C’mon Inner Peace, I Don’t Have All Day…

Happy Easter to all Cristian  Orthodox and less Orthodox! It is a time for forgiveness and peace in our hearts and minds. They go together always. Otherwise, the mind will drive you insane, and will make you unhappy. Trust your heart and go with it. I asked my heart what shall I do? It answered back to return to the state I was some years ago and it felt happy suddenly. But then my mind turns me around and gives me trouble. If I can’t find peace for a while then I must go through this. I accept and pray for peace in my heart and mind. Where are you, peace? Please, please, come back to me! Talking to myself sometimes helps and I even manage to make myself laugh. ;)) Just imagine me talking aloud or in my mind makes me smile. I remember a pic I found on the internet some time ago. It describes perfectly the state I am in: C’mon inner peace, I don’t have all day… God, I am so restless… In fact I have all day as this is a unique process for every person. 🙂

It helps if I do something I enjoy so I thought of writing on my blog and whinge a bit. I am soo good… I kiss myself… I make myself smile and laugh even. Thanks myself. xxxxxxxxx

And now back to writing a delicious recipe for hot days. I can not say summer days as hot days start in April now or even March. This weather!  If you don’t want to stay in the kitchen but still want to eat something good why not try this Mediterranean Chicken Parcels recipe? The source is “Cookshelf Chicken” by Tom Bridge, 2000. I recommend it for your kitchen, and you can find it zucchinihere,  too. And of course I made it once upon a time…and eat it too.

Mediterranean Chicken Parcels

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 6 skinless chicken breast fillets
• 250 g (9 oz/ 2 cups) Mozzarella cheese
• 500 g (1 lb 2 oz/ 3 1/2 cups) courgettes (zucchini), sliced
• 6 large tomatoes, sliced
• 1 small bunch fresh basil or oregano
• pepper
• rice or pasta to serve

Method:

• Cut 6 pieces of foil each about 25 cm (10 inches) square. Brush the foil square lightly with oil and set aside until required.
• With a sharp knife, slash each chicken breast at intervals, then slice the Mozzarella cheese and place between the cuts in the chicken.
• Divide the courgettes and tomatoes between the pieces of foil and sprinkle with black pepper. Tear or roughly chop the basil or oregano and scatter over the vegetables in each parcel.
• Place the chicken on top of each pile of vegetables then wrap in the foil to enclose the chicken and vegetables, tucking in the ends. To aid cooking, place everything on the shiny side of the foil so that once the parcel is wrapped up, the dull surface of the foil is facing outwards. This ensures that the heat is absorbed into the parcel and not reflected away from it.
• Place on a baking tray (cookie sheet) and bake in a preheated oven, 200 °C/ 400˚F, Gas Mark 6, for about 30 minutes.
• To serve, unwrap each foil parcel and serve with rice or pasta.

Bon appetite!

15 Minutes

For some days I’ve felt the need of something sweet. Probably to compensate me, as I am bitter and sour, more like a lemon. Don’t squeeze me, as I am not in the mood. Running away is how I feel. I am in desperate need of a vacation. I am so tired. I can’t wait for this one that comes with the 1st of May and for the longer one that comes with the 1st of July. I want to forget about everything and just relax. And I want to be alone, to recharge. Somewhere, over the rainbow. I remember a holiday I had in Bilbor, a beautiful village in the mountains, near Toplita town. I went there alone, to stay at a friend and I remember taking a small blanket and a book with me and lying down on a secluded clearing and falling asleep. Now, that’s a perfect holiday: sleeping in the nature.

The next perfect thing is to enjoy a delicious meal or desert. For a hot summer day, I recommend a fruit salad. No cooking, no sweating, no exiling yourself for hours in the kitchen and miss a beautiful sunny day. Just a quick and refreshing bowl of fruits with cream. You need 15 minutes of your life. Is it too much? I think not. If you want more quick recipes, get your inspirations, as I got mine for this recipe and more, from Carolyn Humphries’ “Simply Stylish Meals in 15 Minutes”.

Fruit Brulee

Serves 4

Preparation time: 5 minutes plus chilling time

Cooking time: about 3 minutes

Ingredients: 

• 225 g (8 oz) strawberries, sliced or raspberries (or peaches, plums or nectarines, sliced and pitted)
• 150 ml (1/4 pt, 2/3 cup) double cream
• 150 ml (1/4 pt, 2/3 cup) thick plain yoghurt
• light brown sugar

Method:

• Arrange the fruit in a shallow flameproof dish.
• Whip together the cream and yoghurt until soflty peaking. Spread over the fruit. Chill, if time allows.
• Sprinkle liberally with sugar so it covers the top completely.
• Place under a very hot grill (broiler) until the sugar melts. Serve straight away.

Bon appetite!

Pad Thai

‘This is the best known of all Thai noodle dishes’ writes Vatcharin Bhumichitr in his book ‘Vatch’s Thai Cookbook’, in 2004. In 2005 I was reading this recipe, in London and I thought that I have to try this famous dish. I went shopping and the result was delicious. I would love to try it again, sometime. It takes only 2-3 minutes to cook, I can’t ask for more. May be a take away. 😉 I am not sure if this recipe is enough for 4 people, by the quantities, I estimate it is enough for only 2 so if you are more than 2, just double the ingredients.

Thai Fried Noodles/ Pad Thai

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 extra large egg (or 2 small eggs if you like)
• 180 g (6 oz) sen lek noodles, soaked and drained
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp chopped roasted peanuts
• 2 tbsp dried shrimp, ground or pounded
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tbsp chopped preserved radish (chi po)
• 30 g (1 oz, 1/3) cup fresh beansprouts
• 2 spring onions/ scallions, chopped into 1 inch/2,5 cm pieces
• sprig of fresh coriander/ cilantro, coarsely chopped
• lemon wedges, to garnish

Method:

• In a wok or frying pan, heat the oil and fry the garlic until golden brown.
• Break in the egg and stir quickly, cooking for a couple of seconds only, then add the noodles and stir well, scraping down the sides of the pan to ensure that the egg and garlic are well mixed.
• One by one, stirring between each addition, add the lemon juice, fish sauce, sugar, half the peanuts, half the dried shrimp, the chili powder, the preserved radish, 1 tbsp of the beansprouts and the spring onions.
• Test the noodles for tenderness and when they are al dente, turn on to a serving dish. Arrange the remaining peanuts, dried shrimp and beansprouts around the noodle mixture.
• You can also put a little  pile of chili powder and another of sugar on the side to be mixed in as each diner wishes. Granish with coriander and lemon wedges and serve.

Bon appetite!

Have You Got 10 Minutes?

Have you got 10 minutes? Do you like vegetarian dishes? Do you like couscous? Dried fruit? Do you like to have a healthy diet? Are you tired of cooking? Is it so hot outside that drains you out with cooking? If you answer is ‘yes’ to at least 3 of these questions, then read this recipe and why not eat it fresh, as it is best that way. My inspiration for this is  the cookbook ‘Quick Meals in Minutes’, 2001.

Fruit and Almond Couscous

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (400 g) couscous
• 2 cups (500 ml) boiling chicken stock or just boiling water if you are fasting
• 40 g butter or oil of any kind, preferably cold pressed, again, if you are fasting
• 1/4 cup (35 g) dried currants
• 1/4 cup (35 g) dried apricots, chopped finely
• 1/4 cup (35 g) slivered almonds, toasted
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Method:

• Place couscous in medium heatproof bowl; add boiling stock and butter.
• Toss couscous gently, using a fork, until liquid is absorbed.
• Add the remaining ingredients; mix gently. Serve it fresh as it is or as a side dish with spiced wings if you like.

Bon appetite!

 

Have You Got 15 Minutes?

Please, please, say yes. Do you like vegetables? Please, please, say yes. Are you a vegetarian or a vegan? Please, please, say yes. Otherwise I see no sense in writing this recipe. Who would like it, make it, taste it? 😦  Me? Yeah, I forgot about myself. I like vegetables, I am sometimes a vegetarian, I like to cook, to eat and to write recipes. And I like to do that for you, who take the time to read my blog. For this I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Today I invite you to try a French recipe, from Carolyn Humphries, ‘Simply Stylish Meals in 15 Minutes’, 1999. So, have you got 15 minutes? If so, here we go:

No-nonsense Ratatouille 

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 small aubergine (eggplant), sliced
• 3 courgettes, sliced
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 green (bell) peppers, sliced
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) olive oil
• 2.5 ml (1/2 tsp) dried oregano
• salt
• pepper
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) tomato purée (paste)
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) red wine or water

Method:

• Put the prepared vegetables in a large pan with the olive oil. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes until they begin to soften.
• Add the oregano, seasoning and the tomato purée blended with the wine or water. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are just tender.
• Serve with buttered pasta and grated Parmesan cheese.

Bon appetite!

My Fave Vege: Pork ;)

Just kidding, dear friend. I just wanted to get your attention. Have I got it? Thanks, stay with me then. It is just an option, not an order. Uou might want to go away but then to return. I am still here.

Talking about vegetables, I am almost a vegetarian. But I admit I love meat, from time to time. And my favourite is pork. But then you knew that from the title. I have days when I just crave a barbecued, hot, succulent, fat pork chop. You understand what I mean. But today I will not talk about barbecue but about a very simple and quick recipe with pork. I love not only the meat in it but the sauce as well. For me it goes in an intimate and elegant setting. I tried it once, in my fave Olympic city, London. I got from “Quick Meals in Minutes”, 2001. I hope it will seem to you as simple as it seems to me.

Pork With Anchovy and Pine Nut Sauce

Preparation time : 10 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 (800 g) pork chops
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 200 g button mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 1 medium tomato (190 g), seeded, chopped finely
• 45 g can anchovy fillets, drained, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) dry red wine
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 60 g butter, chopped coarsely
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup (90 g) pine nuts

Method:

• Heat oil in medium frying pan. Cook pork until browned lightly and cooked through; remove pork from the pan.
• Add garlic, mushrooms, tomato and anchovies to pan; cook, stirring, until mushrooms are soft.
• Stir in wine, the water, sugar and vinegar; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes.
• Remove pan from the heat, quickly stir in butter, parsley and nuts. Serve sauce over pork; accompany with salad, if  desired.

Bon appetite!