Chicken Pie

I tried making my grandmother’s chicken pie, it did not taste like my gran’s pie. I'm sure she is hiding a secret ingredient from me… :)

Anyways, it still tasted good, and there wasn’t much left over. I think it was a success. The recipe isn’t creamy or rich, it’s actually very refreshing. Here’s what I did:

Note to self, next time remember to take the picture before calling people to the meal.

Chicken Pie

Ingredients

4 rashers Streaky bacon cut or scissored into small bits
4 Chicken breast fillets
1 tablespoon Plain flour
1 Teaspoon Dried Thyme
1 Tablespoon Butter
2 cups Chicken stock
375g Puff pastry (ready rolled)

Method

1. Cook the chicken and thyme in the chicken stock, uncovered. When it is cooked, take it out and set aside to cool down. Cut the cooked flesh into smaller pieces.
2. Let the juices reduce, and cook the bacon pieces in this reduction.
3. Add the flour and chicken pieces, let the sauce thicken.
4. Spoon into a prepared oven dish.
5. Press the meat down, to make an even flat surface.
6. Cover with the puff pastry, and brush the pastry with melted butter.
7. Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for about 20min or until the pastry is golden brown.

This dish can be prepared the night before and baked the next day. Perfect for those family gatherings when you never seem to have enough time.

Enjoy!

PS: You could also put some ready made pastry as a crust, it will absorb all the lovely juices.

Green Bean Stew

Another stew… I told you it cold in Cape Town! This is my husband’s favourite, I’m sure there are people out there with better recipe’s, mostly ‘cause I made it without any reference of what should go into it. 

Green Beans are a good source of Folic, vitamin B, C and iron. The best of all? It’s really low in calories. So this is my original healthy and tasty recipe.

Green Bean Stew

Ingredients:

800g Green Beans (cleaned and roughly chopped)

300g of Beef goulash

1 large onion roughly chopped

1 cup of chicken stock

1 teaspoon of lemon juice (it helps to keep the green beans, green)

1 teaspoon of Olive oil

2 teaspoons of Bistro (Gravy powder)

Salt and pepper

Method:

Firstly brown the onion and meat in the olive oil.

Add the stock and lemon juice stir well.

Add the green beans, and leave to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Lastly add the gravy powder, salt and pepper.

Stir well and let some of the juices cook away.

I love this stew, especially with brown rice. It’s a hearty and healthy winter meal. I hope you try it out and enjoy it as much as I do!!

Waterblommetjie stew

It feels like forever since my last post. It must be the weather in Cape Town keeping me from doing anything other than watching movies under a cosy blanket. This winter has been really cold and stormy. Weather like this calls for hearty stews, and believe me I’ve made a few.

The first one I want to share with you is a traditional Capetonian stew, Waterblommetjie stew. This is also known as Cape pond weed, the fresh flowers produced has been used for centuries to heal wounds, soothe sunburn and sprains by the San people. These flowers also make a delicious stew. 

 

Each family has their own tips and tricks for the best stew, and ours are no different. First start of by properly cleaning the flowers. I usually let it soak in warm salt water for 30 minutes before I rinse and make sure all the flowers are clean. Now we can start cooking.

Waterblommetjie stew

Waterblommetjie Stew

Ingredients:

• 500g Fresh Waterblommetjies
• 250g Pork Rashers cut in pieces
• 1 large onion cut into chunks
• 1 Lemon
• 2 tablespoons of Vinegar
• 250ml Chicken Stock
• 1 teaspoon of gravy powder

Method:

1.      Start by browning the onion and pork in a large casserole.

2.      When the meat is nice and golden add the chicken stock.

3.      Add the juice of one lemon and 2 tablespoons of Vinegar, stir well.

4.      Add the Cleaned waterblommetjies.

5.      Put the lid on and let it simmer away for about 15 minutes.

6.      Now remove the lid and let some of the juices evaporate.

7.      Add 1 teaspoon of gravy powder and mix well.

8.      Cook for another 5 minutes on high.

9.      Add salt and pepper to taste.

You can also add some potato to your stew.

I hope you will try this recipe. Serve with rice and enjoy!

Pineapple meringue

Yesterday we celebrated woman’s day in South-Africa. It was a glorious sunny day! We had a family braai, and made some chicken burgers and salad. The culinary star of the day? Pineapple meringues. 

I found this recipe on weighless facebook page, thank you weighless!! I must admit, if been on weighless for a few months now, and just by eating a healthy programme I’ve already lost 6kg. I’m taking it slow, and really trying to incorporate the vallues I learn on this programme into my lifestyle.

As you can see, it was a great success! It looked so pretty, and tasted divine.  I tweaked the recipe a bit, because I don’t like sugar replacements. This recipe made about 12 small meringues.

Yes I used Pink, it was woman's day :)

Pineapple meringue

1/4 cup Castor Sugar
1 tbsp butter
3 eggs (separated)
1/2 cup corn starch
2 tsp vanilla essence
225g Canned Crushed Pineapples with juice (weighless has a nice range of products, check it out)
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
6 tbsp castor sugar

Pinch of salt

1. Cream together the sugar, butter and egg yolks. Add 1 tsp of vanilla essence, salt, the corn starch and stir well. Now add the pineapple. Wisk the ingredients in a pot over a low heat until the mixture thickens.
2. Cup the mixture into 12 brightly coloured cupcake holders. Set aside to cool.
3. Next take your egg whites (make sure there is no yolk in this otherwise it won’t work), whisk with an electric whisk until the whites start to foam.
4. Now add the cream of tartar and castor sugar slowly while whisking.
5. Whisk until soft peaks form (do not over whisk your egg whites)
6. Spoon over the cooled pineapple and bake in a 200 degree oven for about 5-7 minutes or until the meringues start to brown.

As you can see it is easy and simple to make. It was cheerful and beautiful, just what we needed on such a lovely public holiday.

I hope you enjoy making these.

Pork Chop Suey

I love Chinese takeaway. It is one of my weaknesses. The problem is always the portion size, and I don’t know what goes into making my food. This means that sometimes I will have more starch, salt and fat than what I would usually have.

So the other day I googled some recipe’s for one of my favourites, Beef chop suey. I tweaked it to suit my lifestyle, and I must say it didn’t go that bad. Well it tasted good, and it feels great to know exactly what I'm putting in my body.

Pork Chop Suey

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chicken stock
• 3 tablespoons lite soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 4 teaspoons corn-starch
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 pieces of pork tenderloin, trimmed and cubed
• 1 medium onion, slivered
• 1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced (next time I'll add some greenpepper for colour)
• 2 medium carrots thinly sliced
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 20 grams of Plain Cashew nuts
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

Method:

1. Let the pork marinade in 1 tablespoon molasses + 1 tablespoon soy sauce for a few hours.
2. Combine the corn starch with a small amount of broth, mix well until there’s no more lumps in the corn starch. Now add the rest of the broth, soy sauce, molasses and pepper.
3. Next fry off the pork in a large pan over a medium heat, for about 2-3 minutes. Take it out of the pan and set aside.
4. Add olive oil to the pan and fry off the onion, bell pepper, ginger, sprouts and carrots for 3 – 5 minutes on a medium to high heat.
5.  Now reduce the heat to medium again and add the starch/broth mixture and pork. Make sure to get all the pork juices. Cook for about a minute until the sauces slightly thicken.

Serve this dish with rice. I used brown rice, just because I can.

What is your favourite take away? Maybe I can find a healthier alternative :)