Cooking: Hint of Chili, Mainly Pumpkin Creamy Pasta

Hint of chilli, Mainly Pumpkin creamy Pasta

Date: 12/08/2014

Do you have those nights when all you want is carbs? That’s how I felt last night.

All I had though was a quarter of a pumpkin an auntie had kindly donated. I spent all day at work googling different recipes and there was no matching recipe that: a) suited what I wanted in terms of heartiness, b) was simple enough for a quick after work dinner, c) didn’t require fancy ingredients like fresh herbs. It’s the dead of winter so forgive me my lack of fresh-herbs-on-a-window-sill.

This is what I managed to concoct after a raid of the pantry. Not too shabby if I say so myself.

I love the little kicks of chilli throughout, just to give that little lift to the pumpkin. The creamy, thick sauce, with smooshy chunks of pumpkin. This is the sort of dish that makes me so happy to have leftovers to eat for lunch the next day.

Chilli Pumpkin Creamy Pasta

Serving size: 4

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

- a quarter of a medium sized pumpkin (~1kg)

- ¾ of a head of garlic

- dried herbs (whatever you have out of: basil, rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, mixed italian herbs)

- chili sauce (eg. Sriracha)

- dried chili flakes

- 375ml can of evaporated milk

- parmesan cheese

- olive oil

- salt

- brown sugar

- any type of cured meat (any type: bacon, pancetta, salami, pepperoni, ham)

- linguini pasta (any kind of pasta works and as much of it as you like)

Process:

1. Boil water in a saucepan and add two pinches of salt, a few drops of oil [1], drop in your pasta and cook until you’re happy with the consistency. Test by fishing out a piece and squeeze. If it feels too hard keep boiling. You’re looking for al dente pasta, that is cooked but still firm and not mushy.

2. Chop up pumpkin into 2cm by 3cm blocks [2]. Peel and crush cloves of garlic with either the end of your knife or the flat side of your knife and roughly chop, 5mm chunks is fine.

3. Remove pasta from boiling water and drain. Then add pumpkin straight into the already boiling pasta water. When pumpkin cooked, remove and drain.

4. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan. Add chopped garlic, dried herbs, and cured meat. Saute until garlic slightly golden. Adding pine nuts into this step would be amazing if you had some, it’s still good if you don’t.

5. Add cooked pumpkin, two teaspoons of brown sugar, and saute some more until you see the pumpkin start to break down around the edges. Add your evaporated milk and bring to the boil.

6. Add parmesan cheese, chilli sauce, chilli flakes and stir in. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

7. Ladle out some pumpkin sauce onto a portion of pasta. Mix and eat!

Explanatory Footnotes:

1. I recently found out a trick of adding a few drops of oil when boiling pasta. It helps prevent the pasta from sticking together! I tested it out and it actually works!

2. If you think pumpkin is too hard to cook with, I’m here to tell you you’re wrong (sorry!). The hardest part I always found was getting rid of the skin. Use a sharp knife to slice away the skin instead of a peeler. Start from the middle of your chunk aim your knife downwards. Make sure to push the sharp edge away from you and keep your fingers away from where the knife will be going. If need be, flip the pumpkin onto the other side and to continue slicing. At the start you may slice away too much edible pumpkin flesh, but with time you’ll get better at removing just the right amount of skin.

Cooking: Japanese Curry with Rice

Japanese Curry

Golden Curry pack gravy

Date: 20/05/2014

The cold winter nights have started again in Melbourne, so tonight I wanted a belly warmer, and my tummy voted for curry.

Japanese curry is different to other curries like Indian, or Malaysian. It’s a thicker gravy with the spices having more a subtle peppery flavour. Don’t feel like you’re cheating by using the block of instant roux; from what I understand this is the method most households in Japan use. The recipe I used is pretty much what is recommended at the back of the packet. You should be able to find these Curry Roux sauces at most Asian groceries with a Japanese section. Even some larger supermarkets should stock them.

The method I use differs slightly from the directions on the packet. Despite it being really easy to make already, I wanted it to be done in Super fast time. So I use these cheats:

• cutting the carrots up slightly smaller than the potato cubes
• blanch root vegetables in the water intended to go into the final curry (keep the tasty vegie water!)
• slice meat into smaller pieces (if you buy the stewing kind, you will need to cook it longer to break it down

Despite buying the “Hot” pack, it wasn’t as spicy as I had expected but a few shakes of pepper added the extra edge I desired.

Freshly cooked rice is always a lovely accompaniment, conjuring up memories of home and mum’s cooking. But sometimes we just don’t have the time. I would love to say, that I always cook my fresh, but that would be a lie. For perfect rice every time, use a rice cooker. My confession is that tonight I partook of instant steamed rice. No way near as delicious, but edible and fast.
Let's go forth with the food!

Show those vegies who's boss, chop them up good.

 Give them some shock treatment. Blanch them out of their little lives.

Don't be afraid to use oil. Think of all those delicious flavours. 

Prepare yourself for some sautéing. Push those onions around. You're the boss here!

When onions are about 1/2 translucent, it's a good time as any to add your beef.

Put in celery in last, I like mine still crunchy.

Help all the ingredients get to know each other. Mr Beef, you'll get along well with Ms Carrot and Lady Potato.

Remember that water we blanched the vegies in? Hold onto it for this step!

Curry cubes, sealed for your pleasure.

We'll treat you well Mr. Roux cubes. 

See how it's slowly thickening? Wait a little longer and magical things will happen! 

At last the finale. Finish with a flourish of pepper.

Japanese Curry

Serving size: 4 (Despite pack stating 12 serves)

Ingredients:

- 2 medium sized potatoes

- 2 onions

- 2 carrots

- 4 stalks of Celery

- 4 tablespoons of cooking oil (either olive, canola, or vegetable, any is fine)
- 1 packet of Curry roux blocks (I used a "12 serves" pack size)

- pepper for seasoning to taste

- 5 to 6 cups of water (depending on how thick you want your curry sauce)

- 2 cups of rice

Process:

1. Prepare the rice first, wash it thoroughly and cook the rice according to the instructions. (Or use the microwave express rice bags.)

2. Prepare your vegetables and meat (on separate chopping boards! Do NOT cross contaminate). Chop carrots and potato into small chunks, about 1cm cubes. Celery chopped into smaller pieces, about 0.5cm by 1cm. Onions into small pieces, about 0.5cm by 1cm. Meat into strips of 2cm by 1cm.

4. Set water to boil, once it’s bubbling, blanch carrots first. Test one of the larger cubes between finger and thumb, until it is soft but not mushy. Once done remove with a large holed sieve. Repeat with the potatoes.

Tip: Depending on how fast you can cut, set the water to boil first, to coincide with you finishing up the chopping.

5. Heat oil into a different pot, large enough to accommodate all ingredients and stock comfortably. Stir fry onions until they go half translucent. Add beef and stir fry until half cooked. Add celery. Add the blanched carrots and potatoes.

6. Pour the previous water the vegetables were boiled in, into the pot and bring to the boil.

7. Once boiling, add roughly chopped cubes of curry roux. Stir until it melt and thickens. Simmer for 5 minutes.

8. Add pepper to taste and serve with white rice.