Enchiladas My Way Chicken and Vegetarian

Receita em PORTUGUES clique AQUI

Above you can see the enchiladas i made the small dish is the Vegetarian the large one is the Chicken, this was an easy and cheap recipe to satisfy two different food requirements here in my house, which means you can indeed make this very versatile recipe in either vegetarian version, meat or both like I did.

For this I used....

Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 pack of plain tortilla wraps (or you can make your own)
• 1 large pepper (cut into thin strips)
  
• 1 large onion (cut into thin strips)
• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1 hot chili thinly sliced
  
• 1 can of kidney beans
• 1 can of tomatoes
• a tea spoon of cumin
• a soup spoon of oregano
• 2 medium or 3 small chicken breast slice into thin strips (for the meat ones)
  
• 250grs of Quorn mince (for the vegetarian ones)
• Bechamel sauce (I always make mine but you can buy made if you want)
• 2 large spoons of tomato concentrate (diluted in water to form a thick cream)
• 2 large tomato paste (to add to sauces)
• salt and pepper to taste

Very very easy to make in a wok pour some olive oil, place on the stove until very hot, add then the 1/2 pepper, 1/2 onion, 1/2 garlic, salt and pepper and 1/2 cumin and half of the sliced chilli, cook until the onion browns a bit and then add the oregano and the chicken, always stirring make sure the chicken strips are well sealed, once sealed then add the 1/2 tomato tin and one large spoon of tomato paste.

Let this cook for about 7 minutes, then assemble the Enchiladas: Put a row of filling about one third from the edge on top of that a couple of spoons of bechamel, wrap the soft tortilla around the sauce and lay it in the tray to go in the oven repeat process until the tray is full. Then on top spread some more bechamel sauce and put a line of tomato cream along each roll then sprinkle some oregano and grated cheese, than goes in the oven for about 20-25 minutes gas 200c, until golden brown on top, then serve with some grated carrot and some sliced spring onion or a salad of your choice.

For the vegetarian one exactly same thing just replace the chicken with vegetarian mince (Quorn).

I make the Bechamel sauce as follows: put some milk in a pan add a knob of butter some salt and some pepper (black freshly milled) the also a little nutmeg, once nearly boiling put a couple of spoons of plain flour in a glass and add water til about half of the glass, with a little whisk, mix it well until there are no lumps, pour it all into the hot milk and whisk constantly until thickens up, don't worry if not to thick yet as now you add a hand full of grated cheese, continue to whisk and you should get the most perfect bechamel (the milk you use should be about half a pint 250-300 mils. *tip if to thick add a little more milk while stirring, and if to liquid add a little more flour mixed in water*

Pork Sticky Rib Rack with Courgette Bulgar

I was really hungry for a nice piece of meat but also wanted to balance it out with some veg, so I combined two very different things that ended up complimenting each other perfectly. Sticky pork ribs and vegetarian courgette Bulgar.

Recipe Ingredients:

• Bulgar
• 1 large onion
• 1 large yellow pepper
• 300grs Bulgar
• 1 large carrot
• 1 large courgette
• 2 spoons of tomato paste (with half glass of water)
• 1/2 can of tomato (chopped)
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 bay leafs
• some olive oil
  

Meat

• 1 full pork rib rack
• 2 spoons of Maple syrup
• 1 tea spoon of chili powder
• 1 tea spoon of smoky paprika (or normal is you prefer)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 soup spoons of sesame seeds
  
• a pinch of garlic granules (or a fresh minced garlic)

Preparation:

I started with the pork rack in a cup mix the: syrup, chili powder, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic. With your fingers rub it on thickly on the rib rack on both sides, then use the sesame seeds and sprinkle them on both sides too.... Stick the rack on a tray on a metal rack so that it cooks well on both sides, gas mark 200c for about 40-60 minutes depending how crispy you want it.

While that is doing let's do the Bulgar. In a pan with boiling water add a glug of oil some salt and pour the Bulgar in, it will take about 10-15 minutes to cook depending how coarse you buy your Bulgar, while that is doing you prepare the veg, peel and slice the carrots, dice the courgette the onion yellow pepper and mince the garlic, put a wok or a large pan on the stove and add a couple of glugs of olive oil, once hot add the onion, garlic, pepper and the bay leafs.

Cook until onion starts to brown, at this stage add the carrots and the courgettes + the 1/2 can of tomatoes and the tomato paste and water, also some salt and pepper to taste. Let this cook for 20 minutes and once is done, in a colander rinse the Bulgar with boiling water drain well and pour it into the sauce, giving it a good stir to mix well, cover the pan with a lid and let it rest for about 5 minutes more (no cooking now just resting) so that the flavours can be absorbed by the Bulgar.
serve it all together and I guarantee you a great meal.

Golden Slices (or Eggy Bread)

Receita em Portuguese clique AQUI

It has been a little while that I have not made something sweet, well here is a treat for you cheap and easy to make. Eggy Bread (also known as golden slices), this can be a way of using bread that is a little old.

Ingredients for Recipe:

• Half a loaf of bread
• 1 glass of milk
• 2 soup spoons of sugar
• 3 eggs
• a mixture of two soup spoons of sugar and a tea spoon of cinnamon
• a plate with some absorbent tissues
• a frying pan with a finger deep of oil

This is so darn easy and so tasty, (however quite fattening therefore only have it once in awhile). In a soup plate put the milk and the sugar well mixed, on another plate the three eggs (beaten), place the frying pan on the stove until the oil is well hot, quickly deep a slice of bread in the milk both sides, don't leave it in or absorb a lot of milk, them bathe it in the egg, both sides too and place it in the pan, repeat the process on another slice, once it fries (seals) on one side turn it to the other side, to seal that too even if is not yet golden, as the idea is to seal the egg so that it does not absorb the oil, as you just want to cook in it not eat it. Once both sides are sealed then, yes let it get golden brown on each side, pull it out making sure all the oil drains and place it on the plate with the paper tissue, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on both sides of each slice, then just keep repeating the whole process until the whole of the bread is gone. And that is all, just call your kids but don't get distracted as if you do by the time you look back all the slices are gone lol.

If the beaten egg plate gets to low or the milk and sugar plate you can always add more.....but it is that easy!!!

Seafood & Chicken - Turmeric Rice

This recipe is a little expensive, but it doesn't have to be as you can replace certain food elements with other cheaper ones, like cheaper prawns and instead of fresh squid use crab sticks and so on.
But even when I say a little expensive, is not as expensive as you may think the whole cost could be between 7 or 8 pounds and feeds 6-7 people so about one pound something per person, well worth it though.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 large red chilli (finely chopped)
  
• 1 large onion (finely chopped)
  
• 1 large red pepper (medium chopped)
  
• 2 garlic cloves (1 minced, 1 crushed)
  
• 6 large mushrooms (medium sliced)
  
• 1 medium fresh squid (cleaned around 250-300grs, strips sliced)
• 250grs fresh uncooked prawns (cut in halves)
  
• 2 medium chicken breasts (no skin, diced)
• enough rice for four people around 400-500grs (I used Basmati)
  
• 1 tin of tomato (chopped) pomodoro
• 1 tea spoon of medium hot curry powder
• 2 soup spoons of turmeric powder
• 1 chicken stock cube (I used OXO)
• 2 bay leafs
  
• olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
• optional a cinnamon stick
  

Preparation:

Place two pans on the heat one half filled with water, one glug of oil, the crushed garlic and one bay leaf plus salt. The other one with, two glugs of olive oil, the minced garlic, the bay leaf some salt and pepper.
Once the one with the water is boiling add the rice and let it cook should take 10-12 minutes to be fully cooked, once cooked put it in a sieve and rinse it with boiling water and set it aside to drain.

the one with the old, add the chopped onion, pepper, chilli, and the curry powder, once the onion is translucent add the chicken and the turmeric, now it tends as is cooking for it to dry a bit, so you can add a little water, always stirring to seal the chicken so it stays nice and soft, once the chicken is fully sealed add the tomato tin, again always stirring, if it continues to get a little dry you can add more water (or stock or white wine), but at this point add the stock cube (crumb it before adding it) let this cook until the chicken is fully cooked.

at this stage add the mushrooms, the prawns, the cinnamon stick and the squid, it literally only takes 3-5 minutes for these to cook, as you just want them cooked, any longer and they will be rubbery. Once that is done remove from the fire add the mixture to the rice, fold it in until all is well mixed and let it stand for about 2 minutes, and is ready to serve.

if you require more taste and colour you can also add when putting the mixture with the rice a big bunch of chopped parsley...the only reason I did not is that I suffer with too much iron in the blood and parsley is full of it, so although I can eat it I should not abuse. Hope you enjoy this as much as i and my family did.