Category: Meat

Bell Peppers Stuffed with Chicken and Rice

“Are the days of winter sunshine just as sad for you, too? When it is misty, in the evenings, and I am out walking by myself, it seems to me that the rain is falling through my heart and causing it to crumble into ruins.”
― Gustave Flaubert, November

Ingredients (3-4 servings):
– 3-4 red bell peppers;
– 500g minced chicken;
– 80g rice;
– 200g tomato passata;
– 1/3 bunch dill;
– 1 tsp salt;
– 1/2 tsp black pepper.

Directions:
1 Mix minced chicken with rice, salt and black pepper.
2 De-seed red bell peppers.
3 Stuff well red bell peppers with the meat mixture.
4 Transfer the stuffed peppers to the large pot with the tops from bell peppers. Add tomato passata and water to cover the bell peppers.
5 Cook at medium heat for 40 minutes.
6 Serve with a half a soup ladle of broth

Turkey-Pineapple Pancakes !

I am a mathematician, sir. I never permit myself to think.

John Dickson Carr

Ingredients:
– 400g turkey breast
– 200g canned pineapple pieces
– 1 egg
– 50g grated cheese
– 3 tbsp flour
– 1 grated garlic cloth
– salt and pepper to taste

Sauce:
– 200g sour cream
– fresh chopped parsley/dill
– chopped garlic

Method:
1 Combine chopped turkey breast, chopped pineapples, egg, grated cheese, flour, grated garlic and salt/pepper: mix until smooth
2 Preheat the skillet, add sunflower oil: pour 1tbsp of batter for each pancake-to-be. Fry 5-6 min each side or until golden, medium heat
3 Switch to minimum heat and cook pancakes under the lid for 10 min
4 For the sauce combine and mix sour cream, chopped garlic, chopped parsley/dill
5 Serve!

Simple and healthy sweet potato and cauliflower soup with beef !

Have you also learned that secret from the river; that there is no such thing as time? That the river is everywhere at the same time, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the current, in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere and that the present only exists for it, not the shadow of the past nor the shadow of the future.

Hermann Hesse
Sweet potato and cauliflower soup with beef

Ingredients:
– 400g minced beef
– 3-4 large sweet potatoes
– half a head cauliflower
– 1 tsp salt
– pumpkin seeds for serving

Method:
1 Boil minced beef for 25 minutes in 2-2.5l salted water
2 Wash and peel sweet potatoes and cauliflower
3 Add finely chopped sweet potatoes and cauliflower to the broth with beef and boil another 15 minutes
4 Mash the soup with a blender until smooth
5 Serve the soup with toasted pumpkin seeds and enjoy !

Baked Meatballs with Italian Herbs served with Red & White Sauces !

Easy, take it easy! Is there anything to eat? A few meatballs, perhaps? Or a little cream cake?

Astrid Lindgren, Karlson Flies Again
Baked Meatballs with Italian Herbs

Meatballs ingredients (4 servings or 24 meatballs):
– 400g minced beef
– 2 eggs
– 4 tbsps flour
– 1 tsp salt
– 1 tsp Italian herbs

Red sauce:
– 100g cranberry jam

White sauce:
– 200g 10% sour cream
– 3 grated garlic cloves

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 200C
2 Combine minced beef with salt, eggs, Italian herbs and flour: mix well until smooth
3 Form meatballs with your hands and put them in the baking form (no oil needed!)
4 Bake meatballs for 40-45 minutes at 190-200C
5 White sauce: mix grated garlic with sour cream
6 Serve meatballs with red & white sauces and enjoy ! 🙂

Turkey with Apricots, Tomatoes and Cinnamon in Moldovan Style !

O, soare balcanic, revărsat peste văile şi dealurile moldave, o, acele iubiriscurte, scînteietoare, istovitoare, cît de mult aduceţi voi în scurta noastră trecere pe acest pămînt, şi cît de mult luaţi cu voi pentru a nu le mai întoarce niciodată…

Ion Druță, Frunze de dor
Turkey with Apricots, Tomato and Cinnamon in Moldovan Style

Ingredients (4 servings):
– 750g turkey breast
– 12 apricots
– 6 tomatoes
– 2 red onions
– 1 tsp paprika
– 0.5 tsp cinnamon
– 1 tsp sugar
– 1 tsp vinegar
– 0.5 cup water
– 2 tbsp water
– 250g golden millet

Method:
1 Cut turkey in 1-2cm cubes
2 Peel and chop onion
3 Wash and slice tomatoes and apricots
3 Preheat two skillets and melt 1 tbsp butter in each: put turkey cubes on one skillet and chopped onion on another, cook for 5 minutes
4 Add to onion: chopped tomatoes, sugar, paprika and cinnamon – stew for 5 minutes at medium heat slightly stirring
5 Add to turkey: onion-tomatoes-spices mixture – stew for 10 minutes at medium heat
6 Add to turkey & Co: apricot slices, vinegar, water and salt: stew for 10 minutes at medium heat – done!
7 Serve turkey with cooked golden millet and enjoy!

Potato Zrazy with Minced Beef !

When the heart speaks, the mind finds it indecent to object.

Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Potato Zrazy with minced beef

Dough ingredients (3-4 servings):
– 1kg (weight unpeeled) potatoes
– 2 eggs
– 6-8tbsp flour
– 1 bunch scallion
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1 tbsp olive oil for frying

Filling ingredients:
– 300g minced beef
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1/2 tsp black pepper

Sauce ingredients:
– 200g sour cream
– a few sprigs chopped scallion

Method:
1 Beef filling
1.1 Cook minced beef for 40 minutes in salted water
1.2 Drain the broth in another pan
1.3 Mix boil beef with black pepper and salt
2 Potato dough
2.1 Wash and peel potatoes
2.2 Cut potatoes into 2cm cubes
2.3 Boil potato cubes for 20-25 minutes in salted water
2.4 Drain water and mash potatoes
2.5 Combine mashed potatoes+2eggs+6-8tbsp flour+1/2tsp salt+chopped scallion: mix until smooth
3 Zrazy (Potato Cutlets)
3.1 Preheat the non-sticking skillet with some olive oil
3.2 Shape a flat round out of potato dough and put beef filling in the middle: enclose with a second potato round 🙂
3.3 Fry each potato dumpling 3-4 minutes each side
3.4 Absorb extra oil with paper towels
4 Serve Zrazy (Potato Cutlets) with sour cream mixed with chopped scallion
5 Enjoy !

Simple Pilaf with Chicken cooked in oven !

One kind word can warm three winter months

Japanese proverb
Pilaf with Chicken in the oven

Ingredients (4 servings):
– 250g rice
– 400g chicken breast
– 5 (~390g unpeeled) medium carrots
– 2 small red onions
– 3 tbsp sunflower oil
– 1.5 tsp salt
– 0.5 tsp black pepper
– a few parsley sprigs for serving

Method:
1 Wash rice and soak in water for 30 minutes
2 Grate carrots and chop onions
3 Wash chicken breasts and absorb extra water with paper towels
4 Cut chicken breast into 0.5-1 cm pieces and fry
5 Fry chicken pieces with sunflower oil for 10 minutes at medium heat
6 Add carrots, onion, salt, pepper to the chicken: stew for another 15 minutes
7 Preheat the oven to 200C
8 Drain water from the rice
9 Boil 1.5l water in the teapot
10 Put in the four ceramic pots (I have 0.5l pots):
10.1 Chicken with vegetables
10.2 Rice ~2-3 tbsp per pot
10.3 Pour boiled water in each ceramic pot to cover the rice ~1cm
11 Cook the Pilaf in the oven for 40 minutes with covered lids
12 Serve with chopped parsley and enjoy ! 🙂

Chicken baked with Quince !

Without you I wouldn’t have moved this way, to speak the language of flowers.

Vladimir Nabokov
Chicken Baked with Quince

Ingredients (2 servings):
– 2 chicken breasts
– 1 large quince
– salt and pepper

Serving ingredients:
– small bunch of fresh rucola
– 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Method:
1 Preheat the oven to 180C
2 Wash well and de-seed quince. Then cut into 0.3-0.5cm width slices
3 Wash chicken breasts and dry with paper towel
4 Put the chicken breasts in the baking form and make wide cross cuts to fit in the quince slices
5 Pepper and salt the chicken
6 Put the quince slices into the cuts
7 Bake for 30 minutes at 180C
8 Serve with fresh rucola and do not forget to sprinkle with balsamic vinegar 😉
9 Have a wonderful day !

Pelmeni: Dumplings with Beef and Pork !

Patsuk opened his mouth, stared at the vareniki, and opened his mouth wider still. At that moment, a varenik jumped out of the bowl, splashed into the cream, flipped over and leapt straight up into his mouth. Patsuk opened his mouth again, and another varenik went through the same performance. The only trouble he took was to munch it up and swallow it.

Nikolai Gogol, Christmas Eve
Pelmeni

Dough ingredients (~70 Pelmeni = 4-6 portions):
– 3 cups (1 cup = 250ml) wheat flour
– 170ml warm water
– 1 tablespoon 9% vinegar
– 2 and 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
– 1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling ingredients (~70 Pelmeni = 4-6 portions):
– 250g minced beef
– 250g minced pork
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
– 1 onion or 1 bunch of chopped chives

Serving ingredients (for 2 portions):
– 200g sour cream
– 2 teaspoons butter
– 1/2 bunch dill or 1/2 bunch parsley

Method:
1 Knead a dough from dough ingredients and transfer it to the fridge in a covered bowl for 30 minutes
2 Combine minced meat (no extra water!) + salt + black pepper + finely chopped onion or chives: mix everything well with a fork
3 Separate dough into 6 equal pieces: form a 1.5cm diameter sausage from each piece
4 Cut each sausage into 1cm width pieces and roll out each piece into a 5cm diameter round 🙂
5 Put 1 teaspoon filling into each round, fold the round into a half-moon and pinch all the edges together strongly with fingers, do it two times. Then pull together two corners and pinch strongly with fingers again. 🙂
6 Boil Pelmeni for 5 minutes in boiling water (at least 3 minutes after Pelmeni are floating on the top) and serve with sour cream, butter and fresh chopped parsley or dill
7 Enjoy !

Beef with Green Beans: perfect lunch or dinner !

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Lao Tzu
Beef with Green Beans

Side dish ingredients (all ingredients for 2 servings):
– 120g rice
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 400g green beans

Beef & marinade ingredients:
– 350g beef
– 1 onion
– 3 garlic cloves
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1-2 tablespoons vinegar
– 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
– olive oil for frying

Serving ingredients:
– 1/2 bunch parsley
– 1/2 bunch green onions

Directions:
1 Marinated beef:
1.1 Wash beef, remove extra water with paper towels
1.2 Slice beef into 2-4mm width pieces: the thinner the better!
1.3 Mix in a large bowl beef slices, vinegar, salt, black pepper, sliced onion
1.4 Put the bowl in the fridge for 2 hours, then get rid of onion 🙂
2 Cook rice in salted water, keep it warm 🙂
3 Green beans:
3.1 Trim ends of washed green beans
3.2 Boil green beans in salted water for 5 minutes. Then drain extra water.
4 Cooking beef slices:
4.1 Pre-heat frying pan, add some olive oil
4.2 Fry beef slices for 10 minutes at medium heat, stirring occasionally
4.3 Add green beans and cook for another 5 minutes
4.4 Add grated garlic 🧄🧄🧄 and cook for another minute continuously stirring
5 Serve hot with rice and chopped parsley and green onions !

Notes: inspired by Restaurant Style Beef and Broccoli Recipe

Delicious Beef Stuffed Potato Pancakes (Draniki) with a garlic sauce !

For he would be thinking of love
Till the stars had run away,
And the shadows eaten the moon.

W.B. Yeast
Beef Stuffed Potato Pancakes

Pancakes batter ingredients (for 8 pancakes = 2 servings):
– 8-10 large potatoes
– 2 tablespoons potato starch
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Pancakes filling ingredients:
– 100g boiled minced beef
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Serving ingredients:
– 200g sour cream
– 3 garlic cloves
– 1/2 bunch fresh parsley

Directions:
1 Beef filling:
1.1 Boil minced beef until ready, drain broth and let the meat cool down
1.2 Combine meat with salt and black pepper: mix well
2 Potato batter:
2.1 Wash and peel potatoes
2.2 Grate half of potatoes and crush in a blender another half of potatoes
2.3 Combine both parts of potatoes: drain extra liquid through a strainer or cloth
2.4 Mix potatoes with salt, pepper and starch
3 Garlic sauce: mix grated garlic with sour cream and put in a fridge
4 Potato pancakes:
4.1 Preheat a non-sticking frying pan with some olive oil
4.2 Put 1 tablespoon of potato batter on the frying pan for 1 pancake-to-be: make it flat and round with a tablespoon 🙂
4.3 Put 1-2 teaspoons of meat filling uniformly on each pancake-to-be
4.4 Put another tablespoon of potato batter over each pancake with meat: flatten with a tablespoon to make it nice looking 🙂
4.5 Fry pancakes at a medium heat until golden approximately 3-4 minutes each side
4.6 Transfer the pancakes on paper towels to absorb extra oil for a couple of minutes
5 Serve the pancakes hot with garlic sauce and fresh parsley !

Notes: no eggs and no flour in this recipe make the potato pancakes really delicious preserving a potato flavour ! Try them yourself !

Red Bell Peppers Stuffed with Beef and Pearl Barley !

Numai daca vremea ar sta locului am putea vedea lamurit ce este etern

Mihai Eminescu
Red Bell Peppers Stuffed with Beef and Pearl Barley

Ingredients (for 4 stuffed peppers):
– 4 red bell peppers
– 450g minced beef
– 90g pearl barley
– 7 small tomatoes 🍅
– 1/3 bunch dill
– 1 small onion (to adda flavour to the broth!)
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
– 100g sour cream for serving

Directions:
1 Pre-cook pearl barley: boil for 12 minutes, then drain extra water
2 Mix minced beef with chopped dill & pre-cooked pearl barley & salt and black pepper
3 Wash red bell peppers, carefully remove the top part and de-seed
4 Stuff well red bell peppers with the meat mixture 🙂
5 Wash and cut tomatoes into 1cm cubes, peel small onion: put cut tomatoes and an onion into a large pot
6 Carefully put the stuffed peppers to the same large pot with the tops from bell peppers One can put them either horizontally or vertically, the main point is to be able to cover them with the water afterwards.
7 Add to the pot water to cover all the peppers: cook at medium heat for 40 minutes, but evacuate the onion from the pot after 10 minutes of cooking 🙂
8 Serve with sour cream and half a soup ladle of broth !