Chicken Pizzaiola

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Another simple dish that was featured on the TV show Dagelijkse Kost (Everyday meals), on the Flemish channel Eén. (for more info on this show see my previous post) and which met a frank success at our house tonight.

Pizzaiola is a classic tomato sauce, which can be used in numerous dishes. For this particular dish, it accompanies chicken fillets filled with creamy pesto and ricotta.

Ingredients for 4 servings :

For the pesto:

* 40 g Parmesan cheese
* 30 g pine nuts
* 30 g basil
* 1⁄2 garlic clove
* 8 cl olive oil
* a dash of lemon juice
* seasoning (salt & pepper)

For the filled chicken fillets :

* 4 chicken breast fillets
* 8 slices of smoked bacon
* 1 large Tbs of pesto (made with the ingredients above)
* 3 Tbs of ricotta
* a dash of olive oil
* seasoning (salt & pepper)

For the pizzaiola sauce :

* 1 large onion (at leat)
* 3 garlic cloves
* 1⁄2 red chili (used my chili flakes mill instead)
* 200 g cherry tomatoes
* 3 dl tomato meat
* 2 Tbs of capers (not used as we don't like them)
* a pinck of dried oregano
* 2 dl water (or stock - I used chicked stock)
* a dash of olive oil
* parsley
* seasoning (salt & pepper)

Preparation :

Pesto :

Put the pine nuts, the parmesan cheese, the peeled garlic and the fresh basil in your blender.  Pour the olive oil in with the other ingredients and blend everything to a smooth pesto.

Add a dash of lemon juice and season to taste with a salt and pepper.

Chicken Fillets :

Start on the chicken fillets, so they have time to set for a while in the fridge.

In a bowl, mix the ricotta and the pesto to a smooth paste.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. (The remaining pesto can later be used in order preparations)

If your bacon slices have a rind or cartilage, you should remove them.

Clean the chicken fillets, removing the possibly remaining fatty bits or the though film. Slice every filet horizontally in order to have a chicken steak when folded open.

Spread a layer of the ricotta filling on each of the opened chicken breast and close the steaks again.

Wrap two slices of smoked bacon around each chicken breast and fix it with a tooth pick.

Place the chicken on a plate and put it in the fridge to set. Don't forget to rince off your cutting board after have worked with the raw chicken!

Pizzaiola sauce:

Chop the onion.  Heat a dash of olive oil and fry the onion until it becomes translucent.  Feel free to fry them for a few minutes, so they can give the sauce a sweet taste.  Keep an eye on the heat though, so the onions don't colour.

Peal the garlic and dice it before blending it to paste.

If you use a chili, chop it in fine pieces. In the original recipe, he left the seeds in but as I said, I used my chili flake mill.

Add the chili and garlic to the skillet with the onion and stir.

Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and add them to the skillet, with a large pinch of dried oregano.

If you like capers in your sauce, you should add them now to the skillet and let them stew.

Add the tomato meat and the water (or stock).

Stir and let the sauce simmer for at least 20 minutes on low heat,  The longer it simmers, the beter is becomes.  Season to taste.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta al dente.  In general, a regular portion would be 100g of dry pasta per person, but I only used 170g for two servings and still had a some left over.

Preheat the over to 180°C.

Heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet on medium fire and colour the chicken fillets in a few minutes.  Put the coloured chicken fillets in a oven dish and cook them further in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Serve hot.

Three Cheeses Macaroni and Savoy Cabbage

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This simple but filling pasta dish was featured at the beginning of February 2013 on the TV Cooking Show Dagelijkse Kost (Everyday meals), on the Flemish channel Eén. This daily show is hosted by Jeroen Meus, the Belgian chef of the restaurant Luzine, who has become increasingly popular since he began hosting this TV show and wrote several cookbooks (4 already, all of which I have on the shelf).  His dishes are not extremely sophisticated as he believes that you can make good food without having to spend fortunes on fancy ingredients.  Hence the name of the programme.

I choose to make this particular dish as I wanted something that I could use in my lunchbox and that wouldn't be too much of a hassle to prepare.  Moreover cabbage being in season right now, it was the ideal moment to give it a try.

Ingredients needed for 4 servings :

* 300g ground meat (beef/pork mix)

* 1⁄2 of a savoy cabbage

* butter

* pinch of dried sage

* pinch of dried rosemary

* pinch of dried oregano

* parsley

for the cheese sauce :

* 30g butter

* 30g all purpose flour

* 500ml milk

* 125g ricotta

* 75 g Comté cheese (the original recipe required mature Gouda)

* 75 g Parmesan cheese

* 1⁄2 lemon

* nutmeg

* pepper

* salt 

Bring a large amount of salted water to the boil.

Meanwhile melt a bit of butter in a skillet on medium fire.   

Season the ground meat with a selection of dried herbs (sage, rosemary and oregano) and mix it all together.

Spread the meat over the hot skillet in medium sized lumps, and let it fry untouched for a while.  After a few minutes you can stir it while take care not to crumble it up too much.  As soon as it has reached a nice golden brown crust, set aside .

Remove the outer tough leaves of the savoy cabbage.  Cut the vegtable into quarters and then further into large strips. Rinse the strips of thoroughly making sure to remove any specks of dirt or sand and let it drain.

Boil the cabbage strips for 5 to 6 minutes in the salted water.  remove the cabbage from the pot and bring the water to the boil again in order to cook the macaroni.

In a large pot cooking pot, melt a bit of butter and add flour. Stir until you get a roux.  Let it cook briefly (until it smells like baked cookies).

Add the milk and keep whisking.  Bring the sauce almost to boiling point, until the bechamel has thickened without lumps. Reduce the heat.

Grate the Comté and the parmesan cheese.

Stir the ricotta and the grated cheese into the sauce and keep stirring until they have completely melted.  Season to taste with nutmeg, pepper and salt.  Finish with a dash of lemon juice. 

Keep the sauce hot but avoid burning it.

Cook the pasta al dente.

Stir the meat and the cabbage into the sauce.

Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce as well.

Mix everything together and season a bit more if necessary.

Serve sprinkled with parsley.

Savoury mini cakes

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And my baking spree continues ...

As I am going to pack bentos again this week, I baked a few savoury mini cakes. These are just the right size to pack in a lunchbox or a picknick but you could as well savour them as an appetizer with a drink.

These two recipes come from the book Mini Cakes from Ilona Chovancova.

The first one are Mini Cakes in Breton Gallette style.  The original recipe asked for smoked bacon and gruyère but as I didn't have any, I substituted them with cooked ham and comté cheese.

Ingredients for 4 to 6 cakes :

* 80g buckwheat flour

* 40g all purpose flour

* 2 eggs

* 80g grated comté cheese

* 7cl milk

* 7cl olive oil

* 1/2 sachel of dry yeast

* seasoning (salt, pepper)

* 80g diced cooked ham

* 1/2 leek

Cut the leek in small rings and then in smaller pieces.  In a bowl, lightly whisk the eggs with the oil and milk. Add the 2 flours, the leek, the diced ham and the cheese.  Season to taste.  Add the yeast.

As soon as the yeast has been integrated into the mixture, pour it into your previously greased cake moulds and put it in the preheated oven at 180C.

Bake for 30 minutes.  Proof the baking by inserting a wooden stick into the cake at the end of the baking. If it comes out clean, the cakes are ready.

The second cakes are Pattypan Parmesan cakes. The original recipe used potimarron, (a type of squash I was unable to find the English name of), but as I had still a pattypan squash laying around since Halloween, I decided to use that one instead.

Ingredients for 4 to 6 cakes :

* 1200g all purpose flour

* 2 eggs

* 70g grated comté cheese (originally gruyère)

* 7cl milk

* 7cl olive oil

* 1/2 sachel of dry yeast

* seasoning (salt, pepper)

* 100g pattypan squash

* 100g grated parmesan

* 3 sage leaves

Grate the flesh of the pattypan squash.  Press it in your hand in order to get rid of the excess liquid. Chop up the sage leaves. In a bowl, lightly whisk the eggs with the oil and milk. Add the flour, the cheese and the sage.  Season to taste.  Add the yeast.

As soon as the yeast has been integrated into the mixture, pour it into your previously greased cake moulds and put it in the preheated oven at 180C.

Bake for 30 minutes.  Proof the baking by inserting a wooden stick into the cake at the end of the baking. If it comes out clean, the cakes are ready.