Kidney beans with chili and chicken

It has been a few days again since my last post. One of the reasons is that we went away for the weekend, normally the weekend is when I have time to cook more and also to post something. Anyway on tuesday I tried a new recipe with kidney beans and chicken, normally we use minced meat, but this was really good as well, worth to try. I made enough ingredients for 4 people, the left overs are now in the freezer for one of those left over days ;-)

The ingredients you need for 4 people:

• 300 gr chicken breast cut in dices
• 1 leak in small rings
• 2 pots diced tomatoes (400 gr. each)
• 1 pot kidney beans (400 gr.)
• 1 pot corn (350 gr.) 
• 1 tea spoon chili flakes
• 1,5 tea spoon ground cumin
• White rice, depending on how many people, we made 250 gr. for 3.

In a pan warm some olive oil, bake the chicken for about 5 minutes, then add the leak baking another 3 minutes. Add the cumin and the tomatoes, cover the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, scoop every now and then.

After that add the beans, corn and chili flakes, warm up for about 5 minutes. Then spiced with some salt and pepper. Serve together with the rice and some bread. 

Of course you can change some of the ingredients, like instead of chicken use then minced meat, when you bake the meat add the cumin, that gives extra taste. Also instead of kidney beans you could use brown beans, or replace the leak for some red onions. All possibilities are good! I wonder how you are going to prepare ...

Basil Tortellini in Tomato Sauce with Pancetta

Another week has passed, my second one working. Every friday I have to start becoming creative to make my weekly groceries, since I have to make sure we eat good, healthy and is easy to prepare, maybe not in the weekend but the rest of the days yes.

So after thinking a lot the coming days we will eat a combination of italian, spanish and dutch food. We started yesterday making tortellini (fresh pasta) with a fantastic tomato/pancetta sauce. So easy and so delicious.

The ingredients you need for 2 adults and 1 child are:

• 250 gr. fresh basil tortellini (maybe you might need more, depends how hungry you are)
• 100 gr. pancetta cut in small pieces
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 pot good quality peeled tomatoes (400 gr.)
• 1,25 dl double cream
• fresh chopped basil
• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes or one small chopped chili pepper 

Prepare the tortellini following the instructions on the package.

To prepare the sauce bake in a pan with some olive oil the pancetta, garlic and onions until golden, about 5 minutes. Then add the pot tomatoes and chili flakes, set the fire in slow and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes. After that add the basil and double cream, warm up all a bit. Serve with the tortellini and a bit of grated parmesan. Also very nice with a small salad and a fresh ciabatta.

Greek Kofta

Well probably a Greek person will say that this is not the right recipe for Kofta, let's say this is my own version of the Kofta ;-) On sunday I made a big pan with the sauce in that way we can eat another time somewhere this week.

The ingredients you need for about 2 adults and 1 child:

• 2 chopped onions
• 3 garlic cloves
• 300 gr. minced beef
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• Chopped parsley
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 pot chopped tomatoes (400 gr.)
• 1 courgette
• 250 gr. white rice (it depends on how hungry you are)

Mix 1 of the chopped onions with some of the parsley, garlic, cinnamon, cumin and pepper with the minded beef, the ideas would be to leave it to rest for about 1 hour, if you have time, that will give of course more taste. Then make about 8 meat balls, that is the kofta.

In a pan with some olive oil bake the meat balls round. Take them out of the pan and bake the other onion, add some more parsley and the tomatoes. Put the kofta back into the pan and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes slowly. Add some salt and pepper to the sauce.

Serve the kofta with the white rice, some dried oregano, bread and a good red wine. 

Courgette-Camembert Cake

My first working week after a period unemployed is finally a reality. It was really nice to be back on a job. I have very nice colleagues and the work so far is good. I do have to get use to the new rhythm, busy mornings, busy evenings, a bit more tired than usual. Now I have to be more creative for my cooking, since I can not cook every day. In the weekends I will try to prepare things and freeze them, or during the week make easy meals like vegetables in the wok with rice or noodles.

Anyway yesterday it was saturday and I had quite some time so I decided to give a try to one of the recipes of the magazine which I am subscribe (Delicious Nederland), this was the Courgette-Camembert Cake, and it was absolutely delicious. The only thing for the next time I have to use a deeper baking tin than the one I had.

The ingredients you need to prepare the dough are:

• 225 gr. flour
• 115 gr. cold butter
• 165 ml. creme fraiche

Mix in a bowl the flour with a pinch of salt, add the butter and work with your hands until you get a kind of crumble. Using a mixer with a flat beater, add the creme fraiche and mix until the dough take the form of a ball. Take the dough from the bowl and beat it a few times in a working surface. Wrap the dough with cling foil and put at least 1 hour into the refrigerator.

Then roll the dough out until 3-4 cm thick. Put in the baking tin (25 cm diameter), make sure is well press in the corner and side, using a fork prick, on the bottom a few times. Then put the tin in the refrigerator for another 15 minutes.

Put some baking paper in the tin with the dough and add the ceramic baking beans. Bake in a 180 degrees preheated oven for about 15 minutes. Take out the ceramic baking beans and baking paper, bake for another 5 minutes, until the dough is not wet anymore.

Ingredients you need for the filling:

• 3 courgettes cut in the length and then in slices about 6 mm.
• 3 eggs
• 180 ml whip cream (double cream)
• 55 gr ham in thin slices
• 1 camembert from about 250 gr

Bake the courgette in a pan with extra verge olive oil in portions. The courgette has to have a bit of a gold brown color. Mix the eggs, cream, a pinch of salt, some pepper in a small bowl. Divide the ham on the bottom of the bake dough, add the courgettes and the egg/cream mix. Cut the camembert in small pieces and divided into the tin as well. Bake for about 40-50 minutes until has a nice brown color. Leave the cake about 15 minutes in the tin before you cut it.

With this recipe we had dinner 2 adults, 1 child and we had a bit of left over that I have freezed for another time. 

Ratatouille with couscous and steak

Almost a week ago since I wrote a post in my blog. I have been so busy lately that I didn't have time, but yesterday we had such a good dinner that I have write down about it. As I already mention in earlier posts I have a few cooking books at home, one of them is "Jaime in 15 minutes", there is where this recipe comes from, only it didn't take 15 minutes ;-S

The original recipe was with rice, but I have changed that to couscous, since we already had some paella on saturday (if you want to see the paella recipe you can read in one of my older posts, just click in this link PAELLA) Also in the ratatouille I haven't use all the ingredients from the book, jus the ones I like.

My ingredients for 2 adults and 1 child:

• 1 courgette in 1 cm dices
• 2 paprika's (1 red, 1 yellow) in dices
• 1 chopped red onion
• 1 teaspoon harissa
• 4 garlic cloves
• 500 gr. passata
• 1 teaspoon balsamico vinegar
• Basil and some yogurt 
• 210 gr. couscous
• 500 ml vegetable stock
• Saffron
• 2 sirloin steaks (about 200 gr. each)
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika powder
• Parsley
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• Olive oil
• 1/2 lemon

To make the ratatouille bake first the courgette in a grill pan for a few minutes. In a casserole with some olive oil bake the paprika's and red onion with the harissa, add the garlic and bake about 5 minutes. Then add the courgette, passata, vinegar and a bit of salt, with the cover on leave slowly to cook.

To prepare the couscous, just add some saffron to the boiling stock (bouillon), add the couscous and leave covered for about 5 minutes, stir with a fork to mix well. 

For the steaks, make sure that there is no fat around. Rub the steaks with salt, sweet paprika powder and some olive oil. Bake them on the grill pan, so long as you prefer, about 4 to 5 minutes in total is the ideal timing. Meanwhile in a surface, mix the chopped parsley with the mustard, extra verge olive oil and the juice of half a lemon, salt and pepper. Once the steaks are ready rub them in the dressing and cut them in pieces.

Serve all together with some basil and yogurt. It is absolutely delicious.