Gourmet Affairs

girls night in: eating light

Sasha Keells — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:40:31 +0000

Last night. my girlfriends and me decided to hold a spa night. We decided to do facials, watch old movie and eat our favourite snacks all night.

Here’s the snack I contributed. Its simple, and super tasty.

Its called chicken nuggets with hung curd dip.

Ingredients

500 grams pack of Keells chicken nuggets
For dip
Curd————1 medium bowl
Onion———–1 medium finely chopped
Capsicum——–1 finely chopped
Green chillies–1-2
Garlic———-4-5 pods ground
Lemon juice—–1 tbsp
Salt and pepper to taste
METHOD:-
Hang curd in muslin cloth till water drains off.
Grate/grind garlic to extract juice.
In a big bowl add garlic to the hung curd and mix well.
Add chopped onion,capsicum,green chillies,salt and pepper to the curd and mix well.
Sprinkle the lemon juice and mix

Do it Sasha style…

Shallow fry chicken nuggets until golden brown. Serve with dip made above.

Serves four.

Lasagna meal over the weekend.

Sasha Keells — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:50:06 +0000

This weekend, instead of simply taking it as a holiday and sleeping in, I decided to celebrate the birthday of one our fore fathers with my friend and family.

And like all my celebrations this one too revolved around a lavish meal.

Mutton lasagna

This recipe has always been a favorite of mine and garnered rave reviews.

SERVINGS: 6-8

CATEGORY: Main Dish

METHOD: Baked

TIME: Prep: 20 min. Bake: 40 min. + standing

Ingredients:
1 250 grams pack of keells meatballs
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 medium zucchini (1-1/4 pounds)
1 cup (8 ounces) cream-style cottage cheese
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
Do it Sasha style:
In large skillet, cook meatballs and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add tomato sauce and seasonings. Bring to boil; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut zucchini into 1/4-in. slices. In small bowl, combine cottage cheese and egg. In a greased 3-qt. baking dish, place half of the zucchini; sprinkle with half of flour. Top with cottage cheese mixture and half the meat mixture. Repeat layer of zucchini and flour.
Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and remaining meattball mixture. Bake at 375° for 40 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with additional cheese if desired. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Yield: 6-8 servings

Barbequing on a saturday.

Sasha Keells — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:06:45 +0000

This saturday, keeping in mind the glorious weather a bunch of us decided to host a barbeque party.

Except this one had a twist: it was actually easy. No more roasting over the grills for hours or turning out charred meat on the end.

The meat was perfectly seasoned and done in ten minutes flat.

My secret: I was using keells ready to eat chicken sausages.

Ingredients:

500 grams pack of Keells Chicken sausages

2 bottles (18 ounces each) barbecue sauce

2 cups packed brown sugar

Do it Sasha style…

Divide sausages between two ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dishes. Combine barbecue sauce and brown sugar; pour over sausages and toss to coat.
Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 15 minutes or until sauce is thickened, stirring once. Yield: about 24 servings.

Keeping kids happy and eating with sausage rolls

Sasha Keells — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:05:30 +0000

Last afternoon i found myself in an odd predicament. I was completely out of my element as i was organising a birthday party for my nephew and twelve other five year olds.

And after some botched attempts I found myself a winner. A kids recipe that is easy to make as well as yummy.

Ingredients

1/2 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
80ml (1/3 cup) milk
500g Keells chicken sausages
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 egg, plus 1 egg extra, lightly beaten
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, just thawed
Sesame seeds, to sprinkle
Tomato sauce (ketchup), to serve

Do it Sasha style..

Combine breadcrumbs and milk in a bowl and set aside until milk is absorbed. Place sausages in a food processor with crumbs, onion and egg. Process until well combined, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to chill.
Place a sheet of pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut horizontally into two. Spoon a quarter of the mixture along the centre of each piece of pastry. Fold over a long side of pastry, brush with egg, then fold other side over to enclose, slightly overlapping in the centre, and make a long sausage shape. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling to make 4 rolls.
Place rolls, seam side down, on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cover and refrigerate for 1/2 hour until firm.
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a large baking sheet with non-stick baking paper. Carefully diagonally cut each roll into seven. Brush with remaining egg and place on baking sheet. Use a sharp knife to make 2 small slits on top of each roll (to prevent rolls from splitting) and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and puffed. Serve warm with the tomato sauce.

This dish got rave reviews and was loved by both kids and adults alike.

when strange is good: my meat and maggi invention

Sasha Keells — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:45:12 +0000

Yesterday night, after a gruelling day of work, I found myself in a rather experimental culinary mood.

So i decided to mix, the two things i love to eat and are supremely easy to cook: maggi and sausages.

The results , if I do say so myself was an absolute culinary delight and will go down in the history of food classics.

Ingredients:

one pack of instant maggi noodles
250 grams pack of keells chicken sausages
salt and pepper to taste

Do it Sasha style…

Cook the maggi noodles as you normally do. Shallow fry the keells chicken sausages and add them to the maggi.

Enjoy the dish.

Serves two.

going back to the classic: spaghetti and meatballs

Sasha Keells — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:28:54 +0000

Last night, my parents decided to drop in for a visit to see how i was coping with the pressures of living alone.

Though usually i find myself frazzled at the very idea of unexpected guests, this time i found myself unusually calm.

My secret: i had a golden recipe in hand. The spaghetti and meatballs i made using a pack of Keells meatballs was cooked in 15 minutes flat and left my parents pleasantly surprised.

Here’s how you can be an italian chef yourself:

Ingredients:

250 grams Keells meatballs
one packet of spaghetti
two table spoons of pasta sauce
salt and pepper to taste.

Do it Sasha style…

Bake or shallow fry the meat balls till golden brown. While you are browning them bring your pasta sauce to a simmer. Add sauce to cover the meatballs a little more than half way. While they’re cooking, bring pasta water to a boil and cook your spaghetti. Drain the pasta, season it with the sauce, garnish with grated or flaked cheese

Serves four.

keeping it light: a salami salad

Sasha Keells — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 09:41:54 +0000

One of the biggest misconceptions regarding meat is that unhealthy. Meats are, infact, one of the healthiest food items providing you with all your major vitamins and proteins.

Here i share with you one of my favourite easy-breezy healthy salad recipes and its yummy to boot to.

Roasted Beet and Salami Salad

Ingredients

3 medium beets, trimmed

2 stalks celery, chopped

1/2 red onion, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
250 grams keells pork salami, chopped
salt and pepper

Do it Sasha style…

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Wrap the beets in aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove them from the oven, unwrap and allow to cool. After about 10 minutes, peel them – if they’re done, the peel should come right off. Chop the roasted beets.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and toss. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving

A hotdog contest with a twist

Sasha Keells — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:03:16 +0000

Today was one of those ideal weekend days. Good compay, great weather and even better food.

In an exceptionally culinary mood, my friends and i decided to have an innovative hotdog contest. The one with the most imaginative and ofcourse, edible hotdog would be declared winner.

Armed with a truck load of Keells frankfurters and grit we started off.

At the end of some truly disastrous, and surprisingly yummy recipes the winner was decided.

Here I’ll recap the recipe for you

Pizza dogs

Ingredients

one 250 gms pack of keells frankfurters
two long hot dog breads
mozarella cheese as desired
two table spoons of store bought pizza sauce

Do it Sasha style..

Place hot dog in bun. Cut pork frankfurter in half and lay 1/2 pc. on each side of hotdog the length of the bun. Squeeze pizza sauce over hot dog, top with mozzarella cheese. Heat in microwave until hot dog is hot and cheese is melted. (About 40 seconds)

The dish is ready to serve and by popular vote most definitely a winner.

Serves two.

Party food for dummies(part 2): Roast pork with stuffing.

Sasha Keells — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:40:05 +0000

Continuing with our tutotorial on party foods, we now come to the main course.

As i continually remind my friends and family, in this day and age one needn’t be a gourmet chef to create gourmet delights.

All one needs is some imagination and of course, a shop selling Keells products nearby.

The Keells roast pork with suffing comes cooked and perfectly flavoured.All you need to do is heat it and serve with with a side of baked potatoes and steamed vegetables.

And don’t worry, no one will ever know, why you’re spending such little time in the kitchen cooking it up! Like i say, Keells is instant gourmet and instant delight.

Ingredients

500 grams keells pork roast with stuffing( yes thats it)

Do it Sasha style..

Just heat the pork roast in the microwave oven. Serve it with steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes.

Serves four.

Party food for dummies(Part 1): Cocktail sausages

Sasha Keells — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 06:43:17 +0000

The festive season is slowly creeping up on us. And along with that comes a barrage of houseguests. Some of you might be having trouble creating extensive menus. The next two entries will teach you what to cook and help you release your inner chef.

Over the years i have come up with a ist of fun light and easy to make cocktail snacks that have kept my guests coming back for more.

Here’s one of my perennial favourites:

Ingredients

250 grams pack of Keells cocktail sausages
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Do it Sasha Style…

Preheat the oven to 200C/400 degrees F.

Whisk together the oil, honey and soy sauce and pour over the sausages, then use your hands, or a couple of spatulas, to move everything about in the pan so that all the sausages are slicked.

Roast for 25 to 30 minutes; give them a shuffle about halfway through cooking if you happen to be near the oven.

Serve using decorative tooth picks for extra chutzpah.