Jambalaya

Hello lovely readers! After far too long, it's time for a new recipe... Jambalaya! Having grown up primarily outside of the United States, I was ashamed to realize that I'd never actually tried this delicious dish before. However, with a recipe this easy, I can safely say I'll be repeating the experience as often as possible! 

An export of Louisiana Creole country, this spicy and filling dinner was surprisingly quick and easy to knock together - chopping up the ingredients was the most time consuming element. Although most recipes use Andouille sausage, I went with this recipe's suggestion of chorizo since it's much easier to come by here in Britain. However, I'm sure this version would work equally well with either ingredient. 

Please don't be put off by the long list of ingredients! Although it looks like it could add up at the supermarket, you'll be surprised at how many items you probably already have - such as the garlic, spices, stock and rice. Also, this recipe calls for chicken, chorizo and prawns but you could easily skip the prawns if you prefer. Finally, I've tried this recipe with both canned tomatoes and fresh ones and didn't see any difference between the two so use whatever is more convenient. 

Recipe via www.hairybikers.com

Prep Time: 5 - 10 min

Cook Time: 20 - 30 min

Serves: 6

Ingredients: 

4 large chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
200g chorizo, outer skin removed and chopped
Olive oil
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 large celery sticks, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
5 large tomatoes, chopped (or 1 can of chopped tomatoes)
3-5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
2 bay leaves
200g long-grain rice (easy cook version)
450ml chicken stock
150g cooked and peeled prawns (or shrimp if you're American)
6 spring onions, sliced
salt
pepper
Fresh coriander/cilantro

Method: 

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot. Sauté the chicken for three to five minutes until starting to brown. Add the chorizo and cook for a minute until fragrant. Remove the chicken and chorizo from the pot and set aside.

Next, remove most of the oil from the pot - leaving just enough to sauté the vegetables (about a tablespoon). Stir in the onion, celery and peppers. Over a low heat, cook the vegetables for eight to ten minutes until they soften, stirring occasionally so they don't stick to the pot.

When the vegetables are ready, stir in the spices. After a minute, add in the chopped tomatoes and their juice. Increase the heat to medium and cook for five minutes or until the tomatoes have softened.

Add the chicken and chorizo back into the pan along with the rice. Cook for a minute, stirring to make sure the rice is fully incorporated. Next pour over the stock and add salt and pepper to taste.

Bring the pot to a simmer and cook for ten minutes or until the rice is ready, stirring occasionally. The rice will absorb most of the liquid but if the pot is looking too dry, add a little more stock and stir to combine.

Finally, stir in the prawns/shrimp and the spring onions and cook for about two minutes or until the prawns have heated through.

Serve with a sprinkle of coriander/cilantro and enjoy! 

Cookbook Challenge: Mixed Bean and Aubergine Tagine

For the first recipe of my cookbook challenge, I started with one of my stranger books: The Detox Health-Plan Cookbook. This particular book has been with me almost as long as I've been in Britain and yet... I've only made a handful of the recipes contained therein. It's a shame because this book also contains a lot of information about healthy eating, nutrition and holistic healing through food. Really interesting and a successful bargain bin find! 

The Detox Health-Plan Cookbook

Edited by Maggie Pannell

Hermes House, Anness Publication Ltd. 2006

The very first cookbook challenge post seems like the ideal place to confess that I have a particular weakness for cookbooks with fabulous photos. I wish every recipe would come with a photo! My reasons for choosing this particular recipe to kick off the challenge were based on practicality: I was desperate to clear out some cupboard space! I try to keep the kitchen cabinets fairly well stocked with canned tomatoes, different types of beans and other staples so, as a result, I'm often in need of a recipe that will let me use up some of those acquired bits and bobs! Since I didn't have a tagine dish handy, I used a large oven safe pot. However, I think you could also sauté everything in a large frying pan and then transfer to a covered baking dish if needed. 

Although this recipe calls for dried beans, I swapped those out for canned versions and they were perfectly delicious. That's what I call cupboard success! I stuck with the recipe's suggestion of using fresh tomatoes but I think using a canned version in colder months would be perfectly acceptable as well. Finally, the original recipe uses the bay leaves and the celery as part of the soaking process for the dried beans. Since I was using canned versions, I decided to add everything into the main dish instead and I think they really added a nice depth of flavor. 

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 60 min

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Olive oil
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 bay leaves
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 medium aubergines, chopped into bit size pieces
1 onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1-2 red chilies, finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp paprika
2-3 large tomatoes, finely chopped
1 1/4 cups vegetable stock
1 tbsp fresh mint
1 tbsp fresh parsley
1 tbsp fresh coriander/cilantro
black pepper to taste

2/3 cup greek yogurt
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 160C / 325F.

Heat three tablespoons of olive oil in a large, oven safe casserole pot over medium heat. Add the chopped aubergine and sauté for five minutes or until evenly browned. Remove from the pot and set aside.

Next, add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and add the onion and celery. Stirring frequently, sauté until softened. Add the garlic and chopped chilies. After five minutes, add the tomato puree and paprika and cook for a minute or two. When the puree has been mixed through, add the chopped tomatoes, aubergine, chickpeas, red kidney beans and vegetable stock. At this point, add black pepper to taste.

Cover the pan and transfer to the oven. After an hour, give the tagine a stir and check that the aubergine is cooked through. If the tagine still has a lot of liquid, allow to continue cooking in twenty minute intervals until it has the consistency of a stew.

To serve, mix the yogurt, mint and spring onions and add to each dish alongside a sprig of cilantro/coriander. We enjoyed this recipe on its own but it could also be nice over couscous for a more substantial meal. Enjoy! 

Mom's Meatloaf

Onions, celery, mushrooms and garlic

Hello lovely readers! I'm really excited to share this recipe with you all since it's one of my absolute favorites. Meatloaf is one of those dishes that is really easy to prepare, totally customizable, and always a crowd pleaser. The recipe below is one that my Mom sent me years ago with a few of my own additions. I also have a confession to share: Nick and I were so hungry when this came out of the oven that we tucked in straight away and I neglected to take a photo to share with you all. Additionally, I realized when I sat down to write this blog post that I had also forgotten to take a picture of the assembled meatloaf before it went into the oven. Oops. But, I think we'll be ok... 

Carrots

I was very relieved that Nick enjoyed this since I think it makes a great winter dinner served with mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies. Really warming and filling, but still a decently healthy meal. And, as mentioned, you could completely customize this recipe with whatever you had on hand - for example, it might be nice to swap half of the beef mince for sausage meat (with the casings removed). Be warned however, the ketchup will get very dark and look almost burned when it comes out of the oven (due to the sugars in it). You could cover the meatloaf with a bit of foil for the first half of the cooking process but I never bother. Also, ketchup is just the easy shortcut where the coating is concerned. If you're feeling fancy, you could make your own mix of tomato puree, brown sugar, cider vinegar and mustard... delicious! 

Onion mix with the bread pieces 

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 90 min

Serves: 4

Ingredients: 

2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 large onions, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped 

5-6 large button mushrooms, sliced
3 slices of bread (white or wholemeal)
2 pounds (900g) lean beef mince
2 medium carrots, grated
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 large egg
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp ketchup, plus more for coating the meatloaf
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Worchester sauce

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 350F / 175 C.

In a large pan over medium heat, sauté the onion and celery in the olive oil until translucent. Add the mushrooms and garlic and continue to sauté until the garlic is fragrant and the mushrooms have softened.

While the onion mixture is cooking, tear up the bread slices into very small pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. When the onion mix is ready, add it to the bread pieces and stir to combine. Next, add the carrots, beef mince, salt, pepper, egg, tomato puree, ketchup, balsamic vinegar and Worchester sauce.

Using your hands, mix the ingredients all together until they are completely combined and evenly distributed. Shape into a 4 x 8 loaf and place onto a baking tray. To make clean up easier, line the tray with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

Finally, coat the meatloaf in ketchup - approximately 3 tbsp. Spread the ketchup evenly over the meatloaf and then place into the oven. Bake for one hour and a half or until the meatloaf is cooked through. Enjoy!