Spilling the Beans...

My au pair, Dalia, had some intolerance tests done while in Italy, and she found out she must not eat too much gluten, yeast, yoghurt... So we are changing now the way we eat here, and hopefully this will lead to more inspiration for those who cannot eat those things.

Yesterday I cooked something very simple, but it's worth sharing because it tasted very very nice.

We made Beans with Rice.

Ingredients:

Soaked Pinto Beans
Water
Tomato Sauce
Sausages

A hint of Smoked Paprika
Turmeric

Garlic
Onion

Salt to taste

Cook the beans in water and salt for about 1 hour.

Drain the beans once cooked and set aside. In the same pot, place some olive oil, some sausage pieces, half an onion and a couple of garlic cloves.

 Here, I added a few more sausages just so we had some extra for today.

Add the beans you has set on the side and stir.

 Add enough water to cover everything.

 Add a few spoonfuls of tomato passata.

 Cover and simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes, just enough time to get a nice sauce.

Cook some basmati rice with salt and turmeric, so it is healthy and yellow :)

Once everything is ready, serve and enjoy!

Enchiladas for Dinner

I must confess, I didn't know what Enchiladas were exactly. Before yesterday. Yes, it sounded South American, yes it sounded spicy, but I had no idea of their form and taste :)


I found a nice recipe yesterday and modified it a bit to make sure there was no artificial flavors in our dinner and no spicy stuff, my son is still too young to appreciate spicy food. 
If you don't have this issue, add to the Salsa a good bit of Chili Flakes. They surely would make a huge difference.


So I started the Salsa while my husband went out to get the chicken and the tortillas.


Ingredients:


3/4 litre of tomato sauce (passata)
2 tablespoons of Plain Flour
3 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 Garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon of Cumin powder
Salt to taste


7 Tortillas
4 Chicken breasts
100 Grams of Cheddar cheese


Now, the salsa is super easy, I don't know why people would buy it ready made.


In a non stick pot, I placed the oil over medium heat and added the flour, while my son was stirring to make sure no lumps were forming in the mixture.


When it started to become a bit darker, I added the tomato sauce, the minced garlic, the cumin and the salt.

As soon as the salsa started to ticken, always on medium heat, my husband arrived with the chicken and the tortillas.


I cut the chicken in regular cubes and added them to the Salsa. I  turned the oven on at this point, to 220 degrees Celsius.

I let this cook for 15 minutes over the usual medium heat, but I have placed part of the lid on the pot, because boiling tomato sauce can be a huge mess-generator in the kitchen, and a danger for the children around. Especially if the above mentioned child loves to play with the dog on the floor between my feet -_- 

While I'm cooking!

When this was ready, using a small ladle, I set aside the majority of the sauce and filled the tortillas with the chicken, adding some grated cheddar in each tortilla. I placed the rolls in an oven dish. I covered the tortillas with the sauce I had set aside and grated some cheddar on the top. I placed everything in the oven and let it cook for 20 minutes.

This is what the Enchiladas looked like when removed from the oven:

We all loved them; today our lunch boxes are Mexican style and I must say, I can't wait for my lunch break ;)