Brown & Wild Rice Pilaf

I got great new vegetarian recipes from my sister-in-law Karin while she and my brother were here visiting.  Fabulous flavourful healthy and very moreish meals.  It’s wonderful to see Greg and Karin’s kids enjoy these wonderful meals too.

Ingredients

1 cup of brown wild rice cooked according the package instructions
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 large onion chopped
1 large red pepper chopped
500g  brown mushrooms chopped
2 stalks celery sliced
¼ cup soy sauce
410g tin lentils rinsed
½ cup chopped parsley
1 small punnet sprouts
Toasted flaked almonds

Method

1. Heat the oil and fry the onions and peppers.
2. Add the mushrooms and celery and cook until the mushrooms and celery are tender.
3. Stir in the sprouts, soy, lentils and parsley.
4. Add the rice and flaked almonds.

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Anchovy, Garlic, Tomato Pasta

I have been craving pasta for the past couple of weeks.  Maybe my body is lacking something or more likely I was just wanting to eat pasta.  I finally succumbed to the craving and made a scrumptious and very moreish meal, I think even my friend John would be impressed.

Anchovy, Garlic, Tomato Pasta

If you don’t want to make your own pasta, use your choice of store bought.

Pasta Ingredients

200g all purpose flour
2 large eggs
1ml salt
5ml olive oil

Method

1. Place the flour on a counter top and create a mound with a crater in the middle. Put the eggs, salt and oil into the crater.
2. Beat the eggs with a fork and gradually incorporate the flour until all the egg is incorporated into the flour.  The dough should be of a rough consistency, feel slightly sticky to the touch and moist. If it’s too sticky sprinkle a bit more flour on the mixture.
3. Using the palm of your hand push the dough down and away from you. Flip it back towards you and fold it in half. Once again push the dough down and away from you, rotating the dough so that it kneads in every direction. Continue until the dough becomes smooth.
4. Wrap the dough in cling film and rest for 20 minutes. Don’t put it into the fridge.  I sometimes even skipped this step.
5. If you don’t have a pasta machine to roll out your pasta, using a rolling pin, roll dough until flat and fairly thin.
6. Roll the entire dough up like a pancake and cut into slices. The width of the cut will determine the thickness of your pasta. Unravel the pasta into strips.
7. Cook for three to five minutes until al dente in a generous amount of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally to separate strands and prevent sticking.

Sauce Ingredients

15 ml olive oil
20 anchovies – more if you can resist eating them straight from the bottle
1 tin Italian tomatoes chopped
5ml sugar
3 garlic cloves crushed
Salt and black pepper to taste
Fresh coriander and flat leaf parsley chopped for serving

Method

1. Mash the anchovies in the oil  in a pan.
2. Add the tomatoes and sugar and reduce by half.
3. Add the garlic and salt and pepper to taste.

Add your drained pasta to the pan with the tomatoes sauce.  Once plated, top with the coriander and parsley.

A few shavings of parmesan wouldn’t go a miss here either.

Fried Rice

This is for my lovely friend Diane over at Photographs and Recipes. 😀

This is my base recipe for fried rice which I throw all different types of rice at, even pasta rice – love versatile recipes that take so well to varying ingredients.  Very rarely I will add an egg to the mixture but don’t find it adds that much to the dish and occasionally will add fresh chilli, corn, chives, parsley and anything else I have taking up space in the fridge.

Ingredients

Olive oil
Half an onion chopped
Half a red (capsicum) pepper diced
8 white button mushrooms sliced
3 cups cook rice of choice – I used basmati
Handful frozen baby peas
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Fry the onion and pepper in a good glug of olive oil.  Once the onions and peppers have started to soften add the mushrooms and fry until tender.
2. Add the rice and stir fry until warmed through.
3. Add the peas and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Roasted Tomato & Chicken Pasta

This really should fall into the un-recipe category and into the should make every week category too.  This flavourful meal came about when I found some forgotten tomatoes in the crisper looking quite sad and slightly wrinkled.  While waiting for the tomatoes to roast , you can as I did, enjoy a bubble bath with a glass of wine. 😉 With next weeks version, I shall lose the chicken and replace it with anchovies and try roma tomatoes for a more robust and slightly sweeter flavour.

Ingredients

Tomatoes halved
Garlic cloves unpeeled
Olive or grapeseed oil
Sea salt and black pepper
Dried origanum
Pasta of choice
Chicken breasts
Italian herbs
Chilli powder

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C.
2. Place the tomatoes and garlic cloves on a baking tray and drizzles with oil and season well with salt, pepper and origanum.
3. Bake for approximately 45 minutes.
4. Blitz the tomatoes and garlic (squeezed out of it’s skin) using a stick blender and beaker.  Add another drizzle of olive oil and stir through.
5. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions.
6. Fry the chicken breasts over a medium heat in butter and oil seasoned with the Italian herbs and chilli powder.
7. Once cooked slice into strips.
8. Serve the tomato sauce and chicken over the pasta with an optional second glass of wine.

Garlic, Wine & Thyme Mushroom Pasta

This is one of those meals you can have ready in 20 minutes, you know, for those evenings when you have sat behind the computer for too long AGAIN…

Ingredients

Pasta of choice
250g button mushrooms sliced
Vegetable spice
2.5ml dry thyme
250ml cream
60ml dry white wine
15ml maizena (cornstarch)
2 garlic cloves crushed
Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Cook the pasta as per the package instructions.
2. Fry the mushrooms in a little butter sprinkled with the vegetable spice and thyme until tender.
3. Pour the cream and wine into the pan and bring to a boil.
4. Mix the maizena with a little water and stir through the cream mixture to thicken.
5. Add the garlic and season with salt and black pepper.
6. Serve over the pasta.

 

Stir fried Mushroom and Red Pepper Pasta

It was one of those evenings AGAIN where my butt was glued to my chair (Pete was away on business) and I needed a satisfying meal fairly quickly with as little fuss as possible.  On opening the fridge, the mushrooms and red pepper jumped at me so no need to look any further – vegetarian pasta is was going to be.  This meal came together in the amount of time it took the pasta t cook and was very scrumity!  Must say the left overs were equally as delicious for lunch. 🙂  This isn’t a recipe per se more of a guideline of ingredients.

Ingredients

Pasta of choice – I used linguine
Olive oil
Mushrooms sliced
Red pepper (capsicum) sliced
Vegetable spice
Garlic crushed
Lemon Juice

Method

1. Cook the pasta as per the package instructions.
2. Stir fry the mushrooms and red pepper in olive oil and season with the vegetable spice.
3. Stir through the raw garlic and lemon juice when serving with a drizzle of olive oil over the top.

Chicken Couscous Stir Fry Stack

Every now and again, I feel like something different – a taste explosion as Pete calls it.  This usually only occurs when all I have on hand are the normal day to day ingredients and nothing out of the ordinary to help produce said taste explosion.  Now, a stir fry is always a winner in my book, as is pan fried chicken breasts and couscous ranks right up at the top of the list too although none really stand out as something different until you throw all of these elements together.  My taste buds were very happy with this lip smacking lunch.

Ingredients

Couscous
Chicken breasts
Spice of choice – I used vegetable spice
Onion sliced
Button mushrooms thinly sliced
Orange bell pepper sliced
Baby cabbage sliced
Ginger finely chopped
Garlic finely chopped
Sweet chilli sauce
Soy sauce

Method

1. Prepare the couscous according to the package instructions.
2. Butterfly the chicken breasts and fry in a little butter with your spice of choice. Cut into strips.
3. Stir fry all of the veggies until al dente.
4. Mix the couscous into the veggies.
5. Stack the couscous veggie mixture and place the chicken on top.
6. Drizzle with sweet chilli sauce and soy sauce.

Good old faithful Macaroni and Cheese

For somebody who doesn’t cook pasta very often, I have made up for lost time recently.  Macaroni and Cheese is one of those super comfort meals that you can eat with your feet up on the couch while watching TV – not that I would ever do that…  Frying some onion and bacon to add into the mix makes this an even more scrumity, not to mention the truck load of cheese.  If you prefer to bake your Mac ‘n Cheese before serving, top with a breadcrumbs and parsley mixture before baking.

Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

250g macaroni or pasta of choice
1 onion sliced
6 rashers bacon diced
80ml butter
80ml flour
500ml milk
2 cups cheddar cheese grated
5ml chicken stock powder
Pepper to taste
1 large tomato chopped

Method

1. Cook the macaroni according to the package instructions.
2. Fry the onion in a little olive oil or butter until lightly browned, add the bacon and fry until cooked through.  Set aside.
3. In a pot, melt the butter and the flour and stir through to form a roux.
4. Add the milk and continue to stir until thickened.
5. Add the cheese and stir through until incorporated.
6. Add the stock powder and pepper to taste.
7. Stir in the bacon and onion and macaroni.
8. Stir in the tomato just before serving.
9. Serve as is or bake for 20 minutes in the oven preheated to 180°C.

Mandyoli aka Chicken and Mushroom Ravioli with Parsley Garlic Oil

I was so happy with my lasagne I thought it time to spread my pasta wings.  I have made fettucini and spaghetti so Ravioli was next on the list.  It was a little more labour intensive because of cutting out the rounds, fillings and sealing with another round but well worth the effort.  I will be trying another method soon by placing the filling at set intervals on a long piece of pasta, then coving it with another piece and then cutting them out.  I never took measurements of what all went into this delicious meal so these amounts of averages, let your common sense guide you.  This would also make for a fantastic starter or main meal for dinner guests.

Manyoli aka Ravioli

Ingredients

1 small onion finely diced
3 chicken breasts finely chopped or minced
5ml chicken stock powder
250g button mushrooms finely diced
250ml cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
5ml corn starch
Handful of parsley
1 garlic clove
45ml olive oil
300g flour
3 extra large eggs
1ml salt

Method

1. Fry the onion in a little butter until nicely browned, add the chicken and stock powder and cook through.  Set aside.
2. Fry the mushrooms until tender, add the cream, heat through and thicken with the corn starch mixed in a little water.  Set aside.
3. Blitz the parsley, garlic and oil in a beaker using an immersion blender. Set aside.
4. Place the flour on a counter top and create a mound with a crater in the middle. Put the eggs and salt  into the crater.
   Beat the eggs with a fork and gradually incorporate the flour until all the egg is incorporated into the flour.  The dough should be of a rough consistency, feel slightly sticky to the touch and moist.
   “Knead”  the pasta until smooth.
   Divide the pasta into 6 equal parts and If you don’t have a pasta machine roll out into long lasagne strips, using a rolling pin, alternatively work each quarter through your pasta machine starting on the lowest setting (1) working up to the highest setting (9).
5. Place the pasta on a floured surface and using a cooker cutter, cut out as many circles as the pasta will allow.  You may need to re- roll the excess pasta and cut out more circles.
6. Place a small amount of the chicken mixture in the centre of half the circles and seal over with the other half using a small amount of water around the inside edge, pressing the two pieces of pasta together.
7. Bring a big pot of water to the boil and cook the ravioli in batches for 8 to 10 minutes until tender.
8. While cooking the ravioli, heat the mushroom sauce.
9. Once all the ravioli is cooked, spread a portion of mushroom sauce on a heated plate, topped with a few ravioli and drizzled with the parsley oil.

Beef and Mushroom Lasagne

This is by far one of the most scrumity lasagne’s I have made. It could be because I used homemade lasagne sheets, possibly I was just really craving it or maybe the combination and quantities of ingredients was just right and I am thrilled that there was sufficient leftovers for me to satisfy my taste buds for lunch 2 days running. 😀

I took this picture the day after so doesn’t look quite as glam after being reheated but the flavour was equally as scrumity!

Ingredients

250g button mushrooms quartered
1 large onion sliced
500g beef mince
2.5ml cumin seed roughly ground in a pestle and mortar
5ml dried thyme
15ml vegetable stock powder
15ml beef stock powder
15ml Worcestershire sauce
30ml chutney
400g tin chopped tomatoes
125ml red wine

White Sauce (Bechamel)

80ml butter
80ml flour
3 cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Pasta

200g flour
2 extra large eggs
1ml salt

Topping

250ml cheddar cheese grated

Method

1. Fry the mushroom in a little butter until tender and set aside. (Try not snack on them while preparing everything else).
2. Fry the onion until translucent, add the mince and fry until browned.
3. Add all the other ingredients including the mushroom and allow to simmer until reduced and thickened.
4. For the white sauce, melt the butter a saucepan and stir in the flour to form a roux.
5. Add the milk while stirring continually until thickened.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. For the pasta, place the flour on a counter top and create a mound with a crater in the middle. Put the eggs and salt  into the crater.
   Beat the eggs with a fork and gradually incorporate the flour until all the egg is incorporated into the flour.  The dough should be of a rough consistency, feel slightly sticky to the touch and moist.
   “Knead”  the pasta until smooth.
   Divide the pasta into 4 equal parts and If you don’t have a pasta machine roll out into long lasagne strips, using a rolling pin, alternatively work each quarter through your pasta machine starting on the lowest setting (1) working up to the highest setting (9) and cut each strip into 2 so you will finish with 8 strips of pasta.
8. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
9. Layer up all of the ingredients in a baking dish – whichever order you prefer and top with the cheese.
10. Bake for 40 minutes.

Anchovie, Garlic and Basil Linguine

This supper which comes together in the length of time it takes your pasta to cook, is a satisfying tasty meal for when you really don’t feel like standing in the kitchen cooking, or like me, your husband is away on business and you sat behind the computer the whole day until way passed your normal dinner time.  When I make it again, I think I shall add a splash of white wine and or possibly some chopped black olives.  I may just add that to the leftovers for lunch.

Ingredients

250g linguine or pasta of choice
8 anchovies
4 garlic cloves crushed
Black pepper to taste
6 basil leaves chiffonade

Method

1. Cook the linguine according to packet instructions.
2. Mash the anchovies including some of the oil from the bottle or tin in a pan over a medium heat.
3. Add the garlic and pasta and stir to combine.
4. Add the black pepper, basil and a drizzle of olive oil.

Sausage Stuffed Bell Peppers

I have been wanting to make stuffed peppers for the longest time but for whatever reason, is just one of those ideas that gets pushed aside or forgotten.  I was reminded about this lovely idea when I was visiting over at Zestybeandog’s Blog, which made me put my want into action.  Thanks Zestybeandog for the reminder.  This is really a tasty meal and we enjoyed the yellow pepper so much more than the red.  It seemed to have more flavour once baked.

Inspired by Zestybeandog

Ingredients

1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 tbsp butter
½ onion chopped
½ cup sliced mushrooms
1 clove garlic crushed
4 pork bangers removed from casings
10ml chicken stock powder
5ml vegetable spice
¾ cup cooked rice

Method

1. Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the inner membrane and seeds.  Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
3. Fry the onion and mushrooms in the butter until tender.
4. Add the garlic and and sausage breaking the sausage up into small pieces.
5. Add the stock powder and vegetable spice and cook through.
6. Stir in the rice and stuff into the peppers.
7. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes.
8. Drizzle the peppers with olive oil before serving.

Pasta Rice Salad

My cousin visited with us at the end of April and the weather was so lovely during his stay that a lot of the evening meals were braais (barbecues), and  fearing we would tire of Braai Sarmies and pap ‘n sous (maize meal and tomato/onion sauce) I  threw a Pasta Rice Salad into the mix.  This type of salad reminds me  of Christmas lunches as a child – such wonderful happy memories.  Green pepper (capsicum) and or raisins would also be nice added to this salad.

Pasta Rice Salad

Ingredients

375ml pasta rice
1 small onion diced
4 tinned peach halves diced
10ml curry powder
125ml mayonnaise
45ml chutney
15ml vinegar
Optional extras – diced green pepper (capsicum), raisins

Method

1. Cook the pasta rice according the the package instructions and allow to cool.
2. Combine all the other ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Add the pasta to the sauce mixture and stir through.

Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese ranks as one of the all time favourite comfort foods and is a cinch to make, however it’s one of those meals I don’t make very often and when I do, I thoroughly enjoy it, and is usually a meal for evenings when I have been out or busy the whole day and just never got as far as planning supper.

 

Ingredients

250g macaroni or pasta of choice
1 onion sliced
4 rashers bacon diced
80ml butter
80ml flour
500ml milk
11/2 cups cheddar cheese grated
5ml chicken stock powder
Pepper to taste
1 large tomato chopped

Method

1. Cook the macaroni according to the package instructions.
2. Fry the onion and bacon together over a medium heat until the onion is translucent and set aside.
3. In a pot, melt the butter and the flour and stir through to form a roux.
4. Add the milk and continue to stir until thickened.
5. Add the cheese and stir through until incorporated.
6. Add the stock powder and pepper to taste.
7. Stir in the bacon and onion and macaroni.
8. Stir in the tomato just before serving.
9. Serve as is or bake for 20 minutes in the oven preheated to 180°C.

Mini Lasagnes

Lasagne is one of those comfort foods, which I don’t make often enough and still being in the mood of wanting to make everything into individual portions plus remembering that I originally saw the idea for mini Lasagnes on Can You Stay For Dinner‘s blog, I set to work on making my version of Mini Lasagnes.  Using spring roll wrappers instead of pasta, gave these little lasagne’s an extra treat of crispy ears, although the very dark picture does them no justice.

Ingredients

1 medium onion sliced
75g mushrooms sliced
250g mince
5ml dried origanium
5ml vegetable spice
2 tomatoes roughly chopped
1 small carrot scraped and grated
60ml red wine
30ml chutney
30ml tomato sauce (ketchup)
Salt and black pepper to taste

White Sauce
60ml butter
60ml flour
1½ cups milk
Salt and pepper to taste

6 spring roll wrappers each cut into 4 = 24 pieces

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Method

1. Fry the onion and mushrooms in a little butter until soft.
2. Add the mince and fry until browned.
3. Add all the other ingredients and allow to cook until reduced and thickened.
4. Melt the butter in a small pot and stir in the flour to form a roux.
5. Add the milk while stirring continually until thickened.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
8. Lightly spray 8 muffin tins with non stick spray.
9. Line the tins with 2 wrappers each.
10. Spoon half the mince on top of the wrappers.
11. Spoon over half of the white sauce over the mince.
12. Place the remaining wrappers on top of the white sauce.
13. Spoon the remaining mince on top of the wrappers followed by the remaining white sauce.
14. Place the cheese on top of all the lasagnes
15. Bake for 20 mintues.

Serve with beetroot salad.

Beef Pasta

Last nights supper was sort of a glorified beef stroganoff which I served over pasta.  The combination of flavours married so well together which resulted in a super tasty meal that I will definitely be making again.  I should probably think of a more appropriate and appealing title though.

 

Ingredients

125g mushrooms sliced
Vegetable spice
400g fillet thinly sliced
250ml cream
10ml prepared hot English mustard
20ml port or sherry (I used port)
7.5ml maizena (cornstarch)
Salt and black pepper
Fettuccini pasta cooked according to package instructions

Method

1. Fry the mushrooms in a little butter sprinkled with the vegetable spice until tender and set aside.
2. Fry the steak in a little olive oil over a high heat for 1 minute and set aside with any pan juices.
3. Pour the cream into the pan you cooked the mushrooms and steak in and heat.
4. Whisk in the mustard and add the sherry.
5. Mix the maizena with a little water and stir through the cream mixture to thicken.
6. Add the mushrooms and steak to the cream and heat through.
7. Add salt and grind black pepper to taste and stir through.

Serve over the pasta.

Chicken and Mushroom Pasta

Yesterday started like most other mornings with a power cut – they only last 5 or so minutes and then on occasion it will happen again just as soon as I have reset everything and got back on line.  Yesterday however, was a bit different!  On calling the electricity department I was informed that we would have our power back within a maximum of 3 hours – well those 3 hours lasted the entire day!  There was a trickle of power  for an hour or so which allowed me to get a couple of emails and the like done.  As soon as the power was back, I sat and caught up with my day which lead into the early evening, leaving me little time in the kitchen for our dinner, which is when I came up with the quick, easy and seriously tasty dish.  It is amazing how much flavour was produced with so few ingredients.

 

Ingredients

125g mushrooms sliced
Vegetable spice
3 chicken breasts
Chicken stock powder
250ml cream
5ml maizena (cornstarch)
5ml garlic crushed
Black pepper
Fettuccini pasta cooked according to package instructions

Method

1. Fry the mushrooms in a little butter sprinkled with the vegetable spice until tender and set aside.
2. Flatten the chicken breasts with the palm of your hand, sprinkle with the stock powder and fry in a little butter until lightly golden on both sides and cooked through.  Remove from the pan and slice thinly.
3. Pour the cream into the pan you cooked the mushrooms and chicken in and heat.
4. Mix the maizena with a little water and stir through the cream to thicken.
5. Add the garlic, mushrooms and chicken to the cream and heat through.
6. Grind black pepper to taste and stir through.

Serve over  the pasta.

Pasta Salad

Pasta shells always make for an attractive salad and the green pepper adds an extra burst of colour while the combination of flavours makes this a favourite for all occasions.  The leftovers keep well in the fridge for a few days too.

 

Ingredients

500g small pasta shells
1 green pepper finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
410g tin peaches drained and chopped
100ml raisins
375ml mayonnaise
15ml curry powder
45ml chutney
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Cook the pasta in salt water as per the instructions on the packet.  Rinse in a colander and allow to cool.
2. Place the pasta in a mixing bowl and add the green pepper, onion, peaches and raisins.
3. Mix all the remaining ingredients and pour over the noodles and mix well.

 

Submitted by:  Renee Whittal, Port Elizabeth

Pasta Rice Salad Ring

Rice and pasta salads can often look like a big lumpy mess in a bowl, so it makes a nice change to have a salad all neat and tidy turned out from a mould especially with the added burst of colour with the ingredients for this salad.

Patsta Rice Salad Ring

 

Ingredients

900ml cooked risoni pasta
200ml mayonnaise
410g tin peaches drained and chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
1 green pepper finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
25ml parsley chopped
25ml Greek or Italian salad dressing
5ml salt
2ml pepper

Method

1. While still warm, mix the risoni pasta together with the mayonnaise.
2. Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well.
3. Press into an oiled mould.
4. Allow to set overnight in the fridge.
5. Unmould and decorate as desired to serve.

 

Submitted by:  Renee Whittal, Port Elizabeth

Pasta Salad

This is another variation of a fabulously easy and tasty recipe, great for all weekend occasions.  The cheddar cheese can be replaced with any one of your favourites.

Ingredients

Salad

250ml pasta cooked of your choice
1 chopped green pepper
1 chopped onion
1 tin peaches cut into small pieces
Cheddar cheese cut into cubes

Dressing

50ml oil
5-10ml curry powder
25ml sugar
5ml Worcestershire sauce
3ml turmeric
25ml chutney
25ml vinegar

Method

1. Combine all ingredients for the salad and the dressing and mix together in a bowl.

 

Submitted by:  Elizbe Wessels, Mauritius