Potato and Onion Rosti

I love potatoes! Roasted potatoes are probably my favourite... But since I wanted to switch it up a little bit, I made this for dinner tonight and it's probably one of the best comfort meals out there... Especially on a rainy and gloomy day. I served it with crispy sausages and egg, but you can serve it with anything your heart desires. So here it goes:

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- 4 large potatoes, peeled
- 1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
- 6tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste

Process:

- Cut the potatoes in half, place them in a pot of boiling water and boil them for 5min. Drain and let them cool.
- In a bowl grate the potatoes and season them generously with salt and pepper. Mix them well.
- Place a skillet over a medium high heat, pour in some olive oil, add the onion and sauté until soft. Then add the potatoes and using a fish slice flatten and let them cook. Flip every 3-4min until they have a crispy skin on the outside.
- Cut it into pieces, serve with your favourite side dish and enjoy!

No Yeast Pizza

After figuring that I have leftover tomato sauce, cheese, sausage and olives in the fridge, I thought: PIZZA! But then I realized I didn't have any yeast. So, since the idea of having pizza for dinner was stuck in my head I decided to research some no-yeast pizza recipes online. It seems like there are thousands of those, so I decided to give my own spin on it and I've gotta say it turned out amazingly delicious.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- 1 3/4 cups self raising flour*
- 1/2 cup lukewarm water
- 3tbs olive oil
- a pinch of salt

Process:

- Place all ingredients in a bowl. Mix until the mixture becomes doughy.
- Put the dough on a generously floured surface and start kneading. If the dough is too sticky, sprinkle some more flour and keep kneading until it's no longer sticky.
- Wrap it in cling film and let it rest for 30min. This will make it more manageable.
- Preheat oven to 200 C degrees.
- Roll the dough to a desired pizza size, transfer it into an oiled baking dish and brush it with olive oil. Bake it for 5min.
- Put your toppings on, then bake it for additional 15min or until golden brown. Enjoy!

* You can use plain flour also, but make sure you add 1tsp baking powder so the dough rises.

Sausage and Spanish Rice Burritos

Having spent years in California, I had Mexican food once or twice a week. It's one of the best comfort foods and the best part is that you can put pretty much anything in a crispy tortilla and enjoy it. So here is how my burrito dinner went...

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- 6 flour tortillas
- 100g sausage, thinly sliced
- 2 bell peppers, roughly chopped
- 1 chili pepper, finely chopped (optional)
- 1 cup uncooked rice
- 1 3/4 cup water
- 1tbs butter
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1/4tsp cumin
- salt and pepper to taste

Process:

- On medium high heat melt the butter, add the cumin powder, stir and add the uncooked rice. Stir for about a minute until the rice is coated, and add the tomato sauce and water. Bring it to a boil, season with salt and pepper, then put the heat to as low as it can go, cover it and let it simmer for 20min. Fluff with a fork, set aside and keep it covered to stay warm.
- In a skillet dry fry the sausage on a high heat. When crispy set aside.
- In a food processor place the bell peppers, the chili pepper and blend until it becomes saucy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
-  Warm up the tortillas in the microwave or in a skillet on the stove. Spoon some of the crispy sausage, rice and pepper sauce in the middle. Fold the sides and then roll it to get a burrito. Enjoy!

Chorizo Jambalaya

Great comfort food dinner :)

Living in California for years, I got to try different Jambalaya recipes. Each one of them was delicious. My recipe, however is with brown rice. I rarely use brown rice, but I believe in this case it makes the meal much tastier than white rice would do.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

- 150g chorizo sausage, diced (any smoked sausage works)
- 1 cup brown rice (any type of rice works)
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3 hot chilli peppers
- 2tbs butter
- 2tbs paprika
- 1tbs cumin
- 1tsp cajun seasoning
- 1 bay leaf
- 100g tomato sauce (fresh diced tomatoes work, too)
- 2 cups chicken broth
- salt and pepper to taste

Process:

- Place the butter in a pot and sauté the chorizo sausage on medium heat.
- Add paprika, cumin, and cajun seasoning and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes along with the bay leaf, onion, garlic, chillis, salt and pepper. Sauté for a few minutes.
- Add the rice and give it a stir.
- Pour in the chicken broth. Bring to a simmer, turn down the heat to low, cover the pot and cook for 55min.

Tip: I am using brown rice, hence cooking it for 55min. If you use regular white rice, it will take 15-20min.

Chorizo and Rice Enchiladas

Who doesn't like Mexican food? :)

I love enchiladas, but when I started making them I realized I didn't have any enchilada sauce. Luckily, I had 3 bell peppers in the fridge, so I decided to turn them into a sauce. I blended them together with some salt and poured them over the enchiladas. Once this sauce penetrated through the tortillas it made them super soft, delicious and comforting :)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

- 3 chorizo sausages, sliced (chicken, turkey, beef or fish works too)
- 100g rice
- 1 chicken/vegetable stock cube
- 200g water
- 3 bell peppers, seeds removed, roughly chopped
- 2 chilli peppers, seeds removed, roughly chopped
- cheddar cheese, grated
- 6 flour tortillas
- salt and pepper to taste

Process:

- Cook the rice according to the package instructions, making sure you add the stock cube in the boiling water before adding the rice.
-  In a food processor (or a blender) add the bell peppers and chillies and blend until liquid. Season with salt and pepper. This will be your enchilada sauce.
- In a skillet, add the sausages and sauté over a medium high heat until they brown.*
- Add the rice to the chorizo and give it a good stir.
- Spoon a couple of table spoons of the pepper sauce in a casserole dish.
- Spoon the meat mixture on the tortillas, roll them and place in the casserole dish.
- Spoon the leftover pepper mix on top of the tortillas, then sprinkle the cheese.
- Bake in a preheated oven (190 degrees) for 20min and enjoy!

* If you are using leftover cooked meat, you can skip the browning process.