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!

Mint Greek Meatballs

 My goal this summer is to not turn the oven on. So I have needed some ideas. This recipe is not too hard and pretty tasty and it gives you ideas about what to do with mince, my eternal dilemma, how to cook mince. The star of the show is the mint, so good! 

INGREDIENTS:
-700 grams of mince.
-3/4 cup of breadcrumbs.
-1 egg
-1/2 red onion diced.
-3 garlic minced cloves.
-some parsley.
-15 leaves of fresh mint chopped.
-1 teaspoon of dried oregano.

-1/2 tspoon of salt.

-1/2 cup milk.

-1/4 cup of flour.

-2 tablespoons of olive oil.

STEPS:

1. What can I say? no steps, just mix everything together. Add breacrumbs if you need more until they become sturdy.

2. Fry them for 10 minutes. Turn them around every few minutes in medium fire.

That's it. Serve with yoghurt sauce, tomatoes, cucumber, rice. Very good for summer.

        

Koftas with Yoghurt Sauce

This is a good and different recipe. My mind kinda goes blank when I look at mince in the supermarket....does that happen to you? Like: what to do with it apart from the usual meatballs and spaghetti? 

The jews, greeks and arabs have pretty fun ways to flavor dull meat for sure. This is one!  By the way when I make this one I double the amounts and do one kilogram of meat. 

INGREDIENTS:

-500 grams of mince (mine was a mix of lamb, beef and pork!) definitely not kosher.
-1/2 purple onion.
-1 garlic clove.
-1 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger.
-1 teaspoon of paprika.
-1 teaspoon of cumin.
-grated peels of one lemon.
-a bunch of cilantro.
-salt and pepper.

For the yoghurt sauce:

-1 yoghurt.

-a bunch of cilantro chopped.

-1 clove of garlic minced.

-the juice of 1/4 of a lemon.

-salt and pepper. 

STEPS:

1. Simple stuff. Mix the mince meat with all the ingredients well, probably best way is with your hands. You can also let it all marinate in the fridge for a while. 

2. Then shape the koftas the way koftas are supposed to be, you do not need the stick, by the way....simply fry it in the saucepan with a tiny bit of oil. And turn it 4 ways so that all sides are a little grilled.

3. Then have some kind of youghurty sauce to go with it. Toss together the ingredients of the yoghurt sauce and serve. 

It is is a great meal, especially if you add a little lamb meat. When I made mine I added 1/2kg of lamb minced meat, and the other half a kilo of pork and beef and worked well.  

 

Spicy Mince Beef Shakshuka

Shakshuka this, Shakshuka that. It is everywhere these days, isn't it? 

A classic from Israel, served for breakfast, lunch, all ingredients that you have at home, nothing fancy.

But I wanted a recipe that would be filling because cooking a side dish that would leave you hungry with just eggs in my mind it's a bit of a....better said, total waste of time. 


So I googled: meat shakshuka and there all kinds of recipes came up. So I tried this one that looked interesting and with a bit of an african kick and it was so good and not hard.  Here it is:






INGREDIENTS

-500 grms of beef minced.
-half of a yellow pepper.
-half of a green pepper.
-half a red pepper.
-1 small onion or half a big one.
-5 big tomatoes or one can of 500 grms of whole peeled tomatoes.
-1 big garlic clove or at most 2.
-some tomato paste or tomate frito (100 ml).
-1 tsp of sugar.
-4-5 eggs.
-some mozzarella cheese or melty cheese.
Spices:
-1 tsp. of coriander.
-1 tsp. of chili powder.
-1 tsp. of paprika.
-1 tsp. of cumin.
-1 tsp. of chili flakes.
-black pepper and salt.
-some chickpeas (optional)
-some spinach (optional)
-some green onions (optional)

STEPS:

1. Dice up the onion, the bell pepers and sautee with olive oil for 2 mins.
2. When they have cooked a little, add the meat and all the spices. The trick is this step because the mince here gets all the yummy spicy flavours. 
3. Sautee a little, and add the garlic diced up, here you can put even more spicy peppers.
4. Add the tomatoes and the tomato paste and a teaspoon of sugar to compensate for the acidity of the tomatoes, and let it all simmer for 10-15 minutes until it all blends nicely, cover a little and then uncover so that the water evaporates. If they are natural tomatoes you will have to break them a little with the spoon.
5. Now add all the extra ingredients that should be done in no time, that is the green onions, chickpeas, and spinach. (I added all this because I wanted a big meal and not have to cook for 3 days basically).
6. At this point if you have too much liquid try to evaporate it a little by elevating the fire stove, but be careful not to burn the food.
7. Now make a little whole for the eggs in the saucepan, crack them and deposit them in the space you have made. I had space for 4. Cover so that the eggs cook fully.
8. In the spaces in between I put a little mozzarella cheese and worked incredibly well.
9. And now decorate with coriander leaves, or chives or whatever green herb you may have.
10. Now let it all sit 10 minutes before you eat it and it will all come together. 

So easy! I think it was all a total 30 minutes and the flavour was awesome spicy but also sweet, soft with the mozzarella,  delicate with the eggs, and hearty with the chickpeas. YUM.

How much I miss you Jerusalem.

Shepherd's Pie

Sheperd's pie, a british classic. 

This recipe comes from a video of Gordon Ramsay, he gives it a fantastic twist and turns into a pretty flavourful situation. 

Great, great recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

• 400 grms. of mince (can be lamb, beef, or pork-beef combo). 
• Olive oil.
• Salt.
• 1 medium onion.
• 2-3 cloves of garlic.
• 2 carrots.
• Red wine.
• 3 spoonfuls of Worcestershire sauce .
• 3 spoonfuls of tomato puree.
• 2 spoonfuls of fresh thyme or in bottle.
•  1 spoonful lof rosemary.
• 1/4 cup of chicken stock. 
• 4 Potatoes or instant potatoes mash.
• Pepper to season potato mash.
• 2 Egg yolks (optional for the mashed potatoes).
• 50 grams of parmesan cheese.

STEPS:

1. Sautee the mince in olive oil (get rid of the extra oil, you don't want a greasy pie)
2. Add the salt, and the whole onion that you have grated.
3. Grate the carrots and the garlic and add as well to the mince.
4. Let it all integrate together in low fire.
5. Now add the worcesthershire sauce (this is the key ingredient).
6. Add the tomato puree, or tomate frito.
7. Now add the red wine, thyme and rosemary.
8. Let the liquid evaporate to stronger fire and afterwards add the chicken stock. 
9. Let it mix there for 5 minutes and let it evaporate too.
10. Now prepare the mashed potatoes, with an already prepackaged one or mash the potatoes, seasoning with pepper and adding two egg yolks if you want (totally optional).
11. You can also add to the mashed potatoes parmenan cheese.
12. In a pot or baking dish place the yummy flavourful mince on the botton and cover with the mashed potatoes.
13. Grate cheese or parmensan cheese.
14. Let it sit in the over at 250 degrees for 15-20 mins.
15. Make sure you grill the top to give it the cheff look.

And voila you all. 

Our whole lives criticizing British food and it turns out they can come up with some decent dishes. 

(More pictures to come)