Caesar Salad
Tuesday, July 08, 2008Caesar Salad is named after chef Caesar Cardini who created it in his restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico in 1924. A typical Caesar salad comprises romaine lettuce and croutons dressed with Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, egg, Worcestershire sauce, and black pepper. Caesar salad is traditionally prepared at table side.
Garlic Croutons angiesrecipes | Dressing angiesrecipes |
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- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Trim the crusts from the bread then cut into small cubes. Season bread cubes with a pinch of salt and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Toss them well. Combine the olive oil and crushed garlic in a bowl. Transfer garlic-oil into a mixing bowl. Add the bread cubes and gently mix by hand until the croutons are well coated. Place the garlic croutons on a baking tray and cook for 10 minutes. Leave the garlic croutons to cool then place in an airtight container.
- Remove root ends of each lettuce and separate leaves. Discard any damaged outer leaves and wash. Dry lettuce with paper towel and arrange on a serving platter. Store in refrigerator until ready to use. Cover the egg in a small bowl with boiling water and let stand for 1 minute. Immediately run cold water into the bowl until the egg can be easily handled.
- In another bowl, whisk together the garlic, anchovy, and salt until mixed. Blend in the lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Then add in the prepared egg and whisk until the mixture is thick. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil with one hand while vigorously whisking the mixture with the other. Once the mixture is thoroughly incorporated, add in half of the Parmesan cheese. Toss the croutons with 1/3 of dressing in a salad bowl until well coated. Add the Romaine lettuce hearts and the rest of the dressing. Toss until coated. Divide the salad between two chilled plates and sprinkle each salad with the remaining Parmesan cheese and coarsely ground pepper.
Tzatziki-Cucumber Yoghurt Dip
Monday, July 07, 2008Tzatziki is made of thick yoghurt flavoured with cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice olive oil and dill. Traditionally it is prepared with sheep or goat’s yoghurt and served as an appetizer and used also as a dip. The key to make a great tzatziki is to use sour-cream like thick creamy yoghurt.
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- Finely chop gherkin and cucumber. Combine quark and yoghurt in a medium bowl. Add in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, dill, pepper and the cucumber. Stir all the ingredients until well-combined.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour for best flavor. Tzatziki will stay fresh in the refrigerator for several days. If excess liquid accumulates on top, just pour it off. Stir each time before use.
Chicken Broth Jelly
Wednesday, June 25, 2008Chicken broth contains the broken down material from bones and tendons. When the broth is cooled, it congeals due to the presence of gelatin.
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- Wash the chicken bones and skin thoroughly and add them into a pot of boiling water. Boil for 2 or 3 minutes and then turn off the heat. Drain and rinse the bones thoroughly under the tape water.
- Fill a pot with water with ginger, spring onions, rice wine, vinegar, chicken bones and skin. Bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat until liquid has reduced by half, about 2 hours. Strain stock into a bowl. Discard solids. Season the stock with salt and pepper. Allow the liquid to cool down and set to a jelly. It’s ready for use. The broth can be kept in a fridge for up to 3 days or frozen for at least 6 months.
Sour Cherry Streusel Coffee Cake
Sunday, June 22, 2008Coffee cake is either a cake prepared with coffee or served with coffee. Thus a coffee cake does not necessarily contain coffee. Those served-with-coffee cakes are typically flavoured with cinnamon, nuts, and different kinds of fruit and very often have a crunchy streusel topping.
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- Line the bottom of a 26cm springform with parchment paper. Press the sweet crust dough evenly against the bottom and sides (up to 4cm high) of the prepared pan. Generously prick crust with fork. Cover and rest in fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. At the same time start preparing the streusel. Mix first 4 ingredients in a bowl. Add in softened butter and rub in with fingers until coarse crumbs
angiesrecipes form. Bake the crust for 12 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.
- In large saucepan, combine cherries, sugar, water and cornstarch. Cook, stirring about one minute. Transfer filling to cooled crust. Sprinkle streusel evenly over the cherries. Bake on middle rack of oven for 45 minutes or until top is golden. Place pan on a rack and let cool.
Sweet Crust Pastry (Pâte Sucrée)
Thursday, June 19, 2008Crumble, cookie like sweet pastry dough is mainly made of sugar, egg (or just yolk), and flour. Sweet Pastry Crust (Pâte Sucrée in French) is a sweet, crumble, cookie like pastry dough made of sugar, egg (or just yolks), and flour. It’s a kind of shortcrust pastries. Low-fat butter or margarine should be avoided in making pastry because they usually have high water contents.
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- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add sugar, salt, egg and butter or margarine. Mix first at slow speed with a hand mixer, then increase the speed and mix until a soft but not sticky pastry is formed.
- Cover tightly with cling film and allow to rest in a fridge for 30 minutes before use. Roll out to the required thickness. The recipe is good enough for a 26-28cm springform
. With fork, prick dough to prevent puffing and shrinking during baking. Bake in the middle rack of the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden. The dough can be prepared the day before you plan to use it and should keep in the fridge for up to three days if needed.
Pita Bread
Sunday, June 15, 2008Pita bread is consumed in Turkey, where it is called “pide bread”, Greece and Romania. The word pita is a Greek term, which means “flat” and spelled “pitta bread” in English. In addition to being flat, pita bread generally has two layers which, after baking separate to form an internal pocket. This pocket occurs because of the extremely high temperatures at which the bread is baked.
- 250 ml Lukewarm water<
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 1 tsp Salt
- 420 g German #550 flourangiesrecipes
- 4 g Instant dry yeastangiesrecipes
- To make the dough in a bread maker, put all of the ingredients into the bread machine in the order listed, select the “dough cycle” and press “start” . The bread maker stops the process after the first rising.
- Upon completion of the dough cycle turn the dough onto a floured work surface. Knead the dough until all the air has been removed and divide it into 6 or 12 pieces. Round each into a small ball and then flatten them to make 1.5mm thick disks. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow them to rest for about 30 minutes.
- Now place a baking tray on the middle rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 220C/450F. Arrange pita dough on the baking tray and bake for 6 or 8 minutes until lightly brown. You will need to bake them in two bathes. Remove from oven and place on a tray covered with a clean dishtowel, with another clean towel on top. When thoroughly cooled, pitas can be stored in plastic bags.
Turkish Flatbread (Pide)
Wednesday, June 11, 2008Pide is a round bread flavoured with sesame or fennel seeds. There are regional variations in the shape, baking technique, and the toppings.
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- Whisk together the flour and dry yeast in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer attached with a dough hook. Add in salt, water, honey and olive oil. Mix first at slow speed, when the dough starts to come together, increase the speed to medium and knead until you have a soft, but smooth dough.
- Cover the dough with a plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place for about 45 minutes, or until doubled. Punch down and round into a ball. Divide in 8 smaller portions, cover with plastic wrap and let rest 10 to 15 minutes. The dough can be divided into 3 or 4 bigger ones as well, like we usually get from the supermarket.
- Flatten each dough into a 1cm thick round or any desired shape on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Moisten the bread with water and sprinkle some sesame on the top. Again leave them, covered on the tray for about 30 minutes. Heat oven to 220C/450F and bake for 12-15 minutes.
Sweet And Sour Pork Spare Ribs
Thursday, June 05, 2008Ingredients | Marinade |
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- Chop the spare ribs into inch pieces. Put them into a pot of boiling water and poach for 3-5 minutes. Drain. Blend the pork spare ribs with the marinade and set aside for 30 minutes. Cut the bell pepper and cucumber into serving pieces. Slice the spring onions into strips. Heat a skillet with enough oil until hot. Lightly coat the marinated pork spare ribs with cornstarch. Deep fry pork spare ribs until they are crispy and golden brown. Remove and drain on the kitchen paper.
- Pour off all but one tablespoon of oil, stir in sliced garlic and the white parts of the spring onion until fragrant. Add in bell pepper and cucumber and stir briefly. Pour in the sweet and sour sauce
angiesrecipes, return the fried pork spare ribs and the green parts of the spring onion. Season with salt and pepper. Stir well and dish off.
How to Prepare Chinese Sweet And Sour Sauce
Wednesday, June 04, 2008Typical Chinese dishes incorporating sweet and sour sauce are sweet and sour pork tenderloin, spareribs, shrimp and chicken.
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- Use a serrated knife to cut off the leave stem of the pineapple. Quarter the pineapple lengthwise and remove the core. Cut the pineapple into the small chunks. Cut the spring onion and chillies into smaller pieces. Set a skillet over medium heat until hot and add in oil. When hot, stir in ginger, garlic and white parts of spring onion until aromatic. Add in the green parts of the spring onion, pineapples, dried hawthorns and the seasoning.
- Adjust the fire to high and bring all the ingredients to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the vegetables and pineapples, adjust the heat to high and reboil the sauce. Thicken the sauce with 1 tablespoon of starch solution. When cool, store in a covered container in the fridge.