Saturday night dinner !

I've made last night oven grilled chicken *thights*, grilled paprika sallad and pesto and tomatoes pastry ( not mine idea something i stole from http://poppy-planet.blogspot.com/2010/02/foietaj-cu-pesto-si-rosii.html )

1. I bought about 2 bags of chicken ( we are 4 grown ups) and some grill marinade for chicken , or you can make your own it is not that complicated, anyway you marinade the chicken for hmm I dont know ... 1-2 hours before you put it in the oven on the grill-like tray

 

2.The oven has to be pre-heat at 200 C, but often I bring the heat up to 225 C in the last 5-10 minutes just to get a nice crispy skin.

3.For the pastry with pesto you need :  well pre.made pastry you find in the store, basil pesto, tomatoes, parmesan cheese and i added a few strings of ham :)

You cu the pastry in equal size portions, add the pesto, tomatoes slices, ham, parmesan and sprinkle some basil on top.Place on a tray with baking papper and add to the preheated oven at 180 C for 20-25 minutes.

 

4.Finally for the grilled paprika sallad I bought some red bell peppers and some of the longer version of peppers, I called them Kapia Peppers but I am not sure in english is the same.You can buy different colours if you want variety but I bought only red because I belive it tastes better and they are sweeter.

I heat up the oven till 225 C and well grilled the paprika untill they get a nice black shade on them, and then you can easly peel the skin away after they cool down.

The vinegrette is very simple : balsamic vinegar,water, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic, mix it all together and add the peppers in.

 

Everything was yummy!

Pork schitzel with mash and green sallad

This is a very traditional dish in Austria and I know it better by the name of Wiener Schnitzel.
You need :  4 thin slices of pork ( you probably can buy it already cut specially made for schnitzel )
                   flour, bread crumbs and eggs
                    salt and pepper
                   oil for frying
                   potatoes for the mash
                   butter, creme fraiche and mustard ( i use mustard in my mash I like it beacause it gives a special taste to it rather than the ordinary mash )
                  for the sallad i used my iceberg sallad ( a small one ) cucumber, spring onions, cherry tomatoes, garlic and made a herb vinegrette

 

1. for the schnitzel you beat the meat to be really thin because it takes a short period of time of frying

you dry the meat( season with salt and pepper aswell )  and the you follow three easy steps

first put the meat in flour, dust it off, then eggs ( lightly beaten), let the excess drip off and then the bread crumbs....dust the excess off and put it in the pan with the heated oil

when you take them out place the meat on baking paper so it will stay nice and crispy and you wont have the bad luck as when you use kitchen tissues and they stick to the meat

2.sallad... well thats just easy to make, I love it cause it looks nice and green and healthy on a plate

 

3.the masheed potatoes are simple and everyone knows how to make them, I am just sharing the fact that I like to add mustard in it too just to add a special flavour to it

 

it might look alot on the plate but its not,,, just a close up picture ;)

Chicken Wok!

You need : 2-3 chicken breasts ( boneless and skinless)
                  mushroom soya
                 salt and pepper
                 wok noodles
                 vegetables mix for wok
1.cut the chicken breast in cubes and let it marinate in soya sauce for at least 1 hour, till it gets a nice brown colour.

 

2.heat up the wok, add oil and fry the chicken

 

3.after the chicken is fried, take out and add more oil if necessary and stir fry the vegetables.season to taste .when the vegetables are done add the noodles and the chicken back in

 

i bought preboiled noodles that just need a 2-3 minutes heating in the wok

 

it will end up looking like this

 

and in plates

Chicken on a bottle!

You need : 3-4 garlic gloves
                  1 whole chicken
                  spices for the chicken
                  1 tablespoon of allspice (a.k.a juniper berry, pimento, jamaican pepper )
                  1 small bottle  ( 330 ml )

 

1.take  a pan and you filled about half with water and you throw some all spice and some garlic crushed garlic cloves

 

2.you take the chicken and literally force it onto the bottle that was preaviously filled with cold water, and you brush a mixture of spices with oil ( can be whatever you like and whatever works well with the chicken ) when ur done fix the chicken wings with toothpicks :).Put the chicken in the preheated oven at 180 C for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, I ussually check with a fork in the chicken breast, if its a big chicken it will probably need more , check the breast if its still pink leave it for 15 -20 minutes more.

 

3.nice and crispy when it comes out of the oven and it smells delicious, my advice let it rest so you can properly carved it into nice pieces 

 

4.i boiled some potatoes, and I threw them after in a pan with some melted butter and thyme

 

5.TAAADAAAAA made some curry sauce too and a simple sallad with cucumber, red onions, iceberg sallad and a italian vinegrette

Green beans with meatballs

1. Chop garlic ( 2 cloves), red onion and a big leek

2.Add oil to the deep pan, and simmer them with a pinch of chilly powder.Add water.

 

3.Add the frozen green beans and more water if necessary.

4-Add the chopped canned tomatoes.

5 when the beans and tomates are nicely done, salt and pepper to taste and some thicking agent to make a better sauce.

6.for the meatballs now, minced meat mixed with 1-2 eggs, salt pepper to taste, and you may add spices to taste, I mix what I ussualy find in my kitcken at the time, could be chilly powder, dry oregano, thyme etc etc.

when the meat mixture is done roll it into decent size balls and again roll those into plain flour so when you fry the meatballs they will get a nice brown colour.

 

7.Done!

Gordon Ramsay's Pork Satay ( my first try )

500 gr pork loin or fillet ( i used more :P)
tinned coconut milk
fresh grated ginger ( I used dried one... its cheaper and lasts more)
1 lemon grass ( well I couldnt find that either so I used grated lemon worked just fine )
1-2 tsp turmeric
2.-4 tsp coriander
2-4 tsp cumin
sea salt ( or just damn plain salt, I had it at home but you dont need to be as preepy as Ramsay :P)
ground black pepper
1-2 tsp ground sugar ( I only used one because I am not such a big fan of sweet food)
oil for brushing

1. mix the coconut milk with the spices, cut the pork into thin long strips.let it marinate in the fridge for a few hours.later take them about and thread the marinated slices onto either presoaked bamboo skewers  or like the cheap me on plain laying around barbecue sticks:)

 

 

2.heat up the barbecue, grill or grill pan.brush with a little oil to prevent them from sticking and drying out.

3. I served them with boiled jasmin rice and a white caabbage sallad...YUMMY!

 

Oven grilled pork kotlett with chips and sallad :)

Herb mixture : chilly flakes, sweet paprika powder, dried parsley, koriander and olive oil , mix and pour it over  the meat.

 

Heat up the oven to 200 C.Leave the meat in for about 1 h or check the temperature with a termometer (should be around 85C).

Make  the sallad of your own choice, I used cherry tomatoes, iceberg sallad, red onion and some yellow bell pepper, and the vinegrette was with olive oil, basil, garlic and white wine vinegar.

And to make your chips simple cut the potatoes in round thin slices .

On top of the meat i cut some pieces of parsley butter, looks and tastes really good when it melts.

I bought the parsley butter, I have no clue how to do it home or the time to do it :)