Julia, Julie and Jay

Some months ago, I came across a trailer of a movie produced in 2002 titled Julia & Julie. I loved the movie from the word go, I looked for it everywhere and even asked my colleague to try and find/download it for me

For months, I searched the internet and never found the full movie until this morning when Marie my friend and colleague handed it to me. I was over whelmed, I stopped all I was doing at the office to watch it. I borrowed an ear phone to fade out all unnecessary noise; even my boss couldn’t stop me from watching it.

The movie centers on Julie, a modern young wife who is bored of her job and the ranting’s of her successful friends and with the advice from her overly supportive husband starts a cooking blog. Her mission is to cook all 524 recipes in 365 days from the cookbook of the cooking legend JULIA CHILD.

Julia in her days found her love for cooking in Paris when she went there to visit her husband, in order to curb her boredom, Julia enrolled in a cooking school and the rest was history

Julia Child beating the men in class

The beautiful thing about the movie is that both characters are not professional chefs but their love for cooking is awesome and admirable. I would love to cook for my friends to have that sunny bright face after the first bite, to cook for my boyfriend, a special meal and desert because it is Tuesday, everyone deserves a great cooking experience…..

Julia and her amazing husband…Julia is played by the World’s best actress Meryl Streep

The real Julia …RIP

After watching the movie, I figured I need a challenge ….a fun challenge, so I present to you the

JULIA, JULIE & JAY CHALLENGE

Over the next months, I would try to cook a dish every weekend. This recipe could be African or continental, this could be a cake, a main meal, a side dish or a dessert.

This I would do with your help, send me some recipes from your towns, your countries, some you just know or just heard about….This is going to be my beautiful challenge….JOIN ME

Please send all recipes to jo_gyebi@yahoo.co.uk or jaygyebi@gmail.com

A Foodie’s week- Happy Birthday Kwaku Zee

So in this past weeks, I have not been able to upload my new recipe due to internet connection………..I should do that soon anyway.

Today is a special day, the birthday of the LOVE of my life and since he is a foodie in his own right, this is to him

On Saturday after finishing Miss Kane’s order for her boutique opening, I decided to perfect my chocolate cake recipe I got from Ree (Pioneer Woman)

So we made vegetable quiche, nkate cake (Peanut toffee) and grilled chicken for Miss Kane and she loved it! thank you for giving us the opportunity.

Back to my chocolate cake, I tried the recipe one more time and got it right, well my taster Debbie says so and i trust her taste buds, so the cake is actually on sale by order for 45ghc

The cake …chocolate cake with crushed peanut toppings

I have had a few nice lunch meals last week , not messing up my diet though

Fufu with peanut butter soup with goat meat and fresh tuna

On Saturday I had some fufu and light soup with goat meat and Tilapia with my girl Dj

This woman makes the best boiled beans in Accra

Her fried plantain is the best … just the right texture

Abom from Shebrews Abom is boiled and grinded spinach leaves with salted fish, boiled egg, palm oil and avacado
Boiled yam and plantain as accompaniment

My baby is my friend, my rock and my boo!
Happy birthday , the man with whom i make the fire
God bless the work of your hands and give you that amazing love and care you emit….Love You

My Man

Aunty Christie’s Homemade Lasagna

I LOVE Aunty Christie, she is the perfect aunty, nice back, nice legs, nice soul and a banger in the kitchen! Can we trade Dee?

I love her food, I think she is the real Mukase Chic, her tilapia soup is off the hook (yes, I am gradually becoming an Ayigbegirl) so whenever she invites me to join her in the kitchen, I am glad.

Today I bring to you the amazing and simple recipe to her homemade Lasagna, have a read and try to make it, after all I would too, please don’t forget to send me pictures of any of the recipes you love on this blog…..email to jo_gyebi@yahoo.co.uk or jaygyebi@gmail.com

Find me on twitter – Mukasechic and on Instagram too and tag moi

Enjoy!

Our flour, milk and butter mixture

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you should get a creamy mixture like this after the vigorous mix

our pot of mince meat stew ready!!!

Our cooked spagetti relaxing….

Its the grated cheddar cheese, i forgot it

our brick laying starts!

top the layer with some mince meat stew

We are almost there…have patience

This is how beautiful it should look after 30 minutes in the oven…look at that brown orangy color of the crust.

That take……

You should be happy by now

Ingredients

Spaghetti
2 packs spaghetti
Cooking oil

Mince Meat Sauce
1 1/4 pound (1 package) uncooked mincemeat
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 pieces fresh tomatoes
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tbsp. of your favorite spices
Green peas
Mushroom
Green pepper
Carrots

Cheese Layer
15 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbsp. full cream milk
250g butter (1 pack)
1 cup flour

EquipmentExtra-deep 13×9-inch baking dish (should be at least 3 inches deep!)
Colander
Deep sauté pan OR wide saucepan
Medium bowl

Instructions

Heat the oven between 180 C to 200 C and lightly grease the baking pan with cooking oil.
Bring to a boil your spaghetti, don’t forget to add salt to taste (oh I left that out in the ingredients*)
When almost cooked, drain your spaghetti in the colander and let it relax and have a vacation until it is needed

For the stew.
Place a large skillet/cooking pan over medium high heat.
Put in your mincemeat and stir repeatedly to individually crumble the meat
Cook, stirring frequently, until the mincemeat is very well browned.
Meanwhile, finely chop the onion and the garlic.

Add the chopped onion and garlic to the skillet and turn down the heat to medium. Cook, stirring frequently, for another 10 minutes.

Take off the heat and drain most of the fat away from the meat.
Place back on the heat, and add the fresh tomatoes and tomato paste.
Add in your spices and allow it to cook and simmer nicely

When almost done, add in your vegetables, carrots, green pepper and mushroom – remember the vegetable choices are optional and you are allowed to add any of your choice

Cheese cream
In a hot cooking pan on fire, melt your butter, add your flour, stir for about 10 minutes and milk,remember to stir vigorously and continuously to have a smooth but thick paste –THICK would be important to you later

Arrangement
Now this is where your creativity is tested, much more like “who is smarter than a fifth grader”
Get your baking pan ready, butter crease it

Know the quantity of your spaghetti; divide them with your eyeball LOL.
First goes in your cream sauce, then spread on top a layer of your mincemeat sauce- pay attention to the process, (you would feel like a brick layer but its fine)

Sprinkle on top some cheddar cheese and some spaghetti to grace the occasion

Spread some sauce on top of the spaghetti and top it up with some more spaghetti- the pan should be getting full by now

Where is Mr cream? well he is back, finally top it up with some whitish sexy cream—gosh, I am getting all carried away. Remember why I said the layer had to be thick, a light and soaky layer would not bind the ingredients together.

Then finally, sprinkle the rest of our cheese on top and now we are ready to dig in, Bon Appetite

No! Don’t touch; it has to be cooked first
Cover loosely with aluminum foil.

Bake for 20 minutes; remember that the oven should not be too hot so the inside can cook well enough
Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes

Let it cool before serving

Additional Notes:
• This recipe is the intellectual property of Aunty Christie of T.Nungua and would soon be adapted by Mukase Chic
• This recipe feeds 6 to 8 people that is if your guest doesnt like food like my boyfriend Bra Kweku Zee *wink*

Mukase Chic in Glitz Magazine

 

Glitz Africa Magazine is Africa’s most rising magazine….deal with it if you think otherwise

When i was asked by the editor in chief, stylish Ms Claudia aka Ms C to submit a food feature, i was excited beyond compare. Apart from the fact that, it was going to be my first feature, it was a great opportunity.

Ms C wanted a fresh recipe that was healthy and greeny at the same time…i checked websites and food blogs for inspiration, and that inspiration came from the LOVE of my life, Abla Nelson aka Nicki’s mum (i am sure you know whom Nicki is)

Abla sent me a mini recipe book and took her time to choose and tag what she thought would give me inspiration, awww i was in LOVE all over again……..

I settled on a salmon dish but with wat???

I decided on adding Couscous as an accompainment , going ingerdient shooping was not too hard, i went over to Koala( a supermarket) to get my characters( that is what i call ingredients, like in a movie)

It was hard getting fresh salmon but well after almost turning the fridge over, i did and picked some sesame seeds, greens and carrot and i found a box of yellow perfumed couscous, then i knew my sweat was over.

I love to cook at Abla’s place, well because my kitchen is still not ready. But that night the ECG switchon man decided to take the electricity there to his girlfriend’s area so there was light but i had to submit the next day because Ms C had to go to print.

I cooked with my phone light and Nicki did an awesome job

Enjoy the pages of the magazine…..Recipe would be posted next week, i am so excited to see myself in Glitz, trust me and its nice been in the same magazine as Tonto Dikeh aka Poko

 

Ripe Plantain & Gizzard

Happy New Year,

Sorry I have been absent for so long. Been a really bad bad girl. I come to you today with a renewed allegiance to this blog and my readers (You should see my face, I am very remorseful)

This year I would fulfill the objectives of this blog by trying a lot of African dishes and  YOU would have to help me.

I discovered a couple of interesting African blogs and found a simple to do Nigerian recipe on avartsycooking.com, where my Naija peeps at?

I love Nigerians oh, esp the men!  Sorry back to the topic.

Today dish is Plantain and Gizzard aka Gidzo, here in Ghana we would call it Gizzard and Kokoo (Ripe Plantain)

I added a few twist to make it Ghanaian, a touch of the heavenly smelling and hot Kpakposhito.

It’s a simple recipe so go ahead and try it and send me a picture if you can.

Check out the kente table cloth….Nicki’s mother almost beat me for not wanting to use it.

• 

Bring your gizzard to boil with your onions and garlic,remember to add your fav spice…

Whilst your Gizzard is on fire, blend your tomatoe, onion, garlic, and kpakposhito , check that vibrant green color of kpakposhito… i just love it!

With half a cup of water , you should get this after blending.. dont worry we wont eat it in this state…..

• 

  Pour your nicely blended puree in a pot of hot oil and wait for the magic

   

Whilst you wait for the magic to happen, nicely cut your ripe plaintain…go creative with that

To check if your oil is ready , put in a slice of the plaintain and if it starts to fry and show those nice bubbles, Dr Oil is ready for you

i had to get my hand in there….:) my famous hand

A great sight of  a delicious army

As we wait patiently for our army to golden brown, check on the Gizzard, it should be soft and all cooked.

When Gizzard is all cooked and soft, Drain your Gizzard and get ready for another encounter with Dr Oil

The next step is very complicated, you need to pay extra attention, switch off your tv, shut down that crying child and stare straight on the next words………….MIX THEM

Garnishing was done by Nicki’s mum, she insisted hers was better and who am i to say nay!

NB: My parsley looks worn out, they were kept over night

• THE CHARACTERS
• 2 ripe plantains
• 1 pack chicken gizzards
• 3 garlic cloves
• Ginger
• 1 cup kpakposhito (  Green pepper)
• 2 medium  tomatoes
• 2 medium-sized onion
• 1-2 Maggi cubes
• 1/2 cup Fresh lemon juice
• 6 cups cooking oil
• 1/2 cup Palm oil
• 1/2 tea-spoon salt

THE RECIPE

    Carefully wash your Gizzard with clean water

    Drain Gizzard and wash with Lemon juice to reduce its nauseating smell

     Drain lemon juice, rinse gizzards 2-3 times under through water

    Transfer gizzards in a cooking pot with garlic, few slices of onions and  some ginger. let boil for 30 minutes over medium heat

   While Gizzard is boiling cut onions, tomatoes, garlic and pepper and blend with 1 cup water

    Add your cooking  oil and 1/2 cup Palm oil to a cooking pot till its hot.

    Add blended ingredients to hot oil, along with 1 maggi cube.

    Wash and rinse your plantains and cut them into sizeable pieces

     Add diced plantains to hot oil

     Deep fry till golden brown,; transfer fried plantains to paper towel to drain excess oil.

     Check on your boiling gizzards, they should be soft at this point.

     Fry your gizzard in hot oil, remember when it is done, and strain the fried Gizzard in kitchen tissue.

     The stew should be ready at this point, turn of the heat and let it cool

      Combine fried plantains and fried gizzards to a large bowl

     Using a large serving spoon, add two spoonfuls of stew & add to the fried plantains and fried gizzards combo

     Now it’s the time to serve

All pics by Nicki……….she is such a darling

    

My Angry Cupcakes

I am pissed, really pissed!

Why i am, i really do not want to talk about it……so no funny ideas.

I found myself sleeping in the long sofa at SheBrews pouting and thinking of baking……..so i did.

I baked as early at 7am

Some pictures but i am still pouting

Freshly baked caramel and chocolate cupcakes

angrily iced heheheh

It wasnt bad at all…..my colleagues loved them.

I want her back to base

Nana is having a real good time…………AM JEALOUS, yes it is in capital letters cos my heart is pounding with it.

Well she sent some pics…………….so enjoy( you should see my face)

As u can see

Steal that wooden  board for me…………..

Crushed Green grapes,elder flower syrup,wasap,ginger ale and lots of crushed ice…………………..

And yours truly………………Frimpomaa ( i miss her :(   in the glass is Egg & Bacon martini   ewwww…………i can see Nbroni in the background….

Frimpomaa bring me one of them…………but circumcised

I forgot to say she was on a date with her kenyan lover, sweet, dark rich chocolate. Has the features of a real african warrior.

Ladies and gentlemen…………The Kenyan Lover

Check that forehead…..told u “she” had african features

Smiles after all dat food…….Lunch was at the 5th floor restaurant at Harvey Nichols