I absolutely love the "Cooked in Africa" TV series, and thus love the cookbook too!
We had a family lunch today and this is what I served! I will post the desert in the next post.
Ingredients:
Small knob of butter
1 Large Onion, chopped
250gr Beef mince
250gr Pork mince
3 cloves Garlic, Crushed
A small hand of Ginger, peeled and finely grated
1tsp Garam Marsala
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp Ground Coriander seeds
3-4 Cloves
3 All spice berries (I can't find these anywhere, if you find them let me know, I just left them out)
1 tsp Dried mixed herbs
Handful dried apricots, Chopped
1/4 cup Flaked Almonds
3 tsp Apricot Chutney
4 tsp chopped Flat Leaf Parsley
4 Bay Leaves
Handful of Sultana's
250ml Full Cream Milk
3 Large Free Range Eggs
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees
Heat the butter in a pan and add the onion, allow to sweat and sweeten.
Remove the onion from the pan and set aside.
Turn the heat up on the pan and brown the mince.
Once browned remove the pan from the heat and add all the ingredients except the milk and eggs.
Spoon the mixture into an ovenproof dish, the mince should be 3-4 cm thick.
Using the back of a wooden spoon push the mixture down firmly.
Whisk the eggs and milk together, and pour over the mince.
Bake in the oven until the egg custard sets.
A good way to check if it cooked is to do the "wobble test", if it wobbles then back in the oven!
Serve with yellow rice:
Ingredients:
1 cup Basmati Rice
1-2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Turmeric
2 Cinnamon Sticks
Handful of raisins, soaked in water for 20 mins, then drained.
Method:
Cook the Basmati rice as per the packet instructions, but add the turmeric and cinnamon sticks to the boiling water. Once the rice is cooked and drained, add the raisins.
Notes:
At the point where you mix all the ingredients together in the pan, I added about a tablespoon of flour to the mixture and added some water from the kettle. I did this as it helps the mince mixture to be more "saucy". I have made the recipe a couple of times, and the mince seems to be dry. By adding the flour and water and mixing it up nicely it doesn't dry out. I also am a bit liberal when it comes to the apricot chutney, more like three tbsp's than 3 tsp's!
Sorry no photo's it was gone before I could take a photo!
Enjoy it!!
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Home Made Tomato Soup
This is a creation of mine! I have always loved the taste of Tomato soup, something very wholesome and "Good for you" about it.
Ingredients:
1 med. Onion finely chopped
3 cloves Garlic finely chopped.
1 410gr can Tomato puree.
800ml Home Made Chicken Stock
250ml Fresh pouring cream
Salt and Black Pepper
Method:
Over a medium heat soften the onion and garlic, in a splash of olive oil.
Once soft add the can of Tomato Puree, stock and cream.
Season with salt and pepper and keep hot until you are ready to serve.
Serve with bread of your choice!
A Very Hearty tomato soup that will uplift you, especially on a cold winter's night!
Enjoy and let me know if you liked it! Better than the canned soup I promise.
Ingredients:
1 med. Onion finely chopped
3 cloves Garlic finely chopped.
1 410gr can Tomato puree.
800ml Home Made Chicken Stock
250ml Fresh pouring cream
Salt and Black Pepper
Method:
Over a medium heat soften the onion and garlic, in a splash of olive oil.
Once soft add the can of Tomato Puree, stock and cream.
Season with salt and pepper and keep hot until you are ready to serve.
Serve with bread of your choice!
A Very Hearty tomato soup that will uplift you, especially on a cold winter's night!
Enjoy and let me know if you liked it! Better than the canned soup I promise.
Reflections of my first week.
Wow!! and Wow again!!
This has been an amazing week! I have always wanted to write a blog on food, late one night last week I jumped into it, and "Dad's Cookbook" was born. Thank you to all of you for interacting with me it has been a fantastic week, sharing my passion for cooking good food!
For the future I hope that I can keep it up, and keep sharing my food experiences with all of you, around the world. One of the most amazing things about the blog, was seeing where the people that are reading the blog are from! I don't know anyone from India (I wish I did), but I got a reader looking at my blog from India. What an amazing way to bring people together in sharing a common interest, such as good food.
As I write this next to the pool sipping on a glass of Welmoed 2010 Sauvignon Blanc (brilliant find), I realise what a wonderful world we live in.
To all of you that have participated this week, thank you, and I promise that I will try to keep it up. Please interact, whether on facebook or with the comments section below the post, as this will be my guage as to what you like and what you don't!!
Lets enjoy the journey of discovery together!
Darrel
This has been an amazing week! I have always wanted to write a blog on food, late one night last week I jumped into it, and "Dad's Cookbook" was born. Thank you to all of you for interacting with me it has been a fantastic week, sharing my passion for cooking good food!
For the future I hope that I can keep it up, and keep sharing my food experiences with all of you, around the world. One of the most amazing things about the blog, was seeing where the people that are reading the blog are from! I don't know anyone from India (I wish I did), but I got a reader looking at my blog from India. What an amazing way to bring people together in sharing a common interest, such as good food.
As I write this next to the pool sipping on a glass of Welmoed 2010 Sauvignon Blanc (brilliant find), I realise what a wonderful world we live in.
To all of you that have participated this week, thank you, and I promise that I will try to keep it up. Please interact, whether on facebook or with the comments section below the post, as this will be my guage as to what you like and what you don't!!
Lets enjoy the journey of discovery together!
Darrel
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Gnocchi and Classic Meat Sauce
I thought that when I made this one, my son would not like it, but I was wrong as he really enjoyed it. A nice hearty meal for the whole family! Possibly it was because he was very involved with the preparation of the meal:
Ingredients:
500gr Beef mince
1 410gr can Chopped Tomatoes
1/2 410gr can Tomato Puree
Handfull Fresh Basil finely chopped
1 Large Onion finely chopped
4 Cloves Garlic finely chopped
125gr Button Mushrooms finely chopped
splash Balsamic vinegar
1 sachet Beef stock
Method:
Brown the mince in a hot pan with some olive oil
Remove the mince from the pan, and fry the onions, mushrooms, garlic and basil for about 5 minutes, until the onions are soft.
Put the mince back into the pan and stir to mix.
Add the whole can of chopped tomatoes, half a can of tomato puree, beef stock and a splash (about a teaspoon and a half) of balsamic vinegar.
Turn the pan down to a simmer and put the lid on.
After about ten minutes, taste it and add salt and pepper if necessary.
Whilst the meat sauce simmers, boil salted water in a large pot for the gnocchi. Cook according to the packet instructions. This is usually very easy, once they float, they are done 4-5minutes in boiling water. Drain the gnocchi and return to the hot pot, add a large knob of butter and toss to coat.
At this point the meat sauce should be ready.
Notes
I have started using Ina Paarman's beef stock in sachet form as there are no chemical preservatives in it, nice tasting!
Serve in a bowl with the meat sauce spooned over the gnocchi and enjoy!!
Ingredients:
500gr Beef mince
1 410gr can Chopped Tomatoes
1/2 410gr can Tomato Puree
Handfull Fresh Basil finely chopped
1 Large Onion finely chopped
4 Cloves Garlic finely chopped
125gr Button Mushrooms finely chopped
splash Balsamic vinegar
1 sachet Beef stock
Method:
Brown the mince in a hot pan with some olive oil
Remove the mince from the pan, and fry the onions, mushrooms, garlic and basil for about 5 minutes, until the onions are soft.
Put the mince back into the pan and stir to mix.
Add the whole can of chopped tomatoes, half a can of tomato puree, beef stock and a splash (about a teaspoon and a half) of balsamic vinegar.
Turn the pan down to a simmer and put the lid on.
After about ten minutes, taste it and add salt and pepper if necessary.
Whilst the meat sauce simmers, boil salted water in a large pot for the gnocchi. Cook according to the packet instructions. This is usually very easy, once they float, they are done 4-5minutes in boiling water. Drain the gnocchi and return to the hot pot, add a large knob of butter and toss to coat.
At this point the meat sauce should be ready.
Notes
I have started using Ina Paarman's beef stock in sachet form as there are no chemical preservatives in it, nice tasting!
Serve in a bowl with the meat sauce spooned over the gnocchi and enjoy!!
 |
| The Chopped Ingredients |
 |
| The Meat Sauce Simmering |
 |
| How I ate mine |
 |
| My Son specifically wanted cheese on his Gnocchi and meat sauce in a separate bowl |
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Home Made Chicken Stock
This is a staple food in my kitchen, and forms the basis for many soups, stews and sauces.
Ingredients:
1Kg Chicken pieces and any reserved bones and skin you have in the freezer.
750gr Carrots roughly chopped
1 head Garlic (+/- 10 cloves) Bashed, no need to peel.
2 Large Onions, peel on quartered
1/2 bunch Celery
Salt and black pepper.
Water
Method:
Put all the ingredients into a large stock pot (I use an 11,5 Lt).
Fill the pot with boiling water from the kettle as it will speed up the process, you may need to do this a couple of times.
Bring to the boil, and then turn the heat down to the lowest setting, just so you can see it bubbling.
Season with salt and black pepper.
By not boiling the liquid, it keeps it clear, and does not go cloudy.
Cook on the low heat for 3-4 hours.
Strain the mixture to get your wonderful home made chicken stock.
I use small plastic containers, to divide the mixture up, and then freeze, after a day or two I pop the frozen cubes out of the plastic containers and put them into freezer bags. This way you always have a small handy amount of stock available in the freezer.
I will post an amazing Tomato soup recipe tomorrow that you can make in minutes with this wonderful stock.
Sorry, no photo's I will take some the next time I make a batch.
Ingredients:
1Kg Chicken pieces and any reserved bones and skin you have in the freezer.
750gr Carrots roughly chopped
1 head Garlic (+/- 10 cloves) Bashed, no need to peel.
2 Large Onions, peel on quartered
1/2 bunch Celery
Salt and black pepper.
Water
Method:
Put all the ingredients into a large stock pot (I use an 11,5 Lt).
Fill the pot with boiling water from the kettle as it will speed up the process, you may need to do this a couple of times.
Bring to the boil, and then turn the heat down to the lowest setting, just so you can see it bubbling.
Season with salt and black pepper.
By not boiling the liquid, it keeps it clear, and does not go cloudy.
Cook on the low heat for 3-4 hours.
Strain the mixture to get your wonderful home made chicken stock.
I use small plastic containers, to divide the mixture up, and then freeze, after a day or two I pop the frozen cubes out of the plastic containers and put them into freezer bags. This way you always have a small handy amount of stock available in the freezer.
I will post an amazing Tomato soup recipe tomorrow that you can make in minutes with this wonderful stock.
Sorry, no photo's I will take some the next time I make a batch.
Charlie's Chicken and Pasta
A very easy, one pot, week night meal!
This is my own creation to get my son to eat carrots and chicken, it has now become a family favourite, and fits into the "Comfort Food" genre.
Ingredients:
300-400gr Chicken thighs, deboned and skin removed, chopped into small pieces
1 410gr can Tomato puree
400ml Home made chicken stock (refer to the next post)
1 1/2 cups Pasta rice
1 tbsp Chicken spice
1 large Onion, finely chopped
2 cups Finely chopped carrots
125ml Fresh Cream
Method:
De-bone and remove the skin off the thighs, then chop into small pieces. (Reserve the bones and skins in the freezer for making the home made chicken stock).
Season the chicken with the Chicken Spice and brown in a hot pot with some olive oil.
Once browned (do in batches if necessary), remove the chicken from the pot.
Add the onion and the carrots and fry until the onions are soft.
Add a splash of hot water from the kettle to de-glaze the pan.
Add the browned chicken.
Add the chicken stock, Tomato puree and cream, bring to the boil.
Add the pasta rice.
Turn down and simmer for 15 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.
Stir frequently as the pasta rice sinks to the bottom and catches on the bottom of the pot.
Serve with bread sticks for dipping, and if you are brave enough to try to get your little one to eat salad maybe a green salad would go nicely with this.
Notes:
Chicken:
It is a pain to de-bone the thighs but it is well worth the effort. If you are lucky enough to have a good butcher who can do this for you even better. Sometimes you see the prepared thighs at the supermarket, but it is rare. Beware of buying them from the supermarket as I have had several occasions where the chicken is off. If you are running out of time, replace with skinless, boneless, tasteless, textureless, colourless and moistureless chicken breasts. They are readily available and "healthy" (I suppose so is chipboard). Sorry about the comments on the chicken breasts, but I have never liked them and generally they go to the dogs in my house! By all means if your preference is breast over thigh then use them, they are cheaper and easier! But I assure you that the flavour is much better with the thigh meat.
Quantity:
This makes quite a large pot, in the beginning when I came up with the recipe, this was done to freeze in small portions, so that we always had food for Charlie in the freezer. Nowadays though this is the family meal and we all eat it.
The Chopping:
The more the little ones dislike an ingredient the finer you chop it! When I first made this I grated the carrots into the mixture, so that my son would get carrots in without knowing about it. Now he quite enjoys the carrots, so they are not even chopped up. The chicken however is another story!! Lately he will not eat meat, so the chicken is finely chopped and he scoffs it down!
Enjoy it! I will post the recipe for the Home Made Chicken Stock next!
This is my own creation to get my son to eat carrots and chicken, it has now become a family favourite, and fits into the "Comfort Food" genre.
300-400gr Chicken thighs, deboned and skin removed, chopped into small pieces
1 410gr can Tomato puree
400ml Home made chicken stock (refer to the next post)
1 1/2 cups Pasta rice
1 tbsp Chicken spice
1 large Onion, finely chopped
2 cups Finely chopped carrots
125ml Fresh Cream
Method:
De-bone and remove the skin off the thighs, then chop into small pieces. (Reserve the bones and skins in the freezer for making the home made chicken stock).
Season the chicken with the Chicken Spice and brown in a hot pot with some olive oil.
Once browned (do in batches if necessary), remove the chicken from the pot.
Add the onion and the carrots and fry until the onions are soft.
Add a splash of hot water from the kettle to de-glaze the pan.
Add the browned chicken.
Add the chicken stock, Tomato puree and cream, bring to the boil.
Add the pasta rice.
Turn down and simmer for 15 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.
Stir frequently as the pasta rice sinks to the bottom and catches on the bottom of the pot.
Serve with bread sticks for dipping, and if you are brave enough to try to get your little one to eat salad maybe a green salad would go nicely with this.
Notes:
Chicken:
It is a pain to de-bone the thighs but it is well worth the effort. If you are lucky enough to have a good butcher who can do this for you even better. Sometimes you see the prepared thighs at the supermarket, but it is rare. Beware of buying them from the supermarket as I have had several occasions where the chicken is off. If you are running out of time, replace with skinless, boneless, tasteless, textureless, colourless and moistureless chicken breasts. They are readily available and "healthy" (I suppose so is chipboard). Sorry about the comments on the chicken breasts, but I have never liked them and generally they go to the dogs in my house! By all means if your preference is breast over thigh then use them, they are cheaper and easier! But I assure you that the flavour is much better with the thigh meat.
Quantity:
This makes quite a large pot, in the beginning when I came up with the recipe, this was done to freeze in small portions, so that we always had food for Charlie in the freezer. Nowadays though this is the family meal and we all eat it.
The Chopping:
The more the little ones dislike an ingredient the finer you chop it! When I first made this I grated the carrots into the mixture, so that my son would get carrots in without knowing about it. Now he quite enjoys the carrots, so they are not even chopped up. The chicken however is another story!! Lately he will not eat meat, so the chicken is finely chopped and he scoffs it down!
Enjoy it! I will post the recipe for the Home Made Chicken Stock next!
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Tortellini with Creamy Leek, Bacon and Mushroom sauce
Guess what no chillies!!
This is definitely a made up one. No self respecting Italian food lover would serve tortellini with a creamy sauce, but I must tell you it really works! Creamy rich and delicious.
Ingredients:
2 packets of shop bought tortellini (mine are from Pick 'n Pay)
250g Streaky Bacon
125g Portabellini mushrooms sliced (use button if you can't find them)
5 Baby leeks finely sliced
250ml Cream
1/2 cup Grated Parmesan cheese
125ml Milk
1 tbsp Flour
2 tbsp Chopped fresh chives to serve
Method:
Put the water on to the boil in a large pot, add salt.
Fry the bacon until crispy, remove and drain on kitchen paper.
Add the leeks and mushrooms to the pan and fry over a medium heat until softened.
Add a splash of wine, to deglaze the pan, you can also do this with hot water from the kettle, but the wine does add flavour to the sauce.
Sprinkle the flour over the leeks and mushrooms, and stir. Start to add the cream in small quantities, until the flour is all absorbed. Add the rest of the cream and milk.
Add the parmesan and reserved bacon. Don't add salt until you have tasted it as the bacon and the parmesan tend to make the sauce salty. Let the sauce simmer while you cook the tortellini. If the sauce is too thick add some water or milk.
Cook the tortellini according to the packet instructions once cooked, serve with the sauce and sprinkle with the chopped chives. You will see mine was served with little ball shaped carrots, these were bought to amuse my son, as apposed being a perfect accompaniment to this dish. I must say though that it worked quite well.
Very quick and easy week night dinner.
This is definitely a made up one. No self respecting Italian food lover would serve tortellini with a creamy sauce, but I must tell you it really works! Creamy rich and delicious.
Ingredients:
2 packets of shop bought tortellini (mine are from Pick 'n Pay)
250g Streaky Bacon
125g Portabellini mushrooms sliced (use button if you can't find them)
5 Baby leeks finely sliced
250ml Cream
1/2 cup Grated Parmesan cheese
125ml Milk
1 tbsp Flour
2 tbsp Chopped fresh chives to serve
Method:
Put the water on to the boil in a large pot, add salt.
Fry the bacon until crispy, remove and drain on kitchen paper.
Add the leeks and mushrooms to the pan and fry over a medium heat until softened.
Add a splash of wine, to deglaze the pan, you can also do this with hot water from the kettle, but the wine does add flavour to the sauce.
Sprinkle the flour over the leeks and mushrooms, and stir. Start to add the cream in small quantities, until the flour is all absorbed. Add the rest of the cream and milk.
Add the parmesan and reserved bacon. Don't add salt until you have tasted it as the bacon and the parmesan tend to make the sauce salty. Let the sauce simmer while you cook the tortellini. If the sauce is too thick add some water or milk.
Cook the tortellini according to the packet instructions once cooked, serve with the sauce and sprinkle with the chopped chives. You will see mine was served with little ball shaped carrots, these were bought to amuse my son, as apposed being a perfect accompaniment to this dish. I must say though that it worked quite well.
Very quick and easy week night dinner.
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