I can’t find a better way to mark my return to the blogosphere than sharing my favourite Italian dish of pasta and meatballs.

But first thing first, I apologise about the post drought on my blog.

It has been a crazy past couple of months from house hunting to moving house. Being in awe with the walk-in closet and the semi-new interior of the house we’ve just moved into, we missed the obvious – the phone line. The house didn’t come with a phone line. Since the move we have been surviving on wireless internet which for some reason, the reception is pretty crap. Apparently it has something to do with the fact that the roof is made of tin and not tile. This house is definitely not ADSL friendly. As I couldn’t leave my blog unattended any longer, I will be juggling between preparing blog posts offline at home and uploaded at work until a knight in a shining armour i.e my phone company technician come to my rescue.

Anyway back to my Italian fix.

Whilst Bolognese is my go-to Italian fix on week days, meatball pasta is my weekend treat.  The key of good meatball pasta is obviously the sauce. It requires patience and time to ensure the flavours from the meatballs develops in the tomato sauce over slow heat. It’s definitely not something you can rush and get over and done with. Don’t you agree?                

Fettuccine with Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

(Serves 4-6 people)

Recipe:-

• 1kg ground beef
• 3 small onions (or about 2 large onions), peeled and roughly diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
• ½ cup of fresh breadcrumbs (or one of the first slices of bread in a loaf)
• ½ cup parmesan, grated
• About 1.5 tbsp Masterfoods Italian Herbs or any dried mixed Italian herbs of your choice
• Freshly grind black pepper (about 5-6 times)
• Salt to taste (approximately a tbsp)
• 3 X 400g canned chopped tomatoes
• 4-6 servings worth of  fettuccine or any long pasta of your choice (I’ve used about 750g/26 oz of San Remo Fettuccine)
• Additional grated parmesan for garnish
• Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

(To ease the preparation work for this recipe, I use a small food processor.)

Methods:-

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (392 F).

2. To make fresh breadcrumbs, process a slice of fresh bread.  Set aside in a bowl. Skip this step if you already have pre-made ones.

Note – If you don’t like the first and last slices of bread in a loaf or the bread crusts like myself, instead of throwing them away, I will save them up (kept in the fridge, of course) and use them for making fresh breadcrumbs.

 3.  In the same food processor, process garlic and onions until becomes fine particles.

 4. In a large mixing bowl, combine ground beef, half of the onion-garlic mixture, 1 tbsp dried oregano, ½ cup grated parmesan, breadcrumbs, black pepper and salt until it forms meat dough. I used my hands for this step.

 5. Then form tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls and place them on an aluminium/baking paper lined tray.  Bake for 15 minutes or until well browned.  Please note that the meatballs that didn’t make it to the tray I decided to pan fry them in step 6.

Feel free to pan fry the whole batch of meatballs instead of baking them. For me to stand through the whole process of pan frying a tray of meatballs is a bit arduous.  Hence the ones which couldn’t fit onto the baking tray will be  pan fried in order to get the flavour bits in the olive oil that will enhance the sauce.

 6. Heat some olive oil in a large pot over high heat. When the oil is hot, add meatballs and cook, turning occasional until the meatballs are slightly browned on all sides. Remove from pot and set aside.

  7. In the same pot, (while it is still hot and flamin’) add the remaining onion-garlic mixture and sauté over high heat until the onion is translucent. Lower the heat to low-medium, add ½ tbsp of dried oregano and tomato sauce. 

 8. Cook the sauce over medium – high heat until it starts to boil. Then turn the heat to the minimum and simmer for 1 hour. Get ready a glass of water beside the pot.  Check and gently stir every so often and add more water when the consistency becomes too thick (or begins to stick on the bottom of the pot).

 9. An hour later, the sauce is ready. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. In the meantime, cook fettuccine in a separate large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain and set aside.

 10. To serve:  Using a cooking tong or large serving fork, place some fettuccine on to a place and ladle some meatball sauce over it. Scatter some grated parmesan and chopped parsley.

Cold weather often calls for these essentials in my kitchen:-

• stick blenders (or food processor)
• ready-made stock from the pantry
• a large pot 

If you keep these essentials at all times, you’re set to be warm and comforted on cold (and rainy) days…. in which I have been experiencing a lot lately in Orange (NSW).

While some people wouldn’t mind having soups and breads as a meal, soup to me is more like an in-between meals tummy filler or best of all, a “palm-warmer” while cozying up with my beloved under a blanket while watching DVDs.

As you may know me by now that I’m a big fan of impromptu cooking. Hence, this soup is made of ingredients which are commonly available in my pantry/fridge (I hope it is the same as you too!).

You may use any curry paste available, but you will have to adjust the proportion based on the type of paste you use. As a guide, you can start with a teaspoon full of curry paste and keep topping it up to taste.

Asian Inspired Pea & Apple Soup

About 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 litre /4 cups /34 fluid oz of your preferred ready made stock (vegetable stock was used for this recipe)
• 500g / 18 oz frozen peas
• 2 Granny Smith apples
• 1 tbsp green curry paste (as a guide only – may need  to adjust to your liking)
• A handful of coriander leaves, finely chopped
• 1 fresh chilli, finely chopped
• A packet (100g / 4 oz) of Chang’s Crunchy Noodles (the flat ones)

Methods:

• Dice the apples. If you are using a stick blender, try to dice them as small as you can (I wish I have done this!). This will ease the blending later on (translation: less splattering) .
• Saute green curry paste, frozen peas and apples until aromatic. (This should take about a minute or two).

• Add vegetable stock into the peas’ mixture and allow the soup mixture to boil over low-medium flame until apple and peas are soft enough to be blend. Cover the pot with a lid to fasten the process.

• Meanwhile, prepare your garnishes by chopping the coriander and chilli finely. Set aside in the fridge.

• Check the apples with a fork if they are soft enough to blend especially you are using a stick blender like myself.

• Blend away….until smooth and velvelty.

• Then put the soup back to the stove and continue to cook over low-medium flame, uncovered,  just to thicken the soup a little. You may want to taste the soup if salt / sugar is necessary. As for myself, I think the soup is just fine as it is…. especially there’s already some seasonings in the green chilli paste and stock.
• To serve: top the soup with chopped coriander, chilli and those addictive crispy noodles.

By the way, I have been away to Perth and Bali on vacation which explains my temporary absence from the blogsphere. The trip was short but sweet …and the highlight would be my friend’s beach front wedding and the wonderful culinary experience in Bali. I had too many satays to count….. (no surprise there!) and I came back with a light tan and many sweet memories to cherish. Hope things have been well with you guys!

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When the fridge leaves you with a bowl of overnight vegetable stir fry (in this case it was homemade), you make a good and hearty meal out of it. To do so, you have the following options:-

(a) Heat up in the microwave and then eat it right away. Since it’s only a small bowl of veggies, your next thought would be..’what else I can eat to fill the void of my quarterly-filled appetite?”….normally I would go down the path of junk food or a grilled cheese sandwich. Tsk tsk tsk….bad Emily!

(b) Pop it in a microwave and cook some extra rice on the side.

(c) Bulk it up with fresh hokkien noodles (the long life version which is available from the shelf instead of the refrigerated ones).

 1 plate of chow mein for dinner

The whole point behind this food recycling thing is to save time, work (cooking) and money. Maybe food recycling doesn’t sound too appetising… what about “leftover makeover” sound to you?

Whenever I have a leftover stir fry, may it be homemade or from the Chinese takeaway, I try to be “creative” and make a big meal out of it. Sometimes when I try out new Asian food places where I’m served with bland stir fries… rather than tip the unfinished dishes aside and forget about them, I would bring them home and  give them some more love….i.e. dousing with some good quality soy sauce, maybe some sesame oil, garlic or ginger oil, add homemade fried shallot, white pepper…. (If you haven’t noticed, I love salvaging leftovers as much as I can…)

Since the leftover is already cooked (obviously), it takes minimal time to get my “makeover” meal from start to finish. The only rule for this “makeover” is to add ingredients that will compliment the leftover.

With a leftover stir fry, generally you can do no wrong in adding fresh garlic, chilli, sesame oil, white pepper, concentrated stock and soy sauce in sprucing up the leftover.

Who says we only need face makeovers, our leftover needs a little makeover too!

The ingredients you need for the makeover are….

(for one plate of chow mein)

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes (optional)
• 1 tsp concentrated stock (optional)
• 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 serving of leftover stir fry
• 220g / 8 oz fresh thin hokkein noodles from the shelf
• A dash of white pepper

Methods:

• Rinse noodles in boiling hot water.

• Then rinse them under cold running water immediately. Drain and set aside.

•  Finely chop garlic.

• Heat up a tablespoon of oil in a pan over medium flame. Add garlic and chilli flakes when the oil is hot and saute until the garlic becomes aromatic.

•  Add the leftover vegetable stir fry and saute until well heated through.

• Add a teaspoon of concentrated chicken stock (if using) and toss gently with the veggies.

• Add in the noodles and toss with the ingredients until well combined. Taste the noodles to gauge how much soy sauce you need. You need to adjust the quantity specified in the recipe depending the saltiness of the leftover plus there’s already some seasonings in the real stock paste.
• Add soy sauce to the noodles and toss until well combined.

(Emily’s note:  While tossing the noodles with the soy sauce, make sure you turn the flame to the minimum to avoid the noodles from sticking to the pan especially if you’re not using non-stick pan. When the noodles are well mixed with soy sauce, increase the flame back to medium and quickly toss the noodles until some light charring and you’re ready to serve.)

• Serve immediately. You can garnish with finely sliced spring onion or chopped fresh chilli.

Whenever I visited a South Asian takeaway shop where one is greeted with a bain marie full of curries varying in hues of sunset colours, spinach curry which normally be a vegetarian dish called palak paneer often got missed amongst other more vibrant-coloured curry. (For those who are not familiar with Indian cuisines, palak means spinach; paneer is a South Asian fresh cheese made by curdling the milk with some lemon juice).

With that being said, when I was given this recipe (the meat version) from a close family member, I was hesitant to try at first given my lack in interest in greenish and not-so appetising looking curry (*cough * vain!).  But then, my beloved convinced me to try it ….well it is his favourite dish after all….and did I mention this close family member happens to be my beloved’s mum?  So I got to try this somehow, hehe! Anyway, after the first time making this curry, the rest is history. It has been my staple cook ahead meals for week days. So I hope you’ll love it too!

Spinach & Chicken Curry

Serves 3 to 4 people

Ingredients:

• 750g (26 oz) chicken breasts, diced (you can substitute the meat with paneer)
• 250g (80 oz) frozen chopped spinach
• 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp store-bought ginger paste
• 1 tsp store-bought garlic paste
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder (adjust to taste)
• Salt to taste

Garnish:-

• A handful of coriander/cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 shallot (small red onion), finely sliced
• 1/2 fresh chilli, finely chopped

Methods:

• Heat up 2 tbsps of cooking oil in a large pot over medium flame. When the oil is hot, add onion and saute until lightly brown. Then turn the flame to low, add ginger & garlic paste, 1 tsp of salt,  cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilli powder. Once you’ve added the ingredients, turn the flame to low-medium and saute until the spices are aromatic and oil begins to separate from the paste. I used a really good non-stick pot while making this curry, therefore I didn’t add water for this instance. If you use a stainless steel pot, you may need to add about 1/4 cup water to prevent the paste from sticking to the pot.

•  Add chicken and mix to combine the spices with the meat. Saute the chicken for a couple of seconds over medium flame.

•  Add frozen chopped spinach.

•  Then add boiling water to just cover all the ingredients.

• Turn the flame to high wait until the curry starts to bubble. Then cover the lid and allow the curry so simmer over low heat until the chicken is cooked and spinach is fully no longer frozen.  Taste the curry and add more salt to taste.  Set aside while we prepare the garnish.

•  Garnish preparation: Mix coriander leaves, chilli and onion in a small bowl. Set aside.

• To serve: Serve curry with basmati rice topped with the garnishes above.