Spicy Chicken Wings and Special Fries | You've Got Meal!

The title doesn’t really do justice to this dish as it is a very nice fusion of American, Chinese and Italian cuisine (the Italian part being the beautiful Nero D’Avola that accompanied the meat and potatoes J). This thing is a singe to make and it guaranteed to impress, especially with the spicy food loving crowd.

We used 10 wings that we cut in half, you can adjust the amount of wings according to your own desire. The idea behind cooking the meat here is that we wanted to cook it in a healthier way that just frying it, and we managed to do just that without sacrificing taste. Making these wings is a 2 step process. Start of by flouring the wings (that you’ve thoroughly washed) and placing them on an oven tray that you pop in the oven, at high heat for around 30 minutes. Meanwhile you have time for the second part, another dead easy step. Heat up 75 grams of butter on bain-marie, and this will serve as the base for a sauce that will coat the oven cooked wings. To the butter add 2 (or more, you hot devil J)hot pepper sauce -  I used tabasco, 1 tbs Worchester sauce and 1 tsp of red wine vinegar (I find this step optional, as the hot sauce usually has a fair amount of vinegar in it). Next, choose you condiments. My suggestion is to use ground ones, that mix well in the butter, and don’t overdo it as you can get a dusty feel to the meat. I used  smoked paprika, ground ginger, cardamom, dried garlic powder, curcuma, salt and pepper. Mix the spices with the spicy butter. After the wings are done, remove them from the tray and place them in a large bowl. Pour the sauce on the wings and mix really well, making sure the meat is fully covered with the spicy goodness, and you’re done with the meat. I find this recipe to hold its ground over traditional deep fried wings and you can choose it when you want to avoid an oily situation.

This being a super easy wings recipe, the side dish couldn’t be far away from it. For the Chinese style fries you’ll need to slice your spuds thinly and evenly – think of a No.2 pencil and quarter it- that’t the size you want. Clean the potatoes really well, making sure you get rid of that starch, and let them rest in salted water for 10 minutes. The other things you’ll need are 2 tbs of dark sugar, hot sauce- about 2-3 tbs., and (optional, I’ve explained above why), 1 tbs of rice vinegar, 1 tbs. of soy sauce and some cucumbers, cut the same way as the potatoes. Heat up your wok, add a couple tbs. of peanut oil (or vegetable oil) and add the sugar, hot sauce and vinegar. Immediately pop in the potatoes and mix them well to make sure they are coated with the flavor base. Cook them until almost done. Next add the soy sauce and cucumbers and cook those for another minute or so (you can sprinkle some chopped coriander on top for a more Chinese touch).

I can assure you that this wing and fries mix has nothing to do with its fast food cousins. It may be fast, but make no mistake, it packs a big punch and it is poised to surprise you.  

Enjoy,

Fried Perch Fillet With Chickpeas And Spinach

This dish should be the picture front for the definition of light dinner. It’s subtle, light, flavorsome, super easy to make and a nice sight on the table. I used perch for this dish because I had it in the fridge, but feel free to substitute it with any fish at your convenience, be it fattier or not -  the side dish packs enough lemony, tangy taste to overcompensate for some salmon, for example.

The amount you use totally depends on how many people you plan on cooking for. For the side dish: chickpeas (for 4 portions I used around 100-130 grams of beans), 1 fennel bulb, 2-3 garlic cloves, lemon, 100 grams of baby spinach leaves, 1 chili, 1 tbs of sugar, salt, pepper, olive oil.

Boil the chickpeas, it helps if you keep it in water the night before. Remove the beans from water and put them aside. Slice the fennel, dice the garlic, slice the chili and pop them all in pan with some hot olive oil, cook on medium heat until the fennel softens. Add the chickpeas, sugar, salt, pepper and mix well to make sure the beans get coated in melting sugar. Add the juice of 1 lemon and, again, mix all the ingredients together, cook until all the liquid from the citrus has almost evaporated. You can now choose to mix the spinach leaves for a minute with the chickpeas still on the heat, thus mellowing the greens, or just mix them off the heat, keeping them crunchy (I prefer it that way). Sprinkle some more olive oil and lemon juice to the side dish if you feel the need to. 

To prepare the fish, just fry in it a pan with a couple tbs. of olive oil until cooked (the time depends on the type of fish and its thickness). Sprinkle some salt and pepper and place the fish on top of the chickpeas.  

Enjoy,

Parsnip Soup

Winter is coming! And not only in Game of thrones, but also in real life. You know, real life, that kind of stuff you read posts about on Facebook. Anyway, with summer fading away so did our beautiful vacation in Thassos (if you haven’t read about it you should. It’s illegal not to. Where, you ask? In your country, go figure), and so I decided to bring a touch of autumn in the YOUVEGOTMEAL! kitchen with this parsnip soup. 

You can find many varieties of this dish in the great world of Google, but, in case you didn’t know this about me, I tend to get lazy sometimes… maybe a lot. So I just clicked the 1st search result which was a Jamie Oliver variation of this soup.

I liked what I read, and, with a few changes from the Naked Chef, things went like this, ingredients wise:

• 1 big onion                                            
• 4-5 cloves of garlic (use a sweeter variety if you can)
• 1 piece of ginger, thumb size
• About 750 grams of parsnip, cleaned
• A couple of bacon strips
• 1 red or orange chilli (optional)
• 750 grams of milk
• About 1 l of vegetable stock
• Nutmeg, turmeric, cumin, green pepper and salt
• Olive oil 

The beautiful thing about a cream soup is that you don’t really have to bother to chop your veggies finely and this is not an exception. Chop everything roughly, anyway you feel like it. Heat up the oil and pop in the onion, garlic, ginger and spices. Gently fry the onion on a medium low heat until it softens. Add the parsnip and coat it in the aromatic onion-garlic mix. Add the liquids and cook the vegetables on medium heat until the parsnip softens. To test it just try and put a toothpick through it, if it goes in easily you have a winner. Remove from the stove and blitz the soup. Taste for more salt and pepper.

You can serve it like this, but for a more elaborate approach finely slice your chili, fry a strip of bacon, break a couple of parsley leaves (or coriander) and sprinkle that on top. I have nothing but love for you veggie lovers out there, but I can’t just say no to bacon. It just makes things better, like wine, you just need to know when to stop.

Enjoy,

Homemade Pizza (Summer Vegetables and Chorizo) and a Spicy Pizza Sauce Recipe

It took me just one visit to the farmer’s market a couple of days ago to realize the fact that we haven’t been using enough summer veggies in our dishes lately. Sure, we had broccoli and shrimps and rice and coconut, all nice and delicious, but where is the summer? With that in mind, I went on a shopping spree in the farmer’s market (believe it or not, this thing happens a lot more often that you might think) and bought a rather large quantity of veggies (tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, cucumbers, peppers) and spices, all fresh (oregano, coriander, lemon thyme, parsley, sage, chili). 

Caramelized Chicken with Coconut Rice

The way I imagined this dish to look was a red/yellow color combination, but I didn’t have enough time to follow through on my initial plan to cook the chicken into red, so  I opted for a caramelized version of the meat, still in contrast with the coconut rice, that had a powerful yellow color from using turmeric. All of this combined with a fragrant green from using chives makes a lovely dish, with a gorgeous visual appeal, that also packs some great taste.

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Oven Baked Perch with an Almond and Breadcrumbs Crust or O.B.P.A.B.C.

What (!?!?!), you’re definitely gonna remember that abbreviation for a long time, especially after you taste this fish, pair it with a nice, crunchy, vibrant green bean side dish and a chilled Chardonnay.

So let’s get cracking. I used a big fish, around 2 kilos, that I filleted. 

Beet-pickled Deviled Eggs- Appetizers August (1)

I have a great fascination for appetizers, they are highly appreciated at every party, they look good, they are usually finger food and it is easy to make an impression. It is a pity we don't make them often enough for ourselves.

Personally, I find that, at parties, especially wedding parties, I am only impressed by or drawn to appetizers. Maybe because you can have more flavors and tastes on one plate and my greedy, exploring taste buds appreciate that. With that in mind, I am going to dedicate this hot month to those simple bites that prepare us for the main course.

 

For today, I put together  some deviled eggs with goose pate, that as a bonus, are also mildly pickled with beet.

First, you will need to hard-boil 10 eggs and remove the shell.

For preparing the pickled eggs you will need:

1 red beet
1 onion
3 cups water
1 cup white wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp sugar

Bring this to o boil, then let it simmer for 30 minutes. Let it cool completely and then cover the boiled eggs with this mixture. In order for the eggs to get a nice colour you will need to let them in the beet water for at least 1 hour, and for a great taste also it need 2 hours. You can also let it sit overnight it is more convenient for you. The more you let it, the more color you will have when you cut them in half.

For the filling I used:

100g goose pate
2 tbsp sweet mustard
2 tbsp pickled horseradish (also beet-pickled)
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Mix all the ingredients above. Of course, you can use your usual horseradish, it happened that I had one with beets and more pink couldn't possibly hurt. If you don't have horseradish at all you can use a spicier mustard or you can just skip it alltogether for a sweeter finish.


When your mixture is ready and you are satisfied with its consistency, fill the eggs halves and garnish as you like.You could make it less thick with mayo or cream, but taste wise is definitely better without and they last longer to.

Don't they look good? Trust me, they are also very tasty and if you boil your eggs and the beet the day before it doesn't take much time or effort to put it together when you need it.

Enjoy,

5 Spice Beef and Chinese Fried Rice

Initially I was thinking of going for a Thai based rice, with some coconut milk and saffron, but in lack of a proper main dish to go with it, I decided I wanted to show you that Chinese takeout can be done in your own kitchen without a lot of fuss. Now, this recipe requires a lot of fuss… What? No, just kidding, it’s a super easy recipe that you can cook in a flash and impress any Chinese food lover.

For the rice (and this is where I kinda screwed up) make sure you use a type of grain doesn’t stick to one another. Use basmati or jasmine, make sure you don’t try this with Arborio or carnaroli, typical risotto rice. I have to admit that I was too lazy to actually go and buy a bag of basmati so I used the package of Arborio that I already had in my pantry. The taste is good, but it makes things difficult to actually fry the rice. For 1 cup of rice, use 2 cups of water, cook the BASMATI (final warning) rice until it is done or the liquid is absorbed, and set it aside to cool a little.

You will also need: 1 medium onion, diced, 2-3 cloves garlic, 1 thumb sized ginger, diced, some crunchy veggies (peas, beans, water chestnuts, baby carrot, baby corn, etc.), 1 or 2 eggs (depending on how much rice you have), spring onions or chives(optional), soy sauce, sugar, pepper, peanut or sesame oil. You will have to do this in batches, in a wok, so start by cooking the ginger, onion and garlic for 3 minutes in a tsp of oil, set it aside. Next, add in the crunch (you can either get them fresh or frozen, the cooking time is different for each), and stir fry those for another 4-5 minutes tops with the sugar, until they are cooked enough but still hold some serious crunch. Set aside. 

Mix the egg(s)  with 2-3 tbs of soy sauce, beat them together, and cook the eggs like an omelet or scrambled, 2-3 minutes. Set that aside as well. Now, in a tbs of oil add the rice and stir fry it for 2 minutes, then add the other already cooked ingredients and mix them together, add more soy sauce if you feel like it needs salt.

For the beef, again, super easy, just rub the meat with some sesame oil, salt and 5 spice condiment and cook in a hot searing pan for 3 minutes on each side or for how long you want, depending on what degree of rare you want. I used a piece of tenderloin that I cooked roughly 3 minutes on all sides for a medium rare outcome.

Plate the meat, sliced, the rice (with some chives or spring onions on top), and, if you care for it, some wasabi paste to kick things up.

Enjoy, 

Spicy Chicory (Endive), Bacon and Egg Pasta

And many other things! Seriously, I’m proud of this recipe for a simple reason: it is our 1^st original (I hope, the internet is big and I’m too lazy to search it all) pasta recipe, and we love pasta. So let me get cracking. 

For our home made spaghetti (3 portions), we used 

2 chicories, 

250 grams of smoked bacon, 

2 eggs, 

4-5 medium hot chillies, 

3 garlic cloves, 

3-4 peaches, 

parsley, 

salt & pepper, 

olive oil, 

parmesan.

This needs a couple of things to be done at the same time, but you can always cook those ingredients in advance (like 30 minutes or an hour, not the day before). So, start of by frying the bacon cut into cubes for 5 minutes, then add the chicories (slice them however you want, but remove the middle, I, at least, found it too bitter for my liking) and sliced garlic. Cook for another 4 minutes.

. Remember when I said that you can have things cooked in advance? Well, for the chillies, you need to roast them and you can do that in advance. After you remove their burned skin, remove the seeds if they are too hot and cut the roasted chilies into strips. Also, the peaches need to be grilles, so cut them in halves and then into 3 each half and grill them on an ultra hot grill for 2 minutes on each side. The fruits will get some very nice grill marks and, because of their sweetness and delicate flavor, will balance with the bitter taste of the chicory. Make sure the fruits aren’t all that mushy, keep them firm.

So, mix the bacon, chicory, garlic, chili, peaches, salt, pepper on the fire for another minute. Add the pasta, cooked al dente, about 50 ml of the pasta cooking water. Meanwhile, poach the eggs and have them ready to be placed on top of the plated pasta, after you’ve sprinkled some parmesan, olive oil and parsley on them. The idea behind this is that the soft yolk will also serve as a sauce that binds the spaghetti together.

So, there you have it, my 1^st try at a recipe and, I have to say, it couldn’t have been anything else except pasta. The result was an interesting dish, with flavors that combined pretty nicely. I guess you can add or remove things from this, but, overall, we were happy with the outcome.

Have a great day,

Recap: 3 Pasta Dishes (Budget Friendly and Time Saving)

If you are looking for a dish that is really affordable and that can be done in under 30 minutes, we've rounded up 3 of our favourite pasta recipes that anybody can prepare and it won't leave a huge hole in your pocket.

1.  Farfalle with Bacon, Peas and Ricotta
2.  Spaghetti al Pomodoro e Basilico 
3.  Spaghetti Indiavolati

Spicy Fish and Seafood Stew

This is a dish that I’ve been wanting to try for a while now, mainly because I think it is one of those dishes that you must try when you’re visiting a seaside resort or visiting a country with a strong fish cooking tradition. You’ll find a lot of variations of this type of dish on-line, be it Italian, Portuguese, Spanish or Greek, each one of them with its specific flavors and touches. 

For what I did, I mixed a little bit of the Italian touch with the Portuguese ones, using fresh fish and seafood:

400 grams of fish fillets (dorado, white cod and brill), 

150 grams of calamari rings, 

12 mussels

2 extra large whole shrimps (they had about 170 grams together), 

1 medium red onion diced, 

1 fennel thinly sliced and leaves reserved for garnishing, 

3 garlic cloves, 

500 grams of tomato passata, 

300 grams of fresh tomato juice, 

1 chilli, 

5 anchovies fillets, 

about 2 tbs of fresh thyme leaves, 

2-3 tbs of fresh parsley, 

2 bay leaves, 

some lemongrass (optional), 

1 and a half tbs of smoked hot paprika, 

salt, pepper, olive oil.

Just writing these ingredients makes me hungry, everything is so delicious in its own way and together they just create an explosive and amazing tasting dish.

Start of by heating up a couple tbs of olive oil in a heavy base, tall if possible pan, and put in the anchovies, fennel, onion, garlic and chilli. Cook this on high heat for about 5 minutes stirring from time to time. After this, add the tomato passata and juice, the herbs except the parsley, salt, pepper, lemongrass and smoked paprika, turn the heat to a low and simmer for around 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, prepare your fish: cut the fillets into equal parts (both length and thickness), the rings (give them a good wash) and clean the mussels (rip their beards by pulling them away all the way from the base of the mollusk and remove any barnacles that you may have on the mussel shell). If you buy the shrimp whole, you need to clean it by making an incision on its back, from where the tail begins all the way down and remove the intestines. 

After 30 minutes, add the fish and seafood, cover them with the tomato mix and cook them for 3-4 minutes, then add the chopped parsley. Be careful when you plate your dish not to flake the fillets too much. 

There you have it, a lovely, rich, smooth and spicy fish stew guaranteed to make your day, your lunch, dinner, whatever you want it, it’s just bloody delicious.    

Enjoy,
Mr. G.