Penne Pasta with a Vegetable and Meat Sauce - Recipe

Aguilar Segura olive oil

I love pasta in all form and shape. Family, on the other hand, prefer penne, so last week I cooked penne pasta with a lovely vegetable and meaty sauce. It is quite easy to do and my mum used to always come home during her lunch and make it for us. I loved to come home and smell that lovely aroma in the entrance and couldn't wait to drop my school bag and stuff to go to kitchen and have a big plate of penne pasta with some cheese grated on top, yummie.

For this dish, I decided to use the Aguilar Segura olive oil which are made out of homegrown Picual and Hojiblanca olives. It has a lovely and intense flavor. Husband was given 2 bottles of this delicious olive oil and it made the dish so tasty. 

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

150-200 g minced meat

1 cup of frozen sweet corn

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup diced carrots

2 small onions, diced

1/2 celery, diced

3 tbsp tomato puree

2 tbsp ketchup

dried parsley

salt and pepper
4 pieces of sun dried tomatoes

few table spoons of olive oil Aguilar Segura (Homegrown Picual and Hojiblanca olives)

Method:

1- Brown the minced meat on medium heat in few tbsp of a good quality olive oil.

2- Once the meat is browned, add all the vegetables and stir well. Let them fry for few minutes and add 1 glass of water. 

3- Once the meat sauce comes to a boil, add the seasoning, tomato puree and ketchup, mix well. Bring down the temperature to low heat and let it simmer for about 35 minutes. Boil the penne at the same time according to the instructions on the package.

4- Once both the meat sauce is done and the penne is al dente, mix them in a pot and let it rest for about 15 minutes so that the paste is well done. Then serve with a green salad or on its own.

Enjoy!

Grilled Chicken with Potatoes and Salad -Recipe

Here comes another really healthy meal. Salad with grilled chicken breast and boiled potatoes. The other day I did a salad with lettuce, cabbage and carrot. Had some vegetables left from that dinner and decided to use them for a nice lunch meal. It was very tasty and filling. I used less potatoes, as the main element on the  plate is suppose to be salad. I am trying to include a lot of vegetables in our diet and salads are perfect as they are so versatile. I love the fact that you can use all types of vegetables in the salad, whether it is cooked, cold or warm. Had dinner at our friends the other day, and I enjoyed a lovely salad with apples in it, which gave it a nice tangy sweetness, if that makes sense. I am not so sure about adding fruit in salads, but will definitely give it a try. 

Serves: 3

Ingrediens:

1/2 lettuce head

4 carrots

1/4 white cabbage

1/4 sweet corn

3 tomatoes

2 chicken breast

8 small potatoes

1 red onion

olive oil

Herbes de provence mix

Dried parsley

Method:

1- Cut the 2 chicken breast into three layers each and marinade them in your favorite marinade. I used a simple marinade on olive oil, smoked paprika, grilled seasoning, salt and pepper. Then, turn on the oven on the fan/grill setting 4. Put the chicken breast pieces directly on the grill pan or grill tray on the oven. Let it grill/bake for ca 15-20 minutes until well done. Put aside.

2- While the chicken is cooking in the oven, start with the salad. Wash the vegetables and slice them in a bowl. Spice it with olive oil, parsley, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

3- Peel the potatoes and boil them for 15 minutes. Once cooked through, drain the water and add 1 tbsp olive oil and season with salt, pepper and herbes de provence to taste.

4- Once everything is done, Serve the salad in a plate, together with the chicken, boiled potatoes and sweet corn.

Enjoy!

Vegetable Gratin & Green Salad with Toasted Seeds - Recipe

The last few days the weather has been changing a lot, from very hot to cloudy and windy today. For that reason, I have been changing my food diet lately according to the weather. When it is warm outside, I go for a nice salad and when it is cold, I prefer something warm and rich in taste. To compensate for the cold weather today, I made a nice, warm and comforting vegetable gratin and a green side salad with toasted seeds. It was delicious and very tasty. Lately we have been trying to eat more vegetables and less meat. It has worked really well and I have a few salad recipes to share later on.

The vegetable gratin did take longer than I thought but was worth every single minute as it was so good. I am sure you can make it faster depending on what vegetables you use. In this case, I decided to precook the potatoes, paprika, aubergine and made my tomato sauce, hence it to took extra time to prepare. You can serve this gratin with a side salad, with a piece of steak or just on its own.

Serves: 5

Ingredients:

2 aubergine, sliced
1 courgette, sliced lengthwise
1 red paprika, sliced
1 red onion, roughly diced
5 big potatoes, sliced
1 mozzarella ball
60 g feta cheese
1 half jar tomato sauce
2 tbsp tomato pure
olive oil
 Spices: 1/2 tsp cumin, coriander, dried parsley, 7 spices mix, garlic powder

Method:

1- Begin with washing and slicing the aubergine, paprika and potatoes. Put the potatoes in a saucepan and fill it with boiled water and boil them until almost cooked through. Put the aubergine on a tray and sprinkle salt over and after few minutes dry the slices, with a kitchen towel, from the excess moist.

2- Dry fry the vegetables in a non stick frying pan. If needed, add 1,5 tbsp olive oil. I dry fried aubergines, onions and paprika.

3- Add the half jar of tomato sauce in the same non stick pan which was used for frying vegetables. Add the spices and 2 tbsp tomato pure. Mix well and add half glass of water and let it come to a boil. Let it simmer for 15 minutes or until you have a desired consistency.

4- In a oven proof dish, spread a layer of tomato sauce on the bottom, and start layering the vegetables.  Once first layer of vegetables are done, add more tomato sauce and the shredded mozzarella on top. Repeat the layering of vegetables and this time add the feta cheese.

5- Finish of with more feta cheese and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes in 190 C degrees.

5- Serve with a green salad with toasted seed such as, pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seed.

Enjoy!

Couscous Salad with Chicken - Recipe

My next recipe is a hearty couscous salad which is perfect on its own or a great accompaniment to grilled meat such as skewer kebabs when done without the chicken. I love having this meal in my lunch box or during a nice warm picnic in the park. Couscous is very versatile and easy to cook, and works well as a hot meal or cold as in this salad. This is a fresh and zesty salad, yet filling with the lovely couscous and chicken pieces.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup couscous

1 grilled chicken breast, diced

handful of fresh mint and parsley

2 tomatoes, diced

lemon juice from 1 lemon

salt and pepper

1 tbsp of roasted almond flakes

Method:

1- Start grilling the chicken breast to your liking or use leftovers from a dinner. If I don't have grilled chicken, I usually fry the diced chicken breast in 2 tbsp of olive oil in a nonstick frying pan. I spice it with herbs and smoked paprika.

2- Cook the couscous according to the package. Once it is done, mix the couscous and chicken pieces.

 3- In a separate bowl, mix chopped fresh mint, parsley and tomatoes. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix well.

4- Mix the green salad with the couscous and chicken, and sprinkle the roasted almond flakes over.

 

Enjoy!

Spring Salad - Recipe

As spring is here now and the weather is lovely, I am trying out new salad recipes. Usually when it get hot outside, I can really cook and eat warm food. I usually prefer a nice cold salad with a lovely, creamy dressing instead of warm food. It is fresh and full of good stuff that your body needs. Here is a simple and filling salad. 

Ingredients:

1/4 lettuce head, chopped roughly

2 carrots, thinly sliced

white cabbage, sliced

sweetcorn

1 tomato

Spices: dried parsley, salt and pepper, herbes de provence, olive oil.

Method:

1- Wash the vegetables and chop the lettuce roughly. Peel the carrots and slice them thinly. Roughly wash the tomato and rinse of the Sweetcorn, I am using canned sweetcorn. Slice the cabbage as well, but how thin or rough is really up to you.

2- Mix all the vegetables in a bowl ad drizzle over the olive oil. I am using a spice infused olive oil. Sprinkle over the spices, I did not measure, but eyeballed it to taste. I would recommend 1 tsp parsley and herbes de provence. 

3- Serve it in a nice deep plate together with 2 tbsp of your favorite salad dressing and a nice bread.

Enjoy!

Tea time!

Last time I visited Sweden, I bought 5 different sorts of tea. I am big lover of tea, and have to have a cup of tea everyday, with breakfast or after dinner, but mostly on both occasions. In my family, as long as I remember we always drink a nice glass of chai after dinner.

 

Back in the days, when I was studying at Uni, me an my girlfriends used to always go and have a cup of nice tea after exams, and I used to pick one out of these 5 flavors. So I bought them as they brought back nice memories from Uni time.

Tha flavors are:

Summer passion

Rooibos röda höjder

Green Mango

Söders höjder

Rabarber med grädde

My favorite is the last one Rabarber med grädde, rhubarb with cream. It has a lovely taste of rhubarbs and creamy vanilla. Each has a lovely distinct flavor and they have pieaces of fruits such as mango, orange, lemon, blackberry, rose petals etc. The black teas are good in the afternoon and after dinner. The lighter teas I usually have in the morning with breakfast. I bought small jars to store the tea in and decorated with fabric and ribbon for a nicer look.

Tea infuser from Ikea

I know England is very famous for teas, but so far I have not find a nice store where you can buy leaf tea. I prefer that over teabags, as I use a tea infuser, which I bought from Ikea. This is the typical way a Cafe would serve the tea in Sweden. If you ever go to Sweden, have a nice cup of tea and why not with a nice cinnamon bun :)

Banana, Kiwi & Strawberry Smoothie - Recipe

It is such a lovely morning and the sun is shining beautifully outside. Perfect weather for jogging. But before that, I need to eat something as I always get dizzy if I work out on an empty stomach. With a few old bananas laying around, I was greatly inspired by Julia, a youtuber, who usually drinks smoothies as a part of her summer fit diet. Check her videos for more work out and healthy food inspiration.

Today, I made a banana, kiwi and strawberry smoothie. I added ginger powder to it as I did not have  fresh ginger at home. Both Julia (The third shift) and Jamie (his youtube video below) used it in their smoothies and explain the benefit with ginger. I love Jamie Oliver's style when he cooks, it is so homey and easy put together without any fuss. The smoothies he makes in the video below looks so tasty. 

The smoothie I made tasted really nice and creamy. I like to substitute normal yogurt with one that contains exotic fruit which you can not find easily, like passion fruit. Give this recipe a go :)

Ingredients:

1 banana

2 small kiwis

3 large strawberries

2 large tbsp Sainsbury's mango & passion fruit yogurt (you can use which ever brand you like or plain yogurt)

ginger powder

1/2 glass of cold water

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in a food blender and serve it in a large glass. Garnish with a nice big straw and a strawberry on the edge of the glass.

Jamie Oliver is a great inspiration when it comes to cooking for me, here he shares nice smoothie recipes:

Enjoy!

Smoked Turkey and Vegetables Baguette - Recipe

At university, our lunches use to be a simple baguette with our favorite filling: creamy curried chicken, kycklingröra baguette. I loved it and could have one almost every day. The chicken curry was so perfectly creamy and filling, for the affordable price of 35 SEK. I have tried myself many times to do this lovely baguette at home and in smaller quantities for parties, it has been always successful so soon there will be a post about that.

Macka - Kycklingröra

But today, I want to share my turkey and vegetable baguette with you. It is such a simple baguette and takes no time in doing it. Perfect for breakfast, lunch with a nice cold coke or afternoon snack and tea. It is full of nutritious vegetables and have a lovely smokey taste from the turkey which is perfectly completed with the creamy coleslaw and crispy onions.

Ingredients:

1 baguette

3 slices of smoked turkey

Crispy onions

2 tbsp coleslaw

2 tsp spreadable butter

5 slices of tomato

lettuce

6 slices of cucumber

crispy onion pieces (I used the top taste brand)

Method:

1- Slice your baguette half lengthwise in the middle and take out some of the soft white bread. Spread the butter first and the coleslaw. 

2- Sprinkle over the crispy onion pieces and place the turkey slices on top of it, slightly folded on one side.

3- Add the vegetables on top of the turkey slice, begin with lettuce and finish off with cucumber and tomatoes. U can also add cheese slices as well or any other nice ingredient you like with the turkey, but  I left it simple. 

Enjoy!

Freezing vegetables - Helpful Tips

In a family of three, I have weeks where we buy food and vegetables and we don't have time to eat everything. This will naturally lead to waste of food, due to it being rotten. But since I hate to throw away food I freeze what we cannot eat during its fresh phase. I have done this for some time now and it works perfectly every time. 

Being from Sweden, we are very good at recycling. The Swedish recycling program is in fact so successful that they need to import waste from other European countries for its energy conversion program, as burnt waste energy is being used for heating and electricity for Swedish households. We are taught from a very young age at schools the benefits of recycling and how the lack of it can be  harmful for the environment. 

So, when I moved to UK it was very natural for me to begin to recycle and have different bins for food waste, recyclable trash etc. At the same time I do my best to use up our food leftovers as much as possible to prevent it from going into the food waste bin. Having this in the back of my head every day when I cook, has helped me to come up with very good recipes for leftovers :)

Few weeks ago, I bought celery and broccoli for husband to make milkshakes but they ended up not being used. As I was going away for few days, I also cleared the fridge from most of the vegetables that I knew would not be used while I was away, such as zucchini, butternut squash carrots, few pieces of chopped up onions and garlic. So, I simply chopped up all the vegetables and put them in freezer bags and told family to take out only the amount they will use. This has been a very successful way to prevent me from having to much food waste and always have vegetables ready for a stew. 

Although, the best way of freezing vegetables should start with either of the two methods: blanching or  steaming, before putting them in the freezer. But I feel that it works well without these methods as well. It is really up to you how you prefer it, but please do freeze what ever you have for leftovers or before you vegetables go rotten, as almost everything can be reused. 

Bruschetta with Cherry Tomatoes and Mozzarella - Recipe

 For being somebody that love to cook, I can be really lazy sometimes and have zero inspiration. For those days, I still need to eat, and I prefer something easy, comforting and warm. For me, my Bruschetta with Cherry Tomatoes and Mozzarella are perfect for such days. 

My all time favorite inspirational YouTuber, Laura Vitale with her channel Laura in the Kitchen, is somebody I always go back to when I need easy and quick recipes. She makes the most delicious Italian food for all types of occasions. Her recipes are my first option I go to, when I need some great  and traditional meal ideas for those days I invite my Italian in-laws. She has at least 10 different ideas when it comes to do bruschettas. There are indeed endless variations and just use your imagination and you can create whatever topping you want for them. They are perfect to have as a snack, starter or side dish.

Ingredients:

13 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 mozzarella ball, shredded

few fresh basil leaves, chopped

1 French baguette, sliced diagonally

2 tbsp butter 

3 tsp of mixed dried herbs and garlic powder

1 pinch of salt and pepper and dried parsley 

Method:

1-Preheat the oven to 190C degrees. Wash and half the cherry tomatoes, shred mozzarella ball and chop the basil leaves. Mix it in a bowl and sprinkle over salt, pepper, and dried parsley to taste.

2- Slice the garlic baguette diagonally to get more surface, each slice should be ca 1/2 inch or 2 cm thick. Mix the butter with the dried herbs and garlic powder. Butter each slice of the baguette and add   an even amount of the tomato mix on each of them. In two of the slices I deliberately removed tomatoes as few family members don't like them.

3- Put the bruschetta slices on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown and the mozzarella has melted.

The two following youtube clips by Laura Vitale are my inspiration for this recipe:

Enjoy!

Pan-fried Salmon with Couscous - Recipe

One of my favorite healthy meals are pan-fried salmon with couscous and fried vegetables. Why? Because it is so quick to do it. You might think that frying the salmon and vegetables are not particularly healthy, but it depends on what oil and what frying pan you use. I had some couscous left over from a previous dinner and decided to make a fish meal. Since salmon is one of my favorite fish it had to be my couscous and salmon dish. By adding vegetables, fried or boiled, it fills you up without adding too many calories.

Here, I used olive oil and a good non stick frying pan, for the salmon as well as the vegetables. A true 15 minute meal. Beat that Jamie Oliver :) 

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1 salmon fillet, chopped into pieces

3 tbsp  chilli olive oil

1/2 cup frozen vegetables

1/3 cup instant couscous (leftover from a previous dinner)
2 tsp lemon juice

Spices: Pinch of salt and pepper, dried dill, lemon and garlic powder, fish spice mix
Spices for vegetables: Garlic and lemon powder, salt and pepper, smoked paprika, dried dill

Method:

1- I took out the left over couscous and heat it up in the microwave. Alternatively, make a cup of couscous according to the instruction on the package. Set aside.

2- Let the salmon fillet come to room temperature. Heat up a non stick frying pan over medium heat and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Mix all the spices and the lemon juice and pour it over the fillet and make sure it is coated on both sides. Fry the fillet skin side down for about 2-3 minutes. Then turn the fillet and fry the other side for another 2-3 minutes or until you see the fillet is cooked through. With a wooden spoon cut up the fillet into bite size pieces and give the salmon cubes another minute in the frying pan. Set aside.

3- Wash the frozen vegetable mix to remove any ice lumps. Then add the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil or less if needed in same frying pan. Sprinkle over the spices for the vegetables and fry them for few minutes until they are golden brown.

4- Serve the salmon together with the vegetables and couscous. Squeeze over some lemon juice for to keep it tasty and moist.

Enjoy!

Loyd Grossman's Korma with Chicken - Recipe and Review

Loyd's Korma

Although cooking is a passion of mine, I do sometimes find it hard to find inspiration or rather time to find recipes and get new ideas for cooking during weekdays. Sometimes you want real comfort food that may take hours to cook a Wednesday evening when you come home from work, but just cant find the motivation or the energy to cook a meal from scratch. Therefore, it is clever to have few shortcuts that you can use in your cooking once in a while. 

My whole family love curries and we can eat it often, however, it does require some time and effort as well as motivation to go through the several steps to cook a really nice curry. Let's just face it, we don't have that in the middle of the week. That is when Loyd Grossman (LG) comes into the picture. Or at least, his curry sauces! 

LG is one of my favorite sauce brand which I often use in my daily cooking, when I need a good quality sauce. When I see them on sale, I definitely stack up a few jars of curries and pasta sauces. I have compared LG sauces with a few other brands, and I always like these best and prefer them over other brands. This korma sauce is very mild and has a sweet and velvety taste.

When you think of curries, you might think of hot and spicy as well as different spice flavors such as curry,  fiery chillies, pepper, garlic and ginger. This korma sauce is on the opposite side of the spectrum and is rather sweet and mild, which is sometimes exactly what you need. The mild, creamy coconut flavor is delicious and combined with few vegetables, it gives you a velvety and rich dinner when served with rise. To me, a ready made sauce needs to be rich in flavor, taste like it is home made and not have an artificial taste, and this LG korma sauce fulfills these requirements. Therefore I recommend this sauce, when you want quick and easy Indian korma sauce.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 jar Loyd Grossman Korma, 350 g

2 chicken breast, diced

2 tbsp vegetable oil.

1/2 cup of different vegetables such as: yellow paprika, peas, zucchini, carrots, spring onions (But you can use whatever you have on hand)

Roasted almond flakes

For a vegetarian dish, leave out the chicken.

Additional spices: 1/2 tsp of mild curry, salt, fenugreek, garlic and ground ginger

Method:

1- Wash and dice your chicken into bite size pieces. Wash and dice what ever vegetables you will use as well. I cut the paprika, zucchini, carrots and spring onion in 1 cm pieces.

2- In a deep frying pan, add the vegetable oil and let it heat up on high heat. Add the chicken and brown a little. Add the additional spices and mix well. I did this, so that the chicken pieces are not bland and has a nice coating of Indian spices. But can be completely skipped.

3- After the chicken pieced have become golden brown add the vegetables and salt it if needed. Mix well and let it cook for about 10-15 minutes. Add the Korma sauce and make sure to rinse the jar with 1/2 cup of water, shake well and pour it into the pan as well, to be sure that you use up every drop of the sauce in the jar.

4- Let the curry come to a firm boil and then bring down the heat to low to medium heat and let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the added water has reduced and you have a thick and creamy sauce.

5- Serve the Korma sauce together with Basmati rice. I usually use the Tilda rice brand.

Finish off by sprinkling some roasted almond flakes over. This is a substitute to cashew nuts, which is common in a Korma curry according to different recipes I found online.

Enjoy!

Roasted Chicken and Butternut Squash - Recipe

Roasted Butternut Squash

The butternut squash is a very versatile vegetable that can be used in numerous ways such as in a creamy soup or in a nice steamy Moroccan tagine or simply roasted in the oven and served as a side dish for the Sunday roast.

I was, however, a late starter with this vegetable and did not use it in my recipes until a few years ago. It was not a vegetable that my family used to use in our cooking and whenever I saw it in the supermarket, I would often wonder how the taste and texture would be, since I pictured it to be very similar to a pumpkin. Once I started to cook butternut squash and introduced it to my daily cooking I was pleasantly surprised how rich and tasty the warming flavors were, especially when roasted in the oven.

Therefore, I often use it as a complementary vegetable when roasting chicken cut into pieces.This dish is healthy and can be made without the chicken as a vegetarian meal and served with rise. It is as many other of my meals simple to make and does not require a lot of preparation  To vary this dish, I use whatever vegetables that are in for the season and different spices. The following recipe is very much inspired by Moroccan food and I have used their famous spice mix, Ras el Hanout as a change to the traditionally used thyme and rosemary when roasting chicken or vegetables. I love using those herbs but thought that I wanted to give the ras el hanout a try when roasting as opposed to using it only in stews and tagines. I loved the warm and spicy flavors which give a nice, fragrant aroma in the whole house, as if you were walking in the middle of a spice market..

Homemade olive oil with chillies

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:
1 small chicken, cut into pieces
1/2 butternut squash
3 potatoes
2 carrots
2 onions
1 paprika
1 squash
chilli olive oil

Spices: salt and pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder, 2 tsp Ras el Hanout mix


Method:

1- Wash the chicken pieces and make sure they are coated with salt and pepper. Place them in a roasting tin.

2- Wash and peel all the vegetables and cute down to bite size. Salt and pepper the vegetables and place them on top of the chicken pieces in the roasting thin and spread them evenly.

3- Drizzle chilli olive oil over the chicken and vegetables and make sure they are well coated and finish off by sprinkling garlic powder and ras el hanout mix on top. Roast in the oven for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven, 200 C. If you like more broth add half a glass of water. Serve with Basmati Rise.

Enjoy!