Thai shrimp soup

The last few weekends we switched for fish and sea food, since we have time to go to the market and buy fresh fish there. So today I got shrimps and made a very nice Thai soup. And it actually smelled like Thai, cause other times I tried some recipes and even though they were nice it didn't smell authentic. Well this time it was great! :)

INGREDIENTS:

350 gr shrimps, peeled

1.5 liter fish stock

4 lemon grass stalks, chopped into 2 cm pieces

3 limes

2 chilly peppers

2 cm piece fresh ginger, finely chopped

6 coriander stalks with leaves

1 tbsp rice vinegar

3 tbsp oyster sauce

2-3 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

1. Pour the stock in a large pot and bring to the boil.

2. With a vegetable peeler peel off 3-4 strips of lime rind. Squeeze the limes and reserve the juice.

3. Add the lemon grass, lime rind, chillies, ginger and coriander stalks to the stock and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Remove the lime ring from the pot.

4. Add the shrimps, vinegar, oyster sauce and half of the lime juice. Simmer for 5 minutes.

5. Remove the coriander stalks from the pot and discard.

6. Taste the broth and add more lime juice if necessary. Serve with some extra coriander.

Stuffed mushrooms

With all the fuss about the e.coli and the uncertainty weather it comes from vegetables or not, I realized that I've been cooking too much meat lately. Therefore, the dinner this weekend was almost completely vegetarian. However, I cooked mushrooms which are said to be the "meat of the poor".

For one more time, I tried recreating my mom's recipe of stuffed mushrooms. I can not remember when particularly this recipe made it's debut on our dinner table, but it was reoccurring from time to time, each time with a little twist.

So, since the weekend was all about vegetarian food, I thought these mushrooms would be just a great idea. Unfortunately, I could not get mom on the phone since she had a long shift at the hospital. So, the only solution was to improvise. I think, I managed to remember most of the ingredients and the result resembled quit closely the original thing. I could not resist adding some bacon to the stuffing, but you could skip it for a vegetarian version.

INGREDIENTS:

15 large (about 4-5cm in diameter) champignon mushrooms, washed

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small zucchini, very finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 red paprika, very finely chopped (optional)

5 slices bacon or smoked ham, finely chopped

3-4 tbsp creme fraiche or sour cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

salt, ground black and red pepper to taste

1. Remove the stems from the mushrooms, set the caps aside and finely dice the stems.

2. In a heavy sauce pan heat the oil.

3. Add the onions and cook on average heat until soft.

4. Stir in the diced mushroom stems, zucchini, paprika and bacon or ham (if using) and cook for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft.

5. Add the creme fraiche, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

6. Using a spoon stuff the mushroom caps with the filling and place in an ovenproof deep caserole dish, stuffing facing up.

7. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top of the mushrooms and bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Serve either hot or chilled, as a starter or a part of a main course. Also very good for party food, a bit more complicated than pop corn and tortillas with salsa :P

Rice with grape leaves, sun dried tomatoes and raisins

It's amazing what you can find in the freezer when defrosting it. Tiny boxes with baby corn, diced onions and chopped parsley, leftover cookie dough and ... what's that? Grape leaves?! How long have they been in there?! Stratis found them at a Turkish store and thought it would be cool to make dolmadakia (little grape leaves rolls with rice stuffing). However, after the first, not very successful attempt there was more than half pack left, so it ended up lying pointless in the freezer, until I discovered it yesterday.

Luckily, a couple of days ago I was browsing through one of my most favorite cooking blogs dedicated to Greek food, owned by Peter Minakis. Few months ago he posted a recipe for a rice-based side dish which really intrigued me when I first read it. It was pretty much a fuss-free version of dolmadakia. The idea was to prepare the stuffing and then mix in the chopped grape leaves. Smaaaaart! You get all the flavor of dolmadakia without having to spend hours in the kitchen rolling them! Great!

I changed a bit the proportions of the ingredients, used slightly different herbs and added a sun dried tomato. I think it was one of those rare times when Stratis was not complaining about the plain rice for side dish :)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup long grain rice, washed

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped

2-3 tbsp chives, finely chopped

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup black raisins, washed and soaked in hot water

2 tbsp pine nuts

1/3 cup canned sun dried tomatoes, finely chopped

1 cup canned grape leaves, washed and chopped

2 cups hot chicken stock or water

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. In a large pan heat the oil and saute the garlic and onions until soft.

2. Stir in the rice and cook together for a couple of minutes.

3. Add the parsley, chives, raisins, pine nuts, sun dried tomatoes, grape leaves, lemon juice and chicken stock, cover with a lid and cook on a medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the rice is soft. Add more water if the rice looks dry.

4. Season with salt, pepper and extra lemon juice and ready!

Jambalaya

About 2 weeks ago a couple of friends moved just next door. The first day we had a dinner at out place. The men really wanted something meaty, while the ladies were craving for fishy. So we compromised on the mix of the two (if you could call meat the chicken and fish the shrimps :P ). Was a nice dish, easy to cook and very tasty! And it also looks just great (well this picture is probably not th best :P)!

INGREDIENTS:

1kg chicken fillet, chopped in pieces

30 large shrimps, peeled

300 gr raw smoked ham, diced

1/2 cup flour

3 medium onions, sliced

2 sweet green peppers, seeded and diced

400 gr ripe tomatoes, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tsp dried thyme

350 gr long-grain rice, washed

1 large cup water

1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped

1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

3-4 tbsp olive oil

1. In a large flameproof casserole heat the oil and brown the chicken. Remove the chicken from the casserole and set aside.

2. Lower the heat, sprinkle the flour onto the fat in the pan and stir continuously until the mixture turns golden brown.

3. Return the chicken to the pan, add the ham, onions, pepper, tomatoes, garlic and thyme and cook for about 15 minutes, then add the shrimps.

4. Add the rice and the water to the pan. Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and keep cooking, stirring occasionally, until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed. Add more water if necessary.

5. Once the rice is cooked, mix in the spring onions and parsley and serve hot.

Red Bean Chilli con Carne

Last weekend I really wanted to cook some new, saucy Mexican dish. As I was turning the pages of the cooking book I saw the following recipe and it was so colorful that I immediately felt my mouth getting wet. It was really hard to resist, especially given that I had all the necessary ingredients in my kitchen. The only alternation that I made was to use canned beans instead of dried once (more or less double amount compared to the dried once). This way I avoided the overnight soaking part of the recipe so I could start directly.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups dried red beans

500 gr lean beef steak, chopped in bite-size pieces

2 tbsp avocado oil (you could use any vegetable oil as well)

2 large onions, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 fresh green chilli, seeded and finely chopped (you could use dried chillies as well)

1 tbsp paprika

2 1/2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

1 can (400gr) chopped tomatoes

1 1/2 cups beef stock or water

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

1 tsp hot pepper sauce or tabasco

1 fresh red bell pepper, seeded and diced

3-4 tbsp fresh coriander and some extra to garnish, finely chopped

salt to taste

1. Wash the beans well and soak them overnight in a large amount of water. The next day cook the beans in water for about 2 hours or until almost soft.

2. Heat the oil in a large, flameproof casserole pot. Add the onion, garlic and green chilli and cook over a medium fire until soft. Transfer to a plate.

3. Increase the heat, add the meat to the pot and brown on all sides. Season with paprika, cumin and coriander.

4. Return the onion mixture to the casserole, add the tomatoes, beef stock or water, chilli flakes and hot pepper sauce or tabasco. Drain the beans and add to the pot.

5. Bring to simmering point, cover and cook in the preheated oven at 180°C for about 2 hours. Stir occasionally and add extra water if the casserole gets dry.

6. Season the casserole with salt, add the chopped red pepper and chopped coriander and continue cooking in the oven until the beans and the meet are tender. Garnish with some chopped coriander and serve with steamed white rice.

Spring Couscous

Since I started working I obviously have much less free time, which during the weeks means pretty much that I have to either cook on everyday basis something fast and easy or otherwise prepare something from the previous evening, preferably something that would last for a couple of days. Yesterday I made Stratis' favorite burgers with potato puree. Today we still had few burgers left but there was no side dish since we finished all the puree yesterday.

Generally, I really enjoy the idea of couscous as a really fast yet delicious side dish. You could flavor it with spices and herbs or by using chicken stock instead of water to soak it in. Mixing in chopped vegetables like tomatoes, onions, paprika, cucumber, broccoli, mushrooms etc is also great.

So on my way home I already knew what I would cook. A friend of mine cooked a similar recipe few years ago at our ethnic dinner party. I changed it a bit mainly by adding zucchini and olives and using less lemon juice but the main idea is same. It's a great side dish and if you increase the amounts of veg and use less couscous you could make a wonderful salad too!

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups couscous

3 large ripe tomatoes

1 zucchini, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup parsley, finely chopped

2-3 tbsp black olives, finely chopped (optional)

juice of 1/2 lemon

salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. Place the couscous in a large bowl, add lightly salted boiled water enough to cover, cover with a lid and let the couscous absorb the water.

2. Meanwhile in a non-stick pan heat the oil and stir-fry the zucchinis for 3-4 minutes, until they get a light golden color.

3. Dice the tomatoes trying to keep the juice and set aside,

4. Once the couscous is soft, mix it with a fork to make it fluffy.

5. Add the fried zucchinis, tomatoes, olives (if using) and the lemon juice and mi well. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

Bacalao a la catalana

It's been a month since my last post :( To be honest I haven't been cooking much lately. We sort of switched to salads for some time so there wasn't anything worth posting anyways.

Tonight I felt like healthy food but a bit more complicated than just a salad. I remembered that I had a cod fillet in the fridge. On the other hand a couple of weeks ago I bought a Spanish cooking book, so I thought I might as well try something from there. I always buy cooking books with pictures. When you see how the result looks your motivation to cook something new is doubled! Well this time my eye stopped on a cod fillet with spinach which looked pretty amazing. Luckily I had spinach in the freezer. According to the recipe I was supposed to used fresh but even with the frozen one it was still delicious!

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup black raisins
1/3 cup pine nuts
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
10 cups fresh spinach leaves, roughly chopped
4 cod fillets
freshly ground nutmeg
salt and ground black pepper to taste
some lemon juice

1. Soak the raisins in hot water for 15-20 minutes.
2. Roast the pine nuts in a heavy pan over high heat until golden.
3. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the garlic and fry for few minutes. Remove and discard.
4. Add the spinach to the oil. Do not add extra water, the spinach has enough juices. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes. The spinach will decrease in volume. Remove the lid, add the drained raisins and pine nuts, season to taste and cook until the liquids evaporate.
5. Meanwhile place the cod in an ovenproof dish, brush with some olive oil, season with salt pepper and nutmeg and place in the oven for about 15 minutes. Once the fish is almost cooked through turn on the broiler and continue cooking until the fish is gold brown. Drizzle the fish with freshly squeezed lemon juice and serve along with the spinach.