Tagine of chicken with loads of flavors

After a long long break, I am back! Well, the PhD dissertation had to be submitted in between :) It might also have something to do with the summer in general as I am much less motivated to cook. Some very simple salad or just watermelon is enough most of the time. So, just as it starts getting cold again, here is a yummy tagine/casserole recipe from Soup's On!


Ingredients:
8 skinless-boneless chicken thighs
8 medium potatoes (peeled)
2 medium onions (chopped)
1/2 bunch cilantro
1/2 bunch parsley
1 cup chicken broth
4 garlic cloves (minced)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups of frozen small peas
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 teaspoons of salt
2 tablespoons of olive oil

It is actually pretty easy to make, as you essentially mix everything together. I used a casserole dish, but you can of course substitute it with a tagine or a slowcooker. A few key points though. You should start with preheating the oven to 400 F, and wash the bunches of cilantro and parsley, using strings to tie each bunch. Place your casserole initially on the stove, heat the olive oil, and brown the chicken on all sides. Then add the potatoes, onions, garlic, broth, cilantro, parsley, turmeric, ginger and black pepper. It looks (see above) and smells so good! Close the lid, and bake in the oven for an hour. At this point you need to discard the cilantro and parsley, and add the remaining ingredients: peas, lemon juice and salt. Return to oven just until everything is hot.

As you can see, I served it with some couscous and some fresh parsley on top. Healthy and so flavorful...

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Chicken Casserole

I've learned this recipe from my american flatmate (many thanks to Heather and her mother's famous recipe) and actually once we cooked it together (I was as silent and useless as I am here :p). Unfortunately, I didn't take any fancy pictures of it but I have this one, which I took while preparing it.

What do you need?

*Frozen broccoli, thawed
*Chicken, cooked (preferably sauteed in butter)
*Can of Cream of Chicken soup
*Mayonnaise
*Lemon juice
*Grated cheese (mature cheddar)
*Bread
*White rice

In a bowl, mix the cream of chicken soup with a large spoonful of mayonnaise and some lemon juice (half of a fresh lemon is fine). Place the cooked chicken and broccoli on the bottom of a greased pan and pour the cream of chicken soup mixture on top, making sure it covers everything. Next you sprinkle the grated cheese on top so that it covers everything, and then you take the bread, and squish/roll it up so that you make breadcrumbs and then cover the entire top with that. One can sprinkle the top of the bread crumbs with a little bit more cheese. Then you heat it for about 30 minutes at a low temperature (like 150 degrees C).

Finally, you can serve it on white rice. (I assume that everyone here knows way more than I do about how to cook rice, so I just skip my rookie comments :p)

I hope you enjoy it!

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Boston Cream Pie

After a long break, I finally found a bit of time to write up a recipe! This one is a Boston delicacy that we baked with Rosie: Boston Cream Pie. The recipe is from Sweets to the Sweet.




There are three components to prepare. It is a bit labor-intensive but the result is amazing!

Cream filling:

2 egg yolks
1 1/2 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat the yolks in a double boiler, stir in flour, cornstarch, sugar, milk and butter. Cook over boiling water about 20 minutes till thick, stirring constantly. Rosie and I thought that a bit more corn starch could be necessary to get it thicker. Chill mixture. When cold, whip the cream with the vanilla and fold together. Yummy. Refrigerate.

Sponge cake:
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup cold water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
3/4 cup cake flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Separate eggs, yolks into a large bowl, whites into smaller. Beat the yolks for 5 minutes, gradually add cold water and beat 1 minute. Add sugar gradually and beat 3 more minutes. Stir in vanilla and lemon zest. In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt with a fork. Add to yolk mixture in thirds, folding in. Beat the whites with the cream of tartar till they form soft peaks. Fold into yolk mixture. Turn into 2 ungreased 8" cake pans. Go with 8" and not 8 1/2" (as in the picture -the cakes were not as thick as they could have been). Bake at 325 F for 15-20 minutes till golden and springs back to touch. Cool upside down. Run a sharp knife around outside and remove cakes from pan. Refrigerate. When ready to frost (when cream and cake chilled) make the chocolate icing.

Chocolate icing:
2 squares unsweetened chocolate (2 oz)
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Melt chocolate in top of double boiler (or microwave), remove from heat. Beat in sugar and water at once. You need a deep bowl, it sprays around otherwise. Believe me, it does ;) Then add yolk, beat well. Beat in cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, then vanilla. We added a bit more cream to make it a bit more runny. This is one of the best chocolate icing I had. The taste is close to Nutella!

Put the cream filling between cake layers. Spread the chocolate over the top, allowing some to dribble over edges. Ignore the fact that ours did not dribble anywhere ;) Keep cake refrigerated. Enjoy!!!

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Goat cheese & Sundried tomato pesto Phyllo Puffs

This is a recipe i recently came up with after realizing i had nothing to serve my guests as an appetizer 15 minutes before they arrived!

So i just ran across my fridge content,

and found the following ingredients:

1/2 pack of Phyllo dough (+- 20 sheets)

2-3 spoons of thick cooking cream1 small pack of goat cheese (the creamy one)
2-3 spoons of sun dried tomato pesto

A dozen of asparagus
Butter/olive oil
Sliced almonds
Mixed greens

First, take the phyllo dough out of the freezer an hour or so before starting the preparation.

In the meantime, two things need to be done: 1) mix well the goat cheese, cream and pesto in a bowl until you get a thick byt a little creamy mixture, and 2) cook the asparagus (but keep them a little crispy).

Then, time to assemble the whole thing. It's probably the more laborious part of it, but it's so good that it's worth the time investment! Take half of the sheets (=- 10) for each puff, and spread a mix of olive oil and melted butter between each sheet.
Then, spread half of the goat cheese mixture in the middle of the phyllo dough, making sure both ends remain empty, and add half of the asparagus on top of it. Then, roll the dough (tight, but not too much as you don't want it to explode! - i experienced it!), and fold the extremities underneath. Repeat the same operation for the second one with the remaining half of the ingredients, and place both puffs on an oven-safe plate for 15-20 minutes in the oven, which has been pre-heated at 425 (or until it's golden).

Each puff serves 4 (small portions).
Serve on mixed greens, with some sliced almonds on top.
Alternative: The first time i made them, i served them with a classical cream-white wine sauce on top of it, and it was delicious.

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Easy and tasty chicken stir-fry

This is a super quick and easy stir-fry recipe that I've been using for years!

-1 medium zucchini
-1½ cups broccoli florets
-1 cup snow peas
-1 cup bean sprouts
-½ cooked chicken breast (optional)
-2 cans chicken broth (Campbell’s works well) or replace with 2 sachets of powdered chicken bouillon.
-3 tablespoons soya sauce
-¼ cup corn starch
-1 tablespoon vegetable oil
-2 cups of white rice (Minute Rice works well)
-2 teaspoons sesame seeds (optional)

Prep time: 5-10 mins
Cooking time: 10-12 mins

Begin by cooking the rice so that it is ready at the same time as the stir-fry (which usually takes about 10 minutes or so to make). If using Minute Rice, I like to start the rice first and once the water is boiling, take it off the heat and let it sit while I cook the stir-fry – that way, it is light and fluffy by the time the main dish is ready.

Chop the zucchini into about 5mm slices, and prepare the broccoli florets (bite-size pieces work best). Cut off the ends of the snow peas. Put the vegetables aside for now. Then, add the chicken broth to the corn starch while stirring, making sure to dissolve all of the cornstarch without leaving clumps (you can do this in a large measuring cup). Add the soya sauce and stir well.

Pre-heat the wok on high using about 1 tbsp of vegetable oil (a fry pan can work nicely if you do not have a wok). Once it is very hot, throw in the broccoli, zucchini and snow peas. Stir fry the vegetables on high heat using a non-stick utensil (like a wooden spoon) for about 5 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender and browned on both sides. Then add the bean sprouts and the chicken (optional). Stir fry for another 2 minutes, adding the sesame seeds once everything has been cooked. Then, stir the sauce one last time in the measuring cup to further dissolve any cornstarch and then add it to the wok, being careful not to splash. The sauce will bubble quite a bit at the beginning, so be sure to stir the wok’s contents well. Once it quiets down, let the sauce thicken – this usually takes about 2-3 minutes. You will notice that it will begin to boil and get darker – be sure it does not burn, though. Once all the sauce is the same thick, dark consistency, the stir-fry is ready! Serve over a bed of white rice (about 1 cup per person), as depicted.

Serves 2 (for more people, you can double the quantities of vegetables and meat, but perhaps only make 1.5x the sauce – the portions are already quite generous!)

Enjoy!

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Zucchini Boerek

This is a recipe that some of you already tried! I decided to write one of my all-time favorites. Strangely, I am finding this hard to categorize, it is sort of a quiche, a gratin or a Turkish boerek. But it is simple to make and very delicious.

Ingredients:
1 medium-size zucchini
1 medium-size carrot
125 grams of feta cheese
7-8 sheets of phyllo dough
1 cup of carbonated water
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Fresh dill (chopped)
1 cup cheddar cheese
Butter

Grate the zucchini and the carrot in a big bowl. Break the phyllo dough sheets into small pieces with your hands. The pieces can be uneven, it does not matter. Then add the eggs, the feta cheese, the dill, the milk and the vegetable oil. You could also add some cheddar cheese if you like. Mix well with a spoon, cover with a lid or foil and let it sit in the fridge for an hour.

In the meantime butter the pyrex dish, preferably a large deep one, approximately 8''x12''. Transfer the mixture to the pyrex, and then pour the carbonated water on. When you do that you get a feeling that you ruined everything, no worries :) On top, place little pieces of butter, and then cover with grated cheddar cheese. Bake about 30 minutes, or until the top is golden, at 425F.

Once it is ready, let it cool down a little before you serve. Otherwise, just like lasagna, it loses its form once you transfer to the plates. Bon appetit!

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Flan au caramel traditionnel

This is a taste from my childhood that I cannot really find here in the US. So finally I decided to do it myself and it turned out pretty accurate to what I remember it to be.
Preheat oven at 350F.
First, start boiling 100ml of water with 1/3 cup (75 gr) of sugar on medium/high heat. Since it takes a while, you can stir it occasionally while you start the second task. In a small pot, boil 1/2 lt of milk with 1/3 cup (75 gr) of sugar and 1 vanilla bean (cut in half lengthwise). If you do not have a vanilla bean, you can substitute with about 1 tsp of liquid pure vanilla extract.
Beat four eggs and set aside. Remove the milk mixture from heat once it boiled for a couple minutes. When the water/sugar mix turns to light yellow/brown color, remove from heat and pour into the bottom of a medium round glass bowl (make sure that the bowl can go into the oven).
To make sure that the milk mixture do not cook the eggs, pour little bit of the milk mix into the eggs while whisking constantly. Slowly add more and continue mixing until all is mixed together.
Finally, slowly pour it into the medium bowl containing the caramel.
The flan should be cook AU BAIN-MARIE, meaning: fill a larger bowl with water and place the bowl containing the flan in it. The water should come to about half the medium bowl.
It says to bake it for 20 to 3o mins, but I had to keep it for about 40 mins. You will know it is ready if you insert a knife and it comes out clean.
After having cooled the flan in room temperature, it is best to refrigerate it for 2 hours before serving.
To serve, fill the larger bowl with hot water, let the flan rest in that bowl for a couple minutes so that the caramel underneath softens. Then turn the bowl containing the flan into a plate and watch the caramel flows from the top of the flan...
Recipe borrowed from marmiton.org

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