Grilled Cheese Sandwich

It is really cold, rainy and windy lately, and absolute stay in at home kinda weather.  So this past weekend was a very lazy cooking weekend for me.  But still I decided to make something that I've never done before and yes it's so simple that it's not anything fancy to blog about, but I had no choice it has now become my favourite kind of sandwich...I can't believe I've waited so long to make a Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

My take is of course not just the plain old cheese in between two pieces of bread...oh no...

Here is my take:

Bread

Butter - Real salted butter is always the best

Cheese (I used Edam white cheddar cheese, but you can use any)

Any filling you like

Take two pieces of bread, spread some butter on the "outside".  Turn them around and place your ingredients on the "inside" of the bread, place the two insides on top.  Warm up a non-stick pan by also adding in some butter.  Now add your sandwich to the pan...if you hear the ssshhh of the butter in the pan when you place your sandwich in you know it's ready. 

Keep flipping the sandwich around so that both sides gets exposed to heat and make sure that they turn nice and golden brown. 

Yes this is not the healthiest option but it's truly one of the best sandwiches.  A great filling to try is Tomato, onion & cheese. 

or what about Cheese & a small amount of basil pesto...like you can see below.

Or if your an egg lover like me..what about a egg & cheese sandwich.  Like the picture below

The next step is very important, when your done, cut your sandwich, sit down and enjoy...a good cup of coffee will definitely compliment your sandwich.

Bon Appetit

Beef Wellington

Master chef has been on every one's lips, chatting an discussing all the different dishes that gets made.  The comments from Gordon Ramsay, what will he say next.  I watched a couple of his own shows like Hell's Kitchen etc and found that in most of the show for some reason Beef Wellington is always on the menu.

I must admit it does seem to be an easy thing to make but to cook that steak perfectly on the inside of the pastry that does take some skill and/or the correct tools.  This is my take on Beef Wellington, it came out great, covered with lots of flavours...it was a great add for Sunday lunch.  It might not have looked absolutely perfect but you know what that's ok, not everything in life is perfect, but let me tell you it sure tasted good.

 So what do you need:

Fillet steak (you can decide on the size)
Puff pastry
Onions (chopped up finely)
Mushrooms
Herbs & spices
Egg

1.  Place your steak in a oven dish drizzled with some olive oil.  Let is sear for about 15 minutes in a oven at 200C.  Turn the steak every 5 minutes.  This will give the meat a nice brown colour on all sides.

2.  After about 15 minutes take the steak out of the oven and let it rest a little then place it into the fridge to cool down.

3. In a sauce pan drizzled with oil fry up your finely chopped onions. When the onions is nice and brown add some finely chopped mushrooms, as you can see in the pictures following below.

4.  I added a bit of soyo sauce and some herbs, garlic of course... and the end result will look like the picture below, very mushy and brown.  Set it aside for now to cool down.

5.  Now roll out your pastry, not to thin.  I used left over pastry...not a good idea as it looked like little pieces of pastry I had put together, so my suggestion to you is use fresh.

6.  After you've rolled out the pastry place the cooled down steak in the middle and cover the steak with your mushroom mixture, and don't be shy about it, add a lot.  Now carefully cover the steak with your pastry, make sure that all the ends and little bits are covered by the pastry.  Place this whole pastry steak parcel on a oven tray, cover it with egg so that a nice shine is developed in the oven.  Let it cook in the oven until the pastry is nice and brown.  That should not be longer that 15 to 20 minutes at 180C.  Don't over brown the pastry as then your steak will become more well done.

Good luck, I forgot to take a picture of the cut product, I had a hungry husband to feed.

Enjoy with some mash & veggies.

Bon appetit.

Chicken Pie pots

When I hear Chicken pie I think back of when I was a little girl and on a Sunday lunch we would have Chicken pie...golden goodness how can anyone with stand it.  Crispy crust with juicy flavourful chicken on the inside.  There is almost nothing more homely than that. 

I decided it was time to jazz up my old recipe of chicken pie and make them into individual pots.  Each person can have their own little pot or two and you can eat to your hearts delight.  I must admit these looked so good that I forgot to take a picture of them out of the tray...the smells coming from my kitchen was truly indescribable....absolute yummyness. 

So what do you need:

8/9 pieces chicken

olive oil

herbs & spices

150 ml Mayonnaise

Vermicelli (2 minute noodles)

Puff pastry

Flour
Egg

Two muffin pans.

Here we go:

1.  Drizzle your pot with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle some herbs and spices and then add you raw chicken.  Brown the chicken in the pot, adding a little bit of water when needed.  When the chicken is cooked let it cool off and then debone the pieces discarding the skin. (I actually took of the skin while it was cooking)  Don't clean up the chicken pot yet.  Place all the pieces in a bowl, add the Mayonnaise and mix it in very well with the chicken. 

2.  Cook a packet of 2 minute noodles or you can use cooked vermicelli pasta.  Add the cooked pasta to the chicken, make sure that the noodles are cut into tiny pieces. (I hope this makes sense)

3.  Take the uncleaned pot where the chicken was cooked in, add about 200ml of water, put the heat on and let it simmer.  Add a small about of flour to thicken the watery sauce.  This will become our gravy as all the chicken "goodness" is in this mixture.  Now add about 100ml of this mixture to the chicken, if the chicken still seems to be dry add some more.

4.  On flat surface sprinkle a little flour so that you can roll out the puff pastry.  Roll out the pastry, I used a glass big glass to make my circles.  I then sprayed the muffin containers and then gently placed each pastry circle in the muffin "pocket".  Cover each pocket with a bit of egg so that the juices from the chicken doesn't get absorbed by the pastry and is cooked properly.

5.  Now to add our yummy filling, and don't be shy make it a good portion.

6.  I used the same glass for the circles on the top also.  Cut them out and place them gently on top of the filled "pot".  Then press down the sides lightly so the they almost and in some cases they will connect.  As you can see in my picture below. 

7.  Now brush each pot with some egg, the egg is used to give it the golden brown colour.  Here they are all ready for the oven...

8.  Place them in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes at 180C or until they are golden delicious brown.

Serve with love firstly and ok some rice, sweeten peas, cauliflower and cheese sauce and you are all set to go.

Bon appetit



Review: Cafe Villagio

What's the best way in spending Woman's Day, well?  Not cooking, I would say.  So for Woman's Day this year we went to Cafe Villagio for breakfast.  And since we were there I thought I'd share a quick review about this coffee shop.  The one thing that caught my I and the reason I suggested it to my hubby for breakfast was the fact that they have a breakfast special for R18.95. 

Now there are a lot of places that we could have gone to to have a breakfast for under R20 but this restaurant just seem inviting. 

The look of the restaurant is very warm, modern and totally comforting, we felt really at home, the staff was very polite and friendly.  The service we experienced was great, the were quick and helpful, we didn't have to wait for any one's attention, our table was cleared if not by our waitress then by

  one of the other waitresses.

Our food was very well presented, the one thing that I really found quite innovative was the fact that their bacon was rolled up, it almost seemed like Samon roses...very clever and yummy.  The breakfast special that we took was for R18.95 and consisted of 2 eggs, 2 rashers bacon, tomato, potato chips, toast with preserves and a cup of filter coffee, tea or fruit juice.  This to me was really a bargain as normally you only get toast & eggs at other restaurants.   

And the cup of coffee was a big cup of coffee not a little sippie cup, with a little biscuit.  One thing that I noticed is that all the food that went out to the other people were very well portioned and looked really exciting. 

 So after a delightfull breakfast experience we went off to walk through China Town and shop for absolutely nothing...as you do at China Town.

I would absolutely recommend Cafe Villagio to anyone, go and make a turn, relax and enjoy a great meal.  There is lots to choose from their menu so you don't have to worry about not finding something you like.  Thank you Cafe Villagio for making my Woman's Day great.

http://www.villagio.co.za/

I give them 4 out of 5 cups.

No one was paid to write a review about this breakfast and the opinions expressed in this post are voluntary and mine entirely.

Pumpkin Tart

As a lot of us knows -  Mom's food is always the best.  My mom is a wonder in the kitchen, I have always wanted to be able to cook like her.  Personally I think she would do great at Master chef as she can whip up something delicious out of almost no ingredients....truly amazing.  So when Hubby and I went to fetch our daughter after her visit with "Ouma" we got treated to a delicious Sunday meal...yummo.

One of the dishes my mom prepared was this pumpkin tart, it's so easy and absolutely yummy that I had to make it and share it with you.

Here we go:

Printable version

Ingredients

1kg uncooked Pumpkin
1 cup cream
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3 eggs
2 tbs baking powder
Extra sugar & cinnamon
50ml melted butter

Method

1.  Cook the pumpkin until it's soft.  I like melting about 3 tablespoons of butter and then adding about 4 tablespoons of sugar, when the sugar mixture starts boiling  I normally only then add the pumpkin.  Add some cinnamon for flavour.

2.  After the pmupkin has cooked and is soft, remove it from the stove, place it in a mixing bowl so that it can cool down.  After about 10 to 15 minute add the rest of your ingredients.  (Just a tip if the mixture is to runny then add a bit more flour - about 100ml or so will be fine)

3.  When the mixture is smooth and there are no flour lumps then pour it into a butter or sprayed oven dish.  Take the melted butter and slowly and evenly spread it across the tart.

4.  Now sprinkle a good amount of cinnamon and sugar over the tart spreading it evenly, and then place it into the oven at 180ºC for 45 minutes.

 Take it out and let it rest for about 10 seconds....hehehe only joking, give it a minute or two and then dish up and enjoy.  Taste like pudding with the great feeling that it's kinda healthy.

Enjoy

Biltong, Mushroom & White wine cream sauce pasta

LET'S COOK!!

I have been such a fan of Masterchef lately, watching every possible series of every possible country I could lay my hands on, with this my husband and I decided to do a Masterchef cook off with things we had in the house.  I decided to do a Biltong, Mushroom & White wine creams sauce pasta and he decided to make a Cheese, Garlic & Ginger filled Rump steak.  I personally think I won the challenge as his was great tasting but mine was just so much better....(hehehehe)

 

Now you don't necessarily have to use Biltong (South African Dried Spiced meat) you can use Bacon or even Panchetta, which ever you fancy, or leave out the meat completely for a vegetarian meal.  I added cashew nuts to the plate at the very end, and wow, it was a great feature....try it trust me.

It's really plain and simple to make.


So here we go:

Ingredients

Printable Version

250g of Biltong (Bacon, Panchetta or even chicken)
1 x Punnet of Mushrooms
1 x small onion - chopped
Butter
1 to 2 tubs of cream (373ml)
125ml to 200ml white wine (I used a sweet wine)
1/2 packet of spaghetti or any pasta you want to use
Cashew nuts (a handful)
Garlic
Herbs
Salt
Flour (to thicken the sauce)


How to:

1. In a big pan melt the butter and then add your chopped onions in and saute until it's a nice golden brown.
2. If your adding bacon or any other meat add it in now, and cook until they are nice and crispy.  if you are using Biltong only add it in later.
3. Now to add the mushrooms, in this recipe I only halved them, it's a tasty way to eat fork-fulls of mushrooms...yum.  Don't let the mushrooms cook to long before continuing on with the saucy part of this recipe, we don't want the mushrooms to be soggy.
4. Add your 1 or 2 tubs of cream, I love a lot of sauce so I added both tubs.  Keep stirring and then add your wine gradually.  Turn the heat down and keep mixing. 
5. Add some garlic, herbs & a very little salt at this stage.  I sometimes scoop some of the sauce out into a small glass and then add 2 or 3 table spoons full of flour.  Mix the paste with your sauce and keep stirring. The reason why we add the flour outside of the pan is not to make any lumps.
6. When your sauce is completely finished you can add the Biltong, that's if you are adding Biltong.  Now set the sauce aside.

1. Boil the water for the pasta and add a about a tablespoon of salt to the water, when it's boiling add the pasta and let it cook.  The salt in the water make a huge difference to the taste of the pasta.  That is why we should had to much salt to our sauce.  And you should always cook your pasta at the end, so that they don't stick together.

And then you are ready to dish up, don't mix the two together rather dish them in the plate separately, add the cashew nuts and sprinkle a bit of  Parmesan cheese over to finish it off. 

Enjoy and let the taste move you.

Review: Jackies Eastern Kitchen

 

I LOVE SUSHI!!! 

I have absolutely fallen in love with sushi & Chinese food, no I don't think that's a strong enough statement.  I have become addicted to sushi.  I know there's lots and lots of people that just doesn't like sushi or even Chinese food and I used to be one of them about two years ago.  I owe my love for sushi to Jackies Eastern Kitchen, they are situated in 2851 Paradys St, Paradys Park Centre, Arauna, Brackenfell, Cape Town.  Now what's great about this little restaurant is the special that they have of R99 "Eat as much as you can", for that price you can eat as much sushi & Chinese food, from a selected menu, as you can handle.

About two years ago my husband took me out for dinner and we decided we were going to try some sushi and see what is all the fuss about.  I hated it (can you believe), didn't like the seaweed taste etc...but then a couple of months later we went out for dinner with our best friends to Jackies Eastern Kitchen and wow oh wow...I fell in love with this restaurant and with the great sushi & Chinese food. 

I of course started it safe, with some sweet & sour pork and their Crispy pork which is to die for.  I then tried the Deep Fried California rolls and I was hooked.  They were full of flavour, crunchy on the outside and dipped into Soya sauce, one of the best meals I have ever enjoyed in my life.  

Below is a picture I took, at the top left hand corner is their Crispy Pork, then as we come down, right here at the bottom of the picture is my favourite Cashew Nut Chicken, the flavours are really amazing and food is freshly made.  In the middle you'll see my all time best Deep Fried California rolls with bits of sweet chili sauce and mayo.  Since we usually make use of the special the photo's show the plates that you receive which are not the full portion plates, they are smaller portion, which is great, so you can order any amount of times you want and you can try many different items.

As you can see they have a wide variety to choose from, from Tempura Prawns California rolls to Philli California rolls.  They can even do your selection with rice paper and not seaweed.

I've even had the Vegetarian California rolls, such a clean taste, almost like a pallet cleanser.

I would absolutely recommend anyone to go and eat at this restaurant, their food is absolutely fabulous, where they sometime loose a couple of points is the fact that they are always busy (if that's such a bad thing), but that would mean that food could take some time to come out of the kitchen.  I would suggest if you are in the area BOOK a table, we always book, since they have become so popular you might just wait for a table.

Jackies Eastern Kitchen gets 4 Sushi stars out of 5

Disclaimer: No one was paid to write a review about this dinner and the opinions expressed in this post are voluntary and mine entirely. 

Roasted Leg of Lamb & Veggies

So lately i've been on a healthy eating plan, so it's been a bit hard to make dishes that I could blog.  So as a treat I made us a Leg of Lamb for our Sunday lunch.  Wow if I must say so myself, it's always a winner and so easy to make.  It can be so full of flavour and so moist and delisious. 

Life is really about flavours and tastes, be it that you love the aroma's of herbs & spices like me, or like my husbands that loves, and I mean loves the "burn" of a chillie.  We should always try and make the aroma's fill our kichens when we cook....as an invite to the world to say....hey something awesome is happen in this house.

When I made the leg of lamb I added some roasted veggies, brown rice and peas to as additionals, and you wouldn't think it but this meal was totally on my "diet" plan as approved. 

Go on pour yourself a glass of wine put that roast in the oven and relax.

Here we go:

1x Leg of lamb
4/5 medium sized potatoes
1 x packet of button mushrooms
1x packet of brown onion soup
1 x small to medium onion (chopped)
Rosemary & Garlic(dried or fresh)
100ml x Red wine (just for that extra flavour)
Soya sauce
Beef spice

Oven to be on 180º C

1.  Place your leg of lamb on top of the chopped onion, and pour your red wine in over the meat, this will as the lamb cooks draw into it.  Also add your spices now, except for the  rosemary and garlic. Then place into the oven at 180º C

After placing the lamb in the oven for about 20 minutes on 180º C, then take it out of the oven and make some cuts in the top layer of the "fatty part".  I love to take rosemary and garlic mix it with butter or margarien and then put some of the mixture in the cuts that i've made, the flavours gets pulled in to the meat and gives it that wow factor.

 2.  Then before you place it back into the oven cut up your potatoes in ¼ put them in with the lamb, also add your mushrooms, I kept them whole.  Now sprinkle the packet of brown onion soup all over....this will give the meat and everything else a nice flavour and also thicken the "sauce". 

Place it back in the oven, I kept it for about 2 hours in the oven, the meat was reall falling of the bone, and that's how I like it.  I then took it out of the oven and cut if up in equal slices.  Leave it a bit in the "sauce" and then you are ready to dish up. 

3.  For the roasting of the veggies I used sweet potato and butternut, I cut them up into very small blocks and drizzled a bit of oil at the bottom of a oven pan, and then sprinkled some of Knor's Veggie Bake over....Oh my word what a suprise on how nice it came out. 

Now if you don't have or can't find Knor's packet....make your own flavour, add some green, red & yellow peppers, add some rosemary, salt and then you should have such a nice mix of flavours.  Place it into the oven until they are cooked or nice and soft.

Enjoy and let the tastes