Beef Soup

Aaaahhhh... soup... the wonder of ancient times, the go-to meal for leftovers and the income impaired. It can be made into a culinary taste extravaganza, or it can be as simple as throwing stuff together. It can be used as a starter, served as a side dish or even be the main course. 

 I didn't use to love soup so much when I was younger, probably because I only knew Cup-a -Soup and tinned soups (nothing against them, they do have their place). But only once I started making my own soup, could I appreciate the versatility - both in taste and monetary value - of this extraordinary dish. My favourite soup is Burnt Pumpkin Soup, although Spinach Soup is a close second. I must confess: Tomato Soup has abhorred my senses (some childhood memories involving pepper and worcestershire sauce die hard), but when I made my own with fresh ingredients, I was pleasantly surprised!

This Beef Soup is for meat nights and is so simple, yet packed full of taste sensations. It warms the belly and makes your tongue smile, filling you up with goodness, and a feeling of contentment... Perhaps I am overselling it! But why don't you make it and find out for yourself?

Ingredients

600g goulash
1x beefstock cube
1L warm water
1x packet brown onion soup
1L warm water
2tbs soya sauce
1tbs whole coriander seeds
1t whole black peppercorns
1/2t whole cloves
4x potatoes, quartered

Method

1. Mix the beefstock cube and 1L warm water well.
2. Mix the soup and 1L warm water well.
3. Put all the ingredients in a pressure cooker. Follow your cooker's instructions to cook it. (Mine was 40minutes)
4. Once done, chop everything in a food processor to the soup consistency of your preference.
5. Serve warm with bread

And enjoy!

Yours in oil and veggies
Risch

Beef Schnitzel, Mushroom Sauce & Mash

It has been a while since I made Beef Schnitzel, so I am looking forward to creating this dish! It has also been a while since I typed up a recipe and actually posted it, so I am quite looking forward to that too. 
I have the menu for May 2018 all done and dusted, and if all goes well, I will be doing the recipes every night. 
Remember, my end goal is to create easy, but tasty recipes, made with ingredients that is easily found and easy on the budget: 365 recipes for 365 days!

Ingredients:

Mash
8 Potatoes
1 l Water
1 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Cream
60 g Margarine

Mushroom Sauce
30 g Margarine
2 Onions, chopped
250 g Mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup Cream
2 tbsp Grated Parmesan cheese

Beef Schnitzel
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Flour
1/4 tsp Ground white pepper
1/2 tsp Ground coriander
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Breadcrumbs
1 kg Tenderized steak

Method

Mash
1. Quarter the potatoes and boil till very soft in the water with salt.
2. Add margarine and cream to potatoes and mash. Set aside.

The Mushroom Sauce
1. Melt margarine and add chopped onions. Fry till lightly brown.
2. Add the mushrooms to the onions and lightly fry.
3. Add the cream and cook on low heat for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the parmesan, mix well, remove from heat, set aside.

The Schnitzel
1. Mix flour, salt, pepper and coriander. Place in flat dish.
2. Lightly beat eggs and 1tsp  water. Place in flat dish.
3. Put breadcrumbs in flat didsh.
4. Take steak and dip in flour, then in eggwash, then in the breadcrumbs.
5. Fry the crumbed steak in a little oil in a pan / frying pan, until golden brown.

Serve warm with mushroom sauce, mash and salad - and perhaps a glass of wine!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Potato Bake with Bacon

Potatoes is one of the most versatile foods out there. And also one of the healthiest – despite what those medical people say. You take a potato out of the ground, wash it and cook it – no processing whatsoever. Please tell me how it can be unhealthy? Not to mention how absolutely delicious potatoes are with butter and cheese and cream and mushrooms…

Preparation time: 15min

Cooking time: +-2hours

Difficulty Level: Very easy

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

8 medium potatoes

500ml milk

1 onion, finely chopped

50g butter

350g bacon bits

100g cheese

Salt & Pepper

Breadcrumbs in butter

Method:

Cook the whole potatoes till ¾ ready.

 Add the onion to the milk and cook for about 20min on medium heat.  

Drain the milk off, and keep both the milk and onion.

Melt the butter and fry the onion and bacon until soft and lightly starting to brown. 

Add the onion milk and mix well.

Slice the potatoes and layer in a baking dish. Dot a little butter and sprinkle salt & pepper over the potato. 

Add some cheese. Add another layer of potato, and continue to layer until all the potato is done.

Pour over the bacon mixture.

Melt some butter and add the breadcrumbs, enough to cover the top the dish. I had a bit of a mishap, so mine doesn't exactly cover the top!!

Bake in the oven at 160°C until nicely browned.

Serve at a braai, or as part of dinner or enjoy as is!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Fried Green Beans on Baked Potato

Not knowing what to make for dinner can drive you to pull your hair out. Especially at month-end when groceries are running low. I am running out of cheese, butter, cream, flour, toiletpaper and washing powder. No flour = nothing with dough, and no pasta. No cheese limits my cooking abilities a lot. Don't know if you have realised, but most of my cooking involves cheese. Butter is essential too...
Anyway, so this is what I came up with.

Ingredients

Green Beans, whole
Butter
Salt & Pepper
Oil
Potatoes, whole & baked in microwave
Maizena
Mayonnaise

Method
Cook the beans in a pot. I cooked mine from frozen, so I didn't add any water. Add the butter and let it cook covered until becoming a little softer. A nice juice will form as the beans cook. Pour off the sauce into a pot. Mix in about 2-3 tbs mayonnaise and blend well (you can use a blender, it is much quicker). Mix a little maizena with a little cold water. Heat up the sauce and add the maizena mixture. Stir constantly until it thickens. Remove from heat. Pour a little oil into the pot with the beans. Let it fry until partly lightly browned and crunchy. Quarter potatoes. Melt some butter and pour over the potatoes. Sprinkle salt & pepper over to taste. Place some beans over the potato. Pour over some sauce and sprinkle with crumbled feta...

And enjoy!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Hasselback Scalloped Potatoes

I have seen people posting this on Facebook, I have found more than a dozen recipes as to how to make this. And considering that it does look so very edible, I decided to give it a go. However, I have to say, it is not as the recipes on the Web... I may be too little of a cook to achieve it the way their pictures look, but I just couldn't duplicate their techniques. 

Ingredients

6 whole potatoes
cold butter
cheese, sliced and grated
olive oil
Ground black pepper
cayenne pepper
whipped cream/sour cream/buttermilk
cream cheese/ cottage cheese

Method

Wash and slice the potatoes, but do not cut through.

Slice the butter into slices of about 2mm thick, as well as the cheese. 

Alternating between the grooves in the potato, place the butter and cheese slices in the grooves. (one groove cheese, one groove butter). Well, that's how they say you should do it. I couldn't manage it, and this is my attempt:

Drizzle olive oil over and gallantly grind black pepper and salt over. Bake in an oven at 180 degrees C, until the potato is done. 

Top generously with grated cheese, pour over the cream or sour cream or buttermilk, and sprinkle some cayenne pepper on top. 

Place it back in the oven and bake until the cheese is completely melted and starting to brown. 

Remove from oven, add a dollop of cream cheese or cottage cheese, and serve!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Buttery stew Pie

I am so sorry, yet ANOTHER stew recipe... Although, this one is a little different. And even more delicious than the others!! But I do love my pies...

Preparation time: 10min

Cooking time: 5 hours

Difficulty Level: Easy

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

4tbs butter

2tbs soya sauce

1tbs balsamic vinegar

500g stew meat

300ml boiling water

1 cube beef stock

2t Bisto

1 onion, chopped

4 medium potatoes, cubed

1 roll puff pastry

Method:

I used the slow cooker as it is very easy to put the meat in and leave it. It also cooks very soft, as stew meat can be a bit chewy. You can do this on the stove, if you don't have a slow cooker. Your cooking time will be much less, though, and you will have to continually check that it does not burn. 

Place the meat in the pot. 

 Add the butter, soya sauce, vinegar. Dissolve the beef stock in half the boiling water and add to the pot. 

Cook for 2 hours. 

Dissolve the Bisto in the other half of the boiling water and add to the pot. Add the onion and the potato. Cook for another 2 hours. The potato should be ready. Roll out the puff pastry and line a baking dish. Scoop the meat into the dish and cover with pastry. Brush with eggwash or milk. Bake in the oven at 160degrees C until nicely browned.

Serve with a salad or side veggies and enjoy!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Mince & Mielie Bake

Well, pulling the strings on the budget a bit tighter, I had to resort to using cheap margarine and oil instead of butter. But - as you will see when you make the recipes - it still tastes wonderful! Necessity is the mother of invention, they say...

Preparation time: 10min
Cooking time: 1 1/2 hours
Difficulty level: Very easy
Serves: as much as you like

Ingredients

12 small potatoes
2tbs cooking oil
1 onion, chopped
1 punnet mushrooms, sliced
2tbs balsamic vinegar
1t spice for mince
salt & pepper to taste
1 tin sweetcorn 410g
100g cheddar cheese, grated
6t margarine

Method

Warm the oil, fry the onions and mushrooms until nicely browned. 

 Add the mince, balsamic vinegar, spice for mince and salt & pepper to taste. Finely separate the mince, and fry until done. Cook the potatoes whole, until done. I used the microwave method. In a baking dish large enough for all the potatoes, open the potatoes by quartering them, but don't slice through. Scoop 1/2 t of margarine/butter onto each of the potatoes. Sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste. Scoop the sweetcorn over each potato, dividing it equally. Add the cheese. 

Lastly, add the mince. 

Cover with foil, make a couple of small holes to let the steam out, and bake in the oven at 180degrees C for 30min or so, until the cheese has thoroughly melted. 

Serve with a fresh garden salad, and enjoy!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Cheesy Potato & Biltong Bake

Tuesday is supposed to be Meat night, but I was busy (still) painting the house, kids homework, trying to make cottage cheese, and butter (5th attempt - I just don't understand it, no cream wants to turn to butter!!) and I wasn't in the mood for MEAT. Perhaps because I devoured half a kilo of biltong during the day... hhhmmm..
The biltong also became my inspiration! I like cooking with biltong, it already has a unique, rich flavour to it, and it gives an air of decadence to the meal - it is, after all, a delicatessen item, and expensive! 
I made this bake in separate bowls for each person eating. The idea of your own privately prepared meal, makes you feel special, plus it saves on dishes! The ingredients was enough for us 5 family members.

Ingredients

5 medium to large potatoes (1per person)
5t margarine (1t per person)
1/2 punnet mushrooms
1 onion, halved and sliced
5tbs thick cream (1tbs per person)
10tbs cottage cheese (2tbs per person)
5 handfulls of biltong (1 handful per person)
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 1/2 cups of grated cheddar cheese (1/2 cup per person)
1tbs margarine

Method

Cook the potatoes whole, either on the stove or in the microwave. Slice it open in the bowl. Add the teaspoon of margarine, salt & pepper. 

Melt the tbs of margarine in a pan, fry the onion and mushrooms until nicely browned.

 Scoop the cream and cottage cheese over the potato. Add the biltong, then the onion and mushrooms, and lastly cover with the cheddar cheese. 

Bake in the oven at 160degrees C until cheese is fully melted and starting to brown. Enjoy this decadence with or without a salad - I was way too hungry to bother with the salad!! And the best part: this fabulously delicious meal, is actually low-carb!!!

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Potato & Leek Soup

I thought of this as a light, quick soup to make, perfect for Sunday dinner after a heavy (absolutely divine!!) Sunday lunch..
Ya, ehh... no. Although very easy and with quite few ingredients, it is not a "light" meal.. It is so filling, and tasty, you can't stop eating even if you wanted to! The soup in itself is carb-friendly (yes, I know, potatoes is seen as the "enemy", along with bread and cookies, but I do not agree. There is absolutely nothing refined about potatoes... it's naturally found in nature. So I believe it's good for you!! Enjoy your potatoes!!). But my son who has recently developed an interest in cooking, wanted to make bread. So I let him bake a bread... 
Very few things in life comes close to the taste of freshly home-baked bread and butter.
I couldn't resist!!

Preparation Time: 30min
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Difficulty Level: Easy
Serves: 8

Ingredients

13 potatoes (I counted 2 per person, but some were small potatoes, so I added 3 more)
4 leeks
1 onion
2 twigs rosemary
250ml cream
900ml water
1 cube chicken stock
1/2 tub cream cheese
4tbs butter
lemon zest

Method

Cook the potatoes - skin on - till soft.

 Rinse under cold water, remove the skins. The skins comes off very easy. I recommend taking off a bit more flesh, to make delicious potato-skin chippies! 

Melt the butter in the pot. Finely mince the leeks and onion together. Check the leeks to make sure there isn't any soil in and that the outer leaf is fresh. Remove it if it isn't fresh. Fry the onion and leek in the butter until it just starts to brown. 

Cut the potatoes in cubes and mix with the onion mix. Dissolve the cube chicken stock in the water and add it to the potatoes. Add the rosemary and salt and pepper to taste. 

Mix and let it cook on low heat for about 20 min. Add the cream and cream cheese. Mince by hand or in a blender, depending on how smooth you want to make the soup.

Mix through and add the zest. If you want it thicker, let it cook a little longer. If you want it more watery, add some water. 

Serve hot with the skin-chippies, and freshly baked bread with butter...

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Potato-Pumpkin Mash

I made this as a side-dish to the Lemon Tartlets, and it really complimented the dish beautifully!! However, I am putting it as a separate recipe, because this is just a great alternative to plain mash, you can make it as a side for other meals, too!!

Ingredients

4 potatoes
500g pumpkin (I cooked from frozen)
2 fresh rosemary twigs
2tbs butter
salt&pepper to taste

Method

Cut up the potatoes and cook until soft. 

Add the pumpkin and rosemary and cook until you can mash it up. Add the salt & pepper to taste and the butter, mix well.

Mash it together, remove the rosemary twigs...

And serve!

Enjoy as a side dish to braais, or fish (it will be absolutely divine with the Baked Haddock).

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

Stew-Pie

Sunday Lunch... always the kicker!! What to make? It is somewhat of a tradition to eat a decent Sunday lunch, to the point of completely stuffing yourself, and then falling down somewhere for that well-deserved Sunday afternoon "nap"... mostly just waiting for the food to settle and a little space to open up in the very stretched stomach for that sought after Sunday Dessert... 
Well, I decided on a stew thing. With dumplings. So it's almost a pie, too... It's so delicious, you won't care what it is called - as long as you can make it again!!

Preparation time: 30min
Cooking & Baking time: 100min
Difficulty Level: Easy
Serves: 5

Ingredients

500g stew meat / goulash
2l water
1 cube beef stock
1tbs balsamic vinegar
3tbs soya sauce
potatoes - 1 per person
small pickle onions - 2 per person
8 whole cloves
3 bay leaves

Method

Put the meat in a pot - preferably one that is oven proof as well, again I used my cast iron pot.

Dissolve the beef stock in 1 litre of the water and add to the meat. Add the vinegar and soya sauce. Cover and cook for about 40min.

Add the other litre of water, the cloves, bay leaves, potatoes and onions.

 Cover and cook for another 30min.

Make the dumpling dough*, scoop over the meat. 

Cook covered in the oven at 160degrees C for about 30min, until the dough is done.

Serve and enjoy!!

I made cauliflower and broccolli with cheese and cream to go with the dish. It wasn't even necessary for rice!! The meal was filling, delicious - and healthy! Of course, for the low carb version: don't add the dumpling dough. But if your family loves it (like mine), make it, just don't dish the dough up for you.

Yours in oil and veggies

Risch

* Find the Dumpling Dough recipe on this blog.