Cannelloni

Cannelloni

Ingredients:

Cannelloni

Béchamel sauce

3 Tablespoons olive oil

½ kilo ground beef

2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

2 white onion (finely chopped)

1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds

1 ½ cup tomato sauce

4 fresh tomatoes (finely chopped)

2 carrots (finely chopped)

1 red pepper (finely chopped)

Salt and pepper

Grated cheese

Parsley (finely chopped)

Basil (finely chopped)

To prepare filling:

Heat oil in a pan and sauté garlic and onion. Cook until translucent. Add fresh tomatoes, mix thoroughly, and cook until tomatoes are wilted. Add ground beef and cumin. Mix vigorously to get rid of lumps; continue cooking until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Add carrots, pepper and tomato sauce. Bring to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.

To prepare Cannelloni:

Boil 1 liter of water. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 Tablespoons of oil. Add cannelloni and simmer until cannelloni is done. Taking care not to over cook them as the easily split when filled if overcooked. Strain with a strainer, place under running cold water. Drizzle with oil and mix carefully without breaking each. Set aside one by one with greased plate.

To prepare béchamel sauce:

4 Tablespoons flour

1 cup milk

2 Tablespoons butter

2 cloves garlic

1 white onion

Bring to boil milk ,onion and garlic. Let stand for 10 minutes. Pass through a sift to get rid of garlic and onion. Discard garlic and onion and keep the milk. Heat butter in a small pan over low heat. When butter has melted, add flour 1 Tablespoon flour and mix vigorously until it forms a paste. Add milk little by little alternately with flour, whilst mixing vigorously to avoid lumps. Continue stirring until all the flour and milk has been added. Remove from heat and set aside.

To assemble:

Carefully fill each piece of cannelloni with cooked meat. Spoon béchamel sauce in an oven dish and arrange the filled cannelloni. Add grated cheese on top and bake at low temperature for 10 minutes or until cheese has melted. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and basil before serving.

Lasagna Chips

lasagna chips

Lasagna pasta sheets

Oil for frying
Cheese Powder
Water
Salt

Procedure:

Boil salted water in a deep pan and add lasagna, boil for 2 minutes, or until al dente. Do not overcook. Set lasagna one by one by letting them drape over a rim of a deep pan or strainer to get rid of excess water. When cold enough to hold; cut them into strips or triangles. Deep fry and drain in kitchen paper to get rid of excess oil. Put the chips in a container with cover and sprinkle cheese powder. Shake the container to spread the flavor evenly. I had cooked lasagna 2 days back but got excess pasta sheets so I kept in the fridge. Today, I am looking to cook something like cheese puffs and use the lasagna sheets to wrap it but I found out the break easily when folded, so I sliced them and deep fry, instead of throwing them, I remember I have stocked cheese powder! It tastes just like Piatos chips!!! (if u know what I mean, its one of my favorite chips in Phil. I don’t have to worry if I don’t have chips to serve to unexpected guests… I know how to make quickie chips!

Pasta Salad

Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

Ribbon Pasta

Parmesan Cheese (grated)

Dressing:

2 Tomatoes (diced)

1White onion (thinly sliced)

1 clove garlic (crushed)

¼ cup Seedless green olives (sliced)

¼ cup Seedless black olives (sliced)

1 cucumber (peeled and diced)1 Tsp.

Capers

Juice of ½ lemon

Lemon zest

1/2 cup olive oil

Salt & pepper

To prepare pasta:

Boil pasta with salted water or stock until al-dente. Strain in a colander and run a cold water to get rid of excess starch. This prevents pasta from sticking together.

To prepare Dressing:

In a mixing bowl, put garlic, capers, lemon zest and onion. Squeeze in juice of half a lemon, add olive oil and mix thoroughly. Add in tomatoes and olives; mix further. Add the prepared pasta and toss thoroughly to mix the dressing. Sprinkle grated parmesan cheese on top and serve. Could be served at room temperature or chilled.

Fish 'n Eggplant wrap

Fish 'n Eggplant wrap

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. butter

1 large Eggplant

6 slices of fish fillet (skinned)

parsley

Salt & pepper to taste Carrots Bell Pepper How to: Slice eggplant lengthwise into thin long slices. Brush with butter unto the surface of the eggplant. In a very hot grill pan or flat pan, pan roast the eggplant until soft and sides turn slightly brown. (with a grilled pan, a horizontal marking can easily be seen as shown in the picture) The eggplant must be soft at this stage. Season with more salt & pepper to taste.Set aside. Season fish with salt & pepper, drizzle with olive oil and place in a very hot pan. Pan-fry the fish until slightly brown and turn over the other side. Remove from pan and set aside. With the roasted eggplant, wrap the fish tightly and tuck the end with toothpick at the end of one side. Bake for 5 – 10 minutes more to enhance flavor. Pan roast slices of carrots and bell peppers to garnish.

Egg Surprize

Egg Surprize

Ingredients:
Oil for deep frying
1 kilo ground pork
1 onion (finely chopped)
Coriander (finely chopped)
Salt & pepper to taste
6 boiled eggs
2 slightly beaten eggs
Bread crumbs

How to:

Season ground pork with onion, coriander, salt & pepper. Place a plastic cling wrap on a flat board. Form a ball of the seasoned ground meat on top of the plastic wrap. Place another plastic cling wrap above the meat and flatten the meat with the palm of your hand. Do this by pressing it slowly until flat forms a round flat meat. (as shown in the picture) Remove the plastic on top and place the egg at the center of the meat. Form the meat into an egg wrapping the egg. (Shown in the picture) Remove the plastic at the bottom or the meat. You now got an egg wrapped with the seasoned meat. Dip into beaten egg and then roll into the bread crumbs for coating. Do this procedure twice (coating) to achieve a firmer coating by dipping the egg formed meat again into the egg and roll again into the bread crumbs. Deep fry until golden brown. You’ll get a crispy crust with tender meat and a soft egg inside.. lots of texture lots of flavor. That is a real egg surprise! Good for outdoor picnic.

Stuffed Pork Rolls

Stuffed Pork Rolls

Ingredients:

Oil for frying

slices of lean pork

Salt & Pepper

Finely chopped parsley

How to:

Flatten slices of pork with a meat tenderizer. Season with salt & pepper and sprinkle finely chopped parsley. Roll the piece of meat and tuck with toothpick. Set aside. In a nice and hot flat pan, pan fry the stuffed rolls of meat setting the sealed side down. (Toothpick removed) When slightly brown, turn the meat over slowly until done. Remove from pan and bake for 10 minutes more at 190 degrees F. This allows the meat at the inner core to be cooked. Remove from oven. Slice and serve with mashed potatoes. Garnish with a tomato rose.

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Stuffed Chicken Breast

Ingredients :
2 Pcs. Chicken Breast (deboned)
6 Tbsp. olive oil
2 pcs. white onion
4 cloves garlic
1/4 Cup All Purpose cream
4 Tbsp. white wine
2 Tbs. onion-tomato sauce
1/4 Cup chicken stock
1 lemon
salt & pepper to taste

Procedure:

Slice a slit into chicken breast, just enough to form a pocket, do not split into two and set aside. Crush garlic and sprinkle with salt. Insert the garlic into the pocket of the chicken breast, season with salt and pepper and rub the rest around the meat. Add onion-tomato sauce into the pocket. Close the pocket with the edges of the meat and rest the sealed down. Heat olive oil in a sauce pan and add gently the stuffed chicken breast with sealed side down. Fry for 3 minutes or until golden brown and turn over until brown completely on both sides. Remove from pan and set aside. With the remaining oil in the pan, add onion and sautee until soft but not brown. Add white wine and juice of lemon. Simmer for 1 minute and add cream. Simmer for another minute and remove from heat. Add the creamy mixture to the fried stuffed chicken breast and serve immediately. This could be served with potato or rice. Enjoy!

Arroz Branco

Arroz Branco

A good alternative to the conventional plain boiled rice..Different aroma, different texture, and slightly different taste. jst give it a bit of twist than usual! Smells great!

Ingredients:
2 Cups Rice
2 Cups Water
1 Pc. white onion (finely chopped)
3 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 bay leaves
Salt

Procedure :
With a medium fire, heat olive oil in a deep pan, add onion until soft but not brown, add bayleaves, stir-fry for a minute. Add rice and stir vigorously until the flavours are blended well with the rice. Add water and season with salt. Simmer for 15 minutes stirring occationally until the rice is done. Serve with favorite side dish... This gives a different smell and texture of the usual boiled rice.

Fried Potatoe cubes

Fried Potato cubes

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp. oil
4 large potatoes
2 tsp. ginger powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
a dash of cinnamon powder
2 tsp. cornstarch

How to:

Slice potatoes into small cubes set aside. Heat oil in a pan, add potatoes and fry until done. When the sides begin to turn slightly brown, add ginger powder, garlic powder, cinnamon powder, salt and pepper. Toss all together and sprinkle cornstarch. Continue cooking 1 minute more until golden brown. Serve while still hot.

Mash potatoes or grilled potatoes could be boring if used as side dish frequently. I tried other ways of cooking potatoes.

Crispy Pork coated with couscous

Crispy Pork

4 Tbsp. Olive oil
2 thin slices of lean pork

½ Cup Couscous

Ground black & white pepper

Salt

How to :

Season pork with ground pepper (rubbing each side to distribute the flavor) add salt and set aside. Coat the pork with couscous and deep fry.

Fish Cake

Fish Cake

Cooking oil for frying
2 Fish Fillets (medium size)
4 potatoes (medium size)
2 Cups water
½ Cup flour
½ Cup Milk
1 egg (slightly beaten)
salt & pepper

How to:

Peel potatoes and bring to boil with water until tender. While the cooking the potatoes, in another saucepan put the fish and milk, bring to boil with low fire, season with salt to taste, continue cooking until fish is well done. When the potatoes are done, drain them and mash with potato masher or fork while still hot. Drain fish and mash in with potatoes until fish is flaky but not so fine. Season with salt and pepper, (more peppers tastes good and smells good as well). Shape this mixture into round or squares using the hands and set aside. In separate plates, place slightly beaten egg and in another plate place flour for coating (as shown in the photo)

Heat oil in a shallow pan. Dip each shaped potato mixture into each plate with egg first, then flour and fry until golden brown. Remember that the mixture is already cooked, no need to fry too long. Serve immediately.

This recipe is quite messy but its worth it! To enhance your coating with whatever you fry with coating, add breadcrumbs, salt & pepper to the flour. It adds flavor and smells great too. With this recipe, you can use leftover of fish instead of fresh fillet and use the same procedure. Could be a good treat too! And for those who doesn’t like fish very much, this is a good alternative way of cooking… It doesn’t tastes so fishy as it is well blended with the potato. I saw the method of cooking on a TV show but the cook used green peas and potato and mint jelly, which I honestly haven’t encountered yet. It was a bit complicated but it looks nice because the color inside is green and yellow on the outside. But I can’t get fresh green peas here, so I made something similar with different ingredients, but less complicated. Here it is!!!!

Inon - Onan

Inon-unang Isda

Ingredients:

6 pcs. Fish (any kind of fish will do, less bony the better)

½ Cup oil

¼ Cup lemon juice

2 Tbsp. Oyster sauce

2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

1 onion

3 cloves garlic

bay leaves
salt to taste

How to:

Clean fishes, free of gills and intestines, season with salt, set aside. In a sauce pan, arrange bay leaves at the bottom, add onion and garlic. Add fish by arranging them on top of the spices, add oil, lemon juice and white wine vinegar. Bring to boil and continue cooking with low-medium fire for 20 minutes, add oyster sauce and continue cooking for 5 minutes more. Serve with garlic rice or plain rice. Tip : Avoid using water to keep the flesh of the fish firm and full of flavor. You may be tempted to add water if you wish but do it after the fish is done.

This kind of inon-onan smells less fishy than the traditional inon-onan cooked with vinegar & spices. I lessened the amount of vinegar and used a lot more of lemon juice, so to improve the aroma. The sauce is thicker than usual and its one of my favorite fish preparations.

Mortadella Pizza

Mortadella Pizza

Ingredients:
Pizza crust
Toppings
Tomato sauce

Toppings:
Mortadella (sliced in small and thin triangles)
Black seedless olives (sliced)
Button Mushrooms (sliced thinly)
1 white onion (sliced into cubes)
1 red bell pepper (sliced in small and thin triangles)
1 cup Mozzarella or flamingo cheese (grated)

Tomato sauce:
1 white onion (finely chopped)
4 Fresh tomatoes (diced)
Herbs (thyme and basil)
6 T. tomato sauce
1 T. tomato paste
½ cup water
3 T. olive oil

To prepare sauce:

In a hot pan, add oil and soften onion. Add herbs, stirring occasionally, add fresh tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste. Add water and simmer for about 5 minutes or until water has evaporated and sauce becomes thick.

Pizza crust:

1 tsp. active dry yeast

1/2 tsp. of sugar

2/3 cup warm water

250 g. plain flour

1/2 tsp. salt

4 Tablespoons olive oil

To prepare crust

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F or gas mark 5).

2. In a small bowl, place yeast, sugar and water and mix to dissolve. Set aside in a warm place for 5 minutes or until mixture is foamy.

3. Place flour and salt in mixing bowl and combine. Slowly pour in yeast mixture and oil and process to make a rough dough. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until soft and shiny. Add more flour if necessary. Flatten the dough using a rolling pin and form a flat circle and place on a greased baking tray. For thin crust, divide the dough into two and make to crusts. Let the dough rest for 15-20 minutes

4. Bake for 5 – 10 minutes until crust becomes light brown.To prepare pizza:Spread half of the grated cheese over the crust, then spread the tomato sauce over the cheese, add the rest of the toppings spreading the remaining cheese lastly. Bake for 5-10 minutes or until crust becomes golden brown and cheese is melted.

Seafood Pizza

Seafood pizza

Parsley Rice

Simply add finely chopped parsley to newly cooked rice. Add parsley while still hot.

Vegetable Fried Rice

Vegetable Fried Rice

Ingredients:
2 cups c ooked rice
8 pcs. Green beans
1 Yellow
1 Red Bell Pepper
EggplantOnion
Garlic
Tomatoes
¼ cup water
1 cube chicken stock
Salt and pepper

Procedure:

Slice vegetables and set aside. Sauté onion and garlic until translucent but not burned, add sliced vegetables, except tomatoes, stirring occasionally. Add the vegetables until all the liquid has evaporated, add water and stock, and continue cooking until vegetables are nearly done. Add rice and season with salt and pepper.

Green Peas Rizotto with Beef

Green Peas Rizotto with beef

I love risotto once in awhile to break monotonous boiled rice. To incorporate some veggie, I added green peas for the sake of taking some fibers! Could be served with risotto alone, but here I added slices of grilled beef.

2 cups Arborio rice
3 cups chicken stock
1 glass white wine
1 onion (finely chopped)
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 cup grated cheese
1 cup green peas
2 Tablespoons butter
Freshly ground pepper

Boil stock in a pan. Meantime, sauté garlic and onion in olive oil until completely wilted and translucent. Add rice and mix thoroughly until rice is slightly fried. Add ½ cup white wine while stirring constantly until almost all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice. Add the remaining wine and continue stirring. When all the liquid has been absorbed, add 1 cup of boiling stock while stirring constantly. Continue adding water 1 cup at a time until almost all the liquid has been absorbed or until rice is done. Add green peas during the last addition of stock; whilst stirring constantly. Stir in cheese and butter lastly. Season with freshly ground pepper.

Pan-fried Chicken breast with rice noodles

Pan-fried Chicken Breast with Vermicelli (Rice Noodle)

Remove the skin of the chicken. Slice diagonally on opposit directions forming crisscross cuts and rub with salt. Pan fry for about 2 minutes on each side to seal the meat until chicken turns golden brown. Continue cooking in the oven for 10 minutes at 250 degrees C.

While the chicken is in the oven, prepare the vermicelli noodles. Bring to boil 1 liter of water , add salt and add the vermicelli noodles. Cook until al dente (Like cooking spaghetti). Do not over cook otherwise it will be very soggy. Rince the noodles with tap water and set aside. Stirfry onions, garlic and peppers (capsicums) and toss the noodles and continue stirfrying. Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Serve with the chicken.

Chicken Sandwich with eggplant dip

Chicken Sandwich with eggplant dip

Flat bread

Eggplant dip

Grilled chicken breast (thinly sliced)

White onion (thinly sliced)

Red bell pepper (cubed)

Tomatoes (thinly sliced)

To make flat bread:

1 cup flour (sifted)

1 tsp. salt

¼ cup water

Mix salt and flour in a mixing bowl. Add 1 Tablespoon water at a time while mixing until it forms rough dough. Add water if its too dry, this depends of the strength of the flour you are using. Knead the dough in a floured flat surface for about 3 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Form dough into sausage shape and cut 1 inch thick. Form each into a small ball and flatten with a rolling pin.

To make eggplant dip:

1 large eggplant

1 cube chicken stock

1 cup water

Red pepper (diced)

Tomatoes (diced)

Onion (diced)

Garlic (finely chopped)

juice of ½ lemon

chili powder

pepper

Determine a base for the eggplant and slice the skin off thinly; so that the eggplant will lay flat. Slice the skin off of the opposite side and carefully take the meat of the eggplant using a spoon. Dice the meat into cubes. Rub the exposed eggplant meat with lemon juice, wrap with plastic and refrigerate while making the dip. Sauté garlic and onion until translucent add eggplant meat, add red pepper, water and stock. Bring to boil and simmer for about 5 minutes until almost all of the liquid has evaporated. Season with pepper and chili powder. Place the cooked mixture into the prepared eggplant case. In a hot pan, add onion and red pepper; cook until caramelized.Assemble sandwich. Arrange in each flat bread with chicken onion, pepper as desired. Serve with the dip.

Grilled Chicken Breast with Pepper Marmalade

Grilled chicken breast with pepper marmalade

Quite lazy for lunch and didn’t know what to do. Switched the TV channel to BBC Food and caught Sophie Grigson doing pepper marmalade for her dish with Trout fish, my tastebuds wondered if the marmalade would go with chicken, since I always have chicken breast in the fridge. Hmmm… yes the flavors are blending indeed! I’m quite lucky, I have all the ingredients which Sophie used except for red wine vinegar, which I don’t have, and I added yellow pepper to add color. I’m quite trained to settle with what I have huh, I used balsamic vinegar instead. I think everyone knows how to grill chicken, so I am just going to jot down for the marmalade, for the sake of the record. Well, thanks to Sophie Grigson!

Ingredients:

1 Red bell pepper (sliced in thin strips)

1 Yellow bell pepper (sliced in thin strips)

2 white onions (sliced thinly)

4 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 Teaspoons sugar

4 Tablespoons water

2 Pieces Star Anis

Preparation:

Cook onion with olive oil, in medium fire, until transparent. Add the peppers and star anis. Continue cooking until peppers are wilted stirring occasionally, add balsamic vinegar, sugar and water, simmer until all the liquid has evaporated.Grill chicken and serve with the marmalade. This time, I served the dish with bread.

Chicken soup with taglierini

Chicken soup with taglierini

Ingredients:

1 Chicken Breast (sliced in cubes)

1 round of taglierini (about a handful)

1 potatoe (diced)

1 red pepper (sliced in squares)

1 green pepper (sliced in squares)

6 stalks of green beans (sliced)

1 onion (sliced thinly)

1 clove garlic (crushed)

4 cups water (or chicken stock)

1 T. vegetable oilSalt to taste

Preparation:

Sauté onion and garlic until onion complete soften. Add Chicken and stir fry for 1 minute. Add stock or water and bring to boil. Add diced potato and simmer for 5 minutes or until potatoes are done. Add beans and red and green peppers. Lastly add taglierini and cook for 2 minutes further. Serve hot.

Good for 2 – 3 servings

This reminds me of my childhood days, but we use misua instead. I just substituted with taglierini coz I can’t find misua here. Taglierini is an Italian egg noodle.

Stuffed Chicken Rolls

Stuffed Chicken Rolls

Another Stuffed Meat! I love stuffing meats! It’s just like a surprise inside. So what’s the stuffing this time?? It is shredded potatoes seasoned with lots of pepper and dash of salt. Spicy inside coz I didn’t season the meat this time!Slice meat very thinly or flatten with meat tenderizer. Shred 1 medium sized potato and season with salt and pepper. Slice 1 medium sized potato as thinly as you can.Place the Shredded potatoes at one end of the meat and roll until you reach the other end.Tuck with toothpicks and fry. Not necessarily deep fry, just enough to seal the meat. Bake for 15 minutes at about 250 degrees C. With the same pan, add the thinly sliced potatoes. This will absorb the drippings of the meat while being fried.Serve the dish with sauce.This is good for 1 meal. 2 Potatoes are enough for one person, don’t forget the other one is inside the meat. Here, I got a spare empty passion fruit where I placed the sauce. It is just for the sake of ArT!

Lemon Basket

I intend to post this coz it really looks great on the table especially with sauce in it. It really makes the eyes eat first! It is very simple to make!

With one lemon, cut the bottom part just thin enough not to reach the flesh of the lemon; this will be the base of the basket. With a sharp knife, cut vertically until half way leaving ¼ inch from the center of the lemon top. Do the same on the opposite side. Cut horizontally until you reach the mark of the previous vertical cut and carefully remove the wedge shape of the lemon, doing the same on the other side. Now you got a basket form of lemon but with flesh inside. If you wish to put some sauce in it, remove the flesh carefully with small sharp knife to carve the edges and use a spoon to scoop the flesh inside. Really looks nice with salads and the dipping sauce in it!

I got this idea from a Canadian cook book which I think I should acknowledge here though I didn’t copy word for word but I did my own way as I did it! But I have the right to claim my

Photos as my own!

I'd like to encourage other bloggers who copy word for word from their sources. Some bloggers are not acknowledging their sources which is a form of plagiarism if copied word for word and claim it as their own.

Source : Australia Wide Cookbook, edition reprinted 1997,1998 by Ken Duncan

Meat Cuts 'n Gravy

Appetizing Meat Cuts 'n Gravy

Ingredients:
Lean Beef cut into cubes
Chicken Breasts Cut into Cubes
Salt & Pepper
Bread Crumbs
Parsley (finely chopped)
Lemon Zest
Slightly beaten egg
Oil for deep frying

Gravy:
1 Cup Water
Chicken Cube/stock
2 Tbsp. Cornstarch
Salt
½ tsp. Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp. soy sauce

How to : Season the meat with salt and pepper. Mix the bread crumbs with finely chopped parsley and lemon zest. Coat the meat with the bread crumb mixture by dipping into the egg then to the bread crumbs. Do the coating procedure twice each cube of meat to achieve a thick and firm coating. Deep-fry and drain in kitchen towel. Serve with gravy.

How to make gravy:

Bring water to boil, add chicken stock, add ground pepper and salt, Add Cornstarch dissolved in water to thicken the sauce, stir vigorously until thick. Add 1 tsp. of soy sauce to have a richer color. Adjust the amount of pepper if u like it more spicy!

Tomato Rose

Tomato Rose

This lovely rose really really looks great!!! It really adds an appetizing sensation even by just looking at it as it sits nicely in center or maybe at the side of a dish plate! So simple to make! With one fresh tomato, slowly peel off continuously starting from the top to bottom. The peeled tomato skin should be at least ½ inch wide and by the time you’ll reach the bottom, you will get a long twirling tomato skin. Now start working from one end, let the skin stand vertically, roll the skin carefully until you reach the end. Tuck the end at the bottom. You will get a LOVELY ROSE! Simple as that! You may use the flesh of the tomato for your sauce!

Eggplant based pizza

Eggplant Bites

This is very easy and quick to make appetizer.

How to:

Preheat oven to 180 0 C. Choose large eggplants and slice them into ½ inch thick. Pan fry with a bit of oil, don’t put too much oil as eggplant absorbs a lot of oil. You may use oil spray just to oil the pan without excess oil. Pan fry the eggplant until golden brown. Spread a heaping spoon of tomato sauce into each slice of eggplant and add Edam cheese on top and lots of parmesan cheese. Bake for 5 minutes and serve 1 slice each per person.

Potatoe Soup with croutons

Potato Soup with Croutons

Ingredients :
4 peeled potatoes
1 onion
7 cups water
croutons

How to:
Boil potatoes and onion until tender, blitz the mixture into a blender or food processor, add croutons and garnish with coriander. How to make croutons: Cut bread into small cubes and semi fry it with oil and garlic until sides turn slightly brown.

Classic Crepe

classic crepe

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 Cup flour

1 Tbsp. Sugar

1 Tbsp. Melted Butter

1/2 tsp. salt

How to:
Whisk eggs until frothy; add milk, flour, sugar, salt and melted butter. Continue beating until you will reach a very very thin consistency of the batter. Heat a nonstick medium sized pan with low-medium fire. Oil spray the pan or you make use a kitchen towel wet with oil to wipe the pan to avoid excess oil. Put 2-3 tablespoon into the pan; tilt the pan to form a very thin circular shape of the batter. Start removing from the edges as it turns slightly brown and turn it over slowly not to deform the shape. Use a wax paper to alternate each crepe to easily separate each. Spread Jelly or syrup on each crepe, fold into quarts and serve.

PASSION FRUIT ICECREAM

Passion Fruit Ice Cream

The passion fruit in the garden had been bearing fruits since January, but don’t know really what else to prepare other than eating it raw or mixing it with fruit juice which we are having everyday. Figured out that I could incorporate the flavor with ice cream but was hesitant with the acidity it has might break the custard mixture. I risked making one yesterday, fortunately it is fine! This is not my favorite nor hubby’s but it could be a good alternative. Just play with presentation! I didn’t use a goblet this time but the shell of the passion fruit itself! I like the handle.. toothpick with raisins! Tsk.. tsk… again.. “for the sake of aRt”Use the basic ice cream recipe, add passion fruit while making the custard during the constant stirring stage when you are waiting for the mixture to thicken in low fire, but pass through a fine sift when custard is done. Just to get rid of the seeds, they might destroy the ice cream maker and besides it is tough to eat. But when eaten raw, it’s okay for me though.

Pineaple Delight

Pineapple Delight

I skipped meat for lunch coz this was on my mind! I had this kind of dessert once we had dinner out and I thought of making one at home.. so here it is! What could be easier than this huh? Slice of pineapple, drizzle some syrup on top, 2 scoops of ice cream and fried spaghetti. Those long sticks you can see are fried spaghetti!!! They are incredibly crispy! Luckily I got a frame that looks just like it as accent. Again.. “for the sake of ArT” – This is gonna ba a common phrase you can see frequently in my blog, I think . (winks).

Floating Island

floating island

Ingredients:
Eggwhite balls (2 egg white)
syrup
custard
Ingredients for custard:
1 egg
125 ml milk
50 g. sugar
225 g. cream

Procedure for custard:
Bring to boil milk and cream. Beat eggs until fluffy. Slowly add the milk mixture into the eggs,stirring constantly. Pour the mixture back to the pan and heat the mixture stirring constantly until thick but do not let it boil. Chill the mixture for 30 mins. This should be made ahead and when ready, proceed to make the eggwhite balls.
How to make eggwhite balls
Beat eggwhites until stiff. Add salt. Continue beating for 1 minute. Bring to boil plenty of water in a deep saucepan. With the stiffly beaten eggwhite, form balls using two spoons (deep spoon is better). Scoop a spoon of eggwhite forming it round and smoothen it with the other spoon. This would look like snowballs. Place it gently into the boiling water leaving it for few seconds and turn the ball over to other side. Keep it round as possible as you can. Do this with a laddle. Take it out of the water and let rest into a clean cloth.Pour the milk mixture into a glass and put the balls in it. Add syrup on top. Serve.

To make syrup, caramelize sugar and add lemon to flavor. Do this by heating sugar & lemon juice in a pan (without water), bring to boil until sugar turns slightly brown. Pour immediately to the white balls before it gets hard.I first tasted in Pizza Hut – Paris and hubby taught me how to do it. It’s just irresistible!!

Homemade Strawbery Icecream

Homemade Strawberry Icecream

Ingredients :
2 eggs250 ml full cream milk
100 g sugar
450 g whipping cream
2 tsp. strawberry essence
1/2 tsp. red food coloring

Procedure :

Make the custard:
Warm milk in a small pan whilst whisking the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg and sugar mixture, stirring constantly. Pour this all back into the pan and heat the mixture. stirring constantly, until it begins to thicken slightly but do not let it boil. Allow it to cool down to room temperature, mix in the cream and strawberry essence and chill for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the whipped cream until soft peak starts to form. Fold-in the chilled custard mixture into the whipped cream.

Pour the mixture in an icecream maker. Alternatively, if you dont have an icecream maker, freeze the mixture and stir occationally just before it would turn into solid to avoid crystalized icecream. Enjoy!!!

Hearty Valentine Dessert

Hearty Lemon Cream Dessert

Here is my Valentine treat! Easy to make!

Ingredients:

3 eggs

½ Cup Sugar

1 Can (290 g) All purpose Cream

zest of 1 lemon

1 pack of gelatin

¼ Cup water

How to:
Heat cream until just about to boil, remove from heat. While heating the cream, beat eggs and sugar until fluffy. Add the warm cream to the egg mixture slowly, stirring constantly and add lemon zest. Put back to the pan and continue heating with low fire, stirring constantly until thick consistency is reached but do not boil. Let set for 2 minutes to lower temperature then finally add 1 pack of gelatin dissolved in ¼ cup of water. Pass the mixture through a sift to get rid of bubbles and small lumps, if there is any, and pour directly to a molder. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve. Garnish with red sauce to have a valentine touch. The red sauce I used is crystallized cherry which I happen to have a spare. I didn’t plan to make this but I just feel like doing something for valentine. I searched for anything red I could grab in the fridge and found this jelly like candy, a bit harder than jelly coz it’s caramelized with sugar. Blitz it in the blender to turn into liquid and added some water. Its really up to you whatever you have.. If you have strawberry…raspberry or anything of some sort and fresh would be a lot better.

Tips:To achieve with the same presentation as mine, use 6 inch square pan and limit the mixture to ½ inch thick. Freeze for 1 hour. Use heart shaped cookie cutter to cut through the settled mixture.When grating the lemon to get the zest, make sure you are not getting the white flesh of the lemon. This tastes bitter!

In making the custard, don’t give up easily until thicker consistency is reached. Test by checking at the back of the spoon, when you can draw a line in it and doesn’t go easily, it is done. Got to careful with this coz it could be lumpy when boiled! One more thing, when adding the cream to the egg mixture, add the cream slowly in thin stream and stir constantly. Do not pour the cream or milk in one go. The same procedure applies for all custard recipes.

Xmas Cake

Xmas Cake

Our Christmas cake last Christmas 2004.. the story :-) I've been wondering what could I have for a unique christmas piece at home... My husband doesn't feel like having a christmas tree.. so I wandered around the junkies at the backyard what could I get... I saw a circular piece of wood which looks perfect for a cakestand.. actually I saw it before and just kicked it out and watched it rolled to a corner... what I did... I put 4 equal size of wood that would serve as a stand and there goes my cake stand! Painted it white and decorated with wired green leaves, the same material for Christmas Tree, twirled some gold and red ribbons. The colorful base layer are macaroons which I wrapped with colored plastic wrappers and formed it into something cheerful. Baked a layer of chiffon cake for the top layer and decorated it with icing, put Sta. Claus beside a small tree, add some red candies and mallows and stuffed the the base with christmas balls and bells! It isn’t just a christmas piece but with edible decors with two kinds of dessert. The cake and macaroons. Guests just love to munch the macaroons while sitting & chatting after dinner. This was the centerpiece of the center table where we had buffet with the guests and everybody loves it!!! They've been wondering which shop I bought!! --- secret --- :-) Unique.. isnt it?? You don’t really need to have Christmas Tree always on Christmas…. Here is a good alternative!

Chocolate 'n Crepe

Chocolate ‘n Crepe

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
¼ cup flour
2 eggs
Scoops of chocolate ice cream
1 T. oil

Procedure:
Beat eggs until slightly fluffy, add milk and flour alternatively while mixing thoroughly until it forms a thin batter.In a hot pan, spread the oil till the sides of the pan and swirl around. Wipe off excess oil with a kitchen paper. Add 1 ladle of the batter and quickly spread on the pan; leave for 1 minute until bubbles can no longer be seen on the batter, cook the other side by inverting the crepe carefully. Remove from pan and fold into quarters forming like a cone. Put a scoop of chocolate ice cream in between the folds and serve immediately.

Tip:The crepes can be prepared in advance but be sure to separate them. To make separation easy, place a wax paper on top of each crepe, stacking them alternately with paper.

MINT ICECREAM

Mint Ice Cream

This is so refreshing ice cream! The mint flavor adds freshness as it melts in your mouth! I was wondering what alternative flavor of ice ice cream. I usually make chocolate, strawberry or other fruity flavors but with the heat of summer in Luanda, ice cream is just a perfect merienda! I played with other flavors I got, I had a remaining mint flavoring so I tried.. I never thought it would work coz, I haven’t seen such flavor in the market. The good thing about making your own ice cream is that you can control the sweetness by reducing the amount of sugar!Just use the same recipe of the strawberry icecream I had posted and replace the flavor, but here it is anyway.

Ingredients :

2 eggs
250 ml full cream milk
100 g sugar
450 g whipping cream
2 tsp. mint essence
a handful of mint leaves
1/2 tsp. green food coloring

Procedure :

Make the custard:
Warm milk in a small pan whilst whisking the eggs and sugar in a separate bowl. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg and sugar mixture, stirring constantly. Pour the mixture back into the pan stirring constantly, until it begins to thicken slightly but do not let it boil. Add mint leaves, mint essence and green food coloring. Pass through a sift and discard the mint leaves. Allow it to cool down to room temperature. Chill for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile beat the whipping cream until soft peak. Fold-in the custard mixture into the cream.

Pour the mixture in an icecream maker. Alternatively, if you dont have an icecream maker, freeze the mixture and stir occasionally just before it would turn into solid to avoid crystalized icecream.

FRUIT JELLY

Fruity Jelly

Ingredients:
2 pcs. Kiwi
2 pcs. Banana
2 pcs. Orange
8 pcs. Strawberry
1 pack unflavored sea jelly powder (gulaman)
3 cups water
½ cup sugar

Procedure:
Prepare a mold, preferably rectangular container, line with plastic cling wrap allowing 4 inches allowance outside the mold. Lay the allowance out of the container draping at the edges. Set aside. Slice the fruits thinly and set aside. Mix sea jelly powder with water, stir until completely dissolved, add sugar and bring to boil, continue stirring until it becomes slightly thick. Pour the jelly mixture into the mold. With a fork, quickly arrange the fruits into the mold while the jelly mixture is still hot. Be sure to stop arranging the fruits when the jelly starts to set. Chill for at least 1 hour. Carefully take the jelly out by inverting the mold into a plate. Take out the lined plastic. Cut in slices and serve.

Tip:Make sure you use fresh fruits. One more tip, soak banana with the orange juice or lemon to avoid discoloration. Reduced the water to ensure a solid jelly. In the packet of the jelly, it says 1 pack is good for 6 cups of water. Reducing the amount of water ensures the jelly to hold the fruits together.

Grapefruit and orange

grapefruit and orange

I love how it looks... simply wedges of orange and grapefruit and a teaspon of syryp at the center. Makes healthy citrus dessert!

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups cake flour (sifted)

1 ½ cups cocoa powder (sifted)

100 g. butter 1 cup sugar (sifted)

1 cup water

2 T. coffee

3 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Chocolate icing:

2 bars dark unsweetened chocolate

3 T. butter

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Prepare the baking pan. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Dissolve coffee in water and set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until well blended, add eggs one by one while continue beating, and add the flour mixture to the egg mixture, add the coffee mixture. Continue beating until smooth. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Let cool in a cooling rack and prepare the icing.

To prepare chocolate icing:
In a deep saucepan, boil 2-3 cups water. Cut the bars into smaller cubes. In heatproof mixing bowl or saucepan put the butter and chopped chocolate and place the saucepan over the boiling water. The chocolate must melt gently with the heat of the steam coming from the boiling water underneath. This is to avoid direct heat to the chocolate coz it easily burns. When the butter and chocolate has melted, mix thoroughly until well combined.When the cake has completely cooled, invert the cake and divide into two layers. Cover the first layer with the icing and place the other layer. Spread the remaining icing on the top layer.

Chocolate Crumble with whipped cream

Chocolate Crumble with whipped cream

Ingredients:

Stale chocolate cake

2 tsp. gin

Icing sugar

Whipped cream

Preparation:

Slice stale chocolate cake finely until it assembles fine crumbs. In a circular cookie cutter, assemble the base by pressing the fine crumbs into it; making sure its quite compact. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of gin each base to add a sharper flavor. Add icing sugar to whipped cream and add on top. Remove the mold. Sprinkle some chocolate cake decors.

STEWED PEAR

Stewed Pear

The original recipe from a Dutch cookbook which requires blackcurrant liqueur which, honestly I don’t know, I like gin, so I put gin instead. Whisky would have been better I think coz its quite sharper taste than gin but I don’t have. I used corn flour instead of potato flour as suggested in the recipe. I love the vibrant color of this dessert!! Its my first time doing this, but its good… hmmm, I ‘m gonna keep this one! Or maybe even try with other fruit like apple, which absorbs flavor a lot.

Ingredients :
4 pears
4 cloves
3 cinnamon sticks
5 Tablespoons sugar
200 ml red wine
50 ml gin
1 tablespoon corn flour
Lemon zest

How to:
Peel the pears and leave them whole. In a medium size saucepan, mix red wine, sugar, cinnamon sticks and lemon zest. Add the pears into the mixture then add enough water just to cover the pears. Bring to boil and leave to simmer, covered for 2 ½ hours until tender.
To serve, lift the pears carefully out of the pan. Pass the remaining liquid through a fine sift to get rid of sediments. Mix 1 tablespoon of corn flour with the pear juice and bring to boil stirring all the while with a wisk until the wine sauce thickens. Pour this over the stewed pears and serve individually hot or chilled.

CHOCO BANANA CREPE

Choco Banana Crepe

Crepe
1 cup milk
¼ cup flour
2 eggs

Banana

Unsweetened Chocolate bars

Procedure:

Beat eggs until slightly fluffy, add milk and flour alternatively and mix thoroughly until it forms a thinbatter. In a hot pan, spread the oil, tilt the sides of the pan. Wipe off excess oil with a kitchen paper. Add 1 ladle of the batter and quickly spread on the pan leave for 1 minute until bubbles can no longer be seen on the batter, cook the other side by inverting the crepe carefully. Remove from pan and fold into quarters forming a cone shape.

Melt chocolate in a bowl over a simmering water. Add sliced banana and toss with the melted chocolate. Place in between and on top of the crepe and serve.

Gidunggo (Flavored oil)

Gidunggo (Flavored oil)

This is exotic flavored oil smells devine with just the right amount of hotness of various chilli.Just soft enough for everybody's taste.

Ingredients :

2 Cup Olive oil

3 grated Carrots

1 Piece red bell pepper

2 whole pieces star anise

6 cloves garlic

2 pcs. bay leaves

6 pcs. small red chilli

1 tablespoon whole black pepper

1 teaspoon whole white pepper

Procedure:

Heat olive oil in a pan and add carrots. Fry carrots until crisp and drain. Discard the crispy carrots and keep the oil. Put all of the other ingredients in a bottle and add the hot carrot oil. You may add various kinds of chilli according to your liking. Store in room temperature. This oil is smells so great! You can use it to flavor the oil you are using for sautee or you may serve it directly to the table as an optional flavor. This really adds an appetizing taste to your dish, may it be sallad or meat. Anybody can just add the right amount of oil on their food while eating! which my husband loves to do... Actually I've learned this from my husband and modified a bit from his original gidunggo.. This is famous in Angolan cuisine. Enjoy!

Crispy Kangkong

Crispy Kangkong

I’ve been wondering what could I have for the kangkong we have in our small garden. The helper usually takes it home coz I don’t know what to do with it. I remember once we went to a restaurant in Dumaguete and one of the appetizers they have is “crispy kangkong” I Used the same batter with my previous post for onion rings. The secret is.. serve immediately while still crispy!

Onion Rings

Onion Rings

I have tried making onion rings before but ended with soft and very oily. Once I had tried very thick coating. But here is the perfect batter for that! I got this from my sister Dels before.

Ingredients:

Thinly sliced onions

Oil for frying

Batter:

½ Cup flour

2 Tablespoons cornstarch

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 beaten egg

¼ Cup water

extra cornstarch

Mix all the batter ingredients until smooth. Place extra cornstarch for coating in a separate plat. Dip each sliced onion into the batter and coat with extra cornstarch. Deep fry few at a time. Garnish with sauce and serve immediately while still crispy.

Chips

CHIPSChips anyone?
Chips are the easiest appetizer to prepare huh.. just open up the pack and serve! tsk.. tsk... Yes! it is ready-made chips. I just love the way it was arranged and the vibrant colors. The sauce in the middle is mixture of mayonaise and ketchup. Posting this for the sake of "presentation" Whatelse could make the eyes eat before the mouths? It is absolutely the presentation!

Bread Stripes

Ingredients:
5 pieces sandwich bread
Fish paté

Procedure:
Flatten sandwich bread using a rolling pin. Spread fish paté over the flattened bread and roll the sandwich slowly, not breaking the sandwich. Cut into 1 inch thick. Serve with toothpicks.

Crepe with mushroom filling

Crepe with mushroom filling

Ingredients

Crepe:

1 cup milk

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs

1 Teaspoon oil

Pinch of salt

Mushroom Filling

1 can button mushroom (thinly sliced)

1 white onion (thinly sliced)

1 clove garlic (finely chopped)

1 Tablespoon oil1 can all purpose cream

Salt and pepper

To prepare the crepe:

Beat eggs until slightly fluffy, add milk and flour alternatively and mix thoroughly until it forms a thin batter.In a hot pan, spread the oil till the sides of the pan. Wipe off excess oil with a kitchen paper. Add 1 ladle of the batter and quickly spread on the pan leave for 1 minute until bubbles can not be seen on the batter, cook the other side by inverting the crepe carefully. Remove carefully from the pan. To make separation easy, place a wax or bond paper over one crepe after cooking while placing one over the other.

To prepare filling:

Sauté garlic and onion. Add mushrooms, cook until sides of the mushrooms turn brown. Add cream and stir. Season with salt and pepper; continue cooking for 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside.Place 2 teaspoons of filling in 1 crepe and roll as tight as possible. Cut into two and serve. Alternatively, add grated cheese on top of the crepe and bake for 2 minutes or until the cheese melts.

Beef Rizotto

Beef Rizotto

My first attempt of making rizotto.. twas a success... forgive me for not having the measurement... All i did was : stir-fried the beef and set aside, boil the rizotto rice until jst tender and drain. Saute' onion until transluscent in low fire, add some rosemary, thyme,sweet chilli powder, add rice add some beef stock jst enough to cover the rice, stir and continue cooking until the stock has been absorbed almost completely, add more stock, stir and again until the stock has been absorbed. Continue adding slowly the stock until the rice is done, add the stirfried beef and continue cooking for another 2 minutes. Done! Hubby is not really fun of rice but this was a hit for him! tsk tsk...

Stir-fried Pancit with pork ribs

pancit with pork ribs

To prepare pork ribs:
Boil the ribs with water for 30 minutes or until well done. Marinate with soy sauce for another 30 minutes. Brown the meat in a very hot pan with 2 Tablespoons of olive oil and straight to a very hot oven for 20 minutes.

To prepare stir-fried pancit (egg noodles)

1 onion

1 garlic

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

250 g egg noodles

salt and pepper to taste

Cook egg noodles by boiling 1 liter of water for 1 minute until done. On another pan, saute garlic and onion, add the peppers and add the noodles. Toss well until well mixed and season with salt and pepper.

Serve pork ribs with stir-fried pancit.

Stir-fried vegies with beef

Stir-fried Veggies with beef

Easy and healthy.

Ingredients:

½ K. Lean beef

Cabbage (sliced in strips)

2 Carrots (sliced)

1 Red sweet pepper

1 Green sweet pepper

1 Onion (sliced thinly)

3 cloves garlic (chopped thinly)

2 T olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

I am a fan of Ken, Chinese cook in BBC Food and I always watch him stir frying vegetables but haven’t done really at home. The secret is to add stock or water little by little like 1 tablespoon at a time this will give a good steam cooked vegetables, which is really makes a difference. Different from what I’ve done before I knew the technique coz I used to stir-fry veggies all in one bang to the pan and add water or stock.. some veggies are not cooked and some are over cooked. So here, I perfected for once!

Slice beef in strips and set aside. In very hot pan, add 2 T. olive oil add beef and stir-fry until sides turn brown. (Do not be tempted to add water, otherwise the meat would be tough). Remove the beef and set aside. With the same pan, add oil and salt, sauté onion and garlic with olive oil, add first the hardest veggie then the leafy lastly. Carrots goes in first, add 1 T. of stock or water, stir fry and cover for 1 minute, add the red and green peppers, add another tablespoon of stock, cover and stir-fry for another minute, add the cabbage lastly, again cover and stir-fry for another minute. Add in the stir-fried beef and toss! Done! Every veggie has its own distinctive taste which gives every bite a worthwhile withd different tastes and textures.