I often wish that we were more of breakfast people but we’re not. I suppose our taste buds are barely functional early in the morning and it takes a few hours to get them to work. The kids rarely eat breakfast so their first meal for the day is their school recess which, fortunately, is quite early at around 9.00 a.m. So I make it a point to pack a rather heavy snack for them no store-bought cookies, definitely because, after all, it’s supposed to serve as both breakfast and mid-morning snack. Me, I rarely eat breakfast. I usually take two cups of coffee in the morning and then eat somewhere between 9 and 10 which qualifies my first meal as brunch. One day last week when the kids’ packed school lunch consisted of stir-fried pork and vegetables, I decided that my brunch would be udon. I boiled some udon, tossed them with what was left of the stir-fried dish and the result is what you see in the photo.
Of course, almost any oriental noodles will do udon is not a necessity. But I had this pack of tempura udon and I’d been dying to try cooking yaki-udon so I figured I might as well experiment with the noodles first before plunging into the next project. The result was heartening the noodles didn’t turn soggy and neither did they stick together after they were tossed with the stir-fry. Oriental noodles cook much faster than Italian pasta so they need to be watched closely while boiling. As an additional precaution, I plunged the cooked udon into ice water after draining. Then, I drained them once more before tossing them with the stir-fried pork and vegetables.
Rolled bread stuffed with sausage and cheese
Been experimenting with easy-to-prepare dishes for the coming holidays. Finger foods are always in demand so I thought I’d try and solve a nagging problem. See, when I made my pepperoni and cheese stuffed bread rolls, one of my major concerns was to avoid getting the bread soaked in too much oil despite deep frying. I’m happy to say that I’ve finally found the solution. These pieces of rolled bread stuffed with sausage and cheese were not rolled in beaten eggs. Instead, they were brushed with beaten egg so that the surface is coated very lightly just enough to make the flour and cornmeal mixture stick to create a crisp crust.
Brush each rolled bread with an egg. Brush inside the open edges (the sides) too. Roll in the flour-cornmeal mixture. Sprinkle the open edges with the flour-cornmeal mixture too to seal the cheese inside and prevent it from oozing out when it melts during frying.
Heat the cooking oil until it starts to smoke slightly and fry each rolled bread. One by one, for best results, turn the bread in the hot oil for even browning. The frying part should be very, very short. Just long enough to brown the bread but not get it soaked too much in oil. And just long enough to heat the sausage and melt the cheese BUT NOT liquefy the cheese.