Miso Chicken Meatballs

Melbourne, the city of incredible Asian food

 So I have no idea where I got this recipe from...I forgot to pin down the link so I apologize to the person who has created it, and if you see this recipe please write a comment and will link my post to your website. 

So. Tired of bland meat? I am too, often. So this recipe provides an alternative to eating tasteless chicken all the time. Here it is:

INGREDIENTS: 

For meatballs:

-600 grams of turkey.
-1 shallot sliced.

-2 teaspoons of grated ginger. 

-2 garlic cloves crushed or minced.

-3 tspoons of miso paste.

-1/4 cup of breadcrumbs.

-salt and pepper.

For the sauce:

-60 ml of mirin sauce.

-60 ml of rice wine vinegar.

-2 tablespoons of honey.

-1 teaspoon of ginger grated.

-2 teaspoons of miso paste.

STEPS:

1. In bowl add all of the ingredients for the meatballs, mix well and make round meatballs. Fry them in low heat until the are cooked inside.

2. Whisk all of the ingredients for the sauce.

3. When the meatballs are cooked, pour all the sauce on top of them and simmer them a little and let them get juicy. 

Yum, that's it guys. Not bad, definitely some work but doable. I am back to the world of work, no time to breathe...good-bye cooking for a looooong time. Hence my lack of posting.

  

 

Peanut and Vegggies Noodles

This recipe has reminded me that I have been cooking functional food for about 6 months. Here is the reason:  Stress, stress, studying, sicknesses, more stress, studying, more sicknesses, ankle sprained and more stress. 

Don't you guys agree that cooking is a sheer nightmare when life is overwhelming? And yet it has to be done if you want to remotely function.

But this recipe looked so good and now that I am done with my exam (which I am 90% sure I will fail), I needed to do it because I was sure it was going to be a keeper and of course it is. I asked Kenton about this he said: "Heck yeah, why are you still standing there?".

But first of all, I want to thank Deb Perelman for making my life SO MUCH BETTER. Seriously, you are wonderful Deb. Life is rough but your recipes have made my life so much richer, not just because the food is great, but simply having your creativity and blog and writing in this world. I just love you and I also love New York. 

INGREDIENTS: 
For sauce: 
-1/2 cup of peanut butter (4 or 5 heaped tablespoons).

-1/4 cup of soy sauce.

-1 tablespoon of ginger grated.

-1 garlic clove grated.

-2 tablespoons. of rice vinager (or really any)

-1 +1/2 tablespoons of sesame oil.

-1 tablespoon of honey.

-1 tablespoon of chili oil with flakes, or pepper flakes or some spicy sauce.

-1/3 cup of water.

-Sesame seeds (for decoration: totally optional).

For the noodles: Some noodles, any you want, wheat, soba, whatever.

For the veggies: raw veggies cut in slices like ...

-carrots 

-cucumbers,

-peppers 

-green onions cut all in slices. 

For the meat: cooked chicken or tofu cut in cubes.

STEPS:
1. I mean the steps are simple. Cook the chicken and cut it in cubes seasoning with salt-pepper.
2. Cut the veggies in slices and put in Tupperware container. 
3. Cook the noodles, usually 5 minutes in boiling water and cool them off with cold water.
4. Make the sauce. Stir it well and thin it out with water.

And that's it guys. Throw it all together for a great tasty meals. This dish can be cold or hot, so it is perfect for summer too, and if you want it warm stick it in microwave for 30 seconds. 

The hardest part of this dish is not eating the whole bowl of peanut sauce....it is so good it will knock your socks and the ball out of the park! 

I made double actually and will freeze half. :) 

The photos are Valencia, not Australia, although
it surely looks like Oz...like Northern Territory.

Fantastic Meatballs

 This recipe of Deb Perelman is simply great....pretty much like anything she does. 

I have been meaning to post it for 2 or 3 years and never got round to it....so I've had to keep going to it and re-learn it over and over....a waste of time. Plus this summer has been nuts looking for a new place to live, but here I am back in September trying to get in touch with routines a bit and writing down my to-go-to-recipes to feel like a functioning person again.

 So here it goes:

INGREDIENTS:

For the meatballs:
-1/2 kg of mince (pork and beef).

-2/3 cups of breadcrumbs.

-1/3 cup of milk (70 ml).

-2 tbsp. of chopped parsley.

-3-4 tbsps. of parmesan cheese.

-1,5 tsp of salt.

-a pinch of red pepper flakes.

-1 tsp of onion powder. 

-2 eggs.

-1 garlic clove minced.

For the sauce:

-700 grams of tomatoes canned (ideally chopped)

-1 garlic clove minced.

-1 tsp of dried oregano.

-1,5 tsp of salt.

-some olive oil.

STEPS:

1. Add meat, crumbs, milk, parsley, cheese, salt, pepper flakes, onion powder, eggs, and 1 garlic clove minced in bowl. Mix with fork and arrange in balls on a plate.

2. Once you finish that part, have a big pan with strong fire. Add oil and the garlic until it is golden.

3. Now add the tomatoes. A big splash will occur. Add the salt and the dried oregano. And let it all simmer for 10 minutes with a lid on.

4. After 10 minutes, place the meatballs in the sauce and let them cook there for about 15 minutes placing a lid on. After a while turn them around and they just get cooked on their own.

 

 

That's it. So tasty.

 You can serve it with garlic bread. Toast bread and then rub some garlic on it. Who would have thought you can ask milk to raw mince, but it turns out to be great. 

Italian Basil&Tomatoes Salad

 Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand back to the frying pan, aka: summer in Madrid. 38 degrees for the next 2 months. And what to eat in this weather?? Always the question, isn't it? but in this weather cold food is a must.

 A wonderful salad for the summer, inspired by a recipe of Jami Oliver from his book "The ministry of cooking". I only added pasta to make it a full meal.

INGREDIENTS:
-500 grams of many types of tomatoes, big, small, yellow, greenish etc.
-250 grams of tuna.
-1 can of black olives.
-100 grams of white beans.
-a very good bunch of fresh basil leaves.
-400 grams of cooked pasta.
-2 tablespoons of red vinegar or apple vinegar.
-olive oil, salt and pepper.

STEPS: 
1. Cut the tomatoes in small bits, as Americans say: in bite-size.

2.Add the olives, the tuna that you have drained and toss together.
3.Now cook the pasta and cool it off by running cold water and add to the pot.
4. Now add the basil leaves, cut them in half so that they are smaller, and now season with salt and pepper a little, not too much because the tuna and the olives already have salt.
5. Now you can add the red vinegar to season the salad and stir. This step you can also do it in step 1, only to the tomatoes.

 

This salad is great, the star of the show is the fresh basil, it makes it SUPERB. 

If you take it out it will be another boring summer salad but with the basil and the vinegar, it is pretty spectacular....it makes the basil taste sweet even. Kenton loved it.

Succulent Tomato Sauce

So you buy a bunch of fresh basil and it is great for your curry or laksa. And then what do you do with the rest of the leaves that going bad, withering in seconds? 

One of my many flatmates in this life, taught me this italian tomato sauce recipe. Easy and tasty. I made it the other day and I just could not stop licking the spoon. I figured I'd write it down here so that I can recreate it.

INGREDIENTS

-1 can of peeled tomatoes (400 grams) 

-a little oil.

-3 garlic cloves smashed.

-3 sticks of fresh rosemary.

-a bunch of basil leaves.

-any random tomatoes you have in your fridge.

-1 tsp of salt.

-1 tsp of sugar.

STEPS:

1. Pour tomatoes in saucepan, a little water, a little oil and smash tomatoes a bit.

2. Now add garlic cloves that you have smashed a bit, the rosemary sticks, the sugar and the salt, and now let it all simmer for over an hour, stirring slowly. An amazing sauce begins to appear....you can let it simmer for 2 hours altogether. 

3. At the end of this time, I add the basil, not before otherwise it kills the flavour.

4. When it is done I pick up the rosemary stems and throw them out and the same with the garlic. 

5. I completed this sauce with grated carrots, red onions and 400 grams of true mince and of course spaghetti.

That's it. Such a wonderful wonderful sauce. 

Easy Curry Mee

Since we got back from Australia, I have needed some new cooking inspiration. I was bored to death of my old recipes. This recipe is excellent and not hard. Marion's blog has been a great discovery lately. I still can't figure out if she is australian or what, but she definitely makes asian recipes seem much attainable. Also her videos are incredible! so well made. 

After making the dish  Kenton said to me: "this one is for your blog". So here it is. My version is a mild variation from hers, I added potatoes and bok choy. I made this meal for 2 days and for 2 people, so 4 portions. Excellent recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
-1 tablespoon of red curry paste. 
-1/2 tsp of turmeric spice.
-1 tablespoon of normal curry powder.
-1 can of coconut milk.

-1 tsp of sugar.

-3 tbsp. of fish sauce.

-1 stalk of lemon grass.

-3 cups of chicken stock.
-700 grams of chicken thighs (no bones)

-10 small potatoes.

-some parsley.

-some bok choy.

-some lime (optional)

STEPS:
1. Add some oil to your saucepan or wok and add the red curry paste. Move it around but don't burn it! 
2. Now add the turmeric and curry and stir.
3. Now add the chicken thighs and get them golden with all the spices around for 10 minutes. Cook the chicken at this stage in low heat.
4. Now add the coconut milk and the chicken stock and the lemon grass stalk, and stir well. Do not let it boil because coconut milk curdles unfortunately. Let it all come together for 10 minutes in medium heat.
5. Now add the fish sauce, the sugar, the pinch of salt.
6. Now add the boiled potatoes cut in quarters, the bok choy in small pieces and some parsley.

That's it.  Serve in big bowls. Wow this curry is very very good. I was very impressed. It is a bit like laksa  but not as intense. A perfect winter meal with potatoes. Yum! 

Pics: Singapore, eating laksa.

Green Chicken Chili

Yesterday I had no idea what to cook. I was not motivated either. I am beginning to realize that cooking is a phase, you are either in it, or you are not. Last year I was in it, but this year I can tell I am not. Also to cook you have to have peace, in your heart, in your life, in your home. Just so grateful last year I was able to rest and learn to cook because I can tell that phase is gone.

To my point: I found this recipe that looked good and it turned out incredibly well the first time. Here it is:

INGREDIENTS:
-1/2 onion.
-1/2 green pepper.
-a bunch of jalapeño peppers.

-3 cloves of garlic.

-1 jar of salsa verde of 500 grams.

-700 grams of chicken breast.

-400 grams of white beans.

-a good bunch of cilantro.

-300 grams of corn.

-1 chicken broth cube.

-1 tstp of coriander.

-1 tsp cumin ground.

-1 litre and 1/4 of water.

STEPS:

1. In a big pot sautee onions and green pepper and garlic.

2. Now add jalapeños (as many as you want) and add corn.

3. Now add the spices: the coriander and cumin and sautee.

4. Now add the salsa verde, and now the water, and half of the jar of beans and the broth cube.

5. Now add the chicken breast that you have shredded.

6. Now in a separate bowl, puree with a hand mixer the rest of the white beans with a bunch of cilantro. Now add this to the soup. It is marvelous what it does, it will thicken it incredibly.

7. Okay now bring it all to a boil, and basically that's it!

You can add some pasta or potatoes to make it a complete meal. It is awesome this recipe and you can make it spicy or not spicy, it depends on how many jalapeño peppers you add. Also this recipe is quite forgiving....you really cannot mess it up and great for winter.

  

American Burgers

Burgers are a great way to use mince. This summer we had a picnic with some people and the idea BING! struck. I did this recipe and my american friends, with whom I share the burgers with were pretty impressed. Then since I didn't write it here, I forgot it! So I made them yesterday and so here it is.

INGREDIENTS:

-400 grams of ground beef.

-1 egg.

-a squirt of milk.

-1 tsp of garlic powder.

-1 tsp of onion powder.

-1 tablespoon of Worcester sauce.

-1/4 tsp of salt.

-1/4 tsp of black pepper.

-5-6 tablespoons of breadcrumbs.

STEPS:

1. Combine everything in bowl very very well with fork or hands. You may need to add more breadcrumbs so that it is not too liquidy.

2. Make "balls" and then flatten them to make patties.

3. The way I fry the patties is by putting them in high heat and then quickly turning it down and then after 3 minutes flip them and then cover them. That way they are cooked inside but also a little toasted.

I think this recipe is pretty good!

Tomato and Cheese Pasta Salad

 This salad from Budget Bytes is pretty good and not hard, perfect for a picnic. It comes with a pretty interesting vinagrette salad. As you can see, it is a bit of a race to fit summer recipes! only 1 month left of summer.....(I consider summer till mid October).

INGREDIENTS:
-400 grams of pasta.
-200 grams of cherry tomatoes.
-200 grams of feta cheese.
-100 grams of mozzarella cheese.

-100 grams of baby spinach.

-100 grams of rocket or other salad greens.

For the vinagrette:

-1/2 cup of olive oil.

-3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.

-2 tablespoons of mayonnaise. 

-2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese (optional).

-1/2 tsp of dijon mustard.

-1 clove garlic minced.

-1/2 tsp of dried basil.

-salt and pepper.

STEPS:

1. Well, what can i say, there are no steps in this recipe other than, boil the pasta and cool it off with lots of cold water, cut the cherry tomatoes in two and wash the salad and place all of the ingredients in a big bowl. 

2. Make the vinagrette stirring really really well. I cut a little the oil of the original recipe, it was a bit too oily for my taste. Also I did not add the parmesan cheese and it was totally totally fine. Be generous with the pepper.

The star ingredient of this recipe are the nice cheeses and the vinagrette....I added a little chicken to make it a complete meal. Pretty good you all, pretty good. 

 

My Crazy Lasagna (use every old veggie in the fridge)

 So there are moments when the bottom drawers of our fridge gets so full of old and soggy vegetables  that you just wanna throw them all away....but don't do that. It is time to make a crazy lasagna, which means that you pretty much use all the veggies that are going old in your fridge. See I am trying to come up more and more with recipes based on what I already have as opposed to going to the supermarket to buy all the ingredients of a new exciting recipe. This has been a game changer for me....it is called: reverse planning and it is sheer gold this piece of advice about working backwards when it comes to cooking. 

So today was that day, and even though it is still 33 degrees outside and I did not want to turn my oven on, it was clear to me that it was crazy lasagna day.

This recipe I have kinda based it on this classic recipe of Mary Berry.  but really have just kinda done my own thing. It is very simple and what I use to season and give it flavour are 3 ingredients: Worcester sauce, lots of pepper and salt, that's it.

INGREDIENTS:
-500 grams of mince.
-1 onion.

-4-5 garlic cloves.

-4 or 5 carrots.

-2 or 3 celery stalks.

-basil leaves.

-1 courgette.

-some broccoli.

-200 ml of bechamel/white sauce.

-50 ml of tomato sauce.

-a package of lasagna pasta.

-20o grams of grated cheese.

-black and white pepper.

-5 tablespoons of Worcester sauce.

-salt.

STEPS:

1. Prepare the meat. Sautee in frying 2 garlic cloves and half an onion until traslucent. Now add the meat, a good pinch of salt and the worcester sauce and let it simmer a little, until the mince has soaked up all the flavour. Now  clean up your wok and reserve the meat.

2. With the rest of the onion and the garlic left dice it up and cook again until traslucent. 

3. Now in the meantime, start peeling your vegetables in small pieces and cook them in a wok in low fire. They will begin to soften. Honestly there is no order of adding the veggies here, it is a bit of a chaotic situation, and that is why this recipe is so great, cause anything kinda goes. Just let them simmer there a bit and toss around for about 15 minutes.  

Very important : add carrots sliced with a potato pealer, this is really the only ingredient that is a must.

4. Season all the vegetables with black pepper and a tiny bit of salt but mostly black and a little white pepper.

5. Now add the meat to the veggies and mix together for about 10 minutes. All the flavour will come together the peppery vegetables and the mince that tastes like Worcester sauce. Yum!

6. Now assemble the lasagna using precooked lasagna sheets. I dip mine in warm water for 10 minutes so that it is softer. So layer of pasta, layer of white sauce, a little tomato sauce, and layer of meat. I do this twice. Be generous, there are only 2 layers of meat to create. I add a little of pepper after every layer so that it adds that interesting touch.

7. Now top layer, layer of pasta, layer of white sauce, a dab of tomato sauce anddddddddddddddd lots of cheese. The whole package of 200 grams has to go in.

8. Turn your oven on, top and bottom at 220 degrees and stick it in. The cheese will cook and burn a little which is great, because it creates this harder crunchy cheesy top that is just a great addition to the softness of the lasagna. 

9. Leave it there for 30 minutes until everything kinda marries together and voila! You've got a meal for 2 days at least.

I like this recipe is a lot and guess what: my fridge looks so much cleaner!