Pasta with Veggies & Sausage
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• Pasta of your choice
• 2 cups Italian sausages – cut into large chunks
• 2 carrots – cut into small pieces
• 1 onion, large – diced
• 3 shallots – diced
• 1 bulb of garlic – peeled, minced (we love garlic so adjust amount to own preference)
• Italian herb mix or any other combination of spices of your choice as seasoning
• pepper flakes for some heat if you like it spicy

1. Boil water to cook pasta. Once you’ve added the pasta to the water, heat up a big pot with about 1/2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Add sausage and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from pot and drain of excess oil, leaving about 1 tbsp.
2. In medium-high heat, add the garlic and shallots. Cook for 2-3 minutes. When it start to turn brown (caramelize), add in the onion and carrots with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water or stock. Scrape up any brown bits on the pot. Cook the veggies for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water if pot is too dry. Add in the sausages, spices and pepper flakes. Cook for another 3-5 minutes or until carrots are soft and sausages are heated. Remove from heat.
3. The pasta should have finished cooking so drain it, reserve about 1/2 cup of the liquid. Add the drained pasta to the sausage and veggie mixture. Toss it up with a dash of fresh pepper (optional) and it’s ready for plating. If it’s too dry, add a bit of the reserved pasta water to give it some moisture.

Note: This is the first time I’ve made pasta without sauce so let me know what you think if you try it. The twins said it was good but I don’t really trust them (they might only say that because they don’t want me to stop cooking!). Oh if you notice, I didn’t add any salt in the mixture because I find that the sausage is already salty enough for my preference.

Chicken, Sausage & Tomatoes Stew

Ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast – cubed
1 cup of smoked sausages – cubed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion – cut into big pieces
2 carrots – cut into small pieces
3 stalks of celery – cut diagonally into small pieces
2 cans (796ml) diced tomatoes
1-2 can(s) tomato paste (use two if you want the sauce to thicken up faster)
dash of paprika, chili powder, pepper flakes (add to suit your taste)
salt & pepper

1. Marinate chicken with paprika salt and pepper for about 15 minutes. In a big pot, heat 1 tbsp of the oil and brown chicken pieces on all sides, for about 2 minutes. Remove from pan and add in the sausages. Cook sausage for about a minute or two. Remove from pan and drain off excess oil, leaving about 1 tbsp (if there isn’t enough, add some olive oil).
2. Return pot to medium heat and add onions. Cook until it start to get translucent. Add in celery, carrots and the tomato juice from the two cans of diced tomatoes. Cook, scraping up brown bits from the bottom of the pan, for about 3-5 minutes. Add in the diced tomatoes and tomato paste.
3. Bring the mixture to a simmer, and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Add in the chicken and sausage. Reduce heat and let it simmer for another 15 minutes or until it’s thicken to the desire consistancy. Add the chili powder and pepper flakes.

Serve with rice or crusty bread.

Note: I don’t like my tomato sauce too sour so I add a few tbsp of sugar at the end. Just add it a little bit at a time and taste test it to find the right amount.

Sorry, I didn’t have my camera with me this week so no pictures for the recent recipes.

Anyways, here’s the recipe I’ve modified from the original which was found in the a Canadian Living cookbook for cookies and bars (sorry I forgot the name).

• 3oz semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate, chopped (I use Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate, which can be found in all the grocery stores in Vancouver)
• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, cubed (can use margarin)
• 1 cup of sugar (doesn’t need to be exact, I usually use about 2-4 tbsp less sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, beatened
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder* (I add it in for the cake-like effect so it’s optional)
• 1/2 tsp salt* (not in the original, I just like adding salt for flavoring)
• ~1 tsp espresso or other insta coffee* (optional, adjust amount to personal liking)

1. Place the chopped chocolate and butter in a sauce pan and melt under low heat stirring occasionally. Add in the espresso or coffee if using.
2. Remove from heat after everything is melted. Mix in the sugar, vanilla extract and beatened eggs.
3. Add in the flour (and salt & baking powder if using). Mix well until batter is smooth with no lumps. Batter should be silky looking.
4. Pour batter into an 8″ square baking pan (I usually line it with parchment for easy cleaning and lifting the brownies out of the pan). Bake at a 350°F for 30-35 minutes. Stick a toothpick in the brownie to test. If it comes out clean (might have tiny tiny pieces stick to it) and dry, it’s done!

Let me know how your’s turned out!

This tomato meat sauce is really easy to make. So easy that I don’t even have a recipe written down for it (I think I threw away my notes from cooking class already). There is minimal chopping and all you really need to know is how to use a can opener.

Basic Tomato Meat Sauce (makes about 3 – 3.5 cups)

1/2 lb lean ground beef/turkey/chicken (whatever you feel like having)
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tbsp oil
1 can (28 oz.) whole tomato (cut them up in the can with a pair of scissors)
1-2 cans (6oz.) tomato paste (use 2 cans to thicken sauce faster or if you like a thicker consistency)
1-2 tbsp dried oregano
1 large bay leaf
salt
pepper
sugar

1) Heat a heavy sauce pan or a pot. Use a little bit of oil to coat the bottom and add in the ground beef. Cook the beef throughly, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside. Use a piece of paper towel to wipe the pan if it is too greasy.

2) In the same pan over medium-high heat, add garlic and stir for about a minute. Add in the diced onion and cook until they start to get brown and translucent. Pour in the can of tomatoes, breaking it up with a wooden spoon or giving it a few more cut with the scissors. Add in the tomato paste, bay leaf and oregano (to bring out more flavor, crush the oregano in your hands before sprinkling them in the sauce). Mix well. Once the sauce begins to bubble, reduce heat to medium-low and let it simmer thicken to desired consistency. This usually takes about 1-2 hours.

3) When the sauce is almost done, add in salt, pepper and sugar to taste. The sugar will make the sauce less sour so be sure to add it a couple of tbsp at a time and continue tasting until the right sweetness/sourness is achieved. I think I used about 5 tbsp. Add in the cooked beef and let it simmer for another 15-20 mins.

Tips:

1) Use a big sauce pan. When the sauce bubbles, it might splatter all over the stove and on yourself if your pan is too shallow. Using a lid is also a good way to avoid the splatters.

2) Instead of using ground beef, try Italian sausages. Adding some crushed pepper flakes will spice it up nicely.

3) I like to add mushrooms to the sauce sometimes but beware that it might make the sauce a bit more runny as it releases water while it cooks.

4) I actually add more than 1 tbsp of oregano. I just follow my nose and add until I can smell the spice.

Recipe from Jessica’s Su Good Sweets. I used live yeast which I bought from an Italian grocery store and added 1 whole egg instead of only using half.

Baked Char Siu Bao Dough

~3/4 tbsp of live yeast (or One 1/4-ounce envelope active dry yeast)
1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of warm/hot water
2 cups bread flour
1 large egg, beaten
3 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt

1) In a large bowl, mix together yeast, sugar and water. Let sit for ~30 to 60 mins to activate the yeast. To speed things up, you can put the bowl under another container filled with hot water (to achieve a double boiler effect). Make sure you don’t let the yeast mixture touch the water if it’s really hot or you might killed with the heat. The yeast mixture is ready when you see bubbles and/or brown foams on the surface.

2) Add the egg and oil, stir it a little bit with a fork. Mix the salt and flour together in another bowl. Add the dry mixture into the yeast mixture 1/3 at a time while using your fingers to do the stirring.

3) Start kneading the dough. When it comes together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and continue kneading. Use a spatula or a dough scrapper to scrap up the dough from the board and keep sprinkling flour on the work surface. Knead for about 15 minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic. Try to stretch the dough while you knead. Cover and let rise for 3-4 hours until it triples in size. I usually leave it over night and bake the next morning. If you want to speed it up, heat the oven at 150F, then turn it off and put the covered dough in the oven (make sure the contain is oven proof).

4) When it’s ready punch dough down and turn it out on a floured surface if it is still a bit sticky. Knead it for a couple of minutes and then roll the dough into 12 inches long. Divide the dough into 12 one-inch pieces. If it is hard to roll it into a log, you can try what I do. I divide the dough in half, then divide each half into half again. Now you got 4 pieces. Cut each piece into three equal pieces to get 12 pieces. Keep any dough that is not being used covered to avoid it from drying. Flatten one piece of dough into a circle (use a rolling pin or just flatten it between your palms) and fill it with 1.5 tbsp of char siu bao filling. Gather the side and pinch together to close. Place seam side faced down on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat for the rest of the dough, placing them about 1.5 – 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.

5) Once all the dough is filled, cover and let rise for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare egg wash by mixing a beaten egg with 1 – 2tbsp of milk (or water, I used milk since I can make scrambled eggs with the left over egg wash). Spritz each bao with water and brush with the egg wash. Bake the bao for 15-20 mins, turning the baking sheet once half way through the baking. They are ready when they are golden on top.

Tip: I find that the bao turns golden really fast in my oven, about 10-12 minutes. You might want to keep an eye on them when you bake them for the first time.

Here’s a picture of the char siu bao fresh out of the oven!