Mc Donalds Big Mac - Any Questions?

Sandwich

• 1 regular sized sesame seed bun
• 1 regular sized plain bun
• 2 beef patties (2 ounces each flattened to bun size)
• 2 tablespoons Big Mac sauce (recipe follows)
• 2 teaspoons reconstituted onions
• 1 slice real American cheese
• 2 hamburger pickle slices
• 1/4 cup shredded lettuce

Sauce

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons french salad dressing
• 1/2 tablespoon sweet relish
• 2 teaspooons dill pickle relish
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon very finely chopped onions
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon ketchup
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

How to make your own Oreo Cookies

For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

Meat and macaroni pie - The easy Way!

INGREDIENTS 500 gr thick macaroni 1 kg minced meat 3 eggs 180 gr grated kefalo or Parmesan cheese 100 gr oil 1 medium sized onion 500 gr ripe tomatoes 1 portion béchamel sauce salt pepper

METHOD Partially cook the macaroni in salted water and drain well. Put in a baking dish and pour half of the butter over the macaroni. Beat the egg whites and mix in the macaroni. Keep the yolks.They will be used to make the bechamel sauce. Sprinkle with half of the cheese. With the remaining butter brown the minced meat and the onion. Add the strained tomatoes or the tomato paste, salt, pepper and simmer until liquid is absorbed. Remove from the heat and add the remaining grated cheese. Stir all well. Prepare the béchamel sauce. Butter a baking dish. Lay half of the macaroni in the pan. Spread evenly with the meat mixture. Lay the rest of the macaroni on top. Pour the bechamel sauce over them and sprinkle with grated cheese and some melted butter. Bake in a moderate oven (200 C) until bechamel gets brown (40 - 45 minutes).

Laura’s completely fool-proof meat lasagna recipe

STEPS 10 INGREDIENTS 13 TIME 90 MINS

My Italian wife Laura (pronounced ‘l-ow!-ra’) taught me this super-simplemeat lasagna recipe. So a big well done to her for turning a previously kitchen-phobic guy - me - into someone who can produce such a filling treat time and time again.

Although this meat lasagna recipe takes some time to work through – as is the case with all real lasagnas - the key part of its preparation is luckily the most interesting… and that’s the step-by-step ‘layering’ process. Ilove this bit!

It’s all in there: sumptuous tomato sauce, protein-packed beef, handfuls of moist and moreish mozzarella… I can’t help but eat it as I make it.

Mmmm… enough, I’m making myself hungry! Let's get on with it…

Serves 4

Ingredients: (For a printable 'meat lasagna recipe shopping list' click here, or right-click and choose 'Save target/link as' to save it for later.)

For the sauce

300g/10-11oz of minced/ground beef

(Halve this amount to 150g if you like and add a second 150g of minced pork)

4 x 395g/14oz tins of plum tomatoes

20 fresh, washed basil leaves

1 glass of full-bodied red wine

1 medium-sized onion (red or white)

1 stick of washed celery

1 medium-sized carrot

Tomato paste/purée (not essential)

Salt & pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

For the rest

15-20 long sheets of packet lasagna (roughly one 500g/17.5oz packet).

Choose any type of lasagna - plain, green spinach etc. - but don’t mix types as they cook at different speeds!

2 balls of real mozzarella cheese (not ‘buffalo’ mozzarella, it’s too soft for cooking)

65g/2-3oz parmesan cheese

Optional

1 x 250g/8.8oz tub of Italian ricotta (Laura prefers the Santa Lucia brand)

Equipment:

Big deep pan/skillet with lid

Vegetable peeler

Food mixer/blender (not essential, but I recommend this handheld mixer)

Large deep oven dish (I use the 30cm oval below) or lasagna pan (this Cuisinart is a great buy)

Cheese grater

Timings

Preparation (including sauce): 70 mins

Cooking: around 20 mins

Step 1 – Peel the onion and carrot and chop off their ends. Roughly chop them - and the celery – and blend them all in a food mixer for just a few seconds. You don’t want paste, just a rough mixture.

(If you don’t have a mixer, chop them finely.)

Step 2 – Put a large glug of olive oil in your pan (to cover half the bottom), along with two generously heaped tablespoons of the veg mixture.

Put on a medium heat and occasionally stir for 3 or 4 minutes (until the veg is soft and beginning to brown).

NOTE: This veg mixture is a staple part of many Italian tomato sauces.

Step 3 – Pour in the wine and leave it all on the heat for 2 minutes. This will evaporate some of the alcohol away, leaving the grape’s sweetness for the sauce.

Step 4 – Throw in the most important ingredient of this whole meat lasagna recipe - the mince meat.

Break it up with a spoon, and when it’s lost its redness (2 mins) add the tomatoes, two teaspoons of the paste/purée, and salt and pepper (a pinch or two of pepper, and one pinch of salt for each tomato). Mix thoroughly.

Step 5 – Cover the pan and cook for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Be sure the sauce is bubbling but not going mad. (This stage is all about softening the tomatoes.)

TIP: Taste the sauce. Delicious, right? If it tastes a bit sour (at any point), stick in half a teaspoon of sugar. Its sweetness balances the acidity of the toms.

Step 6 – Dive into the sauce with a spoon (wooden is best) to squash the tomatoes. Then take off the lid and leave it all actively bubbling away.

Set your watch or timer for 40 minutes and don’t forget to stir it every now and then.

NOTE: A real Italian cook might do the sauce ‘Goodfellas style’ here, cranking down the heat and stirring it for 2-3 hours! It tastes great either way however… so unless you’re really bored don’t bother.

Step 7 – Leave the sauce bubbling away and we'll prepare our other ingredients...

- Chop the mozzarella into small chunks (1cm cubes)

- Open the (optional) ricotta cheese

- Grate the parmesan

- Wash & roughly tear up the basil leaves

TIP: Don’t chop basil. Horizontal ‘tearing’ is best, as it doesn’t turn the leaves into mush like downward chopping does.

Step 8 – Give the sauce a stir. You want it to turn creamy, and most (not all) of the excess liquid to disappear. If you have ricotta, throw in most of your tub and stir/melt it in.

When your sauce’s consistency is like that below – probably after 45 mins or so - take it off the heat.

Step 9 – Turn on the oven to preheat it to 180C.

Now the best part of this entire meat lasagna recipe - filling that dish!

- Paste a little sauce into the bottom of your oven dish. (Don’t completely cover it - just ‘dirty’ it.)

- Cover this with a single layer of lasagna sheets. (If your dish is round, break some sheets into small bits to fill the sides, but don’t worry… the layers don’t need to be airtight!)

- Cover these sheets with another thicker layer of sauce

- Throw on a little parmesan, and evenly distribute mozzarella chunks and a few basil bits. (If you have ricotta left, drop some on each layer too.)

- Repeat and repeat until you’ve almost filled the dish.

Now, this is the most important part of this entire meat lasagna recipe (in fact it applies to any lasagna really)...

... your final layer of lasagna sheets should only be covered by the last of the sauce and parmesan. No mozzarella or basil - it might burn in the oven!

Step 10 – Put the dish in the oven and cook for roughly 20 minutes – see the lasagna packet. Your lasagna is cooked when you can stick in a cocktail stick/toothpick and pull it out without much resistance.

Done! How about that for a simple meat lasagna recipe? Do let me knowhow you got on.

Serve with: For Italians lasagna is ‘il pasto’ - the meal - so why complicate matters? Just add a glass of well-rounded red wine (this bottleis my very favorite Italian red), sit back, and enjoy the fruits of your labour!

Made too much? Read my freezing lasagna page to enjoy it at a later date. (You can also freeze any leftover sauce for a spaghetti bolognese).

Looking to make the perfect lasagna? Use fresh pasta next time (just pre-boil these fresh sheets before building your lasagna)

Curious about the calories in lasagna? Click here to learn more. 

The Best Chocolate Brownies Ever

Ingredients  (makes 12 brownies)

100g  butter

100g good quality dark chocolate (broken into small pieces)

2 large eggs

100g ground walnuts

225g caster sugar

50g plain flour

1 level teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

Method

1. Grease a 18 x 28 cm baking tin with some butter, then line the base with greaseproof paper, and grease the paper as well.

2. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C

3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat.

4. Take the pan off the heat and add the chocolate pieces to the butter; stir the chocolate into the melted butter until the chocolate melts completely - if necessary return the pan to a very, very low heat or to be safer heat it over a bain marie as it is easy to overheat chocolate. 

5. Keep the melted chocolate and butter aside, and then beat the eggs lightly in a large separate bowl.

6. Add the sugar, flour, walnuts, baking powder and salt to the beaten eggs, then add the melted butter and chocolate and mix it all together thoroughly.

7. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin and bake for 30 minutes in the centre of the pre heated oven.

8. Remove the baking tin from the oven after 30 minutes and let the brownies cool completely before cutting them into 12 pieces.

9. Eat the brownies on their own or with some vanilla ice cream. (They taste divine while they are warm, but be careful if you remove them from the baking tin while they are still warm as they are quite crumbly before they cool down).

Turkey Cutlets Recipe

Adding lemon, capers and parsley creates a sauce that can also be good with chicken breasts, fish fillets or veal cutlets. Turkey is a versatile protein. Just 3-ounces of boneless, skinless turkey breast contain 26 grams of protein, 1 gram of fat and no saturated fat. This recipe is great for people who are looking for a balanced nutritious diet while cutting fat intake.

Ingredients –
8 ounces turkey cutlets
1 tablespoon capers
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Cooking -
Step 1 –
Combine flour and pepper and rub turkey in mixture. Set 2 teaspoons of the flour mixture aside.
Step 2 –
Heat oil in skillet and add turkey. Cook 2 to 3 minutes per side until browned. Remove from heat and transfer to a plate.
Step 3 –
Add onion, thyme and water and cook about 3 minutes until onions are soft. Sprinkle with left over flour mixture, add broth and simmer for 3 minutes. Add capers, lemon juice and parsley to the sauce. Return the turkey to the pan and cook about 1 minute until heated all the way through.

Nutrition per Serving –
220 calories
6 g fat
48 mg cholesterol
11 g carbohydrates
31 g protein
1 g fiber
300 mg sodium
81 mg potassium

Chocolate Chip Muffins

(12 servings)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup light-brown sugar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter -- melted and cooled
• 2 eggs - beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 package (12 oz) chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans -- chopped

Preheat oven to 400 F. and grease up twelve muffin cups. 

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, stir together milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla until blended. Make a well in center of dry ingredients; add milk mixture and stir just to combine. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. 

Spoon batter into muffin cups; bake 15-20 minutes, or until a knife inserted in center of one muffin comes out clean. Remove muffin tin to wire rack; cool 5 minutes and remove from tins to finish cooling. 

Serve warm.