Chinese chicken salad (in crispy tortilla bowls)

Now that I finally have a new laptop, here is the recipe for the Chinese chicken salad I promised you. Obviously you can serve it on a plate or in a regular bowl, but it's more fun when you serve it in a crispy tortilla bowl.

The first step is to make Oriental Poached Chicken. You can use pieces of roast chicken as well, but this poached chicken tastes sooo good! You can make it a day in advance and put it in your fridge, if you want.

Oriental Poached Chicken

• 125 ml soy sauce (not the sweet kind!)
• 125 ml orange juice
• 4 dl water
• 3 pieces of fresh ginger of approx. 2,5 cm, flattened with the back of a knife
• 1/2 five spice powder (or 2 star anise)
• 4 chicken breasts (without the skin)

- Bring all liquids and spices to the boil in a pot or big pan. 
- Turn down the heat so the liquid simmers and add the pieces of chicken.
- Cover and turn the heat even lower, simmer for approx. 2 mins, turn the chicken and simmer for 2 more mins.
- Leave the chicken in the broth to cool down. (You can also put it in the fridge this way if you want to use it the next day.)
- Remove the chicken once it's cold and cut it into small pieces, suitable for a salad for children.

Chinese Chicken Salad

• The pieces of oriental poached chicken made using the recipe above, or at least 2 cups roast chicken in small pieces
• 2 or 3 spring onions, chopped
• 1 very big carrot (or a number of smaller ones), in small pieces (julienne or similar)
• 2 stems of white celery, in narrow strips
• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 2 or 3 handfuls of soy sprouts
• 1/2 cup roast sesame seed

Dressing:

• 2 tsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

If preferred:

• 1 package oriental noodles (you can fry them instead of cooking them if you like, so they become crunchy)
• 6 or 8 crispy tortilla bowls

- Put the chicken with all of the vegetables and the sesame seeds in a bowl. Add in the dressing and stir well.

- If you want to, you can add either cooked or fried noodles to the salad, otherwise serve it without noodles in crispy tortilla bowls.

Easy as pie 3: Zucchini, peas & salmon quiche

Since both of my children love to eat salmon, I invented this quiche for them. It's delicious!

Zucchini, peas & salmon quiche

Serves 4

• 1 puff pastry pie base (from the supermarket)
• 1 (green) zucchini (peeled and sliced)
• 2 handfuls of frozen peas (the sweetest you can find)
• 2 salmon fillets (in cubes)
• a handful of  grated cheese (I think I used gruyere cheese)
• 150 g cottage cheese
• 1,5 dl condensed milk (unsweetened)
• 1 tbsp wheat flour
• 2 eggs
• olive oil
• tsp of dill
• (salt) & pepper

- Briefly steam or fry the zucchini slices (4 or 5 mins). They should still be crunchy, as you still have to put it in the oven. Season with dill and salt and pepper to taste.

- Cook the peas briefly in boiling water until they start 'floating'.

- Preheat the oven to 200°C (or 180°C for a fan assisted oven). Beat the 2 eggs and mix them with the cottage cheese, the flour and the condensed milk.

- Put the pie base in a quiche or pie pan (I tend to use a regular silicone pie pan, which means I have to 'fold' the dough a bit at the sides.)

- Now put the zucchini on top of the pie base. You can just throw it in and spread it out a bit, or you can create nice circles with it, that's what I do ;-). Then add the raw cubes or slices of salmon and decorate with the peas.

- Sprinkle with the grated cheese.

- Pour the egg 'mixture' on top of the vegetables and put it in the oven for 15 - 20 mins.

Enjoy!

Omelette with champignons & grilled bell pepper

This omelette is a bit like a frittata (Italian omelette).  My 3-year-old daughter loves mushrooms, so she asked for a champignon omelette. This one does take up a bit more time since you have to grill the bell pepper, and removing the seeds and skin afterwards is a bit of a messy job. But it's worth it, since grilled bell pepper has a fantastic taste.

Omelette with champignons & grilled red bell pepper

Serves 4

• 250 g champignons, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• handful of grated parmesan
• 4 eggs
• pepper
• (salt)

- Wash a red bell pepper and put it underneath the hot grill in your oven. When the skin turns black, turn it (obviously you need oven mitts) and keep doing this until (almost) the entire skin has turned black. Then put it in a plastic bowl and put on the lid, so it can 'steam' inside the bowl. Once it has cooled down, take it out of the bowl and remove the seeds and skin.

- Preheat the oven to 180°C or 160°C for a fan-assisted oven.

- Heat the olive oil and fry the garlic briefly then add the sliced champignons. Season to taste with pepper and/or salt. Don't fry them too long, as you still have to put them in the oven.

- Cut the fried bell pepper into strips.

- Beat the eggs with salt and/or pepper in a bowl, and add the champignons, grilled pepper and a handful of grated parmesan. Stir well.

- Grease a (silicone) pie pan with a little olive oil and pour in the mixture. Put it in the oven for 20 - 30 mins.

This can be served with rice, pasta, potatoes,... and also eaten cold on a picnic or day trip.

(Dutch recipe available on demand)

Rice Salad with salmon, sweet chili-lemon sauce & peas

This is an ideal lunch for daytrips. I like to prepare it in the morning, put it in a Tupperware bowl and take it with me, but you could also prepare it the day before and put it in the fridge.

Rice salad with salmon, sweet chili lemon sauce & peas

Serves 4

• 4 fillets of salmon
• 125 ml Thai sweet chili sauce
• 60 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup of boiled rice (preferably still hot)
• 1 cup of boiled peas (or more, and/or sugarsnap peas)

 - Put the salmon in an ovendish and season with pepper and/or salt to taste. Mix the sweet chilisauce with the lemon juice and pour it over the salmon fillet.

- Pre-heat the oven to 250°C or 220°C for a fan-assisted oven and leave the salmon in it for 5 to 6 minutes. Mix the fish and the chilisauce with the peas and/or sugarsnaps and chill for a couple of hours.

The salmon is also very nice as a hot dish, served with rice and spinach (and then you could replace the lemon juice with lime juice, as well).

(Dutch recipe available on demand)

Easy as pie II: Vegetarian broccoli, champignon & cherry tomato pie

I made this vegetable pie on a lazy sunday, so I used dough from the supermarket instead of making it myself. This time I used fresh shortcrust pastry. You could use puff pastry as well, but I think shortcrust is nicer for this combination of vegetables. I haven't forgotten my promise to post some recipes with dough made from scratch, I definitely will do that at some point!

Broccoli, Champignons & Cherry Tomato Pie:

• 1 shortcrust pastry pie base (from the supermarket)
• 300 g broccoli florets
• 250 g champignons (quartered)
• a handful of cherry tomatoes (the sweetest you can find)
• 2 handfuls of  grated cheese (I used a mixture of parmesan, rigatello & mozzarella)
• 150 g cottage cheese
• 1,5 dl condensed milk (unsweetened)
• 1 tbsp wheat flour
• 2 eggs
• olive oil
• a pinch of thyme
• tsp of marjoram
• (salt) & pepper

- Briefly steam or cook the broccoli (4 or 5 mins). It should still be crunchy, as you still have to cook it in the oven.

- Fry the champignons in olive oil. Again, don't fry them too long as they still have to spend 20 mins in the oven. Season with thyme, marjoram and salt and pepper to taste.

- Preheat the oven to 200°C (or 180°C for a fan assisted oven). Beat the 2 eggs and mix them with the cottage cheese, the flour and the condensed milk.

- Put the pie base in a quiche or pie pan (I tend to use a regular pie pan, which means I have to 'fold' the dough a bit at the sides.)

- Now put the broccoli on top of the pie base. You can just throw it in and spread it out a bit, or you can create nice circles with it, that's what I do ;-). Then add the champignons and decorate with the cherry tomatoes.

- Sprinkle with the grated cheese.

- Pour the egg 'mixture' on top of the vegetables and put it in the oven for 15 - 20 mins.

(Dutch recipe available on demand)

Cold soup for hot days (or teething pains): cucumber soup

Yes, I know, it's very definitely not a hot day in Belgium today... But my nearly 17-month-old has been eating cold soup nearly every day for the last month or so. He loves soup in general, but the cold soup is especially popular when he's teething.

This week I made a classic: 

Cold cucumber & yoghurt soup

• 3 cucumbers, seeded and roughly chopped
• 350 ml Greek yoghurt
• 250 ml vegetable stock, chilled
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint (and if you want, some extra to garnish)
• salt and ground black pepper
• paprika for sprinkling
• (4 spring onions, cut into lengths and finely shredded to garnish)

- Purée the cucumbers in a blender until smooth. Add the yoghurt and stock and pulse briefly to combine.

- Pour the soup into a plastic bowl. Stir in the mint and salt and pepper to taste, then chill for at least 2 hours.

- When you serve the soup, sprinkle each portion with paprika, and if you prefer, some more mint and/or spring onions.

(Dutch recipe available on demand)

Lazy Sunday Food: Zucchini and Bacon Omelette

Omelette, tortilla or frittata is so easy to make, and there are so many different combinations of vegetables and/or meat/fish you can use. I bake my omelettes in the oven, as that, according to me, is quickest and gives the nicest results.

I made this one with lots of zucchini and bacon. Normally I tend to use 4 eggs (sometimes even less), but in this case I think I used 5 because I feared 4 wouldn't be enough to hold the omelette together.

Zucchini and bacon omelette:

• 100 g bacon, slices or lardons
• 2 zucchini (or approx 400 g, as sizes can vary a lot)
• 1 onion
• 5 (large) eggs
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp tarragon
• (salt)
• pepper

- Preheat the oven to 180°C or 160°C for a fan-assisted oven.
- Either slice the zucchini and then cut the slices in half, or dice it, if you prefer.
- Chop the onion.
- Heat the olive oil and fry the bacon briefly or until it's brown, according to your taste.
- Add the onions and once they are glazed, stir in the zucchini and fry for approx. 5 mins.
- Beat the eggs with the tarragon, salt and/or pepper in a bowl, and add the bacon, zucchini and onion. Stir well.
- Grease a (silicone) pie pan with a little olive oil and pour in the mixture. Put it in the oven for 20 - 30 mins.

This can be served with rice, pasta, potatoes,... and also eaten cold on a picnic or day trip.

(Dutch recipe available on demand)

Lunch at the Zoo: Tabouleh

Often when we are going on a day trip or a picnic, I'll prepare some kind of tabouleh. A cold 'salad' with couscous or bulghur. One day we were going to the Antwerp Zoo and I thought I'd try to make tabouleh with entire wheat kernels instead. It loved it and the children finished the entire bowl, so I think they agreed ;-).

Lunch @ the Zoo: Tabouleh with cooked entire wheat kernels, lemon juice, chopped celery, spring onions, black olives, raisins and capers (served with hardboiled eggs & sliced cucumber)

Tabouleh with entire wheat kernels

• 1 cup of entire wheat kernels (In Belgium: Ebly)
• 1 bouillon cube
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 white celery stalks, finely chopped
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped
• a handful of black olives, finely chopped
• a handful of raisins
• 1 tbsp capers
• (salt)
• (black pepper)

- Cook the wheat with the bouilon cube according to the instructions on the packaging (should take about 10 mins). Pour it in a sieve and let cool.

- Once it has cooled down, mix it with the lemon juice, pieces of celery, spring onions and black olives and the raisins and capers and season to taste.

I served this with hardboiled eggs and slices of cucumber, but you could obviously serve it with meat/fish/tofu and/or other fresh vegetables, too.

(Dutch recipe available on demand)