Taco Seasoning

 Store-bought taco seasoning has always kinda given me the creeps about all the stuff that seems to have going on. But putting together all the spices required for mexican food is just too much.

I made this recipe today and I am quite happy with it.

INGREDIENTS:
-1 tablespoon of chili powder.
-2 tsp of cumin/spanis comino
-1 tsp smoky/picante paprika

-1 tsp of sweet paprika (my addition here)
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp ground black pepper. 
-1/2 tsp of garlic powder
-1/2 tsp of onion powder
-1/2 tsp dried oregano
-a pinch of red pepper flakes 

And that's it. Put it all in a jar, give it a good shake and season your Mexican food. Should have made this a long time ago.....and that photo is Chicago, Mexican Waukegan. 

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.

Morning Glory Cake

Summer is here! and off to the north for some cooler weather.

Just wanted to quickly jot down this variation of this recipe that has turned out really well and we are taking with us to the mountains. So good! 

I like this version of this recipe a lot more than the muffins and the previous one. Basically get rid of the carrots, the wheat flour, the baking soda, the carrots and the honey and do add 1 yoghurt. It was so much more fluffier and awesome and the cake rose! before it hadn't.

This recipe is much much better.

INGREDIENTS:

-1 and 1/2 cups of flour

-1 and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

-1/3 teaspoon of ground ginger.

-1/2 tsp of salt.

-3 eggs.

-1/3 cup of any brown sugar (90 grams)

-1/4 cup of vegetable oil.

-1/4 cup of apple sauce (an apple cut boiled in water)

-1 whole apple (for decoration)

-1 tsp of orange zest. (optional, I didn't add it)

-The juice of 1 orange. (optional, I didn't add it)

-1/3 cup of raisins.

-1/2 cups of walnuts.

-1/2 cup of coconut flakes.

-1 white yoghurt. 

STEPS:

1, The steps are relatively easy to compared to the nightmare of ingredients above. Basically, reunite all dry ingredients in one bowl and all the wet ones in another. Place the raisins in boiling water so that they swell up a bit and are not sadly dry.

2. Mix well all the dry ingredients and the same for the wet ones, then mix them and finally add the nuts.

3. Fill in the cake mold, place the apples in slices on top to decorate, and place in oven to 22o degrees.  Bake for 20 minutes to 220 degrees, so that it rises up, then turn down to 175 and let it bake for at least 30-40 minutes until toothpick comes clean.

That's it. This is a good breakfast to go, hearty and full. Also the amount of sugar is pretty good, not too sweet. My guess is that you can vary a lot in this recipe, and skip some sections, like the coconut the apple sauce, etc. or a banana.

Basic Spicy Korean Soup

Korean soups are addictive. Kenton and I have them all the time. They are whoah so spicy dang satisfying! My korean friend Crystal gave me her gochujang  which is the paste you need to make it and I've realized it isn't hard at all to make them. 

Looking into Marion's blog, the queen of Asian soups, I found this recipe that gave me the basis of what I am going to post now. I made it last night after an insane day of work and it was so satisfying. Kenton approved too. So before I forget what I made and how, I wrote it down here:

 INGREDIENTS
-Some olive oil.
-Some garlic.
-Some ginger.

-Some piece of chicken sliced.

-One shallot sliced.

-One tablespoon of gochujang. 

-One teaspoon of red curry paste.

-One tablespoon of soy sauce.

-1 litre of chicken stock

-Some chow mein noodles.

-Some napa cabbagge sliced.

-Some mushrooms.

STEPS:

1. In hot oil sautee garlic and ginger diced. Yum! smells so good!

2. Now add the shallot sliced.

2. Now add the sliced chicken or any piece of chicken, or turkey you may have, cooked or uncooked.

3. Now add the gujojan and coat it all. So sticky!

4. Now add the red curry paste, and mix well.

5. Now pour the  chicken stock (I use 1 litre of water and add half of a chicken stock cube).

6. Now bring to boil and then add noodles and nappa cabbage right here and then lower it.

7. Add the tablespoon of soy sauce.

7. Let it come together for 10 minutes and serve.

So so good. Pics: Singapore. People in Asia eat looking at the their phones 24/7.

Old-School Butter Cake

 Courtney Adamo always has great recipes to share. Here is one more from her blog.   and she shares it as a birthday cake. Okay I need to differ here. This is not a birthday cake I think. Let me warn you that this cake has a ton of sugar and butter. It tastes real buttery, like Auntie Mildred (Tía Mildred) type of cakes, old-school type. It is not a light cake, it's a heavy one.

But with that said, this recipe is just so fun because it makes you feel like you are making a true cake, and old-fashioned cake, the way butter cakes you should just be. And it actually is an old Australian recipe as she explains in her blog, that it has come from someone called Nanny Luff and the recipe was shared by her grand-daughter. 

So anyway, this recipe comes I'd like to think, from the origins of Australia, perhaps on the slopes of New South Wales, like Kenton's Nan. Here it is:

INGREDIENTS:
-3 cups of flour (360 grs) 

-6 teaspoons of baking powder.

-1 cup of butter (240 grams)

-2 cups of sugar (400 grams)

-4 eggs.

-1 cup of milk. (235 ml)

STEPS: 

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees.

2. Cream with a hand-mixer the sugar and the butter. The hand-mixer is the tool of this recipe.

3. Now add one egg, and beat, and another, and beat, etc. until you do the 4 eggs.

4. Now add half the flour (with the baking powder already combined!) and beat with hand-mixer. 

5. Now add half of the milk and mix.

6. Now add the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk and combine.

7. Grease and flour a container. I used a medium pot, and add mix.

8. Stick to oven for about 1 hour. It will rise a bit.

9. Now for decoration you can add anything. Courtney says she mixes 1 cup of caster sugar, with a few drops of milk and one fruit grated, and then pours it over. I made mine with kiwi and it was real fun.

Okay, I am not sure at all, I will make this cake again I have to be honest. It has way too much butter for me, nothing less and nothing more than 1/4 of a kilo! But it is a good recipe.  And look at that!! that is one good-looking babe! 

And that is a Australian house from the 50s, where we spent Christmas, across Kent's grandma and her mission.

 

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. 

Plum Clafoutis

This recipe is fantastic, especially for Spring. A yummy dessert that is just not hard to make. I had been meaning to do it for many many years but always felt I wasn't prepared because it called for "semolina" which I had no idea what that was. But here is a recipe 

with normal ingredients. Thanks to Courtney Adamo.   

INGREDIENTS:

-400 ml of heavy cream (1+1/2 cups) 

-150 grams granulated sugar (even 140 grams, 

the original recipe calls for 175 grams, too much I think)

-3 eggs.

-2 tsp vanilla.

-the orange zest of 1 orange.

-1/4 tsp salt.

-1/2 cup flour.

-3 big plums cut in slices (or figs, or peaches, or cherries).

STEPS:

1. Combine cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla, orange zest and salt in a blender. 

2. Add flour in 3 batches, mixing slowly with hand blender.

3. Let the mix rest for 30 minutes.

4. Turn oven on to 220 degrees and prepare the fruit in pieces. 

5. Butter your dish, you have to for this recipe, I always use kitchen paper, but you cannot with this recipe. And then sprinkle the bottom with sugar, so that it caramelizes a bit.

6. Get your dish and pour the mix and now add the fruit, slowly in a pretty manner.

7. Sprinkle a little more sugar on top.

8. Place in oven in 220 degrees for 2o minutes. Then lower to 180 for 20 more, and then turn the girll on at the end to give it a tanning session. You'll know when it's ready.

Great recipe. Obviously has a ton of cream and sugar so you'll have to plan your next run and work out soon after, but it's worth it. A few pics of Byron Bay where Courtney Adamo lives.

Great Chicken Broth

 Okay, so this broth is very good. Liquid gold, the author calls it. Here is the recipe. I'm very impressed at this lady Marion. Her recipes are winners. 

My only variation of her recipe is adding a celery stick to the equation. Obviously her recipe is for more volume, more soup. 

INGREDIENTS:

-2 litres of water 
-1 free range chicken skeleton
-1 clove of garlic smashed.
-1 green onion.

-1 celery stalk (my addition)

-1-2 bay leaves (my addition)

-3 slices of ginger.
-some peppercorns.
-1 teaspoons of salt.

-1 prawn (optional at the end)

STEPS:

1. First of all, you are much better off watching the video she has in her recipe. It is a great video. But anyway, basically you need to put all the ingredients above in a pot, bring it all to a boil and then let it simmer for 1 hour or so. 

Just remember to smash a little with the blade of the knife the ingredients: the peppercorn, the garlic, the green onion so the flavours come out in the water easier.

2. After that I let it cool off and basically I let it all sit down in the stove for 1 day (obviously when it is cold, NOT in summer). The flavours get richer the longer you let it sit there. Then I put the whole thing in the fridge and the grease after some hours comes up to the surface.

3. After that, or even after 2 days, I throw in the trash everything that's in the pan and put the broth through a fine sieve.

4. And voila! there you have your great broth. Season it maybe with more salt if you want.

Pics: Singapore, the country of fines.

 

Dumplings or Wontons or Gyozas

My attempt to make wontons is finally here. Something that has been on my list of projects to cook for over 2 years, the day finally came. This recipe of Marion  inspired me. So here is my feeble first attempt to make them. I think wontons or dumplings are much easier than what we think, but they sound quite intimidating. But really just see them as empanadillas. Are you afraid of empanadillas?? probably not. Well, it is the same concept. Also the folding is not rocket science....just do your best, and it will be fine. You will freeze them so that is what holds them together in the soup and don't come apart, the fact that they have been frozen for 2 weeks or 2 months.

The good thing about this recipe is that you can use it to make meatballs, no need of the wrapping and wow they taste awesome too.  Here is my recipe. It is pretty dang asian I must say. My korean friend Crystal thought they were pretty astonishing. 

Shrimp+Pork combo Wontons

INGREDIENTS:

-150 grams of pork minced 
-150 minced prawns.
-1 tbsp grated ginger.
.a pinch of white pepper.
-1/2 tsp sesame oil
-1/4 cup chicken stock
-2 tablespoons of cornstarch.
-1 egg
-25 wrappers of gyoza, dumplins etc.

Pork wontons: 

INGREDIENTS:

-300 grams of pork.

-1 tbs of grated ginger.

-1/2 tsp of minced garlic.

-a pinch of white pepper.

-1 stalk of green onions. 

-a few stems of parsley.

-2 tsp sesame oil.

-3 tablespoon of soy sauce.

-2 tablespoons of cornstarch.

-1 egg.

Another 25 wraps of gyoza, wontons, dumplings.

STEPS: 

1. Just mix everything together well.

2. Add a little to each wrapper and close them up with a little water and set on a plate and freeze. Just set them on some type of paper when you are about to freeze them or they get stuck to the plate in the freezer.

Do you ever get confused about green onions, spring onions, shallots, scallions etc? This article has helped me.

 

Pork ribs and Corn soup

 A wonderful chinese classic that most chinese kids grow up eating. I  can't remember where I saw this soup, thus, I will not have a link and this is my version, but I have made it several times and it has very warm and comforting flavour, bony but sweet. We are back from Australia, where I have gotten lots of inspiration for new recipes. I needed that.

Anyway, I made this one today and was inspired to write it down because it turned out very well.

INGREDIENTS:
-2 litres of water.

.300 grams of pork ribs.

-2 corn cobs.

-some garlic.

-a few green onions stalls.

-1 parsnip in slices.

-some white pepper.

-some black pepper.

-1 tsp of salt.

STEPS:

1. Place some garlic in big pot and sautee.

2. Now add the ribs and brown them a bit for a few minutes.

3. Now add the 2 litres of water and the corn and bring it all to a boil.

4. Now add the salt, the pepper, and add the green onions that you have diced up previously.

5. Bring it all to a boil again quickly and then simmer in low heat.  Slowly you will be getting a great great broth, this is the trick of chinese soups, slowly you stew the bones.

6. You can then remove the ribs and corn and cut it all up to make it all more convenient to eat. I basically cut off the corn kernels and get the meat off the ribs.

So nice! perfect for winter this recipe is. 

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.