BAKING IN THE OVEN ♨ Mad Hungry for Apple Crisps

Posted on Jun 16, 2011 in Books, Desserts | 2 comments

As promised, here’s the recipe for the apple crisp that was baking in the oven last weekend! I got this recipe from this AMAZING BOOK called MAD Hungry: Feeding Men & Boys. I first had this faux apple pie at my cousin’s home – his wife Jackie is an amazing cook! I also had rice crispy bars and banana bread there and I was asking her for the recipe. She said she got all the recipes from ONE book! Whoa. I had to have this book. It was too heavy for me to bring to Jakarta but when I looked around in the English bookstores here (yes not all bookstores have English books) I couldn’t find it! GASP!

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Ladies’ lunch at Avorio Italian Restaurant

Posted on Oct 27, 2010 in JAKARTA eats | 3 comments

As I said in my interview with Mrs. O in her blog, Livin’ La Vida Lanka, it’s important for expat’s housewife to have  girl friends. I am lucky enough to have found a great set of girl friends who are also pinoy, (mostly) housewives and who have common interests and activities.

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Shortened version of Jamie Oliver’s Pukkolla

Posted on Jul 28, 2010 in Cooking, Diplo Kitchen | 2 comments

I’ve tried Jamie Oliver’s recipe for Pukkolla and it’s great if 1) you’ve sweet berries available 2) you have enough time to do the grating (apples) and mashing (the bananas are SO much better mashed than sliced). See image below.

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Going wild for Wild Mushroom Pasta

Posted on Jun 12, 2010 in Cooking, Diplo Kitchen | 0 comments

I was watching Jamie Oliver do a vegetarian dinner on Oliver’s Twist one night and what he was doing looks so delicious that I started typing up the recipes as he went along (I eventually found the original recipes online later on). He did a Wild Mushroom Spaghetti, Mushroom Sarnies & Pecan Vanilla Ice Cream. I tried making them all for my husband and they were a hit. The  pasta & sarnie are now staples at home.  I would make the dessert regularly as well if only we had an espresso machine. You can’t really take home espresso from Starbucks & use it, because espresso has to be drank a few seconds after preparation or it changes in taste & quality.

The Wild Mushroom Pasta is a favorite party recipe of mine. You can make a big batch, and it still tastes GREAT after reheating – provided you bring extra parmesan & cilantro to top it off after. Below is my adaptation of the recipe.

• 9 to 11 ounces (250 to 300 grams) wild mixed mushrooms (I would probably buy around 14 ounces (400 grams) mushrooms, as you have to trim a bit off) you can mix in a few expensive mushrooms & mix with cheaper ones
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped I use 3-4 cloves because I love garlic
• 1 to 2 small dried red chiles, pounded or very finely chopped I do without this, because it’s pretty good without
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 lemon, juiced  I only use a squeeze or two because I find it too sour if I juice half a lemon
• 1 pound (455 grams) dried spaghetti I like to use angel hair pasta
• A small handful grated Parmesan
• 1 handful fresh parsley, roughly chopped I find it is much, much tastier with cilantro – even my hubby who doesn’t like cilantro, loves this
• 2 ounces (55 grams) unsalted butter

1. Clean & chop up the mushrooms thinly (or tear them up)
2. Place olive oil in a really hot pan
3. Let them fry fast, tossing once or twice
4. Place mushrooms with a dash of salt & pepper
5. Crush & chop the garlic, place in the side of the pan & toss-up with the mushroom
6. Start cooking pasta in a pot of hot water with salt
7. Continue to fry the mushroom fast for 4 to 5 minutes, tossing regularly
8. Once the mushrooms are almost done, turn off the stove
9. Squeeze in the lemon juice. Toss and season to taste.
10. Once the pasta is al dente, toss directly on to the pan with the shrooms, include a little bit of the pasta water to the pan to keep the pasta moist, then chopped-up stick of butter, cilantro & parmesan
11. Toss gently, coating the pasta with the mushrooms and their flavor
12. Serve, scraping out all of the last bits of mushroom from the pan, and sprinkle with a little extra cilantro and parmesan
13. Serve hot

If you are using it for a party, skip #12 until right before serving. Place the extra chopped cilantro & parmesan in a separate container. When it’s time to eat microwave the pasta until it’s hot, then sprinkle with a lot of parmesan & cilantro on top.

I can’t forget the time we had a potluck over-night party with my foodie friends. My friend Graey said she hates cilantro, but she loves this dish. There were only 6 of us but I brought a massive container of this pasta that could feed a dozen people, by the next day it was gone! We ate it all – even had it for it at breakfast the next day!

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Red Hot Chili Con Carne

Posted on Jun 3, 2010 in Cooking, Diplo Kitchen | 0 comments

I love making Chili Con Carne. You can use it in so many ways: over rice, in tacos, burritos, nachos, etc. And it’s even better the longer is sits in the ref (not more than 7 days mind you). I like to make a big batch then have different Mexican meals during the week.

I basically combined a couple of recipes for Chili to come up with mine, the biggest influence being Jamie Oliver’s Chili Con Carne. Below is my adaptation & Jamie’s tips for serving it:

serves 6

• 2 medium onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 red pepper *I don’t usually add this because I dislike peppers but tonight I did because I didn’t have any carrots
• olive oil
• 1-2 heaped teaspoon chili powder
• ½ – 1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas *optional or can be substituted with cubed potatoes
• 1 x 400g tin of red kidney beans
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes or whole
• ½ -1 cup Ragu (Chunky or Old World Style) *If you don’t have this, use any spaghetti sauce/tomato sauce/puree
• 500g ground sirloin or super lean beef
• 1 small bunch of fresh coriander

1. Peel and finely chop the onions, garlic and carrots
2. Place your largest casserole-type pan on a medium high heat
3. Add the ground beef, chopped onions & half the chili powder
4. Brown the beef, breaking any larger chunks up with a wooden spoon
5. Once brown, drain any excess oil if there’s any
6. Halve the red peppers, remove the stalks and seeds and roughly chop
7. Add peppers, garlic & carrots to the pan
8. Add the remaining chili powder with a good pinch of salt and pepper
9. Stir every 30 seconds for 2-3 minutes until softened and lightly coloured
10. Add the drained chickpeas, drained kidney beans and the tinned tomatoes
11. Add the Ragu
12. Pick the coriander leaves and place them in the fridge
13. Finely chop the washed stalks and stir in
14. Season with a good pinch of salt and pepper
15. Bring to the boil and turn the heat down to a simmer with a lid slightly askew for about an hour, stirring every now and again to stop it catching

Jamie Oliver’s Tips To serve

1. This is fantastic served with fluffy rice
2. Just divide the rice and chili into big bowls or serve in the middle of the table and let everyone help themselves
3. If you don’t fancy rice it’s equally good with a nice hunk of fresh crusty bread, over a jacket potato or with couscous
4. Put a small bowl of natural yoghurt, some guacamole and a few wedges of lime on the table, and sprinkle the chili with the coriander leaves
5. I love to add a nice green salad to round it off

The hubby & I also love to add cheese & let it melt on top of the hot Chili. Aside from the above, you can also serve it with tortilla chips, salsa & baked beans. Boy oh boy I just LOVE Mexican food! Enjoy!

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Jamie Oliver’s Pukkolla SCORES!!!

Posted on May 18, 2010 in Cooking, Diplo Kitchen | 1 comment

Continued from my post yesterday, Healthier breakfast with Jamie Oliver’s Pukkolla.

Last night, I left the mixture  covered in milk with grated apple overnight in the refrigerator. According to Jamie Oliver letting it decompose overnight makes the milk smoother.

Before serving this morning, I added a little milk (it’s a bit thick from the fridge), bananas, fresh berries and a little honey to taste.

This is definitely going to be part of our breakfast recipes shortlist. It’s so good! And healthy to boot! Very high in fiber so quite filling. I had a cup worth and I felt full for hours after. I actually ate lunch at almost 1pm because I was still feeling full.

I am slowly converting the hubby to oats. He used to say he only liked oats in his beer, but now that’s no longer true. *wink*  AND Jamie Oliver still has perfect scores in my book!

See the complete recipe of Jamie Oliver’s Pukkolla here.

P.S.

Anyone know where I can get sweeter berries in Jakarta without breaking the bank?

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Healthier breakfasts with Jamie Oliver’s Pukkolla

Posted on May 17, 2010 in Cooking, Diplo Kitchen | 0 comments

I love having high carb, high fat breakfasts like corned beef/bacon/spam with rice and egg… and sometimes I even have this with garlic rice. Super fattening I know! So as part of my effort to be healthier and lose weight I am looking for high-fiber, low-fat alternatives.  It was just so perfect that the very first breakfast recipe in the new cook book I purchased, The Naked Chef Takes Off by Jamie Oliver, is Pukkolla. It’s basically his version of muesli.

Yes Jamie Oliver is my favorite chef – all his recipes that I have tried have been winners, bar none. So I’m really hoping this wont be the first bad or so-so one.

Jamie Oliver’s Pukkolla

Composing and Preserving

• 8 large handfuls of organic rolled oats (used whole grain rolled oats)
• 2 large handfuls of ground bran (used oat bran)
• 1 handful of chopped dried apricots (used “berries & cherries”)
• 1 handful of chopped dried dates (used raisins )
• 1 handful of crumbled walnuts
• 1 handful of smashed or chopped almonds, hazelnuts or brazil nuts (used unsalted roasted cashews)

Add oats and bran to a large plastic container with apricots and dates. Crumble in walnuts and add chosen nuts (I usually bash them in a tea towel). At this point feel free to improvise, adding any other preferred dried fruits like raisins, sultanas, strawberries or figs, but personally I think the above combination works pretty well. This will keep for a good couple of months very happily in an airtight container, but you’ll have eaten it by then, I guarantee. The great thing about it is that you can adjust it to your own preference, but I would suggest you stick to the basic dried ingredients that I use as they work so well together. It’s very handy to have a large plastic airtight container to store your composed Pukkolla in, so try and get a hold of one.

Making and Knocking together

• milk to cover
• 1/2 crunchy apple per person, washed and unpeeled

I would definitely try to make this the night or day before you want to eat it, although it can be made at the time (although you won’t get the smooth silky scrumptious texture that the milk gives it overnight). I normally place double the amount of composed cereal I need (ie. 4 portions for 2 people) into a bowl. Doubling up like this gives you enough to eat for the next couple of days. Cover with milk, grate in half an apple per person and stir immediately to stop the apple discoloring. Place in the refrigerator.

Tucking in and Eating

• 1/2 banana per person, peeled and sliced or mashed
• honey to taste

Remove the bowl from fridge.  You will find that it has softened and thickened, so loosed with a little milk.  Add your banana. Add honey to taste.  Serve with a dollop of yogurt and some fresh mixed berries.

Stay tuned for the Tucking and Eating part tomorrow! The  solid test is if the hubby likes it. He hates oats, but now has an open mind considering he liked the use of oats in the Apple Crisps we had for dessert tonight.

Fingers crossed! Don’t fail me now Jaime… (click this for continuation)

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Back into the Kitchen with Jamie Oliver’s Apple Crisp

Posted on May 17, 2010 in Desserts, Diplo Kitchen | 3 comments

I got a bit side-tracked from starting on my Jogjakarta posts because I started doing stuff in the kitchen today. Been sick for the past couple of days but I’m also tired of just staying in bed.

Let me rewind a bit and give you the back story to why I wanted to do this recipe… I visited my cousin M and his new wife J in Manila and got treated with her home cooked meals and desserts. She is an AMAZING cook. She attributes it to having 1 year of cooking classes & another year of baking in high school and this wonderful recipe book called Mad Hungry, where she got her recipes for the yummy banana bread, apple crisps, banana pancakes, etc.  I’ve yet to get myself a copy, but I MUST HAVE THIS BOOK!

She inspired me to do apples crisps, but I had to make do with Jamie Oliver’s Apple Crisp recipe which I found online. It’s very simple.

My mistake was to translate the Grams into cups (for some reason I didn’t trust my weighing scale), which led me to put in too much flour. I only realized how idiotic it was to translate it into grams when I had mixed the oats and the flour already. Uh-oh, too late!  (palm to forehead) Of course there had to be more oats than flour because oats are lighter! Hello to self?!? But there I was putting 1/3 cup of rolled outs, 1/3 cup of flour (and even packing it in!) and almost 1/3 cup of margarine. No wonder it was kinda hard to mix.

The results are okay. The crisps are just a bit thicker than ideal because of the flour. So next time I will lessen the amount of flour to 1/6 cup. But taste-wise it’s pretty good!!!  Definitely something on my to-be-repeated list! And the hubby loves it! He had TWO servings to prove it. Yes we have a hit! =)

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