Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Easy Meals for Busy Moms: Nifty Kitchen Gadget!



Making meals is a little like magic. You toss some ingredients together and voila they turn into some great delectable dishes or even meals!

I am one who on some days wish the magic wand was speedier. That it didn’t need to take a lot of time for me to clean, peel, chop and mix for a pot of curry chicken. Or measure, mix, beat, blend and cook a casserole.

In search of faster kitchen magic, here’s a gadget that helped quicken my kitchen performance because in one meal I was able to crumb, shred and mince all with just one gadget!
The Philips JamieOliver Food Processor! I’ve been dreaming of owning a food processor for years. Overwhelmed by the vast array of food processor brands in the market I haven’t quite decided which one to buy. But after watching Jamie Oliver in his Jamie’s 15 Minute Meal wielding his magic in the kitchen with this gadget just completely bowl me over that I must have my hands on this food processor!

This nifty kitchen tool has a powerful 1000w motor, adjustable slicing disc (1-7mm), reversible fine and coarse shredder, plus the new serrated blade for quick frozen desserts, I can blend, whip, slice, grate and chop without picking up a knife or whisk. With this Food Processor in my kitchen, I have everything I need to make almost anything I want! Cool isn’t it?

And here I decided to put this little gadget into good use by making it crumb, shred and mince to prepare my one pot dinner, meat balls pasta, on this day (short of using it to knead the dough of the pasta, which it can do as well)!

Here’s how I prepared my one pot meal one evening -

Toasted 2-3 slices of bread and blitz it in the Food Processor for approximately 5-6mins on high speed. The remaining bread crumbs can be stored for other dishes later.

Shred a few baby carrots or ½ a large carrot (not ideal for shredding lesser quantity as the machine is heavy duty works better on larger quantities).

Mince approximately 500gms of beef.

Blend the mixture of breadcrumbs, shredded carrot, minced beef, with chopped parsley, 1 egg, salt and pepper to taste (you may add shredded cheese if you like).

Measure the amount of spaghetti (or the pasta you plan to use) accordingly. Boil the pasta till al dente (usually takes about 12mins).

Roll the meat mixture into balls with a spoon or just with your hands. Bake them in the oven on 180C for approximately 15-20mins or till golden brown.

Saute some chopped onions and garlic and heat up the pasta sauce in the mixture of onions and garlic till it bubbles. Assemble the pasta meal and there you have it your homemade meatball pasta!

Now isn’t that magic? *smile *

Keep life simple with the PHILIPS | Jamie Oliver range which includes a food processor (S$268), handblender (S$128) and blender (S$108).
Available at leading electronics and departmental stores.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. Product attributes mentioned are provided by Philips. Opinions are 100% my own.