cheat's chicken parmigiana

Second to Asian cuisine, I love Italian food especially pasta! Great food, but I am no expert in making them. I remember eating chicken parmigiana earlier in the year at La Porchetta where it was around $20 for the whole meal. Supposedly pretty expensive as you can buy a filling meal somewhere else for half the price. But had a satisfying lunch that day.

During the holidays, mum usually prepares lunch of some sort where we just have to heat it up in the microwave. I did tell her several times not to make lunch for me since I was going to make it myself. On the day she fried chicken schnitzels, I didn't just want to eat schnitzels with tomato sauce so I decide to add something to it for a better meal :) Same thing when mum pan fried some dumplings, I just turned them into dumpling ramen (or soba in my case).

The chicken parmigiana is not very traditional or even close to authenic or restaurant quality by it does have the three main coponents of the crumbed chicken schnitzel, tomato sauce and melted cheese on top. But let's just call this a cheap knock-off from the original :D

Oh and the cheat's part, I used store-bought chicken schnitzels instead. Of course, you can crumb the chicken fillets yourself too :)

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cheat's chicken parmigianaan original recipe by me
ingredients:makes 2 sides or 1 main course

• 2 small chicken schnitzels
  (you can get them from the local butcher or supermarket)
• oil for frying
• 100 g tinned tomatoes
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
  (adding more sugar reduces the acidity of the tomatoes)
• pinch of dried Italian herbs
• grated pizza cheese
• grated parmesan cheese, optional

oven:
200 degrees Celcius

method:
1. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry chicken schnitzels until crunchy and golden. Drain excess oil on kitchen paper. Transfer warm chicken schnitzels to a baking tray lined with foil and baking paper.

2. Heat a non stick frying pan and add the tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar and dried Italian herbs. Cook over medium heat until sauce thickens. Transfer sauce to a bowl.

3. Spread the thick tomato sauce on top of the schnitzel ensuring that each schnitzel is covered with the sauce.

3. Top with some grated pizza cheese and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

4. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 7 - 10 minutes or until cheese has melted. Serve hot!

みそ田楽 miso dengaku

At first I called these miso yaki tofu, but a Japanese photographer, nasufumitaka on flickr also said they were known as miso dengaku. Further research shows they are also called tofu dengaku. Call them whatever you want :) But I don't have a griller, and I didn't want to bake the tofu so this is a less authentic miso dengaku. Nevertheless I think it tastes quite good!

For this recipe, I did not have a recipe I could refer too, but I had tried nasu dengaku (eggplant with sweet miso) earlier in the year in my uncle and aunt's restaurant so I had a good idea of what I wanted it to taste like and how it would look when finished.

Had a test run for the recipe on the Monday when the guys were over and ended up burning quite a few because of the level heat. Don't worry I did try it again with the remaining tofu and changed the method so your one shouldn't burn. Like Thangstahh said, tofu is tasteless (but I still love tofu's plain taste :D) and really depends on the sauce and toppings so you can add more toppings if you want :)

Notebook drawings inspired by awesome photographer and artist ^^ Christine check out her flickr page too!

If you can read and understand the scribbles in my notebook, I did make small adjustments to it.

***

みそ田楽 miso dengaku

ingredients: serves 2 - 4

500 g firm tofu
2 Tb shiro (white) miso1 2/3 Tb konbu dashi / chicken stock / water
5 tsp sugar (adjust to your own taste)
1 Tb mirinkatsuobushi (shaved bonito), optional
nori strips (cut dried seaweed), optional
sliced spring onion, optional
toasted white sesame seeds, optional

method:
Drain out the water in the tofu and cut into 12 equal sized pieces.

Put the tofu pieces in boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. Drain water and place tofu on kitchen paper to soak up excess water.

Put the shiro miso, konbu dashi / chicken stock, sugar and mirin in a small saucepan. Cook in a medium - low heat until sauce is smooth. Transfer sauce to a small bowl. (You might want to add more sugar if you want your tofu sweeter.)

Heat a non-stick frying pan add the drained tofu pieces and lightly brown them on high heat.

Change heat to medium - low. Using a pastry brush, brush some miso sauce on top of the tofu and flip them. It is important to use a medium - low heat as the sugar content in the sauce will burn easily if you use high heat.
Repeat step 5 until there is no more miso sauce.

Transfer tofu to a plate and sprinkle a combination of katsuobushi, nori strips, sliced spring onion and toasted white sesame seeds.

お好み焼き

今冬休みです。たくさん宿題があるけど毎日料理しました。ダメな高校生だよね。（笑）最近、昼御飯のためにお好み焼きを作った。作り方は超簡単だと思った。

メルボルンでは長いもを買わないだから初めて作った時おろしポテトを加えた。お好み焼きはふわふわにならない。ニ回、作った時２大さじクリムコーンを加えたでも結果は同じだ。やっぱ、長いもは大切な材料だ！次回、おろしさつまいもを加えてみます☆

豚ばら肉の他にデリカテッセン買ったのサラミやスライスハムやベーコンを使った。それに、もしお好み焼きの生地には紅しょうがを加えて、お好み焼きはすげぇぇぇぇ美味しいになった！

使ったお好み焼きレシピはこちらへどうぞ。　
もし日本へ行って大阪でお好み焼きともんじゃ焼きを食べてみたい。そこで、有名な食べ物から。

もう、冬休みの一週間を終わった。早いだよね！宿題が…まだ…ああああ！！＞＿＜

月曜日に三人の仲いい友人と家で遊んだり、昼御飯を食べったりをしています。楽しみにしています！