I’ve been addicted to the Masterchef US series, which is rather apparent from my recent posts. Anyway, this isn’t a baking or dessert recipe but simply one which I had to share it here. (after playing masak-masak in my white masterchef apron) The most memorable tortellini dish i’ve ever had was one stuffed with ricotta and spinach, smothered in a decadent sage-butter sauce. However, this one here (a kitchen experiment gone… right!!) is worlds apart from the Italian version, hence the name ‘asian pumpkin tortellini’. Fancy/pretentious sounding name aside, it’s basically a marinated pork and mushroom filling (very quintessentially, Chinese) wrapped in a pumpkin pasta dough.
Boiled until the dumplings are just tender and tossed in a savoury mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, black vinegar, crispy garlic and chilli oil. Neither truly Italian nor Chinese; it’s like having bak chor mee served as a pasta dish. Oh and I love how the pumpkin gives the tortellini such a beautiful yellow shade, slightly reminiscent of mee pok. Here’s a complete step-by-step tutorial to making these yummy thingmajig, if you ever wanna try it out!
Woah, it wasn’t easy. Washed and prep-ed my salad, then whisked together the waffle batter. Had 2 pans in the wet kitchen and the waffle iron at the island going all at once. Thank goodness for the dishwasher!
It seems like I hardly feature anything savoury over here. Apart from having an incredibly sweet tooth, I rarely gravitate towards baking savoury items like quiches, meat pies, etc. For a change, here’s something that I’d made some time back during my bread-making phase. After several attempts (and filling the pantry with all sorts of flours for breads) I decided to take a rest from the usual crusty artisan free-form loafs and bake these Italian Focaccia instead.
Aromatic with a nice bite, they were even better dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. However, these were a little dry the next day and not as chewy as we’d liked (maybe my proportions were a little off?) Well, at least they did make an awesome sandwich when lightly toasted with some Emmental cheese, smoked ham and peppery arugula/rocket leaves!
Whipped this up in under an hour for lunch a few days back, to assuage my guilt from too much feasting. Very scrummy combination of vegetables, seasoned with herbs and drizzles of olive oil, baked till they’re just tender. This makes for a quick meal on its own, or a cut into wedges and served as a side dish. Instead of pâte brisée (shortcrust pastry), buttery puff pastry could be substituted if you’re feeling particularly indulgent, with chunks of feta cheese carelessly strewn on top.
