Slow Cooked Peppers With Chorizo

I had a bag of mixed peppers sitting in my fridge and instead of the usual plain oven roasting technique, I thought I'd come up with a different take on it.

These peppers could be served as a crostini on some toasted garlic bread slices for a party or just as an accompaniment to a grilled chicken or fish..

Slow Cooked Peppers With Chorizo

Ingredients:
1 red, green and yellow bell pepper
6-7 cloves of garlic
3 inch piece of spicy chorizo cut into cubes
1 tbsp of balsamic white vinegar
A few sprigs of thyme
1 vegetable stock cube
Pepper and salt to taste


Method:
Heat olive oil in a casserole dish. Add your garlic but sauté lightly as you don't want the garlic to burn. Add in the peppers, and cook till softened on a medium heat. Then add the cube (I didn't add it too  early as I didn't want the peppers to burn). Add the chorizo also at this point. 

Adding chorizo too early in the cooking process can make it tough and rubbery. Throw in the thyme and add a tbsp of white vinegar. 

Give it another 5 mins or so on the stove and you are done. Check if your dish requires more salt and season with pepper. Remove the sprigs of thyme and serve.

Pumpkin With Chorizo and Sage

You could use sweet potato instead of pumpkin. This dish didn't require a lot of effort, the most difficult part was taking out the skin of the pumpkin :-) which was easily cut off with a sharp knife.
This dish will go well with a roast chicken or any other continental dish.

Pumpkin with chorizo and sage

Ingredients:
1/4 kilo of pumpkin (or just a ready sliced piece)
chorizo, diced into cubes
handful of fresh sage leaves
pinch of sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Method:
In a wok, heat some oil and toss in the chorizo and pumpkin. Keep the heat slightly high, so the pumpkin caramelizes nicely. Season with salt and pepper and throw in the sage leaves. Saute till done.

Hot Dogs With Caramelised Onions And Blue Cheese

A quick and simple last minute dinner dish. You can use any kind of sausage meat you prefer. I made this recipe for 2 people, so if you are making for more or less people, adjust quantities accordingly. You need not add all of the ingredients or sauces, just choose the ones you like and omit the others or add in some of your favourites instead.

Hot Dogs with Caramelised onions and blue cheees

Ingredients:
hot dog buns
sausages
mustard sauce
ketchup
butter
blue cheese
tabasco
2 large onions
jalapenos from a jar
1 tsp brown sugar or regular sugar
2 tsps balsamic vinegar
2 tsps pomegranate molasses
salt to taste


Method:
To caramelize the onions; chop the onions in half rings. Sauté the onions in a little oil or butter. Add the sugar, vinegar, pomegranate molasses and a pinch of salt. Fry till the onions get a nice deep brown colour. For an extra kick, drizzle a few dots of tabasco or your favourite chilli sauce. Set aside.

Place the sausages in a pot of water and boil for 5 mins. Drain and then fry on a low heat with a little oil till nice and golden. Remove and set aside.

Butter the hot dog buns and place in an oven proof tray. Spread one side with mustard and the other with ketchup. Add a few of the caramelized onions then place the sausage on top. Top with more onions, jalapenos, tabasco (if you like more spice) and blue cheese.

Set the oven to broil (where only the top grill of the oven works). Place the hot dogs in the oven for about 5 mins. Watch and check till the bread is golden and the cheese has melted.

Polenta With Bacon And Spring Onions

This was my first attempt at polenta and I was surprised at how easy it is to make. You just need a strong hand to stir the dish constantly and you're done. Kids love it, as it has the consistency and taste of mashed potatoes. You could add anything you wanted, and it will just absorb whatever flavor you add to it. I made the dish in a big non stick casserole so I didn't have any issue of it sticking to the dish.

This version can used as a substitute for mashed potatoes, or you could even try using it as a topping for a shepherds pie or any similar kind of dish.

Polenta with Bacon and Spring Onions

Ingredients:
1 cup polenta or yellow cornmeal
4 cups of water
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp of butter
1 stock cube

1/2 cup of diced bacon
few spring onions thinly sliced

Method:
Fry the bacon in a small frying pan, with a tiny bit of oil. Fry it to the texture you like your bacon. Some like it crisp, others like it just lightly fried. Add in the spring onions and give it a quick stir. Remove and set aside.

In a large non stick casserole, bring the 4 cups of water to a boil. Alternatively, you could add 4 cups of boiling water from your kettle. Add in the stock cube. Very slowly, sprinkle in the polenta, stirring constantly with a non stick whisk. Do not worry if you get a few lumps, they disappear as you keep whisking. Continue stirring till you add in all the polenta. Now add in the butter, for some extra flavor. You can also add in the milk at this point. Adjust the milk according to the consistency you want the polenta to be. Add more milk if you want it to be like soft mashed potatoes.

Add in the fried bacon and leeks. Give it a good stir, and serve warm.

Chorizo With Baby Peas

I have mentioned earlier, that I like to buy frozen petite pois (baby peas) as I find the kids love them and the skin on the peas are not too tough to eat. They take very little time to cook as they are very tender and sweet.

Chorizo is a dried spanish sausage that is seasoned with spices. Another handy addition to always have in the fridge. You don't need to use a lot at a time. Store the balance in a ziploc plastic bag in the fridge and it will stay good for a really long time.

Chorizo with baby peas

Ingredients:
4 cups of frozen petite pois (baby peas)
1/2 an onion cut fine
2-3 cloves of garlic cut fine
Chorizo cut in very small dices
Salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper powder to taste

Method:
In a casserole, heat oil. Add in the garlic and the chorizo and saute till soft. Do not over fry the chorizo or it will get hard and rubbery. Add in the onion and cook till transluscent. Add in the peas and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook for 5 mins till the peas are done.

Baked Mashed Potatoes With Bacon And Chives

Bacon, as always makes any dish special. It gives this dish that oomph and takes it from a boring mash to a really tasty one.

Baked Mashed Potatoes With Bacon And Chives

Ingredients:
2 large potatoes
bacon cut really fine
chives or the green part of a spring onion
1/2 to 1 cup of milk
salt to taste
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese

Method:
Boil the potatoes till soft. I did mine in a pressure cooker. For that, put the potatoes in a pressure cooker, cover with water till it just touches the top of the potato. Never fill a pressure cooker more than 3/4s of the way up with liquid. Put the lid on, and put it on the heat on the highest setting. Once it whistles lower and time for 12 - 15 mins. The very big potatoes might take 15 mins. For small ones, 10 mins should do.

Pressure cookers are dangerous and need to be handled with care so this is what I usually do when I need to open it; to release the steam you need to lift off the counterweight gradually and bleed off the steam, I usually do this by levering the weight with a fork and adjusting it to let out the steam gently or just run the sides of the cooker under water until it has suffficiently cooled down to reduce the pressure in the cooker.

Do NOT attempt to open the cooker without letting off the steam as this could result in some serious steam burns.

Remove the skin and mash with a fork in a bowl. Season with salt. Add the milk till it reaches a nice soft consistency.

Fry the bacon in a small pan. You may not need to add any oil if a lot of oil comes out. Fry till its nice and golden but just short of being crisp. The bacon should not become too hard.

Add the cooled bacon into the potato mash along with some finely chopped chives. Then add in the parmesan cheese and put the mixture in a baking dish. You can at this point, sprinkle more parmesan cheese on the top.

Baked Mashed Potatoes With Bacon and Chives

You can clingwrap the dish and store it in the fridge if you plan to make it later in the day..

Preheat the oven to 350F. Put the mash in the oven and leave for 30 - 45 mins, checking on it to make sure it doesn't brown too much. It will not change colour too much as I haven't put any topping on the mash.

The dish doesn't need much cooking as all the ingredients are already cooked. It just needs to be warmed through.

Spinach And Bacon Rice

This is a great way to get your kids to eat their veggies. Most kids love rice and mine in particular love this recipe. You can omit the bacon to keep it vegetarian, or substitute it for sausages or chorizo.

Spinach and Bacon Rice

Ingredients:
2 bundles of spinach leaves (you can use just one bundle too)
1 large onion chopped fine
3-4 cloves of garlic chopped fine
few strips of bacon chopped fine
4 cups rice
stock cube 

Method:
Wash the rice till the water runs clear, and soak for half an hour. Finely chop the spinach leaves. If the stalks are too thick, I do not add them.

 In a pressure cooker, heat oil, add in the bacon and saute for a little while till it releases some of the oil. Add in the onions and the garlic, and saute some more. Add in the finely chopped spinach. The spinach will release some of its natural water and reduce in size. Add in the cubes (I used two boxes of maggi cubes - each box contains two cubes).
Add in the water. I added double the quantity of water + 1 extra cup. So if you are using 4 cups of rice, then 8 cups of water and 1 more. Thats 9 in total.

Take off the whistle from the lid of the pressure cooker. I make my rice in the pressure cooker without the whistle. 

Close the cooker (without the whistle) and turn the heat to its highest setting. After about 5 mins, you should see a steady stream of steam coming out from the lid (wait till the steam flows up in a straight line).  At this point, lower the heat to the lowest setting and time for 10 mins. After 10 mins, open the cooker and fluff the rice with a fork. Its ready to serve..

Spinach and bacon rice

Cabbage With Bacon And Eggs

This is another dish the kids will enjoy. As with all my recipes, its an easy one to make. Unusual combinations of flavours with the bacon and eggs thrown in, but funnily it works so well. Who doesn't love bacon and eggs.. Throw in a veggie, and no one will be able to resist.. A sneaky way to get the kids to eat those veggies too.

Cabbage with bacon and eggs

Ingredients:
1 small cabbage or half a big one
bacon diced small (add as much as you would like.. I usually add around 2 or 3 strips of bacon)
3 eggs
1 stock cube (you could use a chicken or vegetable stock cube), or replace completely with salt
dash of pepper powder

Method:
Shred or finely chop the cabbage. Break the eggs in a bowl add a pinch of salt and pepper and a dash of milk. Adding milk to eggs keeps them soft and tender. In the same casserole that you would be cooking the cabbage in, heat some oil. Pour the egg mixture and scramble the eggs. Remove them from the casserole and reserve in a plate or bowl. By using the same casserole, it will save you having to wash another pan.

Add in a little more oil and then fry the bacon in the same casserole. When nice and golden, add in the cabbage and the cube. Cover and cook on slow, checking and stiring once in a while to make sure it doesnt stick to the bottom. It should be ready in 10 mins. Season with a dash of pepper powder, check if it needs more salt and then add in the previously scrambled eggs. Give it a good mix and your dish is ready.

Cheat's pizza on the run

Kids adore this one. You can get them involved in making it too. Get the older ones to cut the frankfurters and the mushrooms and drizzle the ketchup. They love being a part of this dish.

All you need is toppings of your choice and some store bought frozen pizza. I always keep a couple of them in my freezer. I buy the Dr. Oetker's quattre formaggi (four cheese) or the formaggi & pomodori (tomato cheese and basil).

This way you have a good cheese base ready for your toppings. The ones I have used below are kid friendly but you could add anything from chorizo to some rocket leaves, boiled egg.... the list is endless.

Cheat's Pizza on the Run

Ingredients:
4 frankfurters
2 mushrooms
2 slices ham
ketchup

Method:
Boil the frankfurters in water for about 5 -10 mins. Drain and slice them on the diagonal. Cut the mushrooms in slices and chop the ham. Arrange on the frozen pizza. Drizzle with ketchup (for the kids) or chilli sauce (for the adults). Using ketchup gives it a fresh burst of flavour.

Cook according to packet instructions. If you like, set the oven on broil for a few minutes to give the top of the pizza some extra cooking time. Give it a maximum of 3 minutes on the broil, keeping an eye on it, as it can burn easily if you wander off.

Serve hot.

Mac And Cheese With A Twist!

This dish can get very heavy and rich to eat so for those counting calories, it may not be for you. All kids love the good ol mac n cheese, but to give this a twist, I am going to add in some spicy spanish chorizo and a few chopped mushrooms.

Its quick and easy and a good last minute dish to make if you have nothing in your fridge. I always keep some chorizo at home. (to store any balance chorizo, I put it in a ziploc bag and store it in the fridge. It keeps for ages this way) It gives any dish that oomph, kinda like bacon does, especially when the dish is bland.

Mac and Cheese with a Twist

Ingredients:
250gms elbow macaroni
2 cups of grated cheddar cheese
chorizo chopped
4-5 mushrooms chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 can of evaporated milk

Method:
Cook the macaroni according to the packet instructions. Drain, reserving some of the liquid, about a cup should do.

In a casserole, saute the chorizo and mushrooms in olive oil. Add salt to taste. Add in the cooked macaroni and the pasta water. Adding the water will help to create a nice sauce. Add in the milk. If you dont have evaporated milk, you could use normal milk and some cream. Add in the grated cheddar. Season with freshly ground pepper and check if you need to add more salt.

Serve this dish piping hot.

Bacon And Pea Fried Rice

This is a simple recipe that will go with any continental style cuisine or even an Asian one. A key to note with all stir fried rice, is to have a day old white rice that has been chilled in the fridge and added cold to the stir fry. This helps maintain the shape of the grains of rice and prevents it from all sticking together. For this recipe I used petite pois (baby peas). They melt in your mouth and the kids don't mind eating these as they are much sweeter than the bigger ones.

Bacon and Pea Fried Rice

Ingredients:
Precooked white rice for 6 portions
3-4 cloves of garlic chopped fine
2 onions chopped fine
3 maggie stock cubes(adjust according to quantity cooked)
Bacon cut fine
Peas, frozen

Method:
In a large non stick pot, fry the bacon in a little oil till slightly crisp. Remove and add the onions and garlic in the same pot. When transluscent, add the cubes and bacon and peas straight from the freezer. Lastly add the white rice and give it a quick toss about. Don't mess with it too much at this point coz you don't want it to get mushy.