Bami Goreng Soup

Bami Goreng is a sautéed/stir fried, Indonesian noodle dish; it was a very popular dish in Germany and Holland. I used to eat these things called Bami’s quite often; they were these fish cake looking things, filled with Bami Goreng mixture, coated in bread crumbs and deep fried, they didn't have fish in them, just in case that needed clearing up – Yummy!! At the time I made this had decided that I was going to cook more recipes from my folders. I got as far as four before I got itchy feet and had to move onto my next book. This was a low in calories recipe and it was made around the same time I was on a diet, it was a tasty soup and I guess I felt better and healthier for all of 10 minutes. The soup is definitely, tasty and healthy, but only if you don’t dump junk in your body a little while later, which I have a habit of doing.

Bami-Goreng-Soup

1 garlic clove, peeled and minced

2tsp sesame oil

600ml chicken stock

1/8tsp chilli flakes

200g chicken breast

50g thin Chinese egg noodles

Salt

250g carrots

200g sugar snap peas

1tbsp peanuts

2tbsp light soy sauce

1.       Heat the sesame oil in a large saucepan, and then gently fry the garlic. Add the stock and chilli, put the chicken in the stock and cook for 15 minutes on a low heat.

2.       Cook the egg noodle according to package directions. Wash peel and julienne the carrots, rinse the sugar snap peas and cut in half diagonally

3.       Put the carrots in the stock and cook for 5 minutes, after 3 minutes add the sugar snap peas for the remaining 2 minutes.

4.       Chop the peanuts into bits, remove the chicken and slice, place into bowls with the noodles – add some of the stock, season with salt, soy sauce and sprinkle with peanuts.

“Wedgitables”

The potato gratin recipe inspired this one, even without the five-a-day, I want to say nonsense; but I realise it’s not – being burned into our brains at every turn, I know we must eat veggies, my own body tells me it needs “wedgitables,” thing is I get so bored of plopping ‘just’ veggies on my plate and slopping sauce or butter and salt and pepper, over the top, I needed something different. So I decided to do something else, this is what I came up with.

Mixed Cheesy “Wedgitables”

¼ cabbage
2 carrots peeled and diced
1 leek thinly sliced
1- ½ cup mixed frozen vegetables
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and black pepper to taste

1. shred the cabbage, peel and chop carrots and leek, place in boiling water and cook until soft, then add frozen vegetables and cook for 5 more minutes.

2. Drain all the vegetables, place in a medium sized bowl, stir in the cheese and salt and pepper.

3. Place in a 180˚C (350˚F) oven and bake until the cheese is nicely melted!

Stuffed tatties

These stuffed potatoes are great, I’m not sure what exactly inspired me to make these, but they are filling and can be used in two ways, serve in large baked potatoes as a whole meal, or smaller ones as a side dish. Either way these are great and easy to make.
Bacon Twice Baked, Stuffed Potatoes

4 small potatoes
4 carrots, chopped
½ leek, sliced
5 rashers (slices) of bacon, diced
1 spring onion (scallion) whites and greens
2 cloves, finely diced garlic
2 egg yolks
½ cup cottage cheese
¼ cup milk
1 tsp Italian herbs
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 ½ tbsp butter, melted
Shredded mozzarella for sprinkling

1. Wash the potatoes and bake at 190˚C (375˚F) for an hour or until cooked through. In the meantime boil the carrots and leek for about 15 minutes or until soft, dry fry the bacon and when almost crisp add the garlic and the scallions, for about another minute and then allow to cool.
2. In a large bowl mix together the egg yolks, cottage cheese, milk, butter and seasonings, mash the carrots and leeks, then add to the cottage cheese mixture with the cooled bacon.
3. Cut the potatoes in ½ and carefully scoop out the middle and mash with a fork, then add to the cottage cheese mixture and give it a good stir, spoon the mixture back into the potato skins. Sprinkle with the mozzarella and return to the oven, bake until the cheese has melted.

crockpot beef stew

Crockpot’s are brilliant and I miss mine so much, I think I may have to invest in a new one soon. I had never owned one before, but we were given one in the States, which although I didn’t use all the time, proved invaluable for busy days when cooking was going to be tough to fit in. This Beef Stew, was my first Crockpot recipe, and after I made this in it, I crock potted all my stews, chilli’s and even Bolognese sauce. I love that you can throw everything in the one pot, add limited clean up and that you flick a switch, show up 8 hours later and HEY HO! It’s ready to eat….. If I am honest the best stews where made in my Crockpot.

After having a look on Amazon, I have found that you can buy them from as little as £16.00, obviously some are a lot more expensive, it depends on what brand you want and what you want them to do, I saw an all singing all dancing one, which, steamed, slow cooked, and was also a rice and porridge maker, but that was £68.00. Although it was and is totally lovely, I would probably not use it to it’s full potential – I buy boil in bag rice, so the rice maker bit wouldn’t get used – frozen vegetables, so the steamer bit is out, I am not naïve enough to think you can only steam vegetables, I am just left wondering if I would really steam anything else? Porridge, hmmm, maybe, but I don’t make it often enough to warrant a maker. So that’s the porridge bit out too. This machine was by no means the most expensive either, I settled on a Morphey Richards slow cooker 6.5litre, so very big and it was £27.00, I have put it in my wish list for later. I’ve managed without for 17 months a little while longer is not going to hurt!!

Beef Stew

2lbs beef, cubed

¼ cup flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 ½ cups beef broth

1tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 garlic clove

1 bay leaf

1tsp paprika

4 carrots, sliced

3 potatoes, sliced

1 onion, chopped

Put meat into the Crockpot, mix flour, salt and pepper, and stir to coat the meat, stir in the rest of the ingredients cover and cook…  

Meat Hot Pot

I had left over lamb from the night before, chops and mint hollandaise, but I wanted something else. I had all the ingredients to hand and figured I may as well give it a go! It tastes lovely if you like this sort of thing, but my opinion is that it is definitely a winter warmer. I kind of have this preconceived image of cold snowy weather outside, dim lights indoors with a crackling fire, or maybe that just makes me a hopeless romantic. Either way that's how this one and a few others make me feel. I guess I'm just having a love affair with food? Or prehaps the real love is for my husband and the food is just an added extra feel good factor? Our apartment in Virginia had dim lighting, in the evenings and because it was winter we often had the fire on, the atmosphere was already set, without any intention or effort, then with this ugly looking winter warming meal, it's definitely my ideal, I don't know about yours? Hmmmmm...... I feel kind of gooey inside good food and an even better husband to enjoy it with....

Meat Hotpot

2 tbsp evoo
2 lbs lamp chops
4 large potatoes, sliced
1 lb carrots peeled and thinly sliced
2 large onions, chopped
1 tsp sugar
salt and black pepper
1 bay leaf
parsley
2-3 cups vegetable stock

1. Heat the oil in a casserole dish, add the lamb a little at a time, and brown over a medium heat for 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.

2. Add the potatoes, carrots and onions, cook for 5 minutes. remove from the casserole dish.

3. Make layers of lamb chops and vegetables in the casserole, seasoning each layer with a little sugar, salt and pepper, putting herbs in the middle. Top with a layer of potatoes. Pour in enough stock to come up to the potato layer. Cover tightly with the lid and cook at 325°F for 2 hours or until meat and vegetables are tender.

4. Remove the lid from the casserole dish and increase the heat to 425°F and cook for 20-30 minutes longer to brown the potato.
Servings 4