Mediterranean Roast Chicken Salad

As a financially and time poor uni student it is often difficult to come up with quick healthy meals that don't break the bank. One of my latest creations, however, meet these criteria and ofcourse tastes great as well. 

My Mediterranean Roast Chicken Salad is made using oakleaf lettuce (any salad leaves will do), sliced tomatoes and cucumber, olives and crumbled feta cheese. I dressed the salad with a balsamic dressing and then tossed all the salad ingredients together. 

I used one chicken breast (half is more than enough per serving though) which I seasoned with salt and pepper before roasting it in a moderate oven for 15-20 minutes. I then sliced and added the roasted chicken to the salad while still warm. 

To make the meal more substantial I also toasted a couple of pieces of sourdough, though any crusty bread will do. 

So take a break from your mi goreng and give it a try!

Manchurian Chicken

So my mum has finally returned from her trip to New Zealand and with a new recipe to boot.

She calls this Manchurian Chicken because it's based off a dish of the same name she tasted at a Chinese restaurant in India.

It tastes pretty good I think, at least in comparison to the steak, mince and boiled eggs my dad, brother and I are able to make on our own. Unfortunately I have no idea how she made it aside from chicken thigh fillets being a key ingredient ;)

Chocolate Mousse Cups

Now this is my ultimate favourite recipe of all time. For a long time I was addicted to making chocolate mousse and so every week I attempted a different recipe to find the perfect mousse.  Out of all the recipes I have tried, when I found the one to make this chocolate mousse I stopped searching because in my opinion this made the perfect mousse. 

Making chocolate mousse has most certainly entertained me. I always play some music and dance while I do it because it’s relaxing and fun (unlike some recipes). You could almost say that making mousse was like singing in the shower for me.  The amazing thing is, whoever you make it for will be impressed (that’s what I have found) and all you need is some eggs, cream, chocolate and unsalted butter.  It’s very cheap compared to other food recipes as well, but the quality of the chocolate affects the quality of the mousse. So don’t be cheap and spoil yourself with the good chocolate and not the cooking chocolate. 

Some tips I have learnt while making chocolate mousse:

·         Try and use milk chocolate rather than dark chocolate- Milk chocolate isn’t as powerful a flavour and therefore it doesn’t become too rich

·         Make sure you “fold” in the cream-  this takes longer but if you simply mix the mixtures together the mousse won’t be as fluffy

·         Add raspberries-their tangy flavour compliments it better than strawberries or other fruit and gives it a burst of freshness

·         Place in chocolate cups- this makes it more appealing for guests and it can easily be made or bought from the shops.

Mississipi Mud Cheesecake

My younger brother Jarrah recently celebrated his 17th Birthday. To avoid a kitchen nightmare I opted to buy him a cake instead of attempting to bake one myself. Jarrah has always been a big fan of cheesecakes, so I figured the Continental Mississippi Mud Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Shop (where all cakes are baked on premises) would be a safe bet - and boy it did not disappoint! 

The silky chocolate ganache icing and the creamy cheesecake filling was the perfect marriage between sweet and savoury. Crushed peanuts coated the outside of the cake providing great texture, and along with the chocolate icing and maraschino cherry garnish, brought back memories of chocolate sundaes at the beach. 

For such a decadent creation, the flavours complimented each other really well. That said, I would strongly advise on only having a thin slice unless you want to risk going into a sugar-coma! Now I just have to wait until another birthday party so I have an excuse to visit the Cheesecake Shop again - I hear their baked cheesecakes are just as good!

Crown Wands

The other week I attended a birthday party for a little girl and found these gorgeous crown shaped biscuits attached to a stick. Biscuits aren’t very interesting, but something about placing it on a stick made it seem more appealing than normal. I’m not sure if its the idea that the biscuit was trying to imitate a lollipop, but holding a giant glamorized crown on a stick made me feel like a small innocent child again. 

Surprisingly this crown wand wasn't sickly sweet with a sugar over-load, but rather had a sweet subtle hint of vanilla. The biscuit was creamy vanilla, and the icing was pink "royal icing" that was thinly spread evenly over the biscuit and therefore didn't over power the subtle hint of vanilla. This small delicate piece is a great snack for a small children's party, but older generations may not appreciate the delicate piece.

Beef mince!

Hey everyone!

My mum is currently overseas so I decided I'd test my culinary skills today by making some bolognese mince. I stopped by coles and picked up some premium beef mince (since I'm a premium kind of guy) and then I basically just put it into a pan with a bottle of bolognese sauce and stirred it on high flame until it looked like this:

It tasted pretty great too so I'd advise all you uni students living off boiled eggs and two minute noodles to convert since this was probably just as simple to make.

Our first post!

Hey, we are three isys100 students who are creating a blog about the food we eat. Tune in for info about cheap and tasty food recommendations in the local Sydney area as well as some easy to make recipes etc.