Homemade Pasta w/ Bacon & Leeks

I bought a pasta machine a while back, but never had the time to try it out.

So today, i decided i should make some pasta for dinner! and i did!

Ingredients

Pasta (I followed the recipe from Gino D’acampo’s book)

Makes 400g – Serves 4-5

300g pasta flour (tipo 00)
3 medium eggs – i used large eggs and they were fine)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Sauce

6 rashers of bacon
2 leeks, sliced thinly
400-500ml cream

Directions

Pasta

I did this in my Kitchenaid, but you can also do this by hand.

Combine the flour, eggs, salt and extra virgin olive oil and work into a crumbly dough. Gather the crumbs together and knead till you have a soft dough.

Keep kneading for around 8 minutes or till the dough is not longer sticky sticky.

Form the dough into a ball, wrap with cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for around 20 minutes.

First, i halved the dough and flattened it slightly into an oval shape. Then i put it through the pasta machine starting at 1 and slowly your way up to no. 3, when you are there, you will realise that the pasta might be a little long to work with, so i halved it again. Remember to continously dusting the pasta with flour to prevent sticking. (I used plain flour since it’s much cheaper than pasta flour and it was absolutely fine)

Keep going through the pasta machine until you reach no. 5 which i feel is the perfect thickness and length. It should be thin enough to see your fingers through it.

 
Then put it through the cutter, i used the fettuccine cutter. Remember to keep dusting with flour and you will realize that some of the strands stick together, so just peel them apart first before hanging to dry.

I don’t have a pasta hanger, so i just cleaned a chair and hanged it on the back of the chair. Gino says to use the pasta within an hour.

 
So while hanging, i chopped up the leeks and bacon. i fried the bacon first to get it crispy and flavourful. Then added in the leeks to cook till they have caramelized and very soft. Add in the cream.

While waiting for the leeks to caramelize, cook the pasta in a pot of salted boiling water for around 2-3 minutes. Always try your pasta to be sure.

Add the pasta together with some of the pasta water into the creamy mixture.

Stir to combine. Adjust seasoning. Serve immediately.

I am so happy. Fresh pasta really tastes very satisfying and delicious. It is definitely worth the work. Not that difficult actually, it just takes some learning and time to work the machine but once you get the hang of it, it is really easy.

Try it! :)

Sweets Attack!

I love ring pops! but it’s not easy to find, it’s an old fashioned sweet which i really really like. i dunno why.

so i managed to find it in a shop in Chinatown a few months back. but it was quite expensive. i think it was nearly $2 for one.

So i went online shopping and after a few days of google-ing, i have finally found it on The Professors Online Lolly Shop. The prices are almost wholesale prices, much cheaper than getting the sweets separately in retail shops.

At first, all i wanted was my ring pops. but. after asking fish and hui, we got something for everybody!

For me, i got my ring pops and a 1kg bag of smarties!!

For hui, she loves these sour straps.

For fish, he likes his mints, so he got a box of eclipse mints.

As a bonus for all 3 of us, A&W Root Beer!!

All these sweets were much cheaper than if we bought them in retail shops. These ought to last for a really really long time.

Yay!

Beef Mince & Tofu Curry w/ Cheese!

I came across runnyrunny999’s video on youtube and just nice, i had a pack of 500gm of minced beef in the fridge thawing.

Ingredients

300g Firm Tofu
250g Ground Beef/Pork
150g chopped onion
2 tsp flour
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
a knob of ginger (grated or minced)
6 cloves of garlic (grated or minced)
200ml canned diced tomato
1 tbsp sugar
*You could also put carrots into the curry, but if you do, leave out the sugar.
Shredded tasty cheese

(Fish added a little okonomiyaki and yakisoba sauce which made it taste even better – so if you have them, add a little of both!)

Directions

Brown the onions first in a large pan or wok.

Add in the garlic and ginger. Fry till fragrant. *If you’re using carrots, add them in too.

Add in the beef/pork mince and fry till all the liquid has evaporated and the mince is browning.

Add in the flour and curry powder and fry to remove the raw flavour of the flour.

Add in the canned tomatoes, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and sugar (omit if using carrots)

Mix to combine.

Leave it to simmer for as long as you can.

Eat this over cooked Japanese rice topped with shredded cheese.

YUM YUM YUM!

Pepper Lunch anyone?

YUMMO!

Pepper Steak w/ Whisky Mushroom Sauce & Potatoes

For dinner one night, i defrosted 2 pepper steaks that i bought from Colins Butchery, which is my new favourite place to get meat.

So, i searched the internet and found this.

This is the pepper steak i got.

 
Whisky Mushroom Sauce

• 200g-250g mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 80ml (1/3 cup) whisky
• 1 tbs Dijon mustard
• 100ml thin cream

Fry the mushroom with the garlic.
Add in the whisky, bring it to a boil and cook till reduced.
Add the mustard and cream and cook till the sauce thickens slightly.
Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.

 
Pommes Anna

• 4 (about 600g) desiree potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced
• 50g butter, melted
• 1 garlic clove, crushed

Preheat oven to 200°C. To make the pommes Anna, combine the potato, butter and garlic in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon the potato mixture evenly among eight 80ml (1/3-cup) capacity non-stick muffin pans. Use the back of a spoon to press down firmly. Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown and tender.

Yum. Enjoy your dinner!

Stuffed Tofu Puffs – 2 ways

I made wontons for my party and had some left over filling which i froze.

I remembered this recipe which i had watched on youtube before and decided to recreate it.

Ingredients

A bag of tofu puffs
Marinated mince meat
Dark Soy Sauce
Light Soy Sauce
Oyster Sauce
Sesame Oil
Spring Onions
Sugar

Directions

It is quite simple really.

Boil a pot of water and blanch the tofu puffs briefly, this is to get rid of the stale oil.

Then run it through cold water so that it is easy to work with.

For each puff, tear a hole on one side and the easiest way is to, as much as it doesn’t sound nice, dig a hole with your finger so that it can accept more meat.

Stuff the meat into the hole using your finger to push meat into the puff till it’s nice a puffy.

In a wok, seal the puffs meat side down. Then add dark soy sauce, light soy sauce and oyster to your taste. Add a little sugar and the half the spring onions. Cover and cook down. Make sure you move the tofu puffs if not they might burn.

When the sauce is almost reduced, add in sesame oil and serve up. Sprinkle the rest of the spring onions.

We had this for dinner with rice, with another one of my favourite dishes of all time. Onion egg!

 
There was quite a lot of tofu puffs though. So keep if when you can’t finish and you can make it into a quick dinner the next day, or next next day.

 
Directions

In a pot of boiling water, softened the vermicelli noodles for 3 minutes. Then place the noodles in a bowl and cover it with a plate to let the noodles steam.

I boiled a can of chicken stock and a can of water. Add in the tofu puffs and the remaining sauce. Taste to check the seasoning. Add in the vermicelli noodles and cook till soften and chewy. It doesn’t take too long. Add some spring onions.

Serve up. Yum Yum! A simple and quick dinner.