Buffalo Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Dip

Ok this one was adapted from a recipe I found in Recipezaar. Made these for Pearl who was craving for them. 

Buffalo Chicken Wings

10 to 20 chicken wings

8 teaspoons melted butter

2 teaspoons vinegar

2/3 cup hot pepper sauce (I used Tabasco because I can't find any other brand of hot sauce here in Malaysia, which was  not quite right for these buffalos..)

some cayenne pepper

1. Mix melted butter, vinegar and hot pepper sauce in a deep bowl and plunge all the chicken wings in it. As an alternative you can also transfer the marinade mix into a zip-lock bag and put in the wings.

2. Let it soak for 2 hours.

3. Bake at 200C for 20 - 30 minutes until the wings are cooked through and make sure to baste them one time during cooking.

4. Sprinkle the cayenne during the last 5 minutes of cooking to add in more heat.

Blue Cheese Dip

1 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons finely chopped onions

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled

1. Mix all the ingredients together and leave it chilled overnight (if possible).

Super easy, right? Though Tabasco may not be a good sub for hot pepper sauce, these buggers still do taste awesome!

Easy Lasagna

After not having so much success with the macarons, I decided to make lasagna for dinner. This also my first experiment, but with this I was pretty sure it won't screw up so much like those macarons. And though it might not look pretty here, it is definitely soothing to the palate and soon enough, all my frustration about those feetless macarons of mine went away.

Meat Lasagna

250g instant lasagna (it has to be instant so u don't have to pre-cook it before layering)

Meat sauce:

2 tbsp oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 can button mushroom, sliced

500g mince meat

5 tbsp tomato puree

2 fresh tomatoes, diced

2 cups chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

a pinch of basil

1. Heat oil in a saucepan, add onion, mushroom and garlic, cook until soft.

2. Add mince meat, cook until brown. Then stir in tomato puree, diced tomatoes and chicken stock.

3. Season with salt, pepper and basil and let cook for 20 minutes.

Cheese Sauce:

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp plain flour

2 cups milk

125 g mozzarella or cheddar cheese

1. Melt butter in a saucepan, stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes over low heat.

2. Remove from heat and stir in milk.

3. Return the pan back to heat, stir until thick and smooth, then add in the cheddar.

4. Season with pepper and salt as needed and stir until cheese melts.

Assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 180C and pour 1/4 of the meat sauce into a lightly greased baking dish.

2. Alternate layers of lasagna, meat and cheese sauces, ending with cheese sauce layer (make 4 layers).

3. Sprinkle with grated parmesan if desired and bake for 30 minutes with the dish covered in foil.

4. Remove foil and continue baking for a further 15 minutes until the pasta is cooked through.

My Traditional Quiche Lorraine

This, I made about a week ago. Quiche is a good way to use up leftovers and most importantly, it's economical.

To make it you will need :

1 1/4 cups plain flour
90 g butter, chopped
2-3 tablespoons iced water

For the filling :

3 smoked chicken slices, chopped
6 button mushrooms. sliced
1 teaspoon oil
60 g grated gruyere cheese (you can use mozarella if you can't find gruyere)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1. First of all, sift the flour and add the butter to it. Rub butter into the flour until the mixture is fine and crumbly. Add almost all the water and mix it to a firm dough (add more water if necessary). Then, roll the dough out and line a medium size tart tin. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

2. Prepare the oven and cut a sheet of greaseproof paper, big enough to cover the pastry-lined tin. Take out the pastry and line it with the paper and spread a layer of dried beans or rice over it. Bake for 10 minutes and then remove the paper and grains. Put the pastry back in the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes.

3. For the fillings, lightly cook the chicken slices and mushrooms in a tablespoon of oil. Drain them and spread over the pastry. Sprinkle with the cheese.

4. Combine the eggs, cream and milk and pour into the base. Finish it with a sprinkle of nutmeg.

5. Bake for 30 minutes, until the whole quiche is set and golden.

So here's the quiche. You can serve it hot or cold.

Potato, Onion and Tomato Bake

Also, I was alone not so many days ago and because of that, I took the chance not to have rice and made myself a meal from the oven. So I used as much leftover materials as I could find from the fridge and made this bake.

4 large potatoes (extras I had from the gnocchi project), peeled and thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
30 g butter, cut into smaller pieces
freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese (I used parmesan instead because I had some left from the previous work)

1. Preheat oven to 180C and brush an ovenproof dish with melted butter.
2. Layer the potato, tomato and onion alternately in the dish, finishing with the potato layer. Between each layer, dot some butter and sprinkle with pepper.
3. Combine the milk, cream and stock. Pour over the layered potato and top the assembly with cheese. Dot with any remaining butter.
4. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until the potato is tender and golden brown.

Because I used Parmesan instead of Cheddar, the finished product doesn't look that good. Parmesan generally does not melt when baked. Unlike Cheddar, Parmesan browned. Nevertheless, the whole thing still tasted great!

Creamy Blue Cheese Gnocchi

Last week I made these gnocchi with creamy blue cheese sauce for dinner. It was pretty easy since I wasn't in the mood to cook the usual full course Malay meal that day. Here's how..

For the gnocchi :

3 really huge potatoes, peeled
2 cups plain flour (I used superfine because that's what I had)
30 g butter, melted
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
some freshly ground pepper to suit your taste

1. Cook potato in large pan of boiling water until just tender; drain and then mash.
2. Add flour, butter, Parmesan cheese and pepper. mix until well combined and knead until smooth.
3. Form dough into small 2.5 cm rounds and indent each one of them with fork prongs to shape.
4. Heat a pan of water until boiling and lower batches of gnocchi into the boiling water. Gnocchi are cooked when they float to the top. Drain and keep them warm.

For the creamy sauce :

60 g butter
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
freshly ground pepper
125 g blue cheese, crumbled
3 spring onions (here I used parsley because the mart was out of spring onions)

1. Heat the butter in a medium pan; add flour. Stir over low heat until flour mixture is lightly golden.
2. Add milk gradually to pan, stirring until mixture is smooth. Continue stirring over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens.
3. Add mustard, pepper to taste, cheese and spring onions, stirring until cheese has melted.


Well, lastly of course, pour the sauce over the gnocchi and serve at once.

P/s : Blue cheese smells really strong so u might wanna reduce the amount if you are not a fan of stinky smell. ;)

Pearl's Vegetarian Bruschetta

Pearl finally made her bruschetta. Here are the ingredients she used for the snack :

1 whole baguette
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
1 very huge onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons basil
a dash of salt to taste
some grated mozzarella

The baguette was first sliced and dabbed with olive. In another bowl, she mixed the diced ingredients with basil and salt.

She then topped the baguette with the mixed ingredients, then the grated mozzarella. I would have preferred feta instead of mozzarella, but Pearl insisted on the latter.

Bake the bruschetta in the oven at medium heat (approx. 100C) for 5 minutes or till the cheese melted.

I've Never Cooked My Own Fried Noodles

I have decided today that it is time for me to learn how to fry my own fried noodles. So I've asked Mak to guide me along. This is the simplest way..

Mom's Regular Fried Noodles

5 pips of garlic, blended
1 huge bulb of onion, blended
2 tablespoons chilli paste
1/2 cup of diced boneless chicken
5 fishballs, each cut into 2
10 fresh prawns, shells peeled
1/2 cup of boiled cockles, without the shell of course
2 stalks of mustard leaves, cut into bite size
4 tablespoons cooking oil
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 egg
2 teaspoons salt, adjust to taste
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup of water
1 packet of yellow noodles

Heat oil in a wok. Sautee the garlics and onion until you can smell the aroma. Add on the chilli paste, fry on till the colour turns a bit darker. Stir in the soy sauce. Add in the chicken and let it cook slightly. Then put in the prawns, cockles and fishballs. Pour in the water and adjust the taste with salt and sugar. Add the egg and stir quickly so that the sauce becomes thick. Bring the sauce to boil. Ensure you do not use low fire. Just then, add in the noodles and the mustard leaves. Fry on until everything is well mixed and the sauce dries up to your liking.