Sautee (read fry gently) the onion and chilly slices in a pan with a few spoons of extra virgin olive oil
Cut the peppers in thin slices and put them in the pan (Picture 1)
Stir fry for 5 minutes with medium-high heat
Add the content of a jar of peeled tomato to the onion and keep cooking medium heat
Prepare the chicken tighs: remove the skin, fat and cut them in chops
Add salt and oregan to the peppers
Add the chicken, stir and cover with a lid
Keep cooking for 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is perfectly cooked inside at medium heat with a lid (taste it to be sure)
Cooking tips
Stir frequently when the heat is high and cover with a lid to maintain the right amount of juice in the pan. If it gets to dry simply add half a glass of water at the time
Ready to serve
As a general rule you can keep the heat quite up without a lid when cooking the peppers.
When you add the tomato use a medium fire without the lid
And finally, when you add the chicken, kepp the heat to medium and cover with a lid
Feel free to experiment with different spices:
Cumin powder
Black pepper
White pepper
Coriander
Rosmary
Why is this healthy
It’s a plate made mainly of vegetables (peppers, onion and tomato), the chicken is white meat which is better then red meat for health
Pizza is part of the so called ‘dieta mediterranea’, i.e. a diet typical of the countries of the Mediterranean region, thought to increase life expectancy and protect against heart disease and cancer.
One thing to remember wen making pizza is that whatever topping you choose, you should use good quality ingredients and add them in small quantity.
A few spoons of passata and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on pizza base
Using a pizza base mix instead of buying a precooked pizza has its advantages:
Save a lot of money: the cost of 2 pizzas made from scratch is about 2 pounds, the cost of buying 2 good quality precooked pizza can be even 8 pounds;
Healtier choice: you know what goes in the pizza: it’s difficult to ensure the quality and control what you eat in a pizza bought off the shelf
It gives you a lot of satisfaction to eat the pizza that you made from scratch
Preparation
Put the pizza mix in a bowl and add half glass of warm water. Stirr until the dough start to form, use your clean hands if you like (recommended), and work on the flour to mix it with the water until the dough stops sticking to your fingers (yes, at the beginnning it will stick to your fingers).
Add a pinch of salt.
Spread the passata with a spoon
Cut a square of baking paper the size of a pizza and add a pinch of flour on it, put the pizza dough on it. (start to heat the oven at 220-250 C.)
Start working the pizza with your fingers giving it a round shape, keep rotating the pizza and turn it a couple of times.
Once the pizza is the size desidered add a few spoons of passata and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in the middle (see picture).
Spread the passata with the back of a spoon.
Add the mozzarella chopped in little cubes.
Put in the oven preheated at 220 – 250 C. for 10 minutes.
Tips and tricks
Mozzarella on the pizza
To get a great crunchy and well cooked pizza I use a pizza baking stone from John Lewis, it’s not very expensive and it will last a long time. You can use the stone to serve the pizza and it will keep the pizza hot while you eat it.
Other nice combinations
- Tuna and onion
- Zola and egg
- Ham and mushrooms
- Anchovies
I like to add a bit of chili oil on my pizza. I make my own chilli oil by buying a 250 ml bottle of extra virgin and drop a few dried red chillies in it. It takes a week before the chillies sink in and the oil gets its spicy taste.
The italian roast beef is supposed to be served cut in thin slices, cold and still pink in the middle. The cooking sauce, made from olive oil, rosmary, garlic and sage is used as dressing tossed the slices of beef.
The preparation time of this plate is about 50 minutes but it is very simple and you can prepare it in the morning and serve it at dinner. You can keep it it the fridge for up to 4 days after being cooked.
It is a plain and healthy plate but keep in mind that red meat should be a small part of a well balanced diet. As a rule of thumb I eat red meat max twice per week.
This is a great little recipe and I promise I am going to say that for all my recipes.
Octopus is a tasty mollusc with 8 feet as its name suggest to all of you latin speakers!
Octopus is cheap to buy, you can find it at the fishmongers and in supermarkets like Morrisons and like every other fish it’s rich in proteins, this means no fat and no carbohydrates. Good news for those of you who care about fat.
Let’s get to the recipe
1) boil the octopus for 1 hour (before you drop the octopus completely into the water, just put in the tentacles and pull them out for a second, this will give them the classic curly shape). The water must be added with a big spoon of salt and chillies
2) Take the octopus out of the water,
3) Chop the octopus on a chopping board and dress with extra virgin olive oil, thin slices of fresh chillies, thyme,
On the side you can can serve peeled and boiled boiled potatos or even mix the octopus and the potato chops together
Trick: buy fresh octopus and freeze. Defrost it in few minutes in the microwave.
The boiled octopus is on the chopping board, ready to be cut for the salad
The Octopus salad is dressed in a small bowl with extra vergin olive oil, fresh chilli thin slices and a little thyme
