Chicken Soup

Best of all! Why? Explanation in 2 words - 'Mum's kitchen' ;) It is even said that this is the first and sometimes the only soup that children like ;) It is very easy to prepare, very tasty and healthy (it helps to cure for instance cold and flu ;) )!

Chicken soup became our traditional meal :) We eat it every Sunday :) I do recommend!

P.S. It is not a spider on the spoon, it is a lamp on the ceiling ;)

Ingredients:

• 2kg fresh chicken
• 1 package of filini pasta 

vegs:

• 3 big carrots
• 1-2 parsley(s) (without leaves)
• 1/3-1/2 celery
• 1 leek

spices:

• some lovage leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon of vegeta (or more if preferred)
• 1/2 tablespoon of sea salt
• 2-3 allspice grains
• 2-3 pepper grains
• 1-2 bay leaves

Optionally:

• Chicken soup cube (like Knorr's)
• Maggi

Preparation:

1. Wash the chicken, cut out all the fat, tripe, etc. and throw it away. 
2. Using a big knife, cut the chicken into 2 pieces (or smaller if preferred, it will shorten the time of preparation).
3. Take a big pot, put chicken inside and fill completely with water. 
4. Add pinch of salt and start boiling (the entire boiling will take around 1,5 hour).*
5. During that time, prepare all the vegs - wash, peel and chop them if necessary.
6. At some point a ,,weird" foam will start appearing on the top of the water. Using a spoon, take it out and throw away.
7. When the foam stops appearing, add spices.
8. After at least 45 minutes of boiling, add vegetables and continue boiling. 
9. In the meantime prepare the pasta, as the instruction on the packaging says. When done, put in a colander and pour cold water on it (it will prevent the pasta from being too sticky).
10. It is good to check if the chicken is ready - take it out from the soup, put on a big place and cut into smaller pieces, checking if it isn't raw inside (put it back in the soup).
11. When done, serve with pasta, carrot pieces and parsley leaves.
12. Bon Appetit! :)

* Here - optionally and especially if the chicken isn't wonderfully fresh - you can put the chicken in a pot with water, add salt (1/2-1 teaspoon) and leave it for around an hour. After that time, change the water completely, add some salt again and continue preparing the soup as the following steps say.

Pasta with basil pesto

Ohhh my! this is the very best meal I've recently eaten! And it might be prepared in many different variations as there are a few types of pesto :) Another advantage, for those of You, who has little time - some of the ingredients - like pesto - might be bought, ready-made, no need to prepare home-made pesto :) though I do encourage You to try ;)

Recipe for a good basil pesto.

Just one important thing about basil pesto - home-made or ready-made: do not heat it up, as it may change its taste, into bitter, because of the basil, so that you may not like it anymore.

Ingredients:

• 1 packaging of lovage-flavoured pasta
• 1 jar/packaging of ready-made pesto (or see the pesto ingredients&recipe below)
• 500g of chicken breasts
• salt, pepper, oregano (optionally something else to make it more spicy, like cayenne pepper)
• grated cheese
• chopped parsley leaves

Home-made pesto:

Ingredients:

• 25g of fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 small clove of garlic
• 25g of pine nuts or pumpkin seeds or cashew or walnuts
• 10g of 'hard' cheese, (like permigiano, grana padano, pecorino)
• 70ml of olive oil
• sea salt, freshly ground black pepper

Pesto preparation:

1. Take a blender, put all the ingredients inside and crush them all into very small pieces. In the end, season with spices.

Preparation:

1. Take a pot, put water inside, add a little salt, boil. When boiling, add pasta and boil for around 10 minutes, stiring from time to time (basic pasta preparation).
2. Take the chicken, chop into small pieces and put in a bowl. Season with salt, pepper, oregano (and optionally cayenne) and stir/shake, so that it covers all the pieces.
3. Take a frying pan, add oil, start heating. Add chicken and fry till gold.
4. Strain the pasta, put some on your plate, add some chicken, put pesto on it. Sprinkle with grated cheese*, some freshly ground pepper and parsley leaves.
5. Bon Appetit! :)

*If the meal isn't hot enough anymore to melt the cheese, it is ok to add cheese before pesto and put it for a few seconds in a microwave.

Spicy pasta with chicken

This is my old idea of making a delicious dinner out of simple ingredients! And, what is more important, with that dish, everyone will find something suitable for themselves, for example: 

For children - there is pasta, which, if they are faddy - might be served only with chicken or with butter+sugar. 

For vegetarians: just take away the chicken.

For those on a diet - no mushroom sauce and no cheese.

Perfect!

The recipe is mostly mine, I took the recipe for the sauce from this website.

Ingredients:

• 500g of chicken breasts, chopped
• 1 packaging of wholemeal Fusilli pasta
• 100-200 g of cheese, grated (or some slices to put on the top)
• 1 onion, chopped
• pepper, salt, cayenne pepper (be careful with cayenne, it is spicy)
• parsley - leaves, to sprinkle the top

Mushroom sauce:

• around 1/2 kg of mushrooms (penny buns)
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 50 g of butter
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 125 ml of 30-36% cream 
• pepper, salt
• 2-3 tablespoons of fresh, chopped parsley

Optional sauce ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons of beer or white wine

Preparation:

Pasta:

1. Take a bigger, clean pot, pour water and a pinch of salt inside. Put on a stove, boil on a middle heat. When it reaches 100C, add pasta, stir, change the heat into low. Boil  for 7-12 minutes. Stir from time to time*.
2. When it's done, put the pasta on a colander and pour cold water on the pasta.**

*It is important, because pasta tends to stick to the bottom of the pot and burn as well as it tends to boil over.

** This is a good way to avoid sticky pasta.

Meat:

1. Chop into pieces, season with salt and pepper and cayenne.
2. Take a very big frying pan, grease it a little bit with oil. Turn the heat on.
3. Put the chopped chicken on the frying pan and fry for 10-15 minutes.

Mushroom sauce:

1. Clean the penny buns very precisely using a knife or a brush. If necessary - clean them quickly under cold water. Dry on a paper towel. Chop.
2. Chop the onion and garlic.
3. Take a frying pan, put 30g of butter and 1 tablespoon of oil on it. Add chopped onion and fry for 5 minutes on a middle heat. Add garlic and fry for another 1-2 minutes on a low heat. It needs to be gold, not burnt.
4. Add optional ingredients. Boil till water evaporates and a thick substance appears.
5. Add the rest of the buter and the oil. When it starts frying, add penny buns and fry on a high heat for around 6 minutes, stiring from time to time. 
6. Take the cream, add 2-3 tablespoons of sauce from the frying pan, stir. Pour everything on the frying pan and boil on midle heat. Season with salt (1-2 pinch(es)). Stir. Boil for around 2 minutes so that the sauce has a chance to get thicker. At the end, add parsley and season with pepper. Stir, turn the heat off.

1. Take the sauce and pour it on the frying pan with meat. Add pasta, boil for few minutes, stiring. Turn the heat off.
2. Bon Appetit! :)