Ajuangs Kitchen

Heat olive oil in a pan and add the onions, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the onions are translucent but not brown. Off the heat, add the Worcestershire sauce, chicken stock, and tomato paste. Allow to cool slightly.

In a large bowl, combine ground beef, onion mixture, bread crumbs, and eggs, and mix lightly with a fork. Don't mash or the meat loaf will be dense. Shape the mixture into a rectangular loaf on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper. Spread the ketchup evenly on top. Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours,and the meat loaf is cooked through. 

For the icing I mixed together 1 cup cream cheese, 1 cup butter and 2 cups icing sugar and placed in on the cake while still warm. Place in the refrigerator to cool.

Comfort food does not get  much better than this dish. This required two main things, creamy mushed potatoes and ground beef.  To make the mushed potatoes, boil pealed and cubed potatoes in a mixture of cream and milk. Add salt and mush the potatoes then add cheese and stir.  You can boil the potatoes in water and add a little milk, cheese and butter as you mush if your not a huge fan of cream.

In a skillet place butter and oil on medium heat and saute onions, carrots and garlic until tender for about 7 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Once the vegetables have softened and start to brown a little add the tomato paste and mix evenly. Add the ground beef and cook until beef is no longer pink about 10 minutes. Add the Worcestershire sauce and beef stock( I used chicken stock, it was all i had). Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook and simmer for another 10 minutes. Mix in peas. 




Transfer mixture to an oven-proof baking dish and spread evenly. Place potato on top of ground beef mixture and spread out evenly, once the top surface has been covered, rake through with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. Place the dish into the preheated oven and cook until browned, about 20 min. 

I love to roast a whole chicken because it is my ultimate lazy week dish. There are so many things to do with the leftovers.  First thing is to soak the chicken in a brine solution for oven an hr, the brine solution contains warm water, vinegar and salt; this helps make the chicken tender.  Stuff chicken with fresh herbs like rosemary, cilantro and parsley. Place in the oven and roast covered with foil at 150 degrees C for an hour and a half, remove cover  and roast for an extra half an hour for the chicken to get color. The result is juicy tender chicken that falls off the bone. You can use the leftovers for sandwiches, pizza toppings, salads.. possibilities are endless..

In a bowl, combine 2 tbs of yeast, 2 tsp sugar and 2 cups of warm water and stir gently to dissolve. Let the mixture stand until the yeast comes alive and starts to foam , will take about 10 minutes.

Stir in the salt and the 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 6 cups of  flour. When the mixture becomes too stiff to stir with a spoon, knead in the rest of the flour by hand, adding just enough so that the dough is soft but not too sticky. As you work, squeeze a small amount of dough together between your thumb and fingers. If it's crumbly, add more water; if it's sticky, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. 


Place the dough into into a lightly oiled bowl, turning it over to coat the dough entirely with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let it rise in a warm spot  until it doubles in size, about 1 hour. 

To make the pizza sauce, in a pan place some olive oil and add some garlic, tomatoes and tomato paste and water. Let it cook until it forms a paste. 

Place olive oil in a hot baking tin and add the dough and spread it out, add the pizza sauce, followed by your desired toppings and finally cover with shredded mozzarella cheese. With the oven at maximum heat, place the pizza in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes.

Tips: The trick to a successful home-made pizza is in activating the yeast, make sure it foams. The bread also requires warmth to rise, if the hse is cold you can heat the oven for a few min, turn it off then place the dough inside to rise.