Beef Burger with Flat bread stuffed with cheese

There is something special about this burger. Flat bread stuffed with cheese. Yes, crazy as it sounds but it's a no brainer bread that is developed by accident.  The patty is ready made, i know a deli shop who makes good burger patties; well seasoned and less fatty, i can tell from the color. I like it because its not frozen which means it is freshly made for the day. All I have to do is to cook them nicely.

The flat bread is made simply with 1 cup all purpose flour, 1tsp. salt, 1 tsp. olive oil and 1/3 cup warm water. You may use additional flour for dusting. Put the flour in the mixing bowl, make a well add salt and olive oil and warm water. Mix with chopstick by stirring the liquid and slowly incorporating the flour till the dough comes together. On a flat working surface, knead the dough until until smooth and elastic. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin as flat as you can. Cut the dough with a circular cookie cutter . With one circular dough, place a slice of cheese and put another dough on top.  Pinch the edges to seal the cheese. Heat a heavy bottomed frying pan, put 1 tsp oil and wipe with a kitchen towel. Cook the dough with the heat of the pan on both sides until you see charred sides.  Assemble the burger with lettuce and tomatoes.

This may seem long on the procedure but i did it in less than 20 minutes, I made two burgers and I still had remaining dough. My point is, don't be intimidated by the long procedure. It's quicker than you thought.   For the extra dough, I made some more cheese-stuffed bread and my daughter just loved it for snacks. As you can see in the picture, the bread is very thin, thats because the burger patty is thick. I don't need a thick bread.  I got thicker love handles :D, if you know what i mean. :)

Tuna Sandwich

Tuna Sandwich

Tuna sandwich could be very ordinary but a little effort on to make the tuna filling is worth every bite.

Ingredients:
6 loaves of sandwich (toasted)
2 tomatoes (thinly sliced)
Lettuce

Tuna filling:
1 can tuna chunks
1 red pepper/capsicum (finely chopped)
1 white onion (finely chopped)
½ cucumber (finely chopped)
2 Tbsp. Mayonnaise
½ lemon (use the juice only)
Pepper

Procedure:
Drain the tuna and use a fork to crush the chucks roughly. Add finely chopped red pepper, onion and cucumber. Then squeeze the juice of ½ lemon (This refreshes the flavor of the tuna and removes the fishy smell). Add enough mayonnaise and mix with the tuna mixture. Season with freshly ground pepper.

Assemble the sandwich.

Brazo de Mercedez

It’s been a long time I haven’t made this, say 2 years or so… it is one of my favorites but I haven’t posted anything about it. I’ve seen other recipes on this but I will still stick to my style coz I’m adjusting the sugar content. Some are so sweet while I just like it sweet enough and it will just melt in my mouth without feeling guilty of sugar overload. It’s a little bit tricky to do this the first time, I would say, it takes some practice. Or if you have been making chiffon cakes or working with meringues before, then it should be easy as ABC. But no worries, I’ll try to explain how to make it the best I could.

Handy tips for working with meringue:

1. The eggs must washed, wiped dry and at room temperature. I separate the yolk through the shells by breaking them in two and pass from the half shell to the other. I’m comfortable this way while some are using their other hand to separate the yolk and let the egg white just fall to the bowl, but I find it a little messy. Whatever you are comfortable with, do it the way you like it.

2. The mixing bowl should be absolutely dry and dust free.

3. Adding sugar. Add the sugar at the right stage of the egg white. It should be added while it is at soft peak; to test this, stop the beater/whisk and lift it up. If the whites has soft peak and bends at the tip of the peak, then it’s the right stage. Add sugar gradually while beating continuously until egg white is at “stiff” stage. Test this by stopping the beater and lift it up, if the peak is stiff and doesn’t bend at the end of the peak, you have to stop beating.

4. Meringue should be cooked at low temperature. In my oven, 180 degrees C. 15-20 minutes, the meringue is nice and slightly brown.

Ingredients:

6 pcs. Eggs
8 Tbsp. Condensed milk
1 Tbsp. Cornstarch (dissolved in 3 Tbsp. water)
½ Cup Sugar
½ tsp. cream of tartar
2 tsp. vanilla essence
1 Tbsp. butter

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

2. Prepare the baking try by lining it with a baking sheet. Brush baking sheet with butter and set aside.

3. Separate the eggs. Whites to the mixing bowl and Yolks in a small skillet.

4. Add cream of tartar to the egg white.

5. Beat the egg white until soft peak using an electric mixer/ beater.

6. Add sugar gradually spoon by spoon while beating continuously. Increase the speed of the beater and continue beating until egg white becomes stiff. Stop beating by this stage.

7. Spread the meringue evenly on the prepared baking tray by using a spatula.

8. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the sides are slightly brown. The bottom usually turns brown first than to top, so you can tell when it is done if you lift the baking sheet a little bit and see if the bottom had browned.

9. While the meringue is in the oven, make the filling. Assemble a double boiler.

You will need a small and a bigger skillet. Boil water in the bigger skillet. Put egg yolks in the smaller skillet and add condensed milk, vanilla essence and cornstarch mixture (cornstarch dissolved in water), mix and place the smaller skillet on the boiling water. Reduce the heat to medium. Mix vigorously with a whisk until thick but not runny. Thick enough to hold its form. Do not stop mixing until the right consistency is achieved, otherwise; you will end up with scrambled egg. Remove from heat and let it cool down to room temperature.

10. If the meringue is done, trace the sides with a spatula and lift the baking sheet off the baking tray and carefully transfer it to a flat surface to work on. Spread the yolk filling evenly on the meringue leaving at least 2 inches at the end. Now with the shorter side towards you, start rolling the baking sheet while carefully peeling it off from the meringue. It should not stick if it is not overcooked because you have greased it with butter. Continue rolling (just like the way it is done with Swiss rolls) until the end. Now you have a log shape. Trim the edges. Serve in slices. It is best served when chilled. (Picture below)

Apple Struddle

Strangely, hubby got a sweet tooth on the first day of the year 2008 and wished for something sweet for breakfast with his coffee… Had a quick look at the pantry and fridge then in the freezer; spotted my remaining puff pastry.. and well, I can do something sweet in say 25 – 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 sheets puff pastries

5 pcs. apples

4 Tbsp. Honey

1 Tbsp. Butter

1 tsp. cinnamon powder

½ Cup ground toasted peanuts

1 pc. Egg (slightly beaten)

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees C. Thaw pastry in the fridge.

Peel and slice apples thinly. Excluding the core at the center. (Picture below)

Heat butter in a pan, add sliced apples, drizzle honey, sprinkle cinnamon powder, cook further until the apples are caramelized. They will be nicely wilted and brown.

(Picture below)

Turn off heat, transfer the apples in a plate and place in the freezer for 5 minutes to cool down.

A handy tip: The filling should be at least at room temperature or cooler when introduced to the puff pastry, as pastry would tear easily when you put something hot and difficult to handle.

Meanwhile, bash some toasted peanuts until they are roughly fine.

Lay flat the puff pastry and sprinkle the nuts on half of the pastry, leaving the half to roll. Sprinkle the nuts on lower half of the pastry. Add the prepared apple slices and roll the pastry tucking the filling inside and forming like a log. Seal the edges with an egg wash (slightly beaten egg). Brush the top of the pastry with an egg wash, make slits on the top, Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. (Picture Below) Serve in slices.

Biscuit

Biscuit

I tried this recipe from the set of cookie cutters that I bought but I'm so concerned with the sugar and the butter content so I substituted the butter to margarine and lessened the sugar. So from original recipe, here is the modified recipe which really, really turned out great... These bite size biscuits is addictive once you start popping one! The chocolate dots at the center are small chocolate chips.

1 Cup butter/margarine
1 Cup Sugar
2 t. Vanilla extract
1 Cup self raising flour
1 3/4 Cup plain flour
1/2 Cup Corn flour
2 pcs. Egg Yolks

Method:

Beat butter, sugar, eggyolks and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Fold in flour mixture and mix well until dough doesn't stick to the hands. Roll out dough to 6mm thickness and cut with cookie cutter. Place on baking try and bake in preheated oven 170 degrees Celcius for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

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.

Bacon,mushroom and cheese on Toast

Breakfast Devine

Got this from Sophie Grigson’s show, but substituted some ingredients.

Ingredients :

3 Eggs

2 Tbsp. Butter

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 slices bacon (thinly sliced)

2 slices ham (thinly slized)

200 g mushrooms (thinly slized)

1 pc. white onion (thinly slized)

200 g. flamengo cheese (grated)

100 g. parmesan cheese (grated)

salt & pepper to taste

How to:

Preheat oven into 180 degrees C. Separate egg white from yolk and set aside.Heat olive oil and butter in a pan, add bacon & ham and fry just quickly until done. Remove from pan. With the same pan (with the remaining oil & butter used with frying the bacon, this really adds flavor) add mushrooms and continue frying, add onions and stir-fry until mushrooms turn golden brown at the sides. Add the cooked bacon & ham stir and remove from heat and set aside.Add the yolks into the cooked ingredients, season with salt & pepper and set aside.Beat egg whites with an electric beater until stiff. Slowly fold-in the yolk mixture into the stiffly beaten eggwhite. Return the whole mixture into the pan, continue cooking with low fire. Remove from fire and bake for 5 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve immediately with toasted bread.

Note: Make sure to use oven proof handle of your pan otherwise, transfer the whole mixture to an oven-proof dish before putting it in the oven.

Beef Shawarma

Beef shawarma

This meal reminds me of Abu Dhabi where shawarma is very popular sandwich. It’s also becoming popular in SM nowadays where you can see people lining up for shawarma. Since hubby and I both have Middle Eastern influence in food, we often have shawarma at home, once in a while.

Ingredients:

Flat bread

Beef steak (sliced thinly)

Cucumber (sliced thinly)

Tomatoes (sliced thinly)

Onion (caramelized)

Hummus sauce

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 it’s too dry, this depends of the strength of the flour you are using, add more water if necessary. Knead the dough in a floured flat surface for about 3 minutes or until dough becomes 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. Cook over a hot pan until dark spots start to form. Flip over to cook the other side of the flat bread.

To make hummus sauce

1 can chickpeas

¼ cup olive oil

2 teaspoons ground cumin seeds

Pinch of ground cinnamon

3 teaspoons lemon juice

Salt & pepper

Place all the ingredients in a food processor or blender except olive oil. Blitz and slowly add olive oil in a thin stream while machine is running. Keep the machine running until mixture becomes smooth.

To assemble the sandwich, spread hummus sauce on flatbread, add meat, cucumber and cooked onion according to liking.

Fish Paté Sandwich Mini Towers

Sandwich Mini Towers

Ingredients:
Sandwich
100 g. Light cream cheese
1 can Fish Pâté
1 T. Chili sauce

Preparation:

Remove crusts of the sandwich. Mix chili sauce with cream cheese. Spread cream cheese mixture in one side and fish pâté on the other side of the sandwich. Put them together to assemble towers. Cut sandwich into quarts.

Mortadella and egg sandwich

Ingredients:
Sliced bread
Slices of Mortadella
2 slightly beaten eggs
Salt & pepper
Mozzarella cheese

Procedure:

Slice off the sides of the bread and toast in a preheated pan 2 minutes each side. Remove from pan and set aside. Add 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan and wipe off with a kitchen paper. Spread the egg evenly by swirling the pan and cook quickly in a low fire. Remove from pan and set aside. Assemble the sandwich in layers alternately with mortadella, cheese and egg. Cut diagonally and serve.

Cheese Kubuz (Flat bread cheese sandwich)

Cheese Kubuz

This is my usual breakfast way back when I was in Abu Dhabi, I can have this almost everyday in the office not because it is my favorite but because it’s the quickest I could have. I am not having breakfast at home for some reasons, okay I admit I am lazy on mornings, so I’m having it in the office. Sadique, the office boy, knows what to buy for me from a nearby bakery. It’s “cheese kubuz” Little did I know that I am gaining weight because of cheese, but I wasn’t that conscious of its fat content. Anyway it is very tasty. Now I’m missing it and making it at home.

I often make flat breads and store them in a tightly sealed plastic in the fridge. I also use the same flat bread for making shawarma. So when laziness kicks in, either hubby or me just grab some and put cheese, pop it in the oven for 5 minutes, sprinkle with salt on top, then that makes a breakfast with a mug of coffee, (without sugar for me please).

Kubuz, Arabic bread, or Chinese pan cakes, whatever they call it, for me it is simply “flat bread” Normally, its dough is made of flour,water,salt and yeast. The dough rests for about an hour so it takes at least 1 hour and half to make it. But I’m fun of shortcuts especially when I’m quite hungry and can’t wait that long. I don’t see much difference with what I’m making at home with the one that from the bakery. Since I don’t rise the dough, I don’t use yeast. I use flour, salt, and warm water. Simply 3 ingredients. I use warm water to develop more gluten from the flour rapidly than that of room temperature.

How to make flat bread? or Kubuz (arabic bread)

To make flat bread:
1 cup flour (sifted)
1 tsp. salt
¼ cup warm 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 it’s too dry, this depends of the strength of the flour you are using, add more water if necessary. Knead the dough in a floured flat surface for about 3 minutes or until dough becomes 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.

Cookies and Cream with orange segments

Cookies and cream with orange segments

1 pack Chocolate biscuits
100 g. Softened butter
2 teaspoons whiskey
2 cups Whipped cream
1/2 cup Icing sugar

Preparation:
Pound some chocolate biscuits using a mortar and pestle until roughly fine and mix thoroughly with
softened butter. Add 3 Tablespoons of the mixture into a circular cookie cutter and press down creating a base about 1/2 inch thick. Add 1 tablespoon of whiskey to the base. Place each base in a saucer and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Mix whipped cream with icing sugar and place on top of the base
using the same mold. Add segments of orange just before serving.

Virtual Blog Party "The Holiday Edition"

My tastebuds had been traveling around the globe of this virtual blog party hosted by Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness. Brilliant ideah huh!

Thanks to Kai of Bucaio for the info.

I came up with spicy starred mini pizza and Jamie’s Margarita for my entry. Thanks again to Stephanie for the name :-) .Recipe for my entry for the party is here. Inspired by the theme for upcoming holidays.

Cheers everyone!

Cheese Puffs

cheese puffs

I got this recipe from an appetizer mini cookbook, but as usual, I deviated from the original recipe due to unavailability of ingredients. Apart from that, I have changed its proportion as the original recipe seems too plenty for two. I added some flavor like nutmeg and pepper which were not included from the original recipe.I love every bite of these cheese puffs! It’s so cheesy, soft and elastic in the inside but crisp on the outside. Great contrast of texture. Best served while still hot.

Ingredients:

2 Cups grated tasty cheese (flamingo or Gouda preferably)or any cheese that melts when heated.

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

2 eggs1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Extra bread crumbs for coating

Procedure:

Separate egg yolk from white. Mix egg yolk with cheese, breadcrumbs, paprika, and nutmeg. Beat egg white until stiff. Slowly fold in into yolk mixture. Add black pepper. Form into small balls and coat with bread crumbs. Deep fry few at a time in30 seconds or until golden brown. Drain in kitchen paper and serve immediately.

I love this so much that I lost count of how many I had! (smiles)