Fresh Pasta

Fresh pasta is so easy to make. It doesn't take a whole list of skills or equipment. It is a great learner, I learn every time I make it.

Once you have started making pasta, you will be reluctant to use shop bought dried pasta (not that there isn't anything wrong with it).

To make one serving of pasta (for yourself) you will need (just add more for each person you want to make for) :-

100g Durum Flour (or Soft flour)
1 egg
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
maybe some water

Put your flour on a clean side or in a bowl and make a well in the centre of it. Place your egg, salt and olive oil into the well. Beat the eggs with a fork until smooth and then start incorporating the flour into it. Using a little at a time until all is mixed. Now use your hands and start kneading, with some time it will form a nice smooth dough. This is also the secret to why Italian mamas have huge arms and can intimidate the Mafia. If the dough is a little dry, add a small amount of water.

Kneading is simple, just beat it, roll it and pull it until it starts feeling smooth.

Cover your smooth dough with cling film and put into the fridge for at least half an hour. Make sure you wrap it up well.

To roll it out you can use a pasta machine, which is really simple. Press your dough out and set the machine to the biggest setting (normally 0). Roll it through a few times, folding in half each time. It will become really silky smooth. Now time to start rolling thinner. Roll it through, increasing the number until the desired thinness. If making lasagne or ravioli then cut into size, if making into tagliatelle or other strand pasta roll through the desired shaper.

If you have no roller, don't despair, many Italian grandmas use just a rolling pin. First make a smaller ball, about 50g and then flatten with your hand. Sprinkle some flour onto a surface and onto the pasta and start rolling. With effort and patience you will get a nice thin piece of pasta. To turn into strand pasta, roll up and slice with a knife.

If you want to dry it, then place on a pasta rack or lay out flat on the side and leave for an hour or two before packing in a box. If wanting to make straight away then have a pan of salted boiling water and place into it for a couple of minutes until al dente.

It is that simple.

Pasta Month

So for the whole of April I have declared pasta month. I will show how easy it is to make at home, give some delicious recipes and end with the unveiling of my Finnish inspired pasta dish.

A Venetian Pasta Shop.
source: Wikipedia 

Pasta originates in Italy and is a staple in the Italian diet. Traditionally it is just durum wheat flour mixed with water and then formed into the desired shape. Durum wheat is a hard wheat (Durum is latin for hard) and high in gluten. It is milled into semolina, a coarser type of flour. Today fresh eggs are the main liquid component and other flours can be used.

There is 310 specific forms of pasta known by over 1300 names. These names are usually regional. I am focusing on Italian style pasta as pasta is made throughout the world in some form or other. A similar version to Tagliatelle is made in many European countries and filled pastas similar to Tortellini are popular in Eastern Europe.

Fresh pasta drying out

A popular myth is that 14th century Venetian explorer, Marco Polo, brought pasta into Italy from China. However, the first known reference to Italy based pasta can be traced to Sicily in 1154, from a geographical text by Muhammad al-Idrisi for the Norman King of Sicily, Roger II. In his text, Muhammad describes how itriyya was manufactured in Sicily and exported throughout the known world.

Pasta has become such a popular product that it is seen throughout the world. Finns love to use macaroni for simple meat based dishes like Macaroni Casserole. Britain loves its Lasagne and often a Pub wouldn't be seen without this on its menu. It is a great, easy fast food with so many variations that no one can every become bored of it.

Pasta dishes are generally simple in execution. There is a general rule in choosing your pasta dish, simple sauces like pesto, butter etc. are great for long, thin pastas while heavier sauces like tomato are ideal for thicker strands of pasta.Thicker, chunkier sauces are better for pastas with holes, tubes or twists as it clings into the shape. Another important rule is not to be too excessive with the sauce as you need to taste the pasta.

BBQ Bacon Meat Sushi

My wife posted a video on her Facebook wall. What transpired in the video was pure genius, a mince mix wrapped in bacon and glazed in BBQ sauce. So I decided that this needed to be experimented upon.

(Warning! this dish has no sushi based ingredients or components)

This is a pure meatfeast but is so moreish that we found that the whole thing to be just too little for us (however I'm certain that the nutritional contents disagree). On the plus side, it is super easy to make.

You will need to have:-

8 slices of streaky bacon
350g beef mince
3tbsp grill seasoning (or similar)
1tbsp salt
1 egg
100g Emmental cheese, sliced
50g crushed nachos
40ml BBQ

Start off by preheating your oven to 180C then put your beef mince, grill seasoning, salt and egg into a bowl and mix all together. Place a piece of baking paper flat on your kitchen side and layer with the bacon, overlapping slightly to from a mat. Press your mince mix onto the bacon and spread out thinly, about half a cm. Place your cheese about a quarter of a way in and then roll up the paper. Try and make it as tight as possible, then place onto a wire racked baking tray. Place into oven.

After 15 minutes open the oven and with a pastry brush, brush some BBQ sauce all over your mince log and close door. After another 15 minutes repeat. Then after ten minutes repeat and leave for 5 more minutes before taking out of the oven. Place your crushed nachos on a tray and then roll your mince log all over until you get a nice coating of nachos. Slice into 1cm thick slices and serve with a side of BBQ and chopsticks for that authentic Sushi feel.

It is great as a snack for movie nights or as a buffet item for house parties. You can make them up beforehand and freeze if you like.

Curried Cashew Nut Chicken

So finally after moving and getting the flu, the Robinson clan are back on track.

So one of our first meals when I moved in was Roasted Chicken thighs in a curried cashew nut sauce. It went down a treat and really filled the holes left from moving and unpacking. It was a super easy meal in that you can make it all up and just forget about it.

To feed four hungry mouth, you need:-

4 chicken thighs
1 small onion, diced
2 tbsp ground ginger
2 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tin (400ml) coconut milk
200ml chicken stock
75g cashew nuts
salt and pepper
little bit of oil

Preheat your oven to 175C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Place your chicken thighs on the tray and season with salt and pepper, give it a good rub in.

While waiting for the oven to heat up put some oil in a sauce pan and sweat your onions for about 5 minutes. Now add all the spices and stir in and cook for around a minute. Pour your coconut milk and stock and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and allow to reduce by a third.

Place your chicken in the oven and cook for an hour until the juices run clear.

To serve, heat the sauce and add the cashew nuts and pour over the chicken. It goes great with rice and naan bread.

It really is that simple, it doesn't take a lot to make good wholesome food for your family and friends.

Enjoy

Apple Bread and Butter Pudding

So it is March, we have all moved into our nice bungalow in the suburbs of Oulu and now we have to sort through the chaos that is our boxes.

However, March also means time to get back to blogging tasty recipes for you all. So this is my Apple Bread and Butter pudding. This is a traditional British dessert and really is the epiphany of British culinary style, it has a wholesome base taste rather than a palette of delicate flavours, is comforting for those dull, wet British summers winters. It has been a stable in British cuisine for centuries with the oldest recorded dish being from 1729, you can find it in many restaurants and pubs throughout the British Isles.

This one is my take upon the classic dish. I used grated apple to replace the more commonly used raisin and also added apple jam and cinnamon. 

To make enough for 4 people you will want:-

12 slices of bread, crusts cut off (you can use your older, stale bread)

50g butter, softened

50g apple jam

2 apples, grated (sprinkle some lemon juice on them to stop them going brown)

400ml full fat milk

4 eggs

2tbsp honey

2tsp cinnamon

1tsp nutmeg

Start by greasing up a 1 litre size square oven dish. Cut the crusts off your bread and spread the butter and jam on one side. Place the slices butter/jam side up in the bottom of the dish and then sprinkle some grated apple and cinnamon and repeat until you have used all you bread up. Make sure your top layer doesn't have any apple. In a bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, honey and nutmeg and the pour over the bread. Leave to stand for 30 minutes. While standing, preheat your oven to 175C. Cook for 30 minutes (or until the top is golden and the milk mixture has set).

It really is that simple.

Serve warm with some ice cream or vanilla sauce.

important announcement

Due to several instances that have cropped up lately, namely moving house, I won't be able to post anything for the rest of February.


I do apologise to all those who have been following my blog and supporting my posts and I promise to resume in earnest when March l, and the chaos, have simmered down.


thank you all


Laurance

Simple and Easy Spring Rolls

Springs Rolls have become increasing popular in the Western since Asian cuisine took off in the early 60's. They are normally given as an appetiser and come with various fillings. When I started working in Fortune Castle, one of the jobs I was given was making the spring rolls and for something so simple there is a technique to it.

Fast forward several years later and i'm making spring rolls still, alongside my wife and I am not boasting when I say, we make some of the best spring rolls north of the 60th Parallel. It has taken about a year, but we have also got our technique and filling down to a unbelievable tasty product. We make around 40 every couple of months or so, the idea is we freeze them down for snacks or appetisers, but they don't always get that far. However, you don't have to take my word for it, here is our recipe so you can make them yourselves.

This recipe makes 40 spring rolls (you can modify and experiment to your tastes but this is our standard):-

1 packet of 40 Spring Roll sheets (You can get these in Asian markets)
700g minced beef
100g bamboo shoots, sliced
2 medium onions, finely diced
2 medium carrots, grated
2 cloves of garlic, minced
200g cabbage, finely diced
1 paprika, finely diced
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp curry spice
pot of cold water

Start by brown off your mince, then set it aside to cool down. Then mix all the other ingredients in a mixing bowl, adding the cooled down mince. Put on your deep fat fryer, or put some oil in a pan and heat up. You want the oil around 180C. If you are using a pan/wok, one trick to know how hot it is is by using chopsticks. Place them straight into the oil, if you see little bubbles, then it is hot enough. Don't do this with plastic ones as they will melt.

Now we can start putting the rolls together. To save time, instead of separating your sheets as you go, do them all at once and then cover with a lightly damp cloth. Be careful at this stage not to rip them. This is a great tip from my Wife.

 Start by putting your filling in, about a tablespoon is enough, too much and it won't cook.

Fold over tightly.

Fold until half way.

Then take the sides and fold to the middle.

Dip your fingers into the water and spread onto the unfolded side of the wrapper.

Continue folding until all wrapped.

Put onto a tray, don't pile on top of each other. Then repeat the process.

Carefully put them into your hot oil, CAREFULLY! Don't overcrowd the fryer, and allow to cook, turning them to cook evenly. Once a nice golden colour, take out and place onto a wire rack to drain. If you don't have a rack, use some kitchen towel on a plate instead. Serve immediately. 

If you want to freeze, cook them and allow to cool. When reheating,place into a preheated 225C oven for 10 minutes, turning half way through.

It really is that simple, now you can host your own Asian themed party and wow your guests.