Pasta - Ravioli
Ingredients:
200g Italian 00 Flour
200g Semolina Flour
4 eggs (preferrably italian eggs)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2tsp salt
How to Make:
1. Beat the eggs in a bowl, then add the olive oil and salt and mix well.
2. Mix the 2 types of flour and place on the working table with a well in the middle.
3. Pour the beaten eggs into the "well" little by little, and using 2 fingers, try to stir and mix the eggs with the flour. It does not matter if the eggs are spilled out, just incorporate the flour and mix them well together, using your fingers.
4. Add the beaten eggs once the eggs already incorporated with the flour.
5. when all eggs are incorporated with the flour, then knead the dough with your knuckles and palm of your hand, until you can arrive at a round shape dough and when touch on top, you feel it bounces back a little.
6. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store in fridge for at least 3-4 hrs. Best overnite.
7. Take out the dough from the fridge and cut out a little bit, knead lightly with some 00 Flour, then gently make it a flatter shape and dust with flour - roll it out with the pasta rolling machine - this is for the purpose for cleaning the pasta machine. Throw away.
8. Cut out 1/4 from the dough, the rest put back at fridge until ready for the next roll.
9. Knead gently with some 00 Flour, then dust the surface with flour gently and roll in the pasta machine. after rolling it out at the largest dial for 3 times, fold it in the opposite direction and roll it again. 2-3 times from the largest dial to say the middle dial.
10. Dust the working surface with some 00 Flour and place the roll out pasta sheet on top, place the fillings you like on the sheet, dip your finger into a bowl of water and move your wet finger along the edge of the sheet, then stick 2 edges together and make your ravioli...
(sounds complicated, sorry)
11. Place each ravioli you made in a tray dusted with flour, then wrap with plastic wrap and store in fridge until ready to cook.
12. Boil a pot of water and add a little bit of sea salt, add the ravioli and cook for 5-6 mins. Drain and drizzle with some olive oil or your favourite sauce on top. or even White Truffles!
Porcini mushrooms fillings:
Ingredients:
Fresh Porcini Mushrooms (or any mushrooms you like)
onion - minced
italian parsley - minced
butter
How to Make:
1. wipe the fresh porcini mushrooms with a damp cloth, then with a kitchen napkin. Finely chopped the mushrooms.
2. Heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan, then add the minced onion and stir fry until softened.
3. Add the mushrooms to the pan and continue to stir fry until fragrant and mushrooms softened.
4, Season with some salt and sugar, then add the minced parsley.
5. Remove them to a bowl and cool down before you can use them as fillings of the raviloi.
Enjoy~
* receipe addapted from Michel Roux JR's "Le Gavroche Cookbook".
Ingredients:
Serves 10-12 persons
2 big lobster heads (the shells do not really add to the flavour. Most important will be the heads)
lobster meat from 1 lobster (you can keep the meat from the 2nd lobster in the freezer for next time use)
1 onion - minced
1 carrot - minced
2 stalks of celery - minced
2 tbsp olive oil
4 sprigs of italian parsley
1 sprig of thyme
2 large tomatoes - chopped into cubes
2 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp brandy
300ml dry white wine
2 lites fish stock (see below)
1 litres veal or chicken stock (see below)
butter
500ml double cream
Fish Stock
Ingredients:
1kg bones and heads from white fish (eg. sole, turbot, etc)
1 onion - roughly chopped
1 stick of celery - roughly chopped
60g butter
100ml dry white wine
2 litres water
6 parsley stalks
1 bay leaf
How to Make:
1. Remove any gills from the fish heads and thoroughly clean the fish heads and bones and drain.
2. Sweat the onion and celery with the butter in a deep saucepan in medium fire and when softened, add the fish heads and bones and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Pour in the wine, turn up heat and let the wine evaporate and reduce by half.
3. Add the water and herbs and bring to boil, skimming frequently. Lower the the heat to medium (but you still see bubbles in the middle) and cook uncovered for 1 hr.
4. Strain through a muslin-lined sieve and leave to cool.
Chicken Stock
You can use the ready made one but i prefer to make my own stock if this is a soup dish.
Ingredients:
1 old chicken with skin removed
1 carrot
1 onion
1/2 stick of celery
How to Make:
1. Blanch the chicken. Drain.
2. Put chicken, onion, carrot and celery in a deepsauce pan, add water, bring to boil, reduce to medium to medium-low heat and cook for 2 hrs.
3. Drain the ingredients and once the soup is cool down, you can skim the fat on top of this stock.
Lobster Bisque
How to Make:
1. Keep the meat from one lobster in the fridge for later use.
2. Clean the lobster heads and crush them with a rolling pin until they are well broken up.
3. Bring the fish stock and chicken stock to boil and keep them aside.
4. Sweat the onion, carrot, celery with olive oil in a large and deep saucepab. When the vegetables are lightly browned and softened, add the parsley and thyme, then the lobster heads, stirroing frequently so nothing sticks or burns for around 5 min.
5. When the bones are hot, add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and the cayenne pepper.
6. Pour in the brandy and stir well for 1-2min, then add the white wine and boil for at least 3 min.
7. Add the stocks (proportion of fish stock and chicken stock - 2:1), bring to boil and season lightly with sea salt. Simmer for 1 hr, stirring occassioally and skimming off scum that appears on surface.
8. Drain through a colander set over a large pot, pressing the bones well to extract all juices and flavour.
9. Then pass the soup one more time to another pot via a fine sieve. Bring to boil and reduce the soup by 1/3. Skim if necessary.
10. In the meantime, heat some butter in a frying pan, then add the lobser meats and stir fry until 80% done. Distribute the lobster meats to the soup bowls.
11. Just before you are ready to serve the soup, add the double cream, according to taste and boil for not more than 5 mins. Spoon to each bowl with the lobster meats and serve immediately. You can garnish by adding some minced parsley and cayenne pepper. You can also add a little cognac or Armagnac if your guests like this. Or perhaps froth with a hand blender for a cappuccino effect.
enjoy~~
* recipe adapted from "Tea with Bea"
Ingredients:
240g caster sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
150g all purpose flour + 1 tbsp for coating cherries
70g ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
3 eggs
130g greek yogurt
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp almond essence
80ml canola or sunflower oil
50g melted butter
cherries
flaked almonds
How to Make:
1. Preheat overn to 170'C.
2. Whiz sugar and lemon zest in electric mixer until sugar smells super lemony.
3. Add sifted flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, yogurt, vanilla and almond essence, then pour into the flour mixture and stir untik just combined and no traces of flour remain.
4. Fold in the oil and melted butter to the above mixture.
5. In another bowl, toss the cherries with flour, then fold into the muffin batter.
6. Spoon mixture into muffin cases and scatter almond flakes over the tops.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30min until brown on top and a skewer inserted in the middle come out dry.
Served immediately and ENJOY with a cup of tea~
