Toulouse Sausage Roll 

Posted on by lotsofbutter

Sunday fun day!

Hello my darling readers, today I have made sausage rolls made with Toulouse sausage meat, thy are usually gluten free and quite garlicky.

 

For this recipe, I used left over puff pastry sheet (half a sheet more or less!), finely chopped spring onion, smoked paprika, salt and black pepper. Combine all ingredients and unroll the pastry sheet.

I find it easier to shape the sausage meat in cling film first, make sure the mixture is solid and lay it in a long ‘roll’ just off centre down the pastry length. Brush the edges of the pastry lightly with egg wash and bring the sides up to meet over the filling. Pinch the edges firmly together to form a seal.

Make four slits in one side of the rolls, to allow steam to escape.Brush the pastry with the remaining egg wash and bake for 20-30 minutes or until pastry risen and golden brown on gas mark 7.

You can serve it with some nice mustard or chili sauce. Guess what’s my preferred sauce? 😉

Let me know what you think!
Ana xx

I’m Mac N’ Cheese Balls 

Posted on by lotsofbutter

If you knew my person, you would know that I absolutely love mac and cheese! I love pasta and I love cheese! 

I had deep friend Mac and Cheese balls before but they were quite big size – not as small as a golf ball but not as big as a tennis ball! In my opinion, this sort of food is good in bite size! 

For this recipe, you will need left over mac and cheese. 

I used ditalini rigati pasta, lots of single cream, butter, Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese and mozzarella. Make sure you leave the Mac and Cheese in your fridge for over night before using it for the recipe. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the macaroni mixture from the refrigerator, and scoop into balls.

Whisk the bread crumbs with the paprika, chili powder and black pepper  in a shallow dish; set aside. Beat the 1 egg with the 3 tablespoons milk in a small bowl. Coat the balls in the egg wash, and then dredge in breading.

Fry the mac balls in small batches until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain briefly on a paper towel plate; serve hot – I should have made a salsa sauce to go with it. 

I’ve made a quick sauce out of tomato purée, honey, soya sauce and chili. 

  

  Enjoy!

Ana x

Beef Spring Rolls

Posted on by lotsofbutter

I am sorry I have not been posting anything! I have been busy celebrating my birthday and that my foot cast is finally off!

I have been busy trying to walk again.

Two weekends ago, we have made beef spring rolls!

 For the spring roll filling, we used shredded carrots, beansprouts and sliced beef. Stir-fried these until cooked with some pepper and some soya sauce. You might want to drain this on a colander. The more liquid drained the better – you don’t want the spring roll wraps to be soggy when you roll them up

Most wrappers come frozen, so make sure you defrost them beforehand.

Place wrapper like diamond, on a clean, dry surface. Place 1 tablespoon of filling near corner. Fold over the corner, and roll tight.

 
To fry the spring rolls, you’ll to heat up a good amount of oil – if you have a deep fryer that’s even better!

Keep turning them to brown evenly. Once they are golden brown, they are done.

I will try to make more at home but with different fillings, maybe a lobster filling!

Let me know what you think
Ana xx

Churros with Ginger and Cinnamon Sugar

Posted on by lotsofbutter

Hello lovely people.

Today I was inspired to make churros, since I don’t have a lot of desserts on my blog! To be honest, I was watching Come Dine With Me, and a couple on the show were making churros but with chocolate to dip in.

All you will need for this recipe is:

For the churros:

  • 200ml water
  • 2 tablespoons of white sugar
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used coconut oil)
  • 200ml plain flour
  • Extra oil for frying

For the ginger and cinnamon sugar:

  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon white sugar

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, sugar and the 2 tablespoons oil – I used coconut oil because it’s the only oil I really use other than sesame oil or olive oil. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball.

Heat oil for frying in a frying pan, or if you have a deep fryer you can use that too, but don’t ask me how because I have never used one before! If you have a piping bag,please use it to pipe the mixture into strips. I have a problem with piping bags and can’t seem to pipe anything right! For the strips, I rolled them into thin strips! Fry until golden and drain on paper towels.

For the sugar, combine all ingredients and roll each churro to make sure they are covered. If there’s any sugar left off, sprinkle some more on top!

You can serve this with ice cream or with melted chocolate!

I believe (according to Wikipedia!) that the Portuguese brought churros to Europe when they returned from China (the grand Portuguese discoveries). Since I am half Portuguese half Chinese, I thought this dessert would represent my heritage the best.

I hope you try this at home and love it!

Ana xx

Pecorino and Garlic Ramen Fries 

Posted on by lotsofbutter

Hello guys!

I have seen this recipe on BuzzFeed Food on Facebook and I had to try it!!

Cook two packets of ramen according to directions. If you’ve never cooked ramen before, then please crawl back to the whole you came from… I’m only joking.. But no.. Do follow instructions because you don’t want to overcook it!

After straining ramen in a colander, run cold water over it until noodles are cool. Once they have cooled down, whiskey eggs and seasoning packets together, and add in cold, strained ramen noodles. Mix the egg mixture in to evenly disperse.

Line in baking/foil sheet with plastic wrap, and dump your ramen egg mixture in. Mash the ramen into a tight, even layer and add another sheet of plastic wrap on top. Put something heavy on top to weight it down, this part is critical – it is important that you do this, otherwise the noodles will turn out loose when you fry them. Throw it in the freezer for 2 – 3 hours.

You should have a semi-frozen ramen brick, and now you can start cutting it into long rectangular shapes and fry them until pleasantly crispy and brown.

In a bowl, shave some pecorino cheese, you can use Parmesan if you like. Add some black pepper, garlic powder and dried parsley. Sprinkle this on top of the ramen fries when ready to eat.

I would definitely suggest you to try this at home! At least it would be a new way to cook your instant noodles.

Ana x

Sopa de Ajo – Garlic Soup 

Posted on by lotsofbutter

Hello guys.. My posts won’t be as often as I would like now because I have broken my ankle and I can’t stand for long periods of time.. Unfortunately I have a lot of time on my hands but will not have time to cook as much as I want, which means I won’t be able to post on my blog either 😦  All I do these days is eat take away and watch tv shows… I am running out of things to watch!  I have managed to cook one meal since I broke my ankle on Tuesday night. I thought that making a soup would be quite easy.. It is however I still sweated like a nun in a brothel! It was like I was in a threadmill running for 10k! Sweat drops rolling down my head.. My back completely soaked! This isn’t life you know?

  

   For this recipe, you’ll need a bunch of flat parsley, about 8 cubes of bread (I’ve used French baguette), half of garlic head (finely chopped), 4 slices of ham (chopped in pieces), two eggs, paprika, chicken stock, extra virgin olive oil and some special black truffle oil. 

I’ve put the cubes of bread in a tray and soaked them with olive oil with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Bake the bread until crispy.  Heat a generous amount of oil in a pan and fry the garlic until is golden. Add the ham and the paprika (our paprika is special homemade from our housemate’s mom!). Pour bread into pot and toss to coat with hot oil mixture. Pour chicken stock into bread mixture, add salt (I like to be all fancy and use truffle salt) and black pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and stir in parsley. 

Make 2 depressions in the bread on top of the soup with a spoon. Crack and slowly pour an egg into each depression. Cover the pan with a lid and cook until egg whites are firm and yolks are thick but not hard.     This recipe takes no more than 10 minutes and it’s super delicious! You can easily make this at home when you don’t have much at home or if you just want something quick after a long hard day!   

This is going to be me for some weeks.. If you have anything that I can do to kill time in the meantime.. Any books or shows that I should watch please don’t hesitate to suggest some!  Ana xx

Pork Kebabs

Posted on by lotsofbutter

Hello guys!

It’s been a bit hectic at work – my full time job as a customer relations advisor at Kurt Geiger – and busy weekends chilling out with my best bitches.

We’ve thrown out our old BBQ, so until we replace it with a new one, I got to use the grill for my BBQ style recipes.

This weekend I got some nice camera lied red onion pork sausages from lovely Waitrose – you see I only shop at Waitrose at the beginning of the month.. When my bank account is still popping with sssshmoney. And of course my obsession for courgette salad will never die, so I have made a nice fresh courgette and feta cheese salad to go with my pork sausages kebab!

 
For the pork sausage kebabs, I’ve cut the sausage into pieces.. 3 chunks of cut sausage per stick! So if you get a pack of 6 sausages, you can make 6 kebab sticks, that could be a nice meal for two people! One whole red onion cut into chunks and one red pepper cut into pieces – I wanted to use vegetable that would bring some life to the dish.. The bad thing about being on Atkins, the color of the food can be a bit boring!

I’ve put the kebabs in the grill until the meat was cooked.. I like when the vegetables still have a bit of crunch. While this is cooking, I’m using my baby Benriner (vegetable spiralizer) and cutting the courgettes in long thin strands. I’ve seasoned it with salt, black truffle olive oil and garlic.

 

You can use any meat for the kebabs, if you have left over burger meat from BBQ or other vegetables you can also use that too! Good thing about my recipes, it’s to YOUR taste. I’m here to guide you and give you ideas!

Please try them at home and let me know how it goes!

Much love, Ana xx

Ribeye and Courgette Salad

Posted on by lotsofbutter

 

Day before payday… I decided to treat myself for some steak.. Ribeye steak hmmm! Good thing about living in my area is the millions of butchers.

My favorite of the area is Baldwins Butcher!

I could seriously eat this dish everyday! I love this courgette salad that goes with it!
I bought an amazing tool for peeling vegetables! I got the Benriner and if I could use it in all vegetables I would, I mean I am a real pasta/noodle fan, so anything in pasta or noodle shape will do for me. This little tool is so easy to use and clean.. I definitely recommend it.

For the courgette salad, I used chilli powder, fresh garlic, truffle salt, ground black pepper and a big splash of toasted sesame oil! This automatically gives more of an Asian taste to the salad.

For the steak, I usually have mine medium rare or rare – This will usually depend on if I forget the steak in the pan and I’m doing something else.. like chatting away with my housemates!

I hope you get the chance to try the salad at least!

  Ana x

Pork Steaks and Aubergine

Posted on by lotsofbutter

Sorry I haven’t posted anything lately, I have been working hard and haven’t had time to cook a lot and make inventions.. I have been having chicken thighs, steak and scrambled eggs for the whole week basically..  Being on a Ketogenic diet, really limits the stuff I can eat, I have to add everything on my MyFitnessPal app and make sure I don’t exceed 20g of carbohydrates a day and keep my fat intake high. Since I have to eat fatty meats, I’ve decided to get some pork loin steak today, and to go with it, I have chosen aubergine.. Aurbegine is a vegetable with almost no carb content – so if you have spent the day munching on macadamia nuts like me, you watch your carb in takes and balance it out.     You must know that this dish contains a lot of butter.. I have not only fried the aubergine and the pork loin steaks in butter, I have also served it with garlic and parsley butter – yes obviously homemade! – I cut the aubergine in thin slices and fried them first, seasoned with chili powder, garlic powder and salt.  I’ve seasoned my pork loins with salt, pepper and garlic powder, fried them in butter. They are quite thin, so you don’t need much cooking time.  For the garlic butter, I added dry flat parsley herbs, a bit of salt and lots of garlic powder to the butter! In my opinion you can use this butter with beef, chicken or fish.. Nothing tastes better than butter and garlic..  I hope you all had a good weekend!  Ana x

Lemon Sole and Salmon Ceviche

Posted on by lotsofbutter

 

It’s paaaaayday! I always got a good excuse to buy fish.

Last night I’ve decided to treat myself for some Ceviche with rice vermicelli! It’s super delicious and it’s a great summer dish! I bought a whole side of salmon to do Gravlax (expect the recipe this weekend!) and I’ve cut off the side and tail for this ceviche recipe. I also used one whole lemon sole – big mistake of you don’t have the skills to remove the skin off ha like me! I spent way too much time butchering the fish – luckily I need the fish in small slices so it didn’t matter – but I’d advise you all to use sea bass or any non flat fish!

I’ve took the skin off both salmon and lemon sole and cut them up in thin slices. Put it all in a bowl with the juices of 3 or 4 lines, and some chopped up red chilies – I used 2 because I love it! Add chopped up coriander, half of a red onion, a whole red pepper, add a bunch of salt and black pepper. Mix everything up and put it in the fridge for at least 30min. The juices of the line and the chili will cure the fish and that way you’re not eating raw fish – if you are able to get fresh fish and like raw fish, you can cure it for a little at 5min/10min.

When the fish is almost ready, cook your rice vermicelli, make sure you don’t overcook it – nobody likes mushy vermicelli. Drain the water off and add some sesame oil to the vermicelli. I like it with quite a lot, it helps the vermicelli not stick together.

I’ve served mine with some fresh, ripe and ready to eat avocado!

 
No surprise that I had two servings!
Ana x