Bandeja Paisa (Colombian Mountain Platter)

This week the group had to decide on what food they wanted to cook. One member suggested that as one of our members is Colombian that we should cook something from Columbia.

After going through lots of different recipes everyone agreed that the Bandeja Paisa looked the most interesting and included a good mix of different food to try.

Bandeja Paisa is a platter made up of carne picada(spicy beef), beans, avacado, plaintain, chorizo and rice. Some people put a fried egg with it but the group decided to leave this out.

To make the Carne Picada:

All you need is Minced beef, Diced onion, Jalapeno Chilli peppers (finely chopped), Fresh tomatoes (chopped), Crushed Garlic, Beef Stock and salt and pepper. Put all the ingredients in a pot like we have above and cook until all the beef is cooked through. Then let it simmer.

To make the beans:

For the beans you will need Diced Onion, Chopped Green Peppers, Crushed Garlic, Red Kidney Beans, Oregano, A Teaspoon of Sugar, chicken stock, A splash of Cider Vinegar and a Cup of Water. Put all these ingredients into a pan like the one above and cook down until all the ingredients are soft and the water has gone.

Then cut the Chorizo into thick slices and fry in a pan. The group found that we did not need to add oil to fry the Chorizo as it has fat in it which comes out as oil when you cook it.

With the Avocado just cut them in half, remove the stone and skin and cut the Avocado into slices: 



Preparing the Avocado.

 With the Plantain cut into slices and either fry in some oil or bake until golden brown. We chose to bake our plantain as none of us had ever tried baking it, plus its the healthier option.

We also boiled some plain white rice to have with the dish.

Then put a bit of everything on a plate and there you have Bandeja Paisa!

The group said they really enjoyed all the flavours of this dish. They liked that there were lots of different things to try on one plate.

Morocan Lamb Meatballs with a Yoghurt and cucumber dip

Come Dine With Us are trying to explore the foods from different cultures to experience different flavours from around the world. The group think this is good as we have a lot of diversity within our group.

The group decided to try these Moroccan meatballs as an alternative to the Italian style meatballs we have made before.

The group were impressed by the recipe as it includes lots of different ingredients and flavours that they were excited to try.

The recipe for Meatballs:

Lamb Mince

Garlic

Onion

Fresh Chilli

Cumin seeds

Coriander Seeds

Cinnamon

Feta Cheese

Lemon Juice

Fresh Parsley

Salt and Pepper

One Egg

First crush the coriander and cumin seeds in a pestle and mortar and very finely chop the onion, garlic and chilli and put in a bowl.

Crumble the feta cheese into the bowl.

Add in all the other ingredients and using your hands thoroughly mix up the ingredients.

Then roll a small amount of the mixture between the palms of your hands until they make a rough ball. Then place on baking trays and bake in the oven.

The yoghurt and cucumber dip recipe:

Low fat yoghurt

Cucumber

Fresh Mint

Fresh Coriander

Lime juice

Salt and pepper

Chop parsley, mint and cucumber and mix all the ingredients in a bowl and that's it! A very simple dip which compliments the spices in the meatballs perfectly.

We served the meatballs with the yoghurt dip and some boiled rice rice with vegetables.

Everyone enjoyed the flavours of the dish! 

The group liked that we baked the meatballs instead of frying them, as this made it a healthier dish. The yoghurt dip was fresh and was really nice with the meatballs.

Vegetable soup, spaghetti bolognese, Apple Strudel....

Starter - Vegetable soup
Today, we went for a mega healthy starter, with cabbage, carrots, sweetcorn, leek, aubergine >
Most members enjoyed the soup and its mix of vegetables; although, one member of the group would have liked to add swede next time, another mentioning they would like to take out the aubergine...

Preparing the vegetables for the soup...

Soup stirring and boiling

Main Meal - Spaghetti bolognese

The members enjoyed the spaghetti bolognese top, the dessert of apple strudel / crumble second, and the vegetable soup came third in the enjoyment of the food.
All members agreed they really enjoyed this meal and would not change anything about the bolognese!

Stirring the bolognese

Preparing to serve the spaghetti

A full plate of spaghetti bolognese with parmesan cheese

Empty plate! A good sign!

Dessert... Apple Strudel!

We had a lot of apples left over, so we made apple crumble also! This was preferred by some members of the group.
Some members thought the strudel was a bit dry, but this was helped by the creme fraiche!
We had a healthier version of cream; creme fraiche >

Preparing the strudel...

Thats it for this week!

1st May 2013 chilli corn carne & 8th May 2013 spring rolls

1^st May 2013

Today we followed the choices from the week before, and we cooked the following;

For starter, we had swede and parsnip soup, 

followed by a main course of chilli con carne with rice.

Finally, for desert we cooked and ate upside down pineapple cake with custard.

The soup proved to be very popular, as did the pineapple upside down cake which some members hadn't had before, others last having it as a desert in school!

8^th May 2013

Today we cooked some oriental style food, quite Chinese based…

For starter, we had vegetable spring rolls which had beansprouts, chilli, red pepper and onion inside wrapped in filo pastry.

Our main  course was a chicken and cashew nut stir-fry with vegetables and rice. 

To finish, we had ‘apple snow’ which is egg white whisked with sugar, served with blueberries and strawberries.

With the main course one of the members would like to cook lamb with mint instead of chicken with cashew nut stir-fry.

One of the members really liked the apple snow because it tasted nice, most of the members would like to cook apple snow again.

Pita Pockets

Last week a few members of the group put their computer literacy skills to the test by being in charge of using the Come Dine With Us laptop to find healthy recipes that could be made at the club.

They found this fantastic low calorie starter, which is bursting with flavour and incorporates lots of nutritious ingredients.

As the group have proven to be brilliant bread makers (See previous blog entry Baking bread) they decided to make their own Pita breads for this dish.

Firstly for the actual Pita Breads we used:


Preparing the Dough



1/2 Cup of Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 Tsp Yeast
1 Tsp Sugar
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Oil
A little Water

Combine all the ingredients except the oil, using enough water to create a soft dough. then add the oil and knead.

Then cover and leave to prove for about 15 minutes, the group were impressed that the dough doubled in size during this time.

Then  press the dough lightly to remove the air bubbles.

Divide the dough to 3 equal portions and roll out into a circular shape which is about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Then heat a griddle on a medium heat and cook the Pita's for a minute on each side until a cavity forms in the breads.

Then cut in half and leave to cool while you prepare the filling and the dressing.


The Filling:

                                                                 1 Cup of Cooked Chickpeas- We used Tinned.


Blending the Ingredients

 3 Tbsp of chopped Parsley
1 Tbsp of chopped onion
1 Tbsp of chopped Garlic
1 Tbsp Low Fat Yoghurt
1 Tsp White Pepper
1 Tbsp of Lemon Juice
A pinch of Salt

Combine the Chickpeas, parsley, onions and garlic in a mixer and blend to a smooth paste.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the Yoghurt, pepper, salt and lemon juice and mix well.

Then divide the filling into 6 equal portions and keep aside.

The Dressing
1 Slice of Whole meal Bread
1/3 Cup of Yoghurt
1/4 Tsp Sugar
3/4 Tsp Oil
A Pinch of Black Pepper
1/2 Tsp Mustard Powder
1/2 Tbsp Parsley
A pinch of Salt

Combine the Bread, yoghurt, sugar and oil and blend in a mixer to a smooth paste.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the pepper, mustard powder, parsley and salt and mix well.



Using a slicer to chop the carrots...



Divide it into 6 equal portions and keep aside.

Garnish:

Cabbage Leaves

Grated Carrot

Grated Cucumber



...and cucumber



Putting your Pita's Pockets Together:

Just before serving, arrange a few cabbage leaves evenly in a pita bread and stuff it with a portion of the filling.

Place a little carrot and cucumber on top followed by a portion of the dressing.

Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 5 more pita pockets.

 The homemade pita's were great and well worth making from scratch and the flavours of the filling and the dressing worked really well together.

The group thought that this made a colourful and wholesome lunch. As a group we discussed how it was a great vegetarian option as the chickpeas are a good source of protein and carbohydrates, providing us with lots of energy for the day.





Lime and Raspberry Fool

Due to the success of the mango and passion fruit fool we made previously we decided to make a lime and raspberry variation.

They are so easy to make and can be prepared up to a day in advance and left in the fridge until you need them.

Ingredients:
(Serves 2)

200ml Greek Yoghurt
1 Tbsp of Caster Sugar
3 Tbsp Lime Juice
Zest of one Lemon
A Few Raspberries to place on top of the Fool.


Firstly zest the Lime and juice them - For three tablespoons of lime juice you will probably need 3 limes.

Then mix the caster sugar, Greek yoghurt, lime juice and zest together until smooth.

Then spoon into individual dishes and place a few raspberries on top of each one and chill in the fridge for at least 45 minutes.

Then serve.

A simple and fresh spring/summer dessert.

Chicken and Mushroom Risotto

Risotto is a great one pan dish with loads of flavour and you can practically add in anything you want.

This recipe is really useful if you have leftover chicken from a Sunday roast; its an exciting way to use up the leftovers a make a completely new meal!

Ingredients:
50g Butter
1 Onion
250g Mushroom
300g Risotto Rice
1 Glass Of White Wine
1.5 Litres Of Hot Chicken Stock
200g Cooked Chicken
Parsley
50g Parmesan


Firstly prepare the ingredients by chopping the onion, mushroom and chicken; we used fresh chicken but leftover chicken works just as well- if not better!

Then in a flat plan melt half the butter and add the onions and then the mushrooms. After a couple of minutes add the rice and stir until the rice is coated in the butter.

Keep stirring for a few minutes and add in the glass of wine and while continually stirring add the stock a ladle at a time and let the rice absorb each ladle of stock before adding more - this should take about 25 minutes.

When you add the final ladle of stock add in the chicken to heat through. Add a handful of parsley, the parmesan and the rest of the butter to make the risotto creamy.

Leave it to rest for a couple of minutes before giving it a stir and serving.

This was a great dish and the whole group really enjoyed the flavours and the process of watching the risotto come together in the pan.

Feel free to add whatever vegetables you want to this dish and make it your own with whatever you have left over in the fridge. For example use up the last bit of bacon by adding it in when cooking the onions, or throw in some peas or sweetcorn to add some colour. 

We hope you enjoy the risotto as much as we did.