Sunday, September 14, 2014

Quinoa, pumpkin, feta, ginger salad

1 large pumpkin (about 1.5 kg)
2 red chillies, finely chopped
1 piece of ginger about 3 cm, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
3 tbsp olive oil fair trade
few sprigs of coarsely chopped coriander stalks (the leaves to use later)
sea ​​salt and freshly ground Fairtrade Fairtrade pepper
300g fairtrade quinoa (white, red and black quinoa)
juice of 1 lime
leaves from a few sprigs of fresh mint and coriander
50g pumpkin seeds
200g feta or goat cheese
50g pumpkin seeds
few handfuls of rocket



Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.

Peel the pumpkin, remove seeds and wires and cut into cubes of 2 cm. Put the pumpkin in a baking dish and mix with the ginger, red peppers, garlic, olive oil and coriander stalks. Season with freshly ground pepper and sea salt.

Place the dish in the oven. Bake the squash for about 30 minutes in the oven golden brown and cooked through. Stir occasionally. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and let cool slightly.

Meanwhile, toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan until brown. Keep the seeds separately.

Bring a pan of water to the boil (1.5 times as much as the quinoa) and add the quinoa to. Put the lid on the pan and lower the heat. Let simmer for 10-12 minutes until the quinoa has absorbed the water and is cooked. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand for 5 minutes with the lid on the pan. Stir the quinoa with a fork.

Put the roasted pumpkin and quinoa in a large bowl. Squeeze the lime and this mix the fresh herbs. Sprinkle with pepper and sea salt.

Spoon the roasted pumpkin seeds and feta into pieces over the salad. Divide the arugula on plates and spoon the quinoasalade on the plates. Sprinkle with delicious olive oil.


recipe from a Dutch blog I can't read

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Lentil Burgers



Extra info I found by trial-and-error:
·          Just get the chopped walnuts from the bulk bins.
·          I found that it helps if I cook up the lentils (in beef broth for extra flavour) the day before so that they have a day to dry.  You really do not want them wet when you start mixing.
·          Adding a second egg doesn't hurt
·          Put enough crackers it to make the patties stick together better - the extra egg helps a bit, but more crackers is the way to go!
·          The small "t"'s are teaspoons not tablespoons
·         1 tsp of cumin was too much for me - it's really strong and I only do half a teaspoon
·         When I have them in patties and I'm frying them I usually add some extra oil to the pan after I flip them the first time (with out the oil they do not get crispy)

Enjoy!!!

Roughly 1c walnuts
~2/3 c chopped onion
~5 Ritz crackers or Saltines or similar
1 egg
1c (measured when dry) lentils (or a little more) (green lentils seem to
work best)
1t cumin
1t coriander
salt
oil

Rinse and cook the lentils. Things seem to work best when the salt gets
into the burgers via the lentils, so adding salt at this stage is a good
idea. I usually have to work a little bit to keep them from burning at
the end, because you need to get more water out of the beans than one
usually needs to in other recipes.

Chop the walnuts. Start the onions cooking in oil; you can brown them or
just wait until they're translucent--as long as they don't burn
everything seems to work out. Add the cumin and coriander. When the
onions are mostly cooked, add the walnuts to the pan and let them toast
a little.

When the lentils and the onion-walnut mixture are both done, transfer
them to a bowl. Add the egg and the crackers (crumbled). Knead it until
mixed.

Then make patties, add oil to one of the pans/pots you used earlier, and
cook the patties. Longer over lower heat has I think produced your
favorites? Hard to mess up at this stage, though.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Georgian Chicken

4 skinless chicken breasts, bone-in or 8 chicken thighs
1/2 cup flour, seasoned with
salt and pepper, to taste (remove and reserve 2 TBSP for sauce)
2 tablespoons olive oil or 2 tablespoons canola oil

SAUCE
1 (28 fluid ounce) can sliced peaches
1 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves or 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 -2 clove garlic, minced


Directions:

Dredge chicken in seasoned flour, shake off and lay on wire rack to dry, abot 10 minutes.
Heat oil in deep sided saute pan, until it is quite hot.
Cook chicken, turning to brown evenly, about 3-5 minutes.
Remove chicken to paper towel to drain.
5 There should be 1 TBSP of oil in pan, if not, add a little more.
Reduce heat to medium and whisk reserved peach and orange juices until smooth.
Stir in remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, cook 3 minutes.
Add chicken to pan, cover and continue to cook until chicken is longer pick in center, about 25 minutes.
Add peach slices and heat through.

From food.com