Ramen with Braised Pig’s Ears and Roasted Pork Belly

Posted on by lotsofbutter

Hello!
If you have not watched THE MIND OF A CHEF, please do yourselves a favour and go check it out! it’s very inspiring and educational (culinarily speaking)

Chef David Chang is an absolute junkie for ramen like me (not much choice, we got the Asian in us!)! I was inspired to make my own Japanese ramen noodles from scratch.


For the Ramen Noodles:

  • 200g all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons of baked soda
  • 50ml warm tap water
  • 50ml cold tap water

    To make the baked soda, spread a a good amount of baking soda on a foil-lined sheet pan. Put it in the oven for about 1hour on 150C. You will only need 2 teaspoons for this recipe but you can store the extra in a jar for as long as you need. I read on a few websites and thought the baking soda would change colours, but that is not correct.

    We need the baked soda to change the pH levels in the water, this is what gives the ramen its texture.

    In a big mixing bowl put the warm water and the 2 teaspoons of baked soda to dissolved, then add the cold water. Lastly add the flour and mix until it forms into a dough. The mixture is quite dry and crumbly. Knead it for a full 5 minutes and wrap it in some cling film and let it rest for 20 minutes. Then knead again for another 5 minutes (very good work out). Reward the dough  in cling film and let it chill in the fridge for about 1 hour. 

    For this recipe I would highly recommend for you to have a pasta machine, the dough is not easy to hand roll and cut if you don’t have the experience. Once the dough has chilled devide it into 4 equal portions. The thickness setting on the pasta machine is to your descretion, I like mine not so thin. 

    Like Italian pasta, cook the noodles in a deep pot with plenty of water. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of the pasta, mine took about 3 minutes. Check the noodles regularly while they’re cooking; if they stick together, rinse them under cold water immediately after straining them from the pot to stop the cooking and rinse off any excess starch. Make sure you only cook the noodles when you’re ready to plate, you don’t want the noodles sitting around while you get the rest ready. 


    Ingredients for Braised Pig’s Ears

    • 2 pig’s ears
    • 1/4 cup Shaoxing Rice Wine, or sake
    • 3 Tablespoons dark Chinese soy sauce
    • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
    • 1 star anise

     

      f your pig’s ears come with a few strand of unwanted hair and you don’t have a blow torch to hand, like me you can burn the hair using your gas stove – it is in no means as efficient as a blow torch, but it helps. 

      Par-boil the ears in a pot of water for a few minutes, this will help remove any dirty from the skin. 

      Remove the ears from the pot and put it in another clean smaller pot and fill it with enough water that will cover the ears, then add all the ingredients. Bring it to a boil and reduce it to simmer for 2hours30min. You will want to keep an eye on it for about every 30 minutes to turn the ears and add more water if necessary. 

      When they are done, the ears should be very soft and dark. Let it chill completely before you sliced the ears into thin strips.This dish is supposed to be served cold but is just as good hot.

      Please do not discard of the liquid used to cooked the ears, this will be used for our ramen broth base!

       

      For the Pork Belly: 

      • 1 Strip of pork belly cut in half
      • Salt and Pepper
      •  Chili oil 

      Use a knife to poke the rind as many holes as possible. Brush the rind with chilli oil and season it with salt and pepper. You should marinate if you have time, but if you don’t, it isn’t a problem. place it in the roasting pan lined with foil and roast it in hot oven for an hour in 200C. The skin should puff up into crackling. Remove pork from oven and allow to rest uncovered. When ready to serve, cut into 1cm slices. 
      For the Broth (1 serving) 

      • 1/2 ladle of the pig’s ears cooking liquid
      • 1 ladle of water 
      • 1 teaspoon of miso paste

      If you are not making it the pig’s ear and don’t have the liquid, you can make your broth/stock from scratch with any pork, smoked meat or chicken bones/fat – I will post a recipe for an easy broth in the next couple of days for you.

      Add all the ingredients to a pot and bring it to boil. The thing I like about the ramen broths is that is very open to taste, so you can add absolutely anything you want as it is to your taste. I like it fat and flavoursome.

       
      To assemble your lovely bowl of awesomeness, put your noodles in a bowl, add a few strips of the pig’s ears and a few slices of the pork belly (or whatever meats or vegetables you want to have with your ramen!) and add the broth. I have served this with a soft boiled egg and some spring onions. To create those lovely curls, cut the spring onions into thin strips and put it in a bowl with cold water, this will make the strips curl up. 

      I hope you enjoy making this as much as I did, I am definitely happy with the results, nothing tastes better than your own success! 
      Ana 

      Scricchiolio Signore Muffins 

      Posted on by lotsofbutter

      Beautiful Sunday to stay in bed! 

      After sleeping for 12hours, all I had in my mind was a big fat breakfast! But because I have this conflicting feelings and ideas in my head that I want to lose weight and be fit, the 2 sausages, 2 bacon, 2 eggs and 2 toasts fly out of my mind. 

      I then rembembered that a few years back I used to make Rachel Khoo’s croque Monsieur muffins on a regular basis! Had a look in my fridge and I didn’t have the ingridients for a traditional croque monsieur, so I had to improvise and make an Italian version with pancetta and mozzarella! 

        
      Ingridients:

      • Butter
      • 2 slices of white bread
      • 2 tablespoons of fried chopped pancetta 
      • 2 eggs
      • 2 tablespoons of grated mozzarella cheese
      • 2 tablespoons of whipped double cream
      • Salt and black pepper

      Start of for melting a little butter for coating both sides of the bread
      Star of my cutting the crusts off the bread and roll the bread with a rolling pin to about half its original thickness. Melt a little of the butter and coat the bread.

      Place the slices into the muffin tray to create cup shapes, then add the fried chopped pancetta  into the bottom of each bread cup. Break a raw egg on top of the pancetta – remember to drain off most of the egg white before adding otherwise it will overfill! 

      Add one tablespoon of the cream in each cup then add the grated mozzarella  on too until it’s all covered. Cost the edges of the bread cups with some more of the melted butter, it will make it crispy! There’s never enough butter! 

      Place in oven at 180C for 15 mins for runny egg or 20mins for firmer egg. 

        

      Mamamia Pan Grill Pizza 

      Posted on by lotsofbutter

       
      We all love a good pizza take away! But I like my pizza crispy thin, like a cracker! So no take away pizza will ever satisfy me. This recipe is quick and too easy!

      I’ve cheated on the dough and used pizza base mix from sainsbury’s, I can make two thin crust pizzas with one pack. You will need 100ml of water to add to the mix, combine it well and leave it to rest for a bit. While your dough is resting you start on your tomato sauce. For mine I used tomato purée, olive oil, water, 1 shallot and 2 cloves of onion, some salt and pepper. Blitz it in your blender or food processor, I don’t like the the sauce too smooth, so I leave small chunks of the shallot and garlic.

      For the filling, I used smoked mozzarella and chili luganica sausage meat, but it’s your pizza so you can use whatever tickles your fancy.

      I roll out half of the dough thinly, and fold the “corners in”, spread the tomato sauce, add the grated cheese and then the meat… Then the cheese again! In a frying pan (big enough to fit your pizza), heat some olive oil and transfer the pizza to the pan once the oil is hot. Yes, we are “frying” the pizza base first.

       
      Once the base gets dark, take the pan off the stove and put it under the grill. Make sure you keep an eye out on the pizza, as you don’t wanna burn it.

      The cheese will start to bubble and you’re pretty much done once the meat and the crust gets a bit of colour!

      If you can get your hands on some rocket, I would definitely suggest adding at the end to give this crisp freshness to your pizza.

      Not to blow my own trumpet, but I make a good damn pizza!

      I hope you enjoy!

      I’m Mac N’ Cheese Balls 

      Posted on by lotsofbutter

      If you knew my person, you would know that I absolutely love mac and cheese! I love pasta and I love cheese! 

      I had deep friend Mac and Cheese balls before but they were quite big size – not as small as a golf ball but not as big as a tennis ball! In my opinion, this sort of food is good in bite size! 

      For this recipe, you will need left over mac and cheese. 

      I used ditalini rigati pasta, lots of single cream, butter, Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese and mozzarella. Make sure you leave the Mac and Cheese in your fridge for over night before using it for the recipe. 

      Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the macaroni mixture from the refrigerator, and scoop into balls.

      Whisk the bread crumbs with the paprika, chili powder and black pepper  in a shallow dish; set aside. Beat the 1 egg with the 3 tablespoons milk in a small bowl. Coat the balls in the egg wash, and then dredge in breading.

      Fry the mac balls in small batches until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain briefly on a paper towel plate; serve hot – I should have made a salsa sauce to go with it. 

      I’ve made a quick sauce out of tomato purée, honey, soya sauce and chili. 

        

        Enjoy!

      Ana x

      Beef Spring Rolls

      Posted on by lotsofbutter

      I am sorry I have not been posting anything! I have been busy celebrating my birthday and that my foot cast is finally off!

      I have been busy trying to walk again.

      Two weekends ago, we have made beef spring rolls!

       For the spring roll filling, we used shredded carrots, beansprouts and sliced beef. Stir-fried these until cooked with some pepper and some soya sauce. You might want to drain this on a colander. The more liquid drained the better – you don’t want the spring roll wraps to be soggy when you roll them up

      Most wrappers come frozen, so make sure you defrost them beforehand.

      Place wrapper like diamond, on a clean, dry surface. Place 1 tablespoon of filling near corner. Fold over the corner, and roll tight.

       
      To fry the spring rolls, you’ll to heat up a good amount of oil – if you have a deep fryer that’s even better!

      Keep turning them to brown evenly. Once they are golden brown, they are done.

      I will try to make more at home but with different fillings, maybe a lobster filling!

      Let me know what you think
      Ana xx

      Churros with Ginger and Cinnamon Sugar

      Posted on by lotsofbutter

      Hello lovely people.

      Today I was inspired to make churros, since I don’t have a lot of desserts on my blog! To be honest, I was watching Come Dine With Me, and a couple on the show were making churros but with chocolate to dip in.

      All you will need for this recipe is:

      For the churros:

      • 200ml water
      • 2 tablespoons of white sugar
      • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used coconut oil)
      • 200ml plain flour
      • Extra oil for frying

      For the ginger and cinnamon sugar:

      • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
      • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
      • 1 tablespoon white sugar

      In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine water, sugar and the 2 tablespoons oil – I used coconut oil because it’s the only oil I really use other than sesame oil or olive oil. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Stir in flour until mixture forms a ball.

      Heat oil for frying in a frying pan, or if you have a deep fryer you can use that too, but don’t ask me how because I have never used one before! If you have a piping bag,please use it to pipe the mixture into strips. I have a problem with piping bags and can’t seem to pipe anything right! For the strips, I rolled them into thin strips! Fry until golden and drain on paper towels.

      For the sugar, combine all ingredients and roll each churro to make sure they are covered. If there’s any sugar left off, sprinkle some more on top!

      You can serve this with ice cream or with melted chocolate!

      I believe (according to Wikipedia!) that the Portuguese brought churros to Europe when they returned from China (the grand Portuguese discoveries). Since I am half Portuguese half Chinese, I thought this dessert would represent my heritage the best.

      I hope you try this at home and love it!

      Ana xx

      Pecorino and Garlic Ramen Fries 

      Posted on by lotsofbutter

      Hello guys!

      I have seen this recipe on BuzzFeed Food on Facebook and I had to try it!!

      Cook two packets of ramen according to directions. If you’ve never cooked ramen before, then please crawl back to the whole you came from… I’m only joking.. But no.. Do follow instructions because you don’t want to overcook it!

      After straining ramen in a colander, run cold water over it until noodles are cool. Once they have cooled down, whiskey eggs and seasoning packets together, and add in cold, strained ramen noodles. Mix the egg mixture in to evenly disperse.

      Line in baking/foil sheet with plastic wrap, and dump your ramen egg mixture in. Mash the ramen into a tight, even layer and add another sheet of plastic wrap on top. Put something heavy on top to weight it down, this part is critical – it is important that you do this, otherwise the noodles will turn out loose when you fry them. Throw it in the freezer for 2 – 3 hours.

      You should have a semi-frozen ramen brick, and now you can start cutting it into long rectangular shapes and fry them until pleasantly crispy and brown.

      In a bowl, shave some pecorino cheese, you can use Parmesan if you like. Add some black pepper, garlic powder and dried parsley. Sprinkle this on top of the ramen fries when ready to eat.

      I would definitely suggest you to try this at home! At least it would be a new way to cook your instant noodles.

      Ana x

      Pork Kebabs

      Posted on by lotsofbutter

      Hello guys!

      It’s been a bit hectic at work – my full time job as a customer relations advisor at Kurt Geiger – and busy weekends chilling out with my best bitches.

      We’ve thrown out our old BBQ, so until we replace it with a new one, I got to use the grill for my BBQ style recipes.

      This weekend I got some nice camera lied red onion pork sausages from lovely Waitrose – you see I only shop at Waitrose at the beginning of the month.. When my bank account is still popping with sssshmoney. And of course my obsession for courgette salad will never die, so I have made a nice fresh courgette and feta cheese salad to go with my pork sausages kebab!

       
      For the pork sausage kebabs, I’ve cut the sausage into pieces.. 3 chunks of cut sausage per stick! So if you get a pack of 6 sausages, you can make 6 kebab sticks, that could be a nice meal for two people! One whole red onion cut into chunks and one red pepper cut into pieces – I wanted to use vegetable that would bring some life to the dish.. The bad thing about being on Atkins, the color of the food can be a bit boring!

      I’ve put the kebabs in the grill until the meat was cooked.. I like when the vegetables still have a bit of crunch. While this is cooking, I’m using my baby Benriner (vegetable spiralizer) and cutting the courgettes in long thin strands. I’ve seasoned it with salt, black truffle olive oil and garlic.

       

      You can use any meat for the kebabs, if you have left over burger meat from BBQ or other vegetables you can also use that too! Good thing about my recipes, it’s to YOUR taste. I’m here to guide you and give you ideas!

      Please try them at home and let me know how it goes!

      Much love, Ana xx

      Ribeye and Courgette Salad

      Posted on by lotsofbutter

       

      Day before payday… I decided to treat myself for some steak.. Ribeye steak hmmm! Good thing about living in my area is the millions of butchers.

      My favorite of the area is Baldwins Butcher!

      I could seriously eat this dish everyday! I love this courgette salad that goes with it!
      I bought an amazing tool for peeling vegetables! I got the Benriner and if I could use it in all vegetables I would, I mean I am a real pasta/noodle fan, so anything in pasta or noodle shape will do for me. This little tool is so easy to use and clean.. I definitely recommend it.

      For the courgette salad, I used chilli powder, fresh garlic, truffle salt, ground black pepper and a big splash of toasted sesame oil! This automatically gives more of an Asian taste to the salad.

      For the steak, I usually have mine medium rare or rare – This will usually depend on if I forget the steak in the pan and I’m doing something else.. like chatting away with my housemates!

      I hope you get the chance to try the salad at least!

        Ana x

      Pork Steaks and Aubergine

      Posted on by lotsofbutter

      Sorry I haven’t posted anything lately, I have been working hard and haven’t had time to cook a lot and make inventions.. I have been having chicken thighs, steak and scrambled eggs for the whole week basically..  Being on a Ketogenic diet, really limits the stuff I can eat, I have to add everything on my MyFitnessPal app and make sure I don’t exceed 20g of carbohydrates a day and keep my fat intake high. Since I have to eat fatty meats, I’ve decided to get some pork loin steak today, and to go with it, I have chosen aubergine.. Aurbegine is a vegetable with almost no carb content – so if you have spent the day munching on macadamia nuts like me, you watch your carb in takes and balance it out.     You must know that this dish contains a lot of butter.. I have not only fried the aubergine and the pork loin steaks in butter, I have also served it with garlic and parsley butter – yes obviously homemade! – I cut the aubergine in thin slices and fried them first, seasoned with chili powder, garlic powder and salt.  I’ve seasoned my pork loins with salt, pepper and garlic powder, fried them in butter. They are quite thin, so you don’t need much cooking time.  For the garlic butter, I added dry flat parsley herbs, a bit of salt and lots of garlic powder to the butter! In my opinion you can use this butter with beef, chicken or fish.. Nothing tastes better than butter and garlic..  I hope you all had a good weekend!  Ana x