Tomato Basil Soup with Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli

As the colder weather sets in, I'm making soups weekly. It's a great one pot meal with little mess and fuss. As we like our soups chunky with lots of vegetables in it. It's our way to increase our vegetables intake too. Usually, I make a big pot-enough for a couple of meals which save time.

I recall reading in a magazine or perhaps through browsing a cookbook in a bookstore that we could use store bought fresh lasagne sheets to make ravioli. With that in mind, I decided to give it a go by stuffing ravioli with spinach and ricotta. This helps to bulk our soup up with some carbs.

Amazingly, 8 lasagne sheets produced around 12-14 ravioli. That's heaps for us! I themed this ravioli with a tomato and basil soup. The tangy taste of tomatoes and smooth basil was a hit for us.

Tomato Basil Soup with Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli (Serves 4-5)
1kg of tomatoes diced
1 can of diced tomatoes
few stalks of basil
1 ltre of vegetable stock
500 ml of water
1 onion chopped
4 chili padi chopped
1 tablespoon of garlic

a packet of lasagna sheets- around 8 sheets
1 egg whisked
200 grams ricotta
250 grams spinach
100grams smoked salmon sliced
cracked pepper

Fry garlic, chilli and onion till soft. Add in all tomatoes (including can). Simmer for around 3 minutes. Add stock and half of the water. Simmer.

Meanwhile, prepare ravioli filling. Quick blanched spinach leaves with hot water. Drain and squeeze all remaining water out of it (wait for it to cool down a little). Whisk ricotta till smooth. Combine spinach leaves and cracked pepper with ricotta. Set aside.

Take 1 piece of lasagna sheet, spoon ricotta mixture onto mixture (around 3 or 4 spoonfuls. Brush beaten egg around the mixture. Place another piece of lasagna sheet on top. Lightly press it so it seals. Using a knife or a pizza cutter. Cut them into pieces. Trim if needed. Repeat.

By that time, your soup should be boiling. Tear basil leaves into the soup. Taste and adjust accordingly.
Spoon soup into the blender. Blitz for a few minutes. Returning the mixture to the pot and return to boil.
Quickly add one ravioli to the soup for 2-3 minutes. Remove. Place ravioli into bowls. Repeat and cook ravioli as needed. Around 3-4 raviolis in one bowl is sufficient. Ladle soup onto the raviolis. Serve with basil leaves.

I'm serving this to my friends at Presto Pasta, founded by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast. This week, Trish is hosting from My Slap Kitchen.

Jamie Oliver's Trapani Style Rigatoni

The best thing about Jamie's Oliver 30 minute meals cookbook is that once you get the hanged of it, it's actually really easy to replicate his dishes. It's usually rustic, hence I don't have to worry too much how it looks. Again, I have adapted and tried one of his pasta recipe with great success. I'm beginning to be excited with trying more food from this book now.

I goggled Trapani Style and found out that it represents a city in Sicily. What I like is that it has NO cream but yet it tasted creamy. The almond, fresh cherry tomatoes certainly did the trick. It was very tasty and addictive. I could finish that whole bowl by myself.

You can probably omit the anchovies as I didn't think it gave it any kick-maybe even substitute it with olives if you want it vegetarian.  I do love the taste of basil and fresh chili which certainly lifts the dish to another new level.

Silly me bought only 200 grams of cherry tomato and substituted it with a can of diced tomatoes on hand. It did the trick but left me wondering how much sweeter can this get if I used cherry tomatoes all the way.

Jamie Oliver's Trapani Style Rigatoni (Serves 4)
400 grams of Rigatoni
40 grams of parmesan cheese
100 whole blanched almonds
3-4 cloves of garlic 
2-3 fresh chili padi
2 large bunches of basil
5-6 anchovy fillets
200 grams cherry tomatoes
1 can of 400 grams diced tomatoes

Cook Rigatoni till nearly done.

Meanwhile, blitzed Parmesan cheese, almonds, garlic and chili till fine. Then add basil, anchovies and cherry tomatoes. When it turned into paste, add a dash of olive oil. Season. Heat a pan up and saute the paste. Add the tin of diced tomatoes. Add some water if it is too dry. Toss pasta through the sauce. Serve warm.

Peanut Beef Rice Noodles in Soup

As the weather starts to cool down, I'm starting to cook more soup noodles. There is something sooo comforting on a Saturday night, armed with hot soup and a good dvd. Nothing more, nothing less. It also means we are starting to really move out of our newly wed status and just become..dare I say it... a regular married couple LOL

I'm starting to browse through older cook books again, and this Chinese and Asian Periplus step by step cookbook caught my eye again. It's soooo old that I can't even find it on amazon. I suppose they have probably re packaged it into another cookbook name again. I recall a previous housemate made this amazing beef soup with rice noodles and I asked her how did she do it....she gave me this sheepish look and said... "actually, I took that recipe book from your room....." That was 9 years ago.

To think it took me 9 years to remember this amazing dish. 

I'm very proud of my collection of ever growing cookbooks with plenty of tabs to remind me on the dishes that have caught my eye. A friend even said to me that I really should identify at least 5 recipes that I would cook in a book before buying it. It's good advice I say! However, I'm not proud that sometimes, I neglect some of my older cookbooks- all of which consists of some lovely recipes that I had wanted to try but have forgotten one way or another.

So I challenge you- have u got an old cookbook that you have not flipped in ages? Take it out, it may surprise you!

Peanut Beef Rice Noodles in Soup (serves 4-5)
300 grams silver side beef sliced very thinly
2 tsp soya sauce
1/4 cup of coconut milk (I used around 100 ml)
1 tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
2 tsp of sambal oelek or chilli chopped

2-3 sticks of rice vermicelli blanched with hot water
1/2 cumber sliced and quartered
3-4 cups of bean sprouts 
1 ltre of beef stock
250 ml of water
2 tablespoon of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
few stalks of coriander
1/2 cup of roasted chopped peanuts

First marinate beef with the ingredients. Set aside for around 25 minutes or so. 

Prepare rice noodles and stock. Simmer beef stock and water. Add fish sauce and sugar. Taste test and adjust accordingly. Add  bean sprouts.

Heat a grill or small pan till very hot. Sizzle beef. Cook for 3 minutes or so. Set aside.

Divide noodles in bowl. Add some cucumber in bowl. Ladle hot soup over it. Add the beef and sauce. Sprinkle with peanuts and coriander. Serve with some chopped chili.

I'm back on Presto Pasta! Organised by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast and hosted this week by Chez Cayenne! What great fun they are having!

Prawn Pad Thai

We attended a dinner bbq party recently and met a Thai style cooking chef there. He was kind enough to give me a verbal run down on how he cooks Pad Thai. It seems easy enough, and given that I have tried it before, I thought I should give it another go. I felt that this version did not have enough gravy. It seems that each time I made pad thai, I will run out of something. The last time, it was fish sauce, this time, I realized I did not have brown sugar on hand! What a waste.. grrr.. I really have to be a more organize cook.

The chef also gave me a tip on presentation. He said that by adding a little cornflour/water mixture into the beaten egg, it provides a better "spring" to the omelette, allowing it to stretch and accommodate the noodles without breaking. I lined a bowl with the omelette and place some noodles in it. I fold the egg, pop a place on top of the bowl, flip it over and ta dah, a nicely omelette wrapped noodle dish. I scored it and sprinkle some peanuts in it.

The alternative method, is to make the omelette, roll it up and sliced it. I find this way much simpler but it was always interesting to try something new! 

Prawn Pad Thai (Serves 6) 

200 grams prawn meat 

sauce
around 6-8 pieces of tamarind
500 ml of water 
1/4 cup of brown sugar

pad thai noodles soaked in normal tap water till soft

Seasoning- mix together in a jar
1/4 cup of fish sauce
1/2 lemon juice
1 tsp of sugar

1 tablespoon of garlic
1./2 red onion
few bunches of spring onion sliced.
2 cups of bean sprouts
roasted peanuts

Cook sauce first. Simmer ingredients till it becomes thicker. Do a taste test. Adjust accordingly.

Fry garlic, onion and prawns. Remove prawns from pan. Fry noodles and veges. Add simmer sauce ladle by ladle till absorb. Continue to do so for around 10 mins or so. Add the fish sauce/lemon juice/sugar mixture. Do a taste test and adjust. Add the prawns back. Toss and serve quickly.

Omelette (For one-repeat if needed)
2 eggs 
1/2 tsp of corn flour mix with a little water

beat eggs with corn flour mixture. Cook omelette on a oiled pan. Flip after around 3-4 mins.

Presenting this to the great people at Presto Pasta organized by Ruth from Once Upon A Feast. This week, it is hosted by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours. It's the 200 presto pasta bash this week!

Viet Style- Roasted Peanut Noodle Salad

We had friends over a couple of months ago and they taught us how to make Viet Paper rolls. We had a ball! Our friend taught me how to make the dipping sauce and I thought how good is it to make it as a dressing for a noodle salad?

I had some chicken patties on hand and chose to pan fry and toss it through the salad. The winner of this though, is the dressing and the crunchy nuts and vegetables. Good for a summer day or picnic.

Viet Style- Roasted Peanut Noodle Salad (Serves 3-4)
1/2 packet of rice vermicelli noodle, blanched, drained and set aside.
1 cup of peanuts roasted
1/2 lettuce shredded
around 1 cup of shredded basil leaves
1 bunch of chives chopped
1 carrot shredded
1 cup of bean sprouts washed and blanched quickly with hot water
1 fresh chili chopped
fried shallots

Optional- 2 chicken patties pan fried and sliced.I think mince or even some crumbed fish might add texture and interest to this salad.

Sauce
100 ml of coconut milk
1/2 cup of hoi sin sauce
2 tsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of garlic

To make the sauce- saute garlic. Add hoisin sauce and coconut milk. Stir to combine and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add fish sauce and sugar. Taste and adjust accordingly.

Toss noodles with vegetables and meat. Toss sauce through noodles and vegetables. Sprinkle nuts on it and some shallots. Serve!

A quick addition to the round up to Presto Pasta founded by Ruth-Once Upon a Feast. This week's host is Heather from Girlichef. 

Thai Inspired- Tom Yum Instant Noodles

Often, I have a bottle of Tom Yum paste in my fridge. I like them in stir fries or even for fried rice or fried noodles. Needing a quick dinner, I recall I have 1 tablespoon of paste left and used it as a soup base for my usually plain instant noodles.  Coincidentally, my previous Thai Inspired (also!) Noodles   is similar. Ah, my love for spicy food and noodles. 

Most recently, my grandma was preparing to come to Aus for a while. As part of her preparation, she bought some dried herbs (for boiling soup), some clothes pegs (apparently, they are better from SG ;P) and 3 huge bottles of Tom Yum paste!


I think there will be more Tom Yum creations! =)

Thai Inspired Tom Yum Instant Noodles (2 serves)
2 cakes of noodles
1 tablespoon of tom yum paste 
1 stalk of lemon grass sliced (if I only I had some in my fridge when I made this)
2 fish cakes sliced
6 crab sticks
a small bowl of bean sprouts 
1 ltre of stock
2 eggs
green chili sliced

Saute tom yum paste with lemon grass. Add stock and boil. Add noodles. Add in fish cakes and bean sprouts. Simmer for 5 mins. Switch off heat, add eggs. Serve with green chili.



Presto Pasta Nights is back on. This week Claire from Chez Cayenne is hosting. Thanks to Ruth from Once Upon a Kitchen for starting this event.

Peanut Chunky Noodles

About a year ago, I wrote about my love for peanut butter and how I used it in my stir fry and noodles. My reasoning is that a tablespoon of peanut butter spread over a few meals isn't that bad for you.. I even resisted licking the spoon!

That aside, I tried these noodles out again. This time, with alot less chicken and more veges and tossed in even some peanuts itself (hence less of the peanut butter). The result still has that creamy taste but with added crunch from fresh nuts. Instead of soft noodles, I used the "maggie mee" or instant noodles that have been air dried. I love the texture of those noodles!

Peanut Chunky Noodles (Serves 6- good for freezing)

5 noodle cakes cooked and drained.
2 chicken breast diced
1/4 cup of peanut butter
3 tablespoon of oyster sauce
3 tsp of fish sauce
dash sesame oil
2 eggs

garlic
1 red onion sliced
mixed veges I used 1 green capsicum, 1 red chilli sliced, 2 carrots sliced, 1 cup of mushrooms and baby corn.
1 cup of peanuts roasted

Saute garlic and onion. add chicken and cook till nearly done. Toss veges through it and all the sauces and peanut butter till it becomes creamy. Add 1/2 cup of water if needed. Toss through veges. Taste and season. Serve with some peanuts on it.



Sharing my dish with presto pasta love! This week Ruth from Once Upon a Feast is hosting again.

ps- 24 more days to CHRISTMAS!

Teriyaki Lamb Macaroni

It's getting harder and harder to come up with bulk meals. When in doubt, I always turn to ready made sauces. Something to jazz an old boring stir fry. I theme this teriyaki up with heaps of veges and actually quite like the turn out of it! The crunch and sweetness of red capsicum and celery seem to does it. Very spring.

I sincerely believe that stir fries are not completed without chili, garlic and onions. I wonder why I have this rule? Maybe it is to bulk the dish up more. 

Teriyaki Lamb Macaroni (Serves at least 6)

400 grams lamb mince
1/2 cup of teriyaki sauce
1 red onion chopped
2 red chili chopped 
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
2-3 stalks of celery chopped
1 cup of chopped mushrooms
few stalks of spring onions chopped
1 cup of garden peas
300 grams of cooked macaroni

Fry onions, garlic and chili. Add mince, breaking it up as it cooks. Add sauce and rest of the veges. Adding 1/2 cup of water if too dry. Toss macaroni through. 

Dishing out my love to friends at Presto Pasta. This week, it is hosted by Claudia from Honey from a Rock.

Spiced Thai Style Soba Noodle Soup

I am having so much fun with my 200 super soups cook book. This recipe caught my interest because it seems to incorporate fresh + spiciness = my favorite combination in soups.

What I am really happy about, is how vibrant the photos turned out! It is what it is, so full of flavour. Doesn't it shouts spring?

Spiced Thai Style Soba Noodle Soup (Adapted from 200 super soups cookbook) Serves 2
2 bunches of soba noodles cooked and drained
1 ltre of vege stock
1 tsp of thai red curry paste
4 kaffir lime leaves
4tsp of fish sauce -taste and season accordingly
3-4 spring onions chopped
1 chili padi chopped 
1 tomato chopped
around 2-3 dried shitake mushrooms re hydrated chopped
1/2 red capsicum chopped
200 grams frozen prawn cutlets


Pour stock in saucepan. Add curry paste, chili padi, lime leaves, fish sauce, spring onions, mushrooms, and bring it to boil. Add capsicum, tomato and prawns and cook till it is done.

Drain noodles and dish it in bowls. Ladle the broth onto the noodles. Garnish with more spring onions.

Dishing some spring love to my friends at Presto Pasta, founded by Ruth Daniels. This week Jennifer from Cook Eat, Repeat is hosting- I simply love her blog name!!!

Chicken Sweet Corn Noodle Soup

There are some classic recipes that re-occur on our dinning table every season. Chicken Sweet Corn Soup is my comfort food. It was the first dish I learned off my mum (who learned it off her friend) and one that I love to cook just to smell the sweetness of it all.

I added some soba noodles to make it a complete meal. What I shouldn't have done is to cook the soba noodles in the dish itself. Rather, I should have cook the noodles in a separate pot and rinse the starch away before placing them into bowls. By not doing that, I found that the soup is more starchy than before.

The other thing I changed was to add a squeeze of lemon to the soup, and some spring onions. I wasn't expecting hubby to taste the lemon but that was the first thing he picked up (probably because he drank so many versions of my chicken sweet corn soup that he can tell the difference!)

Chicken Sweet Corn Noodle Soup (enough for 6 medium size portions) 
1 chicken breast (or 200 grams of chicken tenders) diced
1 can of cream corn
1 ltre cups of Chicken stock
250 grams of frozen corn
garlic
2 eggs-lightly beaten
squeeze of lemon
2 little bunches of soba noodles cooked in separate pot, rinsed starch off with cold water and divide them into bowls.


Marinade
1 tablespoon of light soy
season with pepper and dash of salt
1-2 tablespoons of brandy (or a good dash of it!)
1 teaspoon of corn flour
sesame oil

1) Marinade bite size chicken pieces for at least an hr.
2) Heat oil in pot. Lightly fry garlic. Turn up the heat and add chicken. Cook till brown. Lower heat.
3) Add cream corn. Stir. Add stock. Bring it to boil. Squeeze lemon into mixture.
4) Add corn kennels.
5) Stir. Simmer for 30 mins.
6) Switch off stove. Add beaten egg.
7) Ladle onto the noodles. Sprinkle spring onions on it.

Ladling my noodle soup for the folks at Presto Pasta! Abby from Eat the Right Stuff is hosting this week. Be sure to check her blog out for the round up on Friday. Thanks to Ruth for starting up this awesome event.

Tom Yam Seafood Pasta Stir Fry

I have certainly been trying to clear my fridge lately. I found this jar of tom yam paste-with only about 1-2 tablespoon left. Since I was in need for a pasta idea, I thought a quick stir fry with some seafood marinara and veges will make a quick and easy meal.

I had a few pieces of kaffir lime leaf and added that in. Oh and birds eye chili of course. The tangyness stimulated my taste buds straight away and I couldnt help but eat more!!

Tom Yam Seafood Pasta Stir Fry 
250 grams of cooked pasta
500 grams of seafood marinara
1 tablespoon of tom yam paste
1 onion sliced
2 birds eye chili chopped
baby corn
mushrooms
peas

Saute onion till soft. Add paste and chili. Cook seafood till done. Toss in veges first then pasta. Toss for around 3-4 minutes. Serve hot!

Sharing this dish with my friends at Presto Pasta. This week, the awesome Ruth from Once Upon A Feast is hosting!

Presto Pasta #174

What I love most about pasta and noodles is how versatile and flexible they are. And nearly every culture has its own version of it. I grew up slurping soup noodles and I'm pretty sure, there will be some other little girl out there, slurping a version of it somewhere on the othe. r side of the world. It may be shaped like a spaghetti, or baked in oven. Or perhaps soaked in kimchi in Korea. Either way, there is one version that someone WILL enjoy.

Without further ado... I bring you the PASTA PARTY OF THE WEEK...

 yummy pasta!

A fresh way to start the ball rolling, Catherine from Living The Gourmet fetches some fresh veges from her garden and came up with a brilliant Fresh Garden Veges with Pasta. Surely one will be jealous of her garden!

Next we have Claire from Chez Cayenne, who brought us this amazing looking Lasagna Bolognese. I agree with her that red wine is the key secret for rich sauce base! Would you also believe that this is vegetarian?

Joanne presents us with this fresh looking dish from Eats Well with Others. Fresh is the flavour for today's presto pasta. I could nearly smell the sunshine from here. Linguine with Raw Tomato Sauce features fresh tasting tomatoes, olives and basil. The best bit-fresh means more vitamins and minerals are preserved.

Sherra from Our Taste of life shares her version of Stir-fried Hongkong Yee Foo Mee with Shrimps and Vegetables. I like how the sprinkle of cashew nuts will create such texture to this dish. Most of all, it has heaps more veges, far less oil than the take out Yee Foo Mee for sure.

Another fresh summer dish! Denise from Oh Taste and See shares with us the secret of  Pasta Ponza- fresh grape tomatoes. Nothing more summer than tomatoes, cheese and pasta for sure!

Fresh tomatoes are certainly in season! Stash from The Spamwise Chronicles (dont you love the name?) allow the tomatoes shine in this dish. Penne with uncooked heirloom tomato sauce feature ultra fresh tomatoes and heaps of heaps. Summer is calling!

Next we have something slightly different! Anna from Morsels and Musing created  Tahnaboor & Mante (Armenian Yoghurt Soup w Chicken & Pistachio Dumplings). Just the look of the dumplings filled with goodness makes me drool!

Reeni  from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice whipped up this quick Lemon Ricotta Penne with Yellow Squash- YUM! Love how she said it! "Sunshine on a plate!"

Next we have this awesome looking pasta salad from Debbi. Her blog Debbie Does Dinner features really healthy meals! Low calaries! My kind of thing. This dish has bacon (Hey, healthy means balance right?). Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato Pasta Salad sounds so much like our BLT sandwich but heaps better.

and finally, my comfort of the day-  Black Bean Soba Noodles Soup.

Hope I didn't miss anyone else! Do drop me an email if that is the case =)  

Great Carbolicious party peeps!!! Next week send your entries to the founder herself! Ruth from Once Upon a Feast  ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com!