The world's most delicious spaghetti

There are a couple of dishes that I could eat as long as I have any in of it in front of me, this pasta dish is one of these dishes. It's not complicated, you don't need anything special to make it and you don't even have to follow the recipe that much. You can leave out any of the ingredients and still have a great meal but of course it's the best if you use a lot of everything...:) This is why I won't write down precise amounts because you can decide for yourself how much you want from each ingredient. 

Ingredients: 

• smoked sliced bacon
• fresh thyme (as much as you want)
• rosemary (the same rule applies)
• garlic
• sundried tomatoes
• salt, pepper
• mushroom
• whole wheat spaghetti

Bring a pot of water with some salt and oil to a boil and cook the pasta in it. Meanwhile you have to slice the bacon and start frying it in a pan on a tiny bit of oil. Do it until the bacon is crispy. Then you can add the sliced mushrooms and cook it until it becomes soft, right after that you can add the garlic, the herbs and the tomaotes. Give it a good stir and let the flavours come out. Then you can add the cooked pasta and give it another good stir. Sprinkle some parmesan on top and that's it... :)

Rustic rosemary - garlic bread

 

The original idea of this bread is not my own, Jamie made something like this in Jamie at home, and it made me think that I could do a different version with more herbs and not only with plain flour. I'm sure it's totally different than the one he made, but it is really delicious. Not very complicated, can be easily made in the oven and even if you don't have anything else to eat, it's perfect for lunch or dinner. 

Ingredients for a big oven pan

• a total of 75 dkgs of flour, the percentage of plain and whole grain flour depends on your taste
• 420 mls of warm water
• 2 packets of dried yeast
• 3 teaspoons of salt
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• one big handful of chives
• a couple of thyme springs
• 5-6 springs of fresh rosemary
• 4-5 cloves of garlic chopped
• olive oil

Measure the flour and mix it with the yeast, the sugar and the salt plus the finely chopped herbs. If you are using a break baking machine, you only have to pour the flour in and then the water and the machine will do the rest. If not, make a whole in the middle of the flour for the water and then you can start kneading the dough until you get a flexible but soft dough. When it is ready, let it raise until it becomes double the original size. Line some baking paper into an oven pan and roll the dough to the size of the pan, lay it onto the pan and sprinkle the olive oil, the garlic and the rosemary leaves onto the dough. Then press your fingers into the dough all over the surface, but not all the way in, just make little "craters". Then put it in the oven at 200 degrees and bake it until the top becomes golden brown. 

Pangasius and potatoes roasted in beer

We have this old recipe for pangasius fish cooked in beer with bacon, so now I upgraded it a little into a one course dish. In this new version the fish fillet is cut into little pieces and the bacon is also minced. I have to admit the result was quite delicious :)

Ingredients for 4

• 1 kg of potatoes
• 2 big pieces of pangasius fillet
• 10 leaves of rosemary
• 2 onions 
• 10 dkgs of sliced bacon
• 2,5 dl of lager
• salt and pepper

Cut the potatoes in quarters and put them into a pan. Add some salt and pepper. Get the onions and the bacon into a frood processor and grind them. Stir the mixture in the pan with the potatoes. Chop the rosemary fine and sprinkle it onto the potatoes. Cover the pan with tin foil and cook it in the oven at 200 deg Celsius until the potato is done. Then put the cut up fish fillet on top and pour the beer too. Cover it again and put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes. After that remove the cover and let the fluids disappear and the top of the potatoes become golden. 

Rosemary - potato souffle with rosted vegetables and apples

It is very easy to make, perfect when you are in the middle of a big research for your university thesis for example, and you don't have too much time to cook. Potatoe might not be the lightest of food but if you have it with roasted vegetables, it's not too heavy.

Ingredients, serves 2

For the souffle

• 2 big potatoes
• 1 clove of garlic
• fresh rosemary leaves according to taste
• 5 dkg of cheese
• 3 tbl spoons of cream
• 1 dkg of butter
• 1 egg, yolk and white separated
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Peel and dice the potatoes. Cook them in salted water. When it's done, pour the water out and smash the potatoes with a fork. Add the butter and cream. Chop the garlic and the rosemary fine and add them to the potatoes. Grate the cheese and ad dhalf of it to the mixture. Let it cool for a bit and  then add the egg yolk. Beat the white and then mix it with the potatoes. Pour the mixture into the previously buttered souffle dishes and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Put the dishes into a pan, pour some water into the pan and put it in the oven at 190 deg Celsius, until the cheese gets golden.

For the roasted vegetables

• carrots
• mushrooms
• apples
• dark wine vinegar

Peel the carrots, cut them in halves. Put them into a heatproof dish onto a bit of oil, add some water and cover it with tin foil. Start cooking them in the oven at 200 deg Celsius. Meanwhile wash the apples, cut them in halves, cut the core out and cut them in wedges. The mushroom also needs to be cut in wedges. When the carrots are half done, add the apples and mushroom, pour some wine vinegar onto them and cover it again with the foil. Cook them unti the apple becomes soft, then remove the cover and cook it another 10 minutes. 

Roast chicken with orange and rosemary

I have never roasted a whole chicken before, so it was about time now :) It's not a complicated thing to do, you just have to do the seasoning carefully and you shouldn't let the chicken dry out. For garnish I made mashed potatoes, steamed french beans, onion sauce with red wine and mushrooms in  Worchestershire-sauce. I'll give you the recipe for the last two as well.

Ingredients

The chicken

• 1 whole chicken, insides removed
• 3 dkg of butter
• 1 orange
• 5 rosemary branches
• salt, pepper
•  a bit of water

Wash the chicken on the inside and the outside too, and put it in the dish in which you will roast it. Loosen the skin carefully at the legs and the breast and sprinkle salt and pepper under it. Rub butter under the skin and put a bit of rosemary everywhere. Cut the orange in quarters, and arrange it around the chiken, put one bit in the abdominal too along with a bit of rosemary. Pour some water under the chicken and cover it with tin foil. It needs one and a half hours in the oven at 180 deg Celsius, the last half an hour with the tin foil off, so that the skin gets crispy.

Mushroom caps filled with apples and mozzarella

Ingredients:

• mushroom caps, big ones
• mushroom stumps sliced 
• 1 mozzarella ball chopped fine
• 1 small onion chopped fine
• 1 apple chopped fine
• 10 dkg of ham or bacon
• fresh rosemary leaves
• salt, pepper, olive oil 

Wash the mushroom and remove the stumps gently. Pour a bit of olive oil in a fireproof dish and put the caps in it. Chop the onions fine and start cooking them in a bit of olive oil. Meanwhile chop the bacon or ham, the apples, the mushroom stumps and the mozzarella fine. The rosemary leaves also need to be choopped really fine. When the onion is half way done, add the bacon, the mushrooms and the apples, and cook them together until the apple gets soft a bit. Add some salt and pepper and the rosemary. Stuff the caps with the mixture and cook it in the oven at 180 deg Celsius for 15-20 minutes. 

Celery and pumpkin bisque with sausage chips

Ingredients

• 1 smaller onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• one half of a pumpkin
• one half of a celery
• 2 tbl spoons of sour cream
• 1.5 tbl spoons of rosemary leaves
• sliced sausage, amount according to taste
• a bit of ground nutmeg
• salt, freshly ground pepper
• about 1 l of water

Peel the onion and the garlic and chop them quite fine. Add some salt and pepper and start cooking them in a bit of oil. Meanwhile peel the celery and the pumpkin and cut them in equally big pieces. When the onions and the garlic is soft enough, add the vegetables and cook them together for 10 minutes, after adding some salt, then pour the water into the dish, turn on the heat and cover the dish. Cook it until the celery becomes absolutely soft. When it's done, puree the soup with a blender and put it back to the burner. Add the sour cream and the nutmeg, some ground pepper and, if necessary, salt. The soup is finished. 

Fry the rosemary leaves in a bit of oil to make them crunchy, as well as the sausage, and serve the soup with these two on the top.

Stuffed chicken thighs with roasted apples

Even during the hard workdays we deserve some treats, today this manifested it self as stuffed chicken legs for lunch. This autumn break inspires me to put apples in everything I make, and besides apples can make a perfect substitue for potatoes as garnish. I wouldnt call it a light meal , because the stuffing contains bread and mozzarella cheese, but the apples might give it a lighter essence.

Ingredients:

The amount of the ingredients is up to you to decide, depending on how much bread you want to use and how many chicken legs you have, etc.

For the stuffing:

• dry bread
• onion
• mozzarella cheese
• lemon zest
•  lemon juice
• walnuts
• rosemary 
• 1 egg
• salt, pepper

First of all soak the dry bread in water. Chop the onion fine, and fry it in a bit of oil. Put it in a dish and add the lemon zest and the finely chopped mozzarella. Chop the rosemary fine too, and add it to the mixture. Squeeze the water out of the bread and add this too. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix it thoroughly, dont leave big bits of bread stuck together. Taste it, if its all right, then add the egg(s) and mix it again.

 

The apples:

Cut the apples in halves, get the cores out and put them into a pan, on a bit of oil. Put the rosemary on the top of the apples, sprinkle some salt and pepper on them, and cover it tin foil.

  

All you need to do now is to sprinkle salt on the chicken legs on both sides, and get the stuffing under the skin. Cover them with tin foil and get it done in the oven at 180 deg Celsius in 45 minutes. When its done, remove the cover and let it become golden on the top. The apple only needs 20-25 minutes at the same temperature.