Butternut Ravioli

Answer to Diane on my Domed Jhudora Petit Four post:
- Thank you so much for your comment! I still think I could have done better but as it looks very complicated already, I tried a simpler process :)

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Hello!
Today my food of choice was the plate of Butternut Ravioli!
This will make a very good and nutritious meal and, regarding the original picture, it really goes very well with some sort of tomato sauce ;) If you eat the whole raviolis though, I have to warn you that it might get a bit cloying.
For these raviolis you will need (this gives about 6 or 7 big raviolis):
- a square cookie cutter with about 7cm x 7cm (mine had a ruffle like pattern on the sides just for the sake of imitation :P)
- Home made pasta dough (and follow the directions because it is a recipe for raviolis too, the only thing that changes is the filling and shape)
- 6 Tbsp of ricotta or mascarpone cheese
- 3/4 of a cup of grated parmesian cheese 
- 3/4 of a cup of butternut squash cut in small cubes
- 1 small egg
- salt and pepper to taste
- some semolina or cornmeal
Start by making the filling. In a small frying pan with a bit of oil cook the cubes of butternut squash for a few minutes, on medium-low heat, until tender. Scoop them out on a kitchen paper to remove the excess oil and set aside to cool completely.
After the butternut completely cooled mash it lightly with a fork and then combine the cheeses, butternut squash and egg in a bowl. Mix it well and season with salt (remember that parmesian is already salty) and pepper. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge.
Now make the pasta dough and roll it out just like the recipe in the link above. After that all done, place a tablespoon of filling for each ravioli and proceed until you have your raviolis covered with the second sheet of dough. Now use the cookie cutter to cut each ravioli and place them in a surface sprinkled with some semolina or cornmeal.
Make the raviolis until you run out of filling.
To cook them is pretty simple. A pot of water and a pinch of salt on high heat. Bring it to a boil and place the raviolis carefully in the water (you might have to do this in batches depending on the size of the pot). They'll be done 3 to 5 minutes after starting to float. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon and on a plate and lets prepare the tomato sauce! 

- 5 Tbsp of Tomate Frito (or you can use tomato puree with onion and garlic to taste: frying pan with a bit of olive oil on medium-low heat, all ingredients inside and let it boil for about 5 minutes, stirring it once in a while - tomate frito done!)
- salt, pepper and sugar to taste

- Some basil leaves to garnish

Now, all you have to do is heat the Tomate Frito in a small sauce pan or even in the microwave (I find it to be better on the stove), season it with salt and pepper, add a bit of sugar to cut the acidity of the tomato and voilà!
Pour it over the raviolis, garnish with the basil leaves and you're good to go! Enjoy!

*This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Omelette Monday - Cheese and Onion Omelette

Hello!
Today, and this might sound weird, I'm starting another new segment here on the blog! It is called "Omelette Mondays" and I don't think it needs any more presentations :P
On to the omelette I chose for today - Cheese and Onion Omelette! Super delicious, super easy to make, you probably already have the ingredients on hand at home... lets get started!
You will need for one pretty decent omelette:
- frying pan
- 2 eggs + a splash of milk
- a handful of crispy onion (or half a small onion chopped the way you prefer) + a few pieces of fresh onion for garnish
- cheese of choice, as long as it melts, and try not to use more that half a cup :P
- a bit of oil to fry and salt to taste (don't forget that usually the cheese is already salty)
Start by, in the same frying pan you'll be using, putting in a bit of oil, medium low heat and cook the pieces of onion for garnish until they become very tender. Scoop them to a plate and set aside.
Break the eggs into a bowl and season with a bit of salt, add a splash of milk and beat it all together. Put the frying pan with a bit of oil in medium heat and put the egg mixture inside. When it starts to coagulate the eggs, add in the cheese of choice (which can be sliced, shredded, grated, in cubes... your choice!) but save some for topping, and the crispy onion, but try to keep it all on one half of the omelette. It makes it easier to fold it.
When the top of the omelette is also coagulating, fold the omelette with the help of a spatula, and you can do this once, just folding it in two, or you can do it like I did and fold it in three (I usually do it like this 'cause it makes it slimmer so I can fit it in a better lunchbox for my boyfriend to take to work :P).
After folding the omelette, sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese, cover with a lid until the cheese melts. Turn of the heat, put on a plate and garnish with the cooked pieces of onion. Enjoy!

Notes:
- If you like your onion raw, that's fine and you can totally use it that way but I prefer it cooked and that's what I did;
- If you are using a fresh onion instead of crispy onion, you can use it raw or cooked, like the pieces for garnish;
- I used crispy onion because I have a big bag of it and it is almost expiring;
- I used Cheddar cheese and a Portuguese traditional kind of cheese for the inside of the omelette but I used a slice of Flamengo cheese (our equal to the generic American cheese) for the top;
- I didn't taste this omelette as it was made for my boyfriend's lunch at work, but I had a very positive feedback from him and, to be honest, I do trust my omelettes :P

*This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Fail Friday - Garlic Butter Hot Dog

Hello and welcome to a new series on this blog!
Kitchen and cooking involve science. Most of the times an exact science, some other times... not so much.
Cooking things we know can already be quite troublesome, let alone cooking made up foods from a world that doesn't necessarily exist (it will always exist in our hearts and souls! <3)!
And this is where Fail Fridays enter! :P
It will be a series where I will post the Neopian foods that don't go exactly the way I intended to and end up not really looking like the original. But it can be a fail for other reasons besides my ideal and the looks: it can be a fail in taste, in concept... you name it!
And to finish presenting this new series, I just have to say that this will not be up every Friday, it will be when I have a fail to show, and I will not fail neither on purpose nor every Friday (at least I hope so!).
Introduction made, let me show you my first fail. It is the Garlic Butter Hot Dog.
Why was this a fail? Because it didn't look anything like the original and it was one of those times I really didn't want it to, otherwise I would be throwing away food. So I made it edible, and it was quite delicious (and messy to eat), but I didn't adventure myself on making it as required. Here is the description of this Hot Dog - "Ten times fattier than regular hot dogs."
We already have an idea of the calories a regular hot dog can have so I tried to keep it on the same level. Here is the recipe if you still want to try it (it doesn't look like the original but at least it is edible without ten times the guilt:
- 1 hot dog bun
- 1 hot dog sausage
- 3 teaspoons of butter (I used butter flavored margarine)
- 1 clove of garlic
- mustard to taste
Start by heating the sausage in a pan with water. While that is happening melt the butter in the microwave. Those two things happening give you just the time to grab a plate, cut open the hot dog bun and prick its top with a fork ;)
When the butter is melted, drizzle a bit on the inside of the bun and on top of it, slowly so the bun has time to absorb the melted butter.
When the sausage is hot place it inside the bun and put on some mustard :)
Finish this off by grating the garlic on top of the bun, it will stick to the butter. Enjoy!

Now just a few notes for the interested: 
- I know there is garlic butter but I didn't understand this food like that, I understood it as garlic + butter on a hot dog;
- curiously the bun on the original picture looks more like a hamburger bun but I happened to have hot dog buns so why not keep it faithful?
- there is a lot of yellow stuff coming out from the sides of this hot dog on the original picture, I couldn't figure it in any way to be all butter, but even if it is, I couldn't bring myself to commit such an atrocity to my body so I used some mustard instead - still not in enough quantity to resemble the original picture;
- have in mind that the garlic will be all over your body throughout the whole day (stomach, lungs, esophagus, breath....), just working it all up!
- and basically this is why I consider this a fail: the concept is simply not ok (which makes the original picture not ok too!) :P at least not if you have a bit of respect towards your blood levels.

 *This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Blue Berry Pie

Hello!
Let me serve you something sweet and somewhat healthy :)
I'll be sharing with you Neopian Blue Berry Pie!
Blueberries are very expensive where I live so I opted for 2 individual pies instead of a big one.
For these two individual size pies you will need:
- 2 individual size pie dishes + two circles of parchment paper for the bottom
- 250 gr. of blueberries washed and very well drained (about one cup, maybe a little more)
- 1 store bought ready rolled shortcrust pastry
- 1 Tbsp of flour
- sugar, flour and powdered sugar as needed... oh, and save 6 blueberries for garnish :P

1 - Start by greasing the pie dishes with a bit of butter and line the bottom with the parchment paper. Set aside.
2 - Roll out the pastry and cut two circles of dough to fit in the pie dishes, so the circles have to be bigger than the pie dishes so they cover bottom and sides of the dishes. Cover the dishes with the pastry, carefully guiding the dough in instead of stretching it. Pierce the bottoms with a fork and set aside. Save the leftover pastry for later.
3 - In a bowl put the blueberries, flour and sugar and mix it all together so the blueberries are coated evenly with the flour and sugar. Try not to squish the berries. A note here: taste your blueberries before adding the sugar! Mine weren't that sweet but they weren't tart either so I only used 2 Tbsp of sugar.
Now divide the blueberries equally into each pie dish and arrange them so they are not piling up on the center. Set aside.
4 - Preheat your oven to 175º. C.
5 - Grab the pastry leftovers and sprinkle a surface with flour. Roll the pastry out again to the thickness it had before and cut 12 strips with about 1 cm. wide and long enough to go from one side of the pie dish to the other. Form a crisscross pattern on top of each pie, using 6 strips on each one and pinch the ends together with the sides as good as you can so they don't shrink back while baking.
6 - Put the pies in the oven and let them cook for about 30 minutes or until the crust is fully cooked though.
Dust with some powdered sugar and garnish with three blueberries in the center of each.
I know the crisscross I made is not exactly the same as the original in the picture but... I got my mind completely confused about it and ended up doing it the easiest way ;) Still, enjoy!

 *This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Exotic Fried Noodles

Hello!
Today I'm going to share with you my recipe on Exotic Fried Noodles.
This one is quite simple too. Just your regular noodles fried up after boiled, with some other elements joining the party ;)
You will need, for one very hungry person or two decent people :P :
- 250 gr. of home made noodles or 300 of store bought noodles
- 5 crab sticks (imitation crab meat) cut into cubes
- 6 or 7 broccoli florets
- 3 or 4 onion rings (I used a slice of leak because I didn't have onions)
- 1/4 cup of diced mango (you can substitute it by pineapple)
- water as needed
- a drizzle of sesame oil (or any other oil but sesame gives it that peculiar taste)
- a big pinch of Chinese 5 Spice
- salt, pepper and chili flakes to taste
- Frying pan

1 - Lets start by boiling the onion rings and broccoli florets for about 2 minutes in the frying pan with some water and a pinch of salt (let the water boil, add the veggies and count 2 minutes). When that's done, use a slotted spoon to scoop out these guys to a plate and set aside (you can use the same plate where you'll be eating this from... it helps with the dish cleaning :P).
2 - To the same water, add the noodles and add more water, if needed, to cover the noodles. These will take about 5 minutes to be cooked, but have a bite just to make sure (carefully because it will be very hot!). Scoop out the noodles to a plate (which can still be the previously used :P) and drain the water from the frying pan.
3 - Add a drizzle of sesame oil to the frying pan, let it heat a bit on medium-low heat, and add in the broccoli, onion rings, diced mango and crab stick cubes. Give it a stir, they don't need to get brown, and add in the noodles. Season with the Chinese 5 Spice, salt, pepper and chili flakes according to your taste (don't forget to taste everything before seasoning, sometimes it doesn't need any more salt) and keep stirring the noodles quickly so they don't stick to the bottom of the pan, and let them achieve a golden brown color. Turn of the heat and serve.
To make it similar to the original Neopets image, try to keep the broccoli florets and the onion rings on top of the noodles, as if garnishment. Enjoy!

 *This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Domed Jhudora Petit Four

Hello!
Today lets try a sweet!
We just need to be a bit careful because it's... Domed Jhudora Petit Four!
Nah, I'm only joking ;) But let me share how I did this. You can make as many as you want, curiously I've only made one because this time I cheated, as I didn't make practically anything from scratch, and this way is much easier (p.s.: and I still haven't mastered the covered Petit Fours). You will need:
- 2 almost perfect square pieces of a firm cake (with about 4cm x 4cm and 1cm thick (or depending on the size of the marshmallow) - and pound cake is fine)
- a sweet and firm spread of your choice (I used Nutella)
- a domed marshmallow (with about the size of half a ping-pong ball)
- 100 gr. of white sugar paste
- water as needed
- green, yellow, purple and pink food colorings
- small and clean syringe
- a tray and a wire rack

1 - Lets start by making a sandwich with the cake pieces and the spread. Spread the filling and arrange it in a way that nothing comes out of the sides. It has to be an almost perfect sandwich ;) put it on a plate and set it aside.
2 - Put the sugar paste in a microwavable bowl and heat it for about 7 seconds. Test it for consistency. It has to be soft to the touch. If you touch it normally with a finger it must sink reasonably. So if this does not happen after the first 7 seconds, keep heating it 5 seconds each time until you get there.
When you get it right, add in a teaspoon of water and mix very well. You are looking for a very gooey and considerably thick mixture, that you can drizzle over the petit four without being too runny. Keep adding water if needed until you reach this gooey consistency.
3 - After that, take a little of the mixture to a separate bowl so you can dye it purple for the purple swirl on top of the petit four.
4 - Now lets play with the colors! To the larger amount of sugar paste add in a drop of green coloring and mix well. You are looking for that bright Jhudora's green! So you need to add a bit of yellow too. Keep adding coloring little by little as needed until you get that bright green!
Do the same for the small amount of sugar paste but using the purple and pink food coloring. Add a little of purple first and if needed add a bit of pink. You have to achieve that peculiar Jhudora's purple too ;) Just remember to mix very well so the colors blend in uniformly.
5 - Lets assemble the little guy.
Place the petit four on the wire rack with the tray underneath it and spread a bit of the green paste on top. This will help the domed marshmallow to stick on top of it. After sticking the marshmallow on top of the petit-four, drizzle the green mixture of sugar paste all over it! You may find it helpful to use a butter knife to cover all the sides and little spaces of the petit four. Let it sit like that for a bit so it drains the excess sugar paste and dries a little (this will never dry completely).
After about 20 or 30 minutes, use the syringe to apply the purple sugar paste swirl on the domed part of the petit four.
And there you have it! This is a treat for the very sweet tooth only! Enjoy! ;)

*This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Cheeseburger and Ultimate Burger

Hello!
Let's lay back a bit from complicated recipes but enjoy something equally delicious! Today I have another 2 in 1 recipe... well... actually it's just because you can make one out of the other :P Here are Cheeseburger and The Ultimate Burger.
If you make both (which I did, the smaller for me and the bigger for my boyfriend) you will need:
- 2 burger buns + 1 bottom slice
- 3 burgers (I used mixed meats burgers)
- 5 lettuce leaves
- 6 slices of tomato
- 5 slices of cheese
- sauces of your choice - I used mayo, ketchup and burger sauce
- oil, salt and pepper as needed

Start by heating a frying pan on medium heat with a bit of oil. When the pan is hot, reduce to low and put in the burgers. Season with salt and pepper to taste and let them cook a few minutes on each side. How to know they're ready? When you stick a fork or a skewer in the middle of it and the juices coming out are clear, they're done! But this really is a matter of taste ;) anyway, burgers done, lets assemble our meals!
For the Cheeseburger:
Place the bottom of a bun on a plate and then stack it in this order: 2 slices of cheese, one leaf of lettuce, sauce, 2 slices of tomato, sauce, burger, another leaf of lettuce and finish it with another sauce and the "cap" of the bun! Here you have it, your Cheeseburger Neopets style ;)

*This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Now, for the Ultimate Burger:
You do exactly the same thing as you did for the Cheeseburger but, in the end, you don't end it, you continue :) so instead of placing the "cap" of the bun to finish it, you put the +1 bottom slice of a bun and you repeat the stacking: 2 slices of cheese, one lettuce leaf, sauce, two slices of tomato, sauce, another burger, another lettuce leaf, more sauce and now, yes, you do finish it by topping it with its "cap"! This really makes a huge burger but, it is what they call it, Ultimate Burger.
I wouldn't be surprised if you had to deconstruct it to be able to eat it ;)
But, however you chose to eat it, just enjoy!

*This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.