Creamy Parmesan Chicken Piccata

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3 large boneless and skinless chicken breasts, halved and cut into thin slices (you can also just cut them into halves, I like them thinly sliced)
• Angel hair spaghetti, 1 pack
• 2 tbs all purpose or plain flour
• 1 tbs finely grated parmesan cheese
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tbs of finely chopped or minced garlic
• 2 tbs of finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 to 3 tbs of butter
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 cup heavy cream or milk
• 1 tbs capers
• Salt to taste
• Cracked peper to taste
• Lemon juice to taste

Preparation:

Boil the spaghetti, drain the water and set them aside.

Season the chicken breast pieces with salt and black peper. Coat the chicken in flour and shake off the excess flour and set them aside.

Heat half of the butter and the olive oil in a skillet. Fry the chicken until golden on each sides and cooked through. It might take 3 to 5 min. Place them on a warm plate when they are done.

Add the rest of the butter to the hot skillet. Saute the garlic. Fry them for a min and add the chicken broth. Stir them and add the cream or milk. Bring them all to a boil, add salt and peper. Stir and add the parmesan cheese and the capers. Stir a bit and simmer for 2 min. If the sauce becomes too runny for you, you can add little corn flour or flour to make it thicker.

Add the lemon juice and simmer for another min. Place the chicken on the center of the sauce skillet and remove from heat. Garnish with the fresh parsley and  serve with boiled spaghetti. You can also slice the chicken when you serve them.

Country Style Beef Pot Pie

Ingredients:

Boneless stew meat- 1 to 2 lb, cut into small pieces (You can also use any other kind boneless beef meat)
Beef broth- 1 cup
1 box pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts, thawed
1 potatoe, cubed
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 can, sweet corn
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup of frozen peas
Fresh rosemary to taste
1 cup- beef gravy, made or bought
1/2 tsp of black peper or more to taste
Paprika to taste
4tbs butter
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste

Preparation:

Heat oven to 400°F. 

Heat half of the butter and saute the beef, onion, carrots and the potatoes. Stir for 2 min. Then add 1 cup of beef broth. Add salt, black peper, rosemary. Simmer them until they are cooked. Add the frozen peas at the last 15 min.

For the gravy: I like making the gravy at home. Heat 2 tbs of butter and add the flour, whisking them together. Add 1 cup of beef broth little by little, whisking them to mix until they are blended well. Add salt, black peper and sugar to taste. Add any kind of beef seasoning to taste, I use little bit of beef gravy seasoning. Simmer until the gravy boils and thickens.

When the beef is cooked add the gravy to it and stir a bit. Cook for another 5 min.

Place one pie crust on an ovenproof pie dish or in any other ovenproof dish. Pour the beef mixture into the pie dish. Cover it with another pie crust. Bake for 30 to 35 min or until golden brown. Let it stand for 10 min before serve :)

Spicy Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

2 tbs of unsweetened cocoa powder
3 to 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped or broken into pieces
2 tbs sugar or to taste
1/8 tsp of red chili powder (more or less to taste)
Grounded cinnamon to taste
1 and 3/4 cup of whole milk
1/4 cup of heavy cream
Whipped cream if desired

Preparation:

In a double broiler melt the bittersweet chocolate. When its melted, whisk the sugar, chili powder, cinnamon and whole milk over low heat. Make sure, everything is mixed smoothly. Stir and bring to a simmer.
Stir in the heavy cream. Pour into cups.
Serve with whipped cream while hot.
Serves 4.

Huevos Rancheros

Ingredients:

4 to 6 flour or corn tortillas, small ones; warmed
1/2 cupcrum bled feta cheese
1 Serrano peper or green chili chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 small tomatoes, diced,
1 avocado, sliced
2 to 4 tbs chopped cilantro
2 cloves garlic, smashed or chopped
1/2 tsp hot sauce
2 cups steak meat, sliced or chopped
3 tbs olive oil
1 can, black beans
2 eggs
Salt and black peper to taste
Ground cumin to taste
Paprika to salt
Sour cream 1 to 2 tsp

Preparation:

Mix the diced tomatoes, onions, chili, little garlic, salt and cumin in a bowl. Heat little oil and add the salsa mixture. Cook them until it thickens little on low heat. Transfer it to a bowl and keep aside.

Heat little oil again, on the same pan and cook the beans with the rest of the garlic. Add little salt, black peper and paprika. Cook the beans with little water if it gets too dry.

Heat little oil again and stir fry the steak, seasoned with salt and black peper; until it is cooked.

Heat oil in a separate skillet and fry the eggs sunny-side up, seasoned with salt and black peper.

Place warm tortilla on each plate. Put little beans on top, the the fried egg, some steak meat, salsa, and cheese. Sprinkle with the chopped cilantro and the avocado. Serve with more warm tortillas and salsa and sour cream on sides :)

Rump Roast

Ingredients:

1 (4 lb) rump beef or top side of beef
5 to 6 medium sized carrots
2 potatoes, cut into big cubes
1 big onion
1 whole garlic, cloves separated and peeled
Some fresh herbes, sage, rosemary, thyme and bay leaf
Sea salt to taste,
Black peper to taste
Paprika or chili powder to taste
Olive oil 


Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 240°C/475°F.
Take out your beef from your refrigerator 30 minuets before it will be cooked. 
Cut the carrots and potatoes into big chunks, not peeled. I did not add celery as I did not have it. 1 to celery sticks (chopped) can be added. Peel the onion and cut into big cubes.
Put all the veges and the olive oil into the middle of the roasting pan along with the herbs. Drizzle them with olive oil, little sea salt and black peper.
Sprinkle the beef with sea salt and black peper, thoroughly  rubbed all over the piece. Sprinkle little paprika or powder if you like little heat.
Place the beef in the middle of the veges.
Place the roasting pan in the oven and after that reduce the temperature to 200°C/400°F and cook for 45 min to 1 hour.
Medium beef- 1 hour
Medium-rare beef- 50 to 55 min
Well-done beef- 1hour and 10 to 15 min

It's better to throw the potatoes in the over for the last 45 minuets of cooking. If the veges get to dry, sprinkle little water on them to prevent the burning.
You can baste the beef halfway through cooking.
When the beef is done, let it rest on a cutting board for 10 to 15 min. You can cover it with a foil paper.
Slice the beef and enjoy!

Recipe courtesy: Jamie Oliver
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/perfect-roast-beef/

Beguni (Fried eggplant)

Ingredients:

Eggplant – 1 (cut into long thin slices)

Gram flour – 3-4 tbs

Red chili powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Cumin powder – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Cilantro – 1 tsp (chopped)

Oil – for deep frying

Salt to taste

Preparation:

Mix the gram flour with all the spices, cilantro and salt. Add enough water to make a thick batter.

Heat the oil. Coat the pieces of the eggplant into the batter and fry them in hot oil. When they are red and crispy remove them from the stove and put them on a paper napkin to soak the excess oil.

Serve with your favorite sauce.

Spicy Plum

Ingredients:

Plums - 2

Dried red chili (crushed) - 1 tsp

Chopped cilantro - 1 tsp

Sugar and salt to taste

Mustard oil to taste

Preparation:

Slice and chop the plum in to small pieces.

Mix everything together and serve.