Dinner for one (hehe)

Early today I roasted an eggplant and a red pepper in the over for a while (wrap in tinfoil, with salt, pepper and olive oil, bake 180ºC for a couple of hours).  When they were ready, I smashed them together a little bit and they were perfect with some pita, then, I added a capresse salad.... need I say more?  Fresh, tasty, light and delicious!

True love for tomato and eggplant.

I am not sure of what I want usually, dinner has become a challenge since I have to eat healthy and balanced but there are so many things I really don't want to even look at at this moment!  Like fish, any fish!  So, today, I started thinking about what I wanted.  No meat today either please!  

Tomato.  Always tomato.  I love tomato.  And eggplant.  I could eat eggplant any time any day.  So I decided to make my own version of "ratatouille" or "pisto" or whatever you want to call it.

Onion, red bell pepper, eggplant, and lots of tomato (I cheated here, I had found a readymade Arrabiata sauce in the good supermarket, and I was saving it for a rainy day.  I usually make things from scratch, but this one looked and "sounded" soooo good).  I stirred fried on EVOO (I know, how very Rachel Ray, but really, it's a mouthful!) 1 roughly chopped onion, then added 1 roughly chopped bell pepper, then the eggplant (cut in small cubes ca. 1x1cm), after around 10 min.  I added the arrabiata sauce (spicy tomato sauce originally from Rome), a bit of water, salt and pepper to taste and some basil.  Let it cook for a while... I measure by eye but the idea is to try not to kill the veggies and to let it reduce enough that the taste is intensified.

I made a 50/50 mix of bulgur and quinoa to eat it with. To add a bit more protein besides the quinoa, I made some hummus with toasted pita chips.  All very tasty, fresh and delicious!  This I could never get tired of eating.

Tip:  Sprinkle some feta on top!  Give's it an extra little something.

Dinner on a rainy weekend

We'll be having some friends over this weekend at the cabin, since it seems like it will be raining ALL the time, Jonas and I have decided on making a cozy meal.  We have two options:

 Jamie Oliver's Roast Pork Shoulder

 or... Roast shoulder of lamb (also Jamie Oliver)

 I am not very experienced cooking meat, so I need a guide, and who else than Jamie Oliver to give me a easy to follow, down to earth, 100% pleasing recipe?  I know, I am a big fan, and I have always been, but I have never been let down, and I have learned a lot about cooking from him, so, when in looking for a good recipe full of flavour, that's my man.

I'll tell you how it went!

Red beet soup.

My stepmother gave me this recipe a while ago.  I never wrote it down, so I am pretty sure that it has changed a bit from the original because "I play it by ear", so, I will try to be as specific as possible.

This is a great soup for anytime of the year.

 Ingredients (feeds 6)

4 red beets

4 garlic cloves

2 oranges

half a cup of orange juice

half a cup of cream

1 lt of chicken stock

30 g of butter

salt

pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

 Preheat oven in 180ºC.  The beets will be baked in aluminum foil for around 90 minutes.  Each beet should have some orange peel, garlic, a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper.  Once they are baked, peel the red beets and put them in the processor together with the garlic and a cup of chicken stock. Now, move the mix into a large pot, add the rest of the chicken stock and the rest of the ingredients, cook in low temperature for half a hour so the tastes sink in.  Serve!  The color is amazing, and the taste... well... just taste it and see for yourself.

Fake Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori powder is a mix of lots of spices (cumin, coriander, chilli pepper, ginger, garlic, smoked paprika and garam masala).  You can probably buy most of the ingredients in a exotic shop or even at your local supermarket, but I found an already made mix at Eksotisk Torg (Christies gt. 13) in Bergen and it is actually pretty good.

I say is fake because originally, the recipe should be cooked in a tandoor, which is a type of clay oven, or on a grill as second best.  Today I decided to make it in the regular oven since it's raining cats and dogs and we don't own a tandoor.

Anyways, I tried to do it as fat free as possible, so I mixed 3 spoons of tandoori mix with 2dl of natural yogurt and marinated 2 chicken breasts with it for around 3 hours in the refrigerator, after that, I baked it in the oven on 200ºC for around 25 minutes.

I made a greek salad (cucumber, tomato, red onion, olives and feta, a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and a pinch of oregano as my dad does) and some bulgur to eat beside it.

Delicious and healthy!!!

Tapas!

We had a great weekend with the family at the cabin.  Although it was a bit windy and chilly, the sun was shinning all the time.  Saturday evening Jonas and I made some tapas to celebrate a very belated birthday for our aunt Mette (great excuse!), and here are some of the recipes and pictures of what we made!

Bruschetta

Tomatoes, fresh mozarella and basil

all marinated in good olive oil, salt and pepper.

We used olive focaccia, sliced and lightly toasted.

 -

Anders' Chevre & Vegetable Pintxo

I used green and yellow zucchini but you can use eggplant as well.

Toast some bread slices.  On a pan, stir some finely chopped onion

and garlic.  Add the zucchini. Let it reduce.  Add some salt, pepper 

and cumin to taste. You can also add some chicken stock if you wish.

Put on top of bread slices and add some chevre on the top.  Gatinate

in the oven.  AMAZING! (Anders you are a true kitchen genious!).

 -

Dates rolled in Cured Ham

Never disappoints! Take the seeds out of the dried dates.

Roll in bacon, or cured ham.  We used Serrano Ham and it

was great!  Gives extra crispiness.  Put in the oven for about

15 minutes in 200ºC or until golden.

 -

Foie with apple-pear butter

Toast some bread slices.

Have the Foie-gras (or duck liver pate) in the freezer so it stays firm.

On a very hot pan, fry thin slices of the Foie-Gras (just a bit on both sides).

Put on top of the bread with some caramelized apples, or apple butter.

We made a nice apple and pears butter beforehand.  It was very nice.

-

Pork loin with Brie

  On top of toasted bread slices put some brie cheese

and thin slices of pork loin (you should cook the pork 

on a pan before).  Put in preheated oven (200ºC) for a 

couple of minutes before serving.

-

Stuffed Mushrooms 

Take the trunks of the mushrooms (We used Champignon type)

In a food processor put a handfull of: almonds, fresh rosmary,

fresh parsley, 1 garlic clove,  about 30g Parmigian cheese, the 

mushroom trunks, 2 spoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil, salt & pepper.

Make a paste and fill the mushrooms with it. 

Put in the oven for 15 min.

in 200ºC before serving. 

 

BREAKFAST

I love breakfast.  Not the way Jonas loves breakfast with bacon and eggs and all that is possible (that's nice too though), but I love the simple and humble "continental" breakfast.  The other day we were making a fruit tartalet for my mother in law's birthday.  It required peach jam as part of the ingredients.  Something I never buy or eat, so, thinking on the fact that I hate throwing away food or waste of space in the refrigerator, I thought I could maybe eat it for breakfast with cottage cheese on top of bread, let me tell you: HEAVEN!!!!!!!! Toasted sunflower bread, a bit of butter, cottage cheese and a spoon of peach jam.  Doesn't get much better than that.  And ofcourse, do not forget a good cup of coffee.  Today it's the turn for Calderón-Chirripó-Costa Rica from Supreme Roasters (small roaster in Oslo with amazing talents!).  This coffee is round a clean, with some berries and fruit hints.  Perfect breakfast coffee!

Eden!

My friend Eden (whom I haven't seen in the longest time) just started her own blog about food and everyday things.  She is a master in the kitchen, and not only that, cooks the proper way: with the freshest most local products she can find.  Of course, she lives in San Diego, where the weather is obviously much better than here in Bergen, Norway, and it is possible to grow much more, but that is the thing, it is possible to grow a lot, and she actually does it.  Look at this artichoke! (I am writing with jealousy now!):

Anyways, she posts great recipes constatly with step by step picture instructions, so, make sure to take a look!  I am craving to try the "Pan-Seared Halibut with Lemon Beurre Blanc, Rosemary potatoes and creamed broccoli".  This is her picture, but I will post my own as soon as I find some Halibut in this town.

Heaven!

Today I found a very nice website called "The Pioneer Woman Cooks".  I was looking for a recipe for tonight.  Jonas and I have made a deal, every week, each one of us will make a new, cheap, hopefully healthy recipe so we don't fall into a routine.  I found a very good looking recipe for pasta with shrimp, and since I already had all the ingredients it was just meant to be done.  It was AMAZING!!!!!!  I followed the recipe, used a very nice extra virgin olive oil we got in Italy, "La Badia" and a nice Chardonnay.  After we took it off the pan, we put it in the grill, it was fantastic to get the flavors from the coal in and we got to use the balcony.

Shrimp Pasta in a Foil Package

Comfort food

My husband is an angel.  Today I finally got my letter from the Master application, and I am sad to say I didn't get in, but I am the 4th place on the waiting list, so, we'll see.  Anyways, I was kind of blue, after I got it, so Jonas has been here trying to make me feel better and making me smile (with a little help from Rafa).
Anyways, he made me the most delicious Mac N' Cheese.  I managed to take a picture 2 seconds before it was all gone.  We ate it next to a tomato and zucchini salad that was very very nice as well.  The recipe was found at Nigella's website

Purposely eating well!

On an attempt of Jonas and I to eat better (less fat, sugar and meat vs. more fish, vegetables and fruit), here's what's for dinner tonight! (Recipe taken from dinmat.no and tested at our friends Eirin & Lars' place)

Salmon on top of bulgur salad with cheakpeas and tomato 

  

Recipe for 2:  300 g salmon,  salt and pepper

Salad: 75 g. Bulgur,  1 1/2 dl water,  bunch of parsley,

bunch of mint, 1 garlic clove, 2 ss lemon juice,

1 tomato, 1/4 cucumber, 2ss olive oil, 1ss raisins,

25 g cheakpeas, 25 g cottage chease.

Start with the salad, boil the water with some salt and add the bulgur.  Let it cook for 15 minutes covered. When ready, stir a bit and let it cool down.  Chop the mint and the parsley. Dice the cucumber and the tomato. Chop the red onion and finely chop the garlic clove.  Mix all the ingredients.  Season to taste.

Fry the salmon on a warm pan for 2-3 minute on only one side.  Serve on top of the salad.

Enjoy!