Monday, August 28, 2023

Pesto Paste

香草酱


Ingredients (makes 130g, enough for 2 servings [70g] of pesto pasta)

45g toasted pine nuts

30g sweet basil (leaves only, no stems)

6g parsley (leaves only, no stems)

30g grated parmesan cheese

60g extra virgin oil (cold, refrigerate for 20mins)

1.5g salt

9g lemon juice


Method

Blend all together in blender for 20 seconds or until well blended together. Done! It's that easy.


To serve, cook your favourite pasta, cut some cherry tomatoes and throw in a few pieces of mozarella cheese balls and mix in generous amounts of pesto. Like this:




Recipe adapted from : Brain legerstrom youtube video, pasta salad 3 ways




Thursday, August 10, 2023

Fried Calamari

 


If you didn't already know, calamari is the Italian word for squid. This recipe will produce the cripiest calamari you've ever had. The calamari will stay crispy for at least one hour!

Ingredients:

500g Squids

Marinade:

Dashes of onion powder and garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Batter:

6 tablespoon self raising flour (or 6 tablespoons plain flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder)

3 tablespoon cooking oil

6 to 8 tablespoon water

Tapioca flour

Plain flour

Method:

1. Prepare batter: Mix flour with cooking oil. Then add water slowly until you get a smooth and thick batter. Set aside for half hour. 

2. Wash and clean the squids. Slice the squids into 1cm thick rings. Lightly rinse with salted water and drain.

3. Heat wok with enough soil for deep frying. Use a chopstick to test the oil temperature. When there are bubbles around the chopstick, it is ready.

4. Mix the batter into the squid thoroughly. 

5. Take a small batch of squid and add in tapioca flour (90%) and plain flour (10%). Quickly dredge the squid rings through the flour and coat thoroughly. Shake off excess flour and deep fry the squids immediately over high heat. Do not turn the squids or break up the clump of squids until the squids have turned light brown in colour. Once the squids turn crispy and golden, transfer to wire rack or kitchen towel to drain excess oil. After each batch of frying, scoop up the crumbs of flour from the oil using a fine mesh sieve.



6. Garnish with chopped parsley (optional) and serve! Enjoy.