One Pan Pasta & Homemade Patty

This one pan pasta has become our favorite lately. Got the recipe from my friend Kyra, who got it from Martha Stewart's website. The original recipe was so simple and lite, no use of meat in any kind. But then Pak Teddy got back from Papua and brought a whole lot of those big, fresh, sweet Papuan shrimps, so that one weekend I decided to add some into the pan. The result was oh so marvelous. Love it even more! Oh, and because of this particular recipe, I had a new found love of cherry tomatoes. ;)

When there's no linguine around, I just simply used spaghetti. And I also like to replace the salt-pepper with some peperoncino herb, so I get the salty taste from the parmesan cheese. 

That weekend, after I made one pan pasta for breakfast (yes, for breakfast!), I really in the mood for cooking, so I decided to try another recipe, Patty Burger from Annabel Karmell (I copy and post it below). It wasn't exactly Goods Diner's Coffee Rub Burger, but the result was pretty good.

You will need:

1 red onion

1 tbsp olive oil

4 tsp soft light brown sugar

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

4 sprigs thyme

200 g lean minced beef

40 g fresh breadcrumbs

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp soy sauce

salt dan pepper

sunflower oil for frying

How:

1. Peel and chop the onion into small pieces. Heat the oil and gently cook the onion for 8 minutes or until it's soft. Stir in the sugar and balsamic vinegar.

2. Turn up the heat and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes until onion caramelizes (the sugar on it turns light brown). Stir in the thyme. Then transfer the mixture to a bowl and leave to cool.

3. Add the beef, breadcrumbs, egg yolk, milk, soy sauce, salt and pepper, mix everything together lightly so the burgers stay soft and moist when they cook.

4. Divide the beef mixture into four servings. Roll each one into a ball, then flatten slightly into a burger shape. Cover and chill in the fridge.

5. Oil a frying pan lightly, and cook the burgers over a low heat for 4 to 5 minutes each side.

The Ultimate Nutella Sandwich

Entah bagaimana, Aira dan Aidan menemukan cara membuat The Ultimate Nutella Sandwich, or so it was claimed. Jadi, pada suatu akhir pekan saya dan Pak Teddy disuguhi sarapan buatan dua anak ini. Enak banget rasanya. Dan harus enak memang, mengingat rotinya Vineth, menteganya Lurpak, dan tentu Nutella. Obviously nothing could go wrong with Nutella. x)

Easy-made Cheesecake Bars

It was a gloomy morning that welcomed me when I woke up on Saturday. By default I knew that it was going to be a lazy day, but I craved for something sweet and slutty, like a cake or something. It was a breezy day, a good day to do some baking. So I browsed for a simple recipe, since I don't like complication when it comes to cooking or baking, and I found this perfect recipe of Slutty Cheesecake Bars on Baker Royale. Here's my version of the recipe, there's some alteration that I did on the ingredients due to availability & the measurement since I used larger pan. I love the result, just perfect for a lazy gloomy day at home. :)

Ingredients:
- 1 pack of ready-made cookie dough (of course I was too lazy to make my own, so I used the ready-made from Betty Crocker)
- 1 egg + butter if you used Betty Crocker cookie dough like me
- 16 Oreos
- 500 gr cream cheese
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1,5 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
- 2 bags of Chic-choc chocolate
- 6-8 Oreos

How:

1. Heat oven(I only used the bottom heat & low top heat), line pan with a foil sling, grease lightly with butter
2. Prepared the cookie dough, roll out in the pan using your fingers approximately 1 cm thick, bake until crisp
3. Place the 16 Oreos on top of the cookie crust
4. To make the cheese filling: place cream cheese, sugar, egg & vanilla, in a bowl, beat until blended. Pour the mixture over Oreos.
5. Sprinkle chopped Oreos and Chic-choc on top. Bake for about 30-40 minutes
6. Remove from oven, cool completely & put into freezer for a couple of hours before cutting.

There's a reason these are called Slutty Cheesecake Bars. Hello, look at the piling going on: chocolate chip cookie crust, cheesecake filling stuffed with Oreos and then topped with more Oreos and crushed Whoppers. So, yeah, we are pretty much looking at a bar that contains, 2 type of cookies, cheesecake and candy - slutty for sure. ~ Bakers Royale

Killer Breakfast, Dexter Style.

In my opinion, Dexter opening sequences is one of the best ever, the song included. And I had been obsessed with Dexter's kind of breakfast for a while now. A couple of days ago Pak Teddy and I finally prepared our breakfast Dexter style. Of course there was some alteration, since we don't eat pork and bloody orange, the kind of orange used by Dexter, couldn't be found in Jakarta. I figured that the meat on the scene was either pork chop or ham, so we used thin cut of beef sirloin steak instead. Bloody orange replaced by sunkist orange, and we used the only kind of coffee that available at home, grinded Italian. I used a press pot to make the coffee, of course. The easiest part had to be the egg. Add some sauce, and  there you go, a killer breakfast, Dexter style.

              

Milkshake Coffee Jelly

Kami sedang senang-senangnya minum minuman yang pakai topping pudding atau jelly (baca: Chatime & Quickly). Jadi, waktu saya iseng-iseng buka website Sahabat Nestle dan ketemu resep minuman dengan coffee jelly, saya langsung coba buat. Hasilnya enak, tapi terlalu manis menurut saya. Jadi saat berikutnya saya buat lagi, banyak takaran  saya sesuaikan dengan selera saya. Rasanya lebih pas.

Kemarin, pulang sekolah, Aidan mau buat. Saya yang menyiapkan bahan-bahan dan menakar, lalu Aidan yang buat sendiri. Dia bangga sekali, minta difoto. Segelas diberi untuk saya sambil bilang, :Ayo Bunda bilang apa, kan udah dibuatin sama aku." x) Terima kasiiiih Aidaaan! Sorenya Aidan buat lagi, kali ini buat dia dan Kakak Aira. Prosedurnya sama persis, Bunda takar, Aidan buat, Kakak Aira foto, lalu bilang terima kasih, kemudian minum. Malamnya sekali lagi, untuk Ayah. Yang kebagian minum berarti harus foto lalu bilang terima kasih ke Aidan. Kalau mau buat, ini dia resepnya. x)

Coffee Jelly:

• Campur 1 bungkus agar-agar coklat, 500 ml air, 100 gr gula pasir, 3 bungkus kopi saset (yang tanpa gula jika tidak mau terlalu manis).
• Masak sambil diaduk sampai mendidih.
• Tuang ke cetakan, diamkan hingga mengeras.
• Potong-potong jelly, lalu sisihkan

Milkshake (untuk 2 gelas):

• Siapkan 1 bungkus Milo 3in1 saset, susu kental manis sesuai selera, 1 gelas air matang. es batu sesuai selera.
• Masukkan semuanya ke dalam blender, proses hingga halus.
• Tuang milkshake ke gelas, lalu tambahkan jelly.

Aira's Cooking Birthday Party

Awalnya tema yang saya pilih untuk ulang tahun Aira yang ke-11 adalah 'Doodle', tapi saya sebenernya sudah lama cita-cita bikin acara masak-masak untuk ulang tahun Aira. Jadi tadinya saya merencanakan masak-masak dengan tema doodle. Nah loo.. hehehe.. Maksudnya, main activity-nya tetap masak, di sebuah cake shop teman saya, tapi segala perintilan dibikin bertema doodle. Seperti undangan, dekorasi, standing menu di meja, recipe cards, dan goody bag. Makanya goody bag kemudian saya pesan sesuai persetujuan aira di k.e.d. dengan tema doodle. 

Tapiii.. kemudian ada perubahan rencana, si nenek menawarkan ulang tahun Aira di rumahnya saja. Yang disetujui Aira, mungkin karena bisa lebih bebas main sama teman-teman dan waktunya bisa lebih panjang. Akhirnya saya setuju, walaupun agak kalang kabut mikirin bagaimana merealisasikan cita-cita saya yang acara masak-masak itu. Untungnya, ada sepupu saya yang memang ngajar kelas masak untuk anak-anak, dan dia bersedia membantu saya 'ngajar' masak-masak di ulang tahun Aira. 3 menu pun dipilih, Pizza, Tiramisu, dan Biscotti, yang kebetulan semuanya makanan Italia.

Berhubung tema doodle-nya jadi nyaris punah, saya membatalkan rencana bikin recipe cards, jadi note book yang sudah saya siapkan untuk goody bag bisa dicoret2 dengan resep-resep. Plus saya tambahkan celemek dengan nama masing-masing anak. Semua senang. :)

Acaranya ternyata seru sekali. Memang saya meminta Aira untuk mengundang beberapa teman dekatnya saja, jadi hari itu ada 5 anak termasuk Aira. Sepupu saya Nadia, and I really have to thank her for this, membuat acara masak-masak ini seru dan menarik sekali. Anak-anak benar-benar diajak memasak dari awal, mulai persiapan bagaimana menjaga kebersihan dan keamanan ketika memasak (termasuk cara cuci tangan macam dokter yang mau operasi), nama-nama dan jenis setiap bahan-bahan yang digunakan, alat-alay yang digunakan, ukuran dan cara mengukur dan menakar bahan-bahan, metode, dll. Plus fun facts tentang menu yang akan dimasak atau bahan yang digunakan.

All in all, it was a great day. Aira & her friends enjoyed the cooking & had lunch afterward, pizza & tiramisu as dessert. Plus some surprise cupcakes endorsed by the grandma and pink lemonade. We put the biscotti in a glass jar so each girls could bring it home along with their apron & doodles goody bag. Oh and the photo booth was a success too. Happy birthday Kakak Aira!

for more pics please click here. :)