10 posts tagged “food”

My hubby was so kind as to purposely take a day off from work so he can celebrate my first Eid ul-Fitr in the UK without my family and friends and he even invited her parents to have a lunch with us, I wanted to make a traditional Indonesian cooking for them but since I've never cooked in my life before so yesterday was my first attempt which was failed but thankfully they enjoyed the food I made for them.

The Appetizer that was supposed to look like the one on the left in the recipe book turned out so bad and burnt

Pastel veggies

The Main course that tasted weird but strangely enough my husband and his parents liked them , I served them with fried rice.

Spatchcock lemon chicken

and The Dessert that turned out so weird but at least the taste was almost the same as the one that I always had in Jakarta but again it was suppose to look like the one on the left but since we couldnt find Banana leaves in the UK we wrapped them up with cooking foil.

Banana cake or Nagasari

Oh well, at least they're still edible and not go straight to the garbage bin, right? hahaha

Lebaran 2008

Scrumptious sunday

Fish

Lemon sole

Ingredients
125g Fresh fine breadcrumbs
½ tsp Freshly ground black pepper
Zest of 1 Lemon
450g Lemon sole fillets, skinned
Sunflower oil, for frying
50g Plain flour
3 Eggs, beaten
2 Lemons, cut into wedges
For the tartare sauce
100g Mayonnaise (homemade or shop brought)
2 tbsp Capers, chopped
4 Gherkins, chopped
1 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Scrumptious sunday

Beef - Spaghetti Bolognese

Spaghetti bolognese

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil or sun-dried tomato oil from the jar
6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, chopped
2 large onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1kg/2¼lb lean minced beef
2 large glasses of red wine
2x400g cans chopped tomatoes
1x290g jar antipasti marinated mushrooms, drained
2 fresh or dried bay leaves
1 tsp dried oregano or a small handful of fresh leaves, chopped
1 tsp dried thyme or a small handful of fresh leaves, chopped
drizzle balsamic vinegar
12-14 sun-dried tomato halves, in oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a good handful of fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
800g-1kg/1¾-2¼lb dried spaghetti
lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Method
1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan and fry the bacon until golden over a medium heat. Add the onions and garlic, frying until softened. Increase the heat and add the minced beef. Fry it until it has browned, breaking down any chunks of meat with a wooden spoon. Pour in the wine and boil until it has reduced in volume by about a third. Reduce the temperature and stir in the tomatoes, drained mushrooms, bay leaves, oregano, thyme and balsamic vinegar.
2. Either blitz the sun-dried tomatoes in a small blender with a little of the oil to loosen, or just finely chop before adding to the pan. Season well with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and simmer the Bolognese sauce over a gentle heat for 1-1½ hours until it's rich and thickened, stirring occasionally. At the end of the cooking time, stir in the basil and add any extra seasoning if necessary.
3. Remove from the heat to 'settle' while you cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water (for the time stated on the packet). Drain and divide between warmed plates. Scatter a little parmesan over the spaghetti before adding a good ladleful of the Bolognese sauce, finishing with a scattering of more cheese and a twist of black pepper.

Fish and chips day

We were invited by Mark's parents for dinner today and she said it's about time to have a proper traditional english meal which is Fish & Chips for me, so we decided to have a little visit to Sainsburys first to buy her a bouquet of flowers and since we werent expected until about 4pm, we dropped by to the beach first to have a short walk, I'll post the pictures here for another day since I dont have much time right now without the hubby grumbling that his wife is spending too much time in the computer and not enough time for him :)

It was great, I enjoyed the meal with salt and tabasco added to it coz I love my food hot and spicy, then we had strawberry's pudding for the dessert, lovely. I then being showed to her little garden where she grows lots of colorful flowers and there's this big velvet colored rose that she cut for me to bring home, it smells very nice. 

Scumptious

Theme: Pasta

RAVIOLI (Stuffed beef) WITH FRESH BASIL & TOMATO SAUCE

Ingredients:

[You can buy Ravioli stuffed Pasta of your choice]

Combine tomatoes with garlic, basil, oil and pepper. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour. Cook pasta as directed. Barely heat the sauce. Drain pasta. Pour sauce over pasta. Makes 2 servings. May be increased accordingly.

 

Pasta

Fajitas Fiesta

Scrumptious Sunday : Mexican 

Chicken Fajitas

2 comments

Ingredients :

1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup lime juice
1 cup tequila
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno chili
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 lb chicken breast
10 flour tortillas
3 tbsp oil
1 bell pepper
1 onion
1 tomato
1 sour cream

Directions:

Mince garlic. Cut bell pepper and onion into strips. Cut tomato into
chunks. In a glass bowl or baking dish, combine 1/2 cup oil, lime
juice, tequila, tomato paste, garlic, jalapeno, salt, chili powder,
and cumin. Blend well. Add chicken, cover, and marinate in
refrigerator at least 6 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350F.
Wrap tortillas in aluminum foil. Bake 15 minutes while preparing
fajitas. Remove chicken from marinade. In a large, heavy skillet over
medium-high heat, heat 3 Tbl oil. Add chicken and cook, stirring
constantly, 5 to 7 minutes or until chicken is done. Add bell pepper
and onion and cook 3 minutes more, just until vegetables are
crisp-tender. Serve with tortillas, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, and
cheese. Shared by Garry Howard From Hyatt Regency at Gainey Ranch

Servings: 4 servings

Beef With Cashew Nuts

1 comment

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

• 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• half tablespoon chopped dried red chillies
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2.4cm/1 inch piece fresh root ginger, chopped
• 2-3 kaffir lime leaves, torn
• 500g/1lb lean beef, e.g. fillet, sirloin or rump steak, cut into strips
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 red pepper, seeded and sliced
• 1 green pepper, seeded and sliced
• 4 spring onions, sliced diagonally
• 125g/4oz roasted cashew nuts

How-to-make:

1. Heat half tablespoon of the sesame oil in a small frying pan, and fry the dried red chillies until crisp. Drain on absorbent kitchen paper to absorb the oil, and set aside while you stir-fry the beef and vegetables.
2. Heat the remaining sesame oil in a wok or a large frying pan. Add the garlic, onion and ginger and stir-fry quickly for about 3 minutes over high heat, until the onion is soft and golden brown.
3. Add the kaffir lime leaves and strips of beef, and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Season to taste with black pepper and stir the soy sauce and sugar into the beef mixture.
4. Add the peppers and spring onions and stirfry for 2-3 minutes. Add the reserved fried chillies and the roasted cashew nuts and quickly stir them through the mixture. 

Serve immediately with some boiled rice or fried noodles, Bon Appetite. 

In the making

Last night, my husband and I were busy making 2 types of salads, the coleslaw and the potato salad, I did the chopping and he did the mixing of the sauce, we made a great team although we seem to be bumping each other to get one thing or another, considering how big he is and well yes, I cant say Im small too but I'll blame the kitchen coz it's small hehe. Once we're done, put them into the fridge and we watched a movie.

in time for dinner, he took out the ready-to-eat chicken breast and put it on both our plates, add the potato and coleslaw on the side and then he adds more with fresh green veggies with mango dressing, after that we had a toast with Lanson champagne.

I think we'll have more of salad days as we made quite a big of portion of them. 

Fusion broths

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My hubby is a fan of The Naked Chef also known as Jamie Oliver, bought several books of his obviously all about cooking recipes, so yesterday, he flipped open a recipe that he thought I might like it as I love hot and spicy food and made the fusion broths for me, I got a chance to take a snapshot of it before I quickly devour the soup.

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

• 4 chicken breasts
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 litre/2pints chicken stock
• 1 heaped tablespoon fresh ginger, finely sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, sliced
• 300/400g chinese greens (pak choy, chinese broccoli, gai larn)
• 455g noodles
• 1 or 2 small/medium/large fresh red chillies, finely sliced.
• 1 handful of fresh coriander, torn
• 4 tablespoons soya sauce
• 1 lemon or lime

How-to-make:

Bone and skin the chicken breasts, trimming off any excess fat, season with salt. Get a griddle pan very hot, add the chicken breasts and cook on both sides until done. Remove to a board and allow to rest for 3 minutes, then slice at an angle, around 1cm apart.

At the same time bring the chicken stock and ginger and garlic to boil, then reduce to a simmer. Steam the chinese greens above the stock until tender or in the broth whichever you prefer.

While the stock is simmering, cok the noodles in boiling, salted water, drain and divide between 4 deep broth bowls. Divide the greens among the noodles. Then place the cooked chicken slices on top, and sprinkle with the chillies, coriander and soya sauce.

Finally, check the seasoning of the broth and then pour it over each bowl. Finish with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice.

Have a slurrpppyy hot and spicy broths!

Collage2

(Start Conversation)

Her: What's for dinner, hun?

Him: Well, which one would you like? meat pie or Frittata?

Her: Hmm never tried both, what's Frittata?

Him: It's Italian sort of Omelette, made of eggs, garlic, onion, courgette, red pepper, grated cheese, fry the veg, whip the eggs and cheese and place on top, fry for a bit, and finish off under the grill. Oh and I forgot the tomatoes as well in it. The potatoes I purposely just steam it n add salad with mango dressing on the side, how's that darling?

Her: Sounds yummy! I love you!

Him: I think you love my cooking more but I dont mind coz I love you.

(End)