Chicken stuffed with Fetta and Spinach

I have mentioned in passing that I was overseas for a period of time recently. I went to South Africa again and travelled around a bit.

Firstly we stayed a few days in a self-catering cabin the mountains in a farming community, beautiful, misty mornings, green grass, cool weather, rocky gardens, horses, dams stocked with bass, just lovely. Not very ‘African’ though, more like England.

We moved on and spent the second half of our visit at a game lodge with much more of an ‘African’ atmosphere. It was called Shayamoya .

Visit the Shayamoya web page!

There were game drives and boat cruises, tigerfish fishing trips or even in house massage available all of which was very enjoyable (except the massages, I don’t go in for all that touchy feely stuff, I am sure if I did they would have been wonderful though, everything else was). The rooms were comfortable and private (with private outdoor showers, which I loved. There is a bath inside if you are not so inclined)

But of course the one thing that I would take note of over all others was the food and it was well worth the notice! The kitchen staff, under their head chef, outdid themselves night after night. Everything that came out of that kitchen was amazing, even on the night that a snake took up residence under the refrigerator and put a real scare into the staff, they danced around it and still managed to prepare a meal fit for kings.

The gardens that the cabins were set in were beautifully maintained and contained a very interesting collection of aloes and other plants, clearly marked with their names and the view over the wetlands was amazing from our balcony.
It was honestly one of the most relaxing and enjoyable holidays I have ever had and I have to shout out a big thank you to Lindy and her staff for making it so lovely and enjoyable. Trust me, I will be telling everyone, if you want somewhere great to spend a holiday that is relatively inexpensive (at least compared to Australia) book yourself into Shayamoya, you won’t regret it for a second. And the food is fabulous!

Chicken stuffed with Fetta and Spinach

2x chicken breasts
Baby Spinach
Chili Marinated Fetta
Parmesan Cheese

Cut a pocket into each chicken breast. Stuff with as much spinach and fetta as it will hold.
Sprinkle with parmesan and pour a little of the fetta oil over each breast.
Bake in a moderate oven until cooked through.

Garlic Butter Beans

Green beans
Butter
Garlic
Salt & Pepper

Cut green beans as desired (slicing them lengthwise is nice if you have the patience)
Boil or steam to your preferred crispness.
Drain and stir in butter and garlic.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Zucchini with Ajvar

Just a steak and some simple vegetables. A left over zucchini actually and a couple of less than perfect tomatoes with the nasty bits cut off.
I cooked the steak on the barbeque with salt and pepper whole I prepared the vegetables in a frying pan inside. Super quick, super easy, super yummy!

Zucchini with Ajvar
1 ½ zucchini quartered and then sliced
knob of butter
2x tomatoes diced
2 large dessertspoons of Ajvar (or vegetable relish of choice)
Salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pan. Add zucchini and tomato.
Cook until vegetables are becoming soft.
Add Ajvar and stir thoroughly until warmed through.
Salt & Pepper to taste
Serve with meat of choice (or on top of spinach leaves like my daughter had it)

Baked Sweet Potato Shoestring Fries

It’s been a long while since I posted. Time is seemingly flying passed at an accelerated rate these days and finding the time to fit everything in is just not happening easily.

First of all a new grocers opened up near where I live. This changed my life. Access to good quality, cheap produce is something that has been a serious problem for me for quite a while. Produce was available but it was in no way near the quality that I craved mainly because things were never ripe as opposed to the opposite. So I changed my diet. I decided that with summer upon us here it was time to start eating healthier and lighter. I was worried that this would leave me no meals to write about because who wants to read about someone’s ‘diet’. But it isn’t like that at all, I am not pushing healthy eating or being a preachy weight loss fanatic, I just needed something less stodgy now that the hot weather is here so pretty much my carbs have taken a hike and vegies, meats, cheeses and dairy have come to stay for a while. Frankly, right at the moment, in 44C heat, I don’t miss my cakes and biscuits at all, the bread I miss a bit but I am actually loving my food and eating truckloads of it. I am ALWAYS hungry. The amount of times I trek to the grocers, I should have shares in the place.

Since this happened I have also been overseas, had two Christmases and celebrated the New Year. I also had a couple of weeks off over the holiday season, the same as a lot of other people. Enough to feel refreshed and relaxed now that I am back in the office and just enough to begin to think how nice it would be to not have to go back at all.

Another Jimmy’s steak came out of the bottom of the deep freeze the other day and was delightfully barbequed by my husband. I knocked up a batch of sweet potato fries to go with, simple yet fabulous.

Baked Sweet Potato Shoestring Fries

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 5mm strips
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Combine oil, spices and potatoes in a large bowl; toss well.
Arrange potato strips in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 200 degrees for 30 minutes or until edges are crisp.

Crispy Fish and Roasted Cauliflower

Another mayonnaise coated marvel! This time the mayo was cut with milk which made it a bit easier to coat the fish with it. The lemon pepper was the star of the show flavouring the breadcrumbs strongly as it is wont to do. I used cod fish for this recipe, its tender yet firm texture lends itself well to being crumbed and baked in the oven.

I am really loving this mayonnaise/crumb technique, it is simple and much quicker and easier (in my opinion) than the old flour/egg/crumb technique. The flavour of the mayonnaise doesn’t seem to come through strongly or at all and the crumb sticks beautifully.

I served this with wedges that I oven roasted from the last 3 potatoes that I had on hand (time to go shopping) and oven roasted cauliflower.

Just in case you have never tried it (I hadn’t until then) oven roasted cauliflower is awesome! I’d seen it done before but never tried it. The lack of potatoes spurred me on to try something new and the cauliflower was in the fridge. I’ve put that recipe below also.

 

Crispy Fish

Oil cooking spray
2 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup fine dried bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
750g boned, skinned fish fillet, rinsed and patted dry.

Spray a nonstick baking sheet with cooking spray. In a bowl, whisk mayonnaise and milk.
In another bowl, mix bread crumbs, salt, and lemon pepper.
Dip each piece of fish into mayonnaise mixture, turning to coat, then roll in bread-crumb mixture, turning to coat.
Place pieces slightly apart on baking sheet and spray lightly with cooking spray.
Bake on the top rack of a 250C oven until surface is browned and fish is opaque but still moist-looking in the center (cut to test), 12 to 14 minutes.

 

Roasted Cauliflower

1 large head cauliflower
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely-ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 180C. Rinse cauliflower; break or slice into florets.
In a large bowl or re-sealable plastic bag, mix together cauliflower slices, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread in a single layer in a non-stick baking dish, or aluminum foil lined rimmed baking sheet.
Bake prepared cauliflower approximately 20 to 25 minutes, turning every once, or until cauliflower is browned or caramelized on edges and tender.
Remove from oven and serve warm or at room temperature.

Cauliflower Cheese

Our trend of vegetable rich meals was furthered with a hearty dish of cauliflower cheese after a particularly nice looking cauliflower caught my daughters eye at the supermarket. Not feeling overly much like any meat we decided that a big bowl of cauliflower cheese on its own would suffice for dinner, so that is what we did.

I think the addition of nutmeg to this recipe should be optional, I am not sure that I love the flavour, I think if you do choose to use it then you need to be very careful that you don’t over do it. No-one wants cauliflower cheese that tastes like it is trying to be a custard.

 

Cauliflower Cheese

Serves 4

1 large Cauliflower, trimmed
300 ml Milk
3 Tbsp Plain flour
50g Butter
100g Cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and black pepper
Mustard powder pinch
Grated nutmeg pinch

Cook the cauliflower in boiling salted water for 10-15 minutes until tender.
Drain and place in a flameproof dish.
Meanwhile, place the milk, flour and butter in a saucepan.
Heat, stirring continuously until the sauce thickens, boils and is smooth.
Cook for a further 2 minutes.
Add about three-quarters of the grated cheese to the sauce.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the mustard and nutmeg.
Stir and cook for another minute.
Pour the sauce over the cauliflower. Sprinkle the remaining cheese
over the sauce. Grill until golden.
Serve immediately.

Easy Meat and Vegetable Lasagna

Continuing to get our veggies in my daughter and I decided to throw together a lasagne and cram in as many veggies as we could. After a slice each, this was vacuum packed in portions and popped into the freezer for a later date.

I love having meals in the freezer, ready to go. They are great when you are just not feeling like cooking, or to give to people when they need a little help.

Easy Meat and Vegetable Lasagna

Instant lasagna noodles (the dry ones)
500g beef mince
1 onion, diced
1 zucchini, grated
2 carrots, grated
6 button mushrooms, sliced
400g tin crushed tomatoes
1 clove garlic, crushed
400ml jar of spaghetti sauce
500g ricotta cheese
grated cheese

Fry onion and garlic in a frypan. Add beef mince and fry off until brown.
Add vegetables and mushrooms and fry until tender.
Add tomatoes and spaghetti sauce and stir to combine. Turn flame to low and cook for 5mins with a lid on the pan.
Put a thin layer of the mince mixture on the base of lasagna pan and cover with sheets of noodles.
Cover noodles with a thicker layer using half of the meat sauce and then sprinkle over with half the ricotta and 1/3 of the grated cheese.
Cover with another layer of noodles.
Top with remaining mince, ricotta and finish with a layer of grated cheese.
Heat the oven to 200C and cook the lasagne for 30 mins, reduce heat to 150C and cook for a further 20 mins.

Mushroom Parcels

This was last night’s dinner, whipped up with help of imagination and a recipe that wasn’t really anything like this but got me thinking…

As you can tell, my mushroom and vegetable phobic husband is not at home so my daughter and I are indulging in vegetable laden meals all of which include mushrooms. True to my belief that anything tastes better if you wrap it in pastry, this turned out a treat and used up some ingredients that were getting toward their use by dates.

Mushroom Parcels

2 sheets of puff pastry
1 Tbsp olive oil
8 button mushrooms
3 spring onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
1 cup ricotta
2 handfuls of spinach
1/2 cup grated cheese
salt
freshly ground black pepper
milk

Preheat the oven to 220C.
Cut each pastry sheet into 2 large triangles.
To make the filling, heat the oil in a large frying pan and gently sauté the onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes, add the mushrooms and cook for a further two minutes.
Add the spinach and heat gently for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Season to taste, turn off the heat and then stir in the ricotta and cheese.
Spoon the mixture on to one half of each pastry triangle, brush edges with milk, fold over and press open sides closed. Brush tops with a little milk.
Place in oven for 20mins or until golden and crisp.

Zucchini Timbale

I case you can’t tell from the photo, the recipe of the day was the little zucchini do-dad sitting pretty there with its little garnish of quick tomato coulis, not the deeply marinated steak with Jimmy’s sauce that sits in front. To digress, I have spoken of Jimmy’s sauce before and you should really give it a try. Anyway, back to the zucchini.

This little Timbale (learned something new! Thought a timbale was just a drum, turns out it’s a drum shaped food also) was easy and delicious (my daughter and I ate 2 each!) and done in the microwave to make it a speedy dish also. It’s a great way to use zucchini and I will certainly do it again. The coulis I made with a tin of crushed tomatoes as I abhor peeling tomatoes.

 

Zucchini Timbales with Tomato Coulis

8 small (500g) zucchini (I used 2 bigger ones, about 600g in all)
300g carton sour cream (used up that carton I bought for the brownies)
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
4 eggs

Tomato Coulis
2 tomatoes, peeled, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons’ tomato paste

Puree zucchini in blender or processor, place in bowl, cook on HIGH 5 minutes, drain well, pressing out as much liquid as possible, place in bowl.
Stir in sour cream, parmesan cheese, basil and lightly beaten eggs.
Divide mixture between 6 individual dishes (1/2 cup capacity), cover each dish;
cook on MEDIUM-LOW 5 minutes. (Mine made 8 of these and took about 8 mins to cook properly)
Turn onto serving plates, spoon Tomato Coulis around each one.
Garnish with slice of zucchini and tomato if desired.

Tomato Coulis: Combine tomatoes, garlic and tomato paste in bowl, cook on HIGH 5 minutes and puree in blender or processor, strain.
(I didn’t process or strain my coulis; I like the chunkier rustic feel)

Fungi pies for one

This was just waiting for my husband to be away. He HATES mushrooms, go figure.
I went to the supermarket last week and mushrooms were on special, half price in fact, so 1 ½ kg of them found their way into my basket (don’t ever say I don’t do things in the extreme). I knew I had a week coming up when the husband would be absent so a plan was hatched to enjoy some mushroom pies while he was gone. I have a pie maker so it makes the casing in pastry bit really easy.

By mushroom pies I don’t mean beef and mushroom or chicken and mushroom, these were to be full on, nothing but, good old fungus pies. Oh and they are delicious, good hot, surprisingly good cold too. The husband has been warned not to attempt to touch any homemade pies he comes across in the freezer when he arrives home, they will NOT be to his liking.

This recipe made 24 pies so I had enough to freeze for a later easy dinner item, meat pie for him, mushroom pie for me. Perfect!

Mushroom Pies

1 1/2kg mushrooms, sliced (do it with a food processor for goodness sake!)
4 onions, diced
50 g butter
2 tsps dry vegetable stock
2 tsps cornflour
½ cup water
salt & pepper
1 good bunch of parsley (from the garden), chopped
12 sheets of store bought puff pastry

Microwave the onions in the butter for 2 mins (or cook them in a big pot, I would have but I’d already dumped my mushrooms in it before I decided I needed the onion).
Place (maybe not dump) your mushrooms in a large pot along with the onions and butter.
Cook over a low heat until the mushrooms reduce and go soft.
Stir the stock and cornflour into the water and add to the mushrooms, stirring constantly.
Season with salt and pepper and stir in the parsley.
If you are lucky enough to have a pie maker then each sheet of pastry will make 2 pies. If not then make small or large pies as you desire.
Bake in the oven at 180C until golden brown.

Dinner from the garden

This is a quick roasted cherry tomato salad that my daughter and I enjoyed on toast for dinner last night. The main ingredients are from my little veggie patch so it was not only delicious but very satisfying, especially when I was asked to go and make another batch for seconds.

The cherry tomatoes are almost the last of this year’s crop and the basil comes from the patch too. I am hoping I can keep the basil going for a little while longer yet but I am busily stashing leaves away in the freezer to give us a little taste of the summer months in the winter to come.

Roasted Cherry Tomato Salad

30 cherry tomatoes, halved
small bunch of Basil leaves, chopped
Salt & Pepper
½ tsp crushed garlic
Drizzle of olive oil

Place garlic and oil in a small casserole dish. Toss in tomatoes and basil.
Stir to combine well.
Season with salt & pepper.
Cover and microwave for 2 minutes.
Serve on toast or as a side salad.