Deliciously Grilled Focaccia

Ingredients:
1 focaccia
1 small red onion
mozzarella (9oz – 250gr)
pesto a la Genovese (the green stuff)
2 tomatoes
1/2 avocado
fresh basil

Directions:
Chop, chop. Thinly slice the red onion, tomatoes, avocado and mozzarella. Give the basil a chop as well.

I used a pre-baked focaccia. This one had garlic and rosemary and I think a hint of dried tomatoes in it. I’m going to grill it like this, straight out of the wrapping. It’ll cook on the grill.

Open it up and spread a thin layer of green pesto on both sides. I haven’t tried it with pesto rosso yet, but I can already tell that will be mind-blowing as well.

Starting with the mozzarella.

Top the cheese with the tomato slices.

Season with salt, freshly cracked black pepper and basil.

Put the onions right on top of all that.

And last but definitely not least, the avocado. This adds a wonderful creaminess to it all.

Place the other half of the focaccia on top, gently push it down and lightly brush (or spray) it with a little olive oil.

I heated my BGE to 350F (175C). Feel free to use your oven or griddle instead. You don’t want to go too hot or the focaccia will have burned before the cheese has even melted and the bread has properly cooked. Low and slow is what we’re looking for. That and world peace. 

Place the focaccia on the grill and leave it there for 3 minutes before rotating it 90 degrees to get those restaurant-style grill stripes and give it another 3 minutes. Then flip it over and do the same on the other side of the focaccia. This was the uncooked side still on top. Had a bit of a problem flipping it over with my camera dangling in the way.

I sliced our focaccia in 3 pieces and served it with lots of fresh fruit and salad leaves. It was finger lickin’ good.

One-Pot Sausage Stew

Here’s one for when you get tired of my other sausage recipes (Lazy Sunday casserole or beef sausages & balsamic tomatoes). It’s every bit as good.
Nothing fancy or extravagant: just a fast one-pot sausage stew that is perfect for a weeknight dinner and a breeze when you plan ahead.
I used my Big Green Egg for it because I wanted to give it a hint of that wonderful smokey BBQ flavor. Feel free to just keep it on your stove top.
It’s a pretty fast dish with a really laid-back flavor that can be served with bread, mashed potatoes, pasta or rice.
One dish to fit them all!

Ingredients:
6 sausages (pork or other)
3 bell peppers
1 large onion
1 celery stalk
2 garlic cloves
1 jalapeño
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sweet paprika powder
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Mexican oregano
2 cups chicken broth
2 14oz cans diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt
pepper

Directions:
Mince the onion, celery and slice the bell peppers.

Love this new tool, it removes the core and seeds without breaking the jalapeño. Slice it up.

Grate the garlic.

I opted for pork sausages but feel free to use beef or Italian sausages.

Heat some butter or oil and quickly brown the sausages. Transfer them to a plate.

Saute the onion and celery for a minute or 2.

Add the bell pepper, jalapeño and garlic. Cook it all until the bell peppers get slightly pliable.

Add the paprika powder, thyme, parsley and Mexican oregano. Cook for another minute.

And pour in the diced tomatoes.

Followed by the chicken broth, salt (depends on how salty your broth is), sugar and a good pinch of pepper.

Bring it to a boil and put your sausages back in there.

I transferred mine to the egg (375F – 175C) and simmered it for 20 minutes, without a lid. Taste to check the seasoning.

I like to eat this with Moroccan flatbread but my little boy prefers spaghetti.

You can definitely file this one under ‘colorful happy comfort food’.

Chicken Stroganoff

This simple but stylish variation of the more classic Russian Beef Stroganoff has proved itself time and time again since the first time I cooked it in the tiny kitchen of my first apartment.
That seems so long ago now and boy, was I young! If only I had known then what I know now. Sound familiar? It’s fun to look back on those days when we were so giddy with life, though. But I digress…
You’re talking basic ingredients here. Real quick preparation with magical results. People will think you’ve spent hours slaving over a hot stove!

Ingredients:
1 pound chicken
5 oz mushrooms
1 large onion
2 garlic cloves
1 green bell pepper
1/2 tsp paprika powder
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tbsp butter
pepper
salt
For the heck of it:
Seeing this old and bad scan of the living room of my first tiny apartment in Gouda is what triggered the chicken stroganoff thing! I must have been 19 or barely 20 when I moved in there. It looks so delightfully girly and well, way too full of furniture.

*sigh*
Directions:
 Cut the chicken in strips or pieces.

Cut one medium bell pepper in pieces as well.

And cut a large onion in quartered rings.

I’ve used a soft tea towel to brush off roughly 8 mushrooms, removed the stems and sliced them.

Grate or mince two medium-sized garlic cloves or a large one.

Mix up 1 slightly heaping tbsp all-purpose flour and 1/2 tsp mustard powder.

Heat 1 tbsp butter and cook the chicken until tender. The chicken shouldn’t brown. Remove the chicken strips from the pan.
Heat one more tbsp butter and sauté the bell pepper and onion for 2 minutes before adding the mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms have softened, then add the garlic. Give it 30 more seconds.

Add the flour, stir and cook for a minute to neutralize the rawness.

Pour in 1 cup chicken broth, stir well, add the chicken strips and bring it all to a boil.

Season with 1/2 tsp salt—though this depends on how salty your broth is—and a good bit of pepper. Simmer without the lid on for 5 minutes.

Add 1/2 tsp sweet paprika powder, 1/2 a cup sour cream (I’ve used a low-fat crème fraiche), stir and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Serve over rice or noodles to get the full effect.

You literally whip this up in 20 minutes, but it’s such a magical dinner! Friends who ate it said in one long breath: “This is soooooo good“, after they took their first bite. Try it today, you won’t believe your taste buds.

Indian-Style Yoghurt Chicken

And so I send you into your week with a simple, tasty and really low-fat recipe. Now there’s a first! (might as well say it myself before someone else does.)
I had chicken and I had yoghurt, both needed to be used up before either one would get up and walk away on their own. I’m also the proud owner of two kitchen cabinets filled to the brim with an almost indecent amount of spices, and I’m not afraid to use them. So here’s what I came up with.
But first I have some shocking news. Are you sitting down? No? You’d better sit down.
I used coriander.
You can pick your jaw up off the floor now. No, I’m not kidding. I cannot believe I did that. I really wish I wouldn’t have done that. WHAT was I thinking?

Ingredients:
2 chicken fillets (boneless breasts)
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 tsp tandoori spices
1/2 tsp curry powder
1/8 tsp hot chili powder
1 garlic clove
1/4 tsp salt
coriander
Directions:
*this was (obviously) a recipe for two.
Flatten the chicken before placing them in a shallow dish. Just smack the heck out of ‘em. This should be one of the official anger management techniques, I tell ya!

Dump 1/2 cup yoghurt in a bowl. Feel free to use low-fat yoghurt, mine wasn’t.

Grate 1 large garlic clove and add it to the yoghurt.

I have a thing for Tandoori spices—always keep them in my pantry. Add 1 slightly heaping tsp tandoori spices.

And curry powder. I must have curry powder in my marinade, this is 1/2 a tsp. Spike the marinade with 1/8 tsp hot chili powder and 1/4 tsp salt. In hindsight, I could have added a pinch of ground cumin as well.

Clearly I wasn’t thinking! If I would’ve been, I would’ve tossed the coriander and used flat-leaf parsley in stead. But no, I just had to chop a handful of coriander while bravely ignoring the fact that just chopping the stuff almost made me gag. It did turn out to be a gorgeous orange marinade.

Pour the marinade all over the chicken, get some on both sides. Cover the tray with foil and let the chicken marinade for at least one hour. Preferably longer.

Fire up your grill. Get it really hot, lightly oil it and toss the chicken on top and grill it for about 5 minutes on each side. Of course this depends on the thickness of your chicken.

Serve on top of crispy cucumber sticks and tomato slices. Garnish with a little extra yoghurt and some freshly cracked black pepper. Give warm pita or naan bread and a big green salad on the side for a healthy, beautiful lunch or dinner.

Hate to say this because the chicken was cooked to perfection and it looked so incredibly beautiful, but the coriander completely ruined it for me. I should like coriander. I want to like coriander. But I don’t. It tastes so foul to me that it ruins everything it touches. I guess I was, am and will always be a coriander-phobic. Such is life.