Spaghetti with lobster in a creamy tomato sauce

Spaghetti with lobster in a creamy tomato sauce

Truth be told, I did not want to use any recipes from a certain foul mouthed chef, however, my son told me that his restaurants have more Michelin Stars than Heston Blumenthal's restaurants have.

 

 So here is Gordon Ramsay's recipe of spaghetti with lobster in a creamy tomato sauce.  Oh dear, it is definitely a recipe to use again. This feeds 4.

 

 

 Ingredients:

 

1 freshly cooked lobster (I used 4 small tails) about 1 kg

600g cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 onion finely diced

1 chilli, deseeded and chopped (optional)

1 clove garlic

50 g butter

salt, pepper

1 glass dry white wine

500 g spaghetti

1 tbsp olive oil

100 ml double cream

handful of basil leaves, chopped

freshly shaved Parmesan to serve

olive oil to serve

Method:

 

1. To extract the lobster meat, cut through the body shell and take out the meat in one piece, pulling out the dirt sac from the third disc.  Cut up the meat into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
2. 
   Put the cherry tomatoes, onions, chilli, garlic and butter in a heavy based pan and cook over a medium heat until soft but not coloured.  Season with pepper, add the wine and cook until it has evaporated.
3. 
   Add the spaghetti to a large pot of boiling salted water with the olive oil and cook until al dente (tender but firm to the bite).
4. Meantime, add the lobster to the sauce and stir in the cream and chopped basil.  Warm through gently for a couple of minutes.
5. Drain the pasta and toss with the lobster sauce.  Divide between warm plates, scatter the Parmesan over and drizzle with a little olive oil.  Serve immediately.
6. Enjoy!

Pandan Chiffon cake

Pandan Chiffon Cake

 

 

Chiffon cake is loved in Malaysia. Pandan is the vanilla of South East Asia and is used in Malaysian cooking.  Put these two together, and Pandan Chiffon Cake is much loved by most Malaysians!

 

My good friend, Monique, gave me this recipe that she learnt from a famous Chiffon Cake Bakery.

 

My daughter has been providing the family with cakes in the past year, however, she has been under the weather. She asked me to make her an ombre pandan chiffon cake, for her last birthday in her twenties.

 



Pandan Chiffon Cake:

Ingredients:
7 egg whites
75 g castor sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

6 egg yolks
75 g sugar
90 g corn oil
130 g santan/coconut milk
1 tsp pandan paste (from Asian grocery)
175 g flour
2 1/2 g baking powder
pinch of salt

Whisk the first 3 ingredients together till firm.

Mix the remaining ingredients to form a paste. 
Gently fold in 1 tablespoon of the whisked egg whites into the green paste. 
Then carefully fold in the rest of the paste into the egg white mixture, until well folded.

Pour into a 19 cm chiffon cake tin (with a tube in the middle, and with a removable base).  Make sure that the tin is not greased, as the mixture adheres to the sides.

Bake at 170 Celcius, for 35 mins or until cooked.

When ready, turn the cake upside down till cool. (Make sure that the cake is very cool before leaving it the right way up, or else it will sink rapidly). It will rise approximately 9 cm.

Push a pliable knife around the wall of the cake tin, as well as around the centre tube.  Remove the cake (still on the base), from the cake tin.  Run the knife along the base of the tin.  Turn out the cake on a plate.

For ombre cake, I used:
5 small egg whites
2 oz castor sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

4 small egg yolks
2 oz corn oil
3 oz santan
pandan paste
1 1/2 oz castor sugar
4 oz flour
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

As I wanted a flatter cake, I used a larger cake tin (24cm), and half the initial ingredients.

I repeated the process 4 times, increasing the amount of pandan paste used, to give the shading of colours.

I used whipped cream with vanilla in between the cakes, as well as to cover the cakes.  I used fresh roses from the garden, as I am not the world's most creative person!

It actually looked fabulous, and tasted great.

Enjoy!

Vegetable and Feta Frittata

Vegetable and Feta Frittata

Oh yum, I love frittata!  This recipe is so easy.  This was demonstrated in a Miele Cooking Class.

 

 

 

2 cups baby spinach leaves

150 g diced feta

1 zucchini, thinly sliced

1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

8 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup pouring cream

black pepper

1/2 cup grated tasty cheese

 

1. Place spinach in the base of a lightly greased 25 cm flan dish.
2. Arrange feta, zucchini and tomatoes over the spinach.
3. Combine eggs, cream and pepper.
4. Pour egg mixture over vegetables and sprinkle with cheese.
5. Bake on Fan Plus at 180 C for approximately 25 minutes or until set. Enjoy!

(I didn't have any zucchini.  You can add any vegetables that you have in the fridge.  For a lower fat version, use milk or water instead of cream.)



Quiche Lorraine

 

Quiche Lorraine

I love quiche, and it loves my hips too!  Recipe from Rachel Khoo's "The Little Paris Kitchen".  Easy and absolutely yum! 

 

 

Prep time 30 min, resting time 1 hour - overnight, baking time 30-40 mins.

Serves 6

 

 

90 g soft butter

1 tsp sugar

a pinch of salt

180 g plain flour

2 egg yolks

ice cold water

 

150 g cubed bacon

4 eggs plus 2 egg yolks (save the whites to brush the pastry)

300 g cream

1 tsp salt

pepper

 

1. Make the pastry.  Using a wooden spoon, beat together the butter, sugar and salt until soft and creamy.  Mix in the flour followed by the egg yolks and 2 tabsp ice-cold water.  Mix and bring together to make a smooth ball, adding a little more water if the pastry is too crumbly (only knead as much as necessary to bring the dough together). Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for a minimum of an hour (best overnight).
2. Remove the pastry from the fridge 30 minutes before using.  Roll out the pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper until it is 5 mm thick, and use to line a 25 cm quiche tin that is at least 3 cm deep.  Brush the pastry base with egg white.  Refrigerate while preparing the filling.
3. Preheat the oven to 180C.
4. To make the filling, fry the bacon in a non-stick fry pan until golden brown, then lift out with a slotted spoon and leave to cool on paper towels.  Meanwhile, lightly beat the eggs and egg yolks in a bowl, and the cream and seasoning and continue to beat until mixed together.  Scatter the bacon in the pastry case and then pour in the egg mix. 
5. Bake for 30 - 45 mins or until the filling is golden brown and set. 
6. 
   Serve hot or cold.  Enjoy!
 

Sponge Cake

Sponge Cake

This is a basic sponge cake recipe.  I was looking for a sponge cake recipe, and there are so many in googleland!  I decided to pick this from Gourmet Traveller September 2009.  There was a reason why I kept this magazine!

 

It turned out fluffy with a good crumb.  Being a non cream lover, I had a thin layer of cream, but the average Australian, I think, would expect more.  Thank you, Sonda for the duck eggs - the reason for the sponge cake.

 

Prep time 20 mins, cook 25 mins (plus cooling)

Serves 8-10

 

80 g butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for brushing

240 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

6 duck eggs (or 8 large eggs), at room temperature

220 g (1 cup) caster sugar

scraped seeds of 1 vanilla bean

 

Strawberry jam

Whipped cream

 

1. Preheat oven to 180C.  Brush two 20cm diameter cake tins with melted butter, line bases with baking paper, dust sides with flour.

2. Triple-sift flour and set aside.

3. Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla seeds in an electric mixer til thick, pale and tripled in volume (7-8 minutes).  Transfer to a mixing bowl.

4. Sift over flour in three batches, folding each batch in with a large metal spoon.

5. Fold in melted butter.

6. Divide evenly between tins, bake until light golden and centre springs back when pressed lightly with your fingertip (20-25 minutes).

7. Pull cake gently away from sides of tin with your fingers or carefully loosen with a knife.  Turn onto a wire rack, remove baking paper, turn back over, then cool completely.

8. Brush one cake with strawberry jam, spread with cream, sandwich with remaining cake, dust with icing sugar.  Serve and enjoy!