I know how much you all love seeing what sorts of food I've been eating lately (*winky face + emoji π) and it's been a while since I posted on the subject, So I figured that it's time for another Leaky meal update. These are just a few meals that I've prepared recently that I remembered to take photos of. But since I'm doing multiple meals in this post I'm just going to give you the high level directions on what I did to prepare them. I didn't follow a specific recipe anyway and the steps are pretty straight forward if you did want to try them out yourself. Okay, let's get into it.
Easy Cabbage Rolls
The first dish that I will discuss were some easy cabbage rolls. I say "easy" because I don't actually know how to roll them properly, so I cheated by buying a smaller cabbage and just doing a lazy fold sort of roll with them. The taste was basically the same and the presentation was alright so win win really.
So first I cooked some ground beef and then added in some chopped onions and garlic for flavor. At the same time I cooked some rice in a seperate pot. When both were done I added everything together along with some tomato sauce to add moisture to the dish and some dried herbs for additional flavor.
While all of that was happening I separated a bunch of cabbage leaves from the plant, cut off a big portion of the large stem at the base and steamed them to make them soft and pliable.
Once all of that was complete I spooned some of the beef and rice mixture into the cabbage leaves and then did my lazy fold that I mentioned earlier.
Next I put them into an oven ready casserole dish.
After that I covered the rolls with a layer of tomato sauce and grated some parmesan cheese over top.
I baked that in the oven for 30 minutes or so just to heat everything up and allow it all to come together.
Thats it! Done and ready to serve. I thought they turned out quite good myself.
Stuffed Bell Peppers
Next on the list are stuffed bell peppers. This was my first time attempting them and I was just going to "wing it." I cooked up some ground chicken this time, with some carrots, onions and garlic and then added in some rice afterwards. I cooked the rice in chicken broth and used cardamom spice for flavor (or was it coriander? I always get the two mixed up). It was coriander actually. Just confirmed...
I stuffed the peppers with the mixture and threw them into the oven to bake. The peppers didn't really hold a whole lot of the stuffing so I just threw the rest into a casserole dish to bake as well.
They looked really nice but I thought that they were a little dry in the end. I'm not sure what I would do differently in this case, other than maybe just look up a recipe online. Any suggestions?
Loaded Pierogies
This last dish was the most recent and the best of the lot. We went to a family potluck last weekend and I was having a really hard time trying to decide what to bring. In the end I landed on pierogies, which really turned out delicious overall.
The pierogies themselves were just store bought. I didn't make them myself but just threw them into a pot of boiling water for 5 minutes until cooked.
Prior to that I had cut up and cooked some bacon to add in afterwards. I bought thick cut, naturally smoked and cured bacon and it was delicious π.
Here is a close up of the frying bacon, just because it looks so good.
Next I fried chopped onion in the bacon fat for some extra flavor.
This isn't a low fat dish by any stretch of the imagination.
I put the pierogies into a serving tray next and brushed some olive oil on them to avoid the next layer from sticking. Ideally I would have only done one layer but I don't have a pan large enough for the amount of pierogies I needed to bring.
Next I added large dollops of sour cream (similar to creme Fraiche) as well the cooked bacon and onions and some additional green onions for both flavor and color.
The secret weapon to this dish was the crispy fried onions that I added last. They are store bought but are delicious with a nice crunch. Try and tell me that this doesn't look amazing... It tasted as good as it looked too so it was a major hit at the party.
It's the first time that I'm hearing that term, but they look like gyozas or dumplings, which are my favourite, fried or boiled. You're such an excellent cook. You make me wish for a dinner invite. I'm so hungry now! Everything looks amazing!π―
ππ
They are a type of dumpling not like gyozas though. The dough is a little different and they usually have potato and cheese filling. They often sell them premade and frozen in grocery stores (in North America anyway) and just need to be boiled. I'm surprised that they don't have them in the UK because they originate from Eastern Europe I believe
Ah, yeah! Polish dumplings. Hmm, I must look out for them in bigger supermarkets, or probably here in Leicester since there's a HUGE Polish population...
Weird, but that sounds like a pasty... π
The cheese tends to be subtle. Sometimes it's cottage cheese inside. But mostly just potato. Maybe you'll find them. Let me know if you do.
I have never heard of pierogies before. What are they, like little filled dumplings? Looks magic although definitely not a low fat dish! :OD
Yes they are a type of dumpling. I'm not sure where they originate from but I believe that they are common among several European countries. I believe that they are big in Poland and Ukraine. They come in different flavor options but are usually filled with potato and cheese - at least here in Canada. I don't think that they are traditionally served with so much stuff, generally just butter and onions I think, but they are simple enough that they can accommodate pretty much any accompaniment. My wife and I have talked about making them ourselves from scratch but have yet to do so.
But you've done so many push ups lately that's not an issue for you...
I woke fancy them. I do like a little dumpling thing!
Possibly wow ready to make bit of you can get them premade then shut the heck not!
My body of course, is a pushup temple but I am sensing some violation coming!!
Yeah sometimes premade items are better. Doing things yourself is often only marginally better for taste but 10 times the amount of work and time. Still, I would like to try once
It's always worth a try, that way at least you can see if the effort is worth it!
Yes exactly π―
Mouthwatering.
Baked rice out of the shell gets dry, maybe you could bake the stuffed peppers first and add the rest just ten minutes before you lift the dish out of the oven. Just my thoughts. Needs more fat as well, here we would add ghee.
Those are great tips. Thanks! I'll keep them in mind for next time. Yeah there wasn't much fat in the dish because of the ground chicken. It's so lean. So adding in ghee or something, even just olive oil, would help a lot I think.
Any kind of oil would do, ghee is the preferred fat for us Indians. Rice needs to be a little moist, you could additionally cover the rice with foil to prevent the moisture from escaping.
Okay. I'll keep that in mind as well. Super helpful. π
The food looks really great. I would like to taste it all. they look so delicious
The meals turned out pretty good this time for the most part. that's not always the case though π
Bon appetit to you then π€€π
Oi, oi, these are foods made for a feast, I mean, they looks really delicious, esp. the cabbage roll. It has rice so I can eat thag for breakfast, lunch and dinner, hahaha. All in one (δΊΊ β’Να΄β’Ν)
The cabbage rolls turned out pretty good for a first attempt. Definitely a versatile dish that could be eaten any time of the day.
The Cabbage Rolls are very close to a Romanian traditional dish known as 'sarmale'. I love to see this being prepared in other parts of the world and would definitely love to try it out and compare it with our traditional one :)
Yeah cabbage rolls are a pretty common among many different countries m. Each makes them slightly different but they are all good, in my experience.
Yum! Everything looks delicious and I feel like sniffing my monitor lol. I haven't tried pierogi yet but they are on my shopping list now! Glad the family loved them!
They are worth a try for sure. I hope you like them. π
Quite amazing I will love to have a taste of this actually π
π
How delicious it looks
Thanks!
They all look delicious π€€..... I want to have some. Lol.....I'm gonna try making this recipes next time I cook, thanks for sharing! βοΈ
Good luck! I hope it turns out well!
I hope so π
Leaky has really been eating well lately
All the foods are looking very awesome
Thanks. They ended up being pretty good π
I came here fully with my appetite π«£ everything looks so yummy and the process is easy though there are some things here that looks new to me, like the pierogies....sounds good however!
Yeah a lot of people have said that they have never tried pierogies before. I guess they aren't as common as I thought.
que rico se ve! muy bueno
how tasty it looks! very good
Thanks! π
que delicisos se ve todo, gracias por compartir
Thanks π π