Freestyle Friday #12 and some Excellent Extras

Hello, and welcome to Freestyle Friday #12! It's good to be back. To be honest, I didn't really have much leftover this week, so it really was a challenge. I suppose that's good, because it shows I'm not being wasteful, but still...

I did however have three eggs, and you can do a lot with eggs. The only other things I had that were truely 'leftover' were a piece of sweet potato from my Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potato some mackerel from last nights tea, which I actually ate for lunch (more about that later.) Sooo, potato and eggs. One thing springs to mind. Frittata! I know I have been having them a lot lately, but they are just so good! (Othe recent frittatas include ham and spinach.) All I really did was slice the potato as thinly as I could, and then while that was cooking a little in the pan, I dealt with the eggs. All I did was whisk them! After adding seasoning of course. I also added a little turmeric. You know, because. It tasted ok, it dramatically changed the colour though, just look at the photos!

Slightly orange...

Very orange!

 

I took a photo in the pan, because I couldn't find my pastry brush to spread the oil evenly, so wasn't sure how well it would come out!

Not totally spot on, but pretty good I 'd say.

 

 

 

Now, rewind a few hours to lunch. I made a sandwich with the mackerel. On one slice of bread I spread some mango chutney, on the other slice I spread some curry paste. It may sound strange, but trust me, it was really good! A fabulous combination of smoky, sweet and spicy. Delicious, and really filling.

 

And now rewing a few more hours to yesterday's tea. I made Pasta with mackerel, Marsala and pine nuts; a recipe from Nigellisima, Nigella's Italian cookbook. You may be asking why it didn't get it's own post, and the only reason is, I just could not get a good photo of it! The kitchen was very steamy, and with the combination of not brilliant lighting, it just wasn't happening. However, it was so nice I had to mention it. Along with the aforementioned ingredients there were also sultanas, capers and onion. Again, a mix of salty and sweet. The pine nuts were toasted, and I love the taste of toasted nuts. Dried fruit and nuts, this dish was made for me!

 

Sadly, the best picture of the lot.

 

I'm starting a new challenge tomorrow, so be sure to check back tomorrow evening, when all will be revealed...

A Choice Chicken Dish

The recipe I cooked for my tea tonight was exactly what it said on the tin- well, on the page. It is called 'Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes'. Which it was. The only other main ingredient was a red pepper!

The recipe said for the chicken to marinated for half an hour if you have time... I had all day, so mine ended up being marinated for six and a half hours! The longer the marinating time the better, I think. Even though the chicken thighs were supposed to have skin on, I took the skin off mine. I don't think it affected the dish at all, the meat was very tender and soft, and hadn't dried out at all. After I had smooshed the thighs around in the marinade a bit, I left them what would have been skin side down, which probably helped a lot. When I was eating the chicken, I noticed a very very slight smokiness, which was rather nice even though I wasn't expecting it. I think it was due to the combination of the marinade ingredients, which were mustard, soy sauce and honey... a delicious combination.

I initially wasn't sure how big to cut the potatoes, as they were just supposed to be 'chunks'. But then I thought, the cooking time is only twenty minutes, so they must be pretty small to go soft in that time... listen to your recipe, people ;)

Doesn't look like much, but give it time...

 

Browning one side...

 

...and the other!

Very yummy, and very filling.

Frittata Fun

Hello! I know I have been a bit rubbish with posting recently, but I have been at home for three weeks so have been doing lots of fun things... My mum and I made a lot of good food, including Marble Cupcakes, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake, Banana Cinnamon Muffins and Double Chocolate Cookies to name but a few. We had some very very good meals as well. But no photos sadly, so you will have to imagine them all!

My first tea back was a ham frittata, from Nigella Lawson's Kitchen... I know I said I would have the spinach and the ham one next time... I will definitely do it at some point, I just have so many recipes I want to try!

You would make this as you would a normal frittata, but I would say to check the saltiness of your ham before seasoning. I had some of my ham in a sandwhich at lunch, so I knew it was quite salty. I only added a teeny pinch of salt because of this as I didn't want it to be too salty!

Bottom set, just need to grill the top...

 

 

There are four or five different frittatas in Nigella's 'Frittata Party', this is the secon one I have tried. The first one was Great Green Eggs. Two successes- not that Nigella ever lets me down!

Super Speedy Stir-Fry

Yes, I know stir frys are pretty quick anyway, but this one was even quicker. I prepared my vegetables in the morning as I had a pretty busy afternoon and evening planned, and wasn't sure how much time I'd have to eat. So I sliced the onion and mushrooms, grated the ginger and weighed out the beansprouts and pineapple... I had Pineapple and Beansprout Stir-Fry in case you hadn't guesses from those ingredients! Then when I got back later it was simply a case of cooking, which was literally a matter of minutes. The only other ingredients were five-spice powder, soy sauce and vinegar, which combined with the juice from the tinned pineapple to make a sauce. You wouldn't think you could get such a 'Chinese-y' tasting sauce from pineapple juice, soy sauce and vinegar, but you really can!

I had half a tine of pineapple and some beansprouts left So for lunch today, I basically made the same stir fry (also with the soy sauce, spice powder and vinegar again), but added some shredded spinach. It was like having tea for lunch, but it was very filling and kept me going all afternoon!

 Wrapped and ready to go

All ingredients out and in order... you have to be organised when doing a stir fry!

 

Just had time to get a quick snap... just...

 

I'm glad I didn't do rice like I was thinking of, look how much there is!

Great Green Eggs

I wasn't going to post about this meal, but it was too good an oppurtunity to pass up... I had green eggs for tea... sadly no ham. Ok, if you want to be boring, it was a spinach omlette. I got the recipe from the 'Fritatta Party' section in Nigella Express... there are quite a few variations... including a ham one. I may have to do a Green Omlette and  a Ham Omlette together next time. Just to say I had green eggs and ham! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go and read a Dr Seuss book...

Freestyle Friday #11

I am always happy with the meals I do on Freestyle Friday, but I have to say, I really really liked this one! At the start, I had a stuffed pepper in my head... With cous cous and raisins... But much as I LOVE raisins and cous cous, I just wasn't really feeling it. So I decided to make a stir fry, because I have some dried noodles that have been in the cupboard for a while. And I have been wanting a stir fry for a while, but for some reason it hasn't made it on to my menu! Well it did this week, but anyway. For this reason, it turned from a Chinese stir fry to a Thai stir fry! Along with the noodles, I had some chilli infused olive oil, chilli paste, a yellow pepper, some cherry tomatoes, some iceberg lettuce, Thai-7 spice, lime juice and dessicated coconut. The iceberg lettuce may seem odd, but it was there, and this is Freestyle Friday! It was only the last few leaves in the middle, and I sliced them as they were (in a kind of ball) so they were in strips. It kind of took the place of a green leaf you might put in like pak choi, or bok choi, something like that. Again, tomatoes aren't exactly traditional, but again, they were there! I kept a segment of lime back and squeezed over the top after I dished up. I was also going to leave the noodles crunchy, but I thought it would be more 'stir fry like' if I cooked them first before adding to the vegetables... And I am glad I did. A tasty, spicy, filling meal. And all off the cuff. Can't be bad.

Marvellous Mexican Burritos

Bring on the burritos! They were a great success tonight, so bring 'em on for next time! The filling I had was borlotti beans, a homemade tomato sauce, a few pickled jalapenos and a bit of cheese. The borlotti beans gave a nice smokey, barbecque like flavour, which was nice next to the spiciness of the jalapenos and the salty cheese.

The tomato sauce was one I have made before, it is acctually a pasta sauce, but is used throughout the recipe book in a few other dishes. Even though the sauce is simple, it really is good. It's hard to describe... not too sweet, not too salty, none of the ingredients overpower each other... it's just... right! And it seems to go with everything! Half of the sauce is mixed with the beans and spread on the tortilla wraps, then red onions, then wrap them up! It was quite hard to get it neat, but I am quite pleased with my first attempt. After they have been baked, the rest of the sauce and cheese go on the top, and it is then grilled for a few minutes until everything is hot and bubbling. Fiery (well, mine was!) and filling, just the way I like it.

One thing I would say, if you are going to make this, is to make sure you drain the beans and even the tinned tomatoes well, otherwise they will just make the wraps soggy!

Simmering sauce- tomatoes, onion, garlic, sugar seasoning.

Ok so maybe I shouldn't have used a red bowl for this photo, but you get the idea!

Looks good already!

Baked...

...and bubbling!