Archive for March, 2009

March 15th, 2009

Chicken à la King

A low-budget healthy and hearty meal that fills you up.

Ingredientsa_la_king

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup red or green pepper, diced

1/2 cup carrots, diced

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1/3 cup of 2% milk

2 1/2 cups of cooked chicken, cubed

1 can of peas

black pepper, to taste

4 cups pasta

Instructions

  1. On medium high heat, stirfry pepper, carrots in oil until tender crisp.  Reduct heat to medium.
  2. Stir in soup and milk.
  3. Add chicken, peas, and black pepper.  Heat through, stirring occasionally.
  4. Serve over pasta.

Makes 4 servings.

March 10th, 2009

Ground beef crepe filling

Folded crape - the inside contents include ground beef

Folded crape - the inside contents include ground beef

This is a simple, quick, and delicious filling for Russian crepes.


Ingredients

1 lb extra lean ground beef (“washed”)

1 onion, chopped

2 tbsp vegetable oil

3 tbsp sweet & spicy sauce

1 tbsp corn starch

black pepper

Instructions

  1. Sauté onions in vegetable oil (2 min).
  2. Add beef and black pepper; stir on high heat until most of the water has evaporated.
  3. Add mixture of sauce and corn starch to thicken.
  4. Serve in crepes.
March 10th, 2009

Fish, potato, and leek soup

This recipe was made from a combination of various leek and potato recipes that we came across.  Since we wanted a meat component, we added the basa fillets, which turns out to be a great addition to the soup.  The longer you cook the soup, the better.   This is definitely a must-have on a cold winter’s day.

Ingredients

The entire meal, stack of crapes, ground beef and leak soup.


2 basa fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces

2 leeks, chopped

6 small potatoes, diced

1 tsp minced garlic

300 mL 2% milk

500 mL low sodium chicken broth

2 tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped

pinch of black pepper

Instructions

  1. In chicken broth, boil potatoes till tender (~ 30 min).  Then add milk.
  2. Sauté onion and garlic in butter (~ 3 min).
  3. Add leeks; simmer (~3 min).
  4. Add fish and pepper; simmer (~10 min).
  5. Once potatoes are mashed, combine mixture; stir well until desired consistency.  Serve.

Makes 6 servings.

March 9th, 2009

Russian Crepes [Блины]

Preparation of the dough

Quantity: approximately 25-30 crapes

A stack of crapes

Ingredients:

4 cups of white flower

4/5 cups of milk

1 table spoon of sugar (without a top)

1 tea spoon of salt

2 table spoons of butter

2 eggs

10-12g of yeast

Procedure: preparing the mixture

  1. Get a bowl for approximately 4 liters of water [the dough will rise so you want the extra space].
  2. Put the flower in to the bowl preferably through a thinner [this will allow the flower to get more oxygen].
  3. In the same bowl put sugar, salt and the yeast.
  4. In a second bowl pour milk and button.  The milk must be warm but not boiling enough for the butter to melt.
  5. Pour the milk with butter in to the bowl with the flower + break both eggs in to the mix.
  6. Mix the contents well eliminating any pockets of dry flower.
  7. Cover the bowl with a towel [not a iron pan or a plate – the mix needs to absorb oxygen] and put in a warm area for approximately 1.5 – 2 hours.
  8. The mix should increase in size by approximately 2/3.
  9. Add additional 1/2 a cup of milk to the mix [heated to approximately 50 degrees in Celsius].  Pour the milk using a thin flow while slurring the mixture.
  10. If the mix is ready begin cooking.
  11. If you want to have thinner crapes add more milk to the mix.

Procedure: making the crapes

  1. Melt a block of butter in a separate cup/bowl.
  2. Get a pan or two [two would make the cooking much quicker].
  3. Heat both pans to a sizzling state.
  4. Using a potato/onion slice a half and put it on a fork [this will be used as a brush to apply butter on to the pan].
  5. Pour the mix on to the pan and start baking.
  6. When the crape is done and stacked in the main plate quickly smear a touch of butter on top so that the following crapes don’t get stuck together.
  7. Cover your results to keep the warmth.

And that’s it.

Enjoy!

March 4th, 2009

Cooking poetry

While setting up this page I found many interesting expressions referencing the general nature of cooking.  Here’s something pleasant:

We may live without poetry, music and art;
We may live without conscience, and live without heart;
We may live without friends; we may live without books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks.

March 4th, 2009

I love cooking!

This site is all about sharing one of my favourite hobbies — you guessed it — cooking! Come join Max and I in our succulent adventures…