Euro 2016 Food Challenge: Wales: Welsh Rarebit

How have I managed to live in Wales for all of my adult life without ever eating Welsh Rarebit?? Oh well, there's a first time for everything. 

There's a recipe on the Slimming World website, but I improvised mine a bit. I used quark to make it extra cheesy - it adds a bit of a sour taste, but I liked it. 

Ingredients

2 slices wholemeal bread from a 400g loaf (HEB)

45g reduced fat cheddar (HEA)

1 tsp mustard powder

1 Spring onion, sliced

1 egg yolk

1 heaped tbsp quark

Smoked paprika, black pepper and salad, to serve

In a bowl, mix the cheese, mustard powder, spring onion, egg yolk and quark.

Toast the bread under the grill on one side. Turn over and divide the cheese mix between the two slices. Grill until the cheese is starting to brown.

Season the rarebit with smoked paprika and black pepper. Serve with a side salad.

Euro 2016 Food Challenge: Ukraine: Borscht

This could probably count for a few countries, but my recipe book says it's Ukrainian so I'll go with that.

This recipe is incredibly easy, and makes loads so you can freeze some for another day.  The original recipe used raw beetroot, but I'm lazy so use pre-cooked!

Ingredients
1 large onion
3 fat garlic cloves
3 large carrots
1stick of celery
600g cooked beetroot (2 Asda packs = 10 beets)
A big squirt of tomato puree
1 chicken stockpot
2 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp paprika
2 pints boiling water

Peel the onion, carrots and garlic.  Finely chop all the veg (or blitz in a food processor).  Put in a large stock pot with the rest of the ingredients.  Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 45-60 minutes.

Serve as it is if you want to leave it chunky, or blend for a smoother texture. Season to taste. Serve with a dollop of soured cream if you have syns to spare.

Euro 2016 Food Challenge: Italy: Linguine Picchi-Pacchi

We eat A LOT of Italian food, so for my Italian challenge recipe I wanted to do something a bit different and seasonal.  There's a version of this dish in our Cucina Siciliana book; not only does it have a brilliant name (pronounced pic-key pac-key) but it's very tasty too.

Its basically a really easy fresh tomato sauce.  I think this is everything I love about good Italian food - simple, fresh, and packed with flavour. 

The recipe I used as a base included prawns in the dish, but I kept it veggie this time.  I think bacon would probably work well too.  This sauce is usually served with spaghetti, but we had linguine in (and I prefer it to spag).  And usually parsley is the herb used, but we have an abundance of oregano in the garden.   I used a mix of cherry and salad tomatoes to vary the texture, but any will do.

Serves 2

Ingredients 

400g fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 large garlic clove, crushed 

200g linguine

A large handful of oregano, chopped

Frylight 

Salt and pepper

To peel the tomatoes: use a sharp knife to score a cross in the bottom of each tomato. Plunge them into a bowl of boiling water for 30-60 seconds. Fish them out with a slotted spoon and plunge them into cold water.  Peel the tomatoes and chop them up.

Spray a pan with Frylight. Sauté the onion over a low heat until softened but not browned. Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook for about 10-15 minutes, using a wooden spoon to break down the tomato flesh.  Season with salt to taste.

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.

Reserving some for garnish at the end, add the majority of the oregano to the sauce and heat through.  

Stir the sauce through the cooked pasta. Serve immediately, topped with the rest of the oregano, and seasoned with salt and pepper.