~* Family Day with Asian Seafood Hotpot!*~

Last Sunday, my mum arranged a family get-together over a delicious Asian Hotpot.


For those who are not familiar with this, Asian Hotpot is basically a heated pan with boiling water (usually with a bit of flavouring. In this case, we used chicken stock), and you simply boil food in this pan and you would serve yourself once the food is cooked.


For this particular get-together, my mum prepared a load of vegetables and seafood to cook in the hotpot.
Some of the seafood included:

• Mussels (which were AMAZING!)
• Lobster (also amazing)
• Fish
• Oysters (which were served raw with lemon juice)

Vegetables included:

• Cabbage
• Mushrooms
• Leek
• Pak Choi
• Carrots
• Red Peppers

We also ate tofu and udon noodles, nom nom!

Of course, no Asian dish is complete without a bowl of hot rice!

 

 

 

~*Sunday Breakfast*~ - Mmmm...

So this is what I had for breakfast last Sunday - looks delicious, right?
This is what was on my plate:

• A ham omelette made with 2 eggs and a dash of soya milk.
• 2 slices of 50/50 (white and wholemeal) bread with a bit of butter spread.
• 5 mini tomatoes.

All washed down with a large mug of hot green tea.
The perfect way to start a lazy Sunday :)
 

~* Foodie Quote of the Day*~

~* Office Treats on a Monday!*~

So Monday has arrived yet again...it's freezing here in the UK, in fact it has been recorded as the coldest March we have had in 50 years!!

Luckily, some super kind and generous colleagues of mine who have just returned from their holidays brought some lovely treats into the office to share with everyone, which has helped brighten up the mood!

My good friend Ursula, who has just returned from visiting her family in Valencia, Spain, brought back some gorgeous Spanish grub:

 

As you can see from the photo, we had chorizo, tomato bread, Magdalenas (Valencian sponge cake) and Ensaimadas (typical Majorcan sweets) - yummy!!

In addition, Anthony (one of our Team Leaders), who has just come back from Sicily, brought back some tasty Sicilian biscuits, and the pie you see on the left? That was made by one of our team members, William, and it was AMAZING. It was a corned beef pie and it was the first time he had made it - and he got it spot on! I am hoping he is going to share his secret on how to bake such a wonderful pie, because it seriously was one of the best I have ever eaten.
 

...diet starts NEXT Monday...:-p

~* Baked Salmon with Cream Cheese & Dill*~

After cooking this last night, I thought I would share with you one of my favourite ever fish dishes.

Like most things I cook, it is very simple and quick to make and as a bonus, it is super healthy too!!

Happy cooking!

INGREDIENTS (to serve 2)

 

• 2 salmon fillets
• Cream cheese (any flavour! I used onion and chives)
• Dill (look in the photo, I only paid a whopping 10p for a whole pack!)
• Olive Oil
• Salt and pepper (for seasoning)

RECIPE

 

1. Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper and let them sit for about 5-10 minutes. While they are sitting, switch on your oven to about gas mark 4-5 and allow to pre-heat.

 
 
2. Using a knife or the back of a spoon, gently smear a layer of cream cheese on each fillet. You can put on as much or as little amount of cheese as you like :)

3. Chop up a bunch of dill and sprinkle on top of the cream cheese.


4. Sprinkle a little bit of olive oil on top of the fillets.

5. Put the salmon fillets into the pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes. Make sure you keep checking your salmon so you know if it is cooked or not!

6. Serve it up! I had mine with rice, an oven-baked petit pan and pan-fried garlic green beans and brocolli - yummy!!

7. ENJOY!!!

 

~* Loaded Ramen Noodles and Soup Recipe*~

This recipe is one of my "go-to's" when I fancy something quick and easy to cook.

Ramen is a popular dish eaten in East Asia, however due to growing popularity of Japanese, Chinese and Korean cuisine in the west, ingredients to create your very own ramen has become much easier to find.

This is my version of a ramen noodle soup dish. You don't necessarily have to use the toppings I did to "load" the noodles - you can try anything you fancy!

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do :)

INGREDIENTS

• Pack of instant noodles (any flavour - I used Lucky Me's Filipino "Beef na Beef" noodles)
• A packet of frozen Chinese dumplings (you can make them yourselves too, but this is a "quick" recipe so...I went frozen :))
• Water
• Spinach (torn into small, edible pieces)
• Courgette (sliced)
• 1 egg
• Sliced sausage (I used Matterson's "horse-shoe" sausage for this recipe).

RECIPE

1. Boil water in a saucepan. Make sure you only add enough to cover the instant noodles, as the water will become the soup base.

 2. In a separate frying pan, heat a bit of oil (equivalent to 2 squirts of Fry Light) and place 3 frozen dumplings in to cook. Follow instructions on the packet to cook the dumplings. Once these are cooked, leave to one side.

3. Place the instant noodles into the saucepan of boiling water. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the seasoning (which comes with the instant noodles). Mix the noodles so that the seasoning spreads throughout.  

4. Crack an egg into the noodles and place a lid on the saucepan. Allow to cook for a further 1 minute, until the egg has poached, but the yolk is still soft.  

5. Transfer the noodles, soup and egg carefully into a bowl. Be sure not to break the egg!

6. Time to add the load onto the noodles! Place the cooked dumplings onto the top of the noodles. Once this has been done, neatly add the torn spinach, sliced sausage and courgettes. 


7. ENJOY!!  

~*Mariye's Lazy Spaghetti*~

Since I'm having a super lazy Sunday today, I cooked up a very simple spaghetti dish which I appropriately named "Mariye's Lazy Spaghetti".

This is so quick and easy to make, and is perfect for days when you don't want to slave over the cooker for hours on end.

I hope you like it :)

INGREDIENTS

• Spaghetti pasta
• Bacon (cut into small pieces)
• 6 cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
• Spring onion (cut into small pieces)
• Olive oil (I used lemon and dill flavour, but you can use plain too)
• Lemon juice
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder

RECIPE

1. Boil some water in a saucepan. Once the water starts to bubble, place your spaghetti pasta in to cook.

2. Whilst waiting for the pasta, place a small frying pan over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, put the bacon pieces in and fry until cooked (depending on you preference, you can have it crispy or not-too-crispy).

3. Put the cut-up cherry tomatoes and spring onions into a bowl. Add the cooked bacon and mix together.

4. Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain thoroughly and ensure that there is no water left in the saucepan. Leave the spaghetti in the saucepan and add a drizzle of olive oil. Mix together so that the olive oil coats all of the pasta.

5. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste - it is better off starting little by little and adjusting the amounts as you go along.

6. Finish off with a few drops of lemon juice, again adjusting the amount to your preferred taste.

7. Transfer the spaghetti from the saucepan to the tomatoes / spring onion / bacon bowl. Mix together.

8. ENJOY!!