Pumpkin festival

Pumpkin does not have to be eaten only in Halloween. Pumpkin has a unique texture, a very particular flavour and sometimes it is all you need to give that extra kick to a more traditional dish. Today I was inspired by the beautiful sunlight, with colours that mixed with the colourful pumpkin, and our afternoon became a pumpkin festival.

Ingredients (serves 2):
300g of parboiled rice
200g of pumpkin
100g of parmesan
1/4 of onion
2 tablespoons of butter
Honey
White wine
A small bunch of spinach
A pinch of salt
Olive oil
Vegetable broth (recipe here)

Pumpkin:
Leaves: Cut very thin slices of pumpkin. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes (until the slices start changing colour). Set aside.
Fingers: Cut 4 big slices of pumpkin (the size of a small finger), and add honey on top. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes (until the slices become soft). Set aside.
Seeds: Wash and dry the pumpkin seeds, and sprinkle some rosemary on top. Roast them in the oven for about 20 minutes. Set aside.
Puree: Chop the remaining pumpkin and boil in water until soft. Add salt, 1 tablespoon of butter and make a puree (use a food processor). Set aside.

Risotto:
In a thick bottomed pan heat the olive oil, and add the onions, stir for a few minutes until softened. Add the rice and stir. Add the white wine until it almost covers the rice and leave it to evaporate. Afterwards, add the broth until it totally covers the rice. Leave it boiling at low power until it evaporates, stirring from time to time to make sure the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Repeat this last step until the rice is cooked (18 to 20 minutes starting when you added the wine). When almost all the broth is absorbed, add the pumpkin puree, the pre-cooked spinach (toss wet in a frying pan until wilted, drain and chop) and stir. Turn off the fire, add salt, butter and parmesan cheese.
Decorate with the pumpkin leaves, fingers and seeds. Serve immediately.

Notes:
In case this feels like too much pumpkin in the same meal, I suggest to serve the pumpkin risotto with grilled meat, and serve the pumpkin seeds, fingers and/or leaves as a starter in another day.

Grilled Vegetables

It's the end of a long day.
It's the end of a long week.
The fridge is almost empty, and there's not much energy left for cooking.
No one is really hungry, but it feels that you should eat. What to make for dinner, then?
Easy. Take everything you have left in the fridge... and grill!

Ingredients (serves 2):
1 eggplant
2 carrots
4 slices of white cheese
100g of parmesan
1 cup of green olives
A pinch of salt
Oregano

Slice the eggplant and the carrots into approximately 5mm slices, and season to taste with salt. Grill the eggplant slices for about 5 minutes and flip. On the grilled side, spread some parmesan and oregano, and let it grill for another few minutes. Grill the carrots and the cheese. Serve with olives.

Notes:

There are many other ingredients to grill and to serve with. 

Grilled ham is delicious. Grilled tomatoes served with cucumber are also good. 

Serve with a green salad. Serve with poached eggs. Serve on a tapas board and eat in the sofa.

Paella

Paella is a Spanish dish known internationally. It is originally from Valencia, but cooked all over Spain in hundreds of different recipes. The traditional one from Valencia includes rabbit, chicken and snails, while the seafood Paella, also very common, includes many different kinds of shrimps, shells, etc. Since rabbit meat is not always easy to find, and not everybody enjoys snails, I decided to cook Paella with chicken and chorizo, the traditional smoked sausage of Spain (also found in Portugal).

Ingredients (serves 3):

200g of rice

150g of chorizo

300g of boneless chicken

1 small red pepper

1 small green pepper

3 garlic cloves

3 large tomatoes

75g of peas

1/2 tablespoon of paprika

1/2 tablespoon of saffron

1 L of chicken stock

100ml of white wine

A pinch of salt

A pinch of black pepper

Olive oil

Parsley

Lemon wedges

Rinse the rice, drain and set aside. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cut the chorizo in slices. Chop the peppers and the tomatoes in medium pieces and the garlic cloves in small ones. Add the saffron and the paprika to the chicken stock.

Heat the olive oil in a big pan (paella pan if you have one), brown the chicken pieces and set aside. In the same pan introduce the chorizo slices and sauté for 2 minutes. Then, add the garlic and the peppers and let it cook until the peppers start to soften. Afterwards, add the rice and cook stirring for a few minutes until it's toasted. Pour in the wine and let it bubble until reduced by half. Add the chicken stock and let it boil. Add the chicken pieces, and let everything cook for about 10 minutes on low heat, stirring from time to time. Afterwards, add the peas and the tomatoes, and let it cook for another 10 minutes. When the rice is just cooked remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for a few minutes.

Serve with parsley leaves and lemon wedges.

Notes:

I strongly advice you to make your mise en place (chop and prepare everything) before you start cooking.

If possible use paelha rice, since it absorbs more of the flavours in the chicken stock. 

It is also good served with coriander.

If you do have a paella pan put it on the table and serve your paella in it! Paella is all about big family and friends gatherings around the pan.

adapted from Gordon Ramsey's World Kitchen

Vegetarian Quiche

Quiche is a dish that became very popular worldwide. Firstly, it speaks french. Secondly, it is simple to make and the filling is versatile, since it can be made of so many different combination of ingredients. I hardly make the same quiche twice, and this is the recipe for the one I just made.

Ingredients:

400ml of cream
2 eggs
2 carrots
2 baroa potatoes
1 small bunch of broccoli
1 small bunch of spinach
200g of ricotta cheese
A pinch of salt
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Pastry

Chop the carrots and the baroa potatoes in brunoise. Cook them in salty water until they are al dente. Wash the spinach and transfer them into a pre-heated frying pan. Toss from now and then until they are wilted. Drain the leaves very well and chop them finely. Chop the broccoli in small branches. 

In a bowl mix the cream with the eggs and a pinch of salt. Add the cooked vegetables, the broccoli and the ricotta. 

Lay the pastry on an oven form, pre-covered with slightly greased parchment paper and poke it with a fork to get better adhesion. Pour the filling mixture on the pastry and bake at approximately 200 ºC until the top is golden (25-30 minutes). Serve with a green salad seasoned with balsamic vinegar.

Notes:

This time I used frozen pastry, but next time I want to make my own dough. I will post here if it goes well.

Minced meat pie

The combination of mashed potato and minced meat is not new. I, the chef, got this recipe from my ancestors. I don't really know if its origin is the famous Cottage Pie, from Britain, but there are some similarities. He, the photographer, has also experienced something similar, but still different. Whatever the origin is, the important thing is that it is good!

Ingredients (serves 2):

Meat
500g of minced beef
2 mature tomatoes
1 onion
1 tablespoon of paprika
50ml of tomato extract (optional)
A pinch of salt
Olive oil


Chop the onion and the tomatoes in brunoise and together with the olive oil put them on a pre-heated large frying pan. Let them cook at low heat for about 5 minutes, until the tomatoes are done. Afterwards, process everything and transfer it back to the same pan. Add the meat, the salt, and the paprika and let it cook stirring now and then. When the meat is cooked half way through, incorporate the tomato extract and simmer until the meat is done.


Mash
8 medium potatoes
1 tablespoon of butter
100ml of milk
A pinch of salt

Boil the potatoes in salted water (for a good timing, start the potatoes before the meat). When they are cooked, drain and mash together with the butter. Add the milk (pre-heated) and mix everything very well.

Finish

1 egg

Parsley

In an oven recipient make a layer using half of the mashed potatoes. Add the minced meat and on top another layer using the rest of the mash. Beat the egg and add on top (the mash should be very flat). Bake for about 5 minutes in a pre-heated oven. It's done when the egg is cooked. Add some parsley on top and serve with fresh tomato seasoned with olive oil and salt.

Notes:

The meat can also be pork or mixed.

For the mash, instead of warm, cold milk can be added if you stir everything on the stove at low heat.

Pumpkin Chips with Homemade Ketchup

An easy homemade snack to enjoy on the sofa with a blanket and a good movie and especially and a very good company...

Pumpkin chips

Ingredients:

Pumpkin

Chop the pumpkin in very thin slices and deep fry them in oil. Take them off when they are turning darker and dry with paper. Serve immediately.

Ketchup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of ketchup

4 tablespoons of tomato sauce

1 tablespoon of water

1 tablespoon of apple vinegar

1 teaspoon of olive oil

1 teaspoon of ground cloves

1/2 onion, finely chopped

A pinch of cinnamon

A pinch of brow sugar

Mix all the ingredients and stir until the mixture is homogeneous.

Notes:

Don't expect the pumpkin chips to be as crispy as potato chips, but the taste is a very good surprise.

To create your favourite ketchup recipe change the ingredients proportions to your taste.

Enjoy and have a good movie!

Portuguese fish stew - Caldeirada

Portugal is a country with many kilometers of seacoast. Therefore, its cuisine is very rich in sea ingredients, including many different kinds of fish. Caldeirada is a typical portuguese dish that incorporates different kinds of fish and vegetables. It's best served on a table by the sea, but it works for tables far away as well. Especially if they are close enough to the kitchen, because the smell exhaled during preparation is beyond description. 

Ingredients (serves 2):

2 small slices of salmon

2 small slices of sea bass

2 small slices of whitefish

2 bell peppers

4 mature tomatoes

1 leek

1 onion

4 medium potatoes

A pinch of salt

A pinch of grounded chili pepper

Olive oil

Chop the leek and the onion, and put them in a large pan. Add some olive oil and let it cook on low heat.  Afterwards, add the tomatoes chopped in large cubes, the fish and the sliced potatoes. Add water until the fish is almost covered and let it cook on low heat. After about 20 minutes add the peppers chopped in julienne and stir gently. Season with salt and chili pepper to taste. Turn the heat off when the potatoes are cooked. Serve in deep plates and open a bottle of chilled white wine to go with it. 

Notes:

The base of the recipe is the use of different fish. It can be any kind of fish, not only the ones we used.

Cook the fish with skin and bones. That gives an extra flavour to the sauce.  

The fish will be slightly overcooked, since the potatoes take longer time to cook. That's how it is done typically, so when you gently stir the mixture, the fish breaks in small pieces.

Chocolate Mousse

The Swedish and the Chef had a short break, but are now back with a delicious recipe: chocolate mousse. Despite its origin, that is rather unknown, but many assign it to French cuisine, chocolate mousse became a classic dessert all over the world. It is then, the perfect recipe to open the desserts section in the Swedish and the Chef.

Ingredients:  

200g of cacao

400ml of cream 

400ml of low fat cream

200g of chocolate nut spread (a.k.a. nutella)

50g of almonds

Place the cacao and the low fat cream in a bain-marie, on low heat, until the cacao is melted. Let it cool down a little bit, add the nutella and the almonds finely chopped. Mix everything until it is homogeneous. Afterwards, whip the cream and add it to the mixture. Gently, mix the ingredients with a beater. Pour the mixture into individual bowls and decorate with almonds. Refrigerate for at least 2h.

Notes:

During our break we had the chance to buy pure and natural cacao, but you can replace it by a normal dark chocolate bar.

Feel free to replace the almonds by any other dried fruits, such as nuts, walnuts, etc.