Homemade Chicken Burgers

I'm always looking for new recipes, or interesting things to try and I tend to stay away from ingredients that feel unnatural to me. I have learned how to make my own burger patties a few years ago, but I always used beef or pork because I could not find any other type of minced meat. A few days go I was reading a Brazilian blog about healthy life, pensandomagro.net (thinking skinny in English) and I found a recipe that caught my eye: homemade chicken burgers! The recipe is super easy, fast and best of all, versatile. You can add whatever spices or ingredients you feel like and make a super delicious and healthy meal. The original recipe was made by the owner of another Brazilian blog, Receitas de Minuto. Both blogs are in Portuguese, but you can always have a look at the videos if you want. As for my version of this recipe just see below. Enjoy!

Ingredients (4 burgers):

600g chicken breast, cut in big chunks
100g spinach
2 tbsp rolled oats
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Process all ingredients in a food processor, until you obtain a paste. Add another drizzle of olive oil if needed. 

2. Take 1/4 of the mixture and form a ball with your hand. Throw the ball from one hand to the other a few times, to remove air bubbles. Put the ball on a plate and form a patty pressing with your fingers. Repeat with the remaining mixture.

3. Heat up a non-sticky skillet on high heat. Cook the patties for about 4 minutes on the first side or until half of the side of the patty is cooked. Turn the patties, reduce the heat to medium and cover. Allow to cook for another 5 minutes or until the burgers are cooked through (no one wants raw chicken!).

Serve with rucula, cherry tomatoes and millet salad seasoned with balsamic vinegar (see photo) or in a bun with your favourite ingredients.

Raw Healthy Brownies with Applesauce

We are always up to try new things and we have never attempted a truly raw recipe. This weekend, I am home alone and wanted to eat something sweater and chocolaty but without indulging in a whole lot of sugar or fat. I found the perfect recipe at popsugar.com/fitness, adapted it to what I had at home and combined the brownies with homemade apple sauce. This brownies do not taste like traditional chocolate brownies. They are fruity, nutty, healthy and delicious. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Applesauce

300g apples (peeled, chopped in 1 inch cubes)

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 pinch nutmeg

1/2 cup water

1 thin lemon slice

Small pinch salt

Brownies

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup Brazil nuts

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

8 dates, pitted

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 ripe banana

1/3 cup homemade applesauce

Mixture of seeds (linseed, sunflower, sesame and chia seeds) to spread on top

1. Start by doing the applesauce. Add all ingredients to a pot, and turn heat on high. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes or until the apples are soft. Stir frequently, making sure the apples don't stick to the pot. Add more water if needed. Remove lemon slice and mask with a fork. Allow to cool.

2. Place oats, Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds, dates, cocoa powder and salt in a food processor and blend until a floury consistency. Add the banana and the applesauce and blend until it forms a sticky dough.

3. Brush a baking dish with a drop of olive oil. Push the mixture into the dish pressing firmly with a spatula or big spoon. Top with the mixture of seeds, pushing a bit with the spatula. Place in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up. Cut into squares and serve with more applesauce.

Blueberry & Yoghurt Cake

It's berry season and we love going to the market and buy loads of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc. We particularly like a small type of blueberries that we can find here in Prague. They are really juice and delicious. Added to yoghurt, mixed in a smoothie, as the base of a crumble or stirred into a cake, blueberries are always delicious and add that punch of colour to the final product. The recipe below is simple and easy to make. Perfect for a summer evening after work. 

Ingredients:
250g of fresh blueberries
250g of plain yoghurt
4 eggs
200g of soft butter + some to grease cake tin
220g of sugar

1 tsp of vanilla extract

230g of flour + some to sprinkle

2 tsp baking powder

1- Whisk the eggs with the sugar and the butter until fluffy. Add the yogurt, the blueberries and the vanilla and whisk again (the mix should become purple). Gently, fold in the flour and the baking powder until well combined.

2- Transfer the mixture into a cake tin, greased with butter and sprinkled with flour. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180ºC for about 40 minutes or until just cooked through. 

3- Cool down and remove the cake from the tin. Serve with vanilla ice cream. 

Note:

The baking time can vary quite a lot depending on the cake tin and on the oven. After baking it for 30 minutes poke the center of the cake with a toothpick now and then, to find out when it's baked.

Grilled Pork & Peaches

Summer is here and the grilling season is now officially open in The Swedish and the Chef home. There are so many meals you can prepare on the grill that our problem was to choose the first we would eat. The problem was solved when we picked one of our favourite recipe books and opened it at a random page. The winner recipe was the inspiration for this dish of grilled pork cutlets and peaches with a homemade peach chutney. It was so yummy that the winners ended up being us and our happy bellies!

Ingredients (2 people):

3 pork cutlets
4 small peaches, cut in half and pitted
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1 teaspoon of paprika
Salt
Pepper
Fresh thyme

For the chutney:
2 small peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped into small cubes
1 small onion, diced
2 tablespoons of raisins
1 tablespoon of honey
12cl of malt vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1/2 lemon, juiced and zested

1. About 1h before grilling, prepare the marinade by adding the garlic, wine, paprika, salt and pepper into a container. Mix well and place the meat inside. Set aside.

2. Prepare the chutney by adding all the ingredients into a pot. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat, half cover the pot with a lid and simmer until the juices are reduced (about 30-40 minutes). Set aside.

3. Prepare the grill and grill the cutlets until they are just cooked through. Rest them for a few minutes and simultaneously grill the peach halves, cut side down, for 2-3 minutes. Add fresh thyme just before serving.

4. Serve the meat with the grilled peaches and the chutney.

Note:
If you want extra garnish it works deliciously with a green salad or fries.

Caprese Garlic Bread

After training hard we always get home starving and craving something tasty. This recipe is fast to make, really tasty and makes our bellies happy. Usually, I prepare everything and leave it in the oven while I shower and then it's ready to eat.  

Ingredients:
1 loaf of bread, sliced in half horizontally
3 tablespoons of butter, at room temperature
3 cloves garlic, minced
125g fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped


1. Preheat oven to 200 ºC. 

2. In a small bowl add butter and minced garlic. Mix until combined. Spread onto bread halves. Place sliced mozzarella cheese on top of the bread in a single layer. Bake for about 12-15 minutes or until cheese in melted and bubbly.

3. While bread is baking prepare the balsamic reduction. Place balsamic in small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 6 minutes or until mixture is reduced by half. Set aside and let cool.

4. Remove bread from oven and top bread with tomato slices, salt, pepper, and fresh basil. Drizzle with balsamic reduction. Cut into slices and serve.

Meatballs in Curry sauce

Meatballs are a common dish in Sweden and is usually served with brown sauce and boiled potatoes. However, meatballs can be served in many other ways. Meatballs in curry sauce is a recipe from Chef José Avillez, a portuguese chef that recently got a Michelin star. I tried his recipe, with some small changes, and it was delicious. Give it a try if you are curious.

Ingredients:

Meatballs
500g beef mince
250g pork mince
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, finely diced
1 egg
50g bread crumbs
milk, enough to soak the bread crumbs
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp green curry paste
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Soak the bread crumbs with the milk, for at least 5 minutes. Mix well all ingredients and season with salt and pepper. Fry a spoon of the mixture and taste it. Using your hands, wet with water, make small balls and set aside on a tray, brushed with some water. Heat a drizzle of olive oil on a frying pan and fry the meatballs, rotating frequently to cook them evenly. Remove and set on towel paper.

Curry sauce
500ml coconut milk
10g fresh ginger, finely diced
1 tbsp thyme
75g green apple, finely diced
150g onion, finely diced
5 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 tbsp green curry paste
1tsp curry powder
fresh coriander
Olive oil

Heat a drizzle of olive oil on a frying pan. Add onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add the remaining ingredients except the coconut milk. Cook for another couple of minutes. Add a 1/4 of the coconut milk, mix and blend using a hand blender. Add remaining milk and simmer for about 10 minutes. 

Serve the meatballs and the curry sauce with basmati rice.

Salted Cod Portuguese Pastéis

Salted codfish is one of the biggest Portuguese specialties. It all started long long time ago when refrigerators didn't exist and the fish had to be stored somehow. The solution found was to salt and sun dry the codfish. Nowadays, salted cod is one of the most used ingredients in Portuguese cuisine. According to tradition it can be cooked 1001 ways, such as steamed, baked, grilled, in salads, etc. One of the most famous recipes is "Pastéis de Bacalhau", something like a salted cod fish cake. The recipe contains all the ingredients that go so well with codfish and the taste brings me back to my country, no matter where I am physically...

 
Ingredients (makes about 24):
600g of salted cod, already soaked in water for at least 36h, changing water twice (weighed after soaking)
600g potatos
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup of olive oil + more for rubbing
3 big eggs (4 small)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
Oil

1. Boil the potatoes, in their jackets, in salted water.

2. In a different pan, boil the salted cod until cooked through. Remove from the heat and allow to cool down. Shred it in flakes, removing bones and skin.

3. In a frying pan heat up the olive oil. dd onion and garlic and cook until soft. Add the codfish and cook for a few more minutes, stirring so the flakes of the fish get slightly mashed. Set aside.

4. Mash the potatoes until you get a smooth puree. Add the codfish mix, parsley and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add one egg at the time and mix well in between each addition, so the mixture becomes consistent and homogeneous. Taste for seasoning and correct if needed.

5. Heat up about 3 fingers of oil. Rub olive oil on two table spoons. Get a spoonful of the mixture and pass it from one spoon to the other, until you obtain an oval shaped "pastel". When you are happy drop it inside the heated oil and fry on both sides. Remove from oil onto a plate covered in paper towel. Repeat until the mixture is over. You can fry more than one piece a the time.

6. Serve solo as a starter, or as a main dish garnished with tomato rice and lettuce salad.

Note: The two spoons technique might be tricky at first but it's easy once you get it. Here's a video that might help.
You can deep fry the pasteis as well (as shown in the video), but I prefer to reduce the amount of oil used.

Deliciously filled mini meatloaves

A muffin tin, an appetite for new recipes and a bunch of webpages was all it took us to come up with the idea to make filled mini meatloaves for the weekend. Below is the recipe we used, but it is quite versatile and you can just add whatever filling you like. Enjoy!

Ingredients (makes about 8):

500g minced beef
4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 1 / 2 dl milk
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 egg
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tsp thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch of pepper
2 slices of ham, cut in half
4 cheese cubes
1 cheese slice, cut in 4
2 slices of pineapple, cut in 4

Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Place bread crumbs and milk in a bowl and let them swell for 5 minutes. Fry the onion in olive oil, in a skillet. Mix eggs, tomato puree, spices, fried onion and minced meat in the bowl with the breadcrumbs, and stir to a smooth mince. Shape the mince into a half ball and place in a greased hole of the muffin tin. Press the cheese or pineapple wrapped in ham in the middle of the meatloaf, and cover with more mince mixture forming a perfect round loaf. Additionally you can place some cheese slices or pineapple pieces on top of the loaf. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Serve with boiled potatoes, green salad and lingonberry jam.

Curry Soup

The temperatures outside dropped, the clouds are gray and the rain is imminent. In this kind of evenings there's nothing better than a bowl of hot soup. We love the classics like mushroom soup or vegetables cream. However, we are always looking for new tasty soups and we found that curry brings a very interesting taste to the soup. Give it a try and let us know.

Ingredients:
1 medium onion
3 cups of sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 1/2 cups of carrots, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt

 Plain yogurt to taste

 
Add all ingredients to a large pan. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat and simmer for about 25 minutes or until all vegetables are tender.  Process the soup until creamy or leave some chunks if you prefer. Serve with plain yogurt.

Banana & Walnut healthy muffins

 The running season is starting in about 3 months and now it's time to get fit and ready for it. A big part of it is nutrition and what we eat is as important as the actual training. We are always looking for new healthy and tasty snacks, as sometimes we are short of time between work and training. This time we tried a new recipe of healthy muffins. They were easy to make and even easier to eat.

Ingredients (about 12 muffins):

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups bran flakes
1/2 cup of walnuts, roughly crushed
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp ginger powder
1 cup milk
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 190C. Combine the flour, bran flakes, walnuts, cinnamon, baking powder and ginger. Set aside.
Heat together milk, butter, honey and sugar until butter had melted and sugar is dissolved.
Stir in baking soda and mashed bananas.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing to just combine. Do not over-mix.
Spoon into 12 greased or paper covered muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Leave to stand for 2 minutes before removing from tins.

Recipe adapted from taste.com.au

Mushrooms "Bulhão Pato"

Bulhão Pato was a portuguese author that loved eating clams. One day, one of his friends, that worked as a chef, created a recipe of clams for him called clams "Bulhão Pato". Until today, this is a well known dish in the portuguese cuisine. As fresh clams are not always easy to find, especially when you live in a country far away from the sea, other core ingredients can be used. Prawns and shrimps are frequently used, but the Swedish and the Chef tried this recipe with mushrooms instead. The result was a tasty, healthy and easy to make recipe.

Ingredients (2 people):
200g button mushrooms or Cremini, diced
200g white button mushrooms, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
100g white wine
1/4 lemon, juiced
Small bunch of coriander, grossly chopped
Salt
Black pepper

Heat up the olive oil in a skillet. Add the garlic and stir. When the garlic is turning golden add the white wine and the mushrooms. Mix, reduce the heat and let it cook for 6-7 minutes. Add the coriander. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. Serve immediately with pasta.

Notes:
Other combinations of mushrooms can be used.