Thursday, January 12, 2012

Stuffed Shells

Sometime last year (or was it the year before ?), my friend Ayie brought us some frozen home-made lasagna rollups. She thought it would make us a good instant meal for when I get too busy or preoccupied w/ taking care of Swe-cha & was not able to prepare dinner.

Needless to say, the lasagna rollups were an instant hit. So much so that hubby requested that I try and make some myself. I did try to make some myself but it wasn't as easy as it looks. Things got messy as rolled & stuffed the lasagna sheets so I wasn't really gung-ho about doing it again.

Last week, I saw these jumbo shells in the grocery's pasta aisle and an idea hit my head. Since people were stuffing these shells anyway - usually, with cheese - why not stuff it w/ the filling similar to the lasagna rollups ?

and so... this dish was born.

Filling:
start with your standard bechamel sauce, flavor with cheddar cheese & mozzarella cheese (just keep adding cheese until it tastes right). Add chopped spinach (optional).

Shells: Prepare pasta shells according to package instructions

Meat sauce: Just prep your usual meat sauce. I made mine w/ ground beef & instant (traditional) spaghetti sauce from the jar.

To assemble, stuff the jumbo shells w/ the filling, arrange on a plate, top with sauce & cheese. Cover with foil & bake until the cheese topping is melted.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Eggplant Chips

I didn't start eating vegetables until I was in my 20s and that was when my love affair with eggplant started. I have not met an eggplant dish that I do not like yet.

These crispy eggplant chips are one of the easiest to prepare. At home (in the Philippines), our cook usually cuts the eggplant up in nice little rectangles - I have never been able to do that so I just slice diagonally and it works just as well.

I don't have an official batter recipe, it's mostly just tantya-tantya but so far, it's always tasted good.

Batter:
- egg
- cornstarch
- little water
- season w/ pepper and fish sauce (patis)

Slice eggplant into thin chips.
Dip into batter.
Deep-fry till cooked.

I didn't realize how much I missed this until we went to CA for Christmas and Mom made these for dinner one day. Ang sarap!

It's oil-overload though, major umay afterwards due to the oil :)