Most of us are looking out for new recipes and ideas. After all, how many times can you cook macaroni and cheese before getting bored? Luckily, some food brands are here to help.
On last week’s hit reality television cooking show, Colour Your Plate with KOO, the food manufacturer announced the launch of their new KOO Pilchards in tomato sauce and KOO pilchards in chilli sauce, while encouraging the contestants to include the new products in their scrumptious meals, and show South Africans how to incorporate the humble pilchard into their home cooking.
Award-winning celebrity chef Reuben Riffel shared KOO’s pilchards in tomato sauce potstickers with a dipping sauce recipe to help inspire home chefs to whip up something unusual with this hearty fish.
And Knorr, Unilever’s largest food brand, recently teamed up with McCain Foods, the country’s largest manufacturer of frozen potatoes and vegetables in SA, to help the world move towards a better food future by encouraging people to adopt better eating habits that are good for them and the planet.
They have launched easy-to-prepare ingredients to make family mealtimes more nutritious, tasty and fun, through the new Knorr Meals Made Easy with McCain veggies. Their inspiring ingredient combos and versatile products give you so much choice and show you how easy it is to incorporate more veggies into your recipes so you can put healthy, affordable food back into your body.
Below are recipes from the brands that you can try this week.
Tomato, broccoli, spinach, and feta boloroni bake
Serves: 4
Ingredients
230g Knorr Boloroni mince mate
250g McCain broccoli florets
200g spinach, chopped
200g cherry tomatoes, halved
80g mature cheddar, grated
1ml Robertson's black pepper, to taste
150g feta cheese
Method
Preheat the oven to 190C.
Bring the 800ml water to a boil. Add the contents of the Knorr Boloroni mince mate, the pasta, and the sauce sachet.
Allow simmering for 10-15 minutes. In the last 5 minutes, stir in the spinach, McCain broccoli, and tomatoes.
Remove from the heat, and add the cheddar. Season with Robertson’s Atlantic sea salt and Robertson’s black pepper.
Pour into a baking dish and crumble over the feta cheese.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Pilchards in tomato sauce potstickers with a dipping sauce
Serves: 6
Ingredients
2 tbsp coconut or sesame oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
5cm ginger piece, finely grated
200g mushrooms of your choice, finely chopped
1 cup spinach or bok choy, shredded
1 cup cabbage, finely shredded into bite-sized pieces
4 spring onion, finely sliced
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 cup cream cheese
1 tin KOO pilchards in tomato sauce
35 wonton wrappers
Cake flour, for dusting
1 cup sesame seeds
Oil, for frying
For the dipping sauce
1 cup soy sauce
Limes juice and zest of 2 limes
1 garlic clove, crushed
½ cup coriander, finely chopped
1 chilli red or green. finely chopped
2 spring onion, finely sliced
Method
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and gently fry the garlic and ginger until fragrant. Increase the heat and cook the mushrooms in batches, until slightly golden and cooked (make sure to not overcrowd the pan as this will result in steamed mushrooms and cause the mixture to be too soggy).
Once cooked, add all the mushrooms to the pan and stir through the spinach and cabbage until just wilted. Add the spring onion, soy sauce, and cream cheese.
Lay the KOO pilchards in tomato sauce out on a baking sheet and pat with a kitchen towel to remove some of the sauce. Gently fold these through the mushroom mixture, careful not to break up the fish fillets too much.
Place the wonton wrappers on a dry surface, lightly dusted with flour, and place a tablespoon of the filling in the centre of the wrapper. Brush the edges with a little water, fold over and pinch in the middle. Begin pleating the edges together on one side, towards the middle, and repeat on the other side.
Brush the bottom of the dumplings lightly with water and roll in the sesame seeds. Place on a lightly floured baking sheet.
Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan (that you can cover with a lid or something to the effect) over medium heat. Fry 6-8 dumplings at a time – depending on how big your pan is – bottom side first, until golden brown. Flip onto their sides, add 3 tablespoons of water, and cover. Leave to steam for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and keep warm. Repeat with the other dumplings.
Combine all the ingredients for the dipping sauce and serve alongside your warm KOO pilchards in tomato sauce potstickers.
Spaghetti bolognese with red kidney beans and baby spinach
Serves: 4
Ingredients
30ml vegetable oil
1 medium-sized onion chopped
500g lean beef mince
2 medium-sized tomatoes chopped
200g McCain carrots julienne
400ml water
1 sachet Knorr spaghetti Bolognese dry-cook-in-sauce
1 tin red kidney beans drained
200g McCain Creamed Spinach
50g tomato paste
250g uncooked spaghetti
Method
In a pan, brown the onion in oil. Add the mince and cook until well browned. Add the McCain carrots, julienne, and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
Add water to the pan, stir in the contents of the pouch, the red kidney beans, McCain creamed spinach, and the tomato paste, and bring to a boil while stirring.
Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Serve with cooked spaghetti.