Easy prawn fried rice

Rice was never something I was particularly excited about and there was one reason behind it: I had no idea how to cook it! A quick browse through Google reveals thousands upon thousands of methods of cooking it, yet I was always intimidated. Maybe, just maybe one rice cooking attempt which had me rinse the Gloopy Sticky Yucky Blob, Formerly Known as Rice in cold water to make it edible had something to do with that. After that shameful incident I just gave up (yes, I'm super patient) and decided that I shall never ever touch the stuff again. I'm not even sure what made me decide to give cooking rice another go, but let me just say I'm ecstatic (yes!) that I tried.

The recipe is from Delia's website: it is simple and works every.single.time. Incredibly proud of my newly acquired skill I decided to make a quick fried rice. The beautiful thing about this recipe is that it's incredibly versitile: I used mushrooms, bacon and prawns, but you can easily use chicken, peas, edameme, carrots, shredded cabbage; the possibilities are endless. I made a variation of this dish for my parents and friends when I was in Poland last week (this trip is my lame excuse for the temporary blogging hiatus) and they loved it. Funnily enough one of my friends confessed he doesn't even like rice only to come back for seconds (and scrape the pan, heheh).

To make 4 normal (or 3 very generous) portions you'll need:

5 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped into small pieces

1 pack (about 250g) mushrooms (I used chestnut mushrooms for their earthy flavour, but white mushrooms are equally good)

1 pack (about 230 g) prawns, frozen or fresh (I used frozen)

1 bunch of spring onions

1-2 garlic cloves

2-3 eggs, whisked

pinch of chilli flakes

soy sauce

sesame oil (optional)

basmati rice

salt, pepper

oil, for frying

Start off by boiling water in the kettle. Now measure your rice: no weighing necessary! Just grab a small tea cup or a measuring jug (I use 1 American cup for 2 people and have leftovers for lunch! The American cup is about 240ml). You don't need to wash or rinse the rice. Put a big pot on the medium heat, add a glug of oil, then add the rice. Stir the rice so that every grain is covered with oil. Gently heat, then add hot water. The only thing to remember is 2 measures of water to 1 measure of rice. Easy peasy.

Once you've added hot water stir the rice to make sure no grains are stuck on the sides of the pot. Add a bit of salt or stock granules. Now cover the pot with the lid, turn the heat to medium-low and set your timer to 15 minutes. That's it. Don't sneak a peak, don't stir, just get on with the sauce. 

Chop spring onions, bacon and mushrooms and mince garlic cloves. 

 

Fry bacon, garlic and spring onions in a little bit of oil until bacon is crispy. Add mushrooms, chilli flakes, salt and pepper and keep frying. Finally add the prawns. If you're using frozen, there'll be a bit of liquid in the pan; keep frying everything until the water evaporates.

Add a bit of soy sauce at the end.

While your sauce is frying, grab a small frying pan, add a bit of oil and pour in the eggs. Fry them, stirring with a spatula, until you have dry scrambled eggs. Take off the heat and mix in with the rest of the sauce.

When your timer beeps (you're cooking rice, remember? ;) take the pot off the heat, take the lid of and cover the pot with a clean cloth. Leave for 10 minutes. The cloth will absorb all the extra moisture making the rice fluffy.

Once the rice is ready mix it with the sauce, add a bit of sesame oil or more soy sauce and munch away.

Squash and sweet potato lasagne

I love lasagne as much as the next person, but I think we can all agree it's not an every day treat. Put it this way: it's a calorie bomb. But replace the meat with veggies and you'll find you won't have to feel so guilty. I got inspired to make this dish by watching Lorraine Pascale's new show (which is pretty cool, though I seriously doubt she ever eats any of her creations. But hey, that's just me); as soon as the words butternut squash and sweet potatoes reached my ears I was sold. 

Lorraine's version uses a ton (ok, 600 grams) of ricotta cheese instead of white sauce, which frankly, is a bit too much for my liking. I ended up modifying the recipe a lot, adding the much feared by some white sauce (it is super easy), but trust me, the finished lasagne is delicious. Indulgent, but a bit healhier than its meat cousin.

To make 4 generous portions you'll need:

350 g sweet potato, peeled and cubed

350 g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cubed

50 g grated parmesan

12 lasagne sheets (I used lasagne verdi)

2 big handfuls of spinach

100 g pine nuts

a big handful of fresh basil

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried thyme

salt

pepper

a pinch of cayenne or cajun spice

Sauce 1

50 g grated parmesan

2 egg yolks

100 g ricotta

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

salt

pepper

Sauce 2 

2 -3 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

500 ml milk

salt

pepper

nutmeg

Start by putting two pots of water on the stove - get the water boiling and prep your ingredients.

Peel and cube butternut squash and sweet potato, then put in the first pot of boiling water and cook until soft. Drain and set aside.

 

Get a sheet of parchment paper (or grease proof paper) and spread it on your workbench. Once the water in the second pot is boiling, add a splash of oil and drop 3 sheets of lasagne into the pot. Cook them for about 2-3 minutes, then fish out and lay on the parchment paper. Prepare 12 sheets of lasagne this way. This is a bit messy, but it speeds up the cooking process later!

 

Now make the first sauce. Simply mix parmesan, ricotta and 2 egg yolks together in a bowl, add salt, pepper and nutmeg and set aside.

Off to the second sauce. Start off by gently melting butter in a small pot. You want the gas on its lowest setting. Get the whisk and flour and milk ready. 

Once the butter is melted, add the flour and quickly whisk. You've just made roux. How awesome are you? 

 

Now start pouring milk into the roux whisking quickly to avoid lumps. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg and keep stirring the mix with the whisk. After a few minutes, as the milk gets hotter, the sauce should start thickening. 

Keep stirring and take off the heat once the sauce has the consistency of a pouring yoghurt. 

Transfer into a measuring jug and set aside.

Toast the pine nuts in a small dry frying pan.

Now add thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper and cayenne/cajun spice to drained sweet potatoes and squash and mash together.

Get a heat proof dish (I used a square pyrex form which fitted 3 sheets of slightly overlapping lasagne).

Start by pouring a bit of sauce at the bottom of the dish, then cover with 3 sheets of pasta.

Spread sweet potato mix on top, sprinkle with pine nuts and basil leaves.

 

Top with spinach leaves and cover with 3 more sheets of pasta. Pour a bit of the white sauce and spread on top of the pasta layer. Add sweet potato mix and spread the ricotta sauce on top. Sprinkle pine nuts and basil, cover with pasta. Repeat.

The last layer will be pasta, parmesan and the rest of the white sauce.

Bake in 190 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes or until the pasta is cooked through. I like to use a scientific method called 'Poke It With a Fork'.

 

Serve with a mixed leaf salad. Yum.

Thai salmon noodles

Despite what you might think I don't rely on chicken and bacon in all my dinners.

Fish is good too (I just wish it was a bit less expensive!). This recipe comes from BBC Good Food (again! well, what can I do? This website rocks!) I grew a bit tired of eating the same noodles with stir fry sauce over and over again and when I saw the salmon and sweet potato combination I knew I had to try it. I wasn't disappointed - the dish is incredibly fragrant, with the red Thai curry sauce complimenting the fish and potatoes and coriander adding freshness. 

To make enough for two you'll need:

1-2 salmon fillets, skin removed

1-2 tsp red Thai curry paste

4-5 spring onions

2-3 cloves of garlic

500 ml vegetable stock powder

250 ml milk

1 sweet potato

fine egg noodles

fresh coriander

black onion seeds, to garnish

Start by prepping your ingredients. Slice salmon fillet into 1'' cubes, mince garlic and chop spring onions.

Peel the sweet potato and cut into small cubes.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan (or a wok) and fry off the Thai curry paste. Add garlic and spring onions and keep frying.

Pop cubed sweet potatoes in the pan, add milk and stock and turn the heat down. Simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

While the sauce is simmering, boil a pot of salted water for noodles and throw them in. Most fine egg noodles only need 3 minutes.

While the noodles are cooking add salmon to the pan and gently stir it in. Cook for another 3 minutes - the salmon is very delicate and cooks quickly.

Drain the noodles, divide between two plates, then spoon the sauce over (it should be quite liquidy!). Sprinkle with coriander and black onion seeds. Eat!

Last week I made this dish with onion instead of spring onion and prawns instead of salmon - equally delicious - one dish two ways.

French style chicken

After the whole cake craziness it's time to go back to savoury dishes I think. Today's recipe uses my two trusty ingredients: chicken and bacon, but it's fresh and surprisingly light, thanks to the addition of gem lettuce, peas and creme fraiche. I found it on BBC Good Food (doesn't take a genius to figure out it's one of my favourite websites!) and it quickly became one of my to go to ways of eating chicken. I don't think I can vouch for this recipe's authenticity. The last time I was in France my experience of French cuisine came down to devouring baguettes all day long. Granted, they were super tasty and I sometimes dream about them.

All I know is, this French style chicken is tres tres bon mon cheries. So give it a try!

To make enough for two you'll need:

4-5 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, fat trimmed off
2-3 rashers of streaky unsmoked bacon, chopped into small pieces
4-5 spring onions
2 gem lettuces
2-3 tablespoons creme fraiche
500 ml chicken or vegetable stock
2 cloves of garlic, minced or finely chopped
2-3 handfuls of frozen peas
potatoes, to serve
olive oil
salt and pepper

Start off by frying bacon in the pan until crispy. Remove and set aside.

Use bacon fat and a tsp or so of olive oil to fry the chicken thighs. Place them in the pan on quite a high heat and step away. You'll be tempted to keep turning them (I always am), but remember, we want flavour so they need to brown nicely. Turn them after 4-5 minutes and brown the other side.

While the chicken is frying, chop spring onions and wash and halve the potatoes.

Add spring onions, garlic and bacon to the pan with the chicken and fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add enough stock to cover the chicken. Add pepper and salt to taste (I tend to skip the salt because bacon and stock are usually salty enough, so remember to taste as you go!)

At this stage, the longer you simmer the chicken the more tender it will be, I generally cook it until half the liquid evaporates. Turn the chicken every now and then so it cooks evenly. After about 15-20 minutes add peas and cook for a further 3-5 minutes.

Finally, add 2-3 tablespoons creme fraiche and roughly chopped gem lettuce.

Serve with boiled potatoes.

Bon appétit!

Mexican chicken stew with beans and lime quinoa

Frikkin' delicious. Those two words best describe this amazing stew.

Shame on me for discovering quinoa so late. I know how this happened. I just thought it will taste too healthy (come on, you know what I mean?). I thought it's difficult to get it right. Trust me, there's something about me cooking grains... Bulghar wheat, rice - massive fail, tears and frustration. After reading about the health benefits of quinoa (tonnes of protein, calcium and fiber) I had to try it. And, what do ya know. I'm a quinoa convert. Fanatic. I found a recipe for warm and nutty cinnamon quinoa. Quinoa salads. Quinoa brownies (whaaaaat?!). You get the picture. Quinoa = awesomeness.

My mum sent me this funny email called 'Women - that's what we're like'. The first line describes me perfectly: I don't read any manuals or instructions. I keep pushing the buttons until it works. Yup. But you know what I discovered? The cooking instructions you see on the back of food packets? Well, turns out they are there for a reason. And cooking quinoa was easy once I actually read and applied them. Ha.

This recipe was my inspiration. I modified it ever so slightly, reducing the amount of chipotle paste (this stuff is hot!) and replacing pinto beans with aduki beans.

 

To make this frikkin' delicious and healthy mexican chicken stew for two hungry quinoa lovers you'll need:

2 chicken breasts (250-300 g)

1 tsp chipotle paste (if you cannot find chipotle paste, you can use a mix of hot and smoked paprika)

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 pepper

2 carrots

small bunch of coriander

1 tbsp sugar

olive oil

1 stock cube

120 g quinoa

1 can of pinto or aduki beans, drained and rinsed

creme fraiche or natural yoghurt, to serve

Start by prepping the veggies. Grate carrots, finely chop onions and garlic and slice peppers into quite big chunks. 

Heat a bit of oil in a frying pan, add carrots, onion and garlic and fry until they soften (about 5 minutes). Add peppers and chipotle paste, a bit of salt and pepper and fry some more.

After about 3 minutes add tomatoes plus a tinful of water and a tablespoon of sugar and a bit of chopped coriander. Leave half of the coriander for garnish.

Slice chicken breasts into long strips and pop into the pan. They should be covered with the sauce. Don't worry about the sauce being watery, it will reduce as the chicken cooks.

Now measure 120 g of quinoa and rinse it with cold water. Add it to the pot and cover with 360 ml of cold water. Crumble a stock cube, pop the lid on, turn the gas on (medium) and cook for 20 minutes. You don't need to stir it, add more water or anything like that - it will be perfectly cooked. Just make sure the gas is medium/low so the quinoa is simmering gently.

Now get yourself a chopping board and two forks. Fish out the chicken strips and shred them, then put back into the pan with the sauce. If the sauce is still watery, turn the heat up a bit to help it evaporate quicker.

Once the quinoa is ready mix it with beans and add zest from a whole lime plus a generous squeeze of lime juice. 

Pop onto a plate, add chicken stew and sprinkle fresh coriander on top. Serve with a dollop of natural yoghurt or creme fraiche.

Finger lickin' good. Yup.