Baked Meatballs Pasta

Pasta is an Italian origin and a staple food for Italian. There are like so many varieties of pasta that are available in the market. There are spaghetti, the smaller ones called spaghettini, flattened ones like fettucine and linguine, tagliatelle..there are also short ones like macaroni, cannelloni, fusili, penne and lot more that we  probably couldn't find them in our country. Hmmm..I must go to Italy or Spain someday and see how pastas are being made. But regardless how many pastas are there in the market, actually the basic ingredients are all the same. Pastas are made of semolina flour, egg, salt and water. Just like our local noodle, it's just that we are using wheat flour instead of semolina.  Ok..I am not doing another thesis now, it is just my muqadimah for my next food entry. Everybody in the house like pasta, instead of the normal spaghetti bolognaise, this week we are doing Baked Meatball Pasta.

First we need to prepare our meatballs. It can be prepared ahead, put them in airtight container and freeze it. Just before using, take the meatballs out, shove them in your microwave for a few minutes to thaw..drizzle some olive oil in a pan and fry them under a low heat until slightly brown. 

Meatballs Ingredients:

500 gm mince beef or chicken

1 yellow onion - finely diced

2 cloves garlic - crushed

1 carrot - grated

1/2 cups of grated parmesan cheese

1 cups of breadcrumbs

Dash of salt and pepper

Method:

In a large bowl, mix well all the ingredients and roll into 30 balls. Cover with a cling film and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Drizzle some olive oil in a frying pan and fry them on a low heat until it slightly brown on the side or until cooked. You may not need to fry all...freeze some of them for future use.

 Baked Meatballs Pasta

Ingredients:

250 gm spaghetti or linguine or macaroni - your preference. Cook them as per packet instruction and drain the water. Put aside.

200 gm minced beef

1 yellow onion - diced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 can of spaghetti sauce Prego or Kimball or whatever brands that u like

Salt & pepper to taste

1 tsp sugar

1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1 cups of pizza topping cheese (a mix of mozarella, parmesan, cheddar)

Method for sauce:

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan or a heavy bottomed pan. 

2. Saute the onion and stir for about a minute or until translucent. 

3. Add the beef and cook until it is brown and crumbly. 

4. Pour the whole can of sauce and fill up half of the can with water and add to the sauce. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes, stir occasionally. Put aside.

Now let's do the baking...

1. Heat your oven 175 degrees Celsius

2. Grease you casserole with some olive oil.

3. Lay 1/2 of your pasta in your casserole, top with half of the sauce and sprinkle with the grated parmesan cheese. Next, put some meatballs on top of the layer...how many meatball? Up to you. Then put the remaining pasta, then pour the remaining sauce and cover the casserole with pizza topping cheese.

4. Put it in the oven for half an hour and enjoy!

Orange Chiffon Cake

This cake is one of my favorite. I would say it is a tedious process making chiffon or sponge cake, you know...we've got to do a separate process for the yolks and the egg whites and we need to squeeze some nice oranges for their juices. Not to mention lots of baking utensils need to be washed afterward but in the end...an afternoon English tea or a strong Arabica coffee with a slice of this fluffy cake in front of your garden, well...it's worth it. :)

Orange Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:
6 large eggs (grade A) plus one additional egg white - separated, cover and bring to room temperature
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cups freshly squeezed orange juice (about 2 large oranges)
Orange zest - grated from 2 oranges
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 tsp cream of tartar
3 tbsp caster sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius and prepared one 25cm 2-pc ungreased tube pan.

2. Combine and beat flour, sugar, baking powder and salt using your handheld electric mixer. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and add the yolks, oil, juice, zest and vanilla essence. Beat until no patches of flour seen. Set aside.

3. In a separate mixing bowl with whisk attachment, beat the egg white until foamy and add the cream of tartar. Beat until soft peaks form. Add 3 tbsp caster sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

4. Using a silicone spatula, gently fold in one spoonful of the egg white into the yolk batter and carefully blend them together. Then fold in the remaining egg white mixture into the batter and blend.

5. Pour batter into the ungreased tube pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

5. Immediately after removing the cake from the oven, turn the pan upside down and place it on a flat surface for cooling process. Let the cake cool for about 1- 2 hours before removing it from the pan.

Pudding cocktail ku yang pertama

Saya memang tak berapa serasi dengan pembuatan pudding, agar-agar atau yang seangkatan dengannya. Bahkan agar-agar sirap yang berwarna merah yang selalu ada kat kenduri kahwin kat kampung pun, saya tersangatlah fail! Boleh jadi terlebih masak jadi keras atau terlebih lembik sampai kena makan menggunakan sudu. Setelah beberapa kali asyik gagal, saya cuba lagi dan kali ini menggunakan resepi dari kak Siti Delima di sini. Kalau dah saya postkan entry ni maknanya tentulah jadi!kan?

Disebabkan manjang tak pernah jadi, dan takut banyak bahan mentah terbuang dan diangkut oleh Alam Flora, makanya saya buat separuh dari resepi ini.

Cocktail Custard Pudding

Sumber: Puan Siti Delima

Bahan Puding:

1 cawan tepung kastard

3 cawan air

1 1/2 cawan susu cair

1/2 cawan gula pasir

Cara membuat puding:

1. Larutkan gula pasir bersama air, susu cair dalam periuk dan kemudian masukkan tepung kastard. Kacau rata dengan senduk kayu hingga tidak berketul.

2. Masak di atas api yang sederhana dan kacau selalu sehingga menjadi pekat dan berkilat.

3. Tuang ke dalam bekas acuan atau pun loyang yang telah dibasahkan terlebih dahulu supaya mudah untuk mengeluarkan puding itu nanti.

4. Biarkan hingga puding sejuk sedikit kemudian simpan dalam peti sejuk.

Bahan Kuah Cocktail:

1 tin susu cair

1 tin mix fruits cocktail

1 1/2 tin air masak

4 sudu besar gula pasir

Cara membuat kuahnya:

1. Campurkan semua bahan kedalam periuk.

2. Kacau sebentar dengan api yang kecil untuk melarutkan gula - tak perlu hingga mendidih.

3. Tutup api dan tuang dalam bekas bersih. Setelah sejuk masukkan dalam peti sejuk.

4. Hidang puding bersama kuah cocktail dalam keadaan sejuk.

 Bila saya menaikturun gambar puding ini ke dalam facebook saya, ada beberapa tips yang diberi oleh kawan-kawan contohnya untuk kuah puding itu, tambahkan satu sudu besar tepung kastad untuk memekatkannya sedikit serta menaikkan warna yang agak menarik untuk kuah tersebut. InsyaAllah saya akan cuba di lain masa.

Untuk cubaan pertama ini, saya rasa saya bagi 4 bintang untuk diri sendiri...hehe:)

Heavenly Chocolate!

I am NOT a chocolate lover but having teenager and kids in the house, we have to love to bake using chocolate. In making a delicious chocolate recipes, a point to note is that high quality chocolate is very important to ensure that we can get the most desired and satisfying result. This week I am using Valrhona 100% cocoa powder and 64% manjari chocolate to try a recipe from Miss Rose Levy Beranbaum from her Heavenly Cakes book. The recipe is in page 99 titled Devil's Food Cake with Midnight Ganache. The recipe calls for a Cherries Cognac as filling but I omitted that as I am not fond of cherry and we do not use any liquor in our baking. Well, actually for those who like them can substitute it with orange or apple juice.

Heavenly Indulging!

http://heavenlycakeplace.blogspot.com/2011/03/devils-food-cake-with-midnight-ganache.html
http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2009/11/devils_food_cake_on_page_99_of.html