Seafood Black Spaghetti

This pasta recipe is nothing short of awesome. Because you can never go wrong with light on the sauce, just like Italian do. So that a little bit of garlic can be tasted and splash of white wine. Its not too saucy by still very flavorful. Serves for 2-3 person

Ingredients:

200g black spaghetti
1 squid, cut
300g fresh clams
8pcs Argentine langoustine
2 handful of basil
450g fresh red cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
1 tsp squid ink paste
6 large garlic, finely chopped
4 dried chili
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1 cup white wine
salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Add water into pan, bring to a boil. The simmer at medium high heat. Add salt and some olive oil around 2 tbsp. Add the pasta and cook soften (al dente).

2. Mean while, heat around 4 tbsp of olive oil into the skillet at medium heat. Saute garlic and chili until the garlic turn a light brown. Do not let the garlic burn or it has a taste of bitterness. Add the squid then cooked lightly until coated with chili-garlic. Discard the squid from the pan, set aside. Then do this again with the clams and pour the wine into the pan. The wine it create steam needed to cook the clams. Also the wine adds flavor into the sauce. Remove the clam that has started open and set aside.

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By the way cook the langoustine at the same time, just drizzle some olive oil and put them into the oven at 200°C and baked for about 10 minutes on both side. Then take them out from the oven. You can also cook your langoustine into grill pan or charcoal grill if necessary.

3. Back to sauce. Add the tomatoes into skillet and stir for a minute. Then add the squid ink, stir well until combined into the sauce. Pour a 2-3 ladle spoon of boiling pasta water. Then season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 2 minutes or more.

4. Drain the pasta, add into the pan, followed by the clams, squid and basil. Mix or toss well together until the pasta absorb the sauce. Transfer the pasta into the serving dish. Then place the grilled langoustine on top of the pasta and spray some olive oil if desire.

Pear Tart

Nothing can beats home baked dessert. This freshly home- made pear tart also known as a crostata di pere in Italian. This dessert has it all, you need to add 2 grated lemon zest on the pie crust is filled with a cream topping, topped with pears and cashew nut, then finishing touch of shinny melted golden brown of jam and liqueur. Here's my Italian dessert recipe that I have had around my home for as long as I can remember the ingredients. 
Ingredients:
1 pie crust, 8 inches →making a pie pastry
250g zenatti mascaporne cheese
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp plain flour
3 tbsp pure milk
3 ripe pears
½ of lemon juice
30g roasted cashew nuts
1 tbsp apricot jam
1 tbsp sweet ice wine, or any fruit liqueur
Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven at 190°C. Combine flour, mascaporne cream, eggs, vanilla extract, milk and salt, blend together until smooth.

2. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and smooth surface.

3. Peel the pears then cut into half and scoop out the centers.

4. Brushing the cut surfaces with lemon juice as you prepare so that the pears don't turn brown and tastes even better.

5. Meanwhile, using a mortar and pestle, roughly crush the nuts into a coarse.

6. Arrange the pear around the center of pie base. Scatter the coarsely cashew nuts over the pear.

7. Place in the oven and bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown and the pears are soft.

8. When is done remove the pie from the oven. In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine jam and liqueur and heat in microwave for 1 minutes or until the jam has melted.

9. Then brush the melted jam over the pie filling.

10. Sprinkle the caster sugar over the pie and serve the tart warm.

Melanzane Alla Parmigiana

Eggplant- aubergine parmigiana is a classic delicious Italian dish. Great serve with crusty bread as a side dish and pan- seared fish or roasted meats for the main meal.
Ingredients:
3 pcs or 785g  aubergines or eggplants
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
250g  tomato sauce
4 spring fresh basil leaves,
100g mozzarella cheese
4 thinly sliced  and roughly torn provolone cheese
½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
plain flour
ground black pepper
Preparation:

1. Rinse and slice aubergine into thin slices length ways. Layer the slices in a large tray or baking dish, sprinkling with salt between each layer. Leave for an hour to extract the bitter juices.

2. Pat the aubergine slices dry on both sides with paper towels.

3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 °C, then heat ½ cup of oil in a large skillet. Coat the aubergine slices lightly with flour.

4. Quickly fry the aubergine in the batches over medium heat until crisp and golden on both sides. Add more oil on your skillet as needed.

5. Drain well the fried aubergine on paper towels.

6. In an ovenproof dish, layer the fried aubergines slices, season with ground black pepper, spoon a couple of tomato sauce over the aubergine slices, roughly torn the basil leaves and scatter of a few pieces on top, cover with a layer of provolone cheese, followed by some sliced mozzarella cheese and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese on top. Continue with this layering until you have cover all the remaining ingredients.

7. Place on the oven and bake for 35 minutes or until the cheese bubbling and has melted and brown. When done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes before cutting and serve. I loved to sprinkle an extra grated parmesan on top as a garnish.

Coffee Flavored Tiramisu

I'm glad and happy that now I can make a real Italian style 'Tiramisu' and its one of our favorite dessert in the restaurant and sometimes it disappoint us when we get imitation one! This fabulous recipe is quick and easy to make, all you need are:
Ingredients:
5 eggs separated
120g caster sugar or you can add 170g sugar to overpower the sweetness of the tiramisu.
300g zanetti mascarpone cheese
250ml espresso coffee
½ cup brandy
33 or 36pcs lady fingers (sponge biscuits)
72% cacao dark chocolate bar, finely grated
Preparation:

1. Pour the brandy and fresh espresso coffee into shallow dish and let it cool.

2. Beat the egg yolks with half caster sugar until dissolved and the mixture is light and fluffy and foam. 

3. Add mascarpone to whipped yolks, beat until the mixture is smooth.

4. Whisk the egg whites with remaining sugar until soft peak form or leaves a ribbon trail dropped from the whisk.

5. Combine the egg whites, gently fold into yolk mixture and set aside.

6. Dip enough the lady fingers in to the coffee-brandy mixture. The biscuits should be fairly soaked but not so much.

7. Arrange the biscuits and line the bottom and sides of a glass deep dish. Spoon some of the mascarporne mixture filling over the biscuits. Repeat another soaked biscuits and filling layers, smoothing the top neatly.

8. Dust with the grated chocolate and refrigerate for few hours or overnight and chill.

The flavors of the 'Tiramisu' will be better developed after a several hours before serving.

Note: Use 70-72% cacao chocolate bar for dusting the tiramisu. Rub a solid piece of chocolate across the grating section of a handheld grater, and run it down the edge of the chocolate bar.

Spicy Salami Pizza

Ingredients:
10-12 inches wheat pizza dough → making a wheat pizza dough
6 thinly sliced salami
5-6 sliced hot pepper jack cheese
5 tbsp del monte sweet spaghetti sauce
½ cup bottom mushroom, sliced
thinly sliced yellow bell pepper
thinly sliced red onion
olive oil to spray
Preparation:

1. Place pizza stone into the oven and preheat oven and stone to 220°C for about 15 minutes. Spread the sauce evenly over the wheat pizza base.

2. Tear the pepper jack cheese into halves and place between the gaps over the sauce.

3. Spread yellow bell pepper, onion, and mushroom then spray with olive oil and place the salami on top.

4. Place into the preheated pizza oven, carefully lift the pizza from bread paddle board. Bake for 10-12 minutes. When fully cooked, remove from the oven and place directly onto a serving plate.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti Carbonara

Just like they do in the restaurant, they like to mix the egg yolk on their pasta, a little bit creamy but it was nice contrast to the fresh flavors. The best thing is it was healthy and delicious yet didn’t take too much time to make. But this dish is not thick and creamy. I used milk instead of cream. In order to cook a healthy pasta meal for my family, as I wanted to put something healthy. So I cooked a whole wheat spaghetti, low fat milk, low fat bacon and a final egg yolks and some chopped parsley enhanced both look and taste. It contain less in high calories and fats.
Ingredients:
400g organic whole wheat spaghetti pasta, I like Bioitalia
1½  cups low fat milk
½  cup white wine
8 sliced low fat bacon or lean bacon, cut into strips
2 large garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
1 medium white or yellow onion, sliced115g freshly grated parmesan cheese
a handful of freshly chopped parsley
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 pork cube
egg yolks preferably organic
Preparation:

1. Bring a large deep pan of water to a boil with pinch of salt. Cook the pasta according to directions on package, drain, set aside and keep warm.

2. Heat the oil in saute pan, saute garlic and onion until fragrant.

3. Add the bacon and fry until it starts to go crisp.

4. Add the pork cube low fat milk, white wine and heated through, but do not over boil,  keep stirring to avoid lumps.

5. Add the cooked pasta and mix it up for a few seconds probably near 1 minute.

6. Turn off the flame, add the 2 tbsp chopped parsley, then quickly pour grated parmesan cheese.

7. Stirring constantly and mix well and lifting with the tong so the pasta gets coated. Add a ladle of spoon of the pasta water and create a bit of sauce in the pan if necessary.

8. Twirl the pasta into a shallow serving dish or pasta plates.

9. Then place the egg yolk on top of the pasta and sprinkling some more chopped parsley and grating of black pepper or parmesan cheese. Serve immediately, I eagerly pierce the egg yolk and mix it through the pasta it adds a slightly creamy consistency to the carbonara sauce.