Pastitsio, Greek Pasta Bake

After 14 years of driving to the South of France every summer, due to my eldest daughter's access and equipment needs, last week we treated our younger two now adult children to a last minute package holiday.  My son likes history and Greek mythology, my middle daughter likes sun and sea, and we all like food, so we settled on Rhodes.  They tried their best to eat most of the popular Greek dishes, but the one of the dishes they didn't try was Pastitsio, a layered lasagne like pasta bake, so I introduced them to it.

Serves 4-6

500g long pasta tubes, pastitsio no.2 aka bucatini, or penne
2 tbsp olive or sunflower oil
1 large onion, finely diced
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 courgette grated, or a bag of baby spinach leaves (optional)
500g beef or pork mince, or a mixture of both
150ml red wine
500g passata
1 tsp dried mint

1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cinnamon

1 bay leaf
2 eggs

500g greek style yoghurt

1/4 tsp nutmeg
100g grated halloumi, cheddar, or parmesan

Gently fry the onion in 1 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan. 

When the onion starts to look translucent add the courgette if using.  Fry for 5-10 minutes until soft.  Add the garlic and mince, breaking the mince up as you cook it.  When broken up and with very few raw pink bits, add the passata, rinse the carton out with the wine and add this, and the herbs & spices, apart from the nutmeg.  Cover and bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer, stirring from time to time, whilst you cook the pasta.

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.  

Just before the pasta cooking time is up, check the pasta sauce. It should be slightly thick, like single cream. If still too watery, take the lid off and continue to simmer whilst you drain the pasta.

Drain the pasta, tip into a large high sided baking dish, and stir through 1 tbsp olive oil. 

Turn the oven on to 180C.  

Beat the eggs into the yoghurt together with a pinch of salt and nutmeg.

Pour the meat sauce evenly over the pasta (if being traditional the pasta should be lined up all the same direction in the baking dish, but I have yet to bother to do this), then evenly cover this with the yoghurt and egg mixture.  Top with the grated cheese.

Bake for 45-60 minutes at 180C in the middle of the oven or until golden brown and bubbling. You may wish to turn the grill of for a couple of minutes to brown the top, but keep a close eye on it - the cheese burns quickly! 

Serve with a big green salad.

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Budget Marinated Olives

 

I lived in Lisbon 1995-1996, working for a British bank. A work colleague took pity on me living on me living on my own and invited me to join his wife and family on a bank holiday weekend in Nazaré, 77 miles to the north.  Preparing for an extended family gathering (his elderly mother told showed me her charm bracelet with a charm for each of the 18 children she had had!), he showed me this quick way to make marinate cheap olives.

1 tin of pitted black or green olives, or a mixture of both

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp oregano or mixed herbs

1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed 

Simply mix everything together and leave for a few minutes, if you can, for the flavours to infuse.

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Romesco (Red Pepper & Almond) Sauce

A Spanish red pepper and almond sauce from Catalonia. I first had this a few weeks with hake at Rockfish in Poole several weeks ago.  When I made my own, it makes quite a lot for one person, and I've ended up eating it a variety of ways - as a pasta sauce, on sourdough toast, stirred into a salad, and as a dip - all equally good.

Serves 4, as a pasta sauce

200g roasted red peppers
100g almonds

1 garlic clove

1 tbsp sherry or apple cider vinegar

1 tsp smoked paprika

50ml olive oil

Simply blitz everything together in a food processor to a hummus like consistency,  I didn't add any vinegar as the jar of roasted red peppers I used was quite vinegary. Season to taste.

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Iced Latte

I wasn't a fan of iced coffee until I was introduced to Café Shakerato in Italy a few years ago.  As I fancied a longer drink in 34C temperatures in Hampshire this week, I experimented with an Iced Latte.  Not sure this is how coffee shops make their's, but this works for me.  A stainless steel cocktail shaker does seem to  make the best foamy coffee.  If you don't have one just make sure you use something that seals very well!

Serves 1

1 large espresso coffee

1 large expresso cup of cold whole milk

6 large ice cubes

Sugar to taste

Make your espresso and tip into the cocktail shaker with half the ice, and sugar if you take it.  Ensure the lid is on well and shake until the metal feels cold to the touch and you can't hear the rattling of the ice cubes.

Pour the foamy coffee into an insulated cup. Stir in the cold milk, and add more ice to keep it cold.

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Vegetables & Rice in Miso Broth

My TikTok account is mostly saved recipes (plus veg growing and travel), and recently a series of miso rice dishes.

These recipes seem to cook the rice together with the vegetables, but a quicker option is to use leftover rice and vegetables.

Serves 1

150g High Fibre Brown Rice

Handful of cooked vegetables & pulses.  This bowl had leftover chickpeas, air fryer roasted butternut squash, air fryer roasted kale.  I have made other bowls with fried mushrooms and spinach/Swiss chard.

1 tbsp miso paste

500ml just boiled water

Seasoning/flavouring (optional) - soy sauce, sesame oil, chilli oil, chilli flakes, finely grated garlic, finely grated ginger, kimchi

In a small pan, pour the boiling water over the rice and vegetables.  Dissolve the miso paste into the hot water.  Bring to the boil.  Simmer for two minutes, then serve.

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Mushroom Chilli

I had a delicious Mushroom Chilli Tacos at Overdraft in Winchester recently, and thought I'd try to recreate it at home. 

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced

300g mushrooms, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp smoked paprika

1-2 tsp chipotle paste (optional)

500g passata 

1 can black or pinto beans

Season to taste 

Fry the onion in the olive oil over a medium high heat, stirring regularly, until they start to develop a golden colour.

Add the mushrooms and continue to stir and fry until they stop looking raw.  

Stir in the garlic and the spices.  Once you can smell them cooking add the passata and beans, including the liquid in the can.

Simmer for 20 minutes, reducing the sauce as much as desired.  A thicker sauce works best in tacos and burritos, and a looser sauce works better for a chilli over rice.

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Cauliflower Alfredo Pasta Sauce

Fettuccine Alfredo is a pasta dish (fettuccine) coated in a rich Parmesan sauce originating in Rome in 1907/8.  Many additions/adulterations have come about over the last century, notably in the US - cream, chicken, salmon, mushrooms.  And now cauliflower.

In our house the cauliflower florets usually get air fried or used in Piccalilli, with the stalk and leaves used in Cauliflower Cheese Soup or Cauliflower Masala Soup.  But the weather is warming up in the UK so I'd thought I'd use the leaves in a pasta sauce.

I added anchovies, reminded of a Bagna Cauda Dip/Sauce, but you can omit these adding more Parmesan, or nuts if preferred 

Serves 4

350g cauliflower stalk & leaves, roughly chopped

1 large garlic clove

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tin anchovies in olive oil, or 100g parmesan, or 40g walnuts or cashews

Parmesan/Grana Padano for serving (optional)

Chopped parsley for serving (optional)

Chilli oil or flakes for serving (optional)

Cover the cauliflower with water in a small pan.  Bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 10 minutes until really tender.  If using nuts, add these to the pan to soften with the cauliflower.

When tender, drain the cauliflower and nuts, keeping the cooking water.  Liquidise the cauliflower and nuts together with the rest of the ingredients in a heatproof container, adding enough cooking water to make a thick hummus consistency sauce.

Serve over pasta, with freshly grated parmesan, parsley, and chilli to taste.

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Prawn Bhuna Curry

Bhuna is a Bengali dish, traditionally a slow cooked 'dry' (not much sauce) medium hot curry, heavy on mustard oil.  I made a quicker and wetter curry, which is more to our taste.

Serves 4

Prawns:

500g frozen cooked prawns

1/4-1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp mustard oil (optional)

Bhuna Sauce:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp mustard oil (another tbsp of vegetable oil can be used instead)

1 tsp brown mustard seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

4 cardamon pods

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4-1/2 tsp chilli powder

2 medium onions

3 garlic cloves, peeled

2 cm root ginger 

500ml passata

1/4 tsp salt

Toss the frozen prawns with the spices listed whilst you get on with the sauce.

Roughly chop the onion, garlic, and ginger and liquidise with 75ml water to make a paste.

Get all the dried sauce spices ready in a ramekin/small pot.

Heat the vegetable and mustard oil in a sauce pan over a medium high heat.  When hot, stir in the dried sauce spices, and then quickly add the onion paste, taking care as this will spit in the hot oil.

Stir the onion paste regularly until it starts to dry out.  Add the passata, salt, and a little water to make a thick but pourable sauce.  Bring to the boil, cover, and turn down to a simmer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, add the prawns.  Don't worry if they are still frozen, just turn up the heat and bring them back to the boil.  The prawns will release a lot of liquid into the sauce so boil the sauce hard for a further 5 minutes to reduce the sauce a little and thoroughly defrost and heat the prawns through.

Serve with basmati rice.

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Chinese Sweetcorn Egg Drop Soup

Chinese Sweetcorn Egg Drop Soup is such a quick, simple, but tasty soup.  I made a storecupboard vegetarian version, but you can use fresh vegetables and/or chicken as your time and budget allow.

Serves 2, or a greedy one as a meal

1 mug of frozen sweetcorn, or 285g can of sweetcorn in water

100g grated potato or 100g cooked rice

Handful of finely shredded spinach, kale, or cabbage (optional)

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed (optional)

1cm cube of fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped

1 tbsp miso paste, or 1 stock cube

500ml hot water 

1 large free range egg

1 spring onion, finely sliced (optional)

Chilli oil or chilli flakes (optional)

Soy sauce to taste

Authentic (or possibly Chinese-American) Egg Drop Soup seems to use creamed sweetcorn.  I like to do this by cooking/warming the sweetcorn in the stock first, then liquidising with a stick blender, as I think it gives the soup a better consistency.  But, if you don't have a stick blender, or don't want to blend the sweetcorn, this is not essential.

If pureeing the sweetcorn, simmer the frozen sweetcorn for 5 minutes in the hot water in a soup pan, or heat tinned sweetcorn until the water is boiling.  When the sweetcorn is cooked/hot, liquidise with a stick blender in the pan.  

Add the potato or rice, crushed garlic, grated ginger, and miso paste or stock to the sweetcorn (or add all these to the pan with the water if not liquidising the sweetcorn).  Simmer for 10 minutes in a covered pan.

Beat the egg in your soup bowl.  Turn up the soup to a gentle boil and drizzle in the egg.  Leave for 30 seconds then swirl with a spoon.  You should have 'flowers' of cooked beaten egg.

Serve with chopped spring onion, soy sauce, and chilli oil to taste.

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Jollof Rice & Beans

Jollof Rice & Beans is an easy, cheap, nutritious plant based one pan dish.

Jollof Rice is a spicy West African dish of rice, tomatoes, chillis, onions, spices, often served with a meat stew.  To add more protein and fibre to the rice I had the idea to add beans, similar to Caribbean Rice & Peas.

All recipes online use Scotch Bonnet chillis, so use one or two if you want a more genuine flavour, but beware these are very hot!

And I highly recommend Afrizi, an African restaurant in Festival Place in Basingstoke to try 'proper' Jollof rice and other West African dishes.  

Here is my take...

Serves a greedy 4

1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped

2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

2 red peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped

1 tbsp rosemary, dried or fresh

1 tbsp thyme, dried or fresh

2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp hot chilli powder 

1/2 carton passata

2 tbsp light olive oil

1 mug basmati rice

2 cans of mixed beans in water (or kidney, pinto, black beans)

Recently boiled water

1 vegetable stock cube 

2 bay leaves

Liquidise the onion, garlic, peppers, rosemary, thyme, coriander, chilli powder, and passata.

Heat the oil in a shallow casserole dish.

Carefully pour in the blended sauce, bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After 5 minutes, stir in the rice into the sauce and drain the liquid into the mug.  Top the mug up with recently boiled water, pour over the rice plus another 1/2 mug of hot water, the crumbled stock cube and bay leaves.  

Stir everything in, sprinkle over the beans, cover, and bring to the boil. 

Turn down to the lowest heat and cook for 20 minutes.

Stir in the beans and sauce that will have risen to the top during cooking and serve.

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Prawn & Pea Risotto

Prawn & Pea Risotto is a simple dish with big flavour for only a few ingredients.  Frozen prawns and peas make this an easy quick supper.

Serves 4

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, peeled & finely diced

1 large clove of garlic, peeled and crushed

1 small glass of white wine (optional)

300g risotto rice

2 fish or chicken stock cubes

1 litre recently boiled water

250g frozen prawns

Large pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

Chopped parsley (optional)

Freshly grated parmesan (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a heavy based pan over a medium heat.

Sweat the chopped onion for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft but not coloured.

Stir in the risotto rice and garlic into the onions.  Pour in the wine, and stir until evaporated away.

Add a ladleful of hot water and the crumbled stock cubes, stirring until evaporated and the stock cubes have completely dissolved.  Keep adding one ladle of hot water at a time, and stirring until evaporated.  Halfway through the hot water add the frozen prawns, and then continue adding the ladles of hot water.  After about 25-30 minutes the rice is tender but not mushy.

Stir in the frozen peas and chilli flakes, turn off the heat, cover with a lid and rest for 5 minutes.

Serve with a topping of chopping parsley and parmesan if wished.

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High Fibre Brown Rice

Everyone's talking about the benefits of eating more fibre.  It's good for your digestive health, heart health (lowering cholesterol and blood pressure), blood sugar control, weight management (increased fullness), reduces the risk of certain cancers, promotes a healthy gut microbiome, and reduces inflammation. 

Brown rice has more fibre than white rice, and I've added to this with lentils and quinoa.  The quantities below make about 8 150g servings.  This week I've been eating with vegetable curry, oily fish, and in soup.

1 cup brown rice

1/2 cup puy lentils

1/4 cup quinoa

Simmer everything for 25-30 minutes in a pan with at least double the volume of boiling water in a pan that seals well.  

Season after cooking otherwise the lentils don't go tender.

Divide into portions and freeze until needed.

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Mexican Roast Potatoes & Beans

We seem to be alternating between pasta and rice for carbs recently, so I googled 'potato main meals' and turned up this Mexican Bean & Potato Bake.  It is a pretty versatile bake - the original recipe says to use kidney beans, but I was going to use pinto beans until I discovered I had leftover Chilli con Veggie.  You could also use Chilli con Carne if not vegetarian.  

Serves 4

1kg potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces

2 tbsp olive oil

1 pepper, cut into bite sized pieces (optional)

400g drained kidney, pinto, black beans, or leftover chilli

400 g tin chopped tomatoes

2 tsp smoked paprika (if not using using leftover chilli)

1 tsp ground cumin (if not using using leftover chilli)

1 tsp hot chilli powder (if not using using leftover chilli)

Salt & pepper

100g cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 200C/190C Fan.

Toss the potatoes in the oil in a lasagne dish and roast for 45 minutes, stirring around half way through the roasting time, until lightly browned and nearly cooked through.

After 45 minutes, stir through the beans/chilli, tinned tomatoes, spices, salt and pepper. Sprinkle cover the cheese, and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes until bubbling hot, the potatoes are cooked through.  

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