Showing posts with label tomato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tomato. Show all posts

Wednesday, 17 May 2017

Rodrigo's Paella

Summer and sun? – Check!
Lot’s of food? – Check!
Some drinks? – Check!
Crazy? – Check!
So far it has been a lovely summer with a fair share of sun, lot’s of food and some drinks. You can call me crazy for various known and unknown reasons. I leave that up to you, but for today, you can call me Rodrigo.
So, make sure to keep that in mind. I settled with a friend on that and he tries to call me Rodrigo. Since we have established that, we can go on with some food.
However, before we get to that, we need something else.
Spanish music? – Check!
These days with all those music streaming services and Internet radios, it’s not that complicated.
Now playing: Amistades Peligrosas – Me Quedaré Solo
Well, I don’t know about that, but I’m not sure whether I like that message. Anyway, that isn’t the subject of this post nor of this blog. I don’t want to get that personal here.
Calling back to mind what we want here now: Food.
Therefore I bring you now Rodrigo’s Paella …

You still remember, who Rodrigo is, don’t you? No Dices Más. Well, that is fitting now and the song that is playing right now: Moenia – No Dices Más.
Right, you don’t have to say anything as we start finally
Ingredients:
Olive oil
2 small chorizos
350 g chicken breast
100 g duck breast (optional, it was a leftover)
100 g shrimps
100 g mussels (ready to eat)
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
150 g cherry tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
Salt
Pepper
Paprika powder (mild)
3 cups of rice
2 bay leaves
700 ml chicken stock
Pinch of saffron
Method:
Put a large pan on heat and add some olive oil.
Get a sharp knife to do all the cutting. Make sure it’s really sharp, so you get a clear cut in case you should cut yourself … oops … I didn’t mean it. I am sure, you can get through the recipe without cutting yourself. Anyway, I heard you cut yourself more often, when the knife is too dull. So it’s better to use a sharp knife, that does its job properly.
Now we go on with doing our job properly.
Cut the chorizo into small pieces and add it to the pan. Cut the chicken breast (and duck breast) into small chunks and brown them together in the pan with the chorizo. When it all has gained some good colour remove all the meat from the pan and set aside.
Finely chop up the onions and fry them in the pan until translucent. Chop up the garlic and add it, too.
Then quarter the tomatoes and put into the pan.
Cut the bell peppers into mouth-manageable size and add them to the pan as well.
Season everything with salt, pepper and the paprika powder.
Afterwards add the rice and the chicken stock. Add the meat back again as well. Add also 2 bay leaves and the pinch of saffron.
Let it all simmer until the rice is cooked. If you feel, the paella gets too dry, add a tiny bit of water.

Almost there! At the end add the shrimps and the mussels and heat them up. That shouldn’t take too long.
Now you are ready to plate up and enjoy Rodrigo’s Paella.
Well, I am not 100% sure whether that is a typical paella for I have never eaten paella in Spain – or at least I don’t remember. I have to put it on my list I want to do. Argh, that list is too long anyway. I also have a kind of list or better say a pile of papers of recipes I still could post. There are 11 papers and I don’t know how to manage. Anyway, you might see some of those things on this blog one day, so make sure to come back.
First, though, have some more paella and, if you like a bottle of beer with it. For sure there are more days coming to enjoy and … if I am able to put my eyes on a computer screen again – besides work – I will write you something more.
Well then, see you, when I see you. Next time I may be Chris again and not Rodrigo anymore. We will see ... 

Tuesday, 9 May 2017

Sale el Sol Tortillas del Trigo

Hoy tenemos algo completamente diferente. Ya ves. Vamos a tratar de cocinar algo Español en español. Empezamos de inmediato …

Ingredientes:
Un poco de ensalada verde
Seis tomates pequeños
Un pimiento rojo
Un pieza de la carne sazonada/marinada – 100-200 Gramos (de vaca, pollo o cordero)
100 g chorizo
Una cebolla pequeña (las rojas son mejor)
Un poco de queso
Tortillas del trigo
Sel, pimienta
Un poco de zumo de limon
Elaboración:
Cortar la ensalada verde, los tomates y el pimiento rojo en trozos pequeños. Sazone con sal y pimienta. Mezclar con el zumo de limón.
Cortar la cebolla en aros.
Freír la carne y el chorizo. Después cortar en trozos pequeños.
Ahora, empezamos con el tortilla del trigo. Calentar la tortilla. Después ponga la ensalada en la tortilla.

Después los trozas del chorizo y un poco de queso.

Después la carne y los aros de cebolla.

Eso es todo. Ahora envolverlo y comérselo. Disfrute de su comida!
Un poco de papel de aluminio podría ayudarle.

Are you still with me? How good was your Spanish to understand the recipe or did you need no knowledge of Spanish at all, because the photos were telling everything?
Just to make sure, let us go through it again …
Sunrise wheat tortillas
Maybe there is a reason for the name of the dish, but at least the sun is really out these days. I could have called it summer tortillas, but … I didn’t. My call!
But now, without any further ado …
Ingredients:
A little bit lettuce
Six small tomatoes
One red bell pepper
A piece of seasoned/marinated meat – 100-200 g (beef, chicken or lamb)
100 g chorizo
One small onion (the red ones are better)
Some cheese
Wheat tortillas
Sal, pepper
A splash of lemon juice
Method:
Cut the lettuce, tomatoes and red bell pepper into small pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Mix with the lemon juice.
Cut the onion into rings.
Fry the meat and the chorizo. Then cut it into small pieces.
Now, we can start with the wheat tortilla. Warm up the tortilla. Then put the salad on the tortilla.
Then the chorizo and cheese.
Then the meat and the onion rings.

That’s all. Now wrap it up and eat it. Enjoy your meal!
A little bit of aluminium foil could help you.
Und weil das ganze jetzt so schön war hier nochmal für alle die, die weder viel mit Spanisch noch mit Englisch am Hut haben …
Wir wollen da, wie schon zuvor, nicht lange rum fackeln und einfach loslegen …
Sonnenaufgangstortillas
Gut, euch kann ich’s ja sagen, wenn ihr wollt könnt ihr es auch zum Frühstück essen oder auch zum Mittag oder zum Abendessen oder nachts oder zwischendurch oder wenn ihr Hunger habt. Was auch immer, die Sonne ist draußen, also hier mein Beitrag …
Zutaten:
Etwas grüner Salat
Sechs kleine Tomaten
Eine rote Paprika
Ein Stück gewürztes/mariniertes Fleisch – 100-200 g (Rind, Hähnchen oder Lamm)
100 g Chorizo
Eine kleine Zwiebel (die roten sind besser)
Etwas Käse
Weizentortillas
Salz, Pfeffer
Ein wenig Zitronensaft
Zubereitung:
Den Salat, Tomaten und rote Paprika in kleine Stücke schneiden. Kit Salz und Pfeffer würzen. Mit dem Zitronensaft mischen.
Die Zwiebel in Ringe scheiden.
Das Fleisch und die Chorizo anbraten. Dann in kleine Stücke scheiden.
Jetzt können wir mit der Weizentortilla anfangen. Die Tortilla aufwärmen. Dann den Salat auf die Tortilla geben.
Dann die Chorizo und Käse.
Dann das Fleisch und die Zwiebelringe.
Das ist alles. Nun zusammenfalten und essen. Guten Appetit!
Ein wenig Albfolie könnte helfen.
So, nun habt ihr wohl genug, oder soll ich das ganze jetzt nochmal in irgend einem Dialekt abspulen. Aber ich denke bei ‘datt’, ‘watt’, ‘ett’ und irgendwelchen Spezialausdrücken flippt die Autokorrektur – oder doch eher ich – völlig aus und es wird kein glückliches Ende nehmen.
Das würde niemand wollen.
No one would want that.
Nadie querría eso.
Kimse isterim.
Personne ne voudrait que.
कोई भी उस चाहेगा।
誰もそれを望んないだろう。
I think, this is a very good point to stop this post. I hope you enjoyed it. Hey, after all, this still is … Cooking Around the World!

Monday, 1 May 2017

Dinner with Bills

Here we go with another part in the bill-series before the month of May comes to its end. It was long due anyway. While I have had at least one more dinner dish from Bills Sydney Food before I already wrote about it under different circumstances. There was for example the dish: Prawn and Chilli Linguine …


Well, if you follow the link, of course you find the old post. However, we like to go on with something more current, although it is pasta again.
The dish is called Fresh Tomato Pasta. The aim was to get as much taste out of the tomatoes as possible. So best it would be to have as best tomatoes as you can get.

There is not much fuss about it. Apart from the tomatoes and the pasta, you have just some sea salt, olive oil, red wine vinegar, juice and zest of a lemon, red chilli, black pepper and some basil leaves. It tasted fresh indeed.

For sure I will make that one again … well, I have all the ingredients at home most of the time, although the tomatoes could be a bit better, since they are not in full swing yet.
The other dinner dish I tried is not for the main course, but rather for pudding: Pavlova. I will not start this background discussion regarding the origin of pavlova again. After all, that is not what this is about.

Well, that looks already lovely and … was not that difficult to accomplish. However, it still has to go into the oven. The challenge is to have it over one hour in the oven at 120 °C, get it firm on the outside and don’t let it brown. Hm, eh, well, judge for yourself …

That was the best I could do. Maybe you can notice the colour difference in comparison with the whipped cream. Whatever the case, it tasted delicious with the pulp of the passionfruit.
Now that was the dinner part I tried so far, now I could start again with breakfast thing. Besides that, I should get cooking again.
If I remember it right, I kind of challenged myself to try as many recipes from Bills Sydney Food as possible. Eh, that doesn’t sound like a challenge at all. Ah, no worries, I don’t need a challenge, it’s just about having a bit of fun …

Friday, 21 April 2017

Lunch with Bills

Now, it is time again to go on with some more food from Bills Sydney Food by Bill Granger with you. You might remember my post Breakfast with bills. After having had breakfast, it’s the only natural step to have lunch.
What do we have on offer today?

Ricotta and Tomato tart. Delicious! Since I like ricotta anyway, that’s a good one for me. The recipe had all the guidelines you needed to make your own puff pastry … I used a package from the shop anyway. Maybe next time! :-)
Have a look again …

Apart from the ricotta, the tomatoes and the puff pastry there is also some rocket involved. I never would want to argue with that. Another thing, to me it seems Bill used some more tomatoes on his tart. At least that’s how it looks like in his book. I am pleased anyway.
Let’s go with another one …
Maybe I should have known from the start, it wouldn’t work out properly. The recipe I tried was Coconut and Passionfruit slice. It was just because passionfruit was on offer in the supermarket. Sadly the girl at the check-out couldn’t recognise passionfruit and made me pay for figs (obviously she doesn’t know that one either). Or was the problem on my side.
Anyway, the recipe didn’t work 100 % with those ‘figs’ … eh … right, it was passionfruit. I reckon, though, the oven was the problem and the whole thing could have used a bit more time in it. While the taste was fine, there was no way in getting a half-delicious photo of it.
No worries! We don’t want to dwell to long on failure or negative things, but rather go on with something else … good the butcher knew about steak … Fine Steak Sandwich with Garlic Crème …

Obviously you need some kind of bread … ciabatta in this case, but the main heroes are the steak and the garlic crème.
The butcher did a good job and preparing the steak correctly in the pan was no big deal either. The real work here is the garlic crème. I didn’t take the same approach as with the puff pastry from the Ricotta and Tomato Tart.
I really went for it and had some food exercise again with all that whisking of the egg yolks and oil. As I’m not a sissy, I didn’t use a food processor for it either.
It was all worth it!

For sure you would find other fine uses for that crème! Well, we had already something in mind for it. I don’t want to say too much about it, though. Just watch …






Do I have to mention it was very delicious? You might have reckoned that already by yourself.
I hoped you enjoyed your lunch with bills and of course me. Yes, I know, you would enjoy it even more, if it was for real, but … hey … who am I? I can’t be everywhere and do everything and make everyone happy (it’s a great relief to recognise that and stop trying).
Oh, that brings me back to the pickle I’ve got. I can’t go everywhere. So, if you have any ideas (because you know something) feel free to give any suggestions for travelling Australia.
Now …
Keep smiling … 

Wednesday, 19 April 2017

Chicken Macaroni Cheese Apokalypse

Yes, you also know it doesn’t look that good, is not too healthy, will have too much calories and … but you want it, because it brings you comfort and tastes yummy.
We all know such dishes.
Today – using some leftovers from the indecent looking chicken (sorry, if there were any disturbing or offensive images in my last post) – I’ll bring you my Chicken Macaroni Cheese Apocalypse …

So, what do you associate with ‘Apocalypse’? Death and destruction?
Wrong!
If you know your Greek, you’d say ‘revelation’, for that is what the Greek work apocalypses means. So … the question now is, will this Chicken Macaroni Cheese be a revelation?
Let us see! For sure it will be very different from what you had before. Hm … yes … eh … well, different.
You know, you want it!
Come and get it!
Ingredients:
200 g cooked chicken meat, shredded (yes, I used it from the beer butt thingy)
200 ml cream (I would have used double had I any)
200 g grated cheese (sadly I just had 100 g)
100 g bacon (cubes, stripes, whatever you fancy … it’s your life)
50 ml chilli sauce (anyone you like)
50 ml tomato puree
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Some basil leaves, torn
Salt and pepper (because we want it)
250 g macaroni
Method:
Go, get your macaroni boiling. Pre-heat the oven to 180 °C.
Grab yourself a proper ovenproof dish (20 x 20 cm did for me) and go for it. Now that will all sound a bit simple from here on … because it is: Throw the ingredients into your ovenproof dish!
While the macaroni might not be ready yet, your dish might look like this …

With all that bringing your water for the macaroni to oil, even though using a kettle to help you, up to here things are fast and you really have to wait for the macaroni.
No worries, though, once the water is ready, the macaroni will be in under 10 minutes. Rinse and add …

That looks like, it could go to the oven and so it does …
By that time I already knew, I didn’t have a sufficient amount of cheese in it. Another remedy would have been to add a ball of mozzarella, but … I didn’t. Just saying!
Oh, yes, 20 minutes in the oven had to do for me, but I reckon 30 minutes will also do no harm.
At this point, things will look like this …

Yes, I know, it doesn’t look spectacular and it’s not much worse adding this picture at all. Hey, you know what? I do it anyway, because I’m the boss here. No I don’t have any issues in connection with being or not being the boss. I have other issues, but I try to suppress them for as log as possible, at least until I am finished here. You really don’t want to read any about it.
You know, you want something else. So let’s get on with it. What about putting on a bit of garnish?

That should do. I asked an expert about it, although she didn’t knew, what I would be using it for. A little bit of basil can go a long way. In our case it goes here …

Well, fine, you can also place it on the individual serving as I did in the opening. If you can’t resist, you can also drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil over it. Just saying! It’s your life!
Now, is that a revelation or just death and destruction?
Think about it! Answer correctly, if you want to live! It’s your life!
Scared? Sorry, I just have to work on making proper threats, but you know that I know how to find you … ah, just kidding, I wouldn’t really tell or show what I am capable of.
Fine, that’s enough. I better get out of here before things get out of hand. See ya!

Sunday, 16 April 2017

#Foodfitness with Beef and Cheese Empanadillas

It is about time I start putting up some more food here on our blog. It has been quite a while of inactivity, which doesn't mean I haven't been active. In fact I have been very active and I have been doing quite some exercise, enjoying it together with my beautiful wife. Life is really good!
Now, though, it is time again for some other kind of exercise again ... food fitness.
Let's have some Spanish food today, which you could also use for a picnic, if the weather so permits.



Ingredients:
450 g flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. butter
1 egg
1 tsp. honey
pinch of salt
lukewarm water
1 onion (finely chopped)
some chillies (to your liking, finely chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
500 g minced beef
smoked paprika
salt, pepper
2 tbsp. tomato puree
basil, rosemary, mint
3 spring onions (chopped in rings)
150 g grated cheese (whatever kind you fancy)
30 g sultanas
oil for frying

Method:
First of all we go for the dough, setting the tone for the whole thing, putting some energy in the preparation, for there will be much energy in the consumption as well, although I am not quite sure whether you want to hear it.
Put the flour with the baking powder in a bowl, rub in the butter. Then add the salt, honey and egg. Knead the dough in a fitness-like fashion adding as much of lukewarm water as it needs to bring the whole dough together.
Then let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes. In case you also need that rest, I guess you have to give it some more time. Otherwise you can you the time wisely to already prepare the filling.
You start off with the onions in a large pan, let the chillies and the garlic join. After the onions are translucent you can put in the meat and season it with salt, pepper and the smoked paprika. Once the meat has gained sufficient colour you can add the tomato puree and go on frying as long until it is all relatively dry. We don't want the filling too wet to cause any problems.
Just when it is all ready that far, turn off the heat and add the basil, rosemary, mint, spring onions, cheese and sultanas. It might look a little bit like this ...



You have some time for it to cool off a bit. That will be the time to prepare the individual empanadillas and have some extra exercise. If you still feel you need more exercise, do some push-ups, squats or crunches later on, but here we go with good old food fitness ...



Try to make it thin. This way you will enjoy the filling much later when all is finished. Give it your all. You want to feel those muscles in yours so you can actually say you have done some real exercise. Get some round shapes out of the dough for the final empanadillas. We got a special tool for it here so it will work out perfectly with the shape and sticking in the filling.
Give every circle of dough, we had 15 in the end, a teaspoon of filling or a little bit more, as your conscience permits and as you will be able to seal them properly afterwards. We don't want any filling to exit while frying. We only want to let the filling exit in your mouth while eating.



If it looks like this you might be doing it right. To ensure they are securely shut, you can use a fork to seal them well.
Then enjoy the time for frying the empanadillas in sufficient oil and hopefully they are securely shut. I didn't do it so well, when I tried it the other week, but this batch went perfectly well without incidents ... for my wife was helping to make it happen just fine.



Now the only thing that remains is enjoy your empanadillas with some salad and a beer ... any kind of beer. It doesn't need to be Spanish, although I wouldn't mind a bottle of Estrella de Galicia.
We hope you had enough exercise preparing the empanadillas. As for my part I feel like I still have to do some more exercise. These days I am kind of crazy about doing some exercise. That's not bad, after all the body feels a lot better when it is filled with muscles and not with ... anyway, I don't want to suggest anything here, but just that I am always going to enjoy some good food exercise, when it also leads to some tasty results. It would really make me feel bad, if I would put in all the effort in preparing  and eating if it wouldn't be worth it. 
In this very case here of the empanadillas we can assure you that it was absolutely worth it and we are going to enjoy it any time.
We hope you are having a good time and are keeping healthy!

Saturday, 15 April 2017

Breakfast with bills

I really don’t know how I ended up with the great obsession with Australia. Honestly, I don’t know, but just because I have it I bought this cookbook by Bill Granger some time ago.

It features recipes from Bill’s cafe in Darlinghurst. Well, I had never heard about it before. That also means consequently, I had never been there myself. You, know, it’s just that Australia obsession again.
The book says on the back cover: “The only bills cookbook you’ll ever need.” Well, I’m not so sure whether this is a good strategy. How are they ever supposed to do a Bills Sydney Food 2? Then maybe, they never wanted to anyway.
Again, I don’t know. What I am sure about is, I had plans to go to that place myself, once I get to Sydney. In fact that is what I did ... and I also enjoyed it very much.
Just before that, I wanted to make sure, I tried as many recipes from the book as time, motivation, health(?) and ingredients permit.
For sure it will bring some great variations in the breakfast, lunch and dinner department, especially the breakfast department, which is usually quite limited … cereals or a few slices of bread. That doesn’t have to be like that.
Along that line I tried a few recipes from the book …

That’s an Open-faced omelette with fresh tomato, emmenthal and rocket. So, it wouldn’t be too hard, to put that up once in a while for breakfast.
Next we have …

… we have Banana maple porridge with buttere apples. Delicious, although I didn’t manage to make it look so good on the photo. Maybe I should have used a similar perspective as in the book.
Finally, for today I have tried this one …

… Pan-toasted sandwich with tomato & fontina. That was my favourite one so far. Honestly, I didn’t use fontina cheese in this one, but another creamy and tasty one. In fact, the lady at the cheese counter couldn’t even make something of the name Fontina.
Well, that’s the way it is.
If you want to have this for breakfast, though, you have to get up early. The recipe says, you have to mix 100 ml olive oil, 4 chopped cloves of garlic, 1 chopped red chilli, salt and pepper together and then marinate slices of tomatoes for two hours in it. So you have to get up ahead … or have someone else do it for you. Sorry, I had no chance for that.
After that time, you brush one side of the bread slices with some of the oil from the tomatoes, put slices of cheese on that. Then come basil leaves, the tomatoes and another slice of bread.
Now you only have to melt butter in a pan and … of course … toast the bread in it. Why else would you call it pan-toasted sandwiches.
Finally you can eat the hot sandwiches.

Those don’t look too different than in the book. There only the cheese oozes a bit more. Maybe because it is fontina? Or maybe due to other unknown reasons? Whatever, no worries.
I reckon, the stage is set. Roughly, you have an idea of what still is to come. 
If you liked this post, keep on the lookout for more breakfast with bills or even lunch or dinner with bills.
Hm … what is this … I smell … baked goods, I smell coconut … I catch you later then …