easy recipe – Jellybeans in the City

#QuarantineCookbook: Egg Pie

One of my favorite merienda items back when I was little was the egg pie.

I just love the creamy custard filling that’s perfectly complemented by a buttery and flaky crust.

To this day, I still find myself craving for it from time to time, especially during my coffee break.

While it is readily available in my neighborhood, whether via delivery apps or by dropping by a mom-and-pop bakery, I figured it was best to make it from scratch at home, especially since I got hold of this recipe which seems to easy to make.

Ingredients:

Crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small cubes
4 tbsp water

Filling

3 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
1 300ml condensed milk
1 370ml evaporated milk

Procedure:

To make the pie crust:

Combine flour, salt, sugar and butter in a bowl. Mix until fine crumbs form.
Add the water and mix until a dough is formed. Cover it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.
Roll out the dough on a flour-dusted board until it is 1/8-inch thick.
Transfer the dough to a lightly greased 9-inc round pan. Trim the excess dough and press the tines of a fork against the edges to create a design, then set aside.

To make the filling:

In a bowl, whisk together three whole eggs and one egg yolk.
Add the vanilla, condensed milk and evaporated milk, then stir well until thoroughly combined.
Strain the mixture twice, then set aside.
In another bowl, beat the egg white until stiff peaks form, thrn gently fold into the filling mixture.

To bake the pie:

Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust.
Gently tap the pie pan against your work surface to get rid of air bubbles.
Bake the pie in a pre-heated 180-degree C oven for forty-five to fifty minutes pr until the top turns brown.
Serve and enjoy!

The baking pie filled our home with the sweet scent of vanilla and custard and the fam could hardly wait for it to be fully cooked so we could all dig in.

We polished off the pan in no time at all!

I’ve made this pie for the fam several times already and it’s a hit every time.

Try this recipe yourself and let me know how it goes!

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#QuarantineCookbook: Easy Creamy Pesto Chicken

Even while stuck at home because of the quarantine, I’m still a busy working mom. The demands of my job often precludes me from spending too much time in the kitchen.

This means that I rarely get enough time to devote to discovery and exploration of culinary possibilities to expand my family’s menu beyond the usual staples or to make dishes and ingredients from scratch.

This is why I’m so glad that I have a jar of The Saucier Homemade Classic Pesto in my ref.

In case you’re wondering, a saucier, also known as the saute chef, prepares the sauces, stews and the hot hors d’oeuvres as well as sautes food to order.

With The Saucier’s homemade and preservatives-free sauces and dressings in my cooking arsenal, it’s like I have my own saucier right in my kitchen. Coming up with an extraordinary home-cooked meal is so much easier when half the work is already done.

For our dinner last night, I made a new fam favorite: Creamy Pesto Chicken. Check it out!

Ingredients:

Half-kilo of boneless chicken thigh fillets (I prefer chicken thighs to chicken breasts as these tend to be juicier and more flavorful. Fortunately, I can get a pack of boneless filleted thighs at Landers.)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 1/2 tbsp The Saucier Homemade Classic Pesto
2 cups cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup grated parmesan

Procedure:

Rub the chicken pieces with salt, pepper and pesto sauce.

Prepare the sauce by whisking together the flour, garlic, pesto sauce and evaporated milk. Season the mixture with salt and pepper and mix well.

Heat the olive oil in non-stick pan then fry the chicken pieces for up to five minutes on each side or until thoroughly cooked. Set aside.

In the same pan, cook the cherry tomatoes in medium to high heat for up to a minute or until they begin to soften.

Add the sauce mixture to the skillet and bring to a boil.

Place the cooked chicken back into the pan and cook for up to three minutes until heated through and well-coated by the sauce, then remove from heat.

Serve your Creamy Peato Chickeb with pasta, rice, or in my fam’s case, some sliced Ciabatta and Special Dip from Chef Jessie which really strengthened our meal’s Italian flair.

Once again, my foray into the kitchen has yielded a hit with the fam!

Try this recipe out and let me know how it goes!

For more details or to get your hands on The Saucier’s sauces and dressings, as well as its tasty Mushroom Burger, visit The Saucier on Facebook or call +63 2 76233600, +63 2 79015526 or +63 917 8870125.

Looking for other easy-to-cook dishes to try out while in quarantine? Check out my other kitchen adventures:

#QuarantineCookbook: Easy Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

All this extra time spent at home sure gets me in a more adventurous mood in the kitchen.

While Hubby has been flexin’ his culinary muscles and impressin’ the kiddos with outputs such as Beef Stroganoff and my K-pop princess #ExhibitA whipping up some Tteokbokki and Jajangmyeon on the fly, I decided to show ’em a thing or two on how mommy (sometimes!) knows best in the kitchen by preparing Shepherd’s Pie for dinner.

Shepherd’s Pie was first known as cottage pie, which became popular in Europe in the late 1700s around the time when the potato was being introduced as an affordable food crop for the poor, hence the inclusion of “cottage” – which refers to “modest dwelling for rural workers” – in the dish’ name.

It became known as Shepherd’s Pie in the 1800s when mutton or lamb was used as the meat filling.

In the early 1900s, it also adopted the monicker Hachis Parmentier, named after the Frenchman Antoine-Augustine Parmentier who advocated the potato as food source in France and throughout Europe.

Since its down-to-earth beginnings, Shepherd’s Pie has enjoyed worldwide popularity and is included in the menus of many European restaurants.

Well, true to my “no-fuss/no-frills” philosophy when it comes to home cooking, the Shepherd’s Pie I served my fam is quite easy to prepare, with ingredients that are available in many wet markets or grocery stores even during the enhanced community quarantine.

Ingredients:

5 medium potatoes
1/2 cup butter
1 medium onion, rough-chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
1/2 kilo of ground beef
1 beef bouillon cube dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water to make a beef broth
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated cheese

Procedure:

Place the potatoes, along with a teaspoon of salt in a medium-sized pot covered by water by at least half an inch. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for twenty minutes or until tender, then remove from the pan.

Melt half of the butter in a pan on medium heat. Saute the onions and carrots in the butter for six to ten minutes or until tender.

Add the ground beef to the carrots and onions, cooking until the beef loses its reddish color. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the Worcestershire sauce and the beef broth. Once the beef mixture reaches a simmer, lower the heat and cook uncovered for 10 minutes.

Mash the cooked potatoes in a bowl. Add in the remaining half of the butter, then season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 200 deg C. Evenly spread the beef mixture in a large baking dish.

Spread the mashed potatoes over the top of the ground beef. Using a fork, rough up the surface of the mashed potatoes to create peaks that will get browned. You may sprinkle some grated cheese on top of the mashed potatoes.

Place the baking dish in the oven and cook for thirty minutes or until brown and bubbling.

This recipe serves eight at 383 calories per serving.

The dish is a hit with the fam and I look forward to preparing it again. For my next attempt, I’m considering adding some sliced mushrooms.

I would recommend this dish for Sunday brunch with the fam or as a contribution to a potluck party. It’s quite heavy on its own and can go a long way when combined with other dishes.