cooking – Page 8 – luxlifefinn

Easy chicken and rice

This easy and cheap chicken and rice dish is perfect for the days when you have a lot to get on with around the house and don’t want to spend a long time preparing and cooking food. This is all cooked in the same oven casserole dish, and all the ingredients are put in together at the same time. Thee cooking juices from the chicken, together with the spices, make the rice really tasty, with hardly any effort.

serves 4
4 chicken legs
2 dl uncooked rice grains
1 dl frozen peas
1 dl frozen sweetcorn
1 carrot, peeled and chopped into small cubes
1/2 pepper
1/2 leek, cut into rings
4 dl water
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper
fenugreek
cayenne pepper

1. Spread the uncooked rice at the bottom of your oven casserole dish. Add the peas and sweetcorn, and the prepared carrot and leek.

2. Place the chicken legs on top, and generously sprinkle the spices over the casserole dish. Add the water, and cover with foil.

3. Heat the oven to 200°C / 390°F. I like my chicken to have crispy skin, so I bake it first, then finish it off with a grill setting. Bake in the oven for about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven, and turn the grill to high setting. Remove the foil, and grill for 15 minutes.

Stuffed cabbage rolls

When my husband heard the word cabbage mentioned in the same sentence as dinner, I could see he was quite sceptical. I’m glad he did actually enjoy the end result though, and has eaten the leftovers for separate meals since too. There are two variations of this very Finnish food. Stuffed cabbage leaf rolls, and a casserole, where the ingredients are layered in an oven casserole dish, and baked in the oven. The rolls require more work , and the casserole is easier to make. I normally make the casserole, but wanted to try the rolls this time. You would normally use white cabbage, however I wanted to try whether savoy cabbage would work. In terms of flavor it was absolutely fine, however I think white cabbage leaves will work better for the rolls as the savoy cabbage leaves are more fragile, therefore more difficult to use.

1 white cabbage
salt, 2 tsp per 1 litre of water, used for cooking the cabbage
250g mince beef
1 egg
1 tsp salt
a splash of white pepper
1/2 dl uncooked rice, cook in 2 dl water
cooking liquid of the cabbage
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Sauce
2 dl cooking liquid of the cabbage
2 dl beef stock
2 tbsp plain flour
salt
pepper

1. Use a knife to cut out the hard core of the cabbage. Boil in salted water until the leaves soften. Take the cabbage out of the water and drain. remove the leaves on at a time, then let cool. Shred / finely chopped the small inside leaves, as they will be used in the stuffing. Keep the cooking liquid.

2. Cook the rice, rinse with cold water and let drain. Mix the cooked rice, raw mince beef, finely chopped cabbage, spices and egg together. Add 1/2-1 dl of the cooking liquid.

3. Put a bit of the stuffing on the cabbage leaves. Turn the end of the leaf over the stuffing, then the sides, and roll.

4. Melt some butter in a pan, and fry the cabbage rolls until browned. Add some cooking liquid to the pan, cover with a lid a let cook for about 30 minutes.

5. Measure the cooking liquid and beef stock in a pan. Mix the flour separately with additional 1/2 dl of the cooking liquid, and stir until fully mixed with no lumps. Pour into the pan. Cook, stirring. Check taste and season if necessary.

6. The cabbage rolls are typically served with lingonberry jam. On this occasion, however, I’ve served them with my father’s homemade rowan berry jam.

Yakitori chicken skewers

The good thing about being open to experimenting with all kinds of cooking and holding a pretty varied basic stock of ingredients is that your options are limitless, with little prior planning required. I often give my husband options he can choose from, from the basic ingredients (ie chicken). After choosing the main ingredient, he might sometimes say he’d like it a certain way. So today’s chicken became Japanese style food, which was different to what I had originally though for the particular meat, however I’m now pleased I went for this option, as I’ve not cooked this in a while. I think people might be put off cooking foods from different cultures because it seems to be the unknown. Some might be concerned that there are difficult cooking techniques involved, as well as strange ingredients. I would say that often this doesn’t need to be the case. For example, with this dish, making of the yakitori sauce is very easy, with only a few ingredients involved.

500g chicken breast
6 chestnut mushrooms, cut in quarters (or if using small button mushrooms, 24)
1 red or green pepper
1 onion
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Yakitori sauce
150ml soy sauce (I use half and half of light and dark)
90g sugar
1 1/2 tbsp sake (or replace by dry white wine)
1 tbsp plain flour

1. If using wooden skewers, soak them in cold water for half an hour.

2. Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a pan. Bring to boil. Stir continuously, keeping an eye on it. Lower the temperature, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring. This will reduce the sauce by about a third, and make it thicker and syrupy. Break any lumps of flour during cooking.

3. Cut the chicken and vegetables into chunks, and thread on the skewers. Pre-heat the grill. Brush the skewers generously with the yakitori sauce (also the underside), and grill for 5 minutes. Brush all over with the sauce again, and grill for another 5 minutes.

4. Strain the liquid (the sauce and some cooking juices) through a sieve back to the pan, bring to boil, and serve as a dipping sauce.

Eggs Benedict

This breakfast and brunch dish is very similar to the Eggs Royale click here for recipe that I’ve posted before. The differences between the two are that the Eggs Benedict uses ham instead of salmon, and I use Hollandaise sauce instead of Béarnaise sauce. Perfect served on brioche.

Hollandaise sauce
5 freshly ground white peppers, or 3 shakes of ground white pepper
2 parsley stalks
4 tbsp water or white wine (or mixture of both)
200g butter
3 egg yolks
paprika powder
1/2-1 tbsp lemon juice
salt

1. Put the pepper, parsley and water (and/or wine) in a pan. Let boil until the liquid has reduced to about half. Strain the liquid.

2. Melt the butter.

3. Put the egg yolks in a bowl, and drizzle over the strained liquid, whisking / stirring.

4. The eggs will need to be cooked in a bain marie (hot water bath). This is actually not as complicated as it sounds, please don’t let that deter you from making this sauce! You need a pot with water at the bottom, which will be heated to boiling. It’s important that the bottom of the bowl with the eggs doesn’t touch the hot water, as this could result to your sauce splitting. Whisk / stir the eggs until it’s starting to thicken. Next, start adding the melted butter to the eggs in drops at first, mixing/whisking as you go, then slowly drizzling the rest. You need to keep mixing the sauce until thickened.

5. Remove from the heat, and season with the paprika, lemon juice and salt.

Poached eggs
1 tbsp vinegar
couple of pinches of salt

All you need to poach eggs successfully are spacious enough pan, spoon for stirring boiling water, slotted spoon for removing the egg from the water, a bowl for the cooked eggs to let excess water drain out. I tend to break the egg into a cup, to have one ready to be cooked as soon as one comes out of the boiling water.

1. Put vinegar and salt in the pan, pour water and bring to boil. Stir in the centre with a spoon, and immediately pour egg into the eye in the center. This, together with the vinegar and salt will hold the egg together.

2. Cook for 3 minutes, and remove from the water with a slotted spoon. I tend to put the egg in a bowl first, to drain excess water, before plating it, otherwise you’ll end up with a soggy plate of food!

Enjoy the food!

Chilli con carne

Planning to make this dish couldn’t have been better timed. The weather is cold, and all you want to do is cuddle up at home and eat honest, hearty winter warmer food. This kind of food is not only easy to make (however will need you to be somewhat organized if using dried red kidney beans, as their soaking time takes a while), but it’s also very easy and versatile to adjust things to personal preference. If you like things very hot, add some chillies, or if you’re more in the mild camp reduce the amount. You can also add your favourite ingredients, even if I haven’t included them. This recipe makes chilli with a little bit of heat, but for my liking is on the milder side. This makes a big batch and serves about 6-8, and is perfect served with rice or jacket potatoes.

250g mince beef
2-3 dl dried red kidney beans (if using ready to use, tinned, 1-2 cans)
1 onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3-4 small, hot chillies, finely chopped (I used a mixture of red and green)
1 lemon, squeezed
1 tbsp sugar
salt
black pepper
2-3 tbsp cumin powder
2 cans of chopped tomatoes
3 dl frozen sweetcorn
1 red pepper, deseeded chopped
4 medium size chestnut mushrooms, chopped
splash of vegetable oil

1. If using dried red kidney beans, soak them overnight, or put them to soak in the morning, and they should be soaked when you cook them in the evening. Once soaked, discard the soaking water. Place in a pan, and cover generously with fresh water. Bring to boil, and let boil vigorously for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature, and simmer for another 50 minutes. The reason for this is because raw red kidney beans contain a very high level of toxin called Phytohaemagglutinin, which will be destroyed and reduced to a level where it’s not harmful.

2. Heat the oil in a frying pan. I tend to use a wok pan, because I always make a lot of it. Fry the onion in the oil, until starting to get translucent. Add the mince beef. Fry, breaking into small pieces, until just about cooked.

3. Add the garlic and chillies. Once cooked, add the peppers, mushrooms and all the spices (not sugar). Stir together well, and fry for a minute or two. Add the chopped tomatoes, lemon juice and sugar. If the texture appears too dry, add some water.

4. Last, add the beans and sweetcorn, stir together and cook until everything is warmed through. Taste, and add any spices to your taste if required. If you think you would like your chilli to be hotter (as It all depends on your personal preference, and the hotness of the chillies you used), you could add some cayenne chilli pepper powder.

Spinach soup

This soup is another one of those foods from my childhood that didn’t impress me back then. Most of my experience of it, however, was as a school lunch, and most children hated it. Now when I make it, I think it’s absolutely delicious! I think it’s important to use as nice beef stock as possible, as that brings a lot of flavour to this soup. Traditionally, the soup is served with hard boiled eggs.

500g fresh spinach
2 litres water
4 tsp salt
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50g butter
3 tbsp plain flour
1 litre beef stock
1 1/2 dl cream
salt
black pepper
nutmeg

1. Wash the spinach leaves, and bring to boil in the water with the salt. Cook for about 5 minutes or until cooked, then pour the water off and drain the spinach.

2. Melt the butter in a pan, then add the flour to it and mix together.

3. Start adding the beef stock, little by little, mixing continuously, until it has all been used and mixed together.

4. Puree the drained spinach in a blender, and add into the stock. Stir until it has all been mixed in properly.

5. Add the cream, then season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Cook for few minutes, and the soup is ready to be enjoyed!

Jansson’s temptation

I have always thought of this as Finnish food, however I have a feeling this food might also be served in other Scandinavian countries. This dish tends to be something children hate (I would guess it’s because of the anchovy being quite a pungent fish), however most people turn around at the beginning of their adulthood, and love this food. I, too, have followed this evolution path. Ingredients wise, you really don’t need much. This is one of those foods that I make semi regularly, and if I’ve had too long a break my husband starts asking for it. Other variations of this is Salmon temptation, where you replace the anchovy with salmon, however I would really like to encourage you to try this with the anchovies if you’re not a hater of the fish. As the anchovies are salty, you don’t need to add any salt into this dish, however if you make this with salmon you would probably want to add some salt too.

8 medium to large potatoes
2 onions
1 jar of anchovy fillets (100g)
black and white pepper
5 dl cream
1 tbsp bread crumbs
50g butter

1. Peel and finely chop the onions, and fry in half the butter.

2. Peel the potatoes, and cut into this strips, like matches or French fries. Rinse with cold water, drain and dry.

3. Butter an oven dish. At the bottom, place half of the potatoes. Season with pepper. Put the onions next, as a second layer. Next, put all the fish in as a third layer, then cover with the remaining potatoes. Pour all the oil from the fish tin over the potatoes, and add 3 dl of the cream, as well as some more pepper. Put pieces of butter on top, and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.

4. Bake in a preheated oven 200°C / 390°F (fan) for about 40 minutes. After this time, add the remaining cream, and bake for another 10 minutes. I love the crispy potatoes you will end with on top.

Lasagne

This Italian dish is usually a foolproof way to keep everyone happy: from children to adults, continent to continent, carnivore to a vegetarian, everyone usually loves their version of this food. I’ve made my own lasagna sheets for this dish, but you can absolutely use shop bought, dried ones too. This won’t change anything in the steps, apart from the fact that you can skip the pasta making step. If you are making you own pasta, I would start by making it first, as you can then leave it to dry while preparing the other things. For a vegetarian version, just replace the mince beef in the Bolognaise sauce with vegetables (peppers, mushrooms, courgette / zucchini etc).

Pasta
300g pasta flour, 00 grade
3 eggs

1. Measure the pasta flour in a bowl. Make a well in the centre, and pour the eggs in. Then, starting with a fork, break the eggs and little by little mix the eggs with the surrounding flour. Once the dough gets firmer, move onto kneading by hand.

2. Divide the dough into three pieces. Flatten the pieces with your hands, and roll through the pasta machine, on the biggest setting. Fold the dough over in half, and roll through the same setting again. Then reduce the setting to the next, and roll through. Repeat until desired thickness is achieved (I went all the way to setting no 3). Next, using a knife, cut into sheets. Then, leave to dry while you prepare the rest.

Bolognaise sauce
1 celery stick
1-2 carrots
1 medium onion
2-3 garlic cloves
handful of fresh basil leaves
handful of fresh parsley
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
4 tbsp tomato purée
dried oregano
dried herbs de provence
olive oil
salt
black pepper
~~~~~
250g mince beef
salt
black pepper
paprika powder
ground allspice

1. In a blender, finely chop onion, garlic, carrot, celery and fresh herbs, and a splash of olive oil. Pour in a pan, and fry until soft.

2. Blend the chopped tomatoes and tomato purée, and add to the pan. Add dried herbs and season with salt and pepper. Depending on the thickness of the sauce you may want to add a little bit of water.

3. Fry the mince beef in a separate pan, and mix together with the tomato sauce.

Béchamel sauce
25g butter
3/4 dl flour
7-8 dl milk
2 dl cheese, grated (mature cheddar is good, or you can use half cheddar / half mozzarella) + some on top
salt
black pepper

1. Melt the butter in a pan, then mix the flour with the butter.

2. 1 dl at a time, start mixing the milk in, stirring. If you can’t get rid of lumps, whisk may be useful. When you have mixed all the milk in, if you still have lumps you can run the sauce through a sieve, pushing the lumps through. Pour the mixture back in the pan and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Mix the cheese into the sauce and stir until it’s melted.

Lasagne

1. Butter your owen dish. Layer the ingredients, starting with pasta sheets. Put a little bit of the Béchamel sauce over the bottom layer of pasta, then cover with the Bolognaise sauce. Then, Béchamel sauce again.

2. Put another layer of pasta, Bolognaise sauce and Béchamel sauce. Cover with a layer of pasta and Béchamel, and sprinkle cheese on top. Always have the pasta and Béchamel sauce as the last layer. Bake 180°C / 360°F (fan) for about 45-50 minutes.

Stuffed butternut squash

Butternut squash is said to have many health benefits, as well as being a versatile ingredient in cooking. On this recipe I oven roasted it with stuffing. It’s also excellent to be used in risottos. The main ingredient of my stuffing on this particular recipe is mince beef, however you could easily make this a vegetarian dish by replacing the beef with other vegetables, such as mushrooms, courgette etc, and could also add pulses.

250g mince beef
1 onion
salt
black pepper
white pepper
paprika
ground allspice
1 butternut squash
4 cherry tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
dried herbs de provence
olive oil

1. Fry the onions in vegetable oil in a pan, until starting to get translucent. Add the mince beef and mix with the onions. Add the spices, and fry until cooked. During the cooking process, keep braking into small pieces. Add the tomatoes, red pepper and herbs de provence.

2. Cut the butternut squash into half (lengthwise). Deseed, and brush with olive oil. Fill with the mince beef filling, and top with grated cheese.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 360°F (fan), and cook for about 40 minutes.

Spaghetti with squid and chorizo

Even though the weather in the UK has gone really cold, this dish has transported me right to the Mediterranean climate. Making the pasta for the spaghetti couldn’t be easier, it takes less time than chopping all the other ingredients. I would suggest to start with the pasta, as it can then dry a little while you prepare everything else.

250g pasta flour 00 grade
2 eggs
~~~~~
3 medium squid tubes
3 chorizo sausages
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 red or yellow pepper
12 cherry tomatoes, cut in quarters
handful of parsley
1 courgette / zucchini
splash of olive oil
salt and black pepper
juice of 1 lemon

2. Divide the dough into two pieces. Flatten the pieces with your hands, and roll through the pasta machine, on the biggest setting. Fold the dough over in half, and roll through the same setting again. Then reduce the setting to the next, and roll through. Repeat until desired thickness is achieved. Next, using the spaghetti cutting roller part, cut the pasta sheet into spaghetti. Then, leave to dry while you prepare the rest.

3. Prepare all the other ingredients. Heat olive oil in a pan, and fry the onions, squid and chorizo for few minutes, until cooked.

4. Add the garlic, pepper and courgette. Fry for few minutes. At the same time, boil water with salt added, and put the spaghetti in. Boil for about three minutes, then drain.

5. Add the tomatoes and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. Add the spaghetti, mixing everything together. Lastly stir in the parsley.