2 Innovative Pasta Dishes to Enjoy

I’ve always been a great fan of pasta, no matter what shapes or what sizes. And my mother used to obligingly cook us different pasta dishes when I was a kid, since I was living in a small Malaysian town that does not even have cafés nor restaurants serving italian dishes that is worth having.

Apart from having learnt how to make meatballs to serve with tomato based gravy on our pasta, there is a particular favourite of mine that I used to enjoy as a kid, and that is this Spicy Baked Macaroni.

#1 Spicy Baked Macaroni

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 200g of macaroni
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 250g of lean minced beef
• 2 tablespoons of your favourite ready-to-use curry powder
• squirt of tomato puree
• 1 medium sized green pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• ¼ cup of milk
• salt to taste
• 1 ½  cups of mozzarella, cubed
• ½ cups cheddar cheese. grated

Steps:

1. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and cook the macaroni until almost al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 190C.
3. Heat a large frying pan with the olive oil and add in the onions and garlic and stir fry them for around 2 minutes. Once the onions start looking translucent, add in the minced beef, green pepper, curry powder and tomato puree and stir fry for around 4-6 minutes.
4. Turn off the fire and add in the salt and the cooked macaroni and mix well.
5. Empty the contents of the frying pan into a casserole dish.
6. Mix in the milk with the beaten egg in a bowl then pour this mixture over the contents in the casserole dish.
7. Spread the cubes of mozzarella on top as well as the grated cheddar, then cover the casserole dish with aluminium foil.
8. Pop the casserole dish into the oven and let it bake for around 25 minutes.
9. Remove the foil and let it bake for another 20 minutes or until the cheese starts turning brown.
10. Once done, allow the dish to rest before serving.

Tip: Instead of pasta, you can also use potatoes for this dish. Just cube the potatoes and let it boil for around 15 minutes before proceeding with Step 2.

#2 Sesame Sauce Beef Spaghettini

This is a dish inspired from one of the many fusion Japanese-Italian cafés in Malaysia. The roasted sesame gravy always makes me drool and wanting more.

So here is my version of this dish and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do.

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 125g of spaghettini
• 150g of filet steak, sliced thinly
• 2 tablespoons of light soy sauce/teppanyaki sauce
• 2 teaspoons of corn flour
• a pinch of white pepper powder
• 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 3 shallots, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of japanese cooking wine
• salt to taste
• ½ a stalk of leek, chopped
• a handful of shiitake mushrooms, chopped or shimeji mushrooms for a less intense taste
• 1 ½ cup of water
• 3-4 tablespoons of japanese roasted sesame sauce
• 2-3 pinches of roasted black and white sesame for garnishing

Steps:

1. Marinate the sliced steak with the light soy sauce or teppanyaki sauce, corn flour and white pepper powder 1 hour before cooking.
2. Heat up a wok with the olive oil in it and stir fry the shallots until it is almost translucent.
3. Add in the chopped leek, mushrooms and salt, then pour the wine and stir fry for around 2 minutes.
4. Add in the beef and constantly stir it to avoid the meat sticking to the bottom of the pan. Stir fry for around 3 minutes, then turn down the heat and add in the water and let it shimmer until the liquid is reduced to about ½ the original level.
5. While the contents of the wok is shimmering, bring a pot of salted water to the boil and cook the macaroni until almost al dente. Drain and divide them up into two bowls.
6. Add in the sesame sauce into the wok and stir for around 2-3 minutes.
7. Once cooked, spoon out the contents of the wok onto your spaghettini. Then sprinkle the black and white sesame on top before serving.

So there you go, something new for the New Year. Have fun trying them!