Mexican rice in an Instant Pot

After a busy day at work, cooking a dinner with minimal effort and not needing to watch a pan on the stove is a blessing  This is my first venture into cooking rice in my instant pot and it was a hit, really easy and great tasting rice.

Ingredients

Olive oil

Red onion, finely chopped

Garlic, finely chopped 

Red pepper, chopped

1 tsp paprika

1 cup long grain easy cook rice

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

1 large tomato, chopped

Salt and pepper

Parsley, finely chopped

Method

Switch on sauté mode.

Wash rice in a sieve until water runs clear. Leave to drain.

Pop in 1 tbsp olive oil. Add onion and garlic, sauté until soft. Add pepper and sauté until garlic is beginning to go golden. Cancel programme.

Add paprika and stir well. Add rice, stock, salt and pepper and stir well. Sprinkle over tomato but don’t stir. Pop on lid with valve set to pressurise and set on Rice setting.

When instant pot finishes cooking, turn off and set timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes release steam, sprinkle over chopped parsley and fork rice to fluff up grains.

Serves 3

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Rake's pasta - a twist on Pasta puttanesca

My kitchen is full of food including fruit & vegetables, tins, packets, plus the contents of the fridge and freezer, but with all this food it's still difficult to decide what to cook for lunch.

Pasta is our "go to" for lunches, as it's so quick and easy, from the simplest tossed in pesto, or carbonara, to those that involved a little more preparation.

During lockdown, my husband likes to make his own lunch, so my daughter and I take it turns to cook and today it was my turn. I put on a boiling pot of spaghetti and grabbed some basics, but no fresh parsley, so my normal "Slut's pasta" wasn't possible. I tweaked it and as we have been watching Bridgerton, so I decided to call this "Rake's pasta".

Making the sauce takes as long as the pasta takes to cook.

Ingredients

1 large shallot, finely chopped

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tin anchovies, drained

1/2 to 1 tsp dried crushed chillies

1 clove garlic finely chopped

2 large tomatoes, chopped

10 pitted black olives, sliced into 4

1 large tablespoon capers

freshly ground black pepper

Method

Put the spaghetti on to cook.

Heat a saute pan and add the olive oil. On medium heat add the shallots and gently fry until soft. Add the drained anchovies and bash with the back of a wooden spoon so that they dissolve into the oil, add the garlic and dried chillies, fry for a couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes, olives and capers, fry until the tomatoes start to break down, stir regularly. Season with black pepper.

Drain spaghetti reserving some of the cooking liquid, toss the spaghetti with the sauce and add a little of the cooking liquid to loosen the sauce.

Serve

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Guacamole

This is a great side dish to Chilli con Carne or our Turkey chilli and also with tortillas. It's a dip in it's own right, so perfect for a snack.

Add as much chilli as you are comfortable with.

We make a variation of this called Guacasalsa, which means we make the Tomato salsa and then add chopped avocado to it, all in together.

Ingredients

1 avocado

1/2 small onion (finely diced)

1/2 green chilli (finely diced)

1 tomato (finely chopped)

Juice from 1/2 lime

Salt & Pepper

Method

Mash the avocado, squeeze over the lime juice and mix, this prevents the avocado from going brown. Then add the other ingredients and stir. 

Season to taste

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Salsa

This is a very simple Tomato salsa

This is great with my Turkey chilli or a Chilli con Carne and rice, or on the side when serving with tortillas. I also love serving this with my southern fried chicken. Add as much chilli as you are comfortable with, this is a mild salsa. I tend to make this, serve it to those that like it mild, then mix in more chilli and serve to those that like it hotter.

Ingredients

3 Tomatoes (finely chopped)

1/2 small red onion (finely diced)

1/2 green chilli (finely diced)

Juice from 1/2 lime

Salt & Pepper

Method

Mix together and serve, season to taste.

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Turkey meatballs in tomato and basil sauce

As we eat mainly turkey, chicken and fish, I'm always trying to think of different ways to use a pack of turkey mince.
It's easy to become stuck in a rut and keep making turkey chilli, so tonight I was determined to make a different evening meal. This is quick, simple and easy to make.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

For the tomato sauce:-

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 white onion, finely chopped

Pinch salt

1 clove garlic, finely chopped 

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tin chopped tomatoes 

1 pot (70g) tomato purée (cirio do perfect sized portions)

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon fresh basil

For the meatballs:-
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 white onion, finely chopped

Pinch salt and pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

500g turkey thigh mince

Pack of linguini or spaghetti (check measures on side of the packet and cook amount for the appropriate number of people.)

Method

Start by making the meatballs

Using a medium bowl, add all of the ingredients for the meatballs. Mix all the ingredients together well, using a wooden spoon or your hand whichever you prefer.

Prepare a tray for your meatballs to sit on ready to fry, place a sheet of parchment paper on the tray to make them easier to transfer.

Shape the meatballs in your hands, golf ball-sized is ideal, they can be popped in the fridge if you want to make them in advance.

Make the tomato sauce

Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and fry the onions and pinch of salt gently until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and oregano and fry gently for another 2 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, pepper, sugar and balsamic vinegar and simmer gently for about 5 minutes, add the fresh basil. 

You can also use this tomato sauce as a base for a pizza or with pasta. 

Combining the meatballs with sauce

Heat a saute pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and fry the meatballs until browned on all sides. Be careful when you turn them, or they could break up, the trick is to leave them for about 1 minute before trying to turn them.
When they have browned all over, add the tomato sauce and enough water to cover the meatballs, stir carefully. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Turning occasionally.

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.

Serve with fresh basil and parmesan to taste.

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Courgette, Caper and Chilli Pasta

When we need a quick lunch, pasta is always our "go to". It was time to raid the fridge for veggie, then time for me to get creative.

Ingredients (serves 2)

1/2 pack of gluten free macaroni

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 courgette, cut lengthwise in half, then each piece again lengthwise. Chop across into 1 cm chunks

1 clove garlic finely chopped

2 large tomatoes roughly chopped

2 tsp capers

2 pinches ancho chilli flakes

Zest 1/2 lemon

Water

4 stems fresh basil

Salt and pepper

Method

Put a large pot of water onto boil and add salt. Add pasta when boiling and cook according to the packet. Make the sauce whilst the pasta is cooking.

In a sauté pan over a medium heat, fry the onion until soft, add the courgette and garlic, fry for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chopped tomatoes, capers, lemon zest and chilli flakes, stir and lower heat to a simmer, stir occasionally. Remove the leaves from the basil, chop the stems and add the stems to the sauté pan and stir. Season with salt and pepper. You can add a splash of water if needed, if the pan seems dry.

Carefully cut the basil leaves into a rough large chop, add to the sauce, stir and turn off heat.

Check pasta is cooked, drain, reserving some of the cooking liquor. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir the pasta into the sauce, turn back on heat to allow the pasta to absorb the flavours, add a little of the cooking liquor to help the sauce get absorbed into the pasta.

Serve with a sprig of basil.

You can also sprinkle over some fresh Parmesan to serve. I also added a couple of drops of chilli oil over mine as I like the heat.

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Tapas style Crevettes (Jumbo prawns) with Tomato and Lemon

We love a bargain, especially when you find amazing produce in the reduced section of the supermarket. Today was one of those days, hubby came back with a massive bag of cooked crevettes that should have been over £7 reduced to £2, a perfect ingredient for lunch. After shelling them, I was left with at least 20 jumbo prawns to cook, I also had 1/3 of a gluten-free tiger loaf left.

I wanted to cook something that had some sauce to mop up with the crusty bread.

Tip - A quick way to freshen the bread is to pop it in an oven Gas 6 for about 10 minutes, this will warm it through and give it a lovely crust, so I did this once I started cooking the prawns.

Ingredients

4 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
large prawns
juice 1/2 lemon
1 large tomato, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
salt and black pepper

Method

In a large frying pan, heat the oil over a medium heat, add the shallots, garlic and chilli and gently fry until soft (about 3 minutes). Add the smoked paprika and prawns, fry stirring often for about 2 minutes, add the lemon juice and tomato, season with freshly ground salt and pepper and continue cooking, frequently stirring (3 mins). Taste and adjust seasoning. Sprinkle over the parsley, stir well and serve with chunks of crusty bread.

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Savoury vegetarian rice with butternut squash and cauliflower

With so much meat and dairy over the Christmas break, today was an opportunity to create a vegetarian rice based lunch. I peeled and diced a butternut squash yesterday and popped it in the fridge, ready to use, so was originally going to make butternut squash risotto, but discovered that I only had a small amount of risotto rice, so change of plans.
I decided to use a variety of different veg, using a rainbow of colour, it was a success so I thought I'd add it to my blog. This recipe is vegan.

Ingredients (serves 2)

1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 large handfuls, butternut squash, diced
1 large handful of cauliflower florets, break into small florets 1cm cubed
1/2 courgette diced
100g mushrooms, sliced
1 large tomato,  chopped

1/2 mug long grain rice
1 Knorr vegetable stock pot
1 pint boiling water
1 tbsp tamari soy sauce
1 large handful of raw cashews, toasted in a small pan.
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

Method

In a large frying pan, over medium heat add the oil, the onion, squash and cauliflower, fry until the cauliflower starts to toast at the edges, keep stirring regularly. Add the courgette and mushrooms, continue frying until the mushrooms have softened. Add the rice, gently cook for another minute, stirring continuously. Add the stockpot, boiling water, tamari and tomato. Bring to the boil and simmer gently, stirring occasionally.
In a small pan, toast the raw cashews, you can add 1 tsp oil to help them turn golden brown. You must keep stirring as they toast as they do catch if you aren't careful. Remove from the pan onto kitchen paper. Add them to the rice while cooking and stir thoroughly.
After 15 minutes, check to see if the rice is cooked, it should be just cooked through. You may need to add more boiling water during the cooking if the rice looks like it is going to dry out.
When cooked, sprinkle over the fresh parsley and serve.

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Pancetta stuffed mushrooms

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 pack of pancetta
2 large chestnut mushrooms (flat cap)
1 red onion chopped
1/4 green pepper finely sliced
1 tomato, chopped
1oz cheddar cheese grated

Method

Fry the onion and pancetta until onion is soft, add the chopped stalks from the mushroom, chopped tomato and the green pepper.

Pop the mushrooms cup up in a shallow oven proof dish, divide the onion and pancetta mix between the mushrooms, top with the grated cheese. Bake in a hot oven Gas 6 for 20-30 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown.

Serve with a salad and crusty bread.

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Half-term Soup

It must be half-term.... 

The weather is awful, I'm feeling shattered after a very busy first half of the Autumn term, no energy and I've got that horrid feeling that a bug has decided to join me.
For some reason, I normally crave home made soup when I'm feeling like this, loaded with nutrients, easy to eat and makes you feel all warm and snug.
I must have had an inkling as I ordered a Riverford bumper veg box this week, it arrived Thursday, so I've got masses of amazing fresh organic vegetables to work with.
The box contents this week are:-

Leeks
Potatoes
Onions
Carrots
Parsnips
Butternut squash
Cauliflower
Savoy cabbage
Cime di rapa
Butterhead lettuce
Portobello mushrooms
Cherry tomatoes

I wanted to make a soup with minimal fuss and little washing up (no blender or food processor needed). I don't mind preparing and chopping ingredients so it was time to pick the veg and see what resulted.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely diced
1/2 leek, the green end, carefully washed and shredded
1 handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped (life's too short to skin them)
1 handful of risotto rice
1 beef stock pot
1 pt cold water
couple of small bunches of cime di rapa, shred including the stalks, keep the stalk section separated from the rest.
Sprig fresh thyme
Freshly ground black pepper
handful of fresh basil, shredded

Method

In a large pan, heat the oil then gently fry the onions and carrots until the onion is soft. Add the leeks and fry for another minute, stirring regularly. Add the stock pot and water to the pan, bring to the boil. Add the rice, tomatoes, 1/2 the fresh basil and the fresh thyme, turn down to a simmer.
Cook for approximately 20 minutes and add the bottom of the cime di rapa (the part with the stalks) to the pan and simmer for another 5 minutes. Add more water if necessary, you want some liquid to make this a soup not a pile of veg.
Check the rice is cooked.
Add the final cime di rapa and cook for another couple of minutes until wilted.
Add pepper to taste, remove the sprig of thyme.
Turn off heat and add the freshly shredded basil and stir.
Serve and enjoy.

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Chicken - Riverford style

Typical evening. Come home after busy day at college, it's chicken but not sure what to do with it.

Step 1

Low effort is the key, so one pot meal is a bonus.

Step 2

2 legs and 2 wings are left on the carcass, so start by jointing these into drumsticks and thighs.

Step 3

What veg are left to use up in our box from last week?

Yellow pepper, vine tomatoes, onion, sweet potato.

Step 4

Raid fridge - chopped chorizo

Step 5

Additions from supplies

Olive oil

Garlic

Passata

Chopped fresh basil

Begin recipe creation.

Lucious olive oil, frazzle onions, garlic and chicken, sauté pepper, add rest of ingredients, cook gently for 30 mins

Garnish with chopped fresh basil

Serve and wait for seconds to be demolished.

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Minestrone Soup

Ingredients
1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 large celery stick (including leaves), chopped
2 large tomatoes, chopped
large handful of mixed beans/peas (french, runner, pencil podded)
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 pint water
1 veg stock cube/pod
1 handful of broken spaghetti
salt and pepper
Optional
either fresh basil leaves or fresh red chilli 

Method
Put all the ingredients into a pan, bring to the boil and simmer until tender. If you want the soup to be a little thicker, then continue cooking until slightly reduced.

Tip
You can also add some finely shredded green cabbage to the pot 5 minutes before serving.

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Savoury rice with hake - and another update on hubby

I wanted to use basmati rice as it has low glycemic index and better than white long grain and hubby isn't keen on brown rice, so I did some research and developed the following recipe.

Waitrose Frozen hake fillets are amazing, they are perfect for this dish.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 banana red pepper, finely sliced

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 cup basmati rice

1 chicken stock cube

Water to cover by 1/2 inch

1 cup frozen peas

4 hake frozen fillets

Salt and pepper

Method

Heat oil in a large sauté pan (make sure you have a lid for it).

Add onion, garlic and peppers, gently sauté for 1 minute add tomato and cook until soft.

Add the rice and fry gently mixing for about 1 minute. Add the stock cube and water and bring to the boil. Season. Add the frozen peas, stir, then lay the hake over the top pushing the fillets just under the liquid. Cover and simmer very gently until all the liquid has evaporated. Don't stir, just leave the pan to steam. Carefully serve onto plates, fluffing the rice slightly with a fork.

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Chicken Fajitas - when short cuts are good

A very successful dinner last night.

As our daughter has an intolerance to wheat, gluten and dairy, we had bought a Fajita Kit a couple of weeks ago. Tonight I used this to save some time and create a healthy dinner for all of us.
The kit came with the tortillas, salsa and the fajita spice mix.
I used one chicken breast, plus a red and a green pepper and one onion to make the fajitas.
I added some salad leaves and slices of avocado when building the fajitas with the salsa.
A big hit, the aromas in the kitchen were wonderful. A great store cupboard hit, full of nutrients and very low fat.

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Pasta with tomato, courgettes and tuna sauce.

Lunchtime Dilemma

Using leftovers!
What did I have left, 1/3rd tin tuna (well I did leave for daughter yesterday, but she didn't get back until tea time), also had a box of cooked pasta left from yesterday?
I didn't want to waste this and came up with the following dish and whilst it was cooking, I could nip outside into the garden to grab the fresh flat leaved parsley.

Pasta with tomato, courgettes and tuna sauce

Ingredients (serves 3)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 courgette, cut lengthways into quarters, then chopped along the length
1 tin tomatoes
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped
1/3 tin tuna

Method

You need to cook the pasta if you haven't got any ready to reheat.
In a small pan, heat the oil gently and fry the onion until soft, add the garlic and courgette, fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes and break them up with a spoon as you cook (I prefer tinned tomatoes as they don't have as much water). Add the capers and parsley. Cook for 5 minutes. Just before serving carefully add the tuna, but try not to mask it, a couple of stirs will do. If using precooked pasta, add it to the sauce and heat through. If fresh cooked pasta drain and toss through sauce.
Serve

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Tuna Salad

Tuna Salad (serves 2)

2 oz cooked and cold Seeds of Change Semi-wholewheat Tortiglioni

2 handfuls of salad leaves with beetroot shreds

Half an avocado

2 inch chunk cucumber

1 large tomato

1/3 tin tuna fish in spring water

Extra virgin olive oil

Organic cider vinegar

Freshly ground pepper

Method

While the pasta was cooking (yes I do add a little salt to the water, it is better than salting later), I started preparing the rest of the ingredients. I find that cucumber can make some people a little gassy, my solution is to peel the cucumber, then slice horizontally through the middle of the chunk and using a teaspoon, scrape out the fleshy seedy centre. Then cut the cucumber into small cubes.

Remove the avocado from the skin, again use a dessert or tablespoon to push between the skin and the flesh to remove the edible part. Again cut into small chunks.

I like to assemble the salad on each plate as I prepare, then sprinkle over a few drops of olive oil, plus a couple of drops of cider vinegar, toss on the plate.

Add the tuna to the plate and flake and fluff gently. If you like you can add 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise to the tuna and lightly mix.

When the pasta is cooked (yes, it will be a little more chewy than the normal type, but much more tasty), drain the pasta, return to the pan and immediately run cold water over the pasta for about 1 minutes, strain and you have cold pasta.

Add pasta to the plate and serve. You may like to grind some black pepper over the salad before serving, but that is personal preference.

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Spiced chilli pork

It's New Year's Eve, what can you make with cold roast pork, well I let my imagination go and produced this lovely dish. It was really easy and extremely yummy.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
Cold roast pork cut into .5 inch chunks
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
6 mushrooms sliced
5 tomatoes cut into chunks
1 tbsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper
Water
1/2 Savoy cabbage finely sliced

Method:
Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onions and garlic and fry gently until soft.
Add the pork and fry for 1 minute, add the paprika and chilli and fry coating all the pork and onions in the spices. This will release the flavours.
Add the mushrooms and fry for another minute. Add some water to help release the juices crusted on the bottom the pan.
Add the tomatoes and the oregano. Season well. Simmer for 10 mins, add more water if necessary.
Add the cabbage and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.

Serve with boiled rice.

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Turkey goulash

Ingredients:
2 tbsps olive oil
1 onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1lb potato chunks

2 tbsp olive oil
1lb turkey leg pieces
1 tsp caraway seeds

1 tbsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp tomato puree
4 large tomatoes chopped
1/2 pint chicken stock
1 green pepper, chopped

Method
Heat oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and garlic, fry until soft. Add the potatoes and sauté for approximately 3 mins. Remove into a bowl.
Add remaining oil and fry the turkey for a minute, add the caraway and fry until the turkey is brown on all sides, add the paprika and cayenne and stir fry for a minute to release the flavours, season the turkey. Add the flour and make sure this is stirred in, covering all pieces of the turkey.
Put the potatoes and onions back in with the turkey, add the tomato purée, the chopped tomatoes and the chicken stock.
Cook for 10 minutes.
Add the chopped green peppers and cook for until the potato is tender, approximately 20 minutes.

Serve with sprinkle with chopped chives and a spoon of sour cream.

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Bolognese sauce (ragu)

 Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 rashers streaky bacon, chopped into small pieces, or 1 pack of cubed pancetta/bacon lardons
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
500g/1lb minced beef
1 carrot, finely diced
1 tbsp tomato purée
100ml/ 1/4pt milk
1/4 nutmeg grated (use fresh, it's much nicer)
1 glass red wine (there won't be any alcohol left after cooking)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 oxo cube
Water
Salt and pepper

Method

Heat the oil on a medium heat in a large saucepan, add the onions and celery and gently fry until they are soft, add in the bacon and fry for about 3 minutes. Turn up the heat and add the garlic and minced beef, break up the mince as you fry it, it should start to crumble, fry until none of the mince is pink. Add in the carrot, tomato purée, nutmeg and milk, bubble until the milk has vanished. Now add the wine, again bubble until it has vanished. Sprinkle over the oxo cube add the tinned tomatoes and enough water to just cover the ingredients, season. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a very low simmer so that the odd bubble breaks the surface, cook for a good hour, stirring occasionally. At this stage you could pop this in a slow cooker and leave on low all day to cook.

Check seasoning and then serve.

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Coq au Vin

I love reading cookery books, but sometimes I just cook from the heart. Today was one of those days, my daughter wanted coq-au-vin, I decided to just go with the flow, so here's my recipe.

Ingredients
1 onion sliced
2 whole garlic cloves
1 tbsp butter
1 pack of smoked bacon lardons
chicken portions
1 large tomato chopped
1 bouquet garni
1 bottle of red wine
1 chicken stock cube
salt and pepper
Butter
Button mushrooms
Baby onions (if you have some)

Method
Start by gently frying the onion in the butter, (I had some bacon fat left from cooking carbonara for lunch). Add to 2 whole garlic cloves, continue frying.
Add the pack of bacon lardons, continue to fry. Add the chicken and brown. Pop in the tomato then the entire bottle of wine (I know it seems a lot, but it really is worth it). Crumble over the chicken stock cube, season.
Make the bouquet garni and add, I used a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme, some parsley stalks, a bay leaf and half a stick of celery with it's leaves. I tied it together with some string and popped it in the pot.
Simmer until the chicken is tender, this is about 1 1/2 hours.
Heat some butter and then in small batches fry the mushrooms until golden adding them to the casserole, do the same with the onions if you are using. Stir thoroughly and leave with a lid on until you need to reheat for lunch/dinner.

If you have some fresh parsley, chop and garnish the finished casserole.

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