Home-made Meatballs

I know I promised all of you this recipe ages ago but I had been so busy...so sorry for that. I got an order from my neighbor for Spaghetti Bolognese with Chicken Meatballs for her family weekend dinner, and even though she didn't said she wanted home-made meatballs, I always like to experiment, so I searched for a few top-rated best meatballs recipes and combine them! After making the meatballs, I requested my maid to help to fry them as I need to pick up my daughter from school, and my MIL was at home for a visit. When I returned, I saw her waiting for me at the door munching the meatballs and asked for the recipe! ^^

Ingredients:

500g minced beef or chicken, or you could even combine both at half each
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp dried ground basil
1/2 tsp dried ground oregano
1/4 cup minced onion
1/4 cup minced garlic
1 egg (stirred)
Olive oil enough to fry the meatballs (not deep fried)
*If your kids do not mind a bit of spice, you can also add in 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Methods:

1. Mix everything into a dough starting from top to bottom list (egg should be the last).
2. If you want to hide in some veggies, you can ground 1/4 cup of carrot and add in, or even broccoli. Potatoes would also be a good addition.
3. You can fry the meatballs or even bake them

These will be great for Bolognese sauce and also good on it's own, dip in ketchup or chili sauce. My kids adore these meatballs and as I'm writing this post, my son saw the photos and asked if I could make them again :)

Freezing and reheating method:

You can freeze them before or after frying/baking. If you are cooking (frying/baking) them first, please ensure they had really cooled before you throw them in the sealed freezer bags. If you are freezing them uncooked, you need to first freeze them on a tray and once they've hardened, you can take them into the freezer bags.

To reheat cooked meatballs, after thawing, you can either fry again just to refresh them or reheat in microwave between 30-60 seconds depending on quantity of meatballs. Or, if you are using them for Bolognese sauce, just pop them in the pot together with the sauce a few minutes before you turn off the fire.

Quick Quiche

Quiche, which is pronounced as "kee-chey" is a pie-like dish of an unsweetened pastry shell filled with custard made from eggs and milk, containing cheese and other ingredients such as vegetables, seafood and chicken/beef/ham bits. In other words, the main ingredients for a quiche is eggs, milk and cheese, you could still go away with the crust pastry. As the photo above, I baked it directly onto my pie-pan.

My motto in cooking is simple but flexible. I like one dish but can be varied into many other taste and look, and took the shortest time possible to be made. I first tried the quiche in mini bite-size using my mini muffin trays, it was a hit with my boys, including my husband, as all 2 young boys and the old one :) love to eat eggs! Then I also tried the standard muffin size. Quiches are good for breakfast and tea-time, but my boys can eat these any time of the day!

The recipe I'm going to share is the basic quiche recipe which then you can play and explore further.
I did try using beef strips too.

This smells MARVELOUS and taste SOOOOO HEAVENLY! You should really try it! So here goes the basic quiche recipe. The recipe given is for 6 standard muffin size.

Ingredient:

6 medium eggs (1 egg for each quiche)
3/4 cup milk (equal to 2 tbs for each egg)
1/2 tsp salt
A pinch of ground pepper and dried parsley
6 tbs grated cheese (equal to 1 tbs for each quiche)
Your choice of fillings

Method:
1. Beat the eggs, milk, salt, ground pepper and dried parsley together to get the basic custard
2. Oil the tray cups or pan you are using, please ensure you oil it well. You can use vegetable oil or butter
3. Fill 3/4 of each cups with the custard, then put in 1 tablespoon of your choice of fillings and 1 tablespoon of cheese. If you are not using any other fillings, you can double the cheese amount to just have cheesy quiches
4. Bake for 10-20 minutes depending on your oven, or until the top turn golden brown and the custard harden (cooked through)

The best things about quiches is, as you notice in the recipe, it's high in protein. 1 quiche equal to 1 egg! I've tried minced meat/chicken fillings which I stir-fried with a bit of olive oil (if you want to be healthy) or butter and dash of dried ground herbs. I've experimented with just steamed veggies such as the frozen mixed veggies (peas, carrots and corns), broccoli, asparagus, diced potatoes and cherry tomatoes. I've also explored with crabsticks and stir-fried tuna. Once I had left-over grilled chickens, I just shred and minced them then used as quiche fillings too!

For the herbs, you can play around with others apart from parsley - like oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary and marjoram. Marjoram taste almost like oregano actually. Or you can just maintain only the ground pepper, because I know some don't really like herbs while picky-eater kids' eyes will bulged out when they see those tiny green parsley *LOL*

I've also tried many cheese. Feta does wonders to quiche BUT you have to finish them the same day, and the best is all in one meal :) The reason is feta taste great but it makes the quiche becomes watery, hence easier to make you sick. Mozzarella and cheddar is the best choice, but I do like creamy camembert too. Brie is too light perhaps for quiches so I usually mix it with other cheeses.

The best quiches I had is either those mini muffin size because they are bite-size...ooooohhhhhh....so easy to just plop the whole thing in your mouth! Our next favorite is using the beef strips though it can be tricky. The strips are supposed to cover the cups but as it bakes, it will shrink and curl inside hence giving the look as you can see up there. Below are also some of my collections - simple cheesy ones (no other fillings) and just veggies which you can see the broccolis :)

You can freeze the quiches (except for those using feta cheese) as make-aheads.

Freezing and reheating method:
1. After the quiches are thoroughly cool, wrap them individually in plastic wraps before putting in a sealed freeze bag and freeze them.
2. To reheat, you need to take them out of the freezer and transfer them into the fridge at least 12 hours before the intended cooking time if you don't plan to eat them now. Else, you can straight-away reheat in the oven or microwave for 2 minutes. Reheated quiches cannot be kept long so you need to straight-away finish what you have reheated

Simple Grilled Chicken

I've posted the recipe for the pasta dish in Simple Olio Spagetti so now is the time for the chicken's recipe. I got the idea when trying out Dominoes Pizza's chicken wings. The best chicken parts for grilling is usually either the wings or the drumsticks. You can choose to grill this in the oven, or if you have a bbq pit, or if you have none, than just fry them with just a liiiiiiitle bit of oil or fat (butter) enough not to make it to dry but also not too oily. They are best eaten on their own, which I know the kids would prefer, or with rice, or pasta or bread. If you have left-overs, refrigerate them and reheat the next morning for sandwiches.

Ingredients:

1kg chicken parts (usually you could get about 6 drumsticks or 8 wings), cleaned and pat dry with paper towels
1tsp ground/crushed black paper
1tsp dried oregano
1tsp salt
2tsb ground fresh garlic
2tsb olive oil
1tsb worcestershire sauce

Methods:

1. Mix all the marinates ingredients in a big bowl to get into a paste-like liquid before adding in the chickens
2. Give the chickens a good rub with the paste, making sure all mixed well
3. Transfer into a freezer bag, try to get as much air out before sealing then leave it to marinate in the fridge for 1 hour
4. Separate the chickens and keep the liquid in a separate bowl
5. While grilling or frying, keep on brushing the chicken with the liquid now and then. You can also bake them in the oven by arranging them in a tray-pan, pour the liquid about half a centimeter deep and turn the chicken once when the top side already brown to ensure the other side also get a bit brown

Freezing and reheating method:

1. Follow step 1-3 but instead of putting in the fridge, you can straight-away freeze them
2. To cook this, you need to take them out of the freezer and transfer them into the fridge at least 12 hours before the intended cooking time. Read more in Secrets of Frozen Food on freezing and reheating the chickens.

Simple Olio Spaghetti

On days the whole family want something simple but tasty, I'll make these. Ok, I have to admit that the chicken was pre-made, which means I always buy a bunch of drumsticks whenever I see them looking fresh at the poultry isle, then marinate and freeze them at home for my convenient use anytime in needs :)

There are many ways to marinate chickens, too many recipes which I won't be sharing in this post as this post is about - the spaghetti. Olio Spaghetti is by far the simplest but still maintain you as a great cook at home..haha! You may have heard Aglio, Olio and also Pepperoncino or Pepperoncini Spaghetti and wondered? Yes, they are all the same thing :)

The recipe below is for 2 adults (standard size meal) or 3 kids below 9 years.

Ingredients:
250g cooked spaghetti (set aside)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (can add up to 1/3 cup if you want more)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil flakes
1/2 tsp chilli pepper flakes (optional if you don't like it spicy, especially for kids)
Salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat up the oil and garlic, then add in the spaghetti. Stir and fold the spaghetti all over to ensure covered with the oil, then add in all the other ingredients which are the herbs, together. Keep on stirring to ensure all are mixed well.
2. Serve with cheese on top and either some fresh garden salad (if you are vegetarian) or grilled chicken as the picture or just garlic breads.

The best thing about Olio is, you can add in anything apart of its simple self. In these photos, you can see me adding cherry tomatoes. Add in some shrimps when heating the garlic and oil to have Shrimp Olio, or some squids too for a seafood one. Or at the end, instead of grilled chicken, you can put in grilled giant prawns with cheesy topping, or Portobello  mushroom like below, just simply anything! Enjoy!

Dried Mixed Fruits Scones

I love scones and always can't get enough of them! The best scones are always freshly baked or you could bake in big batches then reheat them anytime you want to have them :) Scones don't get molded fast, unlike muffins or cakes hence you may not even have to freeze them unless you are planning to keep them for more than a week. They are very simple to make and yet let you have great breakfast of tea-time snacks every day! You can use raisins as the recipe usually requires, but as my daughter and husband always said desperately, "Mama, you always buying cookbooks, look at them while cooking but came out with something else!". The reason is, they always expected what they saw I was referring at in the cookbooks, but I always can't stick to the recipe and like to set out for an adventure by twisting it a bit :)
So for this recipes, I had some dried apricots, mixed raisins, dried blueberries and cranberries, also dates in the stock, hence I chopped them all to make half a cup and add them in. You can use less or more, depending on your preference. Enjoy!

4 cups of self-raising flour
2 large whole eggs (beaten)
Milk or Buttermilk mixed with the beaten egg, enough to make 1 1/2 cups of liquid
1/2 cup soften butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cups mixed dried fruits (chopped)
1 extra egg for glazing (beaten)
Extra flour for rolling the dough

Mixed butter, salt and flour well to make them crumb-like, which is almost the same method use for making pastry sheets. Obviously I didn't take any photos while doing this (as my hands are busy! *LOL*) hence the photo below is courtesy of another web. The texture should be as the last photo:

Next, pour in the the egg and milk/buttermilk mixture together with the dried fruits, and get ready to roll! First roll the dough in the mixing bowl till it forms a round dough, before moving it to a lightly floured surface. Roll to about 2cm or 1 inch thick and cut with your cookie cutter. Place them on the lightly oiled or buttered baking tray, glaze with the extra egg on top then bake for 10-15 minutes or till golden brown.

Serve hot with cream cheese or if you prefer butter or cream, and of course, jam!

To freeze:
Make sure they had cooled thoroughly. Wrap each individual scones in either aluminium foil or plastic wrap before storing all in freezer sealed bags and put in the freezer. Remember, this is only if you need to keep them longer than a week. To reheat, thaw them for 30 minutes then bake them for 8-10 minutes or you can put them in the microwave about 8-10 seconds per scones. If reheated via microwave, you need to eat them while they are hot or they may turn rock-hard when they are cold.

Chicken Cacciatore

My family, actually the kids, love tomato-based food - soups, pasta, dishes...So I decided to try this new recipe but have to make a few changes by removing the wine which is used in the original recipe. This is the first time I'm trying, and I'm glad it's a hit in my family! The recipe is actually very simple, since it's using slow-cooker, so all you have to do is dump everything and check it again in 3-6 hours time :)

4 chicken thighs
1 can of tomato soup
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoon of chicken stock
2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 stalk of celery - diced
2 tomatoes - diced
1 carrot and 1 potato - sliced or diced, up to you
1 cup button mushroom - sliced or quartered
Sugar, salt and pepper to taste

Put in the vegetables (minus the tomatoes), bay leaves, dried oregano, first and the chicken on top, pour in enough water to cover the chicken and turn on the slow-cooker. If using low-heat, cook for about 6 hours but if high-heat cook about 3 hours.
Then, remove the bay leaves and half of the soup (water). Add in the tomatoes, tomato soup, chicken stock, sugar, salt and pepper, stir all and leave for about 15-30 minutes more before serving.

Since I have planted oregano, I used fresh ones. For the vegetables, you could also add in olives, sweet yellow and red pepper, eggplants or maybe others, if you are brave enough to try the varieties.

You can enjoy this either with spagetti, rice or bread :)

Salmon Steak

The most flexible and not to mention easiest, nutricious, delicious, no hassle recipe of all must be salmon steak. My family just love salmon, it's a must-have fish in our freezer, either the steak or fillet, and the fish head with bones. Usually, I get my stock at Jusco. If they have a 50% discount on the rack, I'll grab a few but choose the best among those on sale. The quality is better than those at hypermarket even at lower price, but of course you can't beat the fresh ones, which is VERY hard to get in Malaysia.

There are many ways to grill a salmon, up to your creativity and taste. You can even grill it just own it's own but sprinkled lightly with salt on a non steak pan, or use a bit of butter/olive oil. The fish it self have lots of oil. Or else, you can use teriyaki sauce, or Japanese shoyu, or any herbs from pepper to paprika, parsley, basil, rosemary, cayenne, or just garlic salt. You can choose to marinate longer time or just sprinkle/roll the fish with the herbs/sauce. Fun isn't it?

150-250g of salmon (1 big steak or 3 fillets)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Aluminum foil (if necessary)
Herbs or sauce of your choice

Pat the fish dry with kitchen paper. Depending on your preference, sprinkle/roll or marinate the fish with herbs/sauce of your choice. You can try mixing a few too. Heat the oil in a pan or you can use the grill pan, then cook the fish, about 1-2 minute for each sides. You can continue till the fish is cooked, or for me, I usually will scoop it out and continue grilling in the oven, either on the grill rack with the tray at the bottom as the fish oil will start dripping, or else you can wrap in aluminum foil with 1 slice of lemon and some vegetables like asparagus, mushrooms, potatoes, broccoli, beans, carrots, tomatoes and others. An great meal for the family!

Simple Tuna Spagetti

This is my fav food, and pass-down to my girl, Nisa :) I used to eat this almost daily when I was pregnant with her, so no wonder the taste stick to her, right? While in Japan, it's hard to get chicken, so you don't need to mention beef, I mean halal ones, since we are Muslims, so, it was my dad's idea to replace chicken with tuna! I like Campcell's Prego spagetti sauce, so I always use these - either the original Tomato sauce or Tomato, Basil & Garlic. The recipe is similar to Macaroni Gratin's but for this recipe, I'm using fresh tomatoes.  Don't forget your grated Parmesan cheese! It's very easy for a busy mama! You can also cook the sauce upfront and freeze it, then reheat it in the microwave for future 'emergency' use.

100g spagetti (you can also use any type of pasta - ribbons, elbows, fetuccini, etc)
2 garlic sliced
3-4 tomatoes chopped or diced
2 tablespoon of olive oil
1 can of tuna flakes
Sprinkles of oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, black pepper and salt
A little water as needed
* Optional - other seafood such as prawns, squids, clams, mussels, etc
* Optional - 3-4 button mushrooms sliced or chopped

Heat up the oil and fry garlic till fragrant, add in tomatoes. Till will take some time as you need to cook the tomatoes till it became some kind of sauce, adding in spoonfuls of water as and when needed. Chopped tomatoes will take shorter time than diced, but alternatively, you could just blend them *grin* Diced tomatoes will look like the picture, not much of a sauce. Once the sauce is bubbly, add in tuna flakes and either mushrooms or other seafood if used. Once those are cooked, sprinkle in the herbs to your taste. You could add in the spagetti into the pan and mixed them, but my family like the sauce pour on top, and mixed it themselves.