Linguine with Courgettes & Mushrooms

When you need to use up your veggie box quickly, this is a really tasty and easy meal to throw together.

Olive Oil
Garlic Cloves (I used about 6 because we love garlic!)
1 x large onion, sliced
3 x large courgettes (zucchini), halved lengthways, then sliced thinly across
1 x large punnet brown mushrooms (approx 400g), sliced thinly
Pine Nuts (kernels)
Parmesan cheese, grated


Fry the garlic and onions in a large pan, with a little olive oil, until starting to brown.  Add the courgettes and continue stirring until they soften.  Add the mushrooms and stir until they just start to release their juices, then pop the lid on the pan.

Let the veggies cook while you go check the last of your emails for the day and finish putting away whatever's left of the In Caryl's Kitchen: Blueberry Chia Seed Muffins you made earlier.

Check the veggies and give them a good stir.  There should be a good amount of the juices in the pan and the veggies will be soft.  Throw in what's left of the packet of pine kernels and pour the mixture over cooked linguine (or any pasta of choice).

Serve with grated parmesan cheese over the top.  You can, of course, add any extra seasonings, but we like this one really simple!

Enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Bolognese Sauce

While I don't like to eat a lot of red meat, what I do like is a good bolognese sauce.  I do a nice vegetarian style one with lentils, but tonight was a a good night for a meaty-mushroom style one.

Ingredients

Olive Oil
1 x large onion, chopped
4 x cloves garlic, crushed
2 x sticks celery, finely sliced
1 x large carrot, finely diced
6 x rashers smokey bacon, chopped
500g x lean beef mince
Plain flour
400g (approx.) large brown mushrooms, roughly chopped
Sherry
400g can chopped tomatoes
1-1/2 (approx. ) cups beef stock
Tomato puree
Dried oregano
Bay leaves


Fry the onion, garlic, celery, carrot and bacon in a large pan until the veggies are tender and the bacon is nicely cooked.

Add the beef mince and a good shake (approx. 1 large tablespoon) of flour.  Stir well and cook (still stirring) until the beef has browned.

Throw in the mushrooms and continue to stir through until they start to release their juices.  Pour in a large dash of sherry and stir well, scraping up the stickiness from the bottom of the pan.

Pour in the tomatoes and beef stock.  (I used an organic stock cube this time, because I'd run out of home-made stock).  Stir well and add a good squeeze of tomato puree, a good shake of oregano and a couple of bay leaves.

Bring to the boil, then turn down to simmer and cover the pan with a lid.

Leave it to simmer and thicken, while going to pick up your daughter from ballet, after asking your sons to check it and give it an occasional stir while you're out.

When you get back, give it another stir, scraping up the bits at the bottom of the pan again because your sons didn't stir it for you while you were out!

Adjust the seasoning and pour sauce over your cooked pasta of choice.  Add parmesan shavings and enjoy!

If there is any over, this is really nice on toast (although that's only ever happened once before in this house)! :)

Cheers,
Caryl ♥

Macaroni Cheese with Broccoli

One of my daughter's favourite meals, ever since she was very small, is macaroni cheese.  I've been promising it to her again for ages and as she has a friend over tonight, I came through with my promise.

I like to make it with veggies thrown in to make it more interesting and colourful.  I can only give approximate quantities because I throw in whatever is lying around.  Here is my latest version.

500g packet of fusilli pasta, because we've run out of macaroni
Butter
2 x onions, chopped
4 x cloves garlic, chopped
6 x smokey bacon rashers, chopped
1 x head of broccoli, chopped into small pieces
Plain flour
Mustard powder
Milk - approx. 3 cups? (I don't actually measure this)
Cheese, grated - approx. 2 cups? (I used a good strong Cheddar)
Nutmeg, grated


Put a large pot of water on to boil.  When ready, cook the pasta as directed.

Meanwhile, melt a small chunk of butter in a large saucepan.  Stir in the onions, garlic and bacon.  Cook until the bacon is done.  Stir in the broccoli pieces.

Add some flour (approx. 1 big spoon), and a pinch or so of mustard powder, and stir well until thoroughly mixed through.

Slowly pour in the milk, constantly stirring and cook until it starts to thicken.  Add cheese and stir into mixture until melted.  Season with some grated nutmeg - I personally add about a small spoonful, but just a pinch would do.

When pasta is cooked, drain and add the sauce.  Give it a good mix around and serve.

If you're wondering what to drink with this, I had a glass of champagne from the bottle I opened "just because" a couple of days ago!

Cheers, enjoy!

Caryl ♥

Sausages with Lentils

I absolutely adore lentils.  They add good bulk to soups and stews, are nutritious and especially delicious with sausages.  I'm not usually a fan of sausages, but when they are served with lentils, I can't resist.  It's wonderful comfort food and who doesn't need a bit of that when it's raining and grey outside.  Besides all that, my son has been asking when we're having sausages for dinner again!

Olive oil

2 x packets of sausages (12 in all - my family eat a LOT!)
2 x onions, chopped

2 x carrots, thickly sliced
4 x cloves garlic, chopped (I love garlic)
Sherry
3/4 x 500g packet green lentils (this is all I had left!)

1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes

3 x cups chicken stock 

Balsamic vinegar
Fresh coriander

You'll need a big casserole pan with a lid.

Put a little of the olive oil in the pan and fry the sausages until they're well browned all over.  Remove them from the pan and set aside on a plate.

Add the onions, carrots and garlic to the pan and cook until just starting to soften.  Then add a little dash of sherry to the pan and scrape any bits that are stuck on the bottom.  It all adds to the flavour!

Pour in the lentils and stir them through, then return the sausages to the pan.  Add the tomatoes and stock.  (Again, this time, I used stock cubes because we have no home-made stock left).  Stir well and bring to the boil, then pop the lid on the pan and lower the heat down to simmer for approx. 40 minutes.  Stir occasionally.

At this stage you can check that there's a nice red wine to drink when dinner is ready, or pour yourself one while waiting.

When most of the liquid has been absorbed and the lentils are tender, they will be ready.

Stir in a couple of spoons of balsamic vinegar and a good handful of fresh coriander, then serve with mashed potato.

Enjoy!  :)

Caryl ♥

Ice-cream and Berries

Sometimes the easiest dessert is sitting right there in your fridge and the only work involved is washing, slicing and spooning (as in out of a container).

Let's face it, when you have a half opened tub of good vanilla ice-cream in the freezer, you may as well finish it (shared with others of course).

Add a handful of quartered strawberries and some blueberries and you have heaven in a bowl .... and there's not even one small piece of chocolate in sight!

Cheers,
Caryl ♥

Mixed Wild Rice Pilaf

Tonight, I fancied rice for dinner.

In the cupboard, I had an open packet of mixed wild rice and an open packet of camargue (red rice), so I put them together and went looking in the fridge for something to go with them.  After opening a bottle of champagne and pouring myself a glass, (well, why not?), I put together the following ingredients:

1 small chunk of butter.
1 x white onion.
1 x stick of celery.
2 x cups mixed wild rice.
Sherry.
4 x cups chicken stock.
1 x packet smoked salmon.
4 x spring onions.
Cherry tomatoes.
Capers.
Fresh coriander.

This is how I cooked it:

After chopping the onion and slicing the celery, I melted the butter in a large pan and then stirred in the onion and celery pieces, cooking them until the onion was tender.

Next, I added the rice and stirred it well until all the grains were well coated.  At this stage, I also added a drop of sherry because the bottle was almost finished anyway!

I then poured in 4 cups of stock.  (Usually I use home-made stock from a good organic, previously roasted chicken, but we didn't have any left, so I used organic chicken stock cubes instead.)

Next, I covered the pan with a lid and left the rice to cook for about 30 minutes, and took my glass of champagne to my laptop, where I started typing up this recipe! :)  It's a good idea to check it at around 20 minutes though, just to make sure that the rice hasn't boiled dry.  Once the rice has absorbed all the liquid, but isn't too soft, it is ready.

When the rice was ready, I thinly sliced the smoked salmon, sliced the spring onions and halved the tomatoes, then added these to the rice with about 3 big spoonfuls of capers.  After, stirring it all together, I plated it up and added a touch of fresh coriander from my pot on the windowsill.  Well, a good little sprinkling of fresh coriander adds to just about any meal, don't you think? :)

This meal really did taste delicious and was so easy.  I especially loved the extra zing from the capers.

Let me know if you try it and what you think.

Cheers and clink clink (sound of my champagne glass hitting yours),

Caryl ♥