Archives For MEAT

Italian Affair

6 April, 2013 — 1 Comment

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We spent our Easter holiday in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland – Ticino.
A lovely place with rustical and traditional cuisine. If you want to avoid liver and other intestines on your plate it’s wise to know a few Italian words.
We always visit the same Grotto in Ludiano. It’s a very simple but so charming restaurant inside a rock. They serve the best brasato which is cooked for hours in redwine. Usually served with gnocchi or tagliatelle. Delicious!

One evening we had guests over to our holiday home and I made oven baked package of chicken, tomato, mushrooms and garlic. Served with fresh bread this too was quite delicious. ;)

This recipe serves 6.

What you need:

* 6 chicken filets
* 3 large tomatoes
* 6 coves of garlic
* 2dl chicken broth
* 50g porcini (dried cep mushrooms)
* A handful parsley leaves
* Salt & Pepper
* 6 sheets of baking paper or alu foil

What you do:

Boil the tomatoes till peel cracks, then have them in cold water and remove peel.
Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl on lukewarm water. Let soak for 20 minutes.

In each sheet of paper place one chicken filet, half a peeled tomato, one crushed clove of garlic, a few leaves of parsley, some mushrooms, one tablespoon broth and sprinkle salt and pepper over before folding the paper to cover the food. Place in preheated oven 200 C for about 20 minutes.

Let the guests open their own package and serve with fresh bread and good wine.

ENJOY!

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Sunday Roast Chicken

23 February, 2013 — 2 Comments

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What`s more comforting than coming home to Sunday roast?
Gathering the family around the table. Good talks, good friends, good food and good wine.

After a little preparation this chicken roast makes itself in the oven so you can enjoy time with loved ones.

First time making a roast? Or are you worried about getting the food just right because you`ve invited some real important people?
Then let me tell you, this recipe is not at all difficult to prepare and comes out perfect every time!
Go ahead – try it.

This recipe serves 4.

What you need:

* 1 big chicken
* 6-8 potatoes, cut in rather big cubes
* 2 red onions, sliced in fours
* 300 g butter
* 6 garlic cloves
* Fresh oregano, marjoram, rosemary or any herb you like
* 4-5 lemons, cut on fours
* Mushrooms, cut in rather thick slices
* Parsnip, cut in thick pieces
* 3 dl white wine
* Salt

What you do:

Cut all the vegetables and place in a big casserole dish. Pour the white wine over it all. Now comes the fun and tricky part: place chunks of butter under the chicken skin without ripping the skin open all too much.
Stuff the chicken with half of the garlic and lemons and insert the fresh herbs between the legs and breast of chicken as shown in the photo.
Rub the chicken with some salt and place on top of the vegetables in the casserole dish.

Place in preheated oven 200° C for about one hour. Turn on the upper grill the last ten minutes if the chicken skin does not look crispy.

enjoy_small

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Chard and Chicken Gratin

20 February, 2013 — 1 Comment

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This long, leafy green vegetable is often used in Mediterranean cooking. While the leaves are always green, chard stalks vary in color. Chard is considered to be one of the healthiest vegetables available and a valuable addition to a healthy diet. Chard has a slightly bitter taste. Fresh young chard can be used raw in salads. Mature chard leaves and stalks are typically cooked or sauteed; their bitterness fades with cooking.

This vegetable has become a favorite of mine.
I hadn`t cooked with chard (Mangold/Krautstiel) before moving to Switzerland and it was my mother in-law who first introduced me to it by telling me how much my husband loved her chard gratin (she does make a good one). This recipe is my own though and I hope you enjoy it!

This serves 4.

What you need:

* 4 stalks of chard
* 6 medium potatoes
* 2 chicken filets
* 1 red onion
* 2 cloves of garlic
* 1 egg
* 2 dl cream
* 2 dl white wine (can be replaced with water, but for the aroma I recommend wine.)
* 1 dl water
* 2 cube vegetable broth
* Grated cheese (choose your favorite – I tend to use what I have in the fridge which is often Gryer or Mozzarella)

What you do:

Peel and cut the potatoes in cubes. Cook the potatoes in vegetable broth in half of the normal time.
Place in a casserole dish with sliced red onions.
Quickly fry the chicken, cut into smaller pieces and add to the casserole dish.
Cut the chard in strips and have in a preheated (medium heat) pan with white wine, water, 1 cube of broth and 1 crushed garlic.
Let the chard simmer till it`s a little soft and half of the fluid is gone.
While it simmers mix the egg and cream in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to this mix and pour it over the potatoes in the casserole dish.
Add the chard with the fluid to the dish and mix everything together before covering with grated cheese.
Place in preheated oven on 225 ° C  and let the cheese get golden and crisp.

enjoy_small

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Chicken and Champagne

13 February, 2013 — 1 Comment

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Champagne, mushrooms, and cream make a creamy sauce for chicken breasts. Cooked stove-top in a skillet, you can have this on the table in under 30 minutes.

What you need:

* 2 whole chicken breasts, boned
* Salt
* Freshly ground pepper
* 4 Tablespoons butter
* 1/2 cup finely diced fennel or celery
* 1/2 cup finely diced white part of leeks
* 3/4 cup finely diced mushrooms
* 1/4 cup or more chicken broth
* Flour for dusting
* 2/3 cup champagne
* 2/3 cup heavy cream

What you do:

Cut the 2 whole chicken breasts in half to make 4 pieces. Remove the skin and any bits of fat. Season lightly with salt and pepper on both sides, then place the breasts between 2 sheets of wax paper and flatten lightly and evenly with a meat pounder or heavy bottle.

In a large skillet, heat 3 tablespoons butter and saute the fennel or celery, leeks, and mushrooms over low heat for 1 minute, stirring, then add the broth, salt lightly, cover, and cook very gently about 5 minutes, or until almost tender; check to see if more broth is needed – the vegetables should not brown. Push the vegetables to the edges of the skillet and add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter.

Quickly dredge the chicken breasts in flour, shaking off the excess, and add them to the pan. Saute them gently 30 seconds on one side, then turn them, strew the vegetables on top, and add the champagne. After it has boiled up for a few seconds, stir in the cream, cover, reduce heat, and cook gently 5 minutes. The sauce will have thickened; if it is too thick, stir in a little more broth or Champagne. Taste and correct the seasoning if necessary.

Serve with rice.

enjoy_small
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Norwegian Pizza

28 January, 2013 — 1 Comment

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This is the pizza I grew up with in the 80s. Mostly eaten with the family on Saturday evening in front of the TV watching some kind of quiz show.
About a year ago I introduced it to my kids and much to my surprise they loved it and keep asking for it.
I was surprised because I figured they would prefer the thin Italian version which they know oh so well, but no.
Even my Swiss husband likes this Norwegian pizza although he calls it “meat pie”.
Why don`t you give it a try?

What you need:

Large pizza crust:

* All purpose flour- 2 cups + 1/6 cup
* Dry active yeast- 1 1/8 tsp
* Brown sugar 1/4 tsp
* Warm water- 3/4 cup
* Salt- 1/2 tsp
* Olive oil- 1 tbsp

Ground beef sauce:

* Olive oil
* 500 g Ground beef
* 2 garlic cloves
* 1 teaspoon paprika powder
* 1/2 cumin powder
* Ground pepper
* 1-2 bx canned tomatoes
* 2 teaspoons oregano powder
* Salt, to taste

Toppings:

* Red pepper, chopped in squares
* Red onion, chopped
* Jarlsberg or Mozzarella cheese, grated- generous amount to sprinkle on the pizza.

What you do:

In a large bowl, combine yeast, warm water and sugar, let stand for 10 minutes.
Add the salt and oil to the yeast solution.
Slowly add the flour and knead.
It will be sticky in the beginning, after you add the entire flour you’ll find it easy to knead.
Knead the dough well, it should be soft and smooth, don’t add too much flour and make it a hard dough.
Place the dough on a bowl greased with oil and cover the dough with a damp towel l, keep aside for 1 hour.

Do not cover the dough with wet kitchen paper towels, after an hour it will be stuck to the dough and will be very hard to peel if off.

After an hour, the dough would have doubled in size.
Knead the dough once again and let it sit for a minute.
Heat a large pan over medium heat, add oil.
Add the ground beef and break the lumps, cook till the pink color is gone.
Add paprika powder, cumin, oregano, ground pepper and salt.
Mix well and fry for a few minutes.
Add tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes.
Don’t cook till the liquid dries out, it should be have a thick sauce.
Place the ground beef sauce to a bowl and set aside.
In the same pan used for cooking the ground beef, add the chopped veggies (you could even use mushrooms, jalapeno etc).
Add ground pepper and salt to it and saute the veggies for 2 minutes.
Don’t over cook the veggies, it should be slightly tender.
Preheat the oven to 425 °F / 220 °C.
Grease the pizza pan with little olive oil.
Place the dough over it and using your hands you could stretch the dough to a round shape or use a rolling pin to roll it.
Let the dough rest in pan for about 15 minutes.
Grate the cheese.
Spread the prepared ground beef sauce over the rolled dough evenly. Top with vegetables and grated cheese.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, keeping the pan on the lower rack of the oven.

enjoy_small

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