find it too hard to mash on it's own or it looks very dry. Press the mash into the bottom and up the sides of a oven-proof baking dish (lasagne-size).
3. Meanwhile, cook the spinach in a fryingpan with a little bit of water for a few minutes until wilted. Add nutmeg and half of the sourcream and season with salt & pepper. Keep aside.
4. In another frying pan, fry the onion with the garlic in a little bit of oil until starting to soften. Add the bacon and fry until crispy. Lastly, add the tomatoes and cook over medium-low heat until the tomatoes breaks down. Season to taste with salt & pepper.
5. Now spoon the tomato-bacon mix over the potato base, spread to cover the base evenly.
6. Grate over some cheese and top with the spinach mixture.
7. Beat the eggs together with the rest of the sourcream, season with salt & pepper and pour over the spinach mixture.
8. Grate some cheese on top and put in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes or until golden brown and set on top.
9. Serve hot with a nice salad.

Italian Sausages

Impromptu dish, thrown together a few nights ago when I felt like some comfort food (and preferably with as little effort as possible). Of course, I just had to grab the fennel that the store had on offer and I think it complemented the other ingredients very nicely. I served this with polenta and rocket and it was delicious!

Serves 5 - 6

1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 onion, sliced in rings
3 small bulbs of fennel, sliced into rings (reserve a few of the leaves, and chop those as well)
2 packs cocktail pork sausages (about 400 - 500g)
1 punnet mushrooms (250g), halved
1/3 cup sweet white wine
2 tablespoons dried aniseed
balsamic reduction to drizzle over
salt & pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan, add the garlic & onion and saute gently until the onion starts to soften, add the fennel rings, saute another 2 - 3 minutes. Lastly add the sausages, cook for a few minutes more to lightly brown them on the outside.
2. Spoon the sausages, onions & fennel into an ovenproof dish. Mix in the mushrooms and pour the white wine over.
3. Bake for about 30 minutes, then sprinkle the aniseed and balsamic reduction over and season with salt&pepper to taste. Bake for another 30 minutes, turning the sausages once to brown evenly. It is ready when the fennel is soft.
4. Serve with polenta and optionally a few rocket leaves.

Sushi ala CreativePot

Made this quite a while ago, I think it came out quite nice! No real recipe, I made some salmon nigiri, salmon maki and rainbow rolls with salmon, avo, cucumber & carrot.

Stuffed Pattypans

What a delightful little appetizer! Found this in my search for yellow food (I planned an entire 3 course meal based around yellow foods - great fun!). It's surprisingly flavourful and the contrast between the crispy filling and the buttery soft pattypans is amazing. Don't be tempted to leave out the thyme - it adds a nice boost to the pattypans.

10 pattypans
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, plus a few extra sprigs to garnish.
salt to taste
3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1. Heat oven to 180C
2. Steam pattypans until just tender. Cut off stem ends & carefully scoop out a bit of the inside flesh. Discard the insides or keep for another use.
   
3. Mix together the breadcrumbs, cheese, salt & thyme and spoon into the pattypan shells.
   
4. Place on a baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes.
5. Serve hot, garnished with thyme sprigs
   

Californian Pasta Salad

Got this recipe from food24.com and I must say it was quite yummy (not to mention super quick to make). I made a few minor adjustments, although next time I will quickly saute the spring onions as well - I find their raw flavour a bit harsh.

500 g fusilli, cooked
15 ml olive oil
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 greenpepper, sliced
1 bunch spring onions, sliced
125 g sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in hot water for about 10 minutes, then drained & halved
a handful pecannuts
1 bunch fresh basil, chopped
65 ml freshly grated Parmesan cheese
olive oil & balsamic vinegar
salt and milled pepper

1.Toss garlic, greenpeppers, spring onions, tomatoes and nuts with the cooked pasta.
2. Sprinkle with parmesan & basil and drizzle oil & balsamic over just before serving. Season to taste & serve at room temperature.

Chicken curry

Made this for our Bollywood Dreams evening (will post the rest of the recipes later, I promise!), but left out the potatoes & beans (I had some other veggie side-dishes and didn't want this competing with it. This was inspired by a recipe from Dutch Girl Cooking's blog and it is super delicious. She also has a recipe for home-made roti's on there that I'll have to give a go sometime.

4 chicken fillets (about 500g)
750g potatoes, cut into chunks
200g green beans, sliced into 4cm pieces
1/2 tsp peri-peri (chilli) powder
2 medium onions
3 tsps crushed garlic
1 tbsp curry powder
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
pinch ground cumin
1 sachet tomato paste
1 chicken stock cube
4 tbsp sunflower oil
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp water (or substitute with a tin of indian chopped tomatoes)
pepper
salt

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil, add half of the chopped onions, 1 1/2 tsp garlic and cook for about 3 minutes.
2. Add 1 1/2 tsp curry powder, crumble up half the stock cube and add it.
3. Cook briefly, then add the potatoes and green beans, stir and cook for another minute before pouring in the water/chopped tomatoes in juice. Put the lid on and simmer, over low heat, for 10 minutes.
4. In a seperate frying pan, heat the rest of the oil, and add the remaining onions, garlic and chili pepper.
5. Cook for 3 minutes, then add 1 tbsp curry powder, the remaining stock cube (crumble it) and the tomato paste. Cook for 1 minute to blend all the flavours together.
6. Add the chicken to the tomato-onion mix and cook for a few minutes, until the chicken has browned a bit. Add the chicken mix to the potatoes and beans and stir.
7. Season the chicken and potatoes with some salt and pepper. Put the lid back on and simmer for another 20 minutes; until the chicken and potatoes are well done.

Orzo with Feta, Cherry Tomatoes & Dill

Thanks Epicurious for this awesome recipe! It really is proof that the simplest ingredients can taste absolutely amazing if you just give them a chance. I will definitely be making this again & again. I've since tried it with spaghetti as well, but it just didn't have the same effect. The orzo is a must for this one.

Serves 4 (as main) or 6 (as side-dish)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup chopped dill
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
a pinch of sugar
1 cup orzo
a dash of balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup crumbled feta
salt & freshly ground black pepper

1. Toss together oil, tomatoes, dill, balsamic vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper in a large serving bowl. Let the flavours mingle while the pasta is being cooked.
2. Meanwhile, cook orzo in a pot of boiling salted water until al dente
3. Drain orzo and toss with tomato mixture. Add feta and toss again. Serve at room temperature.