Barbecue Chicken and Spinach Wraps

It’s hot again. So yesterday I made Chicken Spinach Wraps. Quick and easy and doesn’t require too much time in front of the stove.

Ingredients

6 medium tortilla wraps
500g Spinach leaves
4 chicken filets, sliced into long pieces
4 tblsp barbecue sauce
100ml crème fraîche
2 medium tomatoes, chopped finely
1 red peppers, sliced into long pieces
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, sliced into long pieces
2 tsp honey
50g mozzarella, sliced thinly OR 200g grated cheese (emmental, gruyere, cheddar)
1 tblsp olive oil
10g butter

Method
Before you start chopping the vegetables, in a mixing bowl mix the chicken with the barbecue sauce, leave in the fridge for about 30 mins.

1.In a large frying pan/wok heat the oil add the onion and garlic, stir until the onions have absorbed all of the oil.
2.Add the chicken, stir until the chicken just starts to cook.
3.Add the peppers, stir to mix everything together, leave on a low heat until the chicken is cooked through.
4.Meanwhile, in a shallow pan melt the butter
5.Add the spinach and leave to cook gently for 4-5mins
6.Add the spinach to the chicken, mix together
7.Mix the crème fraîche, honey and chopped tomatoes together
8.Spread the mixture thinly and evenly onto the wraps
9.Dish out the chicken and spinach evenly onto the wraps.
10.Add the cheese and wrap up the wraps!

I served with boiled red potatoes and French beans.

Serves : 6 (or 3 if 2 each!)

Preparation : 10 mins

Cooking time : 20 mins

Curry on a Sunday Afternoon

I love Sundays because I'm not at work, everything in France in closed so you have no option but to potter about the house, one of my favourite passetimes! Because I have so much time to myself Sundays are the days I spend the most time in the kitchen.

Today I decided to make a curry. Curries are best when they've been cooking for a long time, so this afternoon I make a beef curry. Now you won't see that on an Indian menu as cows are sacred animals to the Indians, but I only had beef in the freezer so apologises if this causes any offense.

Ingredients

1 large onion
500g chunk steak, chopped into chunks
1 red bell pepper, chopped into chunks
8 carrots, chopped into chunks
6 large red potatoes, chopped into 8ths
1 ½ pints of beef stock
500ml crème fraiche
2 tblsp olive oil
1 tsp chilli purée
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp five spices
5 tsp mixed curry spices

Method

1. In a bowl mix 3 tsps of mixed curry spice with the beef, set aside.
2. In a large bowl soak the chopped potatoes in cold water for 10-15 mins
3. In a large stew/soup pan heat the olive oil.
4. Add the onion and chilli purée, stir constantly for 2-3mins
5. Add the carrots and pepper, stir again for 1-2mins
6. Add the beef stock and potatoes
7. Mix together until the potatoes completely immersed in the sauce.
8. Add the rest of the spices, mix again throughly
9. Add the crème fraiche, stir until the cream and liquid completely mixed
10. Leave over a low flame for 1-2 hours, stirring often.

Serve with rice and naan bread.

P.S. Don't be afraid at the amount of spice I've put into this recipe, it's got a lot of liquid in it plus the crème fraiche to tone down the heat, it's actually quite a mild curry.

Serves : 4
Preparation : 15 mins
Cooking time : 1-2 hours

Pasta, The Tired Cook’s Best Friend

Last night I was so tired and hungry I must have gone from the cupboards to the fridge at least 10 times to try and find some inspiration! In the end I decided on an old favourite Hot Pasta Salad. I love doing this because it takes no effort and is made with whatever you’ve got in the fridge. Here’s the one I made :

Ingredients

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 tsp basil
2 tsp parsley
5 tblsp olive oil
10 crab sticks, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
20g mozzerella, chopped
1 tsp sea salt
250g spaghetti

Method

1. In a large saucepan of boiling water, cook the pasta.
2. In a small saucepan heat the olive oil
3. Add the onions, garlic, basil and parsley
4. Stir constantly until just starting to brown
5. Drain the pasta and return to the pan (but not back onto the stove)
6. Add the pepper, crab sticks and tomato.
7. Pour over the onion and garlic mix
8. Add the mozzerella and sea salt
9. Mix together until the pasta is completely covered with the oil mix and the mozzerella has started to melt.

I served with a warm baguette. Have a go yourself with whatever is in your cupboard, I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Serves : 2

Preparation : 5 mins

Cooking time : 10 mins

I'm melting!

A heat wave has hit France! Forecasts of 30+° all summer. So this week I invested in a good barbecue and this weekend I’m off to buy a swimming pool!

However, all this heat means cooking quickly becomes torture instead of pleasure. So with a large bottle of ice cold water and my fan on high, I’ve spent the morning browsing the internet for foodie stuff and I’ve stumbled across some fantastic finds. So sit back and enjoy.

I Love Pork

I wouldn't be a true Brit if I didn't love pork. Love Pork is a great website for pork lovers everywhere, be sure to have some tissus handy the recipes are mouth watering!

Figs Asp Bite and Songbirds

These were the last meals of Cleopatra and the French president François Mitterand. I stumbled across Your Last Meal while searching for the species of songbirds Mitterand legendly wolfed down. Go over and take a look, it's fasinating.

My last meal would have to be a full english breakfast! What about you?

Picasso Eat Your Heart Out

I don’t really get art, just one of those things that goes over my head. I mean, I know when things are pretty or rubbish but paying £10 million for a smudge is beyond me! However, food art takes my breath away. It’s amazing what some people can do with a few vegetables and imagination. Take a look at these great works of art.

Markets, markets everywhere!

I love food markets. Living in France I’m spoiled for choice. Here are some great photos of markets around the world. Wish I could visit everyone of them.

Rialto Market, Venice, Italy

Tsukiji Fish Market, Japan

St Lawrence Market, Toronto, Canda

Cheese Market, Siciliy

Perth, Australia

Oasis Centre, Dubai

Mumbai, India

Little Italy, Manhattan, NY, USA

Mercato Centrale, Florence, Italy

Chi Chi Market, Guatemala

Bologna, Italy

Haoyou Market, Bejing, China

La Boqueira, Barcelona, Spain

Cookipedia

Everybody has their favourite cook book that you can rely on to answer any culinary question you have. Mine is Prue Leith’s Coookery Bible. However, today I stumbled across Cookipedia and I must say it is a brilliant site. Full to the brim with recipes, photos, great useful info like their meat cooking time converter. Great internetting at it’s best, well done Cookipedia!

Hovis As Good Today as it's Always Been

Another great foodie advert

Ahhhh Bisto!

Who can remember this? Classic bisto advert!

What Every Spice Cupboard Should Contain

Cooking on a budget means a lot of improvising. Having a full and diverse dried spice/herb collection means one set of ingredients can be a Mexican dish or Italian or French … the list is endless. You need less dried herbs and spices in a dish than fresh ones and the average lifespan of one of these little bottles is 2-3 years. At less than £1 a bottle all is good for the pauper's kitchen!

Here's what my spice cupboard contains :-


cayenne pepper
paprika
4 spice
nutmeg
ginger
chilli powder
curry powder
cinnamon
coriander
cumin


rosemary
thyme
sage
basil
parsley
herbes de provence

soy sauce
red wine vinegar
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
malt vinegar
truffle oil
chilli purée
sea salt
table salt
white pepper
black pepper

Pizza, Pizza, Wherefore art thou Pizza?

This is a photo of an outdoor kitchen in a Tuscan house for sale. How fantastic to be able to stroll down your garden on a warm evening and whip up a pizza to enjoy in the Tuscan countryside. The house is for sale at 850 000 €! Hmmm, I can always dream.

Anyway, it made me realise I hadn't made a pizza for a long time. Now I don't make the base myself, tried it once and it was a bit of a catastrophe, so I leave it to the professionnels and always have a few cheese and tomato bases in my freezer. Following on in my minced meat adventure I decided to make a pizza bolognaise.

Ingredients

1 medium pizza base

For the bolognaise

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tblsp olive oil
250g minced beef/lamb
500ml passata/chopped tomatoes (use a good brand otherwise the sauce will taste watery)
1 small tin of chopped tomatoes and meat
3 tsps salt
3 tsps basil
3 tsps parsley
10cl orange juice

Topping

1 red pepper, sliced into strips
100g mozzarella, sliced thinly
200g grated cheese, emmental, gruyére or cheddar

Method

1.Preheat the oven to 200°C
2.In a medium saucepan, heat the oil gently
3. Add onions and garlic, stir constantly for 1-2 mins
4. Add the mince meat, salt, 2 tsps basil and 2 tsps parsley
5. Stir constantly until the meat starts to brown
6. Add the tin of tomato & meat and the passata
7. Add the rest of the herbs and orange juice
8. Stir until well mixed
9. Simmer over a low heat for 5-10 mins
10.Spoon the sauce over the pizza base, spredly out evenly
11.Place the peppers on top of the sauce
12.Cover with the mozzarella then the grated cheese
13.Cook in the oven for 10-15mins until the cheese has completely melted

Serve with a light salad or french fries.

Homemade Burgers

Using the same ingredients as for the meatballs instead of rolling into balls I flattened into burgers.

Ingredients

For the burgers

700g mince(d) beef
salt & pepper
1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce
3 tablespoons herbes de provence
1 teaspoon mustard
2 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon chilli purée (optional)

8 burger buns/16 slices of bread
4 tblsp ketchup
4 tblsp mayonnaise
4 medium tomatoes, sliced
2 large onions, sliced into half rings
1 tblsp olive oil

Method

1.In a large mixing bowl add all the ingredients
2.Mix together thoroughly
3.Roll the mixture into a big ball
4.Divide the mixture into eight
5.Roll each 8th into a ball
6.Using a small saucer mould the ball into a patty, about 2 – 3 cm thick
7.In a large griddle pan on a high heat cook the burgers
well done – 10 mins each side
medium – 6 mins each side
rare - 3 mins each side

While the burgers are cooking

1.Mix the ketchup and mayonnaise together, spread onto the top sides of the burger buns.
2.In a small frying pan heat the olive oil
3.Add the onions and cook until just softening

Make up your burgers with the onions and tomatoes et voilà. Add lettuce, gherkins and cheese if you want a mega burger feast.

I served with a light salad, but you could always go for the whole burger dinner and serve with french fries.

Serves : 8 burgers
Preparation : 10 mins
Cooking time : 10 - 20 mins