Home-Made 3-Course Meal

Yesterday was really a party-day. It was A LOT of work though, but I reckon it was worth it :) I randomly called out to my usual lunch gang & told them that I'll be cooking, so we'll just eat in the office's pantry.

Simple stuff, really, but somehow there's still quite some work :S

An hour & a half before I left for office:

• Heated/Baked the chicken, 
• Boiled water & cooked the spaghetti on one stove, then tossed it with seasoning 
• Prepared the dhal to the desired consistency/thickness (it was quite thick after storing in the fridge), 
• Pan-fried the instant canai on the other stove 
• Treasure-hunt for containers to store everything & packed all the dishes for office

EVERYTHING happening at the same time...the entire kitchen was in a mess! I was running around the kitchen like a mad woman....once done, I ran up to get ready for work & off I headed to the office....(and some people think I'm very free, eh? =.=" This is called effort & heart, not that I've nothing else better to do lah...wergh)

Breakfast (no photo taken):

Canai with home-made dhal

Lunch:

Appetizer - bruschetta topped with tomato salsa (recipe below)

Main - spaghetti aglio olio + baked chicken with marmalade, mint, & lemon juice + garden salad

Dessert (which we ended up eating for tea) - home-made Portuguese egg tarts

Our meal :)

The bruschetta - a simplified version & the spaghetti

(bread courtesy of BY)

The pasta is just tossed with olive oil, some chicken stock, mixed Italian herbs, salt & pepper. I could have done a more elaborated one with garlic & sundried tomatoes, but I really didn't have time in the morning. 

Recipe for the tomato salsa:
Ingredients
1-2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 tsp of mixed Italian herbs
1-2 tsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Sugar

Directions
1. Mix tomatoes, herbs, & lemon juice together.
2. Add a pinch of salt & some pepper.
3. Add in sugar & adjust the taste according to your preference - it should be not too sweet, not too sour.
4. Serve chilled!

Easy, right? Even kids can make it themselve...top the tomatoes over the slices of bread/baguette, sprinkle with some cheese (I used grated cheddar as that's the only thing that I have. Nicer if you use parmesan). You could also have some olive oil & garlic over the bread before you add the tomato salsa :)

Garden Salad (courtesy of BY - it's bought, not home-tossed)

Baked chicken with marmalade, mint, & lemon juice

Recipe? Hmm...I just blended marmalade (this one was home-made by someone, so it was really good - with chunky orange peel!), mint leaves, lemon juice, sugar, salt, crushed black pepper, sesame oil (for a smokey aroma) & olive oil - then I marinated the chicken overnight before baking it at 220 Celsius for around 30 minutes? Agak-agak lah...Make sure you coat the chicken with more olive oil/vegetable oil before you bake so that you can get a nice browning on the chicken skin. If you use chicken breast meat, marinate the chicken breast meat with corn flour, salt, & pepper first. It will make your chicken breast meat tender & smooth :)

Home-Made Portuguese Egg Tarts

Recipe taken from Rasa Malaysia. Turned out okay-lah. But there's still something wrong with it...it looks fine, but doesn't taste like those from outside :( I also thought it's too sweet & I have already reduced the amount of sugar from the one given in the recipe :S

Grand Opening of my Cake-Mixer!

It's a birthday gift from my uncle & aunts :)

Ingredients for the egg tart (custard)

Mixing the egg custard & I used instant puff pastry

It's a good puff pastry - but not for Portuguese egg tarts! :(

The pastry is slightly too oily & sinks upon baking before puffing. I reckon it's best used for meat puffs.

So very tired, but it's a rewarding effort,