Warm Lettuce Salad

I saw an idea for this dish on the television, and thought is this woman insane? How on earth does fried lettuce taste. The answer? Delicious!

It sounds weird, but try it. I am a firm believer in trying everything at least once. When you fry the lettuce it gets a sweet taste. The trick is not to cook it for too long, you want your lettuce to still be a bit crisp. This is what I did:

Ingredients:

1 medium onion chopped

½ Iceberg Lettuce chopped

½ cup Frozen Peas

5ml Butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

First soften the onion in a bit of boiling water in a pan.

When the water is cooked away add the butter and lettuce, stir-fry the lettuce and onion, for about 2 minutes on high heat.

Add the peas, salt and pepper.

Stir for another 2 minutes.

Take of the heat and serve warm.

Let me know what you think.

My First Risotto

You have to try something new every now and then. You know, just to keep it interesting. I decided to make my first Risotto. This is a high in starch meal, so try not to overdo it :)

 

Mushroom Risotto

250g Mushrooms thinly sliced

1 large onion thinly sliced

1l of vegetable stock

1 Pack of mushroom soup powder

400ml Low fat Milk

250ml Pasta Rice

Firstly gently sweat the onion and mushroom until the onion is soft.

Add the rice and some of the stock; keep adding the stock little bit at a time waiting for the rice to absorb the liquid. Do this until all the stock is absorbed or the rice is nice and soft.

Lastly add the soup powder to the milk and add to the risotto, stir until it thickens.

Let it gently cook for about 10 minutes.

You could serve this with a bit of parmesan cheese if you like.

Lasagne

I love pasta, especially lasagne. The problem is it’s always fatty, and you end up having way to much starch. Of course it was challenge accepted! I set out to make a low fat guilt free lasagne. It’s high in protein, low in fat, and the starch is just enough to make it your favourite pasta dish.

   

All my recipes can be adapted, if you want to add more layers, feel free. :) This recipe makes about 6 servings.

Lasagne with salad = LOVE!

Lasagne

Ingredients:

400g of mince

½ cup of rinsed lentils

1 one big onion roughly chopped

1 small green pepper roughly chopped

150g mushrooms thinly sliced

500g can chopped tomatoes

100g tomato puree

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon Chutney

Some lasagne sheets

Some Cheddar to top it off

Cheese sauce:

300ml milk

2 tablespoons corn-starch

40g Mozzarella grated

Method:

1. Start by frying your mince in a pan, add the onion, green pepper and mushroom.
2. Add the canned tomatoes and lentils, let it cook for 5 minutes.
3. Lastly add the tomato puree, sugar and chutney.
4. Cook it for another 10 minutes.
5. Next make your cheese sauce. Add the corn-starch to your milk whisk well and microwave on high for a few minutes. Take it out regularly to whisk. It will start to thicken. Now add the mozzarella and mix well.
6. You can now layer your lasagne, start with your mince. Add one layer of lasagne sheets. Add one layer of the cheese sauce and top it off with some grated cheddar. (If you would like to add more layers, you can add half the mince, then one layer of lasagne sheets, followed by the rest of the mince and then another layer of lasagne. Top off with the cheese sauce and grated cheddar.)
7. Bake your lasagne in a 180 degree Celsius oven for 25 minutes, or until the cheddar is golden brown.
8. Leave to cool slightly before serving.

Let me know what you think!

Butternut and Chicken Quiche

It’s almost summer time again. The time of year where you never feel like cooked food, and you definitely don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen when you could be enjoying the sun. This is why I think quiche is the perfect summer dish. Its light and you can serve it hot or cold. You can keep it in the fridge and just add salad to complete the meal.

Quiche is versatile, you can add almost any combination and it will still taste divine! My favourite combo’s are spinach and feta, and butternut and chicken.

Today I want to share my Butternut and chicken recipe.

You’ll need to start with the crust. They say woman are better pastry chefs, because their hands are colder :). Cold is indeed the trick to a light and flaky pastry. Try to have all your ingredients as cold as possible.

Butternut and Chicken Quiche

 

Pastry - You will need:

220g Cake Flour

Pinch of salt

180g Room temperature Butter

1 egg yolk

Cold water

Sift flour and salt, and the butter. Gently rub the butter unto the flour using your fingertips, don’t overwork it.

Add the egg yolk and just enough cold water to make a stiff dough. Shape into a ball and wrap your pastry in cling wrap and leave in the fridge to chill for at least half an hour.

Again the key is not to over work the pastry, and to keep it chilled.

Now is the time you can start cooking the butternut and chicken for the filling.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and place it on a lightly floured surface.

Lightly flour the pastry and gently start to roll the pastry out.

It should be about 5mm thick, and big enough to fit a 24cm pie dish.

Place it in a dish, prick it with a fork and bake blind, (this means put some wax paper over your pastry and fill the dish with some beans or rice, it will help to keep the pastry’s shape) for 10 minutes in a 200 degrees Celsius oven.

Uncover the pastry and bake for another 7 minutes.

Your pastry is now ready to be filled with yummy ingredients.

Filling - You will need:

200g of cooked butternut,

2 Cooked chicken breasts flaked,

Some mushrooms thinly sliced,

1 fried onion,

Some chives, salt and pepper,

3 eggs + the left over egg white used in the pastry,

400ml of low fat Milk

Start by placing the fried onion all over the bottom of the pastry. Now layer the butternut, chives and chicken. Make sure that there’s an even spread of ingredients.

Now mix the eggs, milk, salt and pepper together. Pour this mixture over the filling ingredients.

Now bake the quiche in a 180 degrees Celsius oven for 30min or until golden brown.

The quiche will need to cool slightly; this will just help it set better.

There you have it, a basic quiche recipe. You can now make your own combination by replacing the butternut and chicken with your own ingredients, add more spices, try different things. You can even replace some of the milk with cream for a richer quiche.

Have fun!

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!