Green Thai Seafood Curry

Thai Curries are on our menu quite often now and although we vary the main ingredients the basic curry sauce remain the same because I have finally found a rich and creamy Thai curry recipe that has just enough heat to warm up our tummies without offending the little ones in my family!!
We also prefer green curries, but through trial and error, I have worked out that 1 Tbs or red curry paste added to the green curry, works well for us!!
You might have seen my Green Thai Chicken Curry that I have posted not so long ago and this recipe is the same one except that I made the following changes.

1. In stead of the chicken, I used:
500gr fresh tuna - cut in chunks
500gr seafood mix - defrosted

I added:

3 baby marrow, cut in chunks
4 patty pans - quartered.

Before I say goodbye, I want to introduce you to 2 new websites......My best friend forever....and No school....Just fun!!! These 2 websites belongs to my children, they did their own research(Google keywords), made their own decisions and designed their own sites. I am so proud of them and I hope you will pop in from time to time, leave some comments and encourage them!!! It will make them extremely happy!!!

Calzone - surprisingly easy!!!!

A Calzone is a fold-over pizza in short, according to Wikipedia, and you can fill it with whatever you fancy as long as it has lots of mozzarella cheese as one of the fillings. I had to make some pre-baked pizza bases for a party on Saturday and decided to make a quick snack for the children!! I simply caramelized two onions with olive oil,salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and a teaspoon of brown sugar and when the onions where soft and golden brown, I stuffed it in a calzone with some grated mozzarella and peccorino. The children LOVED it and I loved the idea that cooking can be so simple and yet so rewarding!!!

For the Calzone you can use your own basic dough recipe or you can follow mine!! If you are pushed for time, buy a kg of dough from your local bakery!!!

These are the easy steps you have to follow!!

Calzone

Roll out the pizza dough and lay your filling on the one half. I used onions and cheese for this calzone, but the possibilities are endless!!!

Brush some water around the edges and fold over the dough to form a big pie!!! Make sure all the edges are closed properly otherwise the filling will run out!!

After about 30 minutes your Calzone will be ready !!!

Slice and enjoy the golden onions and the stringy melted cheese...Yum!!!

Pasta with Roasted Garlic and Tomato Sauce

There is nothing more comforting than a bowl of steaming pasta. When I was a few years younger, I thought Alfredo was the ultimate, but as I get older, my taste buds have changed and I am no partial to a far more simple sauce....tomato!!! What I wanted was a thick, reduced and intense tomato sauce and that you can only get 1 way!!!

Roasted Garlic and Tomato Sauce

500gr cocktail tomatoes
1 whole head garlic - broken into loose cloves-unpeeled
1 onion - peeled and cut into chunks
a few glugs of olive oil
a few glugs of balsamic vinegar
coarse salt
thyme
1 tsp sugar

Toss the tomatoes, garlic and onion in a roasting pan and lavishly sprinkle all other ingredients over the top. Slow-roast until the garlic is soft and the tomatoes are starting to break up and caramelize. Place all the ingredients into a blender and blitz to preferred state...chunky or smooth.

1 onion-finely chopped
500ml of Passata di Pomodoro - tomato puree(not paste)
salt/pepper
fresh thyme
1 tbsp sugar
roasted tomato mix- the one you have just made in the blender
125ml red wine

Sautee the onion in some olive oil, add all other ingredients and cook until thick and reduced. Add the cooked pasta(500gr dry) to the tomato sauce and cook for about 2 minutes. Serve with freshly ground pepper, parmesan, bacon bits and fresh rocket.!!!!

Ground Beef Recipes - Supper in a bundle!!

Ground beef or Minced beef is on many a South African's menu at least once a week and there are literally thousands of recipes. Some recipe books even have a section dedicated just to mince! I got a bit tired of the old Shepperd's Pie and Bobotie so I needed something a little different. On my weekly trip to our local market, I saw this beautiful "potbroodjie"( or bread baked in a cast iron pot) and a plan started to form in my head......Stuff it!!!! What you need is the following:

Stuffed Pot Bread

Ingredients

1 round loaf of bread
1kg beef mince or ground beef
1 red pepper - diced finely
1 large onion - chopped
1 clove garlic - chopped
dried oregano
1 tbsp Worcester Sauce
1 packet oxtail soup powder - you need this to bind the minced meat together.

Saute onion, pepper and garlic in some olive oil and add the meat. Use a fork to loosen the meat and break up any big lumps. Place the lid back on and let it simmer for about 10 min. Do NOT add water. Now add the dry soup powder and mix through. You should have a tick flavorful mince mix. Slice the "head" off your loaf of bread and hollow out the middle. Fill with the minced meat and place the "lid" back on. Cover the entire loaf with foil and bake in a pre-heated oven for about 30-40 minutes. Serve with grated beetroot and a green salad!!!

Osso Bucco - on a shoe string!!!

Osso Bucco is traditionally made with veal, but at the moment veal is very pricey and not that readily available around here!! Osso Bucco means " bone with a hole"(osso=bone and buco=hole) and refers to the veal shank bones with the marrow inside. The marrow is enjoyed on a chunk of ciabatta on the side. After reading about this in a local magazine, Fresh Living, I decided to use another bone with a hole, as in beef shin! I knew that the meat would not be as tender as veal, but I had the stew in the oven for a couple of hours so the end result was not at all bad, in fact it was superb and at a fraction of the cost ......a winner in my book!!! The tomato version is the most popular of these easy Italian recipes, but it can also be made with cinnamon, all spice and a bay leaf and then it is referred to as in bianco!

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions - chopped
2 carrots-chopped into cubes
4 cloves garlic - chopped

1 kg beef shin - with the bone
1/2 cup flour for dredging
salt and pepper
2tbs olive oil
1x 810gr whole peeled tomatoes
1 cup white wine
2 cups beef stock
1 bay leaf

Method

Heat a cast iron pot(with a lid) on the stove and add the oil, butter, onion, carrots and garlic. Saute until the onions and carrots are translucent and soft. Place the the flour, salt and pepper into a Ziploc bag and dredge the meat, by shaking the bag. In a seperate pan, heat some olive oil and brown the pieces of meat. Now, place the chunks of meat on top of the onions and carrots and then add all the other ingredients. Close the lid of the cast iron pot and place the pot in a pre-heated oven for 2-3 hours. The tomatoes, stock and wine, will reduce to the most delicious and fragrant sauce that you can imagine. Finish this dish of by sprinkling the cremolata over the top. Serve with chunks of bread of a dollop of mashed potatoes.

Gremolata

6 cloves of garlic
zest of 2 lemons
Flat leave parsley

Chop ingredients for the gremolata and mix. Sprinkle over the cooked dish, just before presentation at the table!

Arborio Rice pudding with a Blackberry Compote

Rice Pudding must be one of the most comforting desserts around!! It is velvety, smooth and creamy and not at all difficult to make!! We grew up with rice pudding, but in those days things like vanilla pods and Arborio rice were unfamiliar to my mom and gran, yet we were often treated to this delicious dessert on cold winter nights. I think they just used regular rice and most probably vanilla essence, but because it was made with so much love the "inferior" ingredients did not make a big difference to us as children.
It is no wonder then that I am craving this dessert when days are cold and rainy. Nothing can be more comforting than a bowl of rice pudding with hints of cinnamon and vanilla!!!

Arborio Rice pudding with Blackberry Compote

Ingredients

1/2 cup Arborio Rice- uncooked
2 cups water
2 cups full cream milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 vanilla bean - split and inside scraped out
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp butter
small pinch of salt
125 ml cream

Method

Bring water to the boil. Add salt and rice and vanilla pod and seeds. Cook on low temerature until most of the water is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Add the milk and the sugar, mix well and let it cook for about 10 minutes until the mixture is creamy and the rice is soft. Whisk the egg yolk and slowly add to the rice mixture. add the cream and simmer for 5 minutes until the mixture has thickened. Remove from the heat and add the butter. Serve immediately with the following berry compote.

Blackberry compote

Ingredients

500gr blackberries
1 cup sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick
2 cups water

Method

Place blackberries, sugar, lime juice, cinnamon stick and water in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes, or until reduced by half. Let cool.

Tomatoes - Stuff 'em!!!!

I love tomatoes - raw, cooked, sliced, chopped, pureed, sauteed, or any other way....I just adore them. Sadly though, tomatoes are very often the "supporting act" in a recipe and the focus is on the meat or fish that it is served with. Yesterday I felt like tomatoes and anchovies and ciabatta and........but mostly tomatoes!!!! So here is what I came up with!!!

Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients ( I will just list them, you adapt the quantities according to your servings)

tomatoes
ciabatta bread - can be day old
baby tomatoes - different colors of you have.
anchovies
onion - finely chopped
olive oil
thyme
mozzarella cheese - grated

Method

Preheat oven to 180C
Cut the top off the tomatoes and remove all the flesh inside with a spoon. Cut the baby tomatoes and ciabatta in small cubes. and place in a bowl. Add some chopped onion( I used 1 tbsp for 2 tomatoes), chopped anchovies and thyme. Drizzle with the olive oil and mix. Stuff the tomatoes to the top and bake in a oven for about 30-40 minutes. Take out the oven, top with some grated mozzarella and pop back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Serve this with more fresh ciabatta or a dollop of mash like I did!!! Trust me, this takes the humble old tomato to a totally new level . Try it!!!

What is your favorite tomato recipe- tell us or post about it, you can even share a recipe or two!!!

(ps. My photos is horrible, but the natural light during winter is just not photography friendly!)

Moroccan Lamb and Couscous

A while back( I am embarrassed to say), my friend Wendy from Mint Tea & Tagine send me a lovely surprise all the way from Morocco. It was a little wooden camel, a beautiful necklace and some Moroccan spices. I swear, I could smell those spices in the Postnet already!! I have to admit that I was a bit intimidated with all the different spices, but slowly but surely I got the hang of it. I made 3 Moroccan dishes so far....Chicken Tagine, Moroccan beef and Bean stew and the recipe below. Needless to say, the recipe I am sharing today, won the family's vote by far and I will make this again for sure....

Moroccan Lamb riblets with Couscous

Moroccan Dry Rub

Ingredients

1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Method

Mix all the ingredients and rub the riblets or chops with it!

Preheat the griller of your oven and place the riblets on a baking tray with a dripping rack. Grill the riblets until it it is done to your preference. We like the little caramelized bits.

Couscous

Ingredients

2 cups couscous

1 ½ cups vegetable stock

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

About ½ tbsp chopper garlic

½ tbsp grated ginger

½ cup flaked almonds

Skin of ½ preserved lemon

Method

Make couscous according to packet instructions, but instead of water, I use vegetable stock. Leave to stand for about 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, heat the oil on a pan and add the onion, garlic , ginger and peppers and saute until done. Add some the lemon, almonds and some chopped mint. Mix with the couscous and serve with your delicious lamb.