An Experiment!

Thanks to Michi of http://www.michiphotostory.com, I found a new way to cook my all time favorite, potato.  She blogged about Hasselback Potato few days back and I was curious on how it tastes. Since I have a few potatoes in my cupboard, I thought of making one today.

I tried to look up for some recipes online and the one that I followed was from Whatscookingamerica.net.

Washed and scrubbed

I read the tip to use chopsticks on both sides of the potato to make sure you don't cut through it and leave a little bit to hold the slices in.

It was a useful tip but unfortunately I wasn't careful in slicing the end. So it was cut off. :D

My butter was still sitting in the fridge when I had the urge to make the dish. So I had to melt it so I can prepare the potato faster.

Usually, I have bread ready but today I ran out. So I thought of using my little girl's old crackers. Maybe they'd look nice because they're tricolor! :)

I mixed everything in the butter. It doesn't look very appetizing. 

After patting the breadcrumb mixture on to the potato, I sprinkled a bit of grated cheddar cheese on top. I made two, one without a foil and the other with one. Just to see how it will go.

As predicted, the one uncovered almost burnt and the potatoes weren't cooked thoroughly. So the next time I'm doing this, I will make sure to cover my potatoes before baking 'em!

Carrot & Potato Croquettes

Ingredients:

• 400 grams potatoes, boiled and mashed
• 100 grams carrots, boiled and mashed
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 cup Japanese bread crumbs
• 1/2 canola oil for frying

Procedure:

1) Peel and boil potatoes and carrots. When they are done (when you can stick a fork through), transfer them to a colander and let them sit for a couple of minutes, but don’t let them cool down. We only want excess water to evaporate.

2) Transfer potatoes and carrots in a large bowl. Then add salt, pepper, and butter and start mashing. Slowly add the milk (you may add a little more depending on the type of potatoes you are using) and keep mashing the mixture until is is very smooth and creamy. You can opt to use your food processor if this is a bit tiring for you.

3) Add the egg yolk and keep mashing until the mixture turns sticky. Then slowly add the flour (again, you may adjust the amount of flour, depending on the type of potatoes) until the mixture is again firm and only slightly sticky.

4) Put a dollop of the mixture on your palm and then form into a ball or a roll. Arrange the croquettes on a wooden board. Put it inside the fridge and let sit for 30 minutes.

5) Take croquettes out of the fridge. Crack the egg up and put the contents on a shallow bowl. Beat thoroughly using a fork. Take a plate and put breadcrumbs on it.

6) Pour oil on your deep fryer and pre-heat to 180° C or 350° F. Coat each croquette with the beaten egg then coat with bread crumbs.

7) Drop the breaded croquettes into the hot oil. It cooks real quickly so keep a close watch. After about 2 minutes, they should be golden brown. Scoop them out of the fryer and put on paper towels to remove excess oil. Don’t let them sit around too long as they will get soggy. Arrange on a platter then serve plain, with ketchup or sweet and sour sauce.

Source: www.yummyascanbe.info

Baked Eggplant with Cheese

Last week, I thought of making a Greek veggie dish for the husband. While I was at the grocery, I decided to make something with eggplant. Then I realized I still have some leftover feta cheese at home, so I just tried to look up for some nice recipe guides online.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb eggplant (the oval shaped, dark skinned type)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• sea salt
• coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup cheese (feta or mozzarella)
• 2/3 cup tomato puree
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 medium-sized bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• paprika
• garlic powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a 9 inch pan. Set aside.
2. In a pan, saute onion, garlic and bell peppers. Add tomato puree and paste. Season with salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Using a mandoline, slice the eggplant thinly. Coat each side with olive oil.
4. Arrange the eggplant slices on the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Top with crumbled cheese and the tomato sauce.
5. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the eggplant becomes tender.

French Breakfast on Love Day

Happy Valentine's everyone! :) Since it's Valentine's, I wanted to prepare special meals all throughout the day. I'm not so sure if we will be going out tonight, though. :/ But anyway, for starters I made Potatoes Au Gratin.  It's my first time to make this dish and I'm excited as to how it will turn out. I hope the whole gang would love it. 

Ingredients:

• 4 whole Russet Potatoes, washed and scrubbed
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup mozzarella
• ground pepper and rosemary

Directions:

1. Prepare baking dish by greasing it up. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Clean and scrub potatoes. Slice them about 1/4" and cut into fourths.
3. In a bowl, whisk milk, cream, flour, garlic powder, rosemary and pepper.
4. With the greased up baking dish, arrange 1/2 of the potatoes at the bottom and pour about half of the mixture. Repeat until potatoes and cream mixture are both used up. Top with half of the cheddar cheese.
5. Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes.
6. Remove foil and top with remaining cheese (mozzarella and cheddar) and bake for another 15 minutes or until potatoes turn brown and mixture is bubbly.

Have a hearty breakfast, everyone! 

Lemon Fusilli with Arugula

The Husband usually doesn't like cream-based pasta. He like the ones with olive oil based sauce or pomodoro. As for me, I like anything for pasta as long as it doesn't have anchovies or too much onion :) So I went to the grocery and bought what I needed. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find arugula. I got the baby spinach instead. Starting now, I will be posting my own recipes since Google doesn't like it if you just copy recipes online. Boo. Moving forward, the recipes that you will see are my own versions of those recipes online I use as guides.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 200 grams scrap ham
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 lemons, squeezed
• 300 grams fusilli pasta, cooked as instructed
• 200 grams baby arugula or spinach
• 250 grams baby tomatoes, roasted
• 2/3 cup freshly grated American, Monterey Jack or Mozzarella cheese
• sea salt
• black pepper

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, heat olive oil. Saute garlic and add ham. Mix in cream and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Let it simmer for about 20 minutes then lower the heat until the sauce thickens.
2. Add the cooked pasta into the cream sauce and let it stand for about 5 minutes until all pasta have been mixed well with the sauce.
3. Pour pasta onto serving dish. Top with greens, roasted tomatoes and top with cheese.
4. Serve with extra lemon wedges and parmesan cheese.

Sweet, tangy and oh so yummy!

The Husband approved of the pasta this time!  Maybe because it has veggies to make up for the cream sauce. Haha By the way, I made oven roasted tomatoes to make it more appetizing.

Just a quick tip when reheating leftover pasta: before popping it into the oven, make sure to cover it or else you'll end up with a hardened pasta.

Recipe guide: Ina Garten's Recipe

How to Make Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Back in Manila, I have tried looking for cheap sun dried tomatoes that I can use for any pasta dish but I have never seen one. Maybe because my idea of cheap is way too low for the market price. Hahaha Anyway, I've read up on how to make my own roasted tomatoes and thought to make one to mix with my Baked Beef Pasta last night.

Here's what you need:

1 pack (250 grams) of baby tomatoes (cherry or honey)
2-3 Tbsp Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
sea salt
coarse ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2. Cut the tomatoes into half. Arrange them on the pan.
3. Season them with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the minced garlic.
4. Drizzle with olive oil before popping it into the oven.
5. Bake for about 30-40 minutes. Serve and enjoy with pasta or on french bread.

All prepped up!

Looks yummy, right? :)