A Friend in need featuring the Mother-In-Law

So my dear friend and colleague, MaiT, has called on me rather frantically, to help her with a few meal ideas for the Easter weekend...and for the arrival of her MOTHER-IN-LAW!! Yikes. And while she assures me that hers is not bad at all, we all know a mother in law is a mother in law is a mother in law, and truth be told, my dear friend will be on stage working her little butt off. While you may have noticed that my online presence, particularly on this forum, has been limited, I felt the incessant ringing of the saying 'a friend in need is a friend indeed' in my ears, coupled with the looming arrival of my own mother in law in the very near future- I figured good old Karma would spare me for being kind enough to help a friend- hmmm...me? Selfish? I think not!

Mashed Potato with with Basil

Salt and cook the potatoes until very soft and drain water. Blend a handful of basil with ½ cup of grated parmesan cheese and a cup of milk. Blend until it forms a semi smooth mixture. Mash potatoes and add liquid gradually while mixing the mash until it reaches the consistency you like. Add a tablespoon of butter for taste.

Mashed Potato with Mushroom

Salt and cook the potatoes until very soft and drain water. Chop a packet of brown mushroom (you can vary quantity) into diced pieces. Lightly sautee the mushroom in some olive oil, garlic and black pepper until brown, then add  ¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese and ¾ cup of milk. Mix well and leave to simmer for a minute or so till cheese dissolves more or less. Mash potatoes and add mushroom mixture gradually while mixing the mash until it reaches the consistency you like. Add a tablespoon of butter for taste.

Easy Fried Rice

Cook a pot of rice, preferably basmati because its light and doesn’t stick. You can either chop up your choice of vegetables or make use of frozen veg- the diced ones. I prefer frozen veg when I cook for many, even though ordinarily its bland, in my fried rice it is well disguised. In a pan with olive oil, start by frying whatever meat element you may want to use. If not, then proceed to lightly fry the frozen veg, making sure it sizzles out the frozen element. If the oil is luke warm, the veg will boil- not good! Keep mixing to avoid burning and add some parsley, garlic and ginger- it’s a good idea to crush these ingredients. Add some barbecue spice and a bit of cumin spice if you like Indian aromas. When the veg is cooked, gradually add the rice and keep frying and mixing until it all blends.

Green Beans and Carrots

Chop off the ends of the green beans and julienne the carrots. Heat up some olive oil, just enough to coat the veg without dripping. Put heat at ¾ of the max and lightly fry the veg. Add some pepper and salt for taste and serve when veg starts to brown. If you prefer your veg softer than not, lightly steam the veg first.

Salsa- for stews and especially curries

Chop into small cubes the following ingredients- 1 firm red tomato, ¾ onion, approx 10cm cucumber with the skin and the soft inside removed, 1 yellow pepper-for colour really, though any pepper will do. Add as much chilli as you like, if any. Mix the diced veg. For the dressing mix the following: lemon juice, sugar, pepper, garlic, olive oil- add small quantities and keep adding the various ingredients until you get your taste. As a guideline, focus on perfecting the lemon-sugar ratio and then add the other ingredients. Mix ingredients about 30 minutes before you serve, as the salsa will adsorb the dressing without making it soggy during this time.

Pasta and Tuna Salad

Boil 1 packet of macaroni pasta and then let it cool off- don’t forget to add salt for taste. Mix 2 cans of tuna (the one preserved in oil) with finely chopped onion and green pepper- one of each. Add 4 tablespoons mayonnaise and mix with 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Mix wet ingredients with pasta. If it is dry, add a little more mayo and milk. Add pepper for taste and garnish with parsley. Leave to chill in the fridge.

Prawn Stir Fry- see blog 22 January 2013

Grilled Fish in Foil

Season your fish fillets and leave overnight. For the seasoning use lemon, vinegar, salt, garlic and fresh coriander. The next day, place each fillet in its own foil pocket with shiny part inside and seal, warm up oven at 180 degrees or 2/3 of the heat. Place fish inside the oven for 20 minutes. Remove and allow to cool while still in the foil- cooking will continue but this is fine if food cooks for 20 min exactly. Garnish with lemon slices and coriander.

Peanut Butter Chicken- see blog Wednesday 28th November 2012

Whole Chicken Grilled

Marinade the chicken with Portuguese spice, honey, olive oil, garlic, salt and rosemary. Because the chicken will cook slowly, maximise on flavours by slipping garlic and rosemary beneath the skin of the chicken. You can make small incisions on the flesh of the chicken and insert small chunks of garlic. Rub the spice mixture onto the chicken and leave to stand for as long as possible(over a few hours, overnight or even just a few minutes). When ready, place chicken on foil and cover completely. Heat up oven to 180 degrees or 2/3 of heat. Cook slowly over 2 hours. Serve with grilled veg and rice.

Mint and Rosemary Lamb Chops- to be posted soon

Valentine’s Shmalentine’s at Fishmonger Restaurant

Zzz… as we ushered in yet another Valentine’s Day. I love love but I hate loving love when I feel forced to love it.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore my boo and I would like to believe I do so daily, and I choose when to make it extra special. I see nothing wrong with dedicating one day in the year to LOVE but what annoys me is the commercial aspect to it, that then results in us mere mortals feeling the pressure to show our love materially. I have fallen prey to this Valentines stupidity one too many times- but no more. I realized that Love is continuous and constant and is not defined by a few chocolates, jewelry or flowers on one day.

The irony of it all is that my Boo decided to surprise me with a lovely dinner at an upmarket restaurant (well up-prices indeed). I really appreciated the gesture because a) I didn’t expect it b) it was at one of my favourite spots- Fishmonger. I absolutely love the Fishmonger in Illovo at Thrupps Shopping Centre, Joburg. It is warm and cozy with the best service ever- it feels like a family run restaurant- which is usually a winning formula. I was therefore quite eager to try the Nicolway restaurant/franchise. So I tossed my bitter Valentine’s attitude out of the window and threw on a sexy dress and cute heels. This Fishmonger is definitely a far cry from the sister shop in Illovo in terms of warmth and intimacy- however I think the general aesthetics at Nicolway are contemporary and brighter, creating a contrasting vibe to the older Thrupps infrastructure. We were placed at a table that was so close to the kitchen that I felt I could hear the chef’s knife clacking away. The service was excellent, so much that when they noticed we were uncomfortable ‘in the kitchen’, we soon found ourselves at a better more ambient table.

THE FOOD! Lord Have Mercy. After I managed to tear myself away from ordering my usual always-divine Prawn Curry, my Boo chose my meal for me in a rather ‘ini mini miny moe’ manner- and I think, overcome by momentary insanity, I conceded. I don’t remember the name but it was a dish with 10 Queen prawns cooked in a creamy beer and garlic sauce with a butternut and crème spinach side dish. It cost a whopping R170 however it was worth every penny. My boo had his usual Kingclip Thermidore which he loved however in his words, “Yours is better baby”- What’s that Shona saying again? “Murume asinganyepi haanyengi- The man that doesn’t occasionally tell a fib to please his woman will not succeed in love”. Tsk tsk!

While I prefer the Illovo restaurant for ambiance,  I would still recommend Fishmonger Nicolway for tantalizing, tasty food. Definitely worth putting my Valentines opinions aside and enjoying some good company.

His Kingclip Thermidor

Her Prawn in Beer and Garlic sauce

Stuffed Chicken Breast (chop-chop style)

I made a couscous salad and had some left over for lunch at work tomorrow. See a big part of changing my way of life, and eating, has been being better prepared. I therefore plan my meals ahead and I cook my lunch the night before or in the morning while eating my oats. (My oats are totally delicious, I'll share my method soon).

So for my lunch I marinated a sizable piece of chicken breast in my choice of spices. The breast piece needs to have been sliced open on one side like you would a hot dog roll, leaving one longitudinal side intact. Fry the inside part first for about 30 seconds in a preheated olive oiled pan. Then turn over and remove pan from heat.

Take 3tsp of tomato purée, 1.5 tsp of crushed garlic and 1.5 tsp honey. And mix well.

Smoothly smear the tomato mixture onto the surface of the chicken; this will be on top of the lightly fried inside part of the chicken piece. Close the edges of the chicken together and pin shut with toothpicks.

Replace the pan on the heat and shallow fry at low heat with a lid on. Remove when cooked or after 7minutes...ENJOY!

My Summer Couscous Salad

So! My LFC is getting the best of me and I am getting bored of veg generally and especially when made conventionally. Salads and stir fries are great but I felt I needed to switch it up a lil'.

I bought some Harissa Spiced Couscous- my first time using this brand. The one I usually buy is plain and uneventful especially in light of my need for a spruced up meal. The Harissa is available at Pick and Pay in South Africa for about R30. A bit steep but hella worth it! I can testify. It comes already spiced Moroccan style which adds so much flavor to a usually bland grain.

I prepared the Couscous in a bowl, by adding hot water to it, in the ratio of 2:1 and covering it (eg. 200g water to 100g of Couscous). The grain swells so expect your portion to double. While the Couscous 'cooks', finely dice some bell peppers, I chose Red and Green, though yellow adds some bright colour. Dice some cucumber and some mint. Quantities? It's up to you but I used 1/6 of each pepper, 1/4 cucumber and a fistful of mint- my fist is small;-)

Keep checking the Couscous; when all the water has been absorbed, let it cool. Then add the dry ingredients and mix. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon. Then chill the salad- ENJOY!

(My chicken is grilled in its own oil, with Portuguese spice and glazed with honey. LIFE. IS. GOOD)

My cup of green tea

I really should've been doing something constructive, but hey that's my days sketch. I'm trying to get back into drawing. Lets see how that goes. Kudos to me for finally drinking green tea!

Omelette du fromage (cheese omelette)

Oh my days! I just made the most delicious omelette ever. My Boo makes what I thought were the best omelettes ever! Boom! Not anymore!

Because I have to be careful what I eat and carefully plan my meals, I opted for no yolks at all but a tablespoon of grated cheese instead. I chopped up some spring onion, red and green pepper as well as slices of tomato. I fried the veg elements lightly in olive oil for about 1min, with a pinch of salt and pepper. I then added the 4 beaten egg whites and the cheese sprinkled on top. This cooks fast so when the egg is solid and white, flip over half the omelette to fold it in half. And then ENJOY!

The Upside of my Lifestyle Change- LSC

I have made many tasty dishes over the past few weeks and since I began to eat better. Recently I made an epic chicken salad. I basically tossed together some lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes, green peppers and red peppers, onion shavings, cucumber and mango shreds- all seems rather basic however the CHICKEN totally transformed the salad. I marinated the chicken in my choice of spices which can be anything that makes sense- chicken spice, Portuguese spice, herbs- fresh or dry, garlic, crushed pepper etc. I lightly fried the chicken in olive oil until it was cooked. I am currently avoiding salad dressings so I needed to come up with a way to add some low fat dressing to my salad. Anyway I ended up adding a dollop of honey, a double dollop of plain low fat yoghurt and a generous splash of soy sauce. High Risk-High Return? Hell yeah. I cooled the chicken and added it to the veg and tossed it. The extra ‘sauce’ from the chicken was absolutely delicious and moistened my salad. I ABSOLUTELY RECOMMEND THIS! And because it was so good, I gobbled it up before I could take a picture. Tsk tsk tsk!

My LFC baby!

So I recently embarked on a lifestyle change- (yeah lemme hear you say “AGAIN?”). Yes I am re-re-attempting to change my lifestyle or rather revert to the person I once was. I was recently looking at photos of myself in University, and I must say I was impressed by my body. Yes, Yes, albeit the fact that I was slightly underweight, I was an avid gym goer and was probably quite healthy. Not everyone would agree with me; my boo savagely slaughtered my previous trim looks with his remarks, “Baby, I am happy I didn’t date you back then when you were a man!” Seriously?

Moving on…my new life style involves a 180 degree shift from the person I have become over the past 4 years. It is a helluva long time to recover from; however I reckon that there is no time like the present.

Paramount to my lifestyle change (LSC) is the food that I choose to consume, in conjunction with my exercise program (sigh). I will be featuring a few of the meals that I am obliged to eat. This LFC demands that I abstain from excessive amounts of Carbs which in all honesty meant f-all to me because I thought my in-take was normal- but alas my ample pot belly would say otherwise.

These are a few images of the meals I have been consuming, I will add tips and prep methods, as well as progress report later.

Cheerio!

Prawn Stir Fry- Wow- I couldn't resist

Julienne 1 carrot, 1/4 green pepper, 1/4 red pepper and thin half slices of 1/4 onion.

Fine chop a jalapeño or as much heat as you can take. Mix with 2 chopped garlic cloves, 1 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp honey , pinch of Italian spice or any fresh herbs and a 1/2 level tsp of salt. Add to 8 prawns and let them sit for about 3 min while you warm up 1 tsb of olive oil is a saucepan.

When hot, sizzle prawns for a min then add veggies. After two minutes or when your veggies are done to your liking, remove, plate and chow!!!! Enjoy!!!

When Time Sits on your CHOPPING BOARD

Sometimes life is so calm and chilled. It almost seems like the clock is moving backwards. It is great for a while and then...Just. Like. That...you're dead bored! Appreciate those times. Savor them and guard them selfishly!!! Because as I am grudgingly learning, life can go from zero to 100 faster than you can say BMW M6!!!

Tonight I prepared a prawn stir fry in under 15 min. I won't share the recipe because, yes, you guessed it- I am busy. But I will share a tip.

If you've frozen prawns that you'd like to cook without using the microwave, just soak them in water at room temperature for 5 min. Microwaving them is tricky because prawns cook very fast and if you've a microwave like mine- the defrost button is not to be trusted. Also general rule of thumb though I fall short- try and buy prawns fresh not frozen:-) What do you think? Leave a comment...

Cheers to 2013 everyone and watch this space.