Corn Chowder

The world of soups will never stop to surprise me. Just when you think you have seen it all, there is another soup to leave you flabbergasted. This soup was a bit like this. An American classic but hey, not common in Europe. So easy and so so good.  So comforting. Tried it and I thought: how is it possible it's taken me 41 years to cook this recipe?

INGREDIENTS:

-450 grams of canned corn. 

-1 and 1/2 cups of water.

-1 and 1/2 cup of milk.

-1/2 onion.

-3 small potatoes.

-2 cloves of garlic.

-1 chicken stock.

STEPS:

1. Sautee diced onion and diced garlic for 4 minutes.

2. Add the diced potatoes and sautee.

3. Now add all the corn with the water from the cans. Stir for 5 minutes.

4- Now add the water and the milk, and stock and bring to a boil.

5. Now bring fire down and let it simmer for 10 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

6. Now scoop out about 8 tablespoons of the corn and place in bowl.

7. Now puree the rest with a hand blender.

8. Bring it to a boil and add the corn and serve.

I will definitely be making this soup next winter. The wonderful thing about this soup is that you can make it more brothy, more creamy, more cheesy, more bacony, more paprikay, whatever you fancy.

Seven Layer Salad

 I made this salad yesterday and it was an utter total success. It is perfect for a picnic and the flavours are all very soft, I would say all kids would love it.  Thank you Britanny! I miss your blog and recipes.

INGREDIENTS:
-2 bags of salad. 
-4 boiled eggs.

-200 grams of bacon.

-3 tomatoes.

-1/2 red onion.

-2oo grams of frozen peas.

-200 grams of grated cheese.

STEPS:

1. Cook the bacon in a saucepan until it is crispy and very brown, let it cool off and absorb the grease with paper towel.

2. Boil the eggs and cut them in quarters.

3. Cut up the onion in very small pieces and the tomatoes in bits.

4. Now that you have all the ingredients ready, begin to layer up in a transparent bowl. Begin with the salad, creating a bed. 

5. Now add the tomatoes, then the onions, the peas, the cheese, the eggs and the bacon.

That's it! Make sure the ingredients are well put around the edge of the bowl so that it looks pretty.

Now serve with ranch sauce! this is salad is not just pretty, it is sooooo good! You can see my photographer helpers. 

This is the other variation, bring a bowl of lettuce and salad and then in a tupperware bring the rest.

  

Indian Fish Curry

 This is another recipe of Steamy Kitchen I had been after for years but never got round to it.It is so good you all. This curry Garam Masala is quite the mix of spices, trust me. When you think you know pretty much know all Indian spices, there are more and more and more.

INGREDIENTS:
-400 grams of diced tomatoes.
-1/2 onion.

-2 garlic cloves.

-1 teaspoon of ginger grated.

-400 grams of fish (any hard fish)

-1 can of coconut milk.

-2 teaspoons of garam masala.

-1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper.

-1/2 tsp of salt.

-a bunch of basil leaves.

-a cayenne pepper (optional)

STEPS:

1. Grate the garlic, onion and ginger. Yes, grate them! This makes this cool paste that becomes your base. 

2. Now sautee in wok for 5 minutes in low fire.

3. Now add the diced tomatoes and sautee another 5 minutes, you will see it becomes a paste.

4. Now add the spices and seasonings, altogether. 

5. Now add the coconut milk and stir together. Bring to a boil and then reduce fire.

6. Now add fish that you have cut in pieces and bring to a boil again. 

7. Let it all come together and add the basil leaves.

Serve with rice. It is real good you all. You can make it with any hard fish, that is a fish that will not crumble. I have enjoyed eating fish once a week you all.

 

Breaded Fried Bananas

This is such a simple dessert and yet so delicious. Kenton and I have eaten in the last few days in a Peruvian restaurant, Venezuelan and a Cuban restaurant! Basically often we feel that we live in Latin American in Madrid, especially hanging around in the South.

Fried bananas are one of my favourite dishes in these restaurants, so I had to give it a go and then I found this recipe online that I had to try. I mean it is super simple. The real key to the desserts is one and only one: the bananas HAVE to be ripe. The riper it is is the sweeter it is, and the harder it is the less sweet it is. So for these recipes you ACTUALLY want the bananas that are on the edge of getting a little gross.

INGREDIENTS:
-5 ripe bananas. 
-1-2 big tablespoons of flour.

-1 egg.

-sunflower oil.

-caster sugar.

-caramel.

STEPS:

1. Peel the bananas and coat them in flour and then beated egg, 

2. Get a small frying pan going and heat up in high heat abundant sunflower oil.

3. Immediately turn down to medium heat, and then transfer them into the frying pan and let them cook for 1-2 minutes in each side. Do not let them sit there for more than 2 minutes or they will burn!!! They burn FAST. Also put heat in medium setting, cause high setting burns them.

4. After 4 minutes transfer them to a dish with kitchen paper to soak up the oil a bit.

5. Then put them on plate and sprinkle caster sugar and caramel.

So good! So easy. Really that was all there was to it. Again: the riper the better. Next time I will choose even riper bananas. 

Caribbean Fish in Coconut Sauce

 So this recipe comes no more or less than from the cans of coconut of Goya Coconut milk. So everytime I bought a can I would see it and say to myself: I gotta do this one day. But the other day I did and I can see why they advertise it, cause it is so delicious.

INGREDIENTS:
-6 fillets of cod, sole or grouper.
-2 cans of coconut milk.

-1 lime.

-5 cloves of garlic finely chopped. 

-1/2 white onion.

-1 stick of celery.

-3 tablespoons of tomate frito,tomato sauce.

-2 chicken stock cubes.

-2 bay leaves.

-1 red tomato cut up in thin slices.

STEPS:

1. First of all, squeeze half a lime on the fish all over them and let them sink in the juice for a little while you prepare the sauce.

2. In hot oil, sautee the celery, the onion and the garlic until it golden and soft for 10 minutes.

3. Now add the tomato sauce and cook for 2 minutes.

4. Now add the coconut milk, the 2 chicken stock and the bay leaves and let it come to a boil and then simmer for 10 until the sauce reduces a bit.

5. Now add the tomato sliced and then add the fish and let it cook for about 5 minutes until is all cooked.

6. Now let it all cook for another 5 minutes and that's it. Decorate with some dry green leaves like basil or coriander and that's it, serve with rice.

So good, a great combo this tomato sauce and coconut sauce and fish. You won't regret it.

Easy Tandoori Chicken

Last summer I came across this awesome tandoori chicken recipe. Very easy. Mine is a modified version because I simply buy the spice and not make it my own. But this is the link of the recipe I followed. It is pretty tasty and the following day, if you have left overs, it will taste even better.

INGREDIENTS:
-8 chicken thighs.
-2 white yoghurts.
-4-5 tablespoons of masala tandoori mix.
-salt and pepper.

-4 onions.

-1 lime or lemon.

-1 tablespoon of oregano.

-10 ml of meat stock.

-400 grams of basmati rice.

STEPS:

1. Marinate the meat with salt and pepper and then with the yoghurt mix. For the mix , add the yoghurt to the masala tandoori mix in a bowl and add the chicken and coat really well. Let it sit at fridge for 1 hour at least. If you do it over night it will be even better.

2. Now place in dish and stick in oven for 40 minutes to 200 degrees, until the yoghurt has disappeared a little. Don't leave it for way too long or it will dry. When 20 minutes have passed turn chicken around so that the back browns as well.

3. In the meantime, get the glorious onions going. Very simple. Julianne onions and fry them in intense fire for about 10 minutes until they brown quite a bit, but do not burn them! not that high.

4. After this add oregano, the meat stock that you have previously dissolved in a tiny bit of water and the juice of the lime. it is an amazing flavour. Let it all cook together and soften the onions. 

5. Serve basmatic rice with onions and chicken. One trick to make the rice nicer is to add cardammon seeds to the water. It tastes sooooo much better.

And there it is, this recipe is very tasty, and the followind day the chicken taste even better and is super pinky.

Easy blueberry Cheesecake

                              

 This cheese cake is really easy and really good. I picked it up from my jewish book (as a matter of fact I have no idea how to copyright her cause it is from a book not a website). 

So this cheesecake is not too sweet and the amounts are pretty much perfect! Baking is a great great art you all. It is so precise! I am learning a lot about this. There is not a "more or less" with baking, you better measure your ingredients and follow the freaking recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
-200 grams of blueberries.
-1 kg of fresh cheese (queso fresco).

-3 eggs.

-120 grams of sugar.

-1 pinch of salt.

-some drops of vanilla.

-90 grams of flour.

STEPS:

1. Preheat your oven to 160.

2. Prepare the dough, so mix in a bowl the cheese and eggs. Beat and mix well.

3. Now add the sugar, salt and vanilla. 

4. Now add slowly the flour.

5. Now pour the mix in a dish with baking paper. The original recipe recommends 20x20 but mine was bigger.

6. Now bake in 160 degrees for about an hour or so until it is firm.

In hindsight I wish I had put more blueberries on top. Next time I will. You can also add raspberries or red berries, etc. Also keep an eye to your oven because it might take longer or less. Also, last tip, the following day it tastes much much better. Let it cool off and leave it alone! 

                    

Warm Bacon Potato Salad

Spring is coming you all, and salads are due! Finally some cold-lukewarm food for picnics. 

Today I needed carbohydrates. What to do? I looked in the fridge and I had potatoes, some bacon! The bell rang: some cool potato salad. And I remembered these recipes that looked drooling with bacon and green onions.

INGREDIENTS:
-700 grams of potatoes.
-300 grams of bacon.
-1/2 white onion.

-4 sticks of green onions.

-1 teaspoon of onion powder.

-5 tablespoons of vinegar (white or rice).

-2 tablespoons of sugar.

-1 tablespoons of dijon mustard.

-seasoning; salt and pepper.

STEPS:

1. Boil potatoes. Cut in half so that they cook quicker.

2. In the meantime dice up the bacon in small bits and fry until it is brown. Set apart.

3. Now, with the same grease of the pan cook the onions that you have diced up previously. Brown them and set apart.

4. Dice up the green onions and set apart as well.

5. Now prepare the dressing. Mix the vinegar, the sugar, the dijon mustard, the salt and pepper and the onion powder. It has to be sour, sweet, salty all at the same time.

6. Now mix everything together, potatoes cut in wedges or quarter, the dressing and the bacon, onions and green onions together and coat well.

7. Serve warm. 

It's so so good, a great combo of flavours. As my friend Tep says: everything is better with bacon. 

Amazing Crunchy Curry Chicken Salad

Wow! What a salad. This salad really rocked my world, it is the salad that you eat in Delis in New York City or London. The type that you want more of but it is so expensive..so you buy a sandwich but it is 7 or 8 and you are still hungry! so annoying.  

Well it is super easy to make and this recipe is very good. It has a lot of crunch and very little curry...a slight touch. I had been meaning to do it for a long time and finally we had a picnic cause Spring is coming!

INGREDIENTS:

For the sauce:

-1/4 cup of mayonnaise.
-1/4 cup of plain yoghurt. 
-1 tsp lemon juice.
-1/2 teaspoon of honey.
-1 teaspoon of curry powder or even less.
-1/4 teaspoon of salt.-cracked pepper.

-3 stalks of celery.

-3 whole green onions.

-1/2 cup of almonds.

-1/2 cup of raisins.

-2,5 cups of cooked chicken.

STEPS:

1. There are basically no steps other than cut up the salad ingredients in slices, the green onions, almonds and celery.

2. Mix all the other ingredients of the sauce and mix together stirring.

3. Add it all in a bog bowl and enjoy.