My Kitchen Produce » Italian

Beef Stroganoff

linda — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 07:15:46 +0000

This is one of the western dish that I need to tackle badly. I had cook some really bad beef stroganoff (I mean really really bad like no one want to even look at it and taste it). My husband always complained about how bad my stroganoff taste. There was one time that he washed the cooked stroganoff because he can’t bear the thought of throwing the unwanted dish down the bin. He recycled the beef into other dish. Since then, I have been traumatized to cook another beef stroganoff. Every time I found the courage to try, he forbid me and offered himself to cook stroganoff instead (talking about some support and encouragement huh…).

There were no difference for this time as well. He offered himself and remind me of my last stroganoff (oh how supportive you my dear…). I said to him that I had been doing some research on the net and looking at few recipes on stroganoff. I choose the Masterchef recipe because I watched the show. However I didn’t have all the ingredients needed. Without him knowing, I just started to prepare everything in the kitchen. He actually caught me on coating the meat with the flour. He said that my last stroganoff failed because of the flour coating. I said I think I didn’t shake the excess flour last time and this time I shake it off thoroughly. He said his stroganoff doesn’t need the flour to coat (yeah you right because the sauce that he cook came from the instant packaging.. and I am doing everything from scratch.. come on, can’t he understand the difference???)

Because I wanted to cook the stroganoff so badly, I didn’t write the recipe on paper as I always do. I was sort of remembering the steps on my head. I did all the instructions as I remembered and VOILA the beef stroganoff minus paprika powder, Worcestershire sauce, beef stock, and sour cream (used thickened cream instead). My verdict wass not bad for a beginner but as usual I received complain from an “instant packaging Stroganoff sauce” expert.

The week after, I tried to cook another stroganoff. This time I used beef stock and paprika powder, but still didn’t use Worcestershire sauce and sour cream(as I thought creme de fraiche was thickened cream… LOL I found out that it was sour cream instead after reading Dorie Greenspan cookbook… what a coincidence). The verdict was much better from my previous one. I think it is probably best to stick to the original recipe. So I would try to cook it one more timeaccordingly for the sake of perfecting my stroganoff.If you would like the recipe, click here.

Culinary tradition: Russian

Please leave your comment/suggestion if you find this recipe useful. Can’t wait to hear from you and Thank You!!!

Tiramisu

linda — Thu, 20 May 2010 01:49:18 +0000

My boy was at school so it was a perfect timing to do an uninterrupted groceries shopping. I could spent more than an hour walking slowly passing each isle and thinking about lots of new exciting recipes that I am going to do. Of course I always look for great weekly deals in every store department, and there it was marcarpone cheese on special. Without hesitation I grab it straight away, and thinking I still have a whole pack of saviordi biscuits which have been sitting for months in the pantry.

Finally I could make my Tiramisu after waiting for several days. YAY it was weekend and my husband could accompany my boy playing without him following me around. I didn’t make the sponge cake as the recipe suggested as I want something quick and easy and saviordi biscuits taste as nice I think. If you would like the recipe, click here.

Little did I realize that I can’t eat Tiramisu because I was 6 months pregnant. OMG so silly of me creating my own temptation. I did a little finger licking though, just for the sake that I need to know whether this is a great recipe or not (another excuse LOL). My husband said this Tiramisu was much better than my previous one, or he just want to tease me because I can’t eat them. Hmmm doesn’t matter, I will make this again for sure in 4 months time and I will update my verdict for this fabulous dessert.

Preparation time (duration): 30

Culinary tradition: Italian

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Lemon Garlic Linguine

linda — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:13:10 +0000

What can I say about this simple linguine. It tasted simple, refreshing, fulfilling and healthy. I love the lemon zest flavour. Remember not to squeeze too much lemon because those lemon could taste really sour. My another suggestion is to add a small can of tuna. They could add much flavour and fill you up.

Ingredients

100 gr linguine
1 clove garlic
1 clove shallot
5 grape/cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice
dash of chilli flakes
salt and pepper
generous amount of olive oil
grated parmesan, optional

Instructions

Bring a pot with water to boil. Add a little bit of salt then linguine. Cook according to the package instructions until al dente. Reserve about 1/3 cup of boiling water from cooking the linguine.
Heat generous olive oil in the pan. Add garlic and shallot and stir until fragrant.
Add tomatoes and stir it for about 2-3 minutes.
Add cook linguine and some of the reserve water and mix well to combine. Just add the water as you needed, not all of them.
Add lemon zest, lemon juice, chilli flakes, salt and pepper.
Serve with grated parmesan.

Preparation time (duration): 15

Culinary tradition: Italian

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Toddler’s Homemade Pasta Sauce

linda — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:02:55 +0000

My toddler loves pasta so much that he could eat pasta everyday without complaining. This is the main reason why I need to cook my own sauce using fresh herbs and vegetables so that he could get all the good things. I am one of those lucky moms who could give vegetables to her child effortless.

I used to buy those commercial bottled pasta sauce, because they are so convenient, but they are high in salt and sugar. I started to cook pasta with my homemade sauce (not this recipe) when I was 7 months pregnant with Nathan. I was forced to eat pasta because it was the only carbohydrate that my body could tolerate without increasing my blood sugar level. I could not even start to tell how bored I am with pasta day and night. My obstetrician even told me eat pasta in different shapes and sizes so I could get not as bored as eating the same shape everyday. For goodness sake, they are all the same taste to me, and I didn’t even care about the shape, as long as they could fulfilled my hunger. Oh my how I suffered in eating department while pregnant.

Anyway, you could use any vegetables that suit your toddler taste. You could also adding some other ingredients to enrich the flavour. I want to share this ingredients because this is what I call basic pasta sauce ingredients. I usually freeze them in ice blocks after I pureed the vegetable. Whenever I want to cook pasta for my toddler, I just took some of the cubes out and cook them with anything (such as grilled zucchini, eggplants, or mushrooms) that suit him so he will not get bored.

Ingredients

1 medium carrot
1 half small bunch of broccoli
1 medium zucchini
1 stalk of celery
5 tomatoes
herbs like basil or parsley
1 small onion, mince finely
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp of tomato sauce
salt and sugar to taste
2 tbsp of olive oil

Instructions

Steam carrot, broccoli, zucchini, and parsley for 15 minutes or until cook. Careful not to over-steam them.
Pureed the steam vegetable with 3 tomatoes.
Heat oil in the pot. Cook in garlic and onion until fragrant.
Dice finely the other left 2 tomatoes and put them into the pot. Cook until they are soft.
Pour in the pureeing ingredients and herbs into the pot. Stir them occasionally.
Put tomato sauce, salt and sugar. Mix until combine. Let them simmer for 5 minutes.
Pour them into glass bottles and let them cool. Store in the refrigerator.

Cooking time (duration): 45

Culinary tradition: Italian

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Beef Patties & Meatballs Skewer

linda — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:00:17 +0000

My toddler loves pasta and seem to can’t get enough of them. He loves it so much, he could eat pasta everyday and would not get sick of it. However, he tends to be choosy when it comes to the protein intakes. He doesn’t like to eat chicken, beef or pork. He likes egg, but the protein intake is not complete without meat or poultry. So I have to do everything in my power and ability to somehow feed him the protein without him realizing or knowing it. One of his protein meals is the meatballs served with skewers. Eating the meatball in skewer makes him forget that he actually eating the meat, because the way of eating them is interesting and adventurous.

I do have an important lesson to learn while making both the patties and meatballs though. Always give either your burger patties or meatballs a good squeeze while shaping them or otherwise they will break. If you are not sure, just place them in the fridge for at least half an hour, so they can retain their shape.

So, here is the picture of my burger patties. If you want to serve them with burger buns, you could make them larger to suit your buns.

I served my Skewer Meatballs with my homemade pasta sauce. If you do want to serve them with pasta sauce, you could heat the pasta sauce together with the meatballs, so that the sauce could be absorbed by the meatballs. They will taste so much better.

Ingredients

500 gr organic lean mince beef
1 medium size of carrot, grated
1 medium size of zucchini, grated, squeeze the juices out
2 small onions, minced
3 stalks of spring onions, diced
1 egg
salt and pepper
oil for stir frying

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl until combined.
Shape to make burger patties and meatballs.
Heat a little bit of oil for stir frying the patties and meatballs.
Beef patties can be served with burger buns, tomato sauce, and salad.
Put the skewer in the meatballs and serve it with pasta.

Preparation time (duration): 30

Culinary tradition: American, Italian

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Pizza Dough

linda — Sun, 31 May 2009 03:32:13 +0000

Pizza is considered a high class cuisine back in my country, Indonesia. It is like having a fine nice meal in a five star hotel or restaurant. No, I am not describing it as if the meal is the five star restaurant standard nor the only place for having them is only in the five star place, but if you could afford eating pizza, you are considered as “the rich group”.

I still remember when I was about 11 years old, my family used to have dinner in a fried chicken outlet once or twice a week. The fried chicken outlet is new in town and everybody just want to try something new, as well as the ‘needy kids’. So, I was eating my dinner with my family while watching the ‘needy kids’ rushed in to those empty tables for those chicken leftovers. They really seemed to enjoy their meal although they have to pause and wait for another tables to clear to finish their meal. It just like having a three course dinner where you have to pause and wait for the next course to be served.

If we look at the developed western countries, it is completely the other way around. What is considered as a high end cuisine in a third world country is a junk food here. It is high in calorie, full of bad fat, and pack in salt and sugar. People like to eat it because it is fast, convenience, and affordable. Junk food is considered as a ‘decent’ meal to get if the people are uncertain about the taste of meals in the surrounding restaurant. When my husband and I were away on an out of town adventure, we usually make our pit stop at ‘familiar’ burger or fried chicken outlet till I was sick of it. We were too unsure to try something new on local restaurants and just stick to those obvious one.

Anyway, back to Pizza. My household members are a big fan of pizza and loves to order pizza for take away once in a while. Me myself, I am not that big lover of pizza. I don’t like the after taste of that oily fat that tends to linger in your mouth and throat even after you tried to wash them down with a can of soda. I know what you all thinking, another junk food’s best friend. All those reasons sort of driven me to search for a good quality of pizza dough recipe.

So, I found this great recipe on the web couple years ago (created by Sarah Hobbs) and loving it since then. This recipe is really easy to work with and once you’ve mastered the dough making, let’s your imagination go wild and create your pizza with your favorite toppings and sauces.

Ingredients

Recipe adapted from http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/14433/pizza+dough

375ml (1 1/2 cups) warm water
2 tsp (7g/1 sachet) dried yeast
Pinch of caster sugar
600g (4 cups) plain flour
1 tsp salt
60ml (1/4 cup) olive oil, plus extra for brushing

Instructions

Combine warm water, dried yeast and sugar in a bowl and set aside until foamy.
Combine plain flour and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the yeast mixture and oil.
Use your hands to bring the dough together (if the dough is too sticky, add a little more olive oil)
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
Place in the prepared bowl and turn to coat in oil.
Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to rise until dough doubles in size.
The dough is ready to be rolled on into your preferences thickness (crispy, thin, or deep pan).

Preparation time (minutes): 30

Culinary Tradition: Italian

Please leave your comment/suggestion if you find this recipe useful. Can’t wait to hear from you and Thank You!!!