Ossobuco alla Milanese

It looked pretty much complicated as I was reading through several recipes, but once you get on it! It's just easy. It was my patience that I had to work with since it takes hours to get a good bite into this meat. 

Ingredients

1	cup	White Onions, finely chopped
1	cup	Carrots, finely chopped
1	cup	Celery, finely chopped
1/4	cup	Olive Oil
2	teaspoon	Garlic, finely chopped
1	piece	lemon peel strips (from 1 lemon)
1/2	cup	Olive Oil
4	piece	Veal Shanks, cut into 3/4 inch thickness
3/4	cups	All Purpose Flour
4	cups	Beef Broth
750	ml	Tomato Basil Sauce
1/4	teaspoon	Dried Thyme
2	pieces	Fresh Basil
2	pieces	Bay Leaf or Laurel Leaves
3	sprigs	Parsley
		Salt and Pepper
4	pieces	Potatoes, boiled and peeled
4	tablespoon	Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1	cup	Milk
2	tablespoon	Basil Leaves, chopped
		Salt and Pepper

Procedure

1 Preheat the Oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit (175 Celcius)
2 Pat dry all the veal/beef shanks with a clean towel.
3 Choose a heavy casserole that can hold the veal pieces later in a single layer. Put in the first portion of olive oil, onion, carrot, celery. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes to soften the vegetables. Add the garlic and lemon peel slices to end and remove from heat.
4 Heat Olive Oil in a skillet over medium high heat. When the oil is quite hot, Dredge and brown the veal on all sides one by one or how many pieces can fit comfortably into your skillet without cramping the meat. Stand the veal pieces side by side on top of the vegetables in the casserole.
5 Simmer the broth in a pan and pour into the casserole. Add the tomato basil sauce, thyme, basil, bay leaves, parsley, pepper and salt. The broth should cover the veal pieces. If it does not, add more broth.
6 Bring the contents of the casserole to a simmer on top of the stove. Cover tightly and put into the preheated oven. Cook for about 3 hours, carefully turning and basting the beal every hour. When done, they should be very tender when pricked with fork, and their sauce should be dense and creamy.
7 While waiting for the shank to cook, make the mashed potato to accompany the meat.
8 Put in the cooked potato, cream cheese, milk and basil chiffonade into a food processor.
9 Season to taste. Set aside.
10 Top mashed potato with pieces of veal and pour sauce over and serve piping hot.

Cooking tips and alternatives!
You have to put the shank into the skillet to brown as soon as You have dipped it in flour, otherwise the flour may dampen and the meat wont brown properly.                                                                         If the casseroles runs out of liquid while still cooking, you may add more broth or water.                    If the sauce is too thin and the veal is done, remove the meat to a platter, placed the uncovered casserole on top of the stove and over high heat boil the sauce until it thickens.

It's a comfort food i must say!!! Thanks to patience, it came out to its desired tenderness :) 

Vanilla Cheesecake

I love Williams-Sonoma Cookbooks! I've done several of their recipes and they turn out to be real fine dishes. As requested by our house mate, she wants DESSERTS. I'm really not a fan of baking since it requires a lot of mixing and chances of success in letting the dough rise is quite a challenge for newbies, but YES! I say YES to trying to bake a simple dessert, Cheesecake inspired by The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook: The Essential Recipe Collection for Today's Home Cook! Lovely and Yummy! Pure Cream Cheese, Wow! Ingredients really makes a lot of difference. Find and use the best ingredients and you're on your way to success! :) Enjoy this One!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup  Graham Crackers
1 1/4 cup  Sugar plus 3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp      Cinnamon
1/4 cup     Unsalted Butter
1 kg          Cream Cheese, at room temperature
2 tbsp       All-Purpose Flour
1/4 tsp      Salt
1/2 cup     Sour Cream
1 tbsp       Vanilla Extract
3 pcs         Large Eggs

Procedure:
1. Pound the Graham crackers to crumbs. (you can put it in a plastic and pound it with anything solid until it turns into smooth crumbs)
2. Preheat the oven to 400F (200 C). Lightly grease a 10 inch cheesecake / springform pan. In a bowl, mix together the graham cracker, 3 tbsp sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter.
3. Stir until the mixture until the crumbs are evenly moist.
4. Pour into the sprinform pan and press evenly unto the bottom and to the sides of the pan.
5. Bake the crust until lightly golden for about 10 mins. Let cool on a rack and reduce the oven temperature to 300F (150C)
6. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese, flour and salt until smooth.
7. Add the sugar, sour cream and vanilla and continue to mix until well blended and add the eggs one at a time.
8. Pour into the crust.
9. Bake the cheesecake for about 70 mins until the edges are slightly puffed but the center still jiggles when shaken. Let cool in a rack at room temperature and refrigerate overnight or until chilled.
10. To serve, unclasp and remove the pan sides then run along a thin spatula between the pan bottom and the crust and carefully slide the cake to a serving plate. Slice and Serve!!! :)

Procedure with Photos:
1. Pound the Graham crackers to crumbs. (you can put it in a plastic and pound it with anything solid until it turns into smooth crumbs)

2. Preheat the oven to 400F (200 C). Lightly grease a 10 inch cheesecake / springform pan. In a bowl, mix together the graham cracker, 3 tbsp sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter.

3. Stir until the mixture until the crumbs are evenly moist.

4. Pour into the springform pan and press evenly unto the bottom and to the sides of the pan.

5. Bake the crust until lightly golden for about 10 mins. Let cool on a rack and reduce the oven temperature to 300F (150C)
6. In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese, flour and salt until smooth.
 7. Add the sugar, sour cream and vanilla and continue to mix until well blended and add the eggs one at a time.

 

8. Pour into the crust.

9. Bake the cheesecake for about 70 mins until the edges are slightly puffed but the center still jiggles when shaken. Let cool in a rack at room temperature and refrigerate overnight or until chilled.

10. To serve, unclasp and remove the pan sides then run along a thin spatula between the pan bottom and the crust and carefully slide the cake to a serving plate. Slice and Serve!!! :)

What do you think of these photos? :)

 

 

Pesco Basil Pasta

Whoopsieee! I have a lunch meeting in a bit and I want to prepare something healthy on my own but I still have work to finish... So think think. Make use of my fresh ingredients available here in the kitchen that's quick and easy to prepare and voila! Here goes our Pesco Basil Pasta!

Ingredients

150 grams         Tagliatelle or Fettucine

250 grams         Dory fish fillet (diced into ¾ x ¾ inch)

250 ml               Tomato Basil Sauce (Cirio) – available in Santis Delicatessen

2 tbsp                Olive oil

1 tbsp                Garlic (minced)

2 tbsp                Basil Leaves (chiffonade)

1/2 tbsp             Cream cheese (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan (to Garnish)

Procedure

1.       Boil water and put salt and oil. Throw in Pasta for 10-12 minutes or until al dente.

2.       In a pan, sauté garlic in olive oil.

3.       Sauté fish fillet very quickly and place in the tomato basil sauce.

4.       Put in  basil leaves and cream cheese

5.       Season with salt and pepper

6.       Potion the pasta into individual plate and top with sauce and garnish with parmesan!

7.       Voila! Quick ‘n Nice Fresh Pasta to Serve and Enjoy! 

Serves 2-3

Tips:

Check out this site to learn how to do the basil leaves’ ‘chiffonade’:  

http://veganyumyum.com/2007/01/how-to-chiffonade-basil/

Shrimp and Tomato Overload Omelette

Shrimp and Tomato Overload Omelettes I love shrimps and I can eat an entire bowl of tomatoes. I'm actually thinking of making it as substitute for my rice intake (chopped - pwede!!! Hehe ) So, I get really happy when there's enough supply of prawns to make into omelette s and well ripped tomatoes that can fill my eggs (where all I see are nicely cooked red prawns and tomatoes and only just patches of yellow from the eggs) Maybe later, I can decide to call it sauteed prawns and tomatoes with eggs... But for now, we can call it omelette as we're used to :)

Ingredients:
3 tbsp  olive oil
1/2 pc  white onion, sliced
2 pcs.   tomatoes, chopped
3           large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 kilo prawns (giant ones if possible!) - deveined, peeled and cut into big chunks
2 tbsp  cream cheese, cut into small pieces     
freshly ground pepper, to season

1. Heat oil in a  skillet over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes.
2. sauté onions until translucent.
3. Sauté prawns until just cooked, about 1-2 minutes, being careful not to overcook.
4. Add eggs , tomatoes, cream cheese and season with freshly ground pepper and allow to set and ZOOM!!! 5. A perfect dish to start your day right :) Enjoy!

Serves : 2-3 persons.   

Procedures with Photo

Fresh Produce will largely affect the taste of your omelette! So just grabe the best ones. For the shrimps, make sure the heads are intact and the body is firm to touch.

Prepare the Ingredients

1. Heat oil in a  skillet over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes.

2. sauté onions until translucent.

 
3. Sauté prawns until just cooked, about 1-2 minutes, being careful not to overcook.

4. Add eggs , tomatoes, cream cheese and season with freshly ground pepper and allow to set and

 5. ZOOM!!!  a  A perfect dish to start your day right :) Fold in 2 or three as desired or Flip to a round plate.

Enjoy! :)