Fish Scampi with Dill over a bed of Chili Aglio Olio

Hi folks, hope the new year has been treating you fantabulously. We are somewhere in France right now. I have scheduled posts in my absence and this is one of them. 

With lots of love, from our little home to yours, wherever you are. Gros bisous.

***

I was halfway typing a completely different opening about how much I love aglio olio etc etc until ma belle mere called H. During the conversation, she asked him if I had started cooking for tonight (it's new year's eve). To which H glanced at me typing away on the computer across the room and replied, yes of course, she's been busy cooking the whole day. 

My sweets, if you ever meet a man like that, you snatch him and never let him go. Trust me. 

Anyway, without further ado (cause I need to get that chicken into the oven), here's the recipe..

Fish Scampi with Dill (serve 2)

Ingredients:

* a big fish slice, enough for 2

* 1 large clove garlic, diced

* 1 large shallots, diced

* 1/2 cup white wine

* 1 tbsp lemon juice

* 1 tsp butter + some OO

* 1 tbsp chopped dill

How to:

* Marinate the fish with salt & pepper. Set aside, while you chopped the garlic & shallots. 

* On a non-stick pan, heat up the OO then add butter till it starts to foam. Add in fish and cook till it's done on both sides. Set aside the fish. 

* Add in more OO if required, otherwise throw in the shallots & garlic. Cook till fragrant. Add in the white wine sauce and let it simmer till it's reduced till half. 

* Add back the fish, let it coated with the sauce. Add in the lemon juice and the dill. 

Serve over a bed of aglio olio.

***

Chili Aglio Olio (serve 2)

Ingredients:

* Spaghetti enough for 2

* 1-2 large clove of garlic, minced

* 1 red chili, deseed and minced

* grated parmesan cheese for seasoning

* 4 tbsp OO

How to:

* Cook pasta as per cooking instruction till al dente. Aglio Olio should be al dente. 

* In a non stick pan, heat up OO and toss in the garlic & red chili. Cook till fragrant. Add in the spaghetti and grated cheese, toss well. Grate some more cheese if needed. Serve hot. 

n.b. Do you know that when cooking the pasta, one has to add salt to the water so much that the pasta water is as salty as the Mediterranean sea? Don't say I didn't tell you..

The Perfect Beginning

.. is waking up to breakfast pizza with ham, cheese and eggs :)

No excessive kneading, no waiting time for the yeast to react. It's simple, easy peazy lemon squeeshie.

 I made two breakfast pizzas using a single thin pizza dough recipe, tried and tested, and never disappoints.

Thin pizza dough
Ingredients:
* 1 3/4 c bread flour
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 packet (8g) bread yeast
* 1/2 tsp sugar
* 3/4 hot water (110 C)

How to:
* Preheat oven to 200 C.

* Proofing the yeast:  mix hot water with yeast & sugar. Let it sit for 8 mins.

* In a large bowl, whisk the bread flour & salt together. Create a well, pour in the yeast mixture.

* Using your hand, knead 1-2 min. Turn the dough onto floured surface, knead another 2 mins.

* Flatten over parchment paper, add in your toppings and bake for 8-10 mins. Voila! :)

As toppings, I used:
[First pizza on the top] edam cheese, red leicester cheese, feta cheese, ham, egg. Sprinkled with salt, pepper, spring onions and thinly sliced shallots.

[Second pizza on the top, the picture above] diced left over roast chicken thigh, red leicester cheese, feta cheese, salt, hot paprika pepper, chopped dill and cilantro.

This is the Best Lasagna

.. that you've ever done, mon coeur." said H.
Hah! I used the recipe from the Barilla box and it didn't disappoint.
But also because of the modifications cheats I did :)

This is the recipe.
Start by charring one red/yellow bell pepper.
Put it in oven over 175 C for about 10 mins.
Dump into a box with lid, let it steam. Peel and thinly slice.

In the meanwhile.. 

Diced onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves: browned over olive oil.

Half way through, add in the minced garlic. Toss another 2-3 mins.

Add in the minced beef. I used about 400 gr. 

Add in 1 glass of white wine (or more ;)).

Cook till the wine wine has dried up.

Instead of tomato paste + veg broth + flour, I use 1 can of tomato sauce with parmesan :) 

*this is cheat #1*

Toss, toss, toss.. supposedly over medium fire for 1 hour.

But after 15 mins, my tomato sauce starts to become dry, so I turned off the fire altogether. 

Call it quit.
I added in the cherry tomatoes (quartered) and the charred red bell pepper (sliced).
Salt + Pepper + Clove + Nutmeg = Toss, toss, toss!!

*Cheat #2* 

Instead of making bechamel sauce, I use cream of 3 cheeses.

Start layering.

First, buttered up the pan. 

First layer is cheese sauce, followed by lasagna, then tomato sauce..

followed by another layer of cheese sauce, then shredded cheese.

Recipe dictates for Parmigianno Regianno. 

As you can see, I use Emmental ready shredded cheese :)

Repeat the process. 

By the 3rd layer, I ran out of tomato sauce. Alamak!!

Heck care, I add another layer of cream sauce, another layer of emmental

.. and grated pecorino :)

Baked on 200 C for 22 mins, and this is what I have

The house smelled heavenly. 

And this is what we have for dinner AND lunch tomorrow :)

Sometimes life is really great :)

Buon Appetito!!

Pesto Pizza

In case you don't know yet, Africa is running on generator most of the time.
I'd say Angola is lower, probably about 70% of the time.
Many offices of large enterprises actually rely on generator 24x7. They can't afford to have electricity cut off that happens every so often. It is not unusual to have a power cut two to three times a day.
On weekends, one can expect the generator to run from Friday night up till Monday morning.

So when we heard our generator's pump is spoilt, we know doomsday can't be any closer. 

And as expected, our frozen food is rapidly thawing, including my precious pesto sauce.
So once I got back into my kitchen after evacuating to another guest house, I thought why don't we do pesto pizza for once. Just to know how it tastes. 

I've seen many version of flat bread with pesto, so why not with pizza?

I first prepared the minced beef, sauteing with onions, carrots & mushroom. 

Peppered with cloves, nutmeg, salt & black pepper. 

Hmm... a little bit too dry.

Add in the shredded cheese (I used emmental)

And a glug of olive oil

Into the oven, 175 C for about 10 mins.

And lunch is ready. 

Verdict: I'm not sure that pesto makes a good base. It's too dry for our liking. 

To use pesto as a base, I think one would need a creamy cheese like gorgonzola. Even camembert will be helpful (Ha! baked camembert :))

I am not sure I'd do this again. 

Maybe I will just keep the pesto for pasta. 

Or  baked chicken breast meat :) whaddaya say? ;) 

Tomato, Basil and Duck Pasta

This is a very easy dish that you can do when you have cherry tomatoes. Only cherry tomatoes. Even organic roma tomatoes can't help you. I saw Giada de Laurentils made this very simple dish some time back, so super easy that you can give it a twist or two yourself.

These are the key ingredients. With 1 clove garlic, minced. Salt + Pepper.

Step 1: Cook your pasta. 

Giada used spaghetti, but we love Cassarecce (it means home made in Italian, but it's a type of pasta by the Italian brand Bastillo). 

Step 2: Cook the sauce

Brown the garlic with olive oil till fragrant before adding the tomatoes

Step 3: once tomatoes are softer, use the back of your fork and flatten it

Don't forget to season with salt, it will draw the tomato juice out even more!

Step 4: While waiting for your tomatoes, chopped the basil leaves. 

Giada used mozarella, but how am I going to manage my budget if 1 small bag of mozarella is 8 usd? 

If you are using mozarella, chopped them into small cubes and place them in the serving bowl you're going to use later. 

Step 5: Putting all together.
Drain the cooked pasta, add them into the pan. Turn off the heat.
I added cooked shredded duck at this stage.
Sprinkle some basil, coarse black pepper & some more salt.
Mix well. 

Step 6: Plate them into a serving bowl (over the mozarella, if using) and mix them. 

Sprinkle some more basil, coarse black pepper & I grated some pecorino.

Buon Appetito.

"Baby, it was very good. Great lunch, simple but tasty like Jamie :* Thank you. Kisses. I love you."

Veal Ragu with Polenta

Have I told you that Sunday is my most productive day? Yes? Well, I'm saying it again. I'm most hyper during the weekend. Particularly Sunday.

So when I saw a good beef and polenta, I know I gotta do this. Only to realize that my bife lombo is not beef, since it has a prefix of novilho. It's veal. That's my portuguese, I tell ya. Not surprising that the meat costs $12 usd for 300 gr!!

Recipe is taken from The Parsley Thief but halfway through, I realize I need to put the pan inside oven for 3 hours. Wot?!? (I hardly read recipes properly you see and this is my downfall). So here's my "version" instead, using the gems I found at Pretoria's supermarket (I LOVE PRETORIA!!)

My mise-en-place (for 2 pax)
* 300 gr Veal loin (or whatever meat/cut you fancy)
* 1 small onion, 3 small carrots diced, set aside
* 3 medium cloves of garlic, minced, set aside
* 2 anchovies, 1 tsp paprika paste, 1/2 tomatoes, mix and pound with your pestle & mortar
* 2 sun dried tomatoes, chopped finely. Add into the anchovies mixture
* 10 button mushroom, sliced and set aside
* 1 cup red wine, 1/2 tbsp dijon moutard, 1 bay leaf, 1 tbsp rosemary, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1 medium tomato diced, all mix in a medium bowl
* 1 cup chicken stock
* 2 tbsp olive oil

How to:
* Using your pressure cooker pot (uncovered), heat the oil and brown the veal on all sides (2 mins each sides, or more). Once it's brown, remove and add the carrot & onion mixture. Halfway through, add the minced garlic.
* After 2 mins, add the anchovies mixture. Mix well.
* Add back the veal, and add the red wine mixture & the chicken stock. Depending on your pot surface, you may need to add more. Add water if you're worried about the sodium.
* Cover the pot and cook for about 45 mins to 1 hr till the water almost dried up (left about 1 cup of coffee). Check every 15-20 mins, stir and taste. It took me 45 mins.
* Once the water has almost dried up, turn off the stove. Remove the meat & set aside.
* Using your food processor, remove the bay leaf and mashed the remaining pot contents to your desired smoothness. I prefer not too smooth.
* Once the meat is cool to handle, tear using your hand. But while waiting, prepare your polenta as per instruction.

And you're ready for a great lunch! :)

Garnish (or eat) with cilantro. I mean, loads of cilantro. I like :)

n.b. I bet it'd taste better with celery, but I didn't find it in supermarket.

Almond Pesto Genovese

Buona sera, amici. 

I saw some lovely basil leaves (manjericão) at the supermarket this morning and I bought two whole bunch of it :) 

... and made a big pot of pesto sauce ala genovese.

Original recipe is from here.
But here's my mix & match version after watching many food network episodes: 

* 3 cups of basil leaves. washed & blanched for 10 sec.

* 3 cloves of garlic

* 1 cup of fresh almonds, toasted if you prefer

* 1/3 cup of grana padano/ pecorino/ parmigianno

* salt & pepper to taste

How to: 

Mix everything together in food processor till you get your desired smoothness.

I'm one happy pasta-loving girl ;)

Gnocchi for Beginners

The first thing I did the moment we arrived home was to unpack my valuables, namely my cheeses. We bought about 4 kg of cheddar, pecorino, manchego and ricotta in Pretoria. I literally swooned from the selection I can found there. Probably because Pretoria is the administrative & capital city of South Africa, where most embassies & high commissions are located. Hence the supermarket are well stocked.

I spent a good 1 hour walk one morning, alone, since H was sick. I didn't bring any camera with me, for fear being robbed. Heh. It's a lovely city, just 20 mins drive from Johannesburg, one of those cities that would be great in spring or fall, since there are literally flowers everywhere. You walked under big blue bells trees or thick bushes of roses, white roses. The avenues are big and spacious. I most definitely can live in Pretoria, and would prefer Pretoria to Joburg.

Anyway, few nights ago I decided to get my hands on Gnocchi, now that I'm armed with ricotta. I found an easy enough recipe here and decided to follow it to the T.

Well, not exactly to the T. I didn't carefully read the instruction, I mixed everything all at once hence I think the final texture was a little bit off, not smooth as Gnocchi should. But it was still good. For the sauce, I dumped a pasta sauce and do a little stir fry with onion and garlic, topped with fried sage leaves.

I will definitely try it again, but it seemed my arms aren't ready to knead dough. Even after the hiatus.

Avocado Pizza with the ultimate pizza dough

Over the weekend, I tried a new recipe off Sweet Paul Magazine Fall 2011. Pizza with caramelized onion, gorgonzola & avocado.

I didn't manage to find gorgonzola, so I used Cheddar instead, same quantity.

Verdict:
I am disappointed that the pizza didn't live up to its wonderful promises, but I should have known this. Gorgonzola is probably the creamiest cheese, so substituting with cheddar is stupid. My bad. A bit on the dry side, needed a lot more salt, pepper & olive oil. The pizza was a bit too thick for a single serving - I would turn it into 1 large thin pizza and 1 medium thin pizza.

However, I have to say the pizza dough is the best. I have found the ultimate winning recipe. So please make way and do try this at home:

The Ultimate Pizza dough
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp dry yeast (I used boulangerie yeast)
- 2.5 cup flour (I used white bread flour)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil

How to:
* Mix water, honey and yeast. Leave it to rest (proof) it around 5 mins.

* Add the remaining ingredients, shift the flour. Knead well.

* Cover with cling wrap, put in warm spot (I usually put it in my oven, at 50 celcius). Let it rise for 1 hour.

* After it raise, flatten it and move it into your pizza tray/ oven tray to make it a large pizza. For me, it would make 1 large + 1 medium pizza.

And the rest.. is your story. Put some topping and pop it into the oven 200 celcius. Bake till brown or till you grow impatient, whichever comes first. Bon chance! 


Me? I'm going to make some flammekuchen this wednesday, I have never tried a cream-base pizza before. Wish me luck.

Butternut Squash Risotto

While I fail big time in making my Indonesian dishes, He granted me some success in risotto. Ever since watching Giada eating butternut squash risotto in Chicago, I know I need to try at least once.

But my sweet, sweet H, teased me openly in front of his colleague.
"B, tu as besoin de vin pour faire risotto?"
"Non." 
"Boh, ma femme m'a demande d'en acheter." 
And both men laugh at the fact I wanted needed white wine for my risotto.
Ha! Just you wait and see. What do I know about european cuisine. Right?

Recipe is from here. Modifications is made in substitution Parmigianno with local soft cheese, hence not as salty.

Verdict: Let's just say I prepared a portion enough for four people, to share with B too. But we polished them off in one sitting ourselves. B can wait for the next round, said H.

* I question the quantity of the onion initially, but I am converted now. Onion seared with butter is a match made in heaven.

* I feel the sage doesn't enhance the dish at all. In fact, I think parsley would do it more justice.

* Roasted pine nuts are absolute necessary, it adds nutty flavour and some texture to the sweet and creamy risotto.

* I want to experiment with Parmigianno next time, or at least Pecorino. The current flamengo cheese works, but just to know where the difference is.

* I think peas will make a nice addition in terms of colour and some fiber.

That plate was meant to be my single portion. I helped myself to two more servings. Heaven.

Tacchino al Rhum

I wasn't in the mood to eat Asian for lunch yesterday, frankly speaking. After rendang, we crave for something light. We weren't in the mood for any carbs either, given we've been eating rice almost every day. And I have a big chunk of turkey sitting in my fridge. Hmm.

I made Pollo al Rhum or in this case, Tacchino al Rhum.

Recipe is from here. No modification made beside substituting the chicken thigh with turkey breast.

Verdict: This is one recipe that only a thigh can do justice. At home, we don't eat much of other poultry parts beside breast meat. Even if we do, I always de-skin and trim all fats. But for this, I shall make grand exceptions! It was that special.

I like the fact that I'm not deep frying the meat, but slowly pan-roasting it first over butter, then with chicken stock and rum. I'll sub some of the butter with OO next time.
I like the fact that I get to use Suzie the Sage, ma petite herbe.
I like the fact that I get to use Rum for real cooking and not only for dessert. I am happy to learn that Rum doesn't turn food as salty as wine always does.
And most of all, I am extremely pleased by the sheer simplicity of this recipe.

It is a keeper!

Ma petite herbe and my chilli who refuse to turn red!!