The Recipe Room

Beef Stroganoff, the popular Russian a dish, is a classic that doesn’t take too much time and can be fun to make! There are many variations, but this recipe, with tender beef fillet strips in a sour cream, onion and mushroom sauce, involves flambéing the meat in brandy.

The first time I made it, my flatmate and I had some laughs at my attempt at flambéing. I was careful, though, and no accidents occurred! And I learned two important things. 1) The alcohol won’t ignite if it’s cold; it should be warmed slightly first. 2) The food shouldn’t be left with the liquor too long before lighting; otherwise it will absorb the alcohol and acquire a harsh taste.

Another good tip is to chill the meat in the freezer for about half an hour beforehand to help cut the beef into thin strips.

If you are really hungry, you could always pair this dish up with Russian rye bread, in keeping with the Russian theme.

If you love salads that are consistent enough to eat as a main course and have many different ingredients, then this Wild Rice Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette is for you! I invented it myself one day when a friend came round for lunch and I didn’t feel like cooking.

The second time I made it, I couldn’t remember all the exact ingredients I had used the first time, but that’s the great thing about it! You can use whatever ingredients you have available at the time, so it doesn’t always have to be the same. You can use any kind of hard or crumbly cheese, and any kind of fish. If you don’t like fish, use ham. If you’re not keen on capers, just leave them out or add something else you like.

I know sun-dried tomatoes aren’t the kind of thing we always have at home, so just use fresh tomatoes! And if you are feeling particularly lazy and can’t be bothered to make the vinaigrette, then just add olive oil, vinegar and salt. But I strongly recommend the mustard vinaigrette – it makes for a much tastier salad.

Apart from being a fun idea for a main meal at home, this salad is wonderful for picnics. It makes for a very complete, balanced and healthy dish, as it contains protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats. You could also try my rice salad with spinach and avocado. Very tasty!

Halibut is quite a versatile and relatively inexpensive fish. It has a non-oily, but firm and mild-flavoured flesh. It is capable of absorbing other flavours well, making it great for experimenting with in the kitchen! And it can be substituted for other kinds of fish and sometimes chicken in many recipes. If you don’t like fishy tasting seafood but want to include fish in your diet, halibut is a good choice.

My first experience with halibut was when I was a young girl. Of course, my mum made sure that my piece didn’t contain any bones. She mixed together a simple butter sauce to drizzle over the tender fish, and I loved it! She and I like to experiment together with various dressings, and I owe part of the credit for this recipe to her. We have a lot of fun, and I appreciate that she instilled in me the importance of fish in a healthy balanced diet.

Of course, some of my favourite creamy toppings are not necessarily low-calorie…. But overall, fish has a lot of health benefits.

This Baked Halibut with mixed herbs is just lovely. As it’s cooked in lemon juice, garlic, parsley, chives and thyme, all those different flavours soak into the fish, making a really tasty meal. But be careful not to overcook the halibut, or it will dry out because of its low oil content.

For a spicier dinner, try this yellow thai fish curry.

If you like anchovies, or even if you don’t, I recommend trying this recipe. My flatmate says she doesn’t like them, but when I made Puttanesca Pasta, I didn’t tell her what was in it. She loved it! I think it’s because the strong flavour of the anchovies is softened by the onion and tomato and disguised a little by the garlic, chilli and basil. It’s a very flavourful sauce that I think deserves to be served with fresh pasta, which apart from being tastier, is also faster to cook.

Accompany with this no-egg caesar salad, which also uses an anchovy paste, a perfect complement to the pasta recipe.

The origins of Puttanesca sauce (sugo alla Puttanesca in Italian) are not certain, but many say it has something to do with “ladies of the night” because puttana is a colloquial word for prostitute. It’s said that prostitutes in Naples created this dish with readily available ingredients and that they used its fragrance to tempt customers into their brothels, offering them dinner and then “dessert”!

If you have a little bit of extra time, you can, like I have done here, prepare a potato mash and add hummus to it for extra flavour. In this dish of Hake with potato and hummus mash, I have mixed the hummus and potatoes for an extra yummy and healthy mash that goes well with fish.

Just like Japanese soy and Italian green pesto, I always make sure I have a bowl of hummus at home. Lazy as I am, I always buy it ready-made, but if you have a blender, you can easily put this together at home yourself. If you’d like to try, here is a Moroccan hummus recipe that you will love!

This Middle Eastern dish is made of chickpeas, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and tahini, a sesame seed paste, blended all together to form a paste. It is great as a meat substitute as it is very high in protein and a good source of fibre. It also contains loads of other goodies and is truly scrumptious, so eat away!

Hummus paste is great for sandwiches as a spread or added as an extra ingredient and flavour to something else. I even know people who eat it with a spoon!

Continuing with the Japanese-themed dishes, the turn has come to Hake, a fish from the cod family that is low in fat but high in protein, so excellent for people who are on a diet.

In this dish of Hake with teriyaki sauce, the yummy teriyaki sauce gives this otherwise rather tasteless fish a delicious flavour and texture.

Teriyaki is a Japanese cooking technique in which food is grilled in a sweet soy sauce marinade. The word teriyaki derives from the noun ‘teri’ which means a ‘shine’ given by the sugar content, and ‘yaki’ which refers to the cooking method by grilling.

Sesame seeds are a nutty flavoured and really versatile ingredient that can be used in many dishes either to make it look nice or for its health benefits. The seeds are known to have cholesterol -lowering effects in humans and also are a source of many good nutrients such as copper and magnesuim. They also boast high levels of antioxidants. They can be sprinkled over salads, added to bread dough or used as I have done in this dish – sprinkled over fish or chicken.

I recommend accompanying the fish with an apple, walnut, raisins and iceberg lettuce.  Those fruits and nuts will make it a fresh and altogether healthy option. You could also pair it with steamed spring vegetables with toasted pine nuts, which would be rather tasty sprinkled with a bit of teriyaki as well. It is really quick to make and perfect as an on-the go- lunch. I hope you like it!

I love experimenting with different kinds of lasagne because you can basically put just about anything into a lasagne, and it still turns out delicious. Here is one  vegetable lasagne in which I have used spinach, due to its pure healthiness, and cranberries since they are delicious and more versatile than just in desserts. (If you like meat in your pasta, try this beef and kale lasagne.)

Did you know that cranberries have lately been marketed as a “super-fruit” due to their high content in nutrients and antioxidant qualities? They are a great source of vitamin C and are low in calories but high in fibre.

Cranberries are very much part of North American and Canadian cuisine. They use them in marmalades, sauces, desserts and, not to forget, as a very important part of the Thanksgiving dinner.

Native Americans were the first to use cranberries as food. Native Americans used cranberries in a variety of foods, but also for medicines and dyes. It is believed that the natives introduced cranberries to starving English settlers who later incorporated them into the traditional feast of Thanksgiving.

What we need:

• 6-8 lasagne noodles

• 400ml of tomato sauce

• 100ml of full fat milk

• 1 teaspoon of thyme

• 1 clove of garlic, minced

• 1 carrot

• 1 onion

• 200g of fresh spinach, chopped

• 20 dried cranberries

• 100g of cheddar cheese

How to make it:

1. Pour the tomato sauce into a bowl and add the thyme, garlic and milk.

2. Wash and peel the carrot. Cut both the carrot and onion into small slices.

3. Mix the spinach, carrot, cranberries and onion all together.

4. Pour some of the tomato sauce into the oven-safe form.

5. Add a layer of lasagne noodles.

6. Alternate between the pasta, tomato sauce and the veggie/cranberry mix.

7. End the last layer with the last lasagne noodle. Add the last of the tomato sauce and sprinkle the cheddar cheese on top, grated or in slices.

8. Place in the middle of the oven for 40 – 50 minutes.

Enjoy!

Serves: 2-3

Time needed: preparation time 15 minutes and then oven time.

Level: Easy

I´m a big fan of Italian cooking, but usually I don´t have time for more than throwing a handful of macaroni and some vegetables into a saucepan and letting them boil together. Last Friday night I thought I´d try a more elaborate pasta dish and found this recipe for mushroom lasagna with mozzarella and tomatoes to be easy enough even for a busy student like me.

Although the preparation does take some time, after that the lasagna makes itself in the oven while I bury my head in the books. Half an hour later, the dish is ready and you can have yourself a well-deserved treat!

What we need:

• 300g dry fusilli pasta
• 450g of sliced mushrooms (frozen or fresh)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1/2 a courgette
• 400 grams of chopped tomatoes from a tin
• 400 of crème fraîche
• 400g of mozzarella
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• a pinch of salt and pepper
• a sprig of fresh basil (optional)

How we make it:

1. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees.
2. Meanwhile, boil the pasta, but not too much as it will later go in the oven as well.
3. If you use frozen mushrooms, place them in a frying pan and fry until the liquid is gone. Place them on a plate for later use.
4. Peel and chop the garlic, onion and courgettes.
5. Fry them along with olive oil in a frying pan and then add the chopped tomatoes and the sugar. Let it boil for around 10 minutes.
6. Heat the crème fraîche in a saucepan and take half of the mozzarella and place it in lumps in the crème fraîche. Let them melt together. Add the salt and pepper.
7. Take an oven-safe form and put some of the tomato sauce in the bottom.
8. Place a layer of the fusilli on top, covering the form.
9. Now, alternate between the crème fraîche sauce, tomato sauce and fusilli pasta.
10. On the top, place the rest of the crème fraîche sauce and add the rest of the mozzarella cheese.
11. Place in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and sprinkle over the fresh basil.

Serves: 4
Time needed: 50 minutes (including oven time)
Level: easy – intermediate

I try not to eat a lot of meat, but recently I have taken a shining to finding lamb dishes, and the other day I went on a splurge to a Moroccan restaurant searching for something new and interesting. There I realised that couscous is a rice substitute that I had overlooked. After seeing that I could combine lamb and couscous together, I thought I’d try this lamb with couscous and apricot salad, which is a really light and fresh lunch that won’t leave you feeling heavy in any way.

If you are a vegetarian, you could also try this pistachio and cranberry couscous with goat’s cheese. Either way, couscous makes a satisfying salad!

As it is equally delicious served warm or cold, it is also ideal for a spring picnic. Just put the lamb in one container and the couscous and apricot salad in another and combine them on arrival!

What we need:

• 600g lamb, cubed or cut into small pieces
• 400g of couscous
• 12 dried apricots
• 1 tablespoon of pressed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 dl of cashew nuts
• 30g raisins
• a handful of chopped almonds
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 3 pinches of ground pepper
• 2 pinches of salt
• 10 coriander leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick (to garnish)

How to make it:

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees.
2. Fry the lamb in a frying pan in the butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Place the meat in an oven-safe form and place in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes until ready.
4. In a sauce pan, boil the couscous according to the instructions on the package.
5. Meanwhile, chop the apricots into small pieces.
6. Mix the olive oil with the lemon juice and cinnamon.
7. Add the apricots, cashew nuts, raisins and almonds with the lemon juice/olive oil mixture.
8. Add the couscous when it is ready. Mix it all carefully. Add salt and pepper according to taste.
9. Serve the couscous salad as the base on a plate and place the lamb on top.
10. Sprinkle over the coriander leaves and garnish with the cinnamon stick.

Time needed: 30 minutes
Serves: 4
Level: Easy

I never tire of roulades, and neither do my taste buds. My personal favourites are chicken and bacon roulades with cream cheese and rosemary. For me, there is something about mixing two distinct flavours into one that has a strange appeal. Besides being easy to prepare, roulades combine two or more different foods, and by doing so, often create a surprising culinary sensation.

Often roulades are considered a fantastic dessert option. This Chocolate Roulade is absolutely scrumptious.

I myself am a “meat and potatoes girl”. Veggies are delicious, but nothing beats the idea of mixing two kinds of meat into one dish and having potatoes as the carbohydrate base. And I know I’m not alone. My girlfriends are known to throw pot luck dinners, granting me the opportunity to show off my culinary skills as well as the possibility of tasting others’ dishes. I take lots of ideas away from those meals, but my friends always demand that I bring these roulades! And that is just fine with me.

For your next dinner function, I recommend this dish. Not only is it quick and easy, but your friends will vote you “Top Chef” of the night.

What we need:

• 3 big potatoes
• 4 thin chicken fillets
• 250g bacon
• 3 tablespoons of cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon of rosemary
• a pinch of salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil

How to make it:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees celsius.
2. Put some oil in an oven-safe form.
3. Peel and slice the potatoes.
4. Place the potatoes in the form, pour the olive oil and sprinkle the rosemary and salt over them.
5. Take the chicken fillets and pat them as flat as possible.
6. Spread the cream cheese onto the chicken and sprinkle the pepper over them.
7. Roll the chicken fillets into tubes and wrap the bacon around them.
8. Place the chicken and bacon rolls on top of the potatoes.
9. Place in the middle of the oven for approximately 20 minutes.
10. Serve with an iceberg and tomato salad.

Serves: 8

Time needed: 20 minutes

Level: easy