Pan Fried Sausages with Jam

Sausage has been one of my favorite food for all time. You can just fried them or grill them, eat them with buns or nothing else. Their smoky savory  flavour just goes well every time. And usually I season the sausage with butter or hot sauce or any other sauce. But, recently I just found out, that sausage and jam could make a perfect marriage.

I got the inspiration after watching an episode of Rachel Zoe Project when she made her famous baked salami with apricot preserves. Afterward, I tried it with beef sausages, since I don't eat pork, and I used dragon fruit jam to subtitute the apricot. Not trying to be fancy, but at that time I only had the dragon fruit jam in my fridge. And the result was amazing. The sweet-sour jam got caramelized and add extra richness to it. I also prefered to pan fry them, just to make it simplier.

This light meal is great for snacking, or for your party platter. You just need a few ingredients, and a short time of preparation.

Ingredients:

• 6 beef sausages (10cm long)
• 3-4 tbs fruit jam.
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder, 
• oil/butter

Method:

• Mix jam and chilli powder in a mixing bowl.
• Make incision in every sausage so that they won't explode when exposed to the heat.
• Rub the sausage with the jam mixture, and let it rest for several minutes (approx 15-30min)
• Grease the frying pan and put it on medium heat.
• Put in the sausages, and turn every 1-2 minutes to keep them from burning. Cook until they're slightly charred.

You can use any kind of fruit jam, but I prefer sweet-sour jam to make the best result. You can also mix the jam with hot sauce or chilli sauce. It all depends to your imagination.

My First Try Out: Wagyu Steak!

After long curiosity, finally I had the chance to make this. It started with my husband accidentally passing by the meat section in the supermarket. He saw the sign "wagyu beef promo" and then decided to take a closer look. The promo sign didn't lie, it was really cheap. Then we bought 3 slices of wagyu beef (about 750 grams total), all only cost no more than Rp75,000. Normally, it cost more than Rp100,000 per portion (about 250 gr) in the restaurant. So, I think I did a good job on this. The meat quality was also good, still red and fresh, with georgeous white marbling fat.

Wagyu literally means Japanese cow. The cows  have unique characteristics that produce high quality beef that is famous around the world. When grilled, the marbling fat will melt down and leave the meat so tender and succulent. And the best way to grill is medium well or almost well done, when the center part of the steak is still freshly pink or has slightly red streak.  Don't worry about the seasoning. I just use salt, pepper, and paprika.

Rub the meat with salt, ground white and black pepper, and paprika powder. Put the meat in the fridge and let it rest for about 30 minutes or 1 hour. I use non-stick grill pan. This pan will make the char effect on your meat. Just rub the pan slightly with oil, and heat it with medium heat. When the pan is hot, grill the steak. Takes 2 minutes to grill each side of the steak, this will make nice char and the perfectly medium-well cooked meat.

To make the sauce, just melt the butter in the pan with low heat to dissolve the crust and the spices.  Scratch gently with a wooden or silicone spoon. Be careful, not to ruin the non-stick layer of the pan. The sauce making only takes about 2 minutes, so the butter won't be burnt. Then pour the sauce onto the steak, and   serve it with fried sliced potatoes and your favorite greens. Or anything you want.   

Spicy Chicken Wings--my guilty pleasure

Di malam nan dingin, laper pula, mau keluar males... pikir punya pikir di kulkas masih ada frozen spicy wings merek Fiesta. Hmmm... bikin my version of spicy chicken wings kaenya enak nih. Tinggal sreng-sreng... campur-campur bumbu di mangkok: saos tomat sisa beli pizza Domino, saos sambal Belibis, cayenne pepper bubuk, bawang putih bubuk, tabasco, madu. Aduk-aduk... jadi deh! My guilty pleasure... kudapanku untuk malam ini. Rasanya yummy banget.

*Jadi nyesel dulu pernah beli spicy wings di kafe-kafe. Udah mahal, standar lagi rasanya, ketahuan tinggala goreng doang punya Fiesta, trus dikasih sambel ABC, harga 20 ribuan. Alamak... kreatif dikit nape?!!!


Bahan:
- 6 potongan chicken wings Fiesta
- 1,5 sdm margarine cair
- 2 sdm saos tomat
- 1 sdm saos sambal
- 1/2 sdt bawang putih bubuk
- 3 tetes tabasco
- 1 sdm cayenne pepper bubuk

Cara membuat:
- Goreng ayam sampai garing, angkat.
- Campur semua bahan dalam wadah, kocok-kocok atau aduk hingga merata.
- Masukkan ayam dan aduk bersama campuran saus hingga terlumuri seluruhnya dengan merata. Hidangkan.

Percobaan blackberry ice cream

Penasaran terus ya kalau sama es krim. Maunya sih beli, tapi kalau kantong lagi cekak lumayan bow. Trus, katanya dalam es krim kemasan itu banyak zat pengawetnya. Secara nih, maunya hidup sehati, jadi kucoba bikin es krim sendiri. Gampangnya sih pake ice cream maker. Tp belom tau ya di sini bisa dibeli di mana. So, kucoba-coba deh, setelah berguru dari beberapa channel memasak luar negeri. hehehe... lumayan nih. Anakku suka banget, suamiku juga suka. Bahannya juga simpel: susu, telor, vanili, gula, blackberry.

Sebenarnya ini bukan percobaan pertama, tapi hasil es krim yg dulu2 kaenya lebih katro dan kurang layak... hehehe.... Pastinya bakal bikin percobaan lagi sih. Sementara, inilah hasilnya....

Bahan:
- 1,5 liter susu
- 12 sdm gula pasir
- 4 kuning telur
- 1 sdm vanili cair
- 100 gram blackberry segar (hancurkan)

Cara membuat:
- Rebus susu dan gula dengan api kecil, sambil diaduk terus-menerus agar tidak menggumpal.
- Tambahkan vanili.
- Kocok kuning telur sampai rata, lalu tuangkan beberapa sendok susu ke dalam kocokan telur, dan kocok  lagi sampai tercampur rata, lalu tuangkan ke dalam rebusan susu dan gula. Aduk terus selama beberapa menit. Lalu matikan api.
-Siapkan wadah tahan beku, tuangkan campuran susu ke dalam wadah, biarkan sampai suhu turun, setelah itu simpan dalam freezer hingga menjadi beku.
- Aduk-aduk adonan es krim beku dengan sendok kayu sampai lumat, atau gunakan mixer, setiap 1-2 jam hingga tercapai tekstur yang diinginkan, yaitu agak lembut. Setelah itu masukkan blackberry yang sudah dihancurkan, aduk-aduk sampai tercampur (tidak perlu merata untuk memberi tekstur warna yang berbeda), dan kembali simpan di dalam freezer sampai membeku kembali. Tunggu sampai kira-kira 2 jam, dan es krim siap dinikmati.