Homemade pizza

Homemade pizza. Yes I finally made my own pizza and by this I essentially mean making the dough (which is super easy I might add). My fillings include capsicum, button mushrooms, bacon, sundried tomatoes and obviously cheese. The base was slightly crunchy the way it's meant to be and all the ingredients matched perfectly together. Making your own pizza at home is really worth it, not only you control your toppings but you can make it healthier. Use fresh ingredients and season to your liking.

 

Tomato tarts

These are so easy to make. I kind of really appreciate those puff and shortcut pastry. They definitely make like easier. Basically for these tarts, you use one puff pastry quartered. Brush with olive oil. I would reckon to put them in a preheated oven for about 5 minutes. Take it out and place tomato, cheese and herbs on top. Put back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes until puffy. Don't they amazing?

 

Pumpkin gratin (recipe)

I did not have the opportunity to upload my recent pictures, so I will post up a few pictures that have been sitting on my desktop, waiting to be posted. This is the pumpkin gratin that  I made two weeks ago- throwback Saturday. Anyway, this time it was creamy and not chunky, like last time yes. See I told you that you always learn from your errors. Now my first mistake was that the pumpkin was chopped too thick. Result is that it takes longer to cook. Second mistake is that I should not have cook it in a heavy pan, rather in a pressure cooker. Well a note to myself next time though is that pumpkin do not need lot of water to go with in the pressure cooker.

Alright so this recipe is pretty simple. All you have to do is chop you pumpkin (I used butternut one) into 1cm cube (see first picture below). Put in your pressure cooker with less than a cup of water. Add salt and pepper and herbs if you want. In the meantime, cook garlic and onion until it changes colour. Wait for the 3rd blow to turn off the pressure cooker. Let the air out and take out the inside. If the pumpkin is still in pieces. mash them. Add the pan with the onion and garlic. Add cream (as required). Salt and pepper to season and more herb. Then put your mixture in an oven proof dish. Top with cheese and breadcrumb. Finish off with cooking spray on top or butter. Put in the oven 180 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until golden.

 

Ingredients:

1kg pumpkin (I used butternut)
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic
Herbs (any you prefer/ have on hand)
3-4 tbs heavy cream  
Grated cheese (cheddar/ parmesan/ any)
Breadcrumbs

Olive oil
Cooking spray
Salt and pepper, to taste
Butter (optional)

Tuna pasta bake

I love pasta. Last week I made tuna pasta bake which is a great dish I must admit. Easy to make. So simple and of course delicious.  For my recipe I used zucchini. So basically, I cook some garlic, onion together. Add the zucchini and button mushroom. Then mix in tuna, cream and finally the corn. Season with pepper and salt. Sprinkle with parsley, basil, any herb you like. That’s it. Then fold in a baking dish. Top with grated cheese and breadcrumbs. Spray with cooking oil and pop into the oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees or until cheese is melted and golden.  Let rest and dig in. I like the sweetness that comes from the corn. Well all you have to do now is to try it.

Bacon Zucchina Pasta bake and Pumpkin Gratin

Last week, I was high and pumped on baking. I decided to make a pasta bake and pumpkin gratin. It seems like zucchini and pumpkin are in season. I can see them everywhere, in  markets and supermarket, which is great because you can create so many dishes with those nice vegetables. As a side note, I finally decided I like eating pumpkin and zucchini. Believe me or not I was not a great 'veggie-eater' before. I had the strangest thought that I would never taste pumpkin because it looks eww to me (seriously).  Anyway gone is this thought. Now I realise what I have been missing. I like that sweet taste and softness when cooked. I like zucchini, they have that great flavour and goes so well with anything.

So I decided to make that pasta bake using the recipe from healthyfoodguide.com.. I used spiral macaroni. I top it with cheddar cheese and bits of feta cheese. Surprisingly I ended up with two dish instead of one, which I am not to complain about because it was really yummy, cheesy and creamy. A definite like.

My pumpkin gratin was good. The only hiccup was that I did not let the pumpkin tender enough. So my gratin  ended having little chunks of pumpkin.

Pre-oven, not yet topped with cheese

Baked :)

Healthy and easy broccoli fettuccine

It seems like this week is broccoli week in the kitchen. Well, it is in season and it is always best to eat fruits and vegetables of season as they are fresher and cheaper (usually). This is an easy dish which I make; it is basically broccoli combined with pasta (I used fettuccine), olive oil and cheese. Simple as it sounds. It also makes a good vegetarian dish.