Week 6 - Vegetarian Tortillas

The Recipe
8 tortillas
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 squash
2 carrots
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can tomatoes
50g tomato paste / tomato sauce (tomatpure)
150g corn
Butter
Olive oil
Salt, pepper
Garnishes: Avocado, Lime, Salsa, shredded cheese

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees (fan-assisted). Brush the tortillas with olive oil on both sides, and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for ~6 minutes or until golden brown, turning over half way through.

Grate/chop onion, garlic, squash and carrots.

Warm a bit of oil in a pot and cook onion and garlic until translucent and fragrant. Add next 9 ingredients (squash through tomato paste), bring to a boil and let it simmer for ~15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a bit of butter in a pan and roast the corn at high heat for a few minutes to get them a bit crispy. Add to the veggie sauce and season with salt and pepper according to taste.

Plate the meal by putting a tortillas on a plate, adding vegetables, avocado, salsa and cheese and some freshly squeezed lime-juice and placing another tortillas on top.

The Verdict
It sounds like a lot of work, but it's actually not too bad. And it's worth it, because it ended up being really good! It definitely needed the salsa to add the final je ne sais que, but with that added I didn't miss the meat at all! The flavours mixed well and were well-rounded. Definitely something I could see myself making again!

Week 5: Fajita Casserole

The Recipe
500g chicken breast or pork chops
2 bell peppers, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
2-3 tsp taco seasoning
1 cup of shredded cheese
Tortillas
Toppings: Avocado, Tomato, salsa, more cheese etc.

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Place the meat in a large ovenproof dish and season with the taco seasoning. Put sliced bell pepper and onion on top and cover everything with cheese.
Bake for ~30 minutes until the meat is cooked through. Remove from pan and slice thinly, before returning.

Serve with tortillas and your choice of toppings.

The Verdict
Quick, easy and good. Nothing special, but it's a "nothing special" dish that took all of 10 minutes to prepare. I'll take it!

Week 4 - Honey and Parm Tenderloin

(Serves 3)
2 tbsp honey
4 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 tbsp soy sauce
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp pepper
700-800g pork tenderloin
1 tbsp cornflour + 1 tbsp water
4 tbsp chicken broth

In a bowl, mix together first 8 ingredients (honey through pepper). Place the pork in the crockpot and rub it with half the mixture. Turn it over and rub it with the other half. Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.

Remove the pork from the crockpot and leave to rest for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together the cornflour and water and pour into the juices left in the crockpot together with the chicken broth. Cover and cook on HIGH for 10-15 minutes. Slice the tenderloin and return the slices to the crockpot so they can soak up the sauce.

Serve over mashed potatoes - you want something that can soak up the delicious sauce :-D

The Verdict
So, so, SO good! This was an instant favourite. I served it to DH and a guest and all three of us made spontaneous "Yuuuuuum!!!!" noises as we tried the first bite. Usually with a new recipe I like to tweak it a few times before it turns out exactly as I'd like it - not so with this one, it was perfect :-D

For my own future reference - mash made from ~1kg potatoes is only just enough for three people.

Week 43 - Bellpepper Tortellini

The Recipe
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 squash
2-3 cloves garlic
2.5dl chicken stock
fresh basil parmesan cheese
250g tortellini

Cook the tortellini according to the instructions on the package.

Cut bell peppers and squash into bite-sized pieces and chop the garlic finely.

In a pan, heat 3tbsp olive oil over medium high heat and cook the garlic until fragrant. Add bell pepper and squash and let it cook for 5 minutes. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil. Leave to reduce a bit. Add parmesan cheese and the tortellini and serve immediately. 

The Verdict
Strangely dull!! Really weird. I added sweet chili sauce and that helped a bit, but not enough that I'm gonna make it again.

Week 38: Slow cooker peanut chicken

The Recipe
450g chicken breast
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp red curry paste
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp hot chili sauce
2 tbsp chopped peanuts
4 sweet potatoes
1 avocado
lime
peanuts

Heat oil in a small pot and add the curry paste. Stir until fragrant - about a minute or so. Add next 7 ingredients (peanut butter through chopped peanuts) and cook until the peanut butter is completely melted, and everything has reduced a bit.

Place the chicken and the peanut sauce in the slow cooker and cook on LOW for ~8hours. Shred the chicken and mix it into the sauce.

Meanwhile, bake the sweet potatoes in the oven at 200C for about 45 minutes depending on size (they need a little less than normal baked potatoes of the same size).

Serve with sliced avocado, peanuts and lime juice on top.

The Verdict
Unfortunately I wasn't really a fan of this dish. The sweetness of the sweet potatoes did not mesh well with the taste of the peanut chicken. I decided to serve the leftovers as a wrap, which improved the taste somewhat, but I still wasn't too impressed. Also, the fish sauce STINKS!! You cannot taste it at all (fortunately!), but it really, really doesn't smell nice, which meant that I was less than enthused about this dish before I even tried it. Ah well - can't win them all.

Week 35: Mustard Chicken

The Recipe
15g butter
1tbsp oil
4 chicken thighs and 4 chicken drumsticks
150g bacon or 4 frankfurter sausages
2 leeks, sliced and separated into greens and whites
3 tbsp mustard
2 tbsp flour
1/2 l chicken stock
salt and pepper

In a pan, melt butter and oil and cook chicken until browned on all sides, transfer to crockpot.

Cook white part of the leeks and bacon for ~5 minutes. Add flour and mustard and then the chicken broth a bit at a time. Once all flour has been incorporated, leave to simmer for a bit until it's thickened up some. Transfer to crockpot. Add corn and stir

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours. Add green parts of the leeks and cook for another 15 minutes.

Serve with mashed potatoes.


The Verdict
REALLY needed more salt - and even with that added, it was still a bit bland - you couldn't taste the mustard at all. It was a good start, but I think I'd add a bit more mustard and possibly also some chili next time.

Weirdly enough, it didn't really work as left-overs though... which unfortunately probably takes it out of my rotation completely.

Week 33: Lemony Asparagus Pasta

The Recipe
~250g pasta
2 cups asparagus cut into 1" pieces (~8-10 asparagus)
2 spring onions, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
150g bacon (optional)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp pepper
A handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered

Cook pasta according to directions. Add asparagus to pasta during the last 3 minutes of cooking.

Meanwhile cook bacon until just crisp. Add spring onions and let them soften a bit. Add garlic and stir for a few minutes.

Drain pasta. Stir in all remaining ingredients.

Serve with parmesan cheese.


The Verdict
Surprisingly bland. Not something I'm likely to make again.