Category: Recipe

Recipe: Lamb in pepper sauce

This recipe is another one from Mom. Really it is better done with beef than with lamb, but I don’t eat much beef. This is another one-two-three go! sort of meal, but some prep is required with a marinade.  For dinner the longest part of the work is the rice you might serve with this.

Ingredients:

  • 500 grams lamb filet
  • 1 large onion, sliced thinly, lengthwise
  • 1 large green pepper, sliced thinly, lenthwise
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup sherry

Slice lamb filets thin, and mix with soy sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, and sherry.  Let sit for at least four hours, preferrably longer.

Heat a large pan to high.  Add remaining teaspoon of sesame oil, and stir fry peppers and onions for about three minutes.  Drain marinade from lamb and add lamb.  Cook for about one minute.  Add marinade back in and allow to boil for two minutes.

Serves four with/over rice and a veg.

YAR (Yet Another Recipe, by request): Mom’s no-name chicken

My mom makes this dish, although she might not admit to it.  And so I am posting this recipe while she is on vacation.  I’ve ruthlessly stolen it.  It has no cutsy name, but suggestions are welcome.  This dish takes a little bit of forethought, but doesn’t take that much effort.

Ingredients

  • Eight chicken thighes on the bone
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 1/2 tsp fresh crushed black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions

Mix lemon juice, pepper, salt, and olive oil in a bowl that is samll enough to submerge chicken.  Add chicken and press down until the marinade covers it. Cover and place in refrigerator.  Marinade for at least 4 hours but no longer than a day.  Consider flipping chicken once, but keep it submerged.

Preheat oven to 180°C with fan, or 195°C without.  Place chicken in a pan, covering with any remaining marinade and cook uncovered for 45 minutes.

Serves four people.

Another Recipe By Request: Presidential Pasta

This is a very simple pasta that is so named because we ate it while watching Barack Obama take the oath of office (the first time) from Chief Justice John Roberts.  For the record, my daughter preferred the pasta to the inauguration.  By the way, all of these dishes are meant to be relatively quick to make, tasty for adults and children alike.

Ingredients:

  • 250 grams cubed and floured chicken breasts
  • 1 clove chopped garlic
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh grated parmesan cheese
  • 250 grams baby spinach (washed – by you)
  • 1 large onion, cut into lengthwise slices.
  • 12 pieces (about one bottle) of sun dried tomatoes
  • 3 tbsp olive oil (if possible use oil the sun dried tomatoes were packed in)
  • 1 tsp chopped oregano (dried is fine)
  • 250 grams of your favorite pasta – linguini works well, but so do shells

Directions

Boil a large pot of water.  The remainder of the directions below take 15 minutes after prep time.  Cook your pasta to be finished by then, but you want your pasta pot kept hot.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large pan to medium high.  Stir fry chicken for five minutes or until done.  Set aside.  Re-oil pan and cook onions until they begin to clear or carmelize, about five minutes.  Turn flame down to medium-low.  Add garlic and stir for 20 seconds.  Add spinach and sundried tomatoes, and cook for about 1 minute.  Add chicken back into the pan, for about one minute.  Turn off burner.

After cooking and emptying pasta into a collandar, replace it in the pasta pot on onto the other pan’s burner, and mix in the contents of the other pan.  Add cheese and remaining olive oil and mix.  Serve immediately.

Serves four to five.

By Request, a recipe: Tragedy Chicken

This is a tasty chicken meal that takes about an hour to cook, but almost no prep time.  It’s a bit sweet, and slightly spicy, but you can adjust to taste.

Ingredients

  • As many chicken thighs as you and your table will eat
  • 1 Tsp / thigh medium or mild mango chutney
  • (about 1/2 tsp per 4 tsp chutney) ground chipotle pepper
  • (about 1 tsp per 4 tsp chutney) sweet paprika

Directions

Preheat oven to 220°C (broil / grill setting).  Place chicken in a baking dish, and broil chicken for five minutes to seer skin.  Remove chicken and reduce oven temp to 180°C (bake setting with fan or about 190° without fan).  Cover dish and replace chicken in oven.  Cook for 25 minutes with fan or 35 without.  While chicken is cooking, mix remaining ingredients in a bowl.  Remove chicken from oven, and increase temperature to 195 with fan, or 210 without.  Spread mixture evenly over all pieces, and replace chicken in oven uncovered for ten minutes.  Remove and serve with potatos and a vegetable.