Sardine Recipes

Remove sardines scales

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First of all the scales need to be removed from fresh sardines. I found the easiest way to remove the scales is to start at the tail and scrape it toward the head and down to the tummy. It comes loose very easily then.

Microwave Sardines

1 minute for a sardine. Put the sardine in the microwave on High for 1 minute without cleaning it. The innards come out very easily and you just scrape it away.

Baked sardines

Grind rock salt over the sardines and bake it in the oven for 15-30 minutes dependig on the number of saqrdines you have. Let it stand for a while before serving it.

Breakfast sardines

Sardines on toast with lemon juice or Worcestershire Sauce, or both. If you like it more oily, add some olive oil.

Mayonnaise sardines

Cold sardines are great with mayonnaise on bread, bagel, croissant, or bun. Garnish with tomato and lettuce. For a bit of extravangance add some capers.

Sardines and other oily fish are great for your health.

Tasty Spinach or Broccoli bake

Spinach or broccoli bake

Wash bunch of spinach, remove stalk, cut into strips, blanch in pan with lid, no moisture needed (not too long or it will burn).
Beat together 6 eggs 1/4 cup cream
add 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg , salt and pepper to taste
add 150gm Gruyere cheese

Note: You could chop the stalk and fry it with onion and garlic and add to the dish with the cheese. If you are vegan, use tofu in stead of cheese.

METHOD:
Mix together ingredients
Butter shallow ovenware dish
Pour ingredients into shallow oven dish
Bake 10 minutes at 200 degrees *** (Remember to switch the oven on before you start!)
15 minutes at 175 degrtees.

Alternatives:
You can use either a flaky or other pastry as base to pour the mixture into (more like a quiche)
If you want it for a special occasion, use filo pastry.

Alternatives for spinach:

• punnet of broccoli, cut and blanched
• tin of creamed corn
• blanched asparagus

Less rich alternative:
Use a container of cream cheese in stead of the cream

Decadent alternative:
Just before you take it out of the oven, add more cheese and bake it at a slightly higher temperature for 5 minutes, or until brown.  (Keep your eye on it so that it does not burn).

Other alternatives:
Use leftover meat or cooked vegetables, or viennas, russians, ham, if you like meat.

Broad Bean curry

Broad Beans, Wild Rice and Dhanya chutney

Soak 1/2 packet Broad Beans overnight.  Pour off the water in the morning.
Put it in slow cooker till lunchtime on high - only in water (no condiments). Salt and acid makes the skins hard.

An hour before you want to eat:
Add 1 tbsp or 1 cube stock to the beans.
Grate 4 carrots, dice an onion, and chop 1/3 bunch soup celery.
1 tsp mustard seed
1/2 tsp fenugreek
2 heaped tablespoons jeera (cumin)
1 heaped tablespoon of mild curry (you can add more if you aren't living with a 'woes' who doesn't like spicy food).
Fry the onions and spices in some oil (1-3 tbsp) depends whether your restrictive diet is more important than taste. Add the carrots and celery. Toss regularly.
Pour excess stock water off (you can use it for soup later)
Mix the veges and spices in with the beans and add some of the stock water back to make a 'lecka' consistency. Leave it in the slow cooker.

White and wild rice
Boil white rice and wild rice together in a saucepan. Add salt to taste. (I'm assuming you know how to cook rice.)

Dhanya chutney:
Cut the leaves with most of the stalk.  You can use the roots in another dish.
Wash the leaves thoroughly and shake off excess water.
Bunch them together and slice thinly
Juice of 1 lemon
olive oil 1/4 cup
1 cup coconut
good pinch of salt
chilli chutney (another recipe maybe coming later)
crushed garlic (size of thumbnail) or 1/2 to 1 teaspoon
Put dhanya, lemon, oil, garlic, and 1/2 cup water through liquidizer, just a few pulses not too sloshy
add coconut, chilli and salt and mix thoroughly.

Your rice should be done by now, so you can dish up.

Enjoy with sambals.

Ratatouille

Ratatouille

2 tomatoes; chopped (remove the skin with hot water, if you have to.  I have never seen the need for this.)
1 onion; chopped or sliced
3 cloves garlic (or garlic salt to taste)
2 large or 4 small baby marrow; sliced
1 punnet of mushrooms; sliced, or baby mushrooms; whole
1/2 tsp origanum (dried) or mixed herbs
1/2 tsp parsley(dried)

optional: brinjal (aubergine); cubed pour salt over and let stand in a collander, then wash it off after 5-10 minutes (removes bitterness)

How to make the Ratatouille

Pour a little oil in the base of the pan or butter if you prefer.  Fry the onions 5 mins.
Add the rest of the vegetable ingredients.
Simmer for 15-20 minutes on med heat. Stir from time to time.
Add herbs, and salt at the end.  I sometimes add a bit of stock in stead of the salt.
Grind a liberal helping of black pepper over just before serving.

Have it on toast for breakfast, or on pasta or rice for lunch or supper, sprinkled with parmesan cheese and accompanied by a 'lekker' red wine.

Bon Appetite!

While munching watch Ratatouille, an animated movie about a rat that becomes a chef in one of the best restaurant in Paris.

Spinach Salad

Special Spinach Salad

Fry bacon till crispy, or just done (or microwave on high for about 2-4 minutes.  Maybe check it after 2 minutes and re-arrange, cover with paper towel to stop splattering on the inside of the microwave.)
Buy beetroot with fresh leaves and use the beetroot leaves, or use swiss chard, normal spinach, or baby spinach. Cut out the stalk, then cut the leaves in thin shreds.
If you like the crunchy texture and the taste of celery, cut the leafy bits of the celery into thin shreds.
Cut a whole spring onion into thin slices the white and the green part, or two (depends on size and how much you like the taste)
Cut two tomatoes in cubes, or use half a punnet of baby tomatoes.
Add olives to taste.
Add finely cut parsley to taste or a tsp dried parsley.
Cut up the cooled bacon in strips.
Add a slice of feta cheese, crumbed or cubed.
Add a few thin slivers of cucumber cut into 4.

Optional Extra: Sprinkle with pumpkin or sunflower seeds

Salad dressing
Squeeze the juice of half a lemon and add 4 tablsp oil.
Add a pinch of mustard powder.
Add a garlic segment or two depending on the size.
Use minced garlic, garlic press, or liquidise all the ingredients together.
Pour over the salad and toss. 

Obviously: Leave out the things you don't like and add any other ingredients you love

Wilfrid's Favourite Risotto recipe

Risotto a la Wilfrid

Brown 125g bacon squares in 1-2T butter in pressure cooker.
Add 1 chopped onion stirring till glazed
Add 2-3 peeled tomatoes cut into cubes.
Add salt, pepper, sugar and worcestershire sauce to taste.
Steam until a pulp.
Add 1 cup rice, 2 cups water, 1 cube oxtail and 1/2 glass red wine.
Cook for 15 minutes under pressure
Stir in 3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese just before serving.
(Parmesan cheese is a great alternative)

Serve with cucumber salad.

Optional (variations):
Add strips of red/yellow/green peppers to onions being browned.
Mushrooms can also be added or substituted for the bacon (with mushrooms you need less water).

My dad often prepared the food on a Saturday and one of his favorite meals was Risotto.

Raw beetroot salad recipe

Recipe for Raw Grated Beetroot and Carrot Salad

Grate together:

• 1 -2 beetroot
• 2 carrots
• 1/2 to 1 pineapple (you can cut half of this into cubes or matchsticks for a different texture)

Add mayonnaise to taste. Start with heaped tablespoon then adjust.
Sprinkle with walnuts or sunflower seeds.

Children-friendly recipe:
This tastes more like pudding than salad so even kids will eat this if you have trouble getting some veggies into them. It also has a rather pink color (depends how much mayonnaise you add), which they may find appealing.