Conchiglie with pancetta, mushroom, black olives & pesto

A perfect midweek dinner, quick, simple and tasty! Ingredients are fridge and pantry stable and its great with any type of pasta you have at hands. Conchiglie is fantastic with dry or wet pasta sauce. The shell-like shape helps to scope up the delicious sauce. 

I don't weight pasta for portion control, instead I use my hands to measure. Depending on pasta shapes, for conchiglie, penne, fusilli usually 2 handfuls per person. It is always tempting to cook more than needed, just remember pasta expand after cooking so do be cautious. If you must weight them, I would say 100g of dry pasta per person (depending on appetite of course!) 

Serves 2

200g Conchiglie, cooked per packaging
90g pancetta
1 red onion, thinly sliced
150g chestnut mushrooms, thinly sliced
Dozen black pitted olives in brine
1 tbsp basil pesto
Fresh chives, chopped
Sprinkle of finely grated parmareggio

1. Boil the kettle and cook the pasta as per instructions on the packaging.

2. In a frying pan, frying the pancetta in medium heat until brown.

3. Add the onion and cook until it is soften.

4. Now the mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes or until they begin to go soft. Be sure not to overcook them or they will release moisture.

5. Drain the pasta and mix in with the pancetta mixture.

6. Add the black olives and turn the heat off.

7. Mix in the pesto thoroughly.

8. Serve in a bowl, sprinkle with chives and parmareggio.

Vermicelli Noodles with Minced Pork, Dried Shiitake Mushroom (狗仔粉)

This is a variation of the popular Hong Kong street snack 狗仔粉(Gou Chai Fun), which translates as   'Dog Tail Noodles'. Since I am no great noodles maker, instead of making my own dog-tail-like noodles with rice flour, I've replaced it with vermicelli instead, with the meat mixture remains true to the authentic taste. 

This type of street snack was very popular in the 80s and was a type of peasant food before the WWII, to fill the hungry bellies of the poor. 

Serves 2

800ml chicken stock

300g dried vermicelli noodles

250g minced pork

Handful of dried shrimps, finely chopped (available on oriental supermarket)

4 dried shiitake mushrooms (soak in water until double in size and diced)

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp of white pepper 

1 tsp of sesame oil

Handful of preserved parsnips (available on oriental supermarket)

1 tsp of chilli powder 

1. Soak the vermicelli noodles in water until soft. 

2. Heat a splash of oil in a frying pan and cook the dried shrimps and dried shiitake mushrooms until the aroma is released. 

3. Mix in the minced pork, add in the seasoning (oyster sauce, white pepper, sesame oil) and cook until the meat is brown.

4. Meanwhile, bring the chicken stock to boil and cook the vermicelli as per instruction printed on the packaging. 

5. Mix the preserved parsnips with the chilli powder. 

6. In a large soup bowl, serve the noodles soup, layer the meat mixture on top and sprinkle with chilli preserved parsnips. 

If you prefer, layer the soup bowl with some green such as spinach.

Thai Grilled Pork (Mu Ping หมูปิ้ง) with Coconut Rice

I adore Thai cuisine. The dishes often have very in-depth flavour and very versatile, which can be adapted with different type of meat or vegetables to suit individual's taste. The scent of lemongrass, Thai basil, kaffir leaves, fish sauce and tamarind are so distinctively Thai that they cannot be easily confused with another cuisine.  

Since most of Thai dishes have a very pungent flavour, I find chicken, pork or white fish are best to absorb all the flavours than red meat.

In this recipe, the marinade would also goes very nicely with chicken or turkey.

Serves 4

600g pork shoulder steaks, diced 

For the marinade

3 stalks of lemongrass (thinly sliced 1 stalk)

2 gloves of garlic

1 tbsp oyster sauce

3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp palm sugar

1 tsp sesame oil 

A thumb of fresh ginger

A bunch of fresh coriander

1 lime juice

For the coconut rice

1 can of coconut milk

2 cup of Thai Jasmine rice

Splash of water

1. Blitz all the marinade ingredients in a mini food chopper. 

2. Marinade the diced pork shoulder steaks with the mixture overnight. 

3. For the rice, rinse the rice under tap water a couple of times to get rid of the starch. Drain well.

4. If you are using a rice cooker, pour in a can of coconut milk, add a splash of water, mix well and cook the rice as per rice cooker's instruction; if you are cooking the rice in a saucepan on the hob, cook the rice gently on a low heat for 3 minutes, pour in a can of coconut milk, turn the heat up and bring it to simmer. Bring the heat to the lowest setting and cover with lid. Leave it to cook until all the liquid has evaporated. 

5. Meanwhile, heat the griddle pan on a high heat. 

6. Once the griddle pan is hot enough, put the pork on it and cook for 15 - 20 minutes or until cooked through. 

7. Serve with coconut rice!