To achieve some order, I did the following:
• I had on hand the following:
Cheap Clear books
Bond Paper
Scissors
Paste & tape
Garbage Can
• I brought out every bit of paper and spread them out on my dining table.
• I then went thru each and every recipe and piled them according to:
meat
seafood
noodle/rice
vegetable
dessert
whatnots
• I threw the ones that were clearly going to remain deep, deep dreams;
• And neatly cut the torn-up clippings I liked. For short recipes, I stuck
them to bond paper.
• Once done, I move on to inserting them in the clear books.
This is my cheap way of coming up with my very own personalized recipe reference book. Every now and then, I will open this drawer to fish out one particular recipe; then put on my apron and cook up a dream.
=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=X=
I will keep my chit-chat short today and give to you a recipe I recently used and found worth passing along. You can then make copies of this recipe and promptly deposit it in your own recipe drawer of dreams.
Chicken Pastel
If you like chicken, you will find this delicious. This is adapted from a reciped I printed out from femalenetwork.com
Filling
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup bacon or ham, chopped
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, crushed
1 kilo deboned chicken meat,cut in cubes
2 medium carrots, medium dice
2 large potatoes, medium dice
1 1/3 cups soup stock
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup Vienna sausages, cut in 1" cubes
1 cup green olives (optional)
1/4 cup pimiento, cut in strips (optional)
2 large eggs, hard-boiled, quartered
1 piece chorizo, sliced diagonally (optional)
2-3 teaspoon cornstarch
Glazing
1 small egg, slightly beaten
Procedure:
Filling
1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Heat the oil in a large pan. Saute the bacon until slightly crisp and fat renders out. (If using ham, no need to crisp). Add the garlic and onions. Cook until soft.
3. Add the chicken meat and stir until slightly pink.
4. Stir in the raw carrots and potatoes. Add the soup stock. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the Vienna sausage, olives, chorizo and pimiento. Thicken sauce by spooning out some of the liquid. Then add 1-3 teaspoons (if very watery add more; if not, add less) of cornstarch to the liquid. Stir and add to the simmering pot.
5. Spread the chicken mixture on a Pyrex dish or ceramic dish.
6. Cool slightly. Lay out the quartered eggs on top.
Crust
( for a large rectagular pyrex dish (like in Lasagna); half the recipe if you are using a 9 inch pie plate or deep dish.)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Crisco, or margarine
1 teaspoon salt (omit if using margarine)
1/4 cup cold water
Crust Procedure
1. Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the Crisco or margarine. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the cold water and pat lightly to form a ball. Do not knead the dough or the crust will become tough.
2. Roll out the pastry dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper until 1/4 inch thick. Make sure the crust is bigger than the dish you will put chicken pastel in. Allow 1 1/2 inches around the sides of the dish.
Assemble:
Lay the crust on top of the mixture and seal the edges. Make a decorative rim if you wish. Brush the crust with egg. Bake in 350°F oven for about 30 minutes or so until the crust is golden. Serves 8.
Note: I boil the chicken so that I can easily remove the meat from the bone. I used the resulting stock for the recipe.
Easy does it tip:
Don't want to go thru the trouble of making the crust? No worries. You can serve the filling as is with crusty bread. Or, prepare bread cups by pressing into a cupcake pan sliced bread. Toast in the oven and when done, spoon some of the filling in--- similar to chicken ala king.
No comments:
Post a Comment