Stuffed chicken Breast with spinach served with baked veggies

Wassup my good people!

Hope you had an awesome weekend! Im excited about this recipe. Its funny cause I was abit worried it wouldn't turn out as good as I had envisioned it in my head, I sure thank God it did. Working to step out from my cooking comfort zone so that I may be able to make fascinating and fab meals that I can teach you all to make easily.

I made stuffed chicken breasts with spinach and mozzarella and served them with a mixture of my fav mixed veggies, courgettes, eggplant and red peppers. I love these three because of their natural sweetness. I didn't want to tamper with their taste so I knew that baking them would do the trick.

Ingredients:- Serves 4
3 -4 chicken Breasts [depending on number of people, serve 1 breast per person]
Mozarella Cheese
Fresh spinach
Toothpicks
6 cloves garlic
2 Courgettes
2 Eggplants
2 red peppers/hoho
1 white onion
Black pepper
Oregano
Tomato paste
 Olive oil
Beef cube

So I started of by washing all my vegetables and chopping them up.

Heat oven to 180 degrees. I then cooked the garlic and half the onion with some olive oil and added the chopped eggplant, courgettes and red pepper. I allowed to cook for about 5 minutes just to absorb the flavor of the garlic and I then put them in a baking dish. garnished with some oregano and black pepper and popped them to bake covered with foil for about 15 minutes.

 

I then put another sufuria on the stove with olive oil and the chopped onions and garlic to cook. I then added the tomato paste, approx 4 tablespoons and beef cube. To keep the paste from burning on the bottom of the sufuria I added a few tablespoons water. I then added the chopped spinach and cooked for 3 minutes.

Once the spinach was done, I put it aside and took my chicken breasts, washed and cut them in the middle. Make sure to use a sharp knife. Do not cut completely to the end since we need one closed side. 

I greased the oven tray with olive or vegetable oil and placed the open chicken fillets.

I then added a few spoonfuls of spinach in each open chicken fillet topped with a few slices of mozarella.

After that I used toothpicks to close the fillets. Be careful to close them well so that the filling doesn't all fall out. I garnished with salt, black pepper and chopped garlic. 

 

I put the chicken in the oven to bake for about 15 minutes or until you can see that the chicken is cooked. You can always cut one of the fillets in the middle to check.

 After that I removed it from the oven, removed toothpicks and sliced them in a few pieces and baked for another 2 minutes. 

And vuala! The chicken was ready. Perfectly moist, healthy and full of flavor. The baked veggies were the perfect compliment aswell since they were juicy and sweet. You can also compliment this meal with additional rice or a baguette. 

All in all this is a perfect meal for the evening when you're looking to have something light. 

ENJOY!

More recipes coming up this week!

Tomorrow I post about my spicy scotch eggs recipe!

Sincerely, 

Jaz.

Food review: Golden Spur Steak Ranch Restaurant

Hey guys........so here's a long overdue food review on one of my favorite restaurants, "SPURS!"

 

I've dined at the one located in The Southern Sun Mayfair hotel, in Westlands a couple of times, and I must say, I have never been disappointed.
I find that this is the ideal place for a chilled out lunch or dinner, Sunday brunch, and for any special celebration. I love the ambiance in this place! Couples on one table enjoying a romantic dinner while another family loudly chatters on the next one. They have bouncing castles, a playroom and cyber that cater to different age groups so you don't have to leave your kids at home. Great and quick service and not forgetting some very fresh and scrumptious meals.

I'm a fan of juicy steaks so I ordered the Chedamealt steak that came with some fries, onion rings and a bit of salad. Sadly my steak was a bit tough. This was my first time ever eating a hard steak here. In the past, I had always gotten soft and juicy ones. All in all I still enjoyed the flavor and the delightful layer of melted cheese and a creamy mushroom sauce covering the steak.

We also had Chicken and Cheese quesadillas with salsa and guacamole. They were a bit hard but very tender on the inside. The guacamole was perfectly chilled and fresh.

The Spurs classic bugger was a feast for sore eyes. You could tell just how juicy it was even without taking a bite. It was served with fries and onion rings. I must say it was quite good and filling too.

We also had the buffalo chicken wings that came with two sauces to dip in. They were plenty that I actually didn't make the effort to count them, though I believe they should make them with a nice sauce, preferably barbecue instead of just frying them. They were a bit too plain in my humble opinion but still a good meal and very filling.

We also had Half chicken and fries! The meal was such a winner. The chicken filled half of the plate and it was perfectly garnished with a nice barbecue sauce.

And lastly we had the pork chops and mashed potatoes. The pork chops were nice and juicy, topped with a slice of pineapple and creamy mashed potatoes. This meal was also a winner and extremely scrumptious.

Two things we love about Spurs are the good portions and great service.
Prices range between 600 to about 2000 Ksh depending on what you order. A good steak can go for about 800- 1300 Ksh. The drinks range from about 150-350 Ksh and are served chilled in big glasses! *winning!* The waiters are friendly, very efficient and fast. We were served by a very polite man who even gave us 3 plates of veggies on the house. Since we were celebrating a birthday, they gathered around our table and sang their special spurs birthday song as they brought our cake with a lit up sparkly candle* courtesy of them*

I highly recommend this place any day.
They are on a level of their own.

Big up Spurs!

Guest and Recipe of the Week: Sweet and sour Meatballs by Tash

Hey guys this week we feature a very gifted cook all the way from Zimbabwe, Tash Mandeya.
Shes a friend of mine and an amazing cook who I think is extremely creative in designing meals and also in her food presentation.

She's also a really good baker and if you happen to be in Zimbabwe, do yourself a favor and order yourself a cake or some cupcakes. [refer to pictures below]. 

 You can find her on the B'dazzled Cake Creations on Facebook.

She hooked me up with this meatball recipe. Now Ill have you know that this is a meal Ive been meaning to make for some time now so I'm definitely going to try this recipe out.
I usually buy the ready-made meatballs but after sampling some home-made ones last mth done by another friend of mine, I don't think I'll ever cook them without making them my self.

Ingredients:          

1 Kg Beef mince
1 egg
1/2 each of large red, yellow and green peppers
1 green chilli [add more if you like]
Salt, spices and herbs to taste
1 can tinned chopped tomatoes
Sweet chilli sauce
Fruit chutney
1 cup water
Oil for shallow frying
Fresh chopped parsley

1. Place the minced beef, peppers, chilli, seasoning and egg in a bowl.

                                                                                                                                                                           

 2. Heat oil in a skillet or pan.

3. While pan heats up, shape mince mixture into medium sized meat balls.

4. When pan is hot [but not smoking] place meatballs in pan and cover them [turn them often to ensure you maintain the round shape]
5. Once covered allow meatballs to brown on all sides

6. Transfer meatballs to greaseproof paper reserving the juices in the pan.
7. Add the tomatoes to the pan stirring frequently to ensure they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
8. Season tomato sauce with salt and reduce heat. Allow to simmer for 2 min.

9. Mix 3 tbsp each of the sweet chilli sauce and chutney with water and add to the tomato sauce and allow to simmer until slightly thickened.

10. Add meatballs and a sprinkle of half the herbs and cover with lid and simmer for 15-20 min on low heat.

11. Serve with rice, and vegetables of your choice and sprinkle the remainder of the chopped herbs.

BBQ ribs with plantain & salad with homemade dressing

Hey guys!
Hope you're having a blessed week.
Now tell me who doesn't love some spare ribs done with a barbecue sauce. Yumm!!  I had been planning to make them for the longest time ever* well two weeks felt like forever!* I always loved barbecue sauces and I finally got the chance to make one myself.
On top of that I opted to make a salsa dressing since I forgot to buy one for the salad. It came out even better than I had expected, which was to my surprise seeing I hadn't tried this out in yrs. I guess recipes are timeless!!! :-) :-)

So this recipe serves up to 6-8 pple.

Ingredients:-                                                    

1 kg spare ribs
Plantain
1 pack mixed bag of lettuce
4 cloves garlic
5 tomatoes
Ketchup
Dark brown sugar
Worcestershire sauce
Dark soy sauce
Apple cider vingegar
Cayenne pepper
Black pepper
Mayonnaise
Half an orange
1 pack tomato paste
Vegetable oil

Method:
I started of by making the tomato purée for the barbecue sauce. I didn't want to buy any of that in a can cause everything tastes so much better when it is homemade. I washed my tomatoes and put them in a sufuria filled with water and left them to boil for about 10 min or until the peels started falling off. After that I poured out the hot water and started peeling them carefully. *you can leave them in a bowl of cold water to cool for about 2min* Also remember to cut the top hard part off.

I then placed the peeled tomatoes in a blender and blended them for 1 min straight.

In another sufuria I started mixing my ingredients for the barbecue sauce which included 1 cup dark brown sugar * not mumias because it isn't as dark*, half a cup of apple cider, quarter cup dark soy sauce, half a cup Worcestershire sauce, 1table spoon cayenne pepper, half a packet tomato paste and 1cup ketchup. I then put my sufuria on the stove and stirred it continuously as it heated up. Do this for about 5 min or until the sauce thickens and darkens into a smooth dark brown sauce.

Once it is done, put it aside for about another 10 min to cool and then mix half of the sauce over the clean spare ribs and refrigerate for half an hr to marinate.  You can also opt to do this the night before for the meat to marinate well.

[My friend Sheila helping me with cleaning and cutting up the ribs]

As the meat marinated, I placed a cooking pan with oil on the hot stove, peeled my plantain and cut it up for frying.  This takes a very short while if you buy the ripe plantain bananas. Fry them until they begin to brown on the outside. Once they are cooked, place them in a bowl over kitchen tissues/serviettes to drain out the oil.

   [ION: These were the biggest plantains I have seen]

After 20-30 min are up, remove from fridge and prepare another sufuria by cooking some chopped up garlic. Once the garlic is cooked, add marinated ribs and cover. Leave them to cook for about 10-12 minutes and make sure you stir it occasionally to prevent them from sticking in the bottom of the sufuria.

Heat oven to 180 degrees. Once ribs are cooked, place on a baking tray and cover with the remaining barbecue sauce. Place them in the middle of the oven to make sure heat-temperature is moderate. Grill them until they start sizzling which takes about 5 min.

Wash bag of salad and drain out the water. In a small bowl or cup mix 5 tablespoons mayonnaise, 4 tablespoons ketchup, a dash of black pepper, and half an orange until dressing is smooth and tasty. You can mix Tabasco or abit of chilli to spice it up.

 Serve over salad, with BBQ ribs and fried plantain.

If you have any BBQ sauce left you can pour some over the ribs.

Enjoy your meal!

P.s you can use this sauce on other meats such as chicken or beef. Try it and share it with a friend. Awaiting your feedback.