Tag Archives: Italian

Penne Alfredo with Grilled Chicken

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Easy & Fancy dinner idea. The creamy parmesan sauce and well seasoned chicken breasts go hand in hand….. very yummy!

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

FOR CHICKEN

  • 4 small size chicken breasts
  • Some salt
  • Some cracked black pepper
  • Some onion powder
  • Some garlic powder
  • 1 lemon squeezed
  • Some olive oil

FOR PENNE ALFREDO

  • 500 gms penne pasta (al dente)
  • 800mL cooking cream
  • 250 gms shredded parmesan cheese
  • 100 gms butter
  • Some salt
  • Some cracked red chillies (Optional, I like them so I add them)
  • Black pepper
  • ¼ tspn onion powder
  • ½ tspn garlic powder
  • 10 mushrooms sliced
  • ½ tspn chives
  • 2 tbspns scallions (green part only)

Procedure:

-Take the chicken breast fillets and pound then until they are 1cm thick. Marinade with everything except olive oil and keep aside for at least an hour.

-Heat the grill pan, drizzle some olive oil and grill those chicken fillets (5 minutes per side) on medium – high heat.

-Meanwhile your chicken is grilling let’s make our sauce. Melt some butter in a skillet and stir fry mushrooms until they change colour. Now add cream and all the seasonings except chives and scallions. Stir.

-When the sauce begins to simmer add parmesan cheese and keep stirring until it melts and mix with the sauce and the sauce becomes thick. This should take probably 4 – 5 minutes on medium heat.

-Now add boiled pasta in your sauce and swirl the pan. Add chives and scallions and divide the pasta in 4 equal portions. Serve each portion in a separate deep plate. Put the grilled chicken breast on top, garnish with some scallions and shaved parmesan cheese and serve hot.

Panna Cotta

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Italian Dessert …… Very creamy, rich, smooth, sexy and silky!

I don’t like creamy sweet stuff much but this dessert is OK. My family loves it!

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 500ml full cream (300 mL cream + 200 mL full cream milk – lite version)
  • 10g gelatine (You can easily find gelatine at any grocery store, baking isle. In Australia, you can get Halal gelatine from Coles baking isle. The brand name is “Davis” and it is certified Halal.
  • 40g Sugar (I use raw for flavour)
  • 1 tbspn vanilla extract or vanilla pod
  • Some fruits and berries to serve
  • 125 ml hot water

Procedure:

-Pour the cream and sugar into a saucepan. Slice open vanilla bean and remove the pulp. Add both the pulp and shell to the cream and sugar, and bring it to boil for 10 minutes. Take saucepan off the heat and let it cool slightly.

-Pour 125mL hot water into a container and add 1 sachet or 10g of gelatine. (Every package has different style of making gelatine, follow your package instructions)

-Stir briskly with a fork until dissolved.

-Remove the vanilla bean from the mixture and add the gelatine. Mix well and transfer to your dessert bowls. Refrigerate for 4 hours at least and serve.

Easy Mincemeat Pasta Bake

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Easy and fancy for busy chefs ……

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 500 gms mincemeat
  • 500 gms pasta (any bite size pasta, penne, macaroni,) + some salted boiling water to boil the pasta
  • 1 kg pasta sauce/ 2 cans Italian diced tomatoes + ½ kg chopped fresh tomatoes + your favourite herbs + some seasoning + ½ cup grated romano/ parmesan + 2 tbspns olive oil + 1 tspn minced garlic
  • 1 chopped brown onion
  • 1 chopped capsicum
  • 500 gms chopped button mushrooms

FOR TOPPING

  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 1 cup cheddar
  • Some romano cheese
  • Some veggies if you like

Procedure:

-Heat oil in a pan and fry onion and minced garlic until it is translucent.

-Add mincemeat and break it into pieces. When it begins to change its color add canned tomatoes and chopped tomatoes along with everything mentioned in sauce contents otherwise use 1kg leggos/ passata/ dolmio pasta sauce.

-Let it cook for about 30 minutes if making your own sauce otherwise 15 minutes on low medium heat.

-Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes and then at the end add capsicum and remove the sauce from the flame.

-Add boiled pasta and toss. Put the entire thing in a rectangular pyrex baking dish and top it up with the cheese and veggies.

-Broil in a preheated oven (180 degrees Celsius) for 10 minutes or until the topping is hot, brown and bubbly. Take it out and serve.

 

Beef Lasagna with Ricotta Filling

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Ahhhhhh…….. Out of this world!

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 375g instant lasagne sheets
  • 1 kg beef mince
  • 1 litre marinara sauce/ Bolognese sauce (1 kg chopped tomatoes & 2 cans Italian tomatoes with some oregano, thyme and rosemary……. Simmered on low heat for 30 minutes…….. season with salt and pepper)
  • 300 gms chopped mushrooms
  • 1 cup béchamel sauce
  • 2 tbspns oil
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • Some mozzarella for topping

FOR RICOTTA FILLING

  • 300 gms fresh ricotta
  • 200 gms steamed chopped spinach
  • 1 cup parmesan cheese
  • 4 tbspns parsley
  • A handful of fresh crumbled mozzarella
  • A handful of fresh tasty cheddar
  • 2 eggs

Procedure:

-Heat oil and sauté minced garlic. After a minute add beef mince and break it into small pieces while cooking through. When it starts changing its colour, add marinara sauce. Cook for 10 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes.

-Now in a separate mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients given for ricotta filling and mix well.

-Now grease a pyrex rectangular lasagne baking dish, and lay a layer of lasagne sheets. Then some meat sauce, then lasagne sheets, then ricotta filling, then another layer of lasagne sheets, then some béchamel sauce, then again some ricotta filling, another layer of lasagne sheets and then the last layer of marinara sauce. Top it with some mozzarella cheese and cover it with aluminium foil. Bake in a preheated oven (180 degrees Celsius) for 30 minutes. Then take off the aluminium foil and broil for 10 minutes at 200 degree Celsius.

-Take out, let it cool for 10 minutes, slice and serve.

Parmesan Crusted Wings

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My favorite way of making fried chicken wings ……..

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 1 kg chicken wings
  • 1 tbspn chilli paste
  • 1 tspn garlic powder
  • 1 tspn onion powder
  • Some chicken salt
  • Some normal salt
  • Some cracked black pepper
  • A pinch of white pepper
  • 4 tbspns vinegar
  • 1 tspn powdered parmesan cheese (carefully adjust the quantity of chicken salt, salt and parmesan cheese as we don’t want too salty)

FOR CRUST

  • 1 egg well beaten

FOR CRUMBS

  • ½ cup bread crumbs
  • 1 cup self-rising flour
  • Some salt and pepper (again be very careful with the quantity of salt)
  • ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • Oil for frying

Procedure:

-Marinade chicken in all the ingredients given above for at least 6 hours. Now add one egg and mix again.

-In a shallow dish make your crumb mixture. You can add any herbs if you like, I added some of the masterfood pizza mix, you can add anything you like (parsley, chives, oregano, thyme, rosemary, etc.)

-Meanwhile heat the oil to 180 degrees Celsius.

-Now take one wing from the marinade and egg mixture, dredge in the coating mix and put it on a plate. Pile all the wings by following the same procedure.

-Fry in 2 – 3 batches (6 at a time) for 4 minutes or until crispy and brown.

-Serve hot with ketchup topped with grated parmesan cheese or ranch sauce or chilli aioli.

Meatball Pasta

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An Italian delicacy, my favorite ………..

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

FOR MEATBALLS

  • 500gms beef mince
  • 2 tbspns breadcrumbs
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 brown onion

FOR SAUCE

  • 1 kilo blanched diced tomatoes
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • Your favourite seasonings
  • Some oregano
  • ½ tspn rosemary
  • 1 onion
  • 1 capsicum chopped
  • 300 gms sliced mushrooms
  • 2 cloves garlic

FOR PASTA

  • Boiling water
  • 200 gms no. 5 spaghetti

FOR GARNISHING

  • Some grated parmesan cheese
  • Some fresh basil leaves

Procedure:

-In a chopper, put everything given for meatballs and process. Make small balls out of this mixture.

-Heat oil and fry meatballs.

-Boil and strain pasta according to the instructions given on the backside of the packet.

-Heat oil and fry garlic and onion until it is translucent.

-Add tomatoes and cook it covered on low heat until the tomatoes are loose.

-Add herbs spices capsicum and your favourite seasonings and mix. (I added salt, red chilli flakes, black pepper, white pepper and lemon) Add fried meatballs and cook covered for another 2 minutes.

-Now with a slotted spoon take out the meatballs in a separate bowl. Mix boiled pasta with marinara sauce.

-Divide the pasta into 4 – 6 portions. Place each portion in a bowl or shallow plate. Put some meatballs on top and garnish with some grated Parmesan cheese and basil leaves.

-Serve hot.