Courgette Fries

I’m terribly sorry I have not posted anything for the past 10 months. Life has changed a lot and there’s no excuse because I’m obviously still cooking.. just not writing down the recipes and posting them on my beloved blog. 

I’ve got a new job which I’m in love with, lucky to work close from home and doing a bunch of traveling this year! 

Anyway let’s get to why we are here! Courgette fries! I went to Granger and Co last week with some friends and had courgette fries there… however.. they were undercooked.. but I’m always too damn nice to send my food back, so I just chewed through tough rubbery fried disks.

I had some baby courgettes in the fridge during this weekend, so decided to make it at home. 

For this beautiful recipe: 

• 8 baby courgettes (cut lengthwise in quarter)
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch 
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup milk 
• 1 egg

I am lucky enough (or not… depending if you’re a doctor or not haha) to have a deep fryer at home, turn your fryer to 180C. 

In a bowl, mix all of your dry ingridrients (flour, cornstarch, seasoning), slowly add the milk to the dry mix, making sure to whisk well, then add the egg. Make sure the batter is well combined. 

Dip the courgette in the batter and fry it until golden brown. If you don’t have a deep fryer, use a pan deep enough to fry your courgette fries. 

Once the fries are ready to come out of the oil make sure you use kitchen towel to drain any excess oil. Season with sea salt to taste. 

Fantastic on its own, or with a tangy dip. 

No Fuss Hummus

Hi fellow food lovers. 

Today I’m sharing with you my easy no fuss hummus. 

Let’s face it, should you want to make proper hummus you will need to buy tahini, you probably use half of the jar and leave it in the back of your fridge for a year before you notice you have it. 

We will replace tahini for another ingredient that we all adore and is so good for your health: coconut oil. 

  
Ingredients:

• 400g of chickpeas
• 4 tablespoons of chickpea water
• 2 teaspoons coconut oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)
• 1½ tablespoon squeezed lemon juice
• Paprika

In a food processor, add the chickpeas, coconut oil, garlic, salt, lemon juice and the chickpea water. 

Turn on the food processor and slowly pour in the olive oil while it blends

When the mixture is fully combined and smooth, pour it into a serving bowl. Drizzle with some more extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle some paprika. 

  

Delicious and easy dip that will definitely impress your friends. 

Ana x

Portuguese Chorizo Bread

Happy Sunday guys!

I have so many recipes that I have to post but I have been slacking big time! 

Let’s start with this easy Portuguese chorizo bread recipe. 

  
For the bread recipe please see my White Bread Recipe – however instead of using white truffle oil, use extra virgin olive oil. 

Use half of a chorizo ring and cut the chorizo into thin slices. 

Once you’ve proved your dough, divide it into 3 portions and roll out each portion into rectangles. Layer the sliced chouriço on the dough, about 3 slices per row. Roll the dough up, and pinch the seams to close – it doesn’t have to be perfect – we want them to look rustic. 

With a knife make 4 diagonal cuts to the top of the bread. Set the rolls on a greaseproof baking sheet and let them rise for about another 30 minutes, then dust the tops of the rolls with some flour.

Bake in a preheated oven at 220C for about 25-30 minutes until the bread is done.

These are great fresh out of the oven or the next day! 

Try it and let me know how it goes! 
Ana x

White Bread with Truffle Oil

Happy Sunday!

I’ve got the easiest bread recipe, and you can make it a bit more luxurious by adding truffle ok instead of olive oil.

You will need:

• 250g white plain flour
•  1 sachet of instant yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon of caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 150ml luke warm water
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of white truffle oil

 

Combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Once combined make a well in the centre and pour in your water and your oil. Gradually mix the flour in until it forms a dough.

Transfer the dough to the work top and start to knead. Your dough will be wetter than a pizza dough. It should be sticky. Carry on kneading the dough for about 10 minutes. Place your dough into a lightly oiled, bowl and leave to prove covered for an hour. Whilst proving preheat the oven to 220C

Once your hour prove is done, knead the dough for another 10 minutes, then divide the dough into two parts. Put the dough in two identical bowls to create the round shape and place them in a baking tray. Form these sections into small rounds and place on covered baking trays for another hour.

Now cook your rolls in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Check the rolls at 15 min to see if they are done by tapping the bottom of the rolls to check that they sound hollow. When they are ready put them in a cooling rack covering them with a clean tea towel so that it absorbs the steam coming out from the rolls.

 

Letme know what you think!

Ana

Scricchiolio Signore Muffins

Beautiful Sunday to stay in bed! 

After sleeping for 12hours, all I had in my mind was a big fat breakfast! But because I have this conflicting feelings and ideas in my head that I want to lose weight and be fit, the 2 sausages, 2 bacon, 2 eggs and 2 toasts fly out of my mind. 

I then rembembered that a few years back I used to make Rachel Khoo’s croque Monsieur muffins on a regular basis! Had a look in my fridge and I didn’t have the ingridients for a traditional croque monsieur, so I had to improvise and make an Italian version with pancetta and mozzarella! 

  
Ingridients:

• Butter
• 2 slices of white bread
• 2 tablespoons of fried chopped pancetta 
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of grated mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons of whipped double cream
• Salt and black pepper

Start of for melting a little butter for coating both sides of the bread
Star of my cutting the crusts off the bread and roll the bread with a rolling pin to about half its original thickness. Melt a little of the butter and coat the bread.

Place the slices into the muffin tray to create cup shapes, then add the fried chopped pancetta  into the bottom of each bread cup. Break a raw egg on top of the pancetta – remember to drain off most of the egg white before adding otherwise it will overfill! 

Add one tablespoon of the cream in each cup then add the grated mozzarella  on too until it’s all covered. Cost the edges of the bread cups with some more of the melted butter, it will make it crispy! There’s never enough butter! 

Place in oven at 180C for 15 mins for runny egg or 20mins for firmer egg. 

  

Blueberry Muffins

 I am not the biggest fan of sweets, so it will take a lot for me to actually make something something sweet. I am more inclined to bake during the cold weather because who doesn’t like a nice warm muffin?

I was having a look in my fridge the other day,  and saw that I had frozen blueberries. The first thing I thought I could make, was blueberry muffins.

What you’ll need to succeed:

• 110g plain flour
• 110g butter
• 85g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
•  1½ teaspoons of baking powder
• 125 frozen blueberries

Cream the butter and sugar together then slowly add the eggs. Add the flour, baking powder and stir to combine. This is the hardest part: refrigerate the mixture overnight.

Place a spoonful of muffin mixture into each muffin case, filling each to just over half way.

Bake in an oven set at 200C/400F/Gas 6 for 20 minutes, or until golden on top.

Best served  warm out of the oven! You do not want to have these cold.. It won’t taste the same!
Ana xx

Pumpkin Soup

It’s autumn and we love it right? We love the leaves, we love pumpkin lattes and pumpkin spice, pumpkin all things everything!

So I have a really easy and quick pumpkin soup recipe!

 

What you’ll need:

• Splash of olive oil
• 1 chopped onion
• Half of a small pumpkin (chopped, deseeded and peeled) – let’s say about 500g
• 400ml chicken stock (or vegetable if you’re vegetarian)
• Double cream to serve

Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan, then gently cook the chopped onions until soft but not coloured. Add the pumpkin to the pan, then carry on cooking stirring occasionally until it starts to soften and turn golden.

Pour the stock into the pan, then season with salt, pepper and some smoked paprika. Bring everything to the boil, then simmer on a low fire until the pumpkin is very soft. Purée the ingredients in a blender and the most important part: push the soup through a fine sieve into another pan for a smooth consistancy!

Once you’re ready to serve, add a tablespoon of double cream! And taaaadaaah! Smooth delicious pumpkin soup!

Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!
Ana X

I’m Mac N’ Cheese Balls

If you knew my person, you would know that I absolutely love mac and cheese! I love pasta and I love cheese! 

I had deep friend Mac and Cheese balls before but they were quite big size – not as small as a golf ball but not as big as a tennis ball! In my opinion, this sort of food is good in bite size! 

For this recipe, you will need left over mac and cheese. 

I used ditalini rigati pasta, lots of single cream, butter, Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese and mozzarella. Make sure you leave the Mac and Cheese in your fridge for over night before using it for the recipe. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the macaroni mixture from the refrigerator, and scoop into balls.

Whisk the bread crumbs with the paprika, chili powder and black pepper  in a shallow dish; set aside. Beat the 1 egg with the 3 tablespoons milk in a small bowl. Coat the balls in the egg wash, and then dredge in breading.

Fry the mac balls in small batches until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain briefly on a paper towel plate; serve hot – I should have made a salsa sauce to go with it. 

I’ve made a quick sauce out of tomato purée, honey, soya sauce and chili. 

  

  Enjoy!

Ana x

Churros with Ginger and Cinnamon Sugar

Hello lovely people.

Today I was inspired to make churros, since I don’t have a lot of desserts on my blog! To be honest, I was watching Come Dine With Me, and a couple on the show were making churros but with chocolate to dip in.

All you will need for this recipe is:

For the churros:

• 200ml water
• 2 tablespoons of white sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used coconut oil)
• 200ml plain flour
• Extra oil for frying

For the ginger and cinnamon sugar:

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon white sugar

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, sugar and the 2 tablespoons oil – I used coconut oil because it’s the only oil I really use other than sesame oil or olive oil. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball.

Heat oil for frying in a frying pan, or if you have a deep fryer you can use that too, but don’t ask me how because I have never used one before! If you have a piping bag,please use it to pipe the mixture into strips. I have a problem with piping bags and can’t seem to pipe anything right! For the strips, I rolled them into thin strips! Fry until golden and drain on paper towels.

For the sugar, combine all ingredients and roll each churro to make sure they are covered. If there’s any sugar left off, sprinkle some more on top!

You can serve this with ice cream or with melted chocolate!

I believe (according to Wikipedia!) that the Portuguese brought churros to Europe when they returned from China (the grand Portuguese discoveries). Since I am half Portuguese half Chinese, I thought this dessert would represent my heritage the best.

I hope you try this at home and love it!

Ana xx

Chicken Curry and Jollof Rice

Hi guys!

So I have turned to foods that I can just leave to slow cook, or that doesn’t require standing for long periods of time.

 
I have had Jollof rice for the first time a couple of days ago, and I love it! Sort of reminds me of the Portuguese tomato and coriander rice, but with a bit of a kick!

For the Jollof rice, I have fried 1 onion until soft, added 2 tablespoons of tomato purée, 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon of paprik, some salt and pepper, a little bit over 1.5 cups of chicken stock and when the chicken stock is bubbling away hot, add one cup of long grain rice, and cook if on minimum fire for about 10-15min – make sure you keep an eye on the rice so it doesn’t burn.

For the curry, I fried some 1 onion, 6 closes of garlic and a bit of minced ginger – once the onions are soft, I have browned the chicken thighs (boneless) in the same pan – I like using chicken thighs because they are so nice and moist.

Once the chicken is brown, add 3 tablespoons of garam masala, 1.5 tablespoons cayenne pepper, 3 tablespoons of tomato purée – you can also use tinned tomatoes if you want – and half a cup of chicken stock. Let it slow cook until the sauce gets thick.

Once the curry is ready, I’ve added a bit of the curry sauce to some plain yoghurt. It is equally delicious without the yoghurt sauce.

I hope you’ll try this and let me know how it turns out!
Ana x