Creamy Chicken and Asparagus Bake and Croutons

   

This past weekend saw us move the majority of our possessions into our new flat. With moving and getting married being two of the most stressful life events (apparently) I now doubt my wisdom at deciding to do them in the same month!
 
Combined with the chilly autumn – or cold winter – weather we’re experiencing in Cape Town at the moment, every cell in my body cries out for comfort food. As most of my pots, pans and utensils need to be unpacked, this is no stress, no fuss – on pan, then into the oven – and to your table in under 30 minutes.

Seen here with a wedge of olive, caramelised onion and thyme bread - recipe to follow soon   

The asparagus from Mediterranean Delicacies adds a hint of sweetness, and helps pack a little undercover vegetables into the dish. If you’d like to make this a truly one-pot-wonder, you can add chickpea, cooked pasta or even any type of precooked beans to the sauce before grilling. Whatever you do, please don’t ignore the lemon. It’s only a tablespoon of zest, but it really does wonders to lift the dish, add flavor and cut through the richness of the cream. Make this dish at least once this winter –everyone will thank you.
Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into strips
1 tsp butter
350ml fresh cream
small handful of fresh tarragon, roughly chopped
salt to season
1 bottle Mediterranean Delicacies White Asparagus 330g Jar
1 tbsp lemon zest (freshly grated)
handful of roughly chopped croutons / breadcrumbs
3 tbsp grated pecorino or Parmesan

Method:
In a large frying pan, melt the butter over a medium high heat. Once melted add the chicken breast strips and fry until golden on all sides. Add the cream, and most of the tarragon to the chicken, with some salt to season.

Allow to simmer on a medium heat for 7-10 minutes until the cream has reduced and thickened slightly. Set your oven to “grill” – drain the asparagus and lay it evenly at the bottom of a rectangular oven-proof dish – ideally one you’d like to take to the table too. Spoon over the creamy chicken mixture, then sprinkle over the lemon zest, croutons and pecorino / Parmesan. Place under the grill for a minute – just until the cheese and croutons and crisped. Serve with chunks of glorious fresh, white bread, or over your choice of cooked pasta.

This article was done by The Gorgeous Gourmet. Original Post - http://www.thegorgeousgourmet.co.za/2013/04/recipe-creamy-chicken-and-asparagus.html

Beef Florentine Phyllo Pie

I’ve had this recipe on the back burner to do for ages. The one you get excited about when you first see it, put it away in storage and keep dreaming about making, but never get around to. That one.

What a relief that I have finally created my version of this delectable dish.

A friend from Twitter raved about a beef florentine recipe that her mom made. I was taken with ever aspect of the sound of it. Saucey beef covered in a layer of cheesey spinach and finished off with a crunchy phyllo pastry top, what is not to love.

Thanks @Bubbalubs, its a winner.

Now the beauty about this recipe is you can really adapt it to your taste anyway you like. I added a few bits and pieces to the original one and changed the proportions. I like a lot of spinach. This is a firmish dish which I think works really as a pie, and you can get stuck in and take out a good solid slice out of it. You could add more sauce if you like it like that, or simply top your favourite bolognese with spinach and phyllo and bake.

You could also turn it vegetarian by roasting cubes of butternut in olive oil. Perhaps adding a few sprigs of thyme and a sprinkle of dried chilli and then top it as per the recipe. I think lamb would work wonderfully too.

* A few notes on the recipe. Use any cheese you like with your cream cheese. I used a mature Cheddar and Parmesan combo, but choose whatever you prefer. I think a stronger cheese works well and adds depth of flavour to this dish. I used a liquid stock concentrate and added a bit extra as I wanted the meatiness (hence my description of ‘concentrated’ beef stock). If you use a cube, crumble in a bit extra. If you want your spinach layer to be more saucey, add 1/4 cup of cream or milk.

Recipe | serves 4 | 45 mins

For the beef layer:

•  1 T oil
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 500g minced beef
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed
• 1 can of tomatoes (400g)
• 1/2 cup fairly concentrated beef stock
• 1 t sugar
• pinch of dried chilli flakes (optional)

For the spinach layer:

• 300g – 400g spinach (removed fom stalks)
• 100g mature Cheddar (Gruyere)
• 30g Parmesan (grated)
• 100g cream cheese (I used low fat)
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• butter to coat the phyllo layers (aprox 80g)

For the phyllo layer:

• 6 – 8 sheets of Medi Deli phyllo depending on the sizer of your dish

To make the meat layer heat the oil in a wide non stick frying pan and fry the onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the beef and cook  (breaking up any clumps) until the liquid has cooked off and the meat starts to caramlise (go brown). Add the garlic and fry for another minute. Add the tin of peeled tomatoes, sugar, chilli and stock and allow this to cook over a medium heat until most of liquid has cooked off and the sauce has thickened.

To make the spinach layer: While you meat is cooking away, heat a pot filled with water and bring it to the boil. Add the spinach and allow this to cook until it has wiled (about 5 minutes). Drain, rinse under cold water and set aside. When its cool enough to handle, squeeze the spinach with your hands, making sure you get most of the water out.

In a separate bowl, add all the cheeses to the beaten egg. Roughly chop the drained and wrung out spinach and stir this through the cheese / egg  mixture.

In an appropriately sized baking dish spread the meat over the bottom layer and then cover with the spinach mixture.

To make the phyllo topping. Melt the butter in the microwave. Cut 3 pieces of phyllo to roughly the size of the dish. Bush each sheet lightly with butter (covering the surface area) and place over the pie filling buttered side up. Repeat until you have 3 flat layers on the pie. Now using about 6 – 8 pieces (the same size as before), brush with butter and then fold these (buttered side down now) – scrunching it up as you go to create a ruffled effect. Carry on on until you have covered the surface area of your pie with phyllo. Lightly brush over bits of the top phyllo, its not important to brush it all.

Bake in a pre heated over of 200C for 20 – 25 minutes until the phyllo has turned golden.

PS. you will see in the last picture that I have folded the phyllo a different way like a concertina, you can choose whatever you prefer.

A few of my other phyllo recipes can be found here:

apple phyllo pie with pecans and maple

zesty spinach and feta pies

mushroom and parmesan phyllo pies

roasted vegetable strudel

christmas pudding strudel with chocolate

Recipe by Drizzle and Dip - http://drizzleanddip.com/2013/03/11/beef-florentine-phyllo-pie

Apple phyllo pie with pecans and maple

I have been dying to make a crispy ‘Morroccan’ style phyllo pie like this for ages, and you can go in either a savoury or sweet direction with it. I opted for the latter. I love the combination of apple with pecans and maple, and next time I may be a bit more generous with the syrup and drench it – baklava style.

Regardless, this method really does take the stress out of using phyllo pastry (if you have any), as you simply roll the filling up into four rolls and then tightly pack them into each other in a greased cake tin. It also looks so very pretty.

I used the Mediterranean Delicacies Phyllo pastry which is fabulous to work with.

A few pointers on using phyllo:

1. work very quickly as the pastry dries out
2. have all the elements ready before your start working with the  pastry
3. dampen a tea towel and cover the pastry that you are not using
4. clear space to do the rolling

Phyllo is very forgiving. If you tear a bit you just keep on rolling and it will get covered in another layer.

I have also buttered the inside of each sheet and scattered them with brown sugar so that when you role them up, this keeps the layers a little separated and adds a nice crunch

Recipe | makes one pie | serves 4 – 6

• 4 x phyllo pastry sheets
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 3 star anise pods
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 cup raisins (I used a mixture of sultanas and raisins)
• 3 slightly heaped cups of cut up apple (peeled, cored, and cut into smallish cubes) – I used Red Cripps which are sweet and tart
• 1/2  a cup of roughly chopped toasted pecan nuts (+ a few extra for decoration)
• 2 T maple syrup + 1/4 of a cup for drizzling
• +-80g butter melted (in a small dish – in the microwave)
• +-1/4 cup of brown sugar for sprinkling

Add the sugar, star anise, cinnamon  and raisins to a pot with 2 cups of water and bring this to the boil. Allow it to boil for about 5 minutes so that the raisins plump up and re hydrate.

Add the cut up apples to the boiling sugar syrup and boil for about 8 – 10 minutes. Strain and remove the cinnamon and star anise. Allow this to cool slightly.

Pre – heat your oven to 180 C / 350 F

Spray a 22 – 26cm cake tin (or any appropriate size pie dish) with cooking spray or butter.

Add the chopped pecan nuts and 2 T of maple syrup to the cooled mixture *You can dry fry the whole nuts in a non stick frying pan until they are toasted and golden, or roast them in the oven.

Melt the butter in the microwave and have the pastry brush ready.

Working with one pastry sheet at a time, place a 1/4 of the apple mixture on the bottom edge of the pastry. Brush the rest of the sheet lightly with melted butter, trying to cover as much of the surface area as possible. Sprinkle over about 1 T of the brown sugar over the buttered sheet. Roll the pastry log up starting from the filling end, rolling over the sugared buttered phyllo. Tuck the edges in as you roll so that the filling doesn’t come out.

Place the rolls snuggly in  the cake tin and brush each log with butter over the top. It doesn’t matter if the middle roll breaks as you try to bend it, just patch it up with a few small pieces of phyllo.

bake for 25 – 30 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and whilst hot, drizzle over the 1/4 of a cup of maple syrup. Scatter over extra chopped nuts and serve warm or at room temperature.

*This post has been sponsored by Mediterranean Delicacies and you can keep up to date with all their delicious products and their Facebook page.

A few of my other phyllo recipes can be found here:

zesty spinach and feta pies

mushroom and parmesan phyllo pies

roasted vegetable strudel

christmas pudding strudel with chocolate

This article was by Drizzle and Dip, and its original could be found here - http://drizzleanddip.com/2013/02/20/apple-phyllo-pie-with-pecans-and-maple

Spinach and Feta Quiche in Phyllo cases

Ingredients

250g Medi Deli frozen phyllo pastry
250g Medi Deli Greek Feta, cubed
100g melted butter
100g baby spinach sliced
1 onion, chopped and lightly fried
60g Medi Deli Dutch Mature Gouda
8 eggs
150ml milk
75ml cream
0.5g ground white pepper
3g salt

Method

1. Remove frozen phyllo pastry from freezer, place in the fridge in its original packaging and defrost for 12 hours or overnight.

2. Prepare the spinach, feta cheese, cheddar cheese and onion.

3. Make the egg mixture by combining the eggs, milk, cream, salt and pepper. Place all the ingredients together and mix with a whisk until well combined.

4. Once all the ingredients are ready melt the butter and lightly butter a 12 unit standard muffin tin to ensure that the phyllo cases do not stick to the tin when baked.

5. Place one sheet of phyllo on your working surface and brush very lightly with butter using a pastry brush. Place another sheet on top of the buttered sheet and butter lightly. Do this until you have 4 sheets.

6. Cut the sheet into 6 equal squares with a flat blade knife.

7. Place the cut squares into the prepared muffin tin, one square over the other.

8. Place even amounts of spinach, feta and fried onion in each of the phyllo pastry cases.

9. Pour even amounts of the prepared egg mixture over the spinach and feta filling, ensuring that you don’t overfill the phyllo pastry case.

10. Top with equal amounts grated cheddar cheese and place in a pre-heated oven of 170 C and back for 35 minutes.

11. Remove from oven, immediately remove the cooked pastry cases from the muffin tins and serve hot.

* Ensure that the surface that you are working on is large enough to accommodate the full size of the phyllo when rolled out.

* Makes 12 standard size muffin cup quiches.

Peppered Mackerel Sandwiches

Mediterranean Holiday Series 8 – Balik Ekmek in Istanbul

Along the water’s edge, and on either side of the Galata bridge in particular, vendors with carts that read ‘Balik Ekmek’, tend to hot grills and locals queue at their favourite stands. Balik (fish) Ekmek (bread) is a traditional snack of grilled mackerel on bread, often toasted.

Everyone has their own favourite spot that they return to, for whatever reason – best bread, plump fish fillets, a friendly relationship with the vendor or habit.

The sandwiches are piled with fresh vegetables, if you like and served with a hot chilli paste. My research revealed that eating a balik ekmek is a sort of rite of passage that belongs to the ‘must do’ list on any food traveller’s itinerary on a visit to Istanbul.

There is a concern that dwindling fish resources has led to vendors using imported mackerel. Be on the look out for that.

My tip would be to observe the locals and take your cue from the stand or stands they favour. Some stands are attached to small restaurants or make-shift tables and chairs where you can enjoy your sandwich and a view of the comings and goings of passers by.

For this sandwich, I used Mediterranean Delicacies smoked peppered mackerel fillets and basil pesto, cucumber, fresh peppers, fresh basil and sweet chilli pepper flakes from Istanbul. You can substitute with a sprinkling of regular chilli pepper flakes.

Ideally, freshly grilled mackerel would be perfect in this iconic snack, but if you can’t get any the smoked versions work very well too.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 pack Mediterranean Delicacies peppered Mackerel

2 ciabatta rolls, sliced in half, buttered and grilled

2 T Mediterranean Delicacies Basil Pesto

6 cucumber slices

1/2 cup sliced red and green peppers

6 basil leaves

chilli flakes, to taste

Method

1. Cut the mackerel fillet in half. Spread the pesto on both halves of the sliced roll.

2. Arrange on the bottom half of the roll, the cucumber, mackerel, peppers and sprinkle with chilli flakes. Top with basil leaves and the other half of the roll.

3. Serve with extra chilli pepper flakes or sauce for dipping.

http://www.foodandthefabulous.com/mains/peppered-mackerel-sandwiches/