Spaghetti with Garlic, Oil and Chili

A tasty meal that can be made with ingredients from the store cupboard
Ingredients for 4 people:

• 250 gr spaghetti
• 1-2 chilies, depending on how hot you like it!
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
  
• 4tbsp olive oil
• A handful of spinach
  
• Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water for 6-7 minutes until just tender. Drain, reserving a little of the cooking water, and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large pan or wok. Add the garlic, chili, salt, pepper and the chopped spinach. Stir for 5-10 seconds. Add the cooked spaghetti along with one or two tablespoons of the cooking water. Stir until heated through.
Serve hot, with extra olive oil and chili.

Avgoleomono Soup

In Greece, many dishes are thickened with avgolemono sauce, which is the juice of a lemon whisked with an egg.
In this dish, the avgolemono combines prefectly with the rice and gives a wonderful flavour and creaminess.
This soup is a delicious winter warmer and it can be made in 20 minutes.

Ingredients for 4:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1.5 litres chicken stock
• 1 cup chopped cabbage
• 1 cup frozen prawns
• 150 gr rice
  
• Salt, pepper, cayenne, to taste
• Avgolemono: 1 egg, beaten with the juice of 1/2 lemon
  

Gently fry the onion in 2 tbsp olive oil for 5 minutes until it starts to colour. Add the stock, cabbage and seasoning.
Bring the soup to the boil and add the rice. Cook the soup for 15 minutes, until the rice is cooked.

Add the prawns and the avgolemono. Stir into the soup and let it cook for 1 minute.

Serve hot, with crusty bread.

Variations: instead of cabbage you can use spinach, or even chopped lettuce leaves.

Creamy Rice Soup

Creamy rice, perfect for a cold winter day
Takes 20 minutes to make

Use any mix of vegetables you might have in the refrigerator.
What gives this soup its creaminess is the evaporated milk.

Ingredients for 4:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 2 artichokes, peeled and cut into 12
• 1 litre of chicken stock
• 100 gr mushrooms, sliced
• 75 gr rice

Fry the onion and the rest of the vegetables for 5 minutes until starting to brown. Add the stock and the evaporated milk.
Bring to the boil and add the rice. Cook for 12-15 minutes and serve hot.


Nutritional facts of dairy:

Milk and dairy foods are healthy foods and considered nutrient-rich because they serve as good sources of calcium and vitamin D as well as protein and other essential nutrients. They provide phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins A, B12, and riboflavin1.

The calcium in milk, yogurt and cheese is significant yet most people don't get enough calcium or vitamin D each day2. Getting the recommended three servings of dairy per day can help build bone mass, leading to improved bone health throughout the life cycle. 

Noodles with Ginger and Garlic

Quick Saturday lunch idea

ingredients for 2:

• 160 gr spaghetti
• 1 x 1cm piece of fresh ginger, grated
• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, sliced
  
• salt, pepper, chili flakes
• soy sauce, to taste
  

Boil the spaghetti according to packet instructions. Drain and set aside.
For the sauce:
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan, add the garlic and ginger, season with salt, pepper, chili and soy sauce; cook for 15 seconds, then pour the cooked pasta over and toss until combined.
Check the seasoning and serve hot.

Variations: add any leftover meat or cooked prawns to the spaghetti.

Jacket Potato

I often cook jackets in a hurry when I don't have time. The potatoes can cook in the microwave for 4-5 minutes at full power. The result is quite acceptable. Then I fill the jackets and finish cooking them for 10 minutes under the grill.

Turn the oven on to 180ºCentigrade.
Take a large potato per person, wash them thoroughly under running water. Drain and pat them dry.

Prick each potato once or twice over the skin. Rub them with oil and a little salt. Put them in an ovenproof dish and bake for 60-80 minutes, depending on the weight of the potato.
To test that they are ready you can try to insert a fork into the potato. It it goes in easily, it is ready.

Fillings:
1/ Fry some mushrooms and bacon in a little butter. Add cream, salt and pepper to taste.
2/ 1 can of tuna per person, mixed with 1tbsp Cream cheese. Salt and pepper.
3/ Any leftover, warmed up stew, curry, chili con carne, pasta sauce....
4/ Plain butter and cheese: 1tbsp Butter and a little grated cheese
5/ Cooked prawns and mayonnaise
6/ Smoked Salmon and Sour cream
7/ Baked beans in tomato sauce
8/ Sweet corn salad: sweet corn, diced ham, chopped red pepper, mayonnaise.
9/ Coleslaw: grated carrot, finely sliced cabbage, mayonnaise, a dash of vinegar
10/ Leftover chicken or turkey and cream or bechamel, or cold with mayonnaise

Vegetable Fritters

Ingredients:

• 1 chopped onion
• 1 cup cooked spinach or peas
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 beaten egg
• 2 tbsp flour

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl.
Fry spoonfuls of the mix in olive oil for a few minutes on each side until browned.
serve as a snack or side dish.

Basic Tomato Sauce

This sauce is the base of so many dishes it deserves its own post; so it can be used as reference.
My version of the classic sauce has a dash of vinegar to give this lovely sauce a slight piquancy.

Ingredients:

• 400 gr crushed tomatoes
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• salt and pepper

Gently fry the onion for 5 minutes in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the vinegar and let it reduce for one minute. Pour the tomato and season to taste. Let the sauce cook for 20 minutes.
Serve with pasta, on its own or sprinkled with Parmesan shavings.
Or use as a base for other dishes.

Creamy Spaghetti with Bacon and Mushrooms

The cooking time of this dish is 30 minutes or less, and it uses store cupboard ingredients, making it ideal for a mid week supper dish.

Ingredients for 4:

• 350 gr dry tagliatelle or spaghetti
• 150 gr bacon cut into lardons
• 150 gr mushroom, sliced
• 30 gr butter
  
• 100 ml single cream
• 100 ml white wine
• salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water for 5-6 minutes, until cooked but with a bit of bite left in them.
While the pasta is cooking make the sauce.
Cook the mushrooms and the bacon together in a large frying pan, for 5-6 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper; pour in the wine and let it cook out for a few seconds. Add the cream to the Sauce.
Drain the pasta reserving a little of the cooking liquid, pour over the sauce and mix well with two forks.

Serve hot with some grated cheese. Parmesan is best but you can use any other grated hard cheese.

Spaghetti with Prawns

I always have dry spaghetti in my cupboard, and frozen prawns in the freezer. For me this is a store cupboard dish to make on a day like today, when I had no idea what to make for lunch.

Ingredients for 4:

• 300 gr dry spaghetti
• 200 gr frozen prawns
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
  
• 2 dry chilies
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• salt and pepper

Thaw the prawns under running cold water.
Put a large pan of water to the boil and cook the spaghetti for 6-7 minutes, turn the heat off and drain them.
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil, add the sliced garlic and chilies, cook them for 15 seconds. Add the tomato paste and the prawns. Bring the sauce to the boil and cook for 1 minute. As soon as the prawns turn pink , pour the sauce over the spaghetti and toss with a fork.
If you have some, you can sprinkle some chopped parsley over the spaghetti.
Serve with extra chili oil for those who, like myself, need to add extra heat to every dish.