Peppers, zucchini, chicken filet and couscous

Today I made this simple and fast stir fry dish. I made this with couscous but you also can take rice if you're not familiar with couscous.

Ingredients:
2 red peppers
1 zucchini, I had a yellow one
1 red onion
2 chicken filets
Cornstarch or cornflower
Olive oil
Couscous or rice
Salt
Pepper
Coriander

Directions:
Cut the onion, peppers and zucchini in pieces. Cut the chicken filet in small pieces. Put the chicken filet in a bowl; add salt, pepper, olive oil and just a bit of cornstarch, this keeps the chicken more tender. Fry the chicken filet in some hot oil. Take the chicken out and put it aside. Fry the onion and the peppers a few minutes and add the zucchini. Put the chicken filet back in and stir fry this all together a few minutes. Cut the coriander leaves in small pieces and add this at the end when your dish is ready. Cook the couscous according the instructions on the package.

Beef with Eggplant tomato sauce

Sometimes I don't have a clue what to make for dinner so I look in my fridge and there arises a new dish like this one.





Ingredients:
600 gr beef
2 eggplants/ aubergine
1 big onion
2 Canned chopped tomatoes
Pepper
Salt
Sugar
Chili pepper
Oregano
Olive oil

Directions:
Cut the beef in large pieces. Cut the eggplant in slices and chop the onion in small pieces. Put salt on the eggplant and leave it for a while, this will take the moist out of the eggplant and keeps it from absorbing the oil. Make it dry with paper. Fry the slices eggplant in the hot oil. Put it on a plate with some paper to absorb the oil. Fry in the oil also the pieced of beef until it has a nice brown color. Take the beef out and put it aside. Fry the onion in the oil for a few minutes, add the tomatoes. Add salt, pepper, little sugar, chili and oregano. Stir this good and add the slices of eggplant and pieces of beef. Add some water and let it cook until the beef is ready.

Pesto with rocket leaves

This is an easy to make recipe and better than the pesto you buy in the supermarket.

Ingredients:
400 gr of any kind of dried pasta
4 tablespoons of pine nuts
3 garlic cloves
sea salt
handful of fresh basil leaves
2 hands full of fresh rocket leaves
a handful of grated parmesan cheese
olive oil

Directions:
Roast the pine nuts in a frying pan without any oil until they are golden brown. Crush the peeled garlic with some salt. Add the basil and rocket leaves. Leave some rocket leaves for decoration. Crush it all until it is a nice green puree. Crush the roasted pine nuts and add it with the parmesan cheese. Mix it with some olive oil until you have a nice thick sort of sauce. Cook the pasta "al dente" in some salty water. Drain it and put it on plates. Add the pesto and the rest of the rocket leaves and mix it.

Stuffed tomatoes and peppers- Gemista

A dish that you can make with and without minced meat so its also suitable for vegetarians.

Ingredients:
5 big tomatoes
4 peppers
Patatoes
Olive oil
1 cup of risotto rice. Count 1 1/2 tablespoon rice per vegetable
(250 gr minced meat If you want meat)
1 big onion
Canned chopped tomatoes
Zucchini
Few patatoes
Salt
Pepper
Spearmint
Parsley
Oregano
1 1/2 cup of water

Directions:
Cut off the top of the tomatoes and peppers. Use a small spoon to get out the inside of the tomatoes. Cut the inside out of the peppers with a knife. Try not to poke through the skin otherwise the filling will go out.
Chop de inside of the tomatoes and save it for stuffing later.
Cut the onion and zucchini in small pieces. Cut the cleaned potatoes in parts. Fry the onion in some oil. Add the rice bit by bit so it’s all covered with oil. Add if you want the minced meat now and fry it, leave this out if you don’t want meat. Add now salt, pepper, parsley and mint and fry it. Put the little pieces from the inside of the tomatoes and the little pieces of the zucchini also in your pan and fry this also. Take your vegetables and stuff them with this filling and cover them with their tops. Put them in a dish for the oven and put pieces of tomatoes around it. Mix the can of tomatoes with some oil, water, salt, pepper and oregano and pour this around the vegetables. Put it in the oven at 180ºC for 1 1/2 hour. Check if you don’t need to add some more water in between. This dish is ready when the patatoes are soft.

Pumpkin Soup

A nice thick soup for rainy Autumn- and cold Winter days. You can also make a lot when the price of pumpkin is lower and put a stock in your freezer.

Ingredients:
1 onion
750 gr pumpkin
300 gr Pistachio nuts
Olive oil
1 clove of garlic
1/4 teaspoon of allspice
1/4 teaspoon of thyme
1/4 teaspoon of rosemary
1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
1 tablespoon salt soy sauce (kecap asin)
1 ltr chickenstock
salt
Pepper


Directions:
Cut the onion in small pieces (they say if you take some water in your mouth you won't cry ;-)). Fry it about 3 minutes in oil. Add the fine chopped garlic and little square pieces of pumpkin with half of the fine chopped pistachio nuts. Fry this also for 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock, allspice, thyme, rosemary en both of the soy sauces. Cook this for about 30 minutes until the pumpkin is ready. Put the soup in the blender to make it a nice thick soup. Serve it in soup plates and sprinkle the rest of fine chopped pistachio nuts over the soup.

First blog Zucchini Pies

I took some wise advice from a very good friend and started a foodblog. Because I like Greece and the Greek kitchen so much, my first recipe is from Greece.

This recipe I got from a restaurant in Corfu called zucchini pies.

Ingredients:
800 gr zucchini
400 gr onions
Salt
Parsley
1 egg
Mint
150 gr feta
Flour
Sunflower oil

Directions:
Grate the Zucchini and the onions, mix it with salt and put it in a strainer for at least a couple of hours and if possible a night. Squeeze out all the juice. Put it in a bowl and sprinkle some parsley and mint in it. Add an egg and crush the feta. Add as much flour into the mixture until it's possible to make small balls of it. Roll the balls into the flour, flatten them a bit and fry them in the sunflower oil untill they are nice golden brown.