My collection of favourite recipes..tried and tested!
Hubby first started cooking this dish when we went on a low calorie diet. It’s a hearty beef stew which is filling yet not heavy at all. It’s a very simple dish to prepare too and actually keeps very well for a few days. When …
We all love Caesar Salad especially if its made the right way. As a side dish or to start a meal. But as a main meal, its nice with Cajun-style grilled chicken breasts. I never knew how to make Cajun chicken so the first time …
This is a more liquid version of our chilli beans and much less calories. We don’t use flour in this recipe and the portion also uses less beans than the chilli bean recipe. Still as filling though especially with bread!
INGREDIENTS
150 gms dry red beans or pinto beans – soaked in water overnight
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium sized onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne powder or chilli powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp tomato purée
1/2 tsp dried oregano
4 oz can chopped tomatoes
2 vegetable cubes
1 litre water
DIRECTIONS
Drain the beans and boil in 1 litre of water, 2 vegetable cubes and a bay leaf in a pressure cooker for 15 – 20 mins.
Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onions and garlic. Cook for 4 – 5 minutes until soft. Add the cumin, cayenne and paprika and cook for one minute on a low fire. Stir frequently.
Add the tomato puree and cook for a few seconds, then add in the oregano. Add chopped tomatoes and cook slowly for 15 – 20 mins.
When the beans are cooked, add the sauce to the beans and cook through for 5 minutes.
Serve hot with bread or eat on its own.
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Hubby cooked up this “new” (maybe “different” is the right word?) Bolognese sauce tonight and I asked how come he changed the recipe? His answer was, “Actually this is how the Italians make it!” Indeed it was. When we were in Rome, this was how …
INGREDIENTS Serves 2 2 eggplants (240 gms) If you like zucchini, you can substitute 1 eggplant for 120 gms zucchini 1 1/2 medium-sized green peppers or a mixture of different coloured peppers (200 gms) 1 large tomato (180 gms) 1/4 large onion (85 gms) 2-3 …
I went crazy buying recipe books at the Times Bookstore at Hartamas Shopping Centre one day while I was back in KL and one of the books I bought was “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School”. We needed a book like that here as a reference plus its good for a “start-up” cook like Dan. In Kuwait we have Delia Smith’s book which proved itself a really good reference book.
Browsing through I found Martha’s “Perfect Roast Chicken” recipe. I was dying to try out our new oven so it was a great opportunity! We found all the ingredients especially the all-important fresh rosemary. It was easy to make. We also threw in potatoes and carrots around the chicken, and everything turned out perfect! The chicken was juicy and full of flavour, and so were the potatoes and carrots.
INGREDIENTS
Serves 4
1 six-pound roasting chicken
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 medium onions, peeled and sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick
1 lemon
3 large cloves garlic, peeled
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cup Chicken Stock, or canned low-sodium chicken broth, skimmed of fat
DIRECTIONS
Let chicken and 1 tablespoon butter stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Remove and discard the plastic pop-up timer from chicken if there is one. Remove the giblets and excess fat from the chicken cavity. Rinse chicken thoroughly under cold water, inside and out, then pat dry the chicken thoroughly with paper towels making sure the cavity is as dry as possible. Tuck the wing tips under the body. Sprinkle the cavity of the chicken liberally with salt and pepper, and set aside.
In the centre of a heavy-duty roasting pan, place onion slices in two rows, touching. Place the palm of your hand on top of lemon and, pressing down, roll lemon back and forth several times. This softens the lemon and allows the juice to flow more freely. Pierce entire surface of lemon with a fork. Using the side of a large knife, gently press on garlic cloves to open slightly. Insert garlic cloves, thyme sprigs, and lemon into cavity. Place chicken in pan, on onion slices. Cut about 18 inches of kitchen twine, bring chicken legs forward, cross them, and tie together.
Spread the softened butter over entire surface of chicken, and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. If desired throw in halves of peeled potatoes, and chunks of carrots around the chicken.
Place in the oven, and roast until skin is deep golden brown and crisp and the juices run clear when pierced, about 1 1/2 hours. When chicken seems done, insert an instant-read thermometer into the breast, then the thigh. The breast temperature should read 180 degrees.and the thigh 190 degrees.
Remove chicken from oven, and transfer to a cutting board with a well. Let chicken stand 10 to 15 minutes so the juices settle. Meanwhile, pour the pan drippings into a shallow bowl or fat separator, and leave onions in the pan.
Prepare the pan sauce: Leave any brown baked-on bits in the bottom of the roasting pan, and remove and discard any blackened bits. Using a large spoon or fat separator, skim off and discard as much fat as possible. Pour the remaining drippings and the juices that have collected under the resting chicken back into the roasting pan. Place on the stove over medium-high heat to cook, about 1 minute.
Add chicken stock, raise heat to high, and, using a wooden spoon, stir up and combine the brown bits with the stock until the liquid is reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Strain the gravy into a small bowl, pressing on onions to extract any liquid. Discard onions, and stir in the remaining tablespoon of cold butter until melted and incorporated.
Untie the legs, and remove and discard garlic, thyme, and lemon. Carve, and serve gravy on the side.
Goulash, originally from Hungary, is a stew or a soup, usually made with beef, red onions, vegetables, spices and ground paprika powder. The name originates from the Hungarian gulyás (pronounced goo-yash), and means cattle stockman or herdsman. Goulash is usually made with beef shank, shin …
This is my favourite pasta dish and I love to make it because no one else can make it the way I like it! We first had REAL pasta in Rome. Of course Rome, where else! After our trip there in 2005 we really appreciated …
Bolognese sauce made with 1/2 kg minced beef (See Spaghetti Bolognese)
9 lasagne leaves
Shredded Parmesan cheese
For the Béchamel:
3 – 4 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tbsp flour
400 – 500 ml fresh or UHT milk
salt to taste
Prepare the Bolognese sauce first.
While the sauce is cooking you can pre-boil lasagne leaves according to instructions on the package. Drain and lay them flat on a plate so they don’t stick to each other.
Lay 3 lasagne leaves on the base of an over-proof casserole dish or Pyrex. Pour 1/2 of the Bolognese sauce and spread evenly over the leaves. Lay three more lasagne leaves and add the balance of the sauce. Lay the last 3 lasagne leaves.
Pre-heat over to 180 degrees Centigrade.
Prepare the Béchamel:
Pour the Béchamel over the lasagne leaves, sprinkle with shredded Parmesan and bake in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes until the cheese has turned golden brown.
Arroz con Leche, literally “rice with milk” is a typical dessert from Spain. It is said that it has Arabic origins because this dessert is also common in Arabian restaurants and homes. There are many ways of making it but this is how we make …
