spelt wholegrain pasta with chicken thighs cooked in tomato sauce

Chicken thighs, cooked slowly in the pan with tomato sauce, is one of my favourite dishes. I will add fresh or dry fruit and carrots or other roots, depending on my mood. I usually serve it with rice but this time I cooked some spelt wholegrain spaghetti to accompany it.

Ingredients

2 organic chicken thighs, no skin , no bone
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 glass of wine
1/2 chopped tomato can
1 tsp of sugar
250 ml vegetable broth
2 carrots cut into sticks
2 plums cut into cubes (or dry prunes)
4 black peppers
1 star anice

After I have washed the chicken thighs and dried them up on kitchen paper, I heat a Tbsp of olive oil in a thick-based pan and saute the garlic to let its flavour and aroma come out. I will turn the heat to medium and cook the chicken thighs, turning them on each side till they get brown. I pour in the wine and let it simmer, stirring everything together once ( i dont want the meat to break). While the sauce is reducing i add the chopped tomatoes, the tomato paste, the broth, the star anice and the teaspoon of sugar to prevent the bitterness. After it comes to a boil, I give it a good stir , turn the heat down and let it simmer , checking now and then the sauce and stirring it carefully. After 30 minutes, I will add the carrots and prunes ( or the plums) and let the food cook for another half an hour.

 

White and red fish stew

Ingredients

200gr Salmon fillet, no skin, cut into chunks
200gr Cod fillet, no skin, cut into  chunks
250ml chopped tomatoes can
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 onion chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
1 stalk of celery, thinly sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste
100 ml red wine
150 ml fish sauce
half a green pepper
1 red pepper

Recipe

I will start by heating the coriander seeds in a dry thick-based pan and then pour in the olive oil, heat it up and add the chopped onion and garli, stirring all the time. When the onion softens I will throw in the vegetables, first the celery, then the peppers and cook them for 10 minutes. To accent the aroma I will pour in the wine and let it simmer till the alcohol evaporates and the sauce and flavour is concentrated. Then I will add the tomato paste, fish sauce and chopped tomatoes and stir everything together. I will add the fish and let it cook for another 20 minutes or until it is thoroughly cooked, stirring the food by shaking the pan so that the fish does not break.

Eggs with beef pastourma

Pasturma  is a wind-dried cured meet usually served uncooked and cut in thin slices, as a mezze. Its strong taste and smell (which can stay with you for days!) make it a perfect alcoholic pairing but it is also a nice combination when cooked with eggs or as a pizza topping. I saved some of the Kayseri variety that I found in the turkish supermarket and made me a glorious breakfast. 

Salmon cooked with leeks and brown mushrooms and served with roasted lemon potatoes

Although I rarely crave potatoes, when I do cook them I end up eating the whole lot of them. This is because I follow my paternal grandmother's recipe, and one of my dearest culinary memories, of lemony potatoes cooked in the oven with large springs of fresh rosemary, which she would carefully remove before serving us the food.

Roasted potatoes

1kilo of potatoes, washed and cut into wedges
Juice of two lemons
Zest of half a lemon
2 tbsp of Dijon Mustard
pepper
two springs of fresh rosemary
150 ml olive oil
200 ml water

In a deep oven tray I mix the lemon juice, zest of lemon, mustard, olive oil and water (sometimes I add half a glass of beer instead of water). I add the potatoes and toss them in the marinade until they get a good coating. In the open space I place the rosemary and roast them in a preheated oven for 40 minutes.



While the potatoes are cooking in the oven,  I prepare the salmon. The ingredients are random; I will use any vegetable in my fridge which I will previously saute in a spoon of olive oil with cumin and coriander seeds to get some extra aroma. Then I will place the ingredients in layers on a parchment paper; first the saute vegetables and above them the salmon. I will then pour on top some olive oil and a spoon of white wine. I will wrap them loosely with the paper and place in the oven for half an hour or more (I want my fish cooked but not dry).

Spicy coconut fish stew with lentils