Porcini Mushroom Cream Pasta

Everyone needs a few favourite "quick cook" recipes to get them through the busy days. Pasta is certainly one of those dishes I will always turn to when I want to whip up a quick meal for the family. And when I say quick, I meant lesser ingredients needed, lesser time needed to get it from the stove to the dinner table. So today, l want to introduce this simple mushroom pasta that uses Porcini mushrooms to "empower" the whole dish. As most of us might have already know, Porcini is a wild mushroom, although it is sold commercially, it is very difficult to cultivate. Thus that explains the slightly steeper pricing. The fragrance of the mushroom actually intensifies more when it is dried, much like other mushrooms like Shiitake. Porcini is commonly used in soups, risotto and of course pastas, thus we often see them appearing in Italian dishes.  

I have actually always wanted to try out cooking porcini mushrooms. So when I saw it selling at selling at Huber's Butchery at Dempsey Hill, it didn't took me long to place it in my shopping basket.

And since I didn't want to mask away the original flavour of the mushroom, I chose to cook it in the simplest form, just with cream pasta.

Recipe for Porcini Cream Pasta (Serves 2-3)

Ingredients needed:

100 - 120 g dried porcini mushroom

1 small onion, peeled and sliced thinly

4 - 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and finally diced

6 - 8 cremini mushrooms, sliced (brown button mushrooms)

2 tbsp salted french butter (if no french butter, other salted butter is fine too)

120-130 ml fresh cooking cream

Soaking water of the porcini mushroom (about 3/4 cup - 1 cup)

1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley

Salt, fresh ground pepper and sugar to taste.

3 rolls of dried egg noodles (Use any brand you fancy)

(Optional protein side, you can choose pork or salmon

1 boneless, skinless chicken thigh 

• Soak the dried porcini in a bowl of warm water. Leave it to soften up to 1 hour. Remember DO NOT THROW away the soaking liquid. It will be used for the pasta later.

• In a pan over medium low fire, add butter in and let it slowly melt down. Add minced garlic and onion in. Cook till onions are soften and the mixture is aromatic.

• Squeeze dry the porcini from its soaking liquid and set aside. Once the onions has soften, add in both the mushrooms. Then season it with fresh ground pepper and salt.

• Once the mushrooms cooked down, add in another tablespoon of butter. This is to make a rue to thicken the whole mixture. So add in a tbsp of plain flour. Stir in to cook the flour for a minute. Once that is done, slowly pour in the soaking mushroom liquid, whisk till combined.

• Let the whole mushroom mixture simmer for a few minutes at low fire. In the meantime, cook the dried pasta in some boiling water.

• While the pasta is boiling, add the cooking cream into the mushroom mixture.

• Stir it in till everything is well combined. Once the pasta is al dente, remove from the boiling water and straight into the mushroom sauce.

• Toss together till the noodles are well coated with the mushroom cream. Dish up and sprinkle with freshly chopped parsley.

Serve the pasta immediately. You can have it as is. I actually find the mushrooms hearty good enough to go alone with the noodles. But if you want something more substantial, feel free to cook some protein like pan seared salmon or a pan fried crispy chicken thigh like mine. :)

I seasoned the chicken thigh and coat with plain flour, pan fry till crispy, simple as that. The whole meal got more substantial of course and my kids loves pasta and fried chicken, sure win...

Do try this out and don't be intimidated by a foreign ingredient that you've never used or come close to using. You never know how easy and delicious your next home cooked meal will be until you try it out yourself. ;)

Happy cooking!

Spaghetti Frittata

I have been making this simple dish but haven't got the chance to pen it down. Actually got this inspiration from none other then MASA himself, (ahem...that handsome Japanese chef). It was from his latest cookbook "Hello, MASA! Can you teach me how to cook". This particular cookbook has a good collection of simple gourment dishes for busy people to cook up within 30 minutes. And this Spaghetti Frittata is just one of them. Since I was making for 4 people, I up the recipe and added nore seasoning to the recipe. Since my kids are such pasta fans, I knew this dish was gonna be a winner. ;9

This simple dish consist of carb, protein and vegetables...really a complete meal on its own! So busy mums, do try this out, I can guarantee you the kids will love this. ;) Now let's check out what we need for this dish.

Ingredients for Spaghetti Frittata (serves 3-4 pax)

Note that the ingredients amount is more then shown above.

200 g dried Capellini pasta (Thinner the usual spaghetti)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

2 - 3 smoked sausages, cut into bitesize 

100 g fresh broccoli floretts 

5 tbsp fresh corn (I use half of a corn's)

5 large eggs

6-8 cherry tomatoes, cut half

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp Hondashi powder 

2 slices of Cheddar cheese

• First you bring a pot of water to boil. Add in the pasta to cook till al dente. 

• Next drain off the water and place the pasta in a mixing bowl. Add the oilve oil in, toss to coat it, so it won't stick together and form a big lump.

• In a saute pan, add in 1 tbsp cooking oil and garlic over medium low fire. Cook till it is aromatic, then add in the sausages. Stir fry awhile till you see the sausages are slight golden brown then add the broccoli florets.

• Next, add in the butter and sweet fresh corn. Cook till the butter melted and the corn is soften a little. Remove from fire and set aside while you prepare the pasta and egg mixture.

• At this point, crack the eggs in to a mixing bowl, add in salt, pepper and the Hondashi powder. Mix well and then pour it over the reserved pasta. Then add the whole egg and pasta mixture over the sauteed vegetables.
• Arrange the vegetables so they are evenly spread out. Add in the tomato halves.

• Tear up the cheddar cheese slices and place evenly throughout the whole frittata. Cover the pan and cook at low fiire for a good 6-8 minutes, till the cheese is all melted in.

• Let the frittata cool slightly before slicing it to serve. 

Tadah! A meal prep easily in 30 minutes or less! Simple right? Plus it is something even the picky eaters will enjoy...okay maybe you might need to change some of the ingredients, but you get the idea. ;)

Do try this out and let me know how it turn out for you. Or tag me in Instagram @HoneyBeeSweets.Sg for me to check out. ;)

Have a good one guys!

Fresh Spinach Pasta (Pasta Verde)

A refresh post from my previous one. Newly updated to bring you a better recipe. Enjoy!

"Verde" means green in Italian/Spanish, and Pasta Verde simply translate as green pasta. And The green here comes from Popeye's favorite vegetable, spinach. :) I don't exactly remember how many times, but I do remember it's more then my fingers plus my toes combined together. I'm talking about the number of times I've made fresh pasta at home. I believe anyone whom had tried it and tasted it before will know why go through the hassle to make it your own. It's different from your grocery bought, packaged fresh noodles. Making it at home is the real deal, it's doesn't get fresher then that, trust me. And the tender noodles tossed in your favorite sauce or gravy will totally knock your socks off, guaranteed.

Here I made a version of Garlic Lemon Cream Sauce tossed with the Pasta Verde. With crab meat and pan seared Salmon steak...a wonderful complete meal. Well your vegetables are already in the pasta haha! :P

Look on to see how I did it:

Ingredients for Fresh Spinach Pasta: (enough for 2-3 adults)
3/4 package fresh spinach, using leaves only, wash and rinse dry.
-after I cooked it, it yields about 80g
180g all purpose flour (plus more for dusting and shaping)
1 large eggs

Lemon Garlic Cream Sauce
3 garlic minced
3 tbsp unsalted butter
juice of 1/2 lemon
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp all purpose flour
300ml milk + 100ml heavy cooking cream
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
2 tsp sugar

1 salmon steak, seasoned with salt and pepper and sauteed till golden brown.

Method:

• In a large saute pan, heat it up 1 tbsp of water, add in the spinach leaves and saute for a couple minutes. It will slowly wilt down. Remove from pan and let cool. Squeeze out the excess liquid and weigh out about 80g of it and set aside
• In a large mixing bowl, add in the flour, the egg and the spinach. (Note that I doubled my recipe this there are two eggs in the picture) 
• Mix well until it comes together. Place it on a lightly floured work surface and knead it to form a soft dough. Might be a little sticky, add a little flour and knead till not sticky.
  
  
• Cover the dough in a moist towel and let rest for 10 minutes before shaping it. If you have a pasta maker, it'll be a good time to bring it out and set it up right now. Else a lightly floured work surface and a trusty rolling pin will do too.
• Divide the dough into 4 smaller equal portions. Take a portion, lightly dust it with flour and let it pass through the pasta roller at the highest number, meaning thickest.

• Gradually decrease the number knob to 1 or 2 depending the kind of pasta you want to make and let the pasta roll through a couple times on each number. It will come out into a nice smooth sheet of pasta.
• Carefully placed the pasta sheets on a lightly floured baking tray and cover with moist towel. Repeat with the rest of the pasta dough portions till all has been rolled out.
• At this point, get ready a pot of boiling water going at medium high heat. Then change the pasta maker setting so that it will turn the roller on for cutting it into the shape you want. This time I am making linguine. If you do not have the pasta maker, just use a pizza cutter or a knife to slice the sheets into thin strips.

• Meanwhile, heat up a tsp of olive oil and place the minced garlic in. Saute till lightly browned and fragrant. Add in 3 tbsp of butter and cook till just melted.
• Add in the 1 tbsp of flour and quickly stir in to cook the flour. Once thicken, add in the milk and cream mixture, lemon juice and lower the fire to smallest. 
• Stirring constantly till the sauce is smooth. Add in the lemon zest, salt, pepper and sugar. Stir well till everything is well combined. Set aside.
• Boil the pasta in the water for a few minutes, I would say 3 to 4 minutes since fresh pasta cooks really fast. Scoop it out and toss it in the lemon garlic sauce sauce and add the crab meat..

The pasta is really smooth and delicious. If you are not really a fan of spinach, you can simply omit the vegetables and make plain egg pasta. Reduce the flour to 150g instead. But I am always try to find ways to incorporate more greens into my kids menu, so this is one of the most effective "camouflage" method, lol! Of course the kids knew about the vegetables been made into the pasta, but they didn't taste it, so it's all good. ;P 

 Below is an old picture of my previous post which I made the spinach pasta into sheets and using them as lasagna pasta. Cool right! I should do that again soon. :9

Again, I felt that it's a much better choose over the box version. But of course, the box pasta always comes in handy when you are on the run. ;) Enough said, I do hope you all will try making fresh pasta at home, it's truly a gourmet meal you can share with you love ones. But do note that you should get your sauces ready first before making the fresh pasta. Once the pasta is made, you just have to toss the noodles in your favorite sauce, simple as that. Enjoy everyone!

Pumpkin & Shrimp Pasta Gratin with Pumpkin White Sauce

Yes, finally! My kid's exam is over! It is such a relief and happy feeling. ;) I guess most of us parents just feel stressed out because the kids go through the grueling exam period. But now that it's over, no matter how she fare, I am contented that she had did her best. So from now on, we are all ready for our holiday plans, scheduling and packing, yoohoo! And since I was relatively busy with my kiddo's exam, I didn't manage to bake or cook all those things I had planned, namely for MFF and AB. I was even planning to bake a pumpkin cheesecake today for Halloween but had to let go since I ended up packing up my kids books and notes.*haiz*

Nevertheless, I did make something with pumpkin (in the Halloween theme. haha). Something delicious and homey for the family to enjoy. It's Pumpkin & Shrimp Pasta Gratin with Pumpkin White Sauce....seriously delicious and comforting. ;D

Okay, if you have not eaten baked pasta before, you have got to try it! You will not regret it especially if you love pasta...like me. ;) I got this fabulous recipe from none other then MASA himself. Ever since HHB told me that MASA has a Taiwanese website, I've been visiting him ever since, lol! I think I will never get bored browsing through all those yummy dishes he cooks up. ;)) So maybe you can go check him out later....I mean go check his website out, haha!

Since our dear MASA didn't give specific amount in his recipe, I had to do a rough estimate on most of the ingredients. Okay, without further ado, here is my version of the recipe:

Ingredients for Pumpkin & Shrimp Pasta Gratin with Pumpkin White Sauce (Serves 4-5)
15-18 tiger prawns, shelled & devined
400g Japanese Pumpkin (preferred but okay to use others if don't have)

•  Sliced thinly, 200g to be used for the Pumpkin White sauce while the other 200g in the gratin. Note that you can eat the skin too, just make sure you scrub it clean. ;)

2 tbsp chopped garlic
1 box of Penne Pasta
1 serving of White Sauce (see link for MASA recipe)
2 tbsp butter
1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
250g grated mozzarella cheese
4 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese 
2 tbsp butter
Salt & Pepper

For the White Sauce: 
30g butter
35g cake flour
400ml fresh milk
100ml dairy heavy cream

• In a sauce pan over medium low heat, add in butter. When the butter melted and started bubbling, add in the flour all at once.
• Quickly whisk in the flour and butter together till it comes together. Continue stirring for at least 2 -3 minutes to cook the flour, making sure not to burn it.
• Then slowly add in half of the milk and continue to whisk, making sure there is no lumps. 
• When the mixture has come together to a thick smooth consistency, add in the rest of the milk and heavy cream. Stir well.
•  
• Continue to cook the sauce till it thickens slightly. One way to test it is to use a wooden spoon or spatula and run your finger through the back of the spoon. If the sauce stays clear from the path, it's good to go.

Pumpkin White Sauce: 

• In a large pan, add in the 2 tbsp butter, then add in the chopped garlic. Saute for a minute and add in 200g of the thinly sliced pumpkin.
• After 2-3 minutes, add in the prawns and stir fry till the prawns just turn pink.
•  
• Remove the prawns from the pan (you don't want to over cook them). Leaving the pumpkins still in the pan, add in about 150ml of water and let it slowly stew for 5-8 minutes till soft.
•    
• When the pumpkin is soft, off the fire and let cool for 10 minutes.
• In the meantime, boil your pasta till al dente. Scoop out and set aside for use later. 
• Scoop the pumpkin and all the stewed water in the blender and zap it till its a smooth consistency.
• Add the pumpkin puree to the reserved white sauce earlier.
•   
• Mix it well till you get a smooth golden saucy consistency. Add a couple tablespoon of milk and heat up the mixture if it's too thick. At this point, give the sauce a taste test, you can add salt and pepper to make it the desired taste you like.
•    
• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• At this point, add in the pasta and stir well till everything is coated. Add in the cooked prawns, peas and stir well.
• Ladle the pasta mixture into a buttered gratin dish or bake dish. 

 

•  Now add in the rest of the 200g thinly sliced pumpkin, and spread over the mixture. 
• Lastly add in the cheeses, sprinkling all over the top. Pinch in bits if  the reserved 2 tbsp cold butter all over the top. 

 

• Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes till the top is bubbly and golden brown. Serve while it is still hot.

Bare in mind that the white sauce or the pumpkin white sauce can be made ahead. So on the day you need it, all you have to do is assemble and bake. Alternatively, assemble everything, freeze it and bake it as when you need. No harm done since everything is already cooked just needs to bake it up to melt those cheeses. ;)

Now, don't tell me you don't want a plate of this golden cheesy pasta? I had 2 by the way, haha! The sweetness from the prawns and pumpkin really gave this pasta a  full rich flavor. It's creamy, its sweet, it's cheesy, it's everything a comfort food should be. BIG YUM! Something to note, if possible, try to get Japanese pumpkin for this, as it's much sweeter, smoother and creamier. Worth every penny. ;)

Hope I have motivated you to cook this nice comfort meal for your family, if not for yourself. ;) 
Lastly, wishing everyone a spooky Halloween Day today! Cheers everyone!

Lazy Weekend Meal; Salmon Miso Cream Pasta

Weekend is here again and it will be quite an exciting one for me and my family since we have visitors from overseas coming today. It's actually a close friend of mine whom I had the pleasure to know when I was staying in KL. In fact, she is the first friend I know when I was there! Our friendship didn't dampen even when I had moved back to Singapore for more then 2 years now. Really hope we can cherish and enjoy this friendship as long as we can, because it is not easy to find one as we all know. Looking forward to seeing them later!

Lately, I've fallen in love with this new chef (MASA), eh..specifically his cookbooks, haha! I found the first copy, "Joy of cooking at MASA's place" at the library and from then on, I just couldn't stop looking at the book! It's simple Japanese cuisine, taught step by step with simple ingredients that you can find. So in today post, I'm showing you all an easy pasta dish from his book, Salmon Miso Cream Pasta. It's sort of an infused Jap-Italian dish, super nice. Whether you like it for lunch or dinner, I am sure it will satisfy your appetite. ;)

Ingredients for Salmon Miso Cream Pasta (Serves 3-4)
400g spaghetti
2 fillets of salmon, approximately 400-500g
1 tbsp butter
5-6 garlic, sliced thinly
12-14 asparagus, washed and trimmed the tough part
4 medium Portabella, sliced thin (brown button mushrooms can be used as replacement)
2 tbsp miso paste (any brand you prefer)
400ml heavy cream for cooking
freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste
shredded nori for deco (optional)

• In a saute pan, add the butter and heat up at medium low heat. Add the salmon and pan fry till golden brown. Should not take long, probably 5 minutes, depending on your salmon piece size.
• Once the salmon is cooked, remove from the pan and let cool for 5 minutes. Then flake the fish, remove bones and skin if there is.
• In a big pot, boil some water for cooking the spaghetti. Cook the pasta till al-dente and drain out. Set aside for use later.
• To make the miso cream sauce, heat the cream in the microwave oven for a minute and then stir in the miso paste. Whisk if needed till well combined.
• 
• In another pot, add in 1 tsp oilve oil, and saute the garlic slices till fragrant. Then add in the asparagus, cook for a minute then add in the portabella. Stir for a while till the mushrooms have wilted a little. Pour in the miso cream mixture and stir till well combined. Lastly, add in the flaked salmon and stir well.
• 
• Add in the pasta as before you are serving, stir till well combined and dish up and eat while it is still warm. Bon appetit!

A simple yet delicious meal to prepare for your love ones. The salty miso mellows out with the cream and it also brings out the sweetness of the asparagus. It all went well with the musky taste of the portabella mushrooms...simply divine! My girl whom is not too fond of asparagus, ate up the whole plate with no complains and said it's the best pasta ever, lol!

Hope this post will inspire you to try it out and cook for your dear ones this weekend. ;) Cheers!