Angry Mussels Pasta

Jamie Oliver called this Angry Mussels , perhaps because of the addition of chilli. The recipe is rather forgiving and there is room for lots of improvisation.

I did this minus the pasta and it was a great hit with my guests.  As I enjoyed the sauce, I thought what better way to 'drink' it than having some pasta soaking up the yummy wine sauce. 

Get a good wine that you don’t mind enjoying on its own and it will become one of your favorite pasta recipes when you are in a mood for wine.

For 2.

160g angel hair pasta

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 Tbsp chilli flakes

3 cups of half shelled green lipped mussels

1 handful of chopped English parsley

½ cup Chardonnay

1½ cup chopped tomatoes

generous amount of fresh lemon zest

juice of 1 lemon

Parsley to garnish

Method :

Bring water to a rolling boil. Cook pasta until al-dente.

While pasta is cooking, saute garlic until it turns translucent. Add chilli, medium heat. Do not burn chilli.

Add prepared mussels.

Add parsley, chardonnay, tomatoes.

Add zest, lemon juice. Toss.

Cook covered for 4 minutes.

Add cooked pasta. Toss and rest for 1 minute.

Serve garnished with parsley.

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Easy pesto pasta

 

Nutty snacks on pasta. 

This is one of the no-brainer pasta that can be whipped up in less than 15 minutes. I added toasted almond for extra texture.

For 1.

Ingredients :

80g dry pasta

1 Tbsp pesto of sundried tomato and pine nuts

1 Tbsp almond slivers, toasted

Method :

Bring a pot of water to the boil. Cook pasta according to instructions.

Drain. Stir in pesto.

Serve, garnish with almonds.

A bit of Iceland on my pasta

For almost a week in December, I stayed in the capital of Iceland in search of the illusive Northern Lights. In between, I had the opportunity to visit the south coastal village, Vik, and saw the huge waves pounding the black volcanic beaches, had mini hail rain on me on and off and leant into 30km/h winds while trying to take a walk. I even got to see the Aurora Borealis with the constellations above my head in the deep night on snowed over lava fields. 

But after the Lights were gone and the wind died down, all I can recall about Iceland is the superb quality of food that is available, from hot dog stands to upmarket restaurants. The Icelanders take their food seriously and even the simplest fish and chips come with matched sauces for different kinds of fish.

I had a superb meal at the famous Grillmarket in downtown Reykjavik and could not forget how well it tasted as it looked. In particular is the volcanic rock salt that they sprinkled freely so that we could literally have a taste of Iceland.

This pasta is simply elevated pasta olio with caviar and garnished with a pinch of the land of Northern Lights. Perhaps the memory of the Borealis lingers on, because each rock salt tasted unique and gave a sense of adventure to the dish.

For 3.

Ingredients :

240g dry pasta

1 cup of bean sprouts

¼ cup of olive oil used for sundried tomatoes

3 bulbs of garlic, thinly sliced

1 bulb red onion, thinly sliced

4 strip of semi sundried tomatoes, chopped coarsely

3 tbsp of caviar

Black volcanic salt (scant amount)

2 handful of dill leaves

Method :

Boil the pasta according to instructions, minus salt.

Just one minute before removing the pasta from the stove, add the sprouts to the pasta.

Drain and reserve.

Meanwhile, sauté the garlic, onions and sundried tomatoes in the oil until the garlic is about to brown.

Turn off heat. Pour the cooked pasta into the pan with garlic.

Toss well with carviar.

Serve on plates.

Garnish with black salt and dill leaves.

Egg pasta ( semolina )

This recipe works well for a novice noodle maker with her new pasta maker. The semolina flour makes a strong dough which can withstand clumsy handling without breaking. I started off using #1 on the pasta maker and progressed to #5 to achieve a thin noodle with relative ease. In fact, it was so much fun cranking the noodles I overdid it and made more than we could eat. Certainly, the pasta maker is one of the best toys I have bought for a long time.

Finally, the pasta machine is all about just-in-time pasta. Prepare it early and the noodles gradually morph to an amorphous lump. It is easier to prepare it from maker to pot to bowl, in the process eliminating having to talc the noodles with extra flour to prevent sticking.  Just get the soup or sauce all ready and you will have the end product as soon as it comes out from the pasta maker.

Ingredients :

200g plain flour

180g semolina

20g whole wheat flour

4 eggs

Method :

Combine flours in a mixing bowl.

Add eggs and mix to bring the dough together.

Transfer to a kneading machine to knead for 10 minutes or until the  texture of the dough is smooth, elastic and not sticky.

Let the dough rest, 60 minutes.

Divide the dough to 6 portions.

Use the pasta machine and make the pasta noodles according to the instructions that come with the machine. Use a little wholemeal flour if it is sticky.

Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil.

Cook the pasta until al-denta. Do not crowd the boiling water with too much pasta.

Transfer the cooked pasta to a mixing bowl containing your favorite sauce.

Toss and serve immediately.

Choux gnocchni

Puff or gnocchi, you decide!

I haven’t given much thought of having pastry as a main course until I saw this.  The recipe is largely Joe’s but I upped the flour to make a stronger puff to go with the robust blue cheese sauce. Needless to say, it was a hit with my folks. 

Making the choux by hand is hard work especially when you need more than one pair of hand to hold the pot and stir the dough.  Next time, I will wait until hubs is in to make this.

The amount of butter here is half of Joe’s recipe. If you wish the puff to be richer, increase the amount of butter for decadence.

Verdict : Definitely a keeper.  The puff is good on its own or with sauce.

For 3.

Boil these:

1 cup water

50g butter

Combine these :

1 cup flour, tightly packed

¼ tsp sugar

¼ tsp fine salt

Reserve :

4 eggs

1 cup parmesan, grated

Method :

Bring the water to a boil. Add butter.

While water boils, pour combined flour,sugar and salt.

Stir vigorously until the cooked dough pulls away from the walls of the pot.

Turn off heat. Cool dough.

Stir in egg, one at a time until dough is homogenous.

Stir in cheese to combine.

Transfer the dough to a piping bag. Chill , 30 minutes.

Choux gnocchi :

Bring a vat of salted water to a rolling boil.

Pipe in dough, 1 inch long. Use scissors to snip off the dough from the piping bag.

The dough will sink then float.

Remove floating dough and drain.

Transfer the gnocchi to an oiled plate to coat the dough.

Grill the gnocchi until it puffs and browns.

Set aside.

Making the blue cheese sauce :

5 tbsp blue cheese

1 cup milk

1 tbsp flour

½ cup cream

Heat a sauce pan.

Combine milk, flour and cream.

Drop 5 tbsp of blue cheese on the hot surface.

Add milk.

Cook until it thickens.

Assembly :

Pour a little sauce on a plate.

Place the grilled gnocchi on the sauce.

Grated cheese over the gnocchi.

Serve hot.