Tuesday 18 September 2012

Chicken and Sultana Casserole


Je suis un peu triste en ce moment in english, I'm pretty sad right now lol thank you Google translate :) Missing the hubby like mad who is in an oil rig somewhere in Egypt since Thursday 13th of September (my birthday!) hence I decided to cook and blog to cheer myself up a little bit ;)

So our dinner for tonight is called Chicken and Sultana Casserole...


Total Time:
15-20 min
Prep
5-7 min
Cook
8-10 min

Serves 4
Ingredients:
  • 60g (2oz) butter
  • 500 g (1lb) chicken strips
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 2 red onions chopped
  • 155g (5oz) button mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 1/2 tbsp plain flour
  • 125g (4oz) sliced ham, chopped
  • 185mL (6fl oz) chicken stock
  • 4 tbsp white wine
  • 440g (14oz) canned peeled tomatoes, drained and chopped
  • 90g (3oz) sultanas (Sultanas and raisins are both dried white grapes but sultanas are from seedless varieties. They are golden in color and tend to be plumper, sweeter and juicier than other raisins)
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
How To Cook:
  1.  Melt butter in a large frying pan and cook chicken over a medium high heat for 4-5 minutes. Remove from pan using slotted spoon and set aside to keep warm.
  2. Add garlic, onions and mushrooms to pan and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute longer. Return chicken to pan with ham, stock, wine, tomatoes, sultanas, parsley and basil and cook until sauce thickens slightly. Serve with rice.




 Happy eating and see you again next time!

Saturday 1 September 2012

Fettuccine Carbona and Peaches in Cinnamon Syrup

Here's another budget-friendly quick-fix recipe to get a simple meal on your table for you and your family. One of the easiest and quickest pasta you can make is Fettuccine Carbonara plus Peaches in Cinnamon Syrup as your desert.


FETTUCCINE CARBONA
Total Time:
30 min
Prep
5 min
Cook
25 min

Serves 4
Ingredients:
  1. 500 g (1lb) fettuccine
  2. 1 tablespoon olive oil
CARBONARA SAUCE
  • 4 eggs
  • 3 tablespoons double cream
  • 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
  • grounds black pepper
  • slices of bacon
How To Cook:
  1. Cook fettuccine in boiling water in a large saucepan following packet directions. Drain then toss through 2 tablespoons oil and set aside to keep warm.
  2. To make sauce, place eggs, cream and Parmesan cheese in a mixing bowl and beat well to combine. Season to taste with black pepper. (I've added an extra egg as well as a little bit more of cream because my kids love the sauce like scrambled eggs)
  3. Heat remaining oil in a large-frying pan and cook bacon for 4-5 minutes or until crisp. Add fettuccine  and toss well. Pour egg mixture into pan and toss over a low heat for 1 minute or until egg is almost cooked. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

PEACHES IN CINNAMON SYRUP

my boys helping mommy prepare our desert


Ingredients:
  • 4 tablespoons orange juice concentrate (I used freshly squeezed oranges)
  • 2 tablespoons caster sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • canned peaches, drained
  • you can also add 1 tablespoon Cointreau (Orange liqueur) if available
How To Prepare:
  1. Place orange juice concentrate, caster sugar, lemon juice, Cointreau, water, cloves and cinnamon stick in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until mixture becomes syrupy.
  2. Place peaches on a plate and pour syrup over.
Thanks for reading and I'll catch you all next time!

Friday 31 August 2012

Pork Stroganoff

And today's quick and easy meal menu is... Pork Stroganoff :)


Total Time:
40 min
Prep
10 min
Cook
30 min

Ingredients:
  • 375 g (12 oz) fettuccine
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
  • 500 g (1 lb) pork fillet, cut into strips
  • 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 medium onion, halved or quartered and thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup flour seasoned with 1/2 teaspoon salt, dash pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon paprika
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 can (14 ounces) cups beef broth
  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 cup sour cream

How To Cook:
  1. Cook   fettuccine in boiling water in a large saucepan following packet instructions. Drain and toss through olive oil, minced garlic and poppy seeds (I used sesame seeds as an alternative as poppy seeds are not available here in Dubai) Set aside to keep warm.
  2. Sauté sliced mushrooms in butter in a large skillet until just tender. Remove to a bowl; set aside.
  3. Toss pork in seasoned flour to coat, shake off excess. 
  4. Add oil to skillet; brown pork with onions, stirring frequently. Add back the mushrooms, the beef broth, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer briskly for 5 minutes. Cover and continue to simmer over low heat for 20 minutes longer.
  5. Stir in sour cream and heat through. Serve immediately with fettuccine. 
Enjoy and Happy Eating! :)

Wednesday 22 August 2012

Orange Pork Chops


I know..I know...I haven't been on since no one cares how long, but now I'm back so let's get down to business and cut the crappucino LOL! :p

I am by no means an expert in the kitchen. In fact, this is one shortcoming that really plagues me as a mom. Luckily, my hubby is one helluva great cook (master chef in his past life as he says although he's not really good in clean ups :p) but I really did learn quite a lot from him. So recently,  I’ve made it a personal goal to cook more, and to experiment in the kitchen, to put more wholesome, home-cooked meals on my family’s table. And to keep myself accountable I am going to be blogging about this journey. Woop! =D>

So here's a quick fix meal I prepared for tonight. I hope you enjoy this recipe, just as my family did! 

Total Time:
30 min
Prep
10 min
Cook
20 min



 Orange Pork Chops



Ingredients: 
  • 5 Pork Chops
  • 250 mL (8 fl oz) orange juice 
  • 2.5 tbsp ground coriander
  • 2 tbsp orange marlmalade
  • ground pepper
  • 1 tbsp oil
  •  15 g (1/2 ox) butter






How To Cook:
  1. Combine coriander and black pepper and sprinkle over chops. 
  2. Heat oil and butter in a frying pan and cook chops over high heat for 2-3 minutes each side.
  3. Add orange juice and marmalade and cook for 10-15 minutes longer, or until chops are cooked through and sauce thickens slightly.
  4. Prepare vegetables of  your choice to accompany Orange Pork Chops


 
Optional Desert:
Melon Salad
Ingredients:
  •  250 g (8 oz) natural yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon lime juice
  • 2 teaspoons grated lime rind
  • 1/2 melon, peeled, seeded and sliced
  • 3 tbsps honey
  • 3 tbsps chopped walnuuts


How To Prepare:
  1.  Combine yogurt, lime juice and lime rind in a small bowl
  2. Arrange melons on individual serving plates. Spoon yogurt mixture over fruit, drizzle honey and sprinkle walnuts.


Happy home cooking! Until next time... /bye

Friday 3 August 2012

Virgo-gos Road Trip


Awesome weekend getaway with two of my best girlies, Therese and Tracy! And here the best highlights of the first of many road trips to come:
1.       Hotel Hopping: Switching hotels all around Abu Dhabi in attempt to find restaurants/bars serving alcohols which didn't came too easy considering it's the Holy month of Ramadan
2.       Speed Craze: Drove the Ford Mustang GT hitting 210km/hr speed on our way to Liwa.
3.       Cheeky Weather: Experienced sandstorm then rain showers in a scorching 117 degrees summer heat within 10 minutes ;)
4.       Sands of Liwa: We got stuck in the sand attempting to find a great spot for taking pictures. Two men with a pickup truck came but failed to help us out. Luckily a tanker truck carrying sweet water finally pulled the Mustang out. Fact: people from the Western Region are very generous and really helpful without expecting anything in return. But then of course we insisted to give them some money for the trouble we've caused them; not to mention eating probably a handful of sand grains during the attempt but hey so did we plus stiff, brittle and dry hair!
  
@Aloft Hotel - our dwelling for one night

@Le Meridien Hotel

@Capital Gate Hyatt
Roaming around Abu Dhabi


@Emirates Palace Hotel


@Hakassan- Emirates Palace Hotel

candid shot taken by Tracy

photo taken by: Tracy :)

photo taken by: Tracy :)
somewhere in the middle of Liwa Desert

 
 Therese made this beautiful, movie-like masterpiece video (naks!) so as to keep the good times rollin'! Cape girls, c'est la vie!!!