Today I thought I’d share one of Daniel’s recipes with you, because I absolutely love it when he makes this, and it’s one of the only two dishes that usually involve meat, where I find it’s actually worth replacing the meat with fake meat (normal people might call it quorn, but you know, there’s many different kinds, so if you say fake chicken, you instantly know which one!). Normally I’d just leave it out, because I’m not too bothered.
But since I already got talking about quorn and it’s other meatless friends, I thought I could also share my favourite products (in the UK that is… I really struggle to find any in Germany and/or especially in France). As I said before, I don’t really use them to replace meat in what I cook, but I think it’s nice to have some of them in the freezer, especially when you’re going somewhere, because others often want to get you something that replaces the meat, but don’t know what. So here’s which products I would definitely recommend:
1) Chicken Fillets from Quorn. I think they taste really nice and they are easy to handle. They are also what’s used in this recipe. I’ve just been on their website for the first time, and there’s many recipes for their products (who would have guessed hej?), so I think it’s worth having a look!
2) Anything from Linda McCartney really! Everything I’ve tried, has been absolutely delicious and it’s by a long short the best meat replacing stuff I’ve come across. I particulary like (well I haven’t tried more… otherwise I’m sure this list would be endless!):
- Burgers (nice for a fuzz-free BBQing, especially if you can’t see vegetable anymore and really can’t be bothered to marinate even more feta!)
- Country Pies (for when the others are having a Roast sort of meal)
- Sausages (my beloved aunt would actually not believe these aren’t meat, when she was served them at a B&B).
But now that I browsed through the website, I decided I will definitely also try the following:
- Cranberry and Camembert Burgers
- Farmhouse Pies
- Mini Snack Sausages
- Mozzarella Burgers
- Red Onion and Rosemary Burgers
Yep that’s right, pretty much the whole range! Btw you should definitely at least click some of the links, because they have pretty photos of the foods on the website.
Linda McCartney also has a campaign called Meatless Monday, which, if you haven’t been able to figure out from the name, encourages people to leave out meat at least once a week, which I think is a wonderful idea.
Anyway I think I’ve talked enough, haven’t I? Here’s the recipe:
Spicy Spaghetti Napoli with Crispy (Fake) Chicken
1. Defrost fake chicken in the microwave. For normal people I’d recommend two pieces each, if you’re as greedy as I am though, use three.
2. Prepare three bowls. In the first one you put flour, in the second one you scramble up an egg and in the third one is for breadcrumbs.
3. Put the fake chicken (obviously the meat eaters among you can use actual chicken, but hej let’s all be a bit more vegetarian, shall we?) in the flour first (making sure it’s covered, but shaking off any excess), then egg, then breadcrumbs. Put aside.
4. Caramelize 1 chopped red onion, add in 1 crushed clove of garlic and 1 chopped chili (or less, depending on how strong the chili is).
5. Optional: Add roughly 500g of sliced mushrooms. But if you do this step, take into account that it will take some time for the water of the mushrooms to cook off. This is also the time, where you might want to start pre-heating the oven.
6. Add 1 tin of chopped tomatoes to the pan and any spices you would like to add (salt, pepper, curry powder, sugar whatever you fancy) and thyme.
7. Stir well and let it cook for a little while to get rid of any more excess liquid.
8. In a different frying pan, heat up some olive oil and fry the fake chicken pieces (make sure the oil is hot).
9. Cook Spaghetti according to instructions on the package. Use roughly 100g (dry weight) spaghetti per person.
10. On an oven tray, put the fried fake chicken pieces on some grease proof paper and put some of the tomato-mix on top. Cover with sliced mozzarella and put in the oven until the mozzarella is melted and slightly golden.
11. Mix the spaghetti with any sauce that wasn’t used (if any), and divide amongst the plates. Put 2-3 pieces of fake chicken on top of them and you’re done!
