Parsely and boiled Chicken salad

On my healthy eating campaign (which i try to do several nights/lunch times per week), here we have a bed of salad made up of :
- English parsely
- feta cheese
- cranberries
- pumpkin seeds
- sesame seeds
- fresh squeezed lemon
- olive oil
- cracked pepper
- boiled chicken breast (finely chopped or shredded)

Then on top is a steamed egg cut in half, flanked by steamed tofu topped with cracked pepper.

Dead easy to prepare, so much great flavour and low in calories.

Enjoy!!

Gotta love Spaghetti!!!

All time favorite - Spahetti bolognaise

Time is the secret - the longer the suggo cooks the better it tastes.

Enjoy!!!

Low in Calories, Big in Taste!!

All steamed!!!  So healthy and tastes great.  I just made this one and devoured it minutes ago...

Steamed salmon - i used a premium grade salmon, but i think when you steam it it tastes like the less expensive one.

The veges are beautiful fresh asparagus and a vegetable they have in Indonesia called "terong ungu" which is kind of soft, a little like an eggplant.

A little salt and pepper, freshly squeezed lemon on the salmon of course and there you go.  Lose weight, fill up and...

Enjoy!!!

Volcanic Eruption

Banana Panna cotta with Strawberry ganache and roasted walnuts

 

An absolutely delightful dessert full of flavor and variety.  Perfect for when you have that carton of left over cream!!

 

 

Ingredients

 

-  A cup of cooking cream (because that is what I had)

-  A cup of fresh milk

-  One packet (2 tsp of plain gelatin)

-  2 ripe bananas

-  60g brown sugar

-  2 tblsp run extract

-  2 tbls fresh lemon juice

 

For the Ganache

-  1 punnet of strawberries (about 200 grams, remove the bits that aren't nice to eat!)

-  60g of white sugar

-  a little cream

-  water to thin the sauce

-  3 tblsp crushed roasted walnuts

 

Directions

-  In a small bowl put 3 tblsp of cold water and pour over the gelatin and leave to set for 5 minutes.

-  Meanwhile heat the cream and milk to the boil.

-  Meanwhile (lots going on at the same time :-) ) mash the bananas sugar, rum extract and lemon juice till smooth

-  Use a blender if you have it for the previous step.

-  When the cream boils remove it from the heat and stir in the gelatin mixture until completely dissolved.

-  Add the banana mix and whisk in till smooth.

-  Pour the filling into 4 greased ramekins and refridgerate for 3-4 hours.

 

Topping

-  Heat the strawberries and cream and sugar, and with a masher mash the strawberries.  This will be easy as the mixture warms up.

-  Stir until smooth and if it gets too thick add some water.  Refridgerate till ready to serve.

 

-  When plating up, run a sharp knife around the edge of the glass and that should help the panna cotta slip out into the middle of your plate, forming the VOLCANO.

 

-  Top it with strawberry ganache to show the lava from the volcano and top with walnuts as the rock starts to harden.  Geologists will love this one :-)

 

 

Enjoy!!

 

 



Chicken, asparagus and mushroom stir fry

Plenty of flavour is this gorgeous dish.

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts skin off, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 2 cups of assorted mushrooms coarsely chopped
• a dozen asparagus spears cut into 2 inch strips
• 4 large cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1 red chili, seeds removed and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of dill finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup of cooking cream (15% fat)
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat one tblsp of oil in a heavy based fry pan.
2. add the asparagus spears and sear for 1 minute.
3. add a few tblsp of water and cover allowing the asparagus to steam for few minutes
4. Remove the aspagus to a small bowl.
5. Add a tblsp of oil to the pan and add the mushrooms
6. Saute for a few minutes till soft and then add to the bowl with the asparagus.
7. Heat the rest of the oil and add the garlic and chili frying for 1 minute on low heat.
8. increase the heat and add the chicken and dill and stir fry the chicken for 7-8 minutes
9. Re-introduce the asparagus and mushroom and add the wine and cream.
10. Heat to simmer and allow the mixture to reduce down infusing the flavours adding salt and pepper as desired.

Enjoy!!

Rigatoni alla puttanesca

Puttanesca is one of my favorite pasta sauces without meat.  So much going on with the combination of tomatoes, olives, anchovies, capers and many more wonderful ingredients...

 

Ingredients

• Half a white onion and 4 large cloves of garlic, finely sliced
• 2 x Tablespoons of Extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup pitted black olives diced
• 1 tblsp capers drained and rinsed
• 6-8 anchovy fillets (take out the backbone...)
• 1/2 cup sweet white wine
• 2 x cans of whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 tblsp of brown sugar
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of basil leaves finely chopped
• 1/2 red chili finely chopped (and remove the seeds).
• 1 tsp of cracked pepper (and more to garnish)
• 1/2 cup of grated or shredded parmesan cheese to garnish
• 1/4 cup parsely finely chopped (and more to garnish)
• 500g pack of rigatoni and salt for the water

 

Directions

1. Saute the onions and garlic in heated oil in a heavy based skillet for a few minutes on low heat
2. Add the white wine and let it cook off for a few minutes infusing the onions and garlic
3. Add the olives, capers and anchovies and simmer for a minute or two.
4. Pour in the tomatoes, sugar, basil leaves and pepper and increase the heat until it simmers.
5. Stir in the water, cover with the lid and stir every 5-10 mins. 
6. Allow the sauce to simmer and thicken over the course of one hour.  
7. After 30 mins boil water with 1 tbls salt in a large saucepan.  Add the rigatoni.
8. Stir the pasta every few minutes.  It should be ready in 15-20 minutes (taste to check).
9. Drain the pasta and once the sauce is done combine the pasta with the sauce
10. Cook together for a minute or two stirring in some chopped parsely.
11. Serve with parmesan cheese and cracked pepper, garnish with fresh parsely.

Tips

The ingredients in this dish are very powerful.   You'll notice I didn't add any extra salt to the sauce.  There is plenty of saltiness in the anchovies.  If you are not a fan of the vinegar-like taste of capers, reduce the quantity or leave them out altogether.  You may find the sugar offsets the vinegar, so frequently taste the sauce to ensure the taste is as your pallette desires...

Serve with your choice of shiraz.  Plenty of good Australian wines that I can suggest if you're not sure.

Enjoy!!

Rigatoni combined with the puttanesca

Work in progress...