Couscous and Vegetables

Ingredients

300 grams — Couscous
4 pieces — Ripe Tomatoes
150 grams — Canned Corn
2 pieces — Carrots
100 grams — Green Olives
1 piece — Green Pepper
5 tablespoons — Olive Oil

You can prepare 4 servings of this recipe within 40 minutes. Couscous and vegetables is easy to prepare and flavorful. Couscous came from grains and bran and it is normally cooked by steaming.

Preparation

First, wash and clean the vegetables. Cut the veggies into small pieces and put them in a bowl. Then you can add the grated carrot and corn. To season, you must add salt and oil.

The next step is to boil one quart of water with a tablespoon of oil. Add the couscous into the boiling water. Stir thoroughly until all the water has been absorbed. Cool the mixture then pout it into the vegetable bowl. Mix thoroughly and season with lemon juice.

Nutritional Value:

Greek Crostini

Ingredients

1000 grams of bread
200 grams of Greek Kalamata Olives
100 grams of Greek Feta Cheese
8 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 clove Garlic
Salt and Pepper

This recipe is perfect for 8 persons and you can prepare it in 35 minutes. It is a very flavorful and sumptuous dish inspired by the Greek feta croutons and black olives. This is also one of the easiest recipes to prepare.

Preparation

Make 1.5-inch thick slices of bread. Place the sliced bread in the oven or toaster. Rub garlic on each slice of bread after toasting.

Meanwhile, cut the feta cheese into small cubes. Cut the olives into quarters or halves. In a separate mixing bowl, mix the cubed feta cheese and olives and season with olive oil. Make sure the toasted breads are still hot before sprinkling the cheese and olive mixture. Serve and Enjoy.

Nutritional Value:

Never miss a post! subscribe via RSS or subscribe via e-mail. Post writer – Felicia R. Mcclinton writes for the blog easy mediterranean recipes , her personal hobby blog she uses to help people learn how to make Mediterranean recipes to eat healthy to prevent diseases.

Eating a nutritionally balanced diet is almost impossible if you rely on takeout or fast food. Anyone can cook adequately with a little interest, knowledge, and minimum of equipment.

The first and most important requirement is the will to cook, followed by good co-ordination and timing skills, and understanding what cooking is all about.
Briefly, cooking means application of heat to food. Marinating or pickling relies on chemically altering (denaturing) food.

When proteins are heated, they become easier to masticate and digest, but overcooking causes them to become tough. Be careful not to overcook your vegetables, pasta and grains to mush as some people do. Make it al dente, i.e crunchy to the teeth.

For a balanced diet, you can refer to Canada’s Food Guide, or for that matter, any well-researched food guide. Get a basic cookbook (How to Cook Everything by Mark Bitman is a good start or even better is Cooking, and 1011 Recipes by H. Berberoglu e-mail address on this web page), a 25 or 30 cm blade good-quality chef’s knife, 10 cm. Paring knife, heavy-bottomed pan (large enough for one to two or four portions pending on your needs), 25 cm. Diameter heavy-bottomed pot, digital scale, measuring spoon set, one measuring cup, roasting pan with insert, stainless steel bowl for tossing salad. You can expand this list as you go along.

Before you start, make sure all the ingredients are assembled, as fresh as possible, i.e buy, if possible twice a week, but never once fortnightly. Buy fresh food only, nothing value added i.e pre-washed salads, salad dressings, peeled carrots, peeled garlic, ground pepper, dips, chips etc.

Cut everything as required before starting to cook and have all ingredients on the counter.

Heat the pot or pan well before pouring oil or putting butter, sauté onions until they are translucent and then proceed.

If sautéing (cooking in a frying pan with little fat) make sure to stir the food or it will burn.

If you want to roast, make sure the oven is at the right temperature, and place the meat or fish or chicken on a rack, then in the roasting pan to allow hot air to circulate around the food and in the centre of the oven.

Here is a simple and quick recipe you can whip up in a few minutes providing you have all the ingredients ready and move at an adequate pace.

2 chicken breasts (boned and skinned) diced 2 cm cubes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
¼ red pepper, diced
¼ green pepper diced
½ carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
2 peeled plum tomatoes, crushed (if possible fresh, otherwise a good brand of canned tomatoes, preferably San Marzano from Italy)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tsp tarragon (dry), if using fresh 2 tsps finely minced

Heat the pan, add oil. Sauté chicken for two to three minutes, remove and keep hot.

Add onions, sauté for three minutes add all vegetables and toss frequently for three to four minutes. Add a little salt and pepper. Put the chicken back in the pan, add tarragon and tomatoes. Heat through, taste, and adjust seasoning if necessary.
Serve with baguette, and romaine salad with a vinaigrette dressing.

The best dessert is fresh fruit, or you can cook compote on the weekend and use it for two to three days.

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Breakfast – Lunch – Dinner.

This is the world’s simplest meal in the microwave.

Recipe:

1/2 cup with oats
1 cup with water
1 tablespoon of jam

Take the cup with oats and water in a deep platter.

Looks very good already … hmm maybe not.

After 2 minutes and 40 seconds at full speed it looks like this. Maybe not a meal for a gourmet, but healthy and healthy it is!

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Ingredients
——–
1 kg shrimps
50 gr butter
2-3 ts curry
little cayennepepper
1 ts paprika
3 – 4 garlic cloves
1 leek
1 red pepper
150 – 200 gr champignon
1 ss oil
3 dl cream
5 – 6 ss chilliesauce
salt
4 ss cognac
parsley

Fry butter and mix with curry, cayenne, garlic, paprika, mushroom and leek.
let it fry for about 10-15 min. Put in oil, chilisauce, cream and bring it to boil.
In the end add cognac and shrimps.
Served with rise and parsley.

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Indian food has been shaped by millennia of foreign influences, including migrant bringing their traditional recipes, conquerors imposing new palace cooking policies, techniques, and ingredients, and new religions imposing dietary laws.
South Asian cooks assimilated all of these ideas, interpreted them in their unique way, created new ways, dishes and even suitable shapes of pots and pans that can be found in the sub-continent.
An Indian banquet of 20 centuries ago would offer rice, chickpeas (channa), kidney beans, lentils, a variety of local vegetables (squash, bitter gourds, peas, sweet potatoes and lotus stems), all spiced with turmeric, pepper, mustard seeds, cumin, fenugreek, asafoetida, lemon, coriander and ginger. Garlic and onion were frowned upon. Sesame seed oil, or ghee (clarified butter) was used for frying, but only for special occasions.
Chicken, goat and venison constituted the main protein portion of such meals.
Wise Indian men recommended frying to be limited in daily use.
Potatoes and tomatoes were absent as the Americas were not discovered yet.
Sweets were also served, [prepared using rice or barley sweetened with honey.
The arrival of Muslims influenced Indian cuisine differently in the north and south. Arab traders were frequent visitors involved in the spice trade. Some married and settled there, introducing their way of cooking.
In northern India, Muslim culinary influence was much more profound as Afghans, Persians, and other nations came as conquerors. The biggest influence came from Mughals, mainly Babur, who brought in Persian chefs creating a “fusion cuisine” by introducing marinating of meat in yoghurt, cooking with fruits, mainly dried apricots, raisins, and almonds.
Kebabs and kormas were the mainstay of Mughal banquets. Muslim chefs used onion and garlic liberally, introduced the use of saffron (world’s most expensive flavouring agent currently retailing for $ 4.00 per gram).
Mughals also introduced halwa made using grated vegetables or semolina cooked in milk and sugar. Burfi and jelebis are also of Persian and Arabic origin.
The Portuguese who settled in Goa in 1510 and remained there for 450 years influenced Goan cuisine introducing the use of pork, vindaloo, and the leavened bread.
Portuguese also imported vegetables and fruits, which were hitherto not known in Goa, i.e potatoes, tomatoes, and chillies. All spread throughout India, and today is widely used y all housewives and cooks. Biryani is a rich Arab dish with Kerala “flavours”. Today biryani is offered by thousands of restaurants in India, Sri Lanka, and Indian restaurants in western countries.
The English ruled India directly from London for 150 years, but had no culinary influence, as their food has nothing special about it. The English made curry, and very highly spiced curry, popular at home in England.
Indian curry is never “hot” but mostly subtle and mild.
Gourmets consider the French haute cuisine, practised in the courts of kings, the best of all, followed by Italian, Chinese and Japanese. It is fair to include Indian cuisine in this group, albeit preentati0on and vividly appealing coloured Indian dishes are rare, but from a taste perspective they can compete with the best anywhere.

Biryani

Serves six
Walnut-sized piece of tamarind
½ cup water
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1.4 cm ginger, halved
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
½ coriander leaves
½ cup fresh mint leaves
40 fresh curry leaves, divided
2 green chilies
6 canned whole plum tomatoes, lightly drained or fresh ripe tomatoes
2 tbsp yoghurt, Middle Eastern style
½ cayenne pepper
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin seeds
1 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp ground fennel seeds
salt to taste
½ cup coconut cream
10 boneless skinless chicken this, quartered
2 tbsp vegetable or extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp ghee or unsalted butter
½ tsp black mustard seeds
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
20 raw cashews
1 bay leaf
Rice
1 ½ cups Basmati rice
6 cups of water
salt to taste
Garnish
2 tbsp of oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1 hard-boiled eggs, peeled
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves
2 tbsp unsalted butter

Cook tamarind in water for 3 –4 minutes. Mash and let it rest. Squeeze and reserve the juice.
Mince garlic, ginger, onion, coriander, mint and 20 curry leaves and chilies. Mix well, and cover chicken with marinade. Rest for 2 – 4 hours.
Heat ghee on medium heat, add mustard seeds, fenugreek, cashews, remaining curry leaves, and bay leaf.
Sauté for half a minute. Add chicken and marinade. Stir well, cover and boil.
Reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Uncover, turn up heat to medium and cook to thicken sauce.
Boil rice. Drain and spread on tray.
For garnish sauté onions, cut each egg into four pieces
To assemble, preheat oven to175 F. In a large ovenproof dish spread half of the rice; lift chicken pieces and place over rice layer. Cover with remaining rice. Spread fried onions and eggs. Drizzle sauce over, garnish with coriander leaves, dot with butter. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Let biryani rest for 10 minutes before service.

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Salads provide a welcome change in the meal, are light, promote digestion, and provide vital vitamins.
During the summer months salad ingredients can be found everywhere and are inexpensive, fresh, and firm, but come winter they come from two sources, imports from California (in the case of Europe mostly southern Italy, and Spain), or Florida, and greenhouses. Green house cucumbers, lettuces, and tomatoes look healthy, firm and very clean. Many of the salads are marketed with their roots still on, tomatoes on the vine. Unfortunately, they taste bland due to the artificial environment in which they grew, but they are popular with people who don’t like to fuss with their salads and wash them several times before preparation.
Imported salads also look anaemic, many are a few days older than they should be, and very expensive. Some have been exposed to freezing temperatures and are limp with slimy leaves.
In winter, at least in our part of the world, you have to use your imagination more than simply taking a salad, chopping and dressing it.
Try Belgium endive, radicchio, watercress, arugula, spinach, carrots, celery, and Savoy cabbage. You can always add a few leaves of romaine of Boston bib. Iceberg lettuce has little or no taste, but keeps much longer than any other lettuce. Other than a little crispness, don’t expect much in the taste department.
Warm salads are popular in France, and surprisingly refreshing. (See bar for recipe).
If you decide to make a carrot, celery and Savoy cabbage salad, try a mayonnaise dressing and add chopped flat-leaf parsley and see how the salad become lively
Buy your salad ingredients in grocery stores with a brisk turnover, and avoid Mondays and Tuesdays. Fresh produce comes in Wednesday through Friday. Green house-grown salads are freshly picked, generally on delivery day, and throughout the week.
With a little planning you can enjoy refreshing salads throughout the year.
Prepared salad grebes make less work but are hardly worth the extra expense.

Warm spinach salad

Serves Four

2 cups washed and trimmed spinach
2 rashers bacon, diced, and cooked crisp
2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ cup sliced mushrooms
pinch dry mustard
2 tsp rd wine vinegar
¼ cup sliced red onion
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 hard boiled egg, chopped

Sautee mushrooms in oil until soft but still not cooked through. Stir in mustard and add vinegar, and onions. Cook for one more minute.
Meanwhile arrange spinach in plates, pour dressing over and garnish with chopped eggs.

Endive and walnut salad

Serves two

1 Belgium endive
3 walnuts, chopped and toasted for 10 minutes at 170 C and cooled
2 – 4 leaves of radicchio, chopped
1 scallion, sliced

Dressing

1 tbsp red wine vinegar
½ tsp prepared mustard
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Arrange endive leaves artistically on a platter. Reserve a few and chop. Place in a bowl. Add radicchio to bowl.
Prepare dressing. Dissolve salt and pepper in vinegar first. Whisk vigorously. Add oil gradually while whisking.
use half of the dressing to toss the salad in the bowl, then place salad in the middle of each plate/
Drizzle the rest of the dressing over leaves on the plate. Sprinkle walnuts and scallion.

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Poppy seeds are the fruit of the poppy, and have been used in the Middle East for more than 3000 years as food flavouring. The plant Papaver somniferum (sleep-inducing) seed thrives in hot climates, and is the source of opium and its derivatives, morphine and heroin.
Opium is obtained by cutting the unripe pods of the plant that exude a white sticky liquid. After the liquid hardens, it is laboriously scraped and processed to narcotic drugs, be it legal or illegal.
Many semi-tropical and tropical countries plant poppy. Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, and some Oriental countries cultivate considerable acreage of poppy.
Poppy seeds are harvested from ripe pods. During the ripening process, narcotic substances change, and make seeds harmless. The leaves of the plant are prepared as spinach.
Creamy beige to slate blue in colour, poppy seeds are sprinkled on breads, cookies, used in cakes, in chutneys or curries. They are high in protein and often used in vegetarian stews.
Some inventive chefs use poppy seeds on mild flat fish dishes to great effect.
The nutty flavour of the hard poppy seeds adds a welcome taste dimension and texture.
The oily poppy seeds are pressed to obtain highly aromatic oil used in salad to dress salads.
Poppy seeds are prone to rancidity and should be stores in airtight container in a cool place.

Fettuccine with poppy seeds

Yield 6 portions

2 tbsp poppy seeds, toasted lightly toasted
2 lemons, zested and diced
1 cup whipping cream
1 lb/454 grams fettucine, De Checco recommended
½ cup flat leafed parsley, chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
½ cup grated Parmigianno Reggiano

Bring large pot of water to boil. Add salt poppy seeds.
In a large pan blend half the zest and diced lemon. Add cream and simmer to reduce by half. Remove from heat and add cheese and half the zest.
Cook pasta al dente, drain, toss in sauce. Season with pepper mix well, portion and sprinkle with parsley.

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Gourmets consider this white vegetable the aristocrat of the cabbage family, which includes kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kohlrabi, and cabbage. It is native to northeastern Mediterranean region, but grows in most western European, North American, Australasian countries and South Africa.
It needs heavy and wet soils, and requires tender loving care to yield a perfect specimen.
Once the heads begin to form, the leaves must be tied around growing white curds to keep them white and protect from frost damage. For this reason, cauliflower is more expensive than other cabbage family vegetables.
Hybridisers developed several varieties – snowball, hybrid white, super snowball, snow crown, mormon, late Tuscan, early Tuscan, all year round, early pearl, igloo, walcheren winter among others.
Cauliflower has also been crossbred with broccoli. It is called broccoflower, is greenish in colour, and more deeply flavoured than cauliflower, but milder than broccoli
Romanesco is another crossing with pale green colour and highly intriguiging pyramidal formations. There are also purple and yellow varieties.
Cauliflower is low in fat, high in fibre, folate, vitamin C and water. It contains phytochemicals beneficial to health.
It can be roasted, boiled, fried, steamed, stewed, pickled, steamed, then breaded and deep fried, and eaten raw in salads.
Cauliflower has a delicate, refined, and mild flavour that can be altered by using cheese-sauces, and or topped with breadcrumbs and butter mixture for extra flavour and to provide textural interest

Recipes from COOKING AND 1,001 RECIPES by H. Berberoglu

Contact hberbero@ryerson.ca for orders.

Cauliflower with green sauce
Yield: 6 portions

I large cauliflower, broken into flowerets
2 tbsp. Lemon juice
salt t t
freshly ground pepper t t
½ cup whipping cream
3 tbsp. Scallions sliced
2 tbsp. Lemon juice
1/3-cup Butter, unsalted
1 pkg. (300 grams) frozen peas, cooked as per directions on package

Sprinkle cauliflower with lemon juice, and cook in salted water until tender.
Keep warm. In a saucepan melt the butter and pour over the cauliflower. Set aside.
Drain peas and put in a blender, add scallions, lemon juice and cream. Add salt and pepper. Pure and then heat in a pan but do not boil.
Pour sauce over cauliflower and serve immediately.

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Chicken is the most popular protein source in the world with an estimated world population of 24 billion in 2003. Castrated roosters are called capons, and young (under one year) chickens, pullets.
The natural life of chicken varies from five to eleven years. Especially bred chickens lay up to 300 eggs per year.
This flightless bird (except for very short distances) lives in flocks, and each flock has a pecking order.
Prior to 1910, chicken in North America was considered a delicacy and served on weekends and on special celebratory occasions.
There are hundreds of breeds, some specially bred for egg laying, others for meat, some for dual purposes and there are even breeds for fights especially in the Orient and Central American countries.
Chickens were one of the first animals domesticated around 8000 years ago and to this day breeders succeed in creating new strains to suit special demands and purposes.
According to the latest research, chicken meat gram for gram delivers the most protein than any meat. Skinless chicken breast is the leanest of all proteins including salmon.
Of all the breeds whiter and blue feet Bresse chicken from France are the most famous and tasty in France and even in Europe. The French ministry of agriculture found it necessary to bestow it with an appellation controllee status. It can only be bred and raised in a specific region, must be fed with a special diet, and be free range, plus on a certain age before it may be slaughtered.
In most industrialized countries today, chicken is raised in huge specially designed buildings (essentially they are factories) under the most inhumane conditions imaginable and fed specially developed feeds to retain moisture.
Free range chickens that roam in the field and feed on a variety of grass, insects, worms and other edibles taste better, but may be slightly tougher than the so-called manufactured chickens.
In many developing countries lacking modern amenities, chickens are still purchased alive and slaughtered by the vendor.
In developed countries chickens are always packaged whole, or cut into pieces and offered for sale generally displayed in refrigerators or ice to delay drying out and contamination.
Japanese still eat raw chicken as a delicacy, but such birds must be hygienically slaughtered and handled to avoid contamination.
It is best to cook chicken before consumption, but overcooking reduces enjoyment and toughens the meat.
Chicken can be grilled, sautéed, broiled, poached, boiled, used in soups, and fore stocks.
Here is a recipe you may want to try:

Grilled chicken and mushroom salad

Yield 6 – 8 portions

1/3-cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1 clove garlic, minced
2 boneless and skinless chicken breasts
175 grams of oyster mushrooms, trimmed
125 grams of shiitake mushrooms, stemmed
8 cups of mixed greens

In a large bowl, combine 2 tbsp of oil, with the mustard, rosemary and garlic. Marinate chicken in this mixture for a few minutes, and grill for approximately 6 minutes on each side. (The time depends of the heat and thickness of the meat).
Remove chicken breasts, wait for a couple of minutes and slice thinly.
Toss mushrooms in a little of oil and grill for approximately 5 minutes.
Divide greens equally in bowls place chicken on top.
Whisk together first salt and lemon, then add mustard, pepper and adjust seasoning.
Drizzle over salads.

Note: Mushrooms can be substituted with regular or crimini mushrooms widely available in grocery stores.

Chicken breast oregano
Yield – Six portions
6 breasts of chicken, boned and skinned
1 tbsp oregano
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup of dry white wine (Riesling recommended)
4 tbsp brandy (may be omitted)
3 cloves of garlic
flour as needed
salt and pepper to taste

Flatten chicken breasts and rub with lemon juice and oregano, half-an-hour before cooking. In sauté pan, combine olive oil and garlic and sauté until garlic turns brown. Discard garlic. Dredge chicken breasts in flour and fry on both sides. Add wine and reduce to half. Flame with brandy. (You may omit this step).

Recipes from COOKING AND 1,001 RECIPES by H. Berberoglu

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Friday Night Snacks.

This recipe is so easy to make, it is not healthy, but very good!

Start with a casserole and mix in:

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
1/2 cup milk

Boil in 5 min. ( stir )

Turn the heat off and mix in:

3 cups oatmeal
1/2 kcup cocoa
1 cup desiccated coconut

Mix it all together and put in on a plate. Let it cool and then you can cut it in pieces and enjoy!.

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Devide the chicken into 10 pieces. Cut the chorizo sausage in big bites, fry in a pan. Cut the bacon into pieces and fry it. Wash the mussel and put it into cold water, throw away the ones that do not close up. Put some butter in a sauce pan and put the minced garlic and onion. Conntinue with some white wine and the mussels. Cover with a lid and steam for about 8 minuttes. This time throw away the mussels that has not oppend themself.

Now, begin with rice, safran, garlic and onion in some olive oil. Fry it a couple of minuttes. Put the bouillon ( warmed up) into it and stir carfully. Cook it as long as it takes until the rice is done. Then put the chopped chili, red pepper and the peas. Press some lemon over it all. Mix the chicken, bacon, sausage into the rice. On top goes the mussel, scampi, olive, lemon and tomato ( see the picture ). On top some parsley.

Cover with a lid and heat it for about 10 minuttes.

ingredients

2 Tblsp olive oil
1 grilled chicken
4 dl paella rice
200 g chorizo sausage
2 Tblsp minced garlic
200 g bacon
1 onion
½ kg mussel (garlic, onion, butter
1-2 chili
white wine or applejuice).
8 dl bouillon
16 scampi or big shrimps
a little safran
lemon / lime
1 red pepper
tomato
200 gr green peas
basil / parsley
1 Tblsp lemon juice
black olives
salt/pepper

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Undoubtedly, Brussels sprouts are the most underrated and undervalued vegetables today. Many grocery store managers don’t even bother to offer them in their produce departments. Yet, properly prepared Brussels sprouts can be delicious and healthy.
Although very different in appearance from kale, cabbage, kohlrabi, cauliflower and broccoli Brussels sprouts belong to the same family (Brassica oleracea).
The plant originated in what is today Pakistan or Afghanistan, and was cultivated for centuries to look the way it does today.
In the 16th century, Brussels sprouts enjoyed enormous popularity in northern Europe, and many English books of the time contain recipes, mostly adopted from Belgian sources.
Today, many varieties exist – jade E, Lunet, Oliver, Silverstar YT and Valiant are prolific and yield anywhere from 1 – 1 ½ kg. Per stalk. Brussels sprouts are rich in folic acid, iron, vitamins A and C. They are fibre rich, calorie poor (six Brussels sprouts contain 60 calories), and rich in antioxidants. Overcooking results in an unpleasant sulphury taste. Grating and adding it to salads is a better way of preventing halitosis.
Making an incision at the bottom of each Brussels sprouts allows penetration of heat and may prevent overcooking. You can slice them, and sauté in butter or olive oil with some salt and pepper.
Always look for firm sprouts with bright green leaves. Store in paper towelling placed in a plastic bag and refrigerate for up to a fortnight.
Canada produces approximately 1300 tones.
October to November are peak harvest times.
Serve Brussels sprouts with roast beef, game stews, and otherwise with strongly flavoured food.

Brussels sprout and mushroom stew

Yield 4 portions

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 large shallots or one small onion, diced
3 anchovy fillets (optional)
250 grams assorted mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
tt freshly ground black pepper
tt salt
375 ml chicken stock
600 grams Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
1 sprig fresh thyme or .25 tsp dried thyme

In a large sauté pan, heat the oil. Add shallots or onions and cook for approximately 3 minutes. Add anchovy fillets, mashing them until they disintegrate.
This should take one or two minutes.
Turn up the heat. Add mushrooms, and cook until softened. Add chicken broth and stir to loosen clinging bits at the bottom of the pan. Add Brussels sprouts and thyme and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover pan, and cook until Brussels sprouts are tender. This should take approximately 8 – 10 minutes.

Guest Writer – Hrayr Berberoglu E-mail or interested in his books?.

Homemade everyday pizza which is healthy and very good!

This is the pizza we are making about every Saturday except in the summertime. It is healthy, very good and easy to make. We begin with the paste. Mix together 4 dl flour, a little salt, 2 spoons olive oil and 1.5 dl water (temp. 50 degrees Celsius) mixed with yeast. Let it rest for about 30 min.

We use a rolling pin on the paste to get it thin. It is not that hard it takes max 3 min. A little more to clean up afterwards but not that bad.

We oil the baking tray with olive oil and put the paste and all ready purchased pizza sauce.

We are tight on the cheese and use 16% low fat type. Remember this is an everyday pizza.

Today we are using ham, paprika and leek, don’t have on too much as the pizza is getting soft and fluffy.

Then it is time to enjoy the pizza with a glass of soda or wine. It is great with pizza as you can vary on the topping and you will have yet another taste. Do you have any point of view or suggestions?

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Whole roasted chicken.

We are talking about whole roasted chicken and the best way to get it juiciest with crisp skin. This is the way to do it:

1. Set the oven on max temperature.
2. Marinated the chicken if you wish. We used paprika powder and olive oil this time.
3. Put the chicken on a grid with a roasting tin under with some water in it.
4. Roast for about an hour and some. We use about an hour and 10 min until it has that golden brown colour. Turn them after about 45 min.
5. Serve with rice/salad and a good wine.

I don’t think it can be done any simpler. If you have an oven with that rotating grill element DON’T use it, the juice from the chicken will only drip off.

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I quickly ordered one, and after a while the waiter served it. I now order tajine whenever and wherever possible. Tajine is a North African specialty that is comforting, friendly, inexpensive, forgiving, delicious, and fragrant. It requires a glazed clay pot with a tight fitting lid. It is easily obtainable in morocco, Algeria, Tunis, and even Egypt. In North America specialty stores may stock it, but charge extraordinarily high prices. You can substitute the authentic tajine pot with an enamelled cast iron pot, or even use a dark roasting pan. The word is derived from Greek tegonon (frying pan).

Greek traders of antiquity introduced this cooking technique in the region when they roamed the Mediterranean Sea, east to west and back. Tajines are easy to prepare but require long cooking tie. If your timing is off and you forget it in the oven, do not worry! Tajine is very forgiving.

Here is a recipe you ay want to try.

1 kg lamb shanks
4 tbsp olive oil.
2 onions sliced
1 cup beef stock
1 28 oz can peeled plum tomatoes
2 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 14 oz can chickpeas
125 grams sun-dried mango’s trips (may be omitted or substituted with other dried fruits i.e apricots, apples etc)
bunch of mint
bunch of coriander
Heat the oven to 160 C

Sear shanks on oil (a) and place in casserole. Cook onions in the same pan and pour over shanks. Add stock to pan, and dissolve clinging meat pieces. Add tomatoes, spices to casserole and bake covered for 1-½ hours. Mix drained chickpeas with mango slices. If desired add, ½ bunch mint and ½ bunch of coriander and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.

Serve with couscous, crusty bread, plain rice or whipped potatoes.

Bon appetite !

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Although Morocco is far from Scandinavia I have found a couple of restaurants that serves it:

http://www.casablanca-svendborg.dk/
http://www.restaurantmarrakech.no/
http://cafebeirut.monalisahuset.no/

Feel free to add to the list if you know of more places!

Morten Pedersen

Salad with cabbage is crunchy!

ingredients:

• cabbage
• leek
• sweet corn
• tomatoes
• cucumber
• paprika
• feta cheese
• black olive
• 1 TBS olive oil + a little Balsamico.

Easy to make, just cut the ingredients up and mix it together. The amount you decide dependent on how hungry/how many you are.

Bo Appetite!

We had it together with roasted chicken (hole) and a wine.

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Game Casserole with Deer.

This is healthy and good food that warms on a cold winter evening.

The recipe:

1 kg of game meat (we did Deer this time). Cut it in big dices.
A little butter
Pepper/salt
Rosemary/allspice
10 Juniper berry (powdered)
1 Bouillon cube
6 dl water
2 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS wine vinegar
2 big red onions chopped large pieces
2 dl mushrooms (we used chanterelle this time)
3 TBS Maizena Corn Starch
3 bay leaf dried

The making:

It is very easy; I started with the meat and a frying pan and a little butter. Then I moved the meat over to the casserole and did the same with the onions and the mushrooms. Then you can add all the rest except for the Maizena. Let it cook until the meat is tender, then add the maizena and give it a couple of minutes and it is ready! As you can see on the picture I had a little of sweet corn in, but that was just because I had a half can opened from yesterday.

Serve it with potatoes, carrots and mountain cranberry.

The wine:

And of course a wine recommendation at the end; Crozes-Hermitage from Guigal. Click on the link to read more about it on Winesworld.

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