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.