Leda's Tzatziki

Serves a party

Ingredients:

* 1 Kg Greek Yogurt (10% fat)

* 1 cucumber, grated

* 4 Garlic cloves (or to taste)

* 20g Dill

* Vinegar to taste

* Olive oil to taste
* Salt to taste

Preparation:

Cut the cucumber however you like, and press the water out of them using a sieve.
Finely cut the dill and press the garlic in a garlic press and add everything to the yogurt. Now add the salt, vinegar and olive oil to taste and mix. For the best taste, leave alone for one hour so the flavours can blend.

Use it as a sauce and/or side for a lot of dishes.

I hope you like it.

Regards,

Mike & Leda

Chili con carne

serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:

* 4 cans of kidney beans

* 2 cans of tomato cubes

* 1 can of corn

* 4 sweet pointy paprika's

* 3 middle sized onion

* 4 garlic cloves

* 350g minced meat (I used half and half)

* 1 beef stock cube

* 2 Spanish peppers or red jalapeño

* 1 spoon of brown castor sugar

* 1 package of passata (optional)

* Chili seasoning

* Cumin powder (optional)
* Chili powder (optional)

Preparation:

Cut the onion and paprika in cubes and mince the garlic with a rasp. If you use whole peppers, cut them in slices.

Heat up a casserole and stir fry the minced meat until it falls apart. Now add the paprika, onion, garlic and the chili seasoning. and stir fry until the meat is browned. Now add the tomato cubes and keep stirring. Add the stock cube and the sugar. Bring to the boil stirring occasionally.

Now add the kidney beans, along with the juice of 2 of the 4 cans and stir to blend. Add the corn and stir again.  If your sauce is watery you can add passata until the sauce has your preferable thickness.

At this point you can serve it, or adjust the flavour to your liking by using cumin powder and/or chili powder.

Serve with rice, nacho's or a salad as a side.

Enjoy your meal!

Regards,

Mike & Leda

Pasta funghi e pomodori secchi

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

* 750g mushrooms

* 3 cloves of garlic

* 3 spoons of fresh basil

* 200 to 250 g sun dried tomatoes

* 150 g stock (I used chicken, but mushroom stock tastes better).

* 250g creme fraiche

* 100g grated Parmesan

* Pepper and salt to taste

Preparations:

Cut the mushroom and tomatoes in slices. Finely chop the garlic and the basil and boil the water for the stock. When the water is boiling, add the stock cube and let it dissolve under occasional stirring. Set aside.

Cook the pasta according to the package.

Heat up a saute pan and add some olive oil. Stir fry the mushrooms on medium heat for 1 minute and add the garlic. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes more and add the tomatoes. Put the heat on low.

Now add the stock to the mushrooms and stir to blend. Let it cook slowly until the stock dissolves a little. Now add the creme fraiche and bring to boil, but immediately put the heat on low when it boils.

Add the Parmesan and stir until dissolved.
Now it is time to add the basil. Stir to blend and taste. Add salt and/or pepper if you prefer.

The pasta should be done by now. Rinse with cold water to cool it down a bit and add it to the saucemix.

Stir to blend and serve.

We hope you like this recipe, we definitely enjoyed this dish.
See you soon!

Mike & Leda

Chicken Teriyaki

serves 4

Ingredients:

Chicken:

* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 600g chicken breast
* 500g broccoli
* 2 garlic cloves
* 3 large carrots
* Chili flakes, to taste
* 500g rice or noodles.

Teriyaki Sauce:

* 2 tablespoons ginger, minced
* ⅓ cup soy sauce
* ⅓ cup water
* 4 tablespoons corn starch
* ¼ cup honey

Preparation:

Peel the ginger and mince it, then combine in a sauce pan with the rest of the ingredients for the teriyaki sauce. Heat the sauce up on medium heat, Stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes, until the sauce has thickened. Set aside.

Meanwhile cut the chicken in cubes, the carrot in slices and the broccoli in florets. Peel the garlic and mince, or finely cut it. Cook or steam the broccoli until they soften a bit, they still need to be crunchy! Set aside. Start boiling the noodles or rice.

Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the olive oil, then add the chicken in a single layer. Fry it undisturbed, for about 3 minutes or until brown, then flip and fry the other side until browned.
Add the garlic, carrots and teriyaki sauce, and let simmer for 5 minutes. Now add the steamed/boiled broccoli to the cooked chicken and sauce. Sprinkle with chili flakes if you like it spicy and mix.
Lower the heat and wait until the rice or noodles are done, if they aren't already.
Serve with rice or noodles.

I hope you like this recipe and hopefully until soon.

Mike & Leda

Balik Ekmek

serves 4

* 2 smoked mackerels
* Olive oil
* Salt and ground black pepper to taste
* 4 ciabatta's or other bread to preference
* Lettuce
* 2-3 spoons of yogonaise
* 2 spoons of capers
* 0,5 red onion
* 3 medium tomatoes
* A handful of flat leaf (Italian) parsley
* Juice of 1 lemon
* 1 teaspoon ground sumac


Balik Ekmek is a Turkish dish. It means Fish Sandwich.
I first saw this on a cooking program where a guy visits all kinds of street food stalls all over the world. This time he went to Istanbul and ate the Balik Ekmek. Of course this caught my interest and I had to try it for myself. I browsed the net and this recipe is the closest I can find which suited my tastes. That's a little history here; now on to the recipe!

Cut out the filets of the mackerel and heat up a  grill pan lightly greased in olive oil.
Grill the fish carefully for 5 - 10 minutes. Check every now and then so it doesn't burn. Turn halfway.

While the fish is cooking, prepare the herb yogonaise with capers.
Chop the parsly and rinse the capers. In a small bowl, combine the yogonaise, chopped parsley and the capers. Drizzle with a little olive oil to taste.

For the sumac salad; mix some salt to taste and sumac into the onion slices with your hands really well in a bowl. This will soften the onions, make them more palatable and let the sumac really penetrate to the onions. Add the chopped tomatoes, some parsley, juice of lemon and olive oil to taste into the bowl and combine well. Season with ground black pepper. Set aside.

Once the fish is grilled, slice the bread open and toast it in the grill pan a little, if you prefer. Spread a thin layer of the herb mayonnaise over the bread and place a fish filet on it. Then place a spoonful of the sumac salad over the bread. Now add the lettuce place the top of the bread.
Wrap in foil so the contents don't fall out of the sandwich.

I hope you like this recipe and enjoy your meal!

Mike & Leda

Hawaii Chicken

serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

* 500g chicken breast

* 2 garlic cloves

* 1 can pineapple cubes

* 3 eggs
* 1/3 cup soy sauce

* 0,5 cup Brown sugar

* 1,5 cup Cornstarch

* 1 Red paprika

* Salt and pepper to taste

* Pineapple juice from the can

* Rice

* Spring onion for decoration

* Cornstarch

* Oil for deep frying

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 160 °C. 

Cut chicken breasts into cubes and season with salt and pepper.

In separate bowls, place cornstarch and slightly beaten eggs. Dip chicken into cornstarch first then coat in egg mixture.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook chicken until browned, after that put the chicken in a  greased baking dish.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together pineapple juice, brown sugar, soy sauce, minced garlic, and cornstarch. Add the red paprika and pineapple bits. Pour over chicken and bake for 30 minutes.

Stir the chicken every 15 minutes so that it coated them in the sauce. 

Meanwhile you can prepare the rice.

Once done, serve the chicken with the rice and some spring onions for decoration.

I hope you like this recipe, and enjoy your meal!

Mike & Leda

Honey BBQ Chicken with vegetable noodles

serves 2

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

* 8 chicken wings
* 2 spoons barbecue sauce
* 1 spoon honey
* 1 teaspoon chili powder
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1 teaspoon (smoked) paprika powder
* 1 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup of flour
* Lettuce for decoration

For the noodles:

* 250g noodles
* ½ red paprika
* ½ green paprika
* 125g broccoli
* 50g beansprouts
* 1 carrot
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1 teaspoon laos (Thai ginger powder)
* ½ teaspoon djahe (gingerpowder)
* ½ teaspoon chilipowder
* ½ teaspoon ketoembar (coriander powder)
* ½ teaspoon sereh (lemon grass)
* ½ teaspoon koenjit/kurkuma (turmeric powder)
* ½ teaspoon djintan (cumin powder)
* ¼ teaspoon cinamon
* 2 teaspoons salt
* A dash of sweet soy sauce

Preparation:

Preheat the oven on 220 °C.
Mix the flour with the herbs and coat the chicken wings with the flourmix. Place chicken in the oven on a tray with a baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, turning the chicken when the timer is halfway.
Now prepare a mix of the barbecue sauce and the honey in a bowl big enough for the chicken. Set to the side.

Meanwhile cut the broccoli in small pieces and the carrot and paprika in slices. Mix all the herbs together in a small bow.

Once the chicken is done, take them out of the oven and mix them in the barbecue sauce. Put the oven on 200 degrees and bake the chicken for 10 minutes more on the same tray. While the chicken is in the oven, start boiling the noodles and stir frying the vegetables. After 2 minutes, add the herbs to the wok and stir fry for one minute more. Now add the soy sauce and mix well. Lower the heat and wait for the noodles to be ready.

Pour all the water from the noodles and cool with cold water. Make sure the noodles are as dry as possible. Now put them in the wok with the vegetables and mix well.
The chicken should be done by now too. Serve the chicken on a tray decorated with lettuce if you want to be fancy, and serve alongside the stir fried noodles.

I absolutely enjoyed eating this delicious chicken, and I hope you will too.
Enjoy your meal, and thank you for trying!

Mike & Leda