Baked Macaroni
July 8, 2008
I love pasta but I dont know how to cook! So I said I have to start with the basics… The easiest must be a spaghetti or a baked macaroni. I was tempted to find a recipe that’s easy to do and people have complimented about it. I found this one and it’s worth a try.
Ingredients :
225 g. of macaroni (you can use penne or ziti as well)
3 tbsps. of butter
3 tbsps. of olive oil
1/4 kg. of ground beef (sirloin, if you want minimal fat)
1/4 kg. of smoked ham or bacon, or salami or pepperoni (sliced as thinly as you can)
1/4 kg. of fresh button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 kg. of tomatoes, chopped
1/4 kg. of onions, chopped
4-5 green or red bell peppers (or 6-8 pimientoes), cored and chopped
1 whole garlic, peeled and finely minced
1/2 c. of tomato paste
3-4 c. of good meat broth
a bunch of fresh basil leaves, chopped, or about a teasponful of dried basil leaves
salt
pepper
sugar
For the topping :
1/3 c. of butter
3 tbsps. of flour
2 c. of milk
1 c. of water
half of a 225 g. block of quickmelt (processed) cheese, softened then cut into small pieces
half of a 225 g. block of cream cheese (thanks to reader Rowena for this tip), softened then cut into small pieces
salt
pepper
Cooking procedure :
Cook the pasta according to package directions, undercooking by about 5 minutes. Again, this will allow the pasta to finish cooking in the sauce, absorbing the flavors. Drain, rinse and set aside.
Heat the butter and olive oil together over medium-high heat in a sauce pan. Add the ground beef, breaking up the lumps. Add the garlic and cook until the meat starts to brown. Add the ham, bacon, salami or pepperoni. Stir and cook for a few minutes. Add all the chopped vegetables and cook, stirring, until the vegetables start to soften. Add the tomato paste and stir. Pour in the meat broth. Season with salt, pepper and some sugar. The sugar will neutralize the acidity of the tomato paste. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
While the sauce simmers, prepare the cream-cheese topping. Melt the butter in a saucepan. When frothy, add the flour all at once, stirring. Let the flour cook for about 5 minutes to remove any floury taste in the cooked topping. Usually, the flour is cooked when the mixture starts to turn golden brown. Pour in the water in a thin stream, stirring as you do. The mixture will be lumpy at this stage. Pour in the milk slowly, again, stirring as you pour. By the time all the milk has been incorporated into the mixture, it will appear to be a little thin. Don’t worry, the cheeses will thicken them to the required consistency. Add the cheeses. Set the heat to low and let the cheeses melt, stirring the mixture occasionally. Turn off the heat and season with salt and pepper.
When the sauce is done, add the cooked pasta and toss well. Let the mixture cook over low heat with an occasional stirring. This should allow the pasta to finish cooking. Usually, this step takes about 5-6 minutes.
Pour the pasta and sauce into a baking dish. Make sure that the dish is large enough so that the mixture is an inch below the rim. You will still be adding the topping. Everything will simmer and bubble during baking and you don’t want the sauce and topping falling onto the oven floor.
Pour the topping onto the pasta mixture, spreading to seal the edges. If you don’t seal the edges, the exposed pasta will dry up during baking.
Bake in a preheated 180oC oven for 20-25 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. How brown depends on you. A well-browned topping is more aromatic and attractive but, if there are leftovers, the topping does have a tendency to get overbrowned during reheating.
Let the baked macaroni rest for about 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with garlic sticks or buttered toast.
When my family tasted this, it was definitely a blast!
Chicken Tinola
July 4, 2008
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
4 cloves of crushed garlic
1 tablespoon of diced ginger
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1 kilo of cut chicken
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
10 cups of rice water
1 small green papaya, sliced 1/3″ thick
1 cup of pepper leaves
Pinch of salt
1. Fry the garlic in hot cooking oil until brown. Add the ginger and the chopped onions.
2. Add the chicken and season with the fish sauce. Cover and simmer for five minutes.
3. Add the rice water, simmer until chicken is tender.
4. Add sliced papaya and cook until papaya is tender.
5. Season with salt. Add pepper leaves.
Grilled Tandoori Chicken
July 2, 2008
One of the best things about Saturdays is that it’s Grill Anything Day. It was a tradition that dad started when he got fed up with mom’s weekday staple of adobo and rice! So every Saturday, we kids got to choose what kind of meat we wanted to grill. My all-time favorite is Tandoori Chicken. Basically, it spices up a rather ordinary meal, and the smell the you get while grilling is heavenly!
Originally a dish from a region in India, the chicken pieces are marinated in yogurt to make it tender and spices are added to give the chicken a reddish hue.
The basic ingredients are 1/2 kilo of chicken wings (or chicken breasts, if you prefer), 2 large grated onions; 3 cloves crushed garlic, juice of 3 pieces lemons, around 1 to 2 teaspoon of salt, 1 1/2 cups yogurt (plain), 2 tsp chili powder, 2 tsp ground turmeric, 1 tsp ground black pepper, 2 tbsp ground coriander and red food coloring (optional).
Procedure:
First, remove skin from chicken and prick flesh several times with a skewer. Mix together the grated onions, crushed garlic, salt and lemon juice. Rub all over chicken pieces and marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Combine yogurt and spices and food coloring (if you’d like the chicken to have a more reddish hue). Pour yogurt mixture over chicken. Coat thoroughly all pieces.
Place the chicken pieces in a covered dish and marinate for at least 6 to 12 hours in the refrigerator.
Afterwards, grill chicken in oven or over glowing coals for 20 to 30 minutes or till cooked. Do not overcook or chicken will dry out.
This dish is perfect on a hot summer’s day, especially if paired with a salad and a cold, cold drink.
Serves 4 to 5.
