A meal for snooksSailing on the ocean's current,
Under the starlit skys,
I look around for a guide,
An angel high above reaching down.
She's the northern star.
I feel like a feather in flight,
Rising above with the gust,
Holding tight onto her hand,
Not wanting to let go.
The sights to behold, the air tastes like no other.
Getting Carried away.
-Angel of Fate
Today I felt like cooking, stopped by cold storage to buy pasta and couscous to cook. Let me take you on a journey of kwan's culinary fun! Pasta... Simple and easy.
Introducing my home's organic herb garden... We've got curry leaves, lemon balm, lavender(I hate the smell), Mint( Its climatised), Rosemary, Laksa leaves, Birds eye chilli. (I might have missed something, thats all I can remember from the top of my head)
Today's dishes: Tortellini in chilli tomato sauce, Cocous Tabouleh
DISCLAIMER: I don't give exact measurements or timing, go on your own guts, if you want to learn, ask me to teach you in person... I can't be bothered to give specific instructions here... I'm not selling recipes here... If not I'd go and be Jamie oliver by now.
Tortellini in chilli sauce.
Ingredients:
Pitted Can olives
Hunt's puree
Hunt's sauce(unsalted)
2 large cut chillis
1 small cut chilli
One garlic,
half a chinese rice bowl of onions,
Fresh Rosemary,
A packet of enoki japanese mushrooms
Several hand fulls of parmesan(Don't ask me, I did not measure)
Sea salt(don't ask)
Grind black pepper(don't ask)
Equipment:
Strainer
Pot
Now I'll show some of the ingredients.
Note: Please wipe the mushrooms, do not wash, or they will get soggy, wiping is sufficient to
clean the mushrooms, they absorb water like a sponge. Next for the two hunt cans, I mix both of them, reason being, puree is salty already and when mixed with the unsalted sauce, the flavour evens out very well and gives an excellent texture thats ideal for a tomato sauce.
After you've prepared the ingredients mentioned... Start by getting ready your utensils. A strainer is to be placed in the sink for later use. Start by bowling 4 quarts of salted water in a pot to bowl your tortellini for 7+ minutes (cook al dente otherwise it will be overcooked when you cook it in the sauce later)
Once your tortellini is ready, turn on the tap facing the strainer and bring the top of tortellini over and pour it in, quickly cooling tortellini. The reason being, the tortellini will still continue to cook if not cooked off, thus this prevents overcooking and gives you time to start preparing the next part. The sauce!
The order is subjective, but this how I do it. First, heat the pan till its hot enough for the olive oil to instantly have a crow like lines in it when added to the pan, then quickly add the onions. Next add the garlic, then chilli, then olives, then the mushrooms, allowing the mushrooms to soak in all the flavour, then add the tortellini to absorb the rest of the flavour, finally add the tomato sauce. Finally, start tasting the sauce as you go on, adding sugar or salt if you feel if the taste is insufficient, then add parmesan to the sauce. After that the dish is ready! Let the dish sit for 2minutes before serving to allow the tortellini to absorb more flavour. Viola! Your Tortellini in chilli tomato sauce!
Couscous Tabouleh
Ingredients
1 cup Couscous
1 cup hot water
olive oil
truffle oil
butter
sea salt
dill
grind pepper
mint
cucumber
green capsicum
pitted Can olives
This is one pretty simple dish. One of the easiest to do on short notice in my opinon. Couscous is basically a small grainy like pasta dish that is from moroco that requires hydration. You take a cup of boiling water which is salted, add it to 1 cup of Couscous. Mix until it becomes nice and fluffy, not soggy.
Next, add in olive oil till the flavour becomes nice and rich, add butter followed by dill. Next, my favourite and most prized ingredient next to French Saffron in my house is Truffle oil! Add a teaspoon of it(if you don't have it you can do without it) Add in the rest of the ingredients... mix and your done! Bon Apetite, your appetiser-> Couscous and your main course-> Tortellini. I was too tired to make a dessert, I'd recomment a bottle of heineken instead... Besides... The chef is tired, sick and needs to sleep! Thats it for Kwan's Culinary journey!
Adieu to all.
-Kwan
