Beef Lasagna

It has been a long while since my last blog entry. Yesterday I thought I get my hands dirty and try this recipe. It turned out alright. I used a very convenient pre-cooked lasagna pasta which does not need boiling or soaking (St. Remo I think!). It was also convenient because of the recipe at the back of the box! Oh dear! I threw away the box already. Hmmmmmmmm....... let me recall the ingredients.

1 onion

1 clove garlic

1 carrot

500g minced beef

2x 400ml canned tomato

5 tbs tomato paste

2 cups chicken stock

pinch of nutmeg

2 tbs butter

2 tbs flour

2 cups milk

150g cheese (mozarella or cheddar)

Heat oil in a pan.

Sweat onion, garlic & carrot till soft.

Add minced beef & cook till brown.

Add canned tomato, tomato paste, stock & nutmeg.

Season with salt & pepper.

Simmer for 20 minutes.

White sauce

Heat butter in a separate pan.

Take off heat & stir in flour.

Cook for 2 minutes on slow heat.

Add milk & keep stirring till thick & smooth.

Season with salt& pepper.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Lightly grease baking dish.

Layer pasta, meat sauce & white sauce alternately, starting with meat sauce and ending with white sauce on top. Make up to 4 layers.

Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Leave to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Farfalle with Mussel, Scallop & Prawn Bolognese Sauce

Yet another Itallian dish today.

This time farfalle (bow-tie pasta) with seafood bolognese sauce....a bit over the top with scallop, mussel & prawns. Just can't resist when I saw 'em at Jusco Bukit Indah.

That's why cooking pasta is easy..........healthy fast food.

Prep time about 1/2 hour.

Shave/grate parmesan cheese during serving.

Baked Creamy Tomato & Mozzarella Rigatoni

I still remember Xmas day when I was in the UK. As a Muslim I don't celebrate Xmas, the experience was nonetheless enriching. My first Xmas was with a foster family in Rugby, Warwickshire. 

Decorating the Xmas tree. Wrapping presents to put under the tree. Stockings. Leaving milk & mincepie (I love those mincepies!) for Santa Claus. The next day lunch: stuffed roast turkey, brussel sprouts, roast potato and gravy followed by christmas pudding. Exchanging presents. Party games. Of course no alcohol for me being a teetotal! Only later I found out about the mistletoe and stuff....u know what I mean.

Jingle bell! Jingle bell! Jingle on the way! Those were the days....

I digressed......

My wife & I  only had pasta bake on Xmas day.

It was my turn to cook. So I chose to cook the simplest dish I know....simple but delish!

Ingredients for sauce

U can buy ready-made sauce but to make it yourself, u need

1 can  tomatoes 

1 capsicum (green pepper)

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

2 tbs mozzarella cream cheese

Chopped onion, garlic, tomatoes & capsicum into chunks. I like it chunky & rustic!

Add cream cheese.

Cook some pasta (roughly 1 mug for each person) in plenty of salted water till "al dente".

Tips of cooking pasta I learned from Chef Michael Smith

1. Do not add oil in water

2. Do not rinse cooked pasta with water

Reason: the starch layer on pasta will let more sauce to stick to it!

There are about 1000 pasta shapes 

Shaped pasta: farfalle (bow-tie), fusilli (spiral), conchiglie (shell) etc

Tubular: canneloni, macaroni, rigatoni, penne

Strand: spaghetti, angelhair, capellini (in descending thinness)

Ribbon pasta: linguine, tagliatelle, fettuchine, lasagna 

Stuffed pasta: tortellini, ravioli

........but I personally like penne. For this dish I chose rigatoni ("ridged large tube" i.e more sauce will stick on and in the pasta)

Direction:

Brown 400g minced beef with olive oil in a separate pan.

Preheat oven 190 Celcius.

Put cooked pasta in baking dish.

Layer browned meat and any vegetable (I put shitake mushroom)

Then pour sauce on top.

Cover with grated mozzarella cheese.

Bake for 15 min or till top brown.

Best served with grated parmesan and an empty stomach!

YUMMY!