Greek kofta’s in tomato sauce

Greek kofta's in tomato sauce
 
Author:
Makes: 4 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
Greek kofta’s
  • 400 gr minced meat
  • 25 gr milk
  • 12 gr dried bread crumbs
  • 4 gr ground cumin
  • 2 gr thyme
  • 1gr cinnamon
  • 2 gr oregano
  • 2 gr ground coriander
Sauce
  • 2 onions
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 yellow bell pepper
  • 1 courgette
  • ½ aubergine
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 70 gr tomato puree
  • 800 gr chopped tinned tomatoes
  • 2 tbspn ground cumin
  • 1 tbspn thyme
  • 1 tspn cinnamon
  • 1 tbspn oregano
  • 1 tspn sugar
Instructions
Greek kofta’s
  1. Combine the minced meat with the milk, dried bread crumbs, ground cumin, thyme, cinnamon, oregano and ground coriander.
  2. Make little balls and store in the fridge until needed (can be done overnight).
Sauce
  1. Dice the onion and chop the garlic. Dice the bell pepper and courgette.
  2. Fry the kofta’s in some oil until browned on all sides.
  3. Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft.
  4. Add the bell pepper, courgette and aubergine cook until soft.
  5. Add the bay leaf, thyme, ground cumin, cinnamon, oregano and ground coriander and salt and pepper, all to taste.
  6. Add the tomato puree and cook for a minute before adding the tinned chopped tomatoes. Simmer until the kofta’s and vegetables are cooked. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Remove the bay leaf.
  7. Serve with some cooked white rice.
Stuff to know
It is possible to cook the kofta’s ahead of time and reheat them in the sauce.
A sauce that is too thin can be thickened when you add some corn flour mixed with cold water and bring the sauce to a soft boil.
Add some black or green olives.
Use lamb mince rather than beef or pork if desired.

 

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Burger with a summer couscous salad

Burger with a summer couscous salad
 
Author:
Makes: 4 porties
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
  • 200 gr couscous
  • 400 gr water or stock
  • 2 red onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 350 gr courgette
  • 400 gr bell pepper
  • 2 tspn paprika powder
  • 2 tspn ground coriander
  • 2 tspn ground cumin
  • 100 gr dried tomatoes
  • 100 gr olives
  • 4 tbspn fresh parsley
  • 4 hamburgers
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • cucumber
  • rocket
Instructions
  1. Bring fort he couscous the water or stock to the boil. Pour the couscous into boiling water, stir once with a spoon, cover with a lid, and remove from heat. Allow to stand for 5 min or until the couscous has absorbed all the liquid and is cooked. Season if need be to taste with salt and pepper.
  2. Chop the red onion and garlic and stir fry until cooked.
  3. Dice the bell pepper and courgette finely and add to the onion. Cook until just cooked.
  4. Add the paprika powder, ground coriander, ground cumin and stir fry until they release their flavour.
  5. Stir the cooked couscous through the vegetables.
  6. Slice the dried tomatoes, olives, fresh parsley and add them to the couscous.
  7. Meanwhile, cook the burgers until done.
  8. Serve the burgers with the couscous salad, some cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber and dressed rocket leaves.
Stuff to know
This recipe will make about 4 portions.
The amount of liquid needed for the couscous varies per brand. Check the packaging for instructions.
If you use stock, be careful not to add too much salt.
A recipe to make your own burgers can be found here.

 

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Steak with Greek lentil salad

Steak with Greek lentil salad
 
Author:
Makes: 5 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
  • 2 red onions
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 yellow bell pepper
  • 2 tspn ground cumin
  • 2 tspn ground coriander
  • 2 tspn paprika powder
  • 500 gr cooked lentils
  • 2 tbspn honey
  • 1 tbspn lemon juice
  • 250 gr cherry tomatoes
  • 100 gr olives
  • 150 gr sun dried tomatoes
  • 150 gr feta
  • 4 steaks
Instructions
  1. Peel and dice the onion and garlic. Cook in some oil until translucent.
  2. Clean an dice the bell pepper. Cook with the onion until soft.
  3. Stir in the ground cumin, coriander and paprika powder and cook for a minute until fragrant.
  4. Rinse and drain the cooked lentils. Add them to the vegetables together with the honey and lemon juice to reheat them and finish cooking the vegetables.
  5. Quarter the cherry tomatoes, cut the olives in half, slice the sun dried tomatoes and crumble the feta.
  6. Meanwhile, season and pan fry pan fry the steaks to your liking and allow them to rest for a couple of minutes.
  7. Add the cherry tomatoes, olives, sun dried tomatoes and feta to the lentils and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  8. Serve the steak with the salad and some dressed rocket and cucumber on the side.
Stuff to know
This quantity will be about 4-5 portions.
If using cooked lentils, they only need to be reheated.
Don´t add to much salt since the feta and olives are salty already.
To add extra flavour, add some fresh basil to the lentil salad.
The cherry tomatoes, olives, sun dried tomatoes and feta do not need to be cooked so only add them at the very end.

 

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Winter stew with salsify and carrots, fondant potato, celeriac fritter and sprouts

Winter stew with salsify and carrots, fondant potato, celeriac fritter and sprouts
 
Author:
Makes: 5 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
Stew
  • 1 kg stewing meat
  • 50 gr butter
  • 2 onion
  • 2 carrots
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 70 gr tomato puree
  • 2 tbspn flour
  • 330 gr beer
  • 300 gr bouillon
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbspn honey
  • 1 tspn thyme
Fondant potato
  • 10 potatoes
  • 1 tbspn thyme
  • 500 gr bouillon
Vegetables
  • 5 salsify
  • ½ lemon
  • 6 carrots
  • 1 tspn honey
Celeriac fritters
  • 1 celeriac
  • ½ tspn nutmeg
  • 100 gr flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tspn milk
  • 100 gr bread crumbs (panko)
Finish
  • 5 Brussels sprouts
  • 1 salsify
Instructions
Stew
  1. Dice the meat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Brown in a large pan. Remove and set aside for later.
  2. Chop the onion, garlic and carrot. Sweat off in the meat juices until soft. Add the tomato puree and cook or a minute. Add the flour and cook for a minute. Add the beer, the meat and just enough stock or bouillon to cover. Add the bay leaf, honey, thyme and season to taste. Simmer on a low heat for 90 min or until the meat is tender.
Vegetables
  1. Was the salsify under cold running water to remove the soil. Prepare a pot with cold water and the juice of the lemon. Peel the salsify, cut into 5 cm sticks and plunge in the lemony water to prevent discolouration. Bring to the boil, drain, cool under running water and set aside in the cold water for later.
  2. Cut the carrots in similar sticks. Mix with some oil, season to taste, place on a baking tray set aside for later.
Celeriac fritters
  1. Peel the celeriac and cut into cylinders or sticks. Blanch them in boiling salted water until just cooked, drain, cool under running water and pat dry. Get ready three bowls: one with the flour, one with the beaten egg with a splash of milk and one with the bread crumbs. Dip the croquettes in the flour, shake off the excess, then in the beaten egg and finally in the bread crumbs making sure they are nicely coated. Store in the fridge until needed.
Fondant potato
  1. Peel the potatoes, cut the top and bottom off to make them cylindrical.
  2. Heat a layer of oil in the pan and colour the potatoes on one side. Turn them over to cook the other side. The top and bottom should be brown but the inside will be uncooked. Add the butter, thyme and seasoning. Add enough bouillon to come up two thirds the side of the potatoes. Finish cooking in the oven at 180°C for 30 min or until they are cooked and the stock has reduced.
Finish
  1. Taste the stew and correct if needed the seasoning. If the stew is too thin, mix some corn flour with cold water and add to the stew, allowing it to bind over a low simmer.
  2. Roast the carrots in the oven until golden and cooked.
  3. Heat a pot with oil to 180°C. Clean the last salsify as described earlier but do not parboil it. Using a mandolin, cut the salsify into paper thin strips and deep fry them until golden. Drain on paper towel and season with a pinch of salt.
  4. Deep fry the celeriac fritters at 180 °C in a couple of minutes, drain on paper towel and season with a pinch of salt.
  5. Heat a pan with some butter and honey and reheat the precooked salsify and cook until caramelized and golden. Season to taste.
  6. Remove the outer leaves from the Brussels sprouts.
  7. Place the stew on the plate, put the fondant potato around en finish the plate with the salsify, carrots, celeriac fritters, salsify crisps and leaves.
Stuff to know
Use beef or game for the stew.
It is possible, even recommended, to prepare the stew, fondant potatoes, salsify and celeriac fritters ahead of time. Add the bouillon when the fondants are ready to go in the oven. Reheat the stew, roast the carrots and deep fry the fritters when needed.
Preferably, use panko breadcrumbs for the fritters because they give a better result when frying.
The salsify is a rather unknown vegetable that was quite comment before the second world war but who feel out of grace after the war. Preparing the vegetable is a bit tricky. When peeled, a white sticky substance will be released and the white salsify will rapidly discolor, hence the lemony water. Wearing gloves when handling them is a sound precaution. The vegetable is typical for the winter time.


 

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Steak and ale pie

Steak and ale pie
 
Author:
Makes: 6 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
  • 500 gr beef
  • 200 gr mushrooms
  • 2 onion
  • 2 garlic
  • 1 celery stick
  • 1 carrot
  • 100 gr swede
  • 40 gr butter
  • 40 gr tomato puree
  • 40 gr flour
  • 250 ml ale
  • 200 ml beef stock
  • 1 tbspn Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tbspn thyme
  • 2 tbspn parsley
  • 100 gr potato
  • 350 gr puff pastry
  • 1 egg
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven at the oven at 160 °C. Dice the beef and quarter the mushrooms. Heat the oil and brown the meat in a frying pan. Remove the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon. Fry the mushrooms in the same pan and remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Transfer both to the oven tray.
  2. Peel and dice the onion and garlic, swede, carrot and celery and sweat off in the same pan until softened. Add the flour and cook out for several minutes
  3. Add the tomato puree and cook out for several minutes. Add the ale, stock and Worcestershire sauce to the pan and bring to a simmer. Scrape the tasty bits of the bottom and pour everything in the oven tray.
  4. Add the bay leaf, thyme and salt and pepper to taste. There should be enough liquid to just cover the meat.
  5. Cover the oven tray with a lit and stew the beef for 3 hours in the oven at 160 °C or until the meat is very tender. Let the stew cool completely, preferably overnight.
  6. Peel and dice the potatoes, cook untill just tender, drain and cool.
  7. Preheat the oven at 180 °C.
  8. Divide the beef stew and potatoes between the individual oven dishes. Sprinkle the parsley on top.
  9. Roll out the puff pastry and cut out lits that fit neatly on top of the oven dishes. Place the lid on the oven dishes and brush them with the beaten egg.
  10. Bake the pies for 20 min in the oven until the puff pastry is cooked and the filling is hot.
  11. Serve with a green veg of your choice and maybe some extra potatoes.
Stuff to know
Make the stew ahead of time to allow it to cool completely before adding the puff pastry lits.That way, the puff pastry cooks better.
It is best to stew the beef in the oven rather than on the stove.

 

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Boeuf bourguignon

Boeuf bourguignon
 
Author:
Makes: 5 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
  • 3 tbspn olive oil
  • 600 gr stewing beef
  • 2 onions
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 3 carrots
  • 2 celery sticks
  • 30 gr butter
  • 30 gr flour
  • 375 ml red wine
  • 250 ml beef stock
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 3 tspn thyme
  • 1 tbpsn tomato pasta
  • 400 gr mushrooms
Instructions
  1. Dice the meat and season.
  2. Brown the meat in batches in the olive oil.
  3. Dice onion, carrot, celery and brown in the meat juices.
  4. Add the flour, mix to a thick paste and cook for a minute.
  5. Add the wine, stock, garlic, tomato puree bay leave and thyme. Bring to the boil, scrape all the tasty bits from the bottom of the pan and bring the sauce to the boil. Return the meat to the pan.
  6. Stew the meat in the oven at 150°C for 3 hours or until tender. At this point, you can cool the sauce down and refrigerate for later use.
  7. Slice the mushrooms. When ready to serve, stir fry the mushrooms. Reheat the sauce and add the mushrooms to it. Season to taste.
  8. Garnish the dish with fresh parsley and serve with the rice.
Stuff to know
Stewing the beef in the oven is the most gentle way.
You can correct the sauce by stirring in some cornstarch mixed with cold water. The sauce will thicken when boiling.
Serve with pasta or new potatoes.
Traditionally, a red burgundy wine is used tor this dish.

 

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Beef stew stroganoff

Beef stew stroganoff
 
Author:
Makes: 4 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
  • 400 gr beef
  • 2 onions
  • 2 garlic
  • 250 gr mushrooms
  • 2 bell peppers
  • 2 tbspn paprika powder
  • 2 tbspn tomato paste
  • 250 ml water
  • 200 ml tinned tomatoes
  • 1 beef stock cube
  • 15 ml Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tbspn paprika powder
  • 15 gr oil
  • 125 ml crème fraîche
  • 2 tbspn corn starch
  • 1 tbspn water
  • 4 gherkins
  • 2 tbspn parsley
Instructions
  1. Cut the meat into strips and season with salt, pepper and paprika powder.
  2. Stir fry the meat until nicely brown.
  3. Dice the onion and garlic and sweat off in the same pan. Add paprika powder.
  4. Transfer the meat and veg to an oven dish. Add the tinned tomatoes, and some beef stock and cook in the oven at 150°C until the meat is tender, for about 2 or 3 hours. Season to taste. Cool the sauce and refrigerate if not needed right away.
  5. Slice the mushroom and bell peppers and stir fry with some salt, peer and paprika powder.
  6. Reheat the sauce (if cooled down) and add the mushroom and bell peppers to the pan.
  7. Correct the thickness of the sauce if need be by stirring in some corn starch mixed with cold water. The sauce will thicken when boiling.
  8. When ready to serve, finish the stroganoff with the crème fraîche and some chopped fresh parsley. Check the seasoning.
  9. Spoon the stroganoff on the plate and garnish with a gherkin. Serve with rice, pasta or new potatoes.
Stuff to know
Use quick cook frying steak for a quick version of this dish.
Stewing the beef first and add the mushrooms and bell pepper later to avoid them becoming soggy.
Use chicken instead of beef.
Add one tbspn vodka.

 

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Beef pasties

Beef pasties
 
Author:
Makes: 12 portions
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
 
Ingredients
Filling
  • 730 gr stewing beef
  • 125 gr celery
  • 125 gr carrot
  • 125 gr onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 125 gr swede
  • 1 tspn paprika powder
  • 50 gr tomato paste
  • 200 gr tomato passata
  • 1 tspn Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tbspn thyme
Pastry
  • 500 gr plain white flour
  • 200 gr butter
  • 1 egg
  • 160 gr cold water
  • 5 gr salt
Finish:
  • 1 egg
Instructions
Filling
  1. For the filling, brown off the diced stewing beef. Finely dice carrot, celery, onion, garlic and swede and cook with the beef.
  2. Add the paprika powder, tomato paste and tomato passata with the Worcestershire sauce to the pan and mix to combine.
  3. Stew in the oven for 2 hours or until the meat is soft. Leave to cool and store until needed.
Pastry
  1. Crumble the flour and butter together.
  2. Mix in the egg, cold water, salt and the water.
  3. Bring this together into a smooth dough, cling film this and keep in the fridge until cold and firm enough to handle (about 30 min).
Finish:
  1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
  2. On a floured surface, roll out the pastry and using the pastry mould as a cutter, cut out the discs. Place a disc in the mould (floured side down), moisten the edge with a little bit of cold water and place a tablespoon of filling in the centre. Close the mould and press down to seal the edges.
  3. Open the mould, remove the pastie and place on the baking tray. Egg wash the pasties and bake at 180 °C for 30 min or until golden brown and fully cooked.
Stuff to know
Finely dice the vegetables for the filling to make filling the pasties easier.
If the filling is to moist, drain off excess moisture in a colander. A cold filling will keep the dough from warming up when making the pasties and becoming too soft to work with
It is perfectly possible to freeze the pasties after baking.
Leave the beef out for the vegetarian version.
Add diced chorizo and/or chopped chillies for a more spicy version.

 

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