Roast lamb with garlic and rosemary

What can I say about this dish...? I absolutely love it! It's very easy to make.. just make a few holes in the meat, fill the holes with garlic and rosemary, stick it on the oven (boil some potatoes in the meantime and add them with the lamb) and 2 hours later you have beautiful meal..!

A friend of mine suggested I try using a bread crumbs, anchovies and lemon zest stuffing but i didn't feel brave enough.. Maybe next time!

All the ingredients used: 1.5kg lamb leg, 3 cloves garlic, 1kg potatoes, 4 sprigs rosemary, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 220°C. With a sharp knife make long and thin lines along the lamb. Season the lamb well with salt and pepper and massage the oil in. Stab the lamb all over with a sharp knife and insert slices of garlic and small sprigs of rosemary into the cuts. Do this on both sides.

Place the leg of lamb on a roasting tray with a little olive oil on the base and put on the center shelf of the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 150°C and leave the lamb to cook for 2 hours (dependent on its weight and how well you like it cooked),

In the meantime cut some potatoes and boil them for 10-15 minutes. Then place them with the lamb in the oven and allow to cook for 1.5 to 2 hours. You can turn it over half way.

2 hours later...

Καλἠ ὀρεξη!

week 4

Oven roasted cod with fennel

I made this the last time there was fennel in my vegetable box. So after a quick google search I found out that fennel goes very well with fish.. I then found a recipe from the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/health/nutrition/11recipehealth.html) using fennel with fish (cod was one of the types of fish they recommended using). As I liked it last time, I thought why not make it again..?!

So here you go!

All the ingredients used

Trim the stalks (that looks like celery) and fronds (that looks like dill) from the fennel, and set them aside. Quarter the bulbs, cut away the cores and slice thin across the grain. Chop the fronds.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onion. Cook until the onion begins to soften, about three minutes. Add the fennel and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the fennel mixture is tender, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, stir together and cover the pan. Turn the heat to low, and continue to cook 5 to 10 more minutes until the mixture is very soft and fragrant. Stir in the chopped fennel fronds (I forgot to do this..!), and remove from the heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

While the fennel is cooking, preheat the oven to 230'C. Oil a baking dish large enough for the fish to fit in a single layer. Season the fish with salt and pepper, and arrange in the baking dish. Cover with the fennel stalks you set aside. Cover the dish tightly with foil, and place in the oven. Bake 15-25 minutes. Check the fish; if you can cut into it with a fork, it is done.  Remove the fennel stalks from the fish and discard

All ready, cooked and ready to eat.

 Place the cooked fennel on individual plates, top with the fish fillets and serve.

Καλἠ ὀρεξη!

week 3

My delivery this week..

Oven roasted salmon, asparagus and potatoes

This is a very oh so simple yet oh so yummy recipe. The recipe is from here: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/oven-roasted_salmon_asparagus_and_new_potatoes/

I've cooked it a few times and it's always delicious!

All the ingredients used... there's that Irish flag again!

Coat potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place in preheated oven at 200'C for 30 minutes.

Slice the asparagus, chop the dill, prepare the lemons zest and garlic.

Mix all the above in a bowl.

Add to the potatoes that have been cooking for around 30 minutes (should be brown and soft).

Add the salmon and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Καλἠ ὀρεξη!!!!

Pastitsio (παστἰτσιοοοοο)...!

This is a piece of Greek heaven.. enjoy :-)

Here's a good recipe to follow: www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/pastitsiobeefandmaca_86776

All the ingredients.. though only the onions and garlic are from the vegetable box...!

Grate the onion

Add in the meat

Add the tomatoes, tomato purée, cinnamon stick, ground cloves, oregano, bay leaves, water, salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste, and simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce has thickened but is still nicely moist.

 Prepare the pasta and in the meantime prepare the white sauce: melt the butter in a medium-sized non-stick saucepan, add the flour and cook, stirring, over a medium heat, for one minute. Gradually beat in the milk, then bring to the boil, stirring. Lower the heat and leave to simmer for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then layer.. pasta, meat, pasta, meat, pasta then white sauce.

180'C for 40 minutes

καλἠ ὀρεξη!!!

Courgette fritters (κεφτἐδες με κολοκὐθια) with broccoli and carrot soup

I managed to use most of my vegetables today. I felt like making a soup with the broccoli and carrots but then had no idea how to cook the courgettes.. My friend Sofia once made these amazing courgette fritters so that's where the inspiration for these came from. I don't think we used the same recipe so... Sofia, if you're reading this.. can you tell me which recipe you used???!

The broccoli and carrot soup was from here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/down-home-with-the-neelys/broccoli-soup-recipe/index.html while the Greek courgette fritters was from a recipe similar to this: http://whippedtheblog.com/2009/08/04/greek-zucchini-fritters-kolokithopitta-with-tzatziki/ 

So here goes, for the soup...

Prepare the broccoli, onions and carrots (making them look like an Irish flag is optional!)

Fry in some butter or olive oil

Add the chicken stock and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

 For the courgette fritters..

courgettes, eggs, onion, yellow cheese (kefalotyri - κεφαλοτὐρι), bread crumbs, dill.

Grate the courgette

Mix everything together.

Fry in some olive oil

Enjoy with some bread, cheese, olives, salad and some wine....

Καλἠ ὀρεξη!!!!

week 2

New week.. new delivery..

Pumpkin soup (absolutely perfect!)

I was quite excited today about making this as I've never cooked pumpkins before (and I generally like to challenge myself..). So, this is again inspired by Jamie Oliver and all I can say is... I loved this soup!!!!! And the idea with double frying the bread... genius!!!! I highly recommend this to anyone who can find pumpkins..

This is the youtube video I followed (this recipe starts at 3:27).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1IsOznXiFA&feature=related

Here is everything I used.. (along with the Greek olive oil from Crete)

Chop the onions and celery and add to pot with the olive oil.

Then cut the carrots and garlic and add to the pot.

Cut the pumpkins and add to the pot along with 2L chicken stock.

When everything is almost ready cut the bread

Fry a few sage leaves in olive oil

Remove the sage leaves, fry the bread in the oil, remove, add Parmesan cheese to both sides, fry again.

Add the bread to the bowls.

Then add the soup, the fried sage leaves and enjoy with some wine! This is one of my favourite wines from Greece (you can find it it Waitrose).

Enjoy!!!!!!

Pork chops with braised white cabbage, bacon and thyme

Today's recipe follows Jamie Oliver's cabbage recipe. I just added the pork chops. The funny thing is, my red cabbage turned out to be white!! I don't have much experience with cooking cabbage... Ah well, it was still good!

To make the pork chops, I preheated the oven to 200C, put them in a baking tray with olive oil, salt and pepper and put them in the over for just over an hour. The cabbage recipe is all from here:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pork-recipes/braised-white-cabbage-with-bacon-thy

cutting the cabbage

Prepare bacon and thyme

Place your stock, bacon and thyme in a pan on the hob, bring to the boil and then sprinkle in your finely sliced cabbage. Mix up, put the lid on and boil furiously for 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to a simmer and continue to cook until the cabbage is a pleasure to eat. Top up the stock a little bit if you feel it’s reducing too much. Add the butter, a good glug of extra virgin olive oil, season to taste and serve immediately.

Served with rocket and tomato salad... Yum!