Sour Cream and Fresh Cream Pasta

Here is a really easy, really delicious pasta recipe. 

Sour Cream and Fresh Cream Pasta

Ingredients:

200-250g pasta
1 sliced onion
1-2 tblsp ghee
1 cup cubed chicken fillet
1 tsp fine salt
1 tsp ground green chillies
1/2 tsp crushed jeeru
1/4 tsp crushed black pepper
1 tsp ground garlic
250ml fresh cream
250ml sour cream
1 cup grated cheese
Mixed herbs to sprinkle

Method:

1. Boil pasta and set aside
2. Sauté onion in ghee
3. Add chicken with spices and cook until almost done
4. Add the pasta, sour cream, fresh cream and cheese to the chicken, and mix.
5. Spread into glass dish
6. Sprinkle mixed herbs onto the pasta, and serve.

Enjoy!

A Crustless Quiche

From our friend Sam...

I always thought that making a quiche needed some top secret culinary skills. Turns out it really isn't difficult.  I tried this crustless quiche recipe, and it was so easy I had to share it with all the unassuming cooks out there.

Crustless Quiche

4 eggs
4 tbsp flour, sifted
1 cup basic chicken (see recipe below) 
1 small onion chopped
1/4 cup red and green pepper
1 cup grated cheese
1 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp soft butter
2 tbsp oil
250 ml fresh cream 
1 tsp ground chillies
pepper
salt

Topping:
1 cup grated cheese
sesame seeds

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 180°C

2.  Mix eggs and flour
3.  Add remaining ingredients and mix well (Note - apart from the chicken, nothing else needs to be cooked)
4.  Pour into greased oven dish 
5.  Add topping
6.  Bake for 30 minutes until golden

7.  Slice immediately, and allow to cool and set.

Basic Chicken

2 cups chicken fillet

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp garlic paste

2 tsp ground chillies

1 tsp crushed cumin

1/2 tsp lemon pepper

1 tsp sale

3 tbspn lemon juice

1/2 cup water

Method:

1.  Heat oil

2.  Cook garlic paste

3.  Add chicken

4.  Add remaining ingredients, and water as required, and cook.

Tip:

For a (slightly) healthier option, use reduced fat cream instead of fresh cream.

Tuna fish cakes

If there is one thing that I always have in my cupboards, it's a can of tuna. So really, it's only in best interests to find easy recipes using said can of tuna. Here's one that I tried out this week.



Tuna fish cakes

You will need the following:
- a can of shredded tuna, drained.
- a slice of bread, crumbed
- a quarter of a green pepper, sliced
- chopped spring onions (optional)
- a quarter onion sliced
- lemon juice
- salt
- black pepper
- two eggs

1. add the tuna,onions,bread and green pepper to a mixing bowl.
2. Sprinkle salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.
3. Mix the ingredients together.
4. Beat two eggs and add to the mixture
5. Using a spoon or spatula form little cakes of the tuna mixture ( you should get about four)
6. Fry the tuna cakes on a low heat until slightly brown.

And you're done. I served them with vegetables and salad but you could put them in a burger bun.

If you have more cakes then needed, then simply wrap the individual unfried tuna cakes in cling wrap and freeze for another day :)

Easiest way to make stove-top popcorn

I love popcorn, but I never seem to be able to get the microwave variety right – it either tastes burnt, or I have half a packet of unpopped seeds.  So I decided to attempt making popcorn on the stove.  After all, it’s a whole lot cheaper, and it tastes a whole lot better.

Give it a try, it’s easier than making microwave popcorn, with no burnt or left over kernels.  Really, no jokes.

You need:

Popcorn seeds (1 tbsp seeds for each cup of popcorn, approximately)

A tall pot with a lid

Oil

Salt and seasoning to taste

Method:

1.   Put a little oil in the pot.  Just enough to cover the bottom of the pot with a thin layer.  If the popcorn seeds are swimming in oil, you’ve put in too much oil.

2.      Heat the oil on the stove.  I usually put the stove on 60% power.

3.      After a minute, put 2 or 3 popcorn seeds into the pot, and cover with the lid.  When you hear the seeds pop, remove the pot from the heat. (This lets you know when the oil is at the right temperature).

4.      Add the rest of the popcorn seeds into the pot, in an even layer.  Cover, and wait 30 seconds before returning the pot to the heat.  (This allows the popcorn seeds time to heat up evenly).

5.      Once the pot is returned to the heat, the popcorn should start popping.  Give the pot a gentle shake.  Keep the lid slightly skew to allow steam to escape.   Once the popping slows down to several seconds between pops, remove from the stove, remove lid and pour into bowl.

6.      Season and enjoy!

Quick Tip, the Second : A way with mushy avocados

I'm always forgetting to eat the avocados I've bought and then a week later I find them in the fridge and theyre all mushy.
Sound familiar? Well, here is a good way to enjoy them instead of throwing them away.

Avocado dip:
Peel the avocados, (you can cut around and throw away any bits that are brown).
Smash the avocados into a paste with a spoon.
Add black pepper, salt and lemon juice to taste.

Tastes good with potato chips or you could even eat on toast.
I once added humus that I had bought at Woolworths and that tasted pretty good too.

Any other ideas? Please send them our way :)