Leek and Potato Soup

A real old favourite of mine. What I love about this soup is the simplicity in the flavours in the soup itself can be completely jazzed up with your choice of toppings that you want to add to the soup.

Minestrone Soup

Minestrone Soup is one of the cornerstones of Italian cuisine. It is essentially a vegetable broth with whatever vegetables are in season at that moment. So if you do not like one of the vegetables below you can easily remove it. Also if you want it vegetarian just remove the bacon.

The process of getting it together is actually fairly simple. The one comment I would make with my own recipe is that I was unable to locate an Italian bean such as cannellini or borlotti so I used red kidney beans. If your beans are fresh or dried you would need to obviously cook them first.

The €5 euro meal

As someone who loves to cook I have found that the vast majority of my disposable income will go into food and in general cooking my evening meal. So much money in fact that in recent times, I have really researched and invested a lot of time into the following concept.

‘The €5 euro meal’ 

What I have always thought and do strongly believe is that if you have the will to do it, it is possible for you to eat your evening meal for 2 people for just €5 a day. So in 30 days or a month you can spend only €150 on your evening meals and you can eat very well during that time.

A few tips however before we start:

 
- Bulk Buying: Plan out in advance what you want to cook and buy in bulk. This way you can only buy what you need and you will avoid waste. Purchase your meat in bulk and freeze in dinner servings until needed.

- Ignore Brand Loyalty: this is not the time for spending your cash on those expensive brands you might always turn too. Now is the time to buy the generic brands that are considerably cheaper.

-  Make a list: Before you shop make a list of what you want & stick to it. (no impulse buying)....Never shop when you are hungry!

- Shop Local: get to know your neighborhood & shop local for cheaper options.

- Weekly Specials: get to know the specials in your supermarkets & plan meals around them.

- Buy Seasonal: buy seasonal vegetables instead of their out of season more expensive cousins.

- Store your vegetables properly to keep them freshest the longest.

The Meals:

What I do here to keep the meals interesting is to break them down into separate price categories. That way you can play around yourself and decide when and what you want to cook. As you can see with the recipes you have a vast selection of options open to you at any time so it will never get boring.

Remember however that if you have a €7 meal you then in turn must cook a €3 meal to compensate.

Always plan your recipes in such a way that you will use up all your ingredients whenever you buy them, do not ever throw anything away.  

€3 or lower meals                                                    Cost per Meal      Hamburgers                                                                       €2.20

Broccoli & Cherry Tomato Pasta                                            €2.50
Tomato Sauce with Pasta                                                    €2.80
Fusilli with Bacon & Cream                                                    €3.00

€4+ meals
Roast Veggie Pasta                                                             €4.00
Sausage Pie                                                                       €4.00
Chicken Stroganoff                                                              €4.00
Potato & Roast Vegetable Quiche                                           €4.50

€5 meals
Spaghetti Bolognese                                                          €5.00
Tomato Sauce with Meatballs                                              €5.00
Pepper Pesto Pasta                                                           €5.00

€6+ meals
Musilitos de Pollo                                                              €6.00
Pink & Green Pasta                                                           €6.50

€7 meals                    
Quiche (3-4 people portion)                                               €7.00
Salmon Dinner (with roast veggies & potatoes/rice)                €7.00
Beef Steak Dinner (with roast veggies & potatoes/rice)           €7.00

Side dishes
Egg Fried Rice                                                                   €1.20
Potato Gratin (3-4 servings)                                                €2.50   
Mozzarella Garlic Bread                                                       €1.00
 

To obtain my prices I used www.ah.nl as my reference point. Albert Heijn is not the cheapest place to shop so if you know your local stores and plan you’re shopping better the above prices are definitely possible at a lower price.

Note: With the above prices I will assume that your kitchen will already have the stable goods such as Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Spices, Flour, Soy Sauce, Fish Sauce, Sambal, Sweet Chilli sauce etc. 

As these products have a shelf life of longer than a month it is always useful to have these as they are the cornerstone to any meals you may have now or in the future
        

ENJOY!!!

Broccoli & Cherry Tomato Pasta

The simplicity in this dish is what really makes it so special. As part of my €5 meal concept this meal is less than €2 to get together once you have the ingredients in-house.

To prepare the dish it is just so simple and it all can be done in the time it takes to cook your pasta. You will flash fry small florets of broccoli in garlic & chilli. Then this will be added with chopped cherry tomato to cooked pasta and chopped fresh herbs (if you have some available). All served on a warm plate with grated parmesan on top.

Super Quick, Tasty & Cheap……really the perfect combination to any meal

Prawn and Chilli Linguine

This recipe is super quick, tasty and delicious. 

Butterflied king prawns are quickly cooked in a hot pan with garlic & red chilli before being tossed in cooked linguine & rocket (rucula).

French Onion Soup

This old favourite is very simple to make. You will naturally caramelize your onions & then cook in beef stock before adding a toasted baguette and gooey cheese. I like to use up to 3 different types of onions to give the soup extra taste & flavour.

Korean Bulgogi

I made this recipe during the World Cup Kitchen in the summer but wanted to repost it as the photos back then I was never happy with.
 
Bulgogi is a marinated beef recipe, although other meats such as chicken and pork can also be used.

It is made from very thin slices of prime cut beef. The meat is marinated with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil & seeds, garlic & chilli. This is then combined with a selection of vegetables. I used onions, carrots, peppers, mushrooms & broccoli. (you can use of course other vegetables to your own taste)

Creamy Onion Soup

You know only one thing with this post….Winter is coming. From a food perspective I really like European Winters, it means you can start to enjoy your soups again & also more hearty meals like Irish Stew, Goulash Soup, Chicken Stroganoff and of course Lamb or Steak Pies.

Madame Jeanette Chutney

After the success of my Tomato Chutney I decided to spice things up with this very tasty Madame Jeanette chutney. The Madame Jeanette chili comes from Suriname with the Scotch Bonnet chili originating from Jamaica.

The Madame Jeanette chilli is from the same family as the more commonly known Scotch Bonnet and is a variety of chili pepper that belongs to the same species as the habanero. It is one of the hottest peppers in the world and found mainly in the Caribbean islands. Most Madame Jeanettes have a heat rating of 100,000 – 300,000 Scoville units. For comparison, most jalapeno peppers have a heat rating of 2,500 – 8,00 on the scoville scale.

The chutney below is a fusion of roasted tomato, peppers, chilli & shallots. Unlike the tomato chutney the start of the cooking process occurs in your oven. The flavours are really delicious together and it works great on sandwiches or as an accompaniment to a warm meal.

Cucumber & Chilli Dressing

This dressing is pure genius & incredibly simple to get together. All the tastes & flavours compliment each other perfectly. You have the sharpness of the vinegar with the sweetness of the sugar in the dressing liquid which has a hint of ginger & garlic thru it. The dressing is then poured over grated cucumber, chopped spring onion & chilli. So you have the refreshing taste of the cucumber with the spiciness of the chilli….its really a delicious combination.

The dressing keeps in your fridge for a week so can be used again & again until it is finished 

Quesadillas

This recipe is an old favourite of mine. Its just so easy & as well perfect for when you are having lots of people over for an evening in your house. You make up your cheese mixture keep it in the fridge, then cook when the people arrive or when they get hungry. Just keep going until the cheese mixture is finished. Add cooked shredded chicken or prawns to make different types.

I remember stumbling onto this recipe that was written to be cooked on a BBQ – you roll the tortillas up & wrap in 2 layers of tin foil and place on a warm BBQ. It works well but tends to be very messy when eating.  

What I have attached below is the original quesadilla recipe – Quesadilla in Spanish means cheesy tortilla and in practise it is a glorified cheese sandwich. You can really add whatever it is you like to the below basic ingredients – if you do not like one of them remove and add what you do like.

Sausage Pie

Nothing quite beats a potato crust pie. That super creamy mashed potato with a crust will always compliment whatever is beneath it. When I have the time I would always try to prepare my Shepherds Pie recipe but the Sausage Pie is a very tasty quick & cheap alternative.

Spaghetti Bolognese

There are many ways to make a Spaghetti Bolognese & the debates on what is the best one are far ranging. For myself I like to keep it simple with 3 steps.

Step 1: When I make one I like to always make my Tomato Sauce
Step 2: Then separately I like to brown my mince & let half a glass of red wine absorb completely into the mince. After this has done I will now blend the meat in a food processor, the main reason I do this is twofold:
1.    The mince can be quite tough & blending it will really break it up & make it very tender
2.    The blended mince when added to your tomato sauce will now race up & down each individual piece of spaghetti when you serve it.
Step 3: I will fry some finely chopped onions, carrots & green pepper with garlic & chilli. Then I will add the tomato sauce & also blended mince.

Tomato Sauce with Meatballs

The most time consuming part of this recipe is the Tomato Sauce. But once that is cooked a real simple meat ball to add is with Sausage meat. It is all real easy in that you will just squeeze out the sausage meat into even sized balls and cook on medium to high heat.

Then you will add it all together with your cooked pasta & serve with grated cheese

Tomato Sauce

This is by far and away the best Italian Tomato pasta sauce I have ever tasted.

A good tomato sauce was something that always interested me but I was never happy with my efforts until I was shown this recipe by a good friend. What I learnt the most from it is that simplicity works.

The sauce has a few layers or stages to it and all up you will want to set aside about 2 hours to cook it. Within this time you do not have to be standing by the side of the sauce as you will cook everything on a low heat and only are needed to stir and keep a watchful eye on the sauce.

Potato & Roast Vegetable Mini Quiches

In my recent post regarding 'the €5 meal' I realized that the Quiche recipe I used cost €7 to make & the only reason for this was that I was using a larger baking dish for 3-4 people. In recent months I have become addicted to Pastry Pies so last night I wanted to try and make my own individual quiches, when made this way are considerly cheaper and really tasty as all of the flavours are condensed into individual servings.

What I decided to do this time is a Vegetarian Quiche with Potato & Roast vegetables and I served it with a light salad

Vegetarian Club Sandwich

There is nothing quite like a good sandwich, it is something that I am quite the expert at, I got to say. So what makes the perfect sandwich? 

Essientially it is ingredients that all compliment each other in taste and flavour, something you got to be able to take in your hands. If you eat your sandwich with a knife & fork there is something wrong….

If you check the Sandwich section to my blog you will see some other sandwich ideas but today I am going to talk about the Club Sandwich. 

There are a few golden rules in my book here before we start:

- The Club Sandwich is always a triple decker affair

- The Bread should be really fresh
- You will toast the middle piece of bread and let this get cool – this will offer the sandwich a delicious crispy crunch when you bite into it
- Use only fresh ingredients for best results (treat yourself to top quality tomatoes and cheese)
- Divide your sandwich into 2 distinct sandwichs that will sit on top of each other. You want the flavours here to compliment each other and not battle against each other.
- Use my Tomato Chutney in this sandwich

Roasted Vegetable Pasta

This pasta dish is perfect for a Vegetarian option or if you feel like a light & tasty pasta. Roasting the vegetables is similar to my previous post of Roast Vegetable Lasagne but this time you will add them to your pasta with a combination of cheddar cheese & a mustard/chilli/coriander cream sauce.

The Cream sauce is very much up to you, I like to use grained mustard with a hint of sweet chilli sauce with chopped coriander leaves. I find the mustard brings out the flavours in the dish. Also as I like things spicy I add 2 devil eye chilli’s when roasting the vegetables so if that is not for you do not put them in.

All up you get a very tasty pasta dish that is super easy to make, serve with my Mozzarella Garlic Bread for that perfect compliment

Nutty Chocolate Cake

I must admit that I do not have a sweet tooth so much so that mostly all of the baking in the house is done by my girlfriend. With this realisation I set about trying to replicate one of her favourite cake recipes and a favourite with all whenever it is baked. A Chocolate & Nut Cake.

The key to success here is to remember to get as much air into your mixture when you are folding in the ingredients. Also remember to grease your baking tin well. For best results it is best to leave overnight in a fridge so the cake will set completely

Prepare yourself for some serious Chocolate & Nut overload.....

Lime & Coriander Salmon Filo Parcels

The below recipe is a super healthy alternative when you are looking for that something different with a piece of Salmon. What I love about it is that the Salmon is wrapped in a light filo pastry & will cook in the lime & herb marinate in such a way that everything fuses together for a delicious crispy salmon parcel of goodness. Personally I like to spice mine up with some devil eye chillis but if you do not like things spicy you can skip this step.

All is cooked in a hot oven & can be served with your choice of sides.

Insalata di Frutti di Mare: Seafood Salad

A Salad from the Sea: I really do love this salad when I am looking for that something extra from my dinner salad. The principle for me here is to use up to 3 different types of seafood and add this to light & fresh salad ingredients.

Seafood wise fresh is always best of course but you can of course use tinned fish such as tuna & crab as it is considerably cheaper than the fresher alternatives. Other options are of course prawns & smoked salmon.

I like to combine all the ingredients together with a light lemon based vinaigrette which keeps the salad light, crisp & fresh.

Chicken Stroganoff

This recipe is a very old favourite of mine, now that the Winter is coming it will start to be on my weekly menu more often. What I love about it is the unique character you can give it. The basis of the meal is all about the flour & spices mixture. You want to have a consistency of 2:1 here. What this mixture will do is to give the sauce an amazing flavour while also acting to thicken up your chicken stock.

Also the beauty of this mixture is that you can really make it your own. So you can make it as spicy as you want, add other spices to it or even add dried herbs if you so wish. Really just play around with it and you will discover what you like & don’t like. Everything is cooked in a Large Wok so after you brown the chicken your onions/mushrooms are also cooked in the same oil so they immediately get the flavour from the spices.

This recipe works great for a mid-week dish and also can be cooked for a more serious dinner as like I said the flavour is very natural & delicious. I always serve it with potatoes but it also works with rice , whichever you prefer.

Seeded Brown Bread

For me brown bread was always Irish Soda bread so when a friend showed me this recipe I was intrigued by it as it was very different to what I was use to. The one thing you realize when making it is that it is actually very simple to make you just need to remember a few important factors before you start.

- Flour Ratio: I like to have it 4 parts wholemeal to 1 part white flour. This is my personal taste but you can play around with these ratios if this bread is not to your liking.

- Never mix Yeast & Salt together: This is major rule, do not let your yeast get in contact directly with salt as it will counteract each other. Mix it in at separate occasions with your flour.

- Seed it up: I like to use Pumpkin, Sunflower & Sesame Seeds. I also use a deluxe muesli also. You can use any seeds you want in this recipe. I keep the ratios 5 parts flour to 2 part seeds.

- Let your water get to blood temperature: The water should not be too hot, about 40C is perfect

- Let the mixture rise for 90 minutes in a warm place with a wet tea-towel over it. A warm oven or by a radiator or in the sun is a perfect place for the mixture to rise.

With all of the above as a background lets see how we can make this delicious bread:

Foaming Hollandaise

Hollandaise sauce is not as difficult as you might think to make. The below recipe is pretty fool proof in that you will fold in egg whites at the end so this will give the sauce a light, airy & foaming texture.

The main reason why I have chosen the below Hollandaise recipe is for the principle reason that it only requires half the quantities of egg & butter that other recipes use. For me this is of huge importance as I always have my hollandaise with poached eggs so it is way too much eggs for my liking.

Also this Hollandaise will keep in your fridge as it is possible to re-heat it the following day. Very simply re-heat it in a bowl over simmering water.

How to Poach an Egg

How to cook the perfect poached egg is something I have been trying to master for years. I now have the final piece of the jigsaw in place when I got the tip to use a frying pan instead of my normal saucepan I always used previously.

Its now time to share my thoughts on how to cook the perfect poached egg:

Steak Mushroom & Onion Pies

Finally the search for a suitable meat pie casing has come to an end. I combed many a website for the perfect one but in the end I found a very large muffin baking tray, it worked perfectly. The beauty of this method is that you can buy sheets of frozen pastry (flaky puff pastry) that fit perfectly into each meat pie so that all you need to use is different meat sauces as the pastry is easily available in your freezer. You want to find a pastry that is butter based & not oil/yeast based, this pastry will give the pie a beautiful flaky texture.

Previously I have made a Chicken & Leek Pie during the World Cup Kitchen but this time I wanted to make a more traditional meat pie filling. I went for a Steak Mushroom & Onion Pie. The key when making the meat sauce is: more time the better. In the recipe I say cook it for 2.5 hours but the longer the better. Turn the sauce temperature right down and let the sauce stew away would be the best philosophy. Let the mixture cool completely before you add it into the Pastry casings.

Baileys Banana Smoothie

There are 2 things Rox loves and that is Baileys & Banana. So I combined her 2 loves to make a very tasty Baileys Banana Smoothie.

The trick to impress is to melt your chocolate and swirl around your cocktail glass. Place it into the freezer so the chocolate will set. Whizz everything together in a blender and it is all super quick & very tasty!

Chicken Mushroom & Onion Quiche

   

Quiches are super versatile you can really combine any ingredients you like with your egg mixture and make whatever combination you choose. What use to put me off in the past to making them, was the hassle of making the pastry but now with frozen pastry readily available and super cheap you really have no excuses any more.

The Quiche below is a personal favourite of mine, I like to flash fry my chicken slices and then slowly cooking my onions before I add the mushrooms, garlic, chilli & cooked chicken. I will carmelise the mixture with some brown sugar and let cool before adding it in the part cooked pastry with your egg/cream mixture.

One serving will give you 6 very heathly slices

Why not try it? 
 

Potato Gratin

Potato Gratins are always a personal favourite of mine. But I never quite knew how to make the perfect one…normally I would par-boil my potatoes, then finely slice them and place the cream sauce in the middle of the dish with more potatoes & cheese on top. It solved the gratin fix but I was not really happy with my efforts.

It all changed when I found this recipe. With this recipe the potato will cook in an even amount of cream & milk with a whole onion & some crushed garlic for flavour. The simplicity of the dish is in allowing the natural flavours to release while you cook them in a saucepan, before transferring to the oven to brown.

I like to use as many combinations of grated cheese as I have in my fridge on top to compliment all the flavours within the gratin.

Hot Whiskey (Hot Toddy)

With the change of season we all know the sniffles and aches are going to start. If you feel either coming on, a hot whiskey is a great way to make you feel better. Just remember to not over indulge as then it defeats the purpose of having one.

Many people use brown sugar as the sweetener but I like to use Honey as it will also help if you have a sore throat.

Spicy Steamed White Fish

The below recipe is super easy & very healthy as steaming food is perhaps the most healthiest way to cook, as the food will retain the majority of its nutrients. 

This fish below will go beautifully with my Egg Fried Rice recipe.

Egg Fried Rice

I discovered this recipe one night when eating Teppan’yaki. The key to this recipe is ensuring your rice is completely cold. 

What I like to do, is the night before cook up extra rice and keep half of it for the next night and make this egg fried rice.

Red Snapper on the BBQ

Cooking fish on the BBQ is so easy as you essientially will steam your fish in tin foil and all you need to prepare is the fish and the marinate. When cooking place the fish a hot BBQ, the coals should be burned through and the heat should be consistent throughout the process.

Check out this whole Red Snapper recipe for a Summer dinner on a BBQ. As with most of Food Devil dishes it is actually not that hard at all..

Tomato Chutney

I absolutely love chutney. The below recipe is really great as you can tailor it to your own taste. I like my chutney to have a spicy kick so I add some devil eye chillis to it. Others prefer a milder sweeter chutney so no chillis are added but sultanas instead.

Like with anything you do, practice makes perfect and once you make this I think you will always have some in your fridge as it will lighten up the dullest of sandwiches.

Greek Salad

After a short break after the World Cup Kitchen I am back with a very nice and tasty salad that is really versatile. It can be eaten as a lunch, with a BBQ, by itself as a dinner or to compliment your meal if you feel like something light & tasty.

The Dressing in the salad gives it a very tasty kick and it is all super easy to put together.   

Day 24: Calamari with Aioli Vs Bitterballen/Kroketten

Day 24: World Cup Final

Spain 1 The Netherlands 0  

Spain are World Champions

3rd Place playoff
Germany 3 Uruguay 2

For the final meal of the World Cup Kitchen I have decided to also have a food match between something from the 2 cuisines. Like the football match itself Spain would always be the favourites and like the match itself Spain did indeed win 1-0.

For the Dutch I tried my best to replicate the Dutch favourite: Bitterballen & Kroketten. Personally I am not a huge fan of either and cooking it has not overly changed my opinion but try them yourselves if you like, perhaps they might be for you?

On the Spanish side I went for Calamari. Given what our tentacled friend in Germany, Paul the Octopus said I felt drawn to Calamari with some lemon wedges. Calamari are of course squid but I am sure you will forgive me on this one. The secret to tasty calamari is to soak them overnight in milk and they turn out absolutely perfect.

Day 23: Jagerschnitzel with Bacon Mushroom Gravy

Day 23: Semi Finals

Spain 1 Germany 0

With its origins in East Germany this particular schnitzel is always served with a mushroom sauce. What is really interesting with this schnitzel dish is how the spices are mixed with flour and the egg emulsion is egg, milk & mustard. All combined with your breadcrumbs & pork offer you something very tasty 

Day 22: Pollo En Escabeche

Day 22: Semi-Finals

Holland 3 Uruguay 2

 

This is a very interesting dish, it is an authentic Uruguayan recipe for marinated chicken. It uses a combination of 2 parts vinegar and one part olive oil, so you could argue that it is more of a pickled chicken than marinated chicken.

Very simply you just brown your chicken pieces (I used de-boned thigh pieces) then you add in your onions, carrots, garlic & herbs/spices and mix together your vinegar & olive oil and simmer for 1 hour or until the chicken is done. You let the chicken completely cool and then you can eat it in a Salad or in a sandwich.

Its all very tasty and something I certainly never tried before, so why not try it!

Day 21: How to cook the perfect Steak

Day 21: Quarter Finals
Germany 4 Argentina 0
Spain 1 Paraguay 0

If Argentina are in a World Cup and you are doing a food related blog you simply have to do Steak for the Argentinian team. If you want to enjoy a steak you got to know how to cook it properly!

Some time ago I spent quite some time finding out how to cook the perfect steak…. steak was always a big let down when I use to cook it….never really got it the way I liked it but I now have it sussed so will break it down what you need to do and how you cook the perfect steak.

Day 20: Pannekoeken (Pancakes)

Day 20: Quarter Finals
The Netherlands 2 Brazil 1
Uruguay 1 Ghana 1 (Uruguay win 4-2 on pens)

Pancakes are most certainly not Dutch in their origin but when you live in a country with no apparent food culture you got to go with what you can get. The Dutch do however love their Pannenkoek especially at Dinner time, with Pannenkoek houses very popular offering a wide range of both sweet and savory options on pancakes.

Day 19: A Marinated Salmon Salad from Japan

Day 19
Paraguay 0 Japan 0 (Paraguay 5-3 on pens)
Spain 1 Portugal 0

For the World Cup Kitchen today it was an easy choice. I decided to go for this delicious Japanese Salmon salad. I had played with the idea of sushi but I will hold that one off for another day. The salad today can be eaten for a lunch or a light dinner. When buying your salmon for the best results try to buy a high quality piece of Salmon.

The centrepiece of this salad is the marinated salmon pieces which are marinated in a delicious Lime/Sugar/Soy/Sesame Oil marinade and is served with bean sprouts, grated cucumber & red chilli.

It is deliciously light and can be assembled quite quickly. When marinating the salmon try to leave it for at least 2-3 hours for best results.

Day 18: Slovakian Goulash Soup

Day 18
The Netherlands 2 Slovakia 1
Brazil 3 Chile 0

 

I have just returned from a weekend in Budapest and I had the below soup or a variation of it every day for my lunch. I know the paprika is Hungarian but the Goulash is also a very popular dish in Slovakia.

The rule of tongue with this soup is to really let the beef simmer away for as long as you can, as the longer you leave it the more tender it will become.

Day 17: Fish & Chips

Day 17
Germany 4 England 1
Argentina 3 Mexico 1

So England are out, but not without giving us one of their true classic dishes. Fish and Chips are enjoyed the length and breath of the country but as always whenever I take over a traditional dish I have a habit of tweaking it with other cuisines and using ingredients that you would not use traditionally.

Here I use a Beer batter that uses a Belgian dark beer (Trap Trip Dubbel). Also when making the batter I separate the egg and whisk up the egg white and fold this in just before you use the batter. This process makes the batter light and fluffy. 

Also when I am making my chips I do them the Belgian way, very simply half way thru the cooking process you want to remove the chips from the oil and dry them completely. You then place them back in to cook, the end result gives you the perfectly cooked chip that is crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked in the inside.

Day 16: The Hamburger

Day 16:
Uruguay 2 South Korea 1
Ghana 2 USA 1

With it origins from Hamburg, Germany but its widespread appeal coming from America there is nothing tastier than cooking up your own burger and of course your own favourite garnish.

A quarter pounder is a little over 100g so a safe bet is to give yourself 100g of mince per burger. Making the burger itself is just a matter of combining everything in the right order. Starting with the mince and the egg yoke, when you add the egg yoke you can straight away feel the change in the texture of the meat as the egg infuses around it.

Day 15: Tortilla de Patatas

Day 15
Portugal 0 Brazil 0
Ivory Coast 3 North Korea 0
Spain 2 Chile 1
Swizerland 0 Hondoras 0

Yet another one of my Tapas recipes for you to enjoy, this Spanish Tortilla recipe is very simple but the most important element to it is having a non-stick frying pan. As you are cooking the egg for long period on a low heat you want to be 100% sure that it will not stick to the pan otherwise you have a disaster on your hands.

This recipe is a perfect lunch/brunch on a weekend or serve with other accompanying tapas recipes.

Day 14: Pepper & Pesto Pasta

Day 14
Slovakia 3 Italy 2
Paraguay 0 New Zealand 0
Netherlands 2 Cameroon 1
Japan 3 Denmark 1

Disaster for the blog.......Italy are out of the World Cup. I was so confident they would get thru that tonight I prepared something Italian that is quick and easy, not one of my more complex meals that I could of done. Ah well, at least Japan are thru....food wise that is.

Day 13: West African Chicken Stew

Day 13

England 1 Slovenia 0
USA 1 Algeria 0
Germany 1 Ghana 0
Australia 2 Serbia 1 

Since I started this World Cup Kitchen idea I have wanted to try and cook something authentic from Africa….I had penciled in either an Ivory Coast or Ghana game for this recipe. From my reading and understanding of it, it sounds very authentic but also open for improvisation in its ingredients and will work well in a Western Kitchen as all of the main ingredients are readily available.

Day 12: Souvlaki

Day 12 
South Africa 2 France 1
Uruguay 1 Mexico 0
Argentina 2 Greece 0
South Korea 2 Nigeria 2

World Cup Kitchen for today is Greek Souvlaki.

Today was the last game for 4 teams at this World Cup. I had a choice of Greek or South African so I decided on the Greek option....in one of the off days later on in the tournament I will cook something from South Afica in homage to hosts of this World Cup.

Souvlaki can be eaten a number of ways….as a main course meal with accompanying salads or like I had it tonight in a fast food style wrap with chips, tzatziki and salad. 

When marinating your meat for best results leave it overnight to enhance the best flavour from the meat. Also when cooking over a BBQ wait until the coals have been burnt right through and the temperature is not searing hot so the chicken will cook slowly and will remain moist and tender

Day 11: Korean Bulgogi

Day 11
Portugal 7 North Korea 0
Chile 1 Switzerland 0
Spain 2 Honduras 0

Bulgogi is a marinated beef recipe, although other meats such as chicken and pork can also be used.

It is made from very thin slices of prime cut beef, today I used ribeye. The meat is marinated with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil & seeds, garlic & chilli. This is then combined with a selection of vegetables. I used scallions, onions, carrots, peppers & sugar snaps. (you can use of course mushrooms and other vegetables to your own taste)

When serving it can be served with either rice or noodles. For todays meal I served it with some sticky Asian rice and full heads of iceberg lettuce so that I could make lettuce/rice wraps with the bulgogi in the middle

Pavlova

Day 10
Paraguay 2 Slovakia 0
New Zealand 1 Italy 1
Brazil 3 Ivory Coast 0

World Cup Kitchen is New Zealand’s favourite: Pavlova
 

I absolutely love Pavlova, the crisp sweet meringue with sweetened cream and fresh fruit with a drizzle of warm caramel on top – it is absolutely delicious and is actually not as hard to make as you might think.

Day 9: Seared Beef Sashimi with a Gyoza sauce

Day 9
Netherlands 1 Japan 0
Australia 1 Ghana 1
Denmark 2 Cameroon 1
 

 
World Cup Kitchen today is Japanese: Seared Beef Sashimi and a crisp vegetable salad with ginger and coriander served with an accompanying Gyoza Sauce

I love this fresh and colourful salad that is perfect for a weekend lunch or a light dinner. The crispness and spiciness of the vegetables compliments the peppery beef and is all served with a chilli and soy sauce.

Day 8: Serbian Cevapcici

Day 8

Serbia 1 Germany 0

Slovenia 2 USA 2

England 0 Algeria 0

World Cup Kitchen is a Serbian Cevapcici  

This kebab like sausage originates from the Balkans and is considered the National Dish of Serbia and is also common in Slovenia. The ingredients differ from country to country but in essence it is a combination of minced meats and spices.