Italian Style Puff Pastry

Italian Style Puff Pastry

2-4 persons

Perfect appetizer, or snack, or served with a hot meal.

8 squares of readymade puff pastry dough (5” diameter)

8 thin slices of zucchini

½ sliced/diced onion

½ bell pepper in thin strips, 1-2 inch long

100 gr grated cheese (of choice, but go for one that melts well. I like Gouda)

25 gr grated parmesan

Italian herb mix + salt/pepper

Preheat the oven to 420.

Cover your oven tray with a sheet of wax paper.

Lay out your squares of dough and pinch a small handful of the mixed cheese onto each one. Just evenly divide all your cheese between the eight pastries. Add a slice of zucchini to eaxh pastry, then three or four strips of bell pepper, and some strips of onion. Make neat little piles on one half of the dough squares (we’re aiming for triangles, like sandwiches). Then a pinch of Italian herbs on each, salt and pepper to taste and fold the empty half of your dough over your little piles.

Pinch the dough shut and place them about an inch apart on the sheet of wax paper. Take care that you close the pastry well, otherwise your cheese will run out. Also yummy, but a bit of a pity. Next, place your tray in the pre-heated oven and bake for about 15 minutes, or whenever the dough has turned a nice golden brown.

Serve hot with finger food. Or along with your evening meal. They also work rather well as appetizers and snacks! 

Potato squash mash

Butternut squash

Potato and pumpkin mash.

2-4 persons

30 mins prep time.

Potatoes: 8-10 mid-size. Peeled and cubed

Butternut pumpkin: 1 small. Peeled and cubed

Onion: 2 small, red and white. Chopped

Red pepper: 1 chopped grilled (opt.)

Cheese: 100-150 gr. Chopped or grated

Butter: 50 gr

Skimmed Milk: ½-1 mug.

Olive oil: 2-4 tablesp

Parsley: 1 tablesp

Chives: 1 tablesp

Basil: 1 tablesp

Italian mix herbs: 1 teasp

Sweet chili sauce: 1 tablesp (opt.)

Salt: to taste

Pepper: to taste

Boil your peeled potatoes while you peel and cut your pumpkin. I prefer Butternut squash, but any other will do. For easy peeling, make unpeeled, half-inch slices of your pumpkin and then cut off the peel per disk. Goes way faster.

Bake your cubed pumpkin in the olive oil together with the herbs and the chopped onions (and red pepper, if you opted for that). Mid-high heat and keep stirring so it doesn’t burn until the cubes become soft. Add a splash of milk, and the cheese and continue to stir until your cheese has melted. Turn the heat low. By this time your potatoes should be ready for mashing. Drain of water. Add the butter and remaining milk, then your pumpkin mix and Chili sauce (if you decided to add it) and bring to taste with salt and pepper while you either mash it to one lumpy mass (my preference) or use an immersion blender to make one smooth mash.

Serve with a bit of butter/gravy on top, and meat/salad of choice and enjoy.

Bon apetit!!!

Parsnip and carrot delight.

Parsnips and carrots

A wonderful side dish that goes really well with either rice or potato and meat of your choice.

2-3 persons

Parsnips: 3-4, cut in narrow strips
Carrots: 3-4, cut in narrow strips
Onion: 1 mid-size, cut in narrow strips
Feta: 100/150 gr. Cut in narrow strips

Parsley: 1 tablesp
Rosemary: 1/2 teasp
Chives: 1 tablesp
Oregano: 1 pinch
Basil: 1 teasp
(or provincial herbs mix)
Salt: to taste
Pepper: to taste

Honey: 1 teasp
Butter: 2 teasp
Olive oil: 2 tablsp


Heat your butter until it has melted on mid-heat. Cut your parsnips/carrots in narrow strips (think french fries). You can peel them first, but a good washing will do. Bake all the veggies together until they start to soften and bend every time you still. Add your olive oil and the herbs. Keep stirring. Pour the honey over the mix, it will bring out the sweetness of the vegetables, and pepper and salt to taste. I usually do 2-3 turns of the pepper mill and a few pinches of salt. Once the veggies are nicely flexible, add the strips of feta and keep backing until the cheese just about starts to melt.
Serve hot with the main of your choice or serve as the main course, which is what I often do, and enjoy!

Bon Appetit.

Low Carb Broccoli Dish

Gotta love Broccoli

Still in the high protein mood. To me this dish serves well without needing to add much of anything, so see how it goes. You can serve it perfectly well as a sidedish to pasta, potatoes or rice. With some meat, like chicken, or lamb, or just go vegetarian and see how you like that. Prep time is about 15-20 mins, so if I am rushed, this is perfect.

Serves 2-4

Broccoli: 1 big. Small rosettes, blanched

Onion: 1 chopped

Leek: (8 inches) chopped

Mushrooms: 10 chopped and grilled (optional)

White cheese (feta/salad cheese): 75 gr chopped/broken 1 inch blocks (optional)

Melt cheese (parmesan/gouda/cheddar): 75 gr grated (optional)

6 eggs

Milk/cream: 1 ½ mug

Pumpkin seeds: 1 tablesp (optional)

Cashews: 3 tablesp (optional)

Olive oil: 4 tablesp

Oregano: 1 pinch

Basil: 1 pinch

Parsley: 1 tablesp

Chives: 1 tablesp

Paprika: ½ teasp

Nutmeg: 2 knifepoints

Salt: to taste

Pepper: to taste

Blanch your broccoli while you heat your oven to 350 f/175c. Get a nice big oven dish and put in the olive oil. Get bowl where you mix your eggs with milk/cream until it is a nice creamy mix. Add all seasoning while stirring with a whisk, preferably. Add the grated cheese to that.

Put the remainder of your ingredients together, including either cashew or pumpkin seeds, in your oven dish and stir them together loosely.

The basics, although the white cheese is optional.

Pour the egg/milk concoction over it and place in the preheated oven for approximately 45 minutes.

And your dish is ready to serve.

Personally, I like it with a salad on the side, but that is entirely up to you, of course.

Bon appetit.

Quick white cabbage/rice wok

This is a recent recipe that worked out really well. Quick to make, which is definitely a plus, and yummy. You need about 20-30 mins at most.

3-4 persons

Wok/skillet

Rice: (boiled) 2-3 mugs basmati or parboiled

White cabbage: ½ Sliced in thin strips

Carrot: 2-3 (julienne or spaghetti thickness) mid-size

Leek: 4-6 inches. Chopped

Garlic: 1 clove, minced

Chives: 2 teasp

Parsley: 1 teasp

Paprika (mild): ½ teasp

Pepper: 1 knifepoint

Salt: to taste

Nutmeg: 1 pinch

Sambal Ulek: 1-2 teasp

Honey: 1 teasp

Egg: 1

Milk: 1/3 mug

Make sure to boil your rice as dry as possible. I tend to do about ten percent less water than usual to get the substance right. But any way will be okay. Cut all your veggies and garlic. Heat your wok nice and hot. Keep the fire as high as possible as you throw in a splash of oil (whichever you prefer, olive, sunflower, peanut or coconut oil) and immediately add your carrots a la julienne. Stir a few times, and then add your strips of cabbage and chopped leek. Keep stirring. Next come the seasonings. Just toss them all in, along with the sambal and honey. Keep stirring while you add your rice.

Get a small bowl and quickly mix your egg with milk in there, along with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Push the mix in the wok to one side, and pour the egg/milk in on the empty side. Wait a moment to allow the egg to bake a little, then stir through the egg a few times first, before slowly mixing it with the rest of the meal.

Bake for a few more minutes and your dinner is ready for consumption.

Serve with krupuk or Naan bread, or papadums, or some flash-fried chicken for the non-vegetarian among you. ;-)

Bon appetit.

Sweet potato mash with raw arugula

A rather delicious mix of sweet potato and veggies. Really worth a try if you haven’t already.

3-4 persons

Sweet potatoes: 3-5 (mid-size) rough cubes

Bell pepper: 1 cubed or sliced (I prefer red, but green and yellow also work)

Onion: 1 chopped

Leek: 4 inches, chopped

Garlic: 2 cloves, minced

Arugula: 2 handfulls (75 gr)

Cherry tomatoes: 8-12 cut in half.

Feta cheese: handful (75 gr)

Butter: chunk (50-70 gr)

Olive oil: 2-4 tablesp

Honey: 1 tablesp (optional)

Broth cube: 1

Parsley: 1 teasp

Chives: 2 teasp

Oregano: ½ teasp

Rosemary: 1 pinch
Thyme: 1 pinch
Paprika: 1 knife point

Pepper: ¼ teasp, to taste

Salt: 1-2 teasp

Boil the peeled and cut, sweet potatoes with the broth cube until they’re nice and soft. (Aprox. 20 mins)  While they’re boiling use a skillet to bake your onion, leek, garlic and pepper in the olive oil. Add the herbs and honey (if you chose to use it), ½ the salt and pepper until the bell pepper and onion turn nice and glassy. Turn of the heat. Drain water from the potatoes once they are soft. Leave off the fire. Make a chunky mash of them and add the butter and salt and pepper. Add the veggie mix and the small cubes of feta and stir it together. At the last possible moment (right before serving) add the raw arugula leaves and cherry tomatoes and stir until it’s all evenly mixed.

Serve with garlic bread, or Turkish bread fresh from the oven and a fruity white wine or lemon water. Very yummy.

Italian pasta wok

 

One of my favs is this light wok pasta that takes about 30 mins to make, at most, while still being highly nutritious and delicious.

This dish serves 3-5 depending on the hunger factor.

Macaroni: 1 packet (250 gr) Al Dente

Broccoli: 1 (500 gr), small rosettes

Mushrooms: 10-12, diced

Onion: 1, chopped

Garlic: 3 cloves, diced

Red pepper: (optional) chopped

Feta cheese (salad cheese-goat cheese) 75-100 gr, cubed

Cashews: 1-1 ½ handful chopped or whole

Olive oil. ¼ cup

Salt: ½ teasp, or to taste

Pepper: 1 pinch, or to taste

Honey: 1 tablesp

Paprika powder: ½ teasp

Italian herbs: 1 teasp

Or:

Parsley: 1-2 pinches

Oregano: 1 pinch

Basil: 1 pinch

Rosemary: 1 pinch

Cook the pasta al dente. Whichever kind you prefer, it works with any, really. I like the look of macaroni in this dish, but any other will do. Look on the package for the time your pasta needs, subtract 1 minute of cooking time, rinse well with cold water after draining the pasta, and you’ve got al dente.

Set aside.

Use a big wok, or any other non-stick pan, and partially heat the oil at mid-heat. Add your garlic and onion (either normal or red) and let sizzle until the onion starts to look a little transparent, add the cashews and stir until some crusting becomes apparent. If this doesn’t happen, increase the heat until it does. Stir frequently throughout. Next come the broccoli rosettes, stir regularly until their green color becomes a brighter, darker green. Sprinkle the herbs, paprika, salt and pepper over it, and then the honey. Add the mushrooms and keep stirring until your mushrooms become darker and shrink a little. Lastly, stirring, add your cheese and red pepper, if you opted for that, wait until the cheese melts and voila, dinner is ready.

This dish goes well with a salad, after a pumpkin soup, or with some marinated chicken on the side.