"SEE-FOOD" PASTA...

I love seafood, its my fave protein to cook with especially when i'm hungry cos it cooks in mere minutes and low in cholesterol.

This recipe is a healthy pasta dish due to some slight variations.

250grm Wheat Spaghetti

500grms Calamari

350grm Prawns (De-veined but with the tail still on)

1 Chopped Spring (Green) Onion

1 Cup Roughly Cut Basil

1/4 Cup Chopped Parsley

A few Sprigs Fresh Thyme

2 Cups Tomato Sauce

3/4 Cup Single Cream

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil 

1 Teaspoon Curry Powder

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

Salt and Pepper

Dried Basil (for garnishing)

Put a pot of water to boil, add your pasta and a pinch of salt. You really don't need to add any oil when making pasta, as long as your pot isn't  crowded and you have enough water in the pot, your pasta won't stick together.

Cook until al dente (half done with just a bit of a bite). Rinse out with cold water and allow to sit in a colander.

A lot of us do not know the true form of some of the foods we eat. The alien looking white stuff on the left (for those who don't know) is Squid aka Calamari. Hope this doesn't put you off, a dear friend thanked me for showing her the picture AFTER we were done eating. Lol. Well, yeah, this is where the amazing breaded, fried calamari rings come from...

Rinse your prawns and calamari then cut up your calamari into little pieces and pop in the fridge.

Chop your herbs and set aside.

Pour olive oil into pan/pot/wok and add your tomato sauce and season. Allow to cook for 5 minutes then add calamari and prawns.

Next pour in your single cream and add all the herbs. Stir until its all properly combined then turn down the heat.

Add pasta, taste for seasoning and cover to cook for another 5 minutes. You want a moist pasta so it doesn't have to be dry before you take it off the heat, allow for a little sauce especially if you've cooked a big pot of food that you will have to refrigerate and re-heat.

Garnish with some dried basil and olives...

LOCAL COCONUT RICE...

When you bring a little of the native and add to a classic, you will most likely come up with something your stomach will be forever grateful for. With this every spoon full was a promise kept!

In this recipe is something that a lot of people have never cooked with, bone marrow. It is amazing! if you love to play with your food, have little chewy bits to punctuate your meal, you will love it (if you eat fish head  don't even dare turn up your nose at this). :p

Its cheap too. Just go to the market and ask your butcher.

Beef marrow isn't necessarily nutritious but it is high in calcium. It is also high in fats (the good fats) so in this recipe we won't be using any oil to cook (ok, just 1 tablespoon of palm oil for colour).

Rice

500grm Beef

100gms Beef Bone Marrow

2 Smoked Mackerels (bones taken out)

2 Tablespoons Ground Crayfish (optional)

Salt and Pepper

Garlic and Ginger

1 Large Onion

1 Tablespoon Palm Oil

2 Cups of Coconut Milk

Scent Leaf (chopped)

Put beef and bone marrow together in a pot to cook for about 30 minutes, season with salt, pepper, garlic, ginger and half of an onion. 

In another pot, bring rice to the boil, drain and was 2 or 3 times, drain again and set aside.

Add coconut milk, crayfish and palm oil to meat and stock, add smoked fish and rice.

When rice is almost cooked, add the remaining onions and chopped scent leaf. Taste for seasoning.

Serve and eat hot!

Simples!
:)

BAKED POTATOES WITH MUSHROOM CABERNET GRAVY...

What can i say? This is just good food that keeps on giving...

Baking Potatoes (depending on the size, could be one per person)

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1kg Beef Tenderloin

Salt and Pepper

11/2 Tablespoon Butter

11/2 Cup Cabernet Sauvignon or other dry red wine

1 Onion (chopped)

1 Seasoning Cube

1/2 Cup Warm Water

2 Teaspoons Chopped Fresh Thyme

Runner Beans

Chopped Parsley

1 Teaspoon Flour

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

Wash your potatoes thoroughly with soap, water and a sponge (yes, that thorough). Using a fork or a knife, poke a couple of shallow holes on each potato, this helps steam escape while its cooking, if you don't you will have a lot of cleaning to do as your oven will become like a mini science lab run by 5 year olds when your potatoes accumulate all of that steam and explode (sounds fun, i know). Coat skin with olive oil, sprinkle some salt over it and pop into a pre-heated oven for 90 minutes to bake.

Slice up your raw mushrooms and set aside.

Have your meat cut up into 1 inch pieces and sprinkle with salt and cracked dry pepper.

Sear meat in a pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil until evenly browned all around.

Take meat out and set aside.

Turn the heat down and 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir in the mushroom and chopped onion and cook until they soften down, this should take about 3 - 5 minutes.

Add the wine, water, beef seasoning cube and thyme (you can add some of the stems too, they also pack some flavour). Return meat to the pan and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes.

In a separate small bowl, mix flour with 2 tablespoons of water until you have a smooth consistency. Add this to gravy and allow to cook together and thicken for another 2 minutes then turn your heat off.

Wash runner beans and add to a dry pan remaining butter, garlic and a pinch of salt. Stir fry it for 2 minutes, just until it just begins to soften then take it off the heat.

When your potato is cooked, slit it through the middle and with both hands (with your thumbs and your fore and middle fingers on both sides of the slit) squish the potato till it spreads open.

Spoon in some gravy, add a side of runner beans and garnish with chopped parsley.

Enjoy!

:D

CHICKEN ADOBO...

Ever get tired of the taste of regular tomato stew but can't be bothered with something fancy? Do you ling food with a bit of tang. You might wanna try this then, it has less than 10 recipes and is one of the least fussy meals i've ever made. Its a dish from the Philippines that i was introduced to by the Filipinas i work with. Ps. The name has nothing to do with Adobo* seasoning, or so i was told...

This recipe needs no salt because of the amount of soy sauce used. 

750grm Chicken Cut Into Pieces

1/2 Cup Dark Soy Sauce

3/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 Teaspoon Grated Ginger

2 Bay Leaves

1 Tablespoon Ground Peppercorns

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

1/2 Shallot (Chopped)

In your cooking pot combine all the ingredients and bring to a boil with the lid off the pot. As soon as it starts to boil cover the pot and turn down the heat.

Allow to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Take off lid and allow to cook for another 5 minutes until liquid has reduced to about half. Allow to rest for a few minutes, this will give your sauce time to thicken up fully.

Serve on a bed of basmati rice.

And that is all she wrote!

Apologies for the picture quality, baby girl was hungry. Will put up a better pic next time i make this, don't let it deter you from trying it.

Ps. It tastes even better on day 2.

:)

1, 2, 3 HOT WINGS...

The best kind of comfort food is the kind you can just pick up with your fingers and devour, the ones that make you lick your fingers later, smack your lips and ask a friend if you have any food on your face. Best still, when this can be made in a flash...

Hot wings fit this bill. A lot of people think Hot Wings and Buffalo Wings are the same thing but they really aren't except for the fact that they are both finger food made from chicken. A Buffalo Wings recipe will come up in the near future.

1 Kg Chicken Wings

Salt & Pepper

Garlic Powder

Chicken Seasoning

1 Cup of Flour

Oil for Deep Frying

Wings Hot Sauce (of your choice depending on flavour or heat you wish to achieve)

Combine all the seasoning spices together and rub wings with it with it. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes. 

Bring out of fridge and dust with flour. If you want a thicker crust and crunch, mix 1 cup butter milk with 2 eggs and beat together. Toss chicken in flour, dip completely in buttermilk/egg mix and then back into flour.

Deep fry until golden brown on all sides and allow excess oil drip off.

While still hot, transfer to a bowl and cover with hot sauce and toss till completely coated

Have as a summer snack with crinkly fries, sitting under a shade.

:)

SALMON AND NEW POTATOES ON A BED OF GARDEN VEGGIES AND WHITE WINE SAUCE...

Salmon is one of the tastiest kind of fish out there and doesnt need to be fussed over, its one of the pricier kinds of fish but its so good for you and even on its own is quite filling.

Smoked Salmon Fillet (with skin on)

4 New Potatoes

Garden Salad Mix

200ml Single Cream

1/2 Cup White Wine

Salt and Pepper

Parsley

Garlic Powder

Onions (chopped)

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 Teaspoon Butter

Mix salt, black pepper and garlic powder and rub on your cut of salmon and set aside for about 15 minutes.

Wash potatoes properly and boil with skin on until tender.

Add 1 Tablespoon of olive oil in pan and put the fish in, skin side down first and allow to get a good sear. Don't move it around, just let it be for about 3 - 5 minutes, then gently flip over and allow the other side sit for the same amount of time.

Flip back the the skin side down, turn down the heat and cover the pan for about 2 minutes so that you are sure its cooked all the way through. The time really depends on how thick your cut of salmon is.

Take out and note how crisp the skin is.

In same pan, add another tablespoon of olive oil and butter then add chopped onions. Season as required the pour in cream and wine. Turn heat down and allow to simmer till it reduces to a thick creamy consistency again.

Lay a bed of veggies on your plate, add potatoes and break it open. Garnish with chopped parsley, plate fish and cover all with white wine sauce.

Voila!
Enjoy!

SUPER MEATY SHEPHERDS PIE...

You a meat lover? Have you ever stolen meat out of the pot? Do you ever cook and find out that your meat is long gone before the food is? If you've answered "yes" to any one of these questions and you have a functional oven then this recipe is for you.

:D

Smoked Sausages

500grm Minced Meat

500grm Minced Lamb

Cooked Diced Beef

Garlic

Salt and pepper

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce

Sliced Mushrooms

Chopped parsley, onion and spring onions

Olive Oil

1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon

250grm Shaved Mozarella Cheese

Chopped Mixed Vegetables

10 Medium sized potatoes (peeled and boiled)

1 Tablespoon Flour

1 Cup Red Wine

1 Cup Milk

1/2 Knob Butter

Fry up your sausages with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Chop it up and set aside.

Mix all of your meats together and season with garlic, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Brown in a pan with a little oil, add Worcestershire Sauce and towards the end of the browning process (approximately 10 minutes depending on the quantity of meat you choose to use), add chopped parsley, chopped onions and spring onions.

Make sure your meat cooks dry and that you don't have too much oil, we don't want a pie with a soggy bottom.

Turn on oven to pre-heat.

Transfer meat into a baking tray.

Cover with remaining parsley and spring onions, mushrooms and cheese.

Add a little more seasoning so you don't have any bland bits. Cover up with a layer of veggies.

Now for those who don't know how to mash potatoes, its really very easy. After your potatoes have cooked soft, leave some of the water it cooked in in the pot, add milk, butter and garlic (optional) and go at it with a potato masher while its still in the pot till you have a smooth fluffy consistency.

Blanket everything with a layer of mashed potatoes. Sprinkle a little salt and cracked black pepper over the top and pop it into the over for 25 - 30 minutes to cook.

Bring out your pie and place on a counter to rest for at least 10 minutes.

While pie is resting we'll work on our quick mushroom and onion sauce to serve it with.

Add a teaspoon of olive oil into same pan that was used for the meat (thou shalt not lose any flavour) and another teaspoon of butter. Add chopped onions and mushrooms and cook until softened.

Add flour and stir properly. As it begins to come together, add the wine and turn down the heat and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes till it has reduced to about half or a third of the initial volume.

Laddle generously over Shepherds Pie and enjoy!

OVEN GRILLED TILAPIA...

My love for grilled fish started when i lived in Port Harcourt, anybody who lives in or has visited Port Harcourt knows about the very famous Bolle & Fish. For now i don't own a charcoal grill but a good oven grilled one works too.

Tilapia

3 Tatashe or Red bell peppers

1 Medium sized onion

Fresh Garlic and Ginger

Salt and Pepper

Bay Leaves

1/2 Cup of Palm oil 

3 Small New Potatoes

Lemon slices

Scale fish and clean out the gut, rinse properly.

Make slits on the fish down to the bone on both sides. Set fish aside in fridge to chill out.

Blend tatashe with garlic, onions and ginger together with very little water. Pour into a bowl and add palm oil, bay leaves, salt and pepper to make a sauce. The palm oil give it amazing flavour, copied this from the roadside bolle and fish women. ;)

Peel potatoes, rise and parboil for 15 minutes. If you pop the potatoes in raw it wont be all the way cook through, trust me, i botched it the 1st time.

Spread out a sheet of aluminium foil place fish on it and smother it with the sauce, filling the slits and fish cavity to season it all through. Stuff potatoes into the cavity of the fish.

Wrap up the fish completely in the foil to make a neat package, place it on an oven tray and place into a pre-heated oven. Grill for 45 minutes.

Unwrap the package, baste with any residual sauce and pop back into the oven, with the top of the foil wrap open for another 10 to 15 minutes to put a nice crisp on the fish.

Plate and serve with lemon slices, and potato chips, roast plantain or yam.

Enjoy a healthy guilt free meal.

Food, glorious food!

:)

GARLIC BREAD SERVED WITH GRILLED CHICKEN, WHITE WINE SAUCE AND VEGETABLE SALAD...

A light fancy dinner recipe you'll absolutely love featuring some of my favorite things; bread, chicken and a delicious sauce. It can serve as an appetizer if the portions are reduced or an entree.

Boneless chicken breast

1 Baguette

Lettuce

2 Tomatoes

1/2 Onion chopped

Sliced cucumber

White wine

200ml Double Cream

Fresh thyme and parsley

Garlic sauce

Chicken seasoning

100grms Butter

Salt and pepper

Garlic 

2 Tablespoons honey

Grilled Chicken

Marinade chicken with salt pepper, seasoning and garlic and pop in the fridge for 45 minutes.

Tear up fresh thyme and  some of the parsley and stuff it under the skin of the chicken.

Mix honey with left over marinade and baste the skin of the chicken with it. Pop in the oven and grill for 45 minutes.

Take skin off the chicken and pop chicken back in the oven for 5 minutes. Bring it out and allow to rest on the counter for at least 10 minutes before slicing up.

Garlic Bread

While your chicken is resting, chop up remaining parsley. Mix half of the softened butter with garlic sauce and add chopped parsley. Slice up the baguette and smother both sides with butter/garlic/parsley mix and pop into the oven for 3 minutes, turn over and allow for another 3 minutes. 

White Wine Sauce
Add the remaining butter to a pan and add the onions and allow to soften. Turn down the heat and add white wine. allow to reduce for another 5 minutes.

Serve on a bed of vegetables and pour cream over sliced chicken

 Enjoy!

:)

THE CHICKEN SANDWICH...

Hi, my name is Nneka and im a breadaholic! 

Even when i have no vodka, you can bet i'll have bread of some sort in my fridge. My waistline can testify!

This was another one of those hungry days, me rummaging through the fridge and throwing things together to put something deserving on a plate after a long day at work.

French bread

Chicken Fillet

1/2 an Onion

Mushrooms

1 Tomato

1 Teaspoon Mustard and 1 Teaspoon Mayonnaise (mixed)

2 Cheddar Cheese slices

Salt and cracked black pepper

Chicken Seasoning

Pinch of garlic powder

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Season chicken with salt, pepper, garlic and chicken seasoning and pop into the fridge for 30 minutes. If your chicken fillet is thick you might wanna hit it a couple of times with a meat tenderizer before seasoning.

.

Add oil to pan and heat up and fry chicken on both sides for 3 minutes. Take out chicken, slice up and set aside. 

Into the same pan add chopped onions and mushrooms. No need to season further, it will pick up the left over seasoning and flavour from your chicken.

Slice your bread and spread mayo/mustard mix on both sides and start layering.

First goes the chicken, then the sauteed onions and mushrooms. Next comes the cheese then some sliced self deceit tomatoes (i'd have added some lettuce but couldn't find any in my fridge rummage so please by all means make it "a little more healthy" and add some to yours. 

Put the lid on it and much away.

Nom nom nom...

Bread, glorious bread.

GOOD OL' FISH STEW...

Considering how much i like fish, it's a wonder i don't eat it more often, it has fallen into the category of those foods i eat when i have a particular craving. I craved, i cooked and it hit the spot!

1 Large Tilapia (scaled, gutted and cut into pieces)

Vegetable oil

5 Medium Sized Tomatoes

5 Red bell peppers or tatashe

1 Onion

1 Teaspoon Fish seasoning

2 Cups fish stock

Curry and thyme

Bay leaves

2 Tablespoons tomato puree

Garlic and ginger

Salt and pepper

2 Seasoning cubes

Scent leaf

Marinade fish with garlic, ginger, pepper, fish seasoning, salt and pepper and pop in the fridge for 1 hour.

While your fish chills out, blend onions with bell peppers, a little more garlic and ginger, tomatoes. Pour into a dry pot and allow to cook until all the water has boiled away, this will shorten your cooking time and get rid of that raw tomato tangy taste faster. Set aside.

Some shops sell packed stock (fish, chicken, beef) but if you can't find any to buy just make yours. It will cost you the head of your fish though, for you fish head lovers. If you can't get fish bones/fins to buy (from larger fish, yes you can ask for it in bigger shops that have a large range of seafood), cut the head, tail and fins off your fish, toss into a pot and add water to just about cover it. Season, add carrots, onions and celery and allow to boil for 20 minutes. Take out the chunks and strain out the broth and voila!

Heat up some oil and carefully place fish into pan/pot. Don't overcrowd the pan or you'll beak the fish up trying to turn it and the fish won;t get enough oil and start to soften instead of crisp up. Allow it to fry for about 4 - 5 minutes before you try to turn it or you will break up the fish.

When the fish is cooked take it out of the oil and set aside.

Take out excess oil until you have just about a laddle full, add boiled tomato mix and tomato puree and allow to fry for about 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired. Bay leaves need to be added towards the beginning of the cooking process for the flavour to permeate your stew.

Add fish stock and allow to cook for another 10 - 15 mins or until your stew is a thick as desired, if its too thick, add more stock or water.

Cut up your scent leaf for an extra spicy flavour, stir properly then re-introduce your fish.

Cook for another 5 minutes and take off the heat.

 Serve up and enjoy!

:)

RICH, MOIST, YUMMY BANANA BREAD...

No long story here, this is pure joy on a plate!

2 cups of Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking soda
4 Very ripe Bananas
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon powder
150grms White Chocolate
A Handful of Almonds
1/2 Cup Butter (melted)
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs (beaten)

Toast your almonds for about 3 minutes in a dry pan over the stove to release the nutty flavour.

Pre-heat oven.

Put almonds in the dry mill part of your blender and blend it roughly so you still have chewable bits. Mash your bananas with a potato masher and break up your chocolate into bits.

In a bowl mix your butter and brown sugar in a bowl then add eggs.

In another bowl sift flour, baking powder and cinnamon.

Combine banana, chocolate and almonds into butter, egg and sugar mix then gradually fold in flour mix until its all properly combined. Pour into lightly greased 9" x 5" baking pan.

Bake for 60 - 65 minutes. Check by inserting a skewer into the middle, if it comes out clean, your bread is ready, if not allow it to bake for another 5 - 10 minutes.

Be careful not to keep opening the oven or opening it too soon cos the rush of cold air into the oven will make your bread collapse then you'll have a dense bread.

Allow it to cool for 10 minutes before gently turning it out onto a cake rack or plate.

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a dusting of cinnamon.

Tuck in and enjoy!

:D