Recipe Archives - Page 115 of 115

Roast Chicken

Post author:Ben
Post published:January 20, 2006
Post category:Chicken
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Finally! As promised, a blog on chicken. Suanne roasted a pair of chicken for dinner today.

We normally buy roasted chicken from the deli section in places like Safeway, Superstore or Save-on-Foods. We used to buy them for dinners and when Suanne does not feel like cooking. The boys particularly liked the chicken and the fries that comes along with it. It was a good deal for about $11 which also includes two sides and buns.

Just prior to Christmas, we found a really cheap roasting pan from Linen-n-Things. It was only $15 after rebates and it comes with a free 4-piece gourmet carving set. Since then we have roasted our own chicken.

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Naan Pizza

Post author:Ben
Post published:January 18, 2006
Post category:Bread
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Cheese and bread make the cheeks red.
~ German Proverb

This is Suanne’s invention — a good one I must say. Suanne always had a problem making thin crust pizza, you know, the type that is crispy and crunchy. Until today she has not managed to get the dough just right. So, she substituted the dough with Naan bread. Here is what her Naan Pizza looks like:

The beauty of this pizza is that it’s very fast to make and it taste just great-n-crispy. Most important of all, there are no dishes to wash. This takes only 20 minutes to make. Suanne makes this for breakfast every now and then. You may want to consider making this for lunch with more toppings like pepperoni, roasted chicken, etc.

To make this you need the following five items: Naan bread, pizza sauce, shredded mozarella cheese, parmesan cheese and some herbs. We buy all these from the Real Canadian Superstore and does not cost much.

The Naan bread costs about $3.59 for a pack of 12 pieces. For the herbs, we use Mrs Dash for flavouring. We like Mrs Dash and used that with eggs, spaghetti, etc. It’s healthier than using seasoning salt in our opinion. We estimated that it will costs about $1.25 to make each piece. The most expensive ingredient is the mozzarella (about 2/3 of the total costs).

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Sticky Rice

Post author:Suanne
Post published:January 17, 2006
Post category:Rice
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All happiness depends upon a leisurely breakfast
~ John Gunther .

We had sticky rice for dinner today. Both Arkensen and Nanzaro said that they love this a lot because it’s tasty. I think that it not only tastes good, it looks good too.

The main ingredients for this dish are glutinous rice, Chinese sausage, shitake mushrooms, dried shrimp, shallots and garlic. Suanne got this recipe originally from her younger sister. Here are the before and after preparation shots of the ingredients:

For serving of 4:

4 Chinese sausages, diced
4 dried shiitake mushrooms, reconstituted, diced
a small handful of dried shrimps, soaked and chopped
2 shallots, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced

Sauce:

1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon light soy sauce

The above ingredients are just an estimates. You can always adjust the amount to your own preference.

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

Post author:Ben
Post published:January 13, 2006
Post category:Cookies
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Friends are chocolate chips in the cookie of life!

Believe it or not … Suanne’s chocolate chip cookies were so good that her recipe has landed into the Richmond School Board’s Grade 5/6 curriculum. He he he … not exactly … but this is how things happened: Just before Christmas, Suanne baked some chocolate chip cookies and gave some to Arkensen and Nanzaro’s teachers. Ms T, Arkensen’s class teacher, liked it so much that she told Arkensen she rationed herself to just one a day. She also asked Suanne for the recipe and decided to organize a class baking project using Suanne’s recipe. Well, the project was carried out today by Arkensen’s class in the staff room and the gym’s kitchen. The class was divided into two groups: the boys vs the girls. Here is a picture of the boys’ cookies:

The two teams were given the written recipe and were expected to make the cookies all by themselves. They are to learn how to read instructions very carefully. Suanne supervised the boys team while Ms T. supervised the girls.

Suanne can’t be at two places at a time and so she just took pictures of the boys in action. They had a great time and everyone took active part. Everyone wanted a hand in every step of the process that they did the math and divided the tasks equally between themselves. For example, when the recipe called for 4 teaspoons of vanilla extract, the boys divided the task into 8 half-teaspoon so that each of them had a chance to pour it into the mix. That is teamwork!! (more…)

Spicy Pulled Pork Bun

Post author:Ben
Post published:January 12, 2006
Post category:Bread
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The four food groups: Fast, Frozen, Instant, and Chocolate.
~ ahajokes.com

OK, OK … I know, I know, I know … it’s another PORK dish! Sorry-lah bruder! Before you pass any judgement, just take a look at it … mouth-watering, right? Well, it’s another of Suanne’s fave. It’s a bun filled with spicy pulled pork.

Suanne uses a bread-machine to prepare the dough. It takes two hours for the bread-machine to prepare the dough — that includes rising time. I guess you could also manually knead it but it won’t be easy. Suanne knows of people who uses food processor or standing mixer to prepare the dough.

It is easy using the bread-machine because you just dump all the ingredients into the pan and set it to dough-cycle. The mixing, kneading and rising process is all done in the machine. You just got to wait for two hours. Ingredients includes milk, egg, flour, sugar, margarine, salt and yeast.

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Casserole Sausage Rice

Post author:Ben
Post published:January 9, 2006
Post category:Casserole Rice
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Everything has an end — except for a sausage which has two.
~ Danish Proverb

This was what Suanne made for dinner yesterday. She found the recipe from the internet. It has been one of the more frequently made dish at home. Suanne says that she likes to make this dish is because this is the only way she can make Nanzaro eat carrots. Here is how it looks like:

It’s quite an easy meal to make. It will take about 1.5 hrs in all, including baking and preparation time. It’s has everything one needs for nutrition … vegetables, meat, carbohydrates … all in one pot. Cleaning is also easy because it’s just one casserole and dry plates to wash. (more…)

Char Siew Wonton Noodle (Without the Wonton)

Post author:Ben
Post published:January 6, 2006
Post category:Noodles
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My mother’s menu consisted of two choices: Take it or leave it.
~ Buddy Hackett

Suanne and I had a big debate over how to name this dish. I mean, how can one call this a wonton noodle where there is no wonton. Anyway, it’s her dish and she gets to call it what she wants. The star of this simple dinner is the CHAR SIEW (roasted red pork). Suanne made the Char Siew herself. To make perfect char siew, you need pork shoulder butt. Suanne used some Thai made seasoning mix. She can’t recall where she bought it but should be in one of the many Asian market along Kingsway or Metrotown area (we hang around that place a lot because there is where I work, Arkensen and Nanzaro’s chinese school and our church). Here is the picture of the Roast Red Pork Seasoning Mix:

Anyway, to cut to the chase (i.e. without showing you the whole roasting process because we did not take pictures), below is what the char siew looks like. I really like it a bit charred but trust me, it taste really GREAT.

Now, hear this. You do NOT eat char siew like STEAK! They are to be sliced in bite size, like below. Here is a secret from Suanne … leave the slicing until the end or else everyone in the family will munch it all before the noodles is ready. Go, jot it down.

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Steamboat

Post author:Ben
Post published:January 6, 2006
Post category:Soup
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Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.
~ Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755 – 1826)
~ French gourmet & lawyer

Suanne’s favourite show … oh, I mean to say, Suanne’s OTHER favourite show is the Iron Chef. She roots for Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi. The Iron Chef show always starts with the above quote. So, with the words “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are”, here is Suanne’s first presentation. Suanne prepared a steamboat (better known as Hot Pot in Canada) for our January 1st, 2006 dinner. Her thoughts is only with Nanzaro and Arkensen and prepared what they like best (meatballs!). Here are the stuff she prepared for the pot: Marinated thinly sliced pork. Suanne says that her marinate is very complicated and cannot be described on the internet.