Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Chicken Pastel

I always thought that I have a Chicken Pastel recipe in my blog.  I was about to cook my lunch today when I discovered I do not!  It just goes to show I have  not cooked this particular dish in over a year whereas before, the least was once a month.  Hmmmm ... I wonder, why?  Mom used to like creamy and cheesy food.  It is not on the top of my list.  So maybe that is the reason why I have not eaten Pastel in a while.

But today I wanted to make Chicken Pastel with Pastry Crust.



Chicken Pastel

1 K. Chicken, cut into pieces
salt and pepper
1/2 C. butter or margarine
1 can vienna sausage, cut each sausage into 3
3 pcs. Purefoods chorizo bilbao, sliced
1 small can button mushrooms
potatoes, cubed
carrots, cubed
1 Knorr Chicken cube
1/2 C. water
1 tall can evaporated milk
green and red pepper, cut into squares
frozen green peas
1/2 bar quickmelt cheese, grated

Rub chicken with salt and pepper and let stand for 15 minutes. Melt butter in cooking pan, brown the chicken, add chorizo, followed by the potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and vienna sausage.  Then add the chicken cube, water and milk.  Stir so the milk will not curdle.  When it begins to boil, lower heat and cover for 20 minutes.

Remove the cover, add the peppers and peas.  Continue cooking for 5 minutes more.  Sprinkle grated cheese on top and turn off heat.

You can serve the pastel at this point



or you can transfer into a baking dish and top with the pastry crust.

Pastry Crust

1 1/4 C. flour
1/4 + 2 T. cold butter, cubed
1/2 t. salt
3 T. ice cold water
egg wash = 1 egg + 1 T. water, beaten

Cut the butter in the flour with salt.  Add ice water and stir with a fork.  Wrap in plastic and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.  Roll out in between 2 pieces of wax paper.  Cover the baking dish, brush egg wash on top, cut slits and bake for 12-15 minutes at 425F.

The whole Chicken Pastel process from start to finish only took an hour and a half.  I really do enjoy cooking.  Good thing Mona was here for lunch, let Hermie some and was able to send food upstairs to Tita Portia.  I am not really fond of eating left overs so I make sure when I cook something that is more than one serving, I have people to feed.

AWARD 21 ( Good Food)



Thank you dear Sobha Shyam for this Award. I am so glad and honoured to recieve it. Heartiest Congratulations for such a wonderful round up with 129 entries. Keep Rocking!


This award is for the recipe: RAJMA SOUP (Kidney Bean Soup)


AWARD OF PARTICIPATION ( Good Food)



This is from Sobha Shyam of Good Food

Have we become careless or CARE LESS now...




Story nie baru je happen yesterday. Pity mr hubby sebab kena admit hospital to remove his toenail yang rosak teruk. So after 1day admitted into the ward for the operation at KPJ Specialist @Shah Alam, mr hubby dah boleh keluar. Kesian dia jalan henjut2 sebab masih berbisa lagi kesan pada toenail tu. Bayangkan toe yang memang akan terasa tekanannya biler kite berjalan kan. Bertambah kesian sebab kena check out sendiri sebab time tu aku keje... :(



Then tengahari semalam, after check out, mr hubby berjalan la dengan terhenjut-henjutnya, slow sangat dia jalan nak pergi ke kereta di parking. This is at PARKING LOT yer, yang normally people would put sign like 20kmph, most of us never follow the speed limit, right? That's include me as well, but we never speeding in parking lot, especially in hospital compound. Well, mr hubby wanna cross the parking road to his car, when a lady driver, instead of give way to him to pass first, she just drive thru, almost hitting mr hubby. What's the rush for? Imagine if you are at his place??







It would do great different if you give ways to sick, pregnant lady, elderly, kids when they are crossing the road. I remember having a cute boy rewarding me a wave and a smile of thanks when I gave way to him to cross, and it make me smile a whole day because I have did something good that day.



Come to think, I do admit that some Malaysian drive like mad, and this people are so selfish that they never think of other driver. Having a maniac skill of I-am-the-best-driver-in-town attitude, and exposing others to danger everyday. No wonder you can read about fatal accident on the road, daily in the newspaper.



Just try your best to be courteous, not becoming too coward by driving extra slow in highway or take forever to enter a roundabout or too brave until not caring about other safety. After two times involved in accident and having an awful time having the car stranded in workshop for months, I seriously don't want to experience it again.





Yes, I am in support of courteous driving skill and a better parking skill.




The Two of Cups

The Two of Cups by good mood factory
The Two of Cups, a photo by good mood factory on Flickr.

The Two of Cups is a minor arcana tarot card, card of lovers, which shows power that is created when two come together...



Mama Sita's Kiddie Spaghetti Sauce

Whenever I see something new in the supermarket, I buy it all the time just to try how it tastes.  The other day  I saw this new product in Landmark, Mama Sita's Kiddie Spaghetti Sauce.



The recipe at the back of the foil pouch was very easy to follow.



150 g. ground beef
1/4 C. onions, chopped
salt
(The recipe says you can add celery, carrot and parsley to the meat balls.)

Form into 1 inch balls, pan fry and set aside.

Sauce

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 C. onions, chopped
100 g. button mushrooms, sliced
Mama Sita's Kiddie Spaghetti Sauce

Saute garlic and onions.  Add the mushrooms, then the pan fried meat balls.  Pour in the sauce and simmer for 15 minutes.
 
125 g. noodles

Top with grated cheese.

Not bad for an instant spaghetti sauce!  I loved the fact that the sauce was orangey and not red.