Experiment #2 Hand torn pasta with mint X MoMofuko

Today’s experiment is from Momofuku ” Hand torn pasta with mint, chilli and goat emulsion“. This pasta hands down would be one of my favorite pasta in the world. With goggle not producing any recipes for this dish I came up with my own way of making it. So just like the title of the dish suggests the ingredients include

Quality pasta
Goat cheese

For the pasta I made my way to Peppe’s Pasta @ Haberfield. These pasta are hand made and FRESH and boy can you tell the difference between these and the dried up ones from Coles. I chose the egg pappardelle which is kinda like a thick fettuccine so there will be enough sauce that gets coated by the pasta. The goat cheese i got was from Norton St groceries.


So the cooking process

1. Make a mint pesto ( this I simply boiled the mint in a small amount of water until soggy), at the same time deep fry some mint leaves for added texture to the dish
2. Brown some garlic and chilli (skin only) and the mint pesto in some butter and then add some chicken stock
3. Toss the pasta which has been cooked in boiling water for 4 minutes
4. Make a goat cheese emulsion by whipping it with oil and place a small dollop on top of the pasta when serving

End result:

This dish was so simple and the flavours are explosive not even joking (the chilli, crispy mint and creamy cheese). However my goat cheese emulsion wasn’t as running as I wanted but once mixed in with the pasta it was wonderful. Here is the final dish and I have to say I’m very happy with this dish only thing I would change is to make the cheese more runny and perhaps include pickled tomato just like Momofuku.Image


Caramel Date tart with Earl Grey Tea Syrp Ver. 1

So on a blazing Sunday morning, I thought I would give the caramel tart a go. This dessert has to be one of my all time favorite and I first had it when I went to Etch by Justin North. A silky smooth caramel brulee texture with a short crust infused with a hint of Earl grey tea and date syrup. Absolutely beautiful and I’m pretty sure it is still available from Etch so please if you have a sweet tooth go there and experience heaven.

So here is a photo taken by grad your fork just to show you how it is meant to look like.
Anyways last night I was trying to search for the recipe and was very lucky to find it on a website by tissalicious on http://trissalicious.com/2010/10/14/dare-me-etch-restaurants-caramel-date-tart/ so all credit goes to her. Thank you very much.

So when you break the recipe up you have

  1. Short crust for the base
  2. date filling
  3. caramel brulee
  4. earl grey tea syrup

So I tackled the short crust first. It was the first time that I have made one so I wasnt really sure how it was meant to turn out. Once i started you will know that this dough is very high in butter content so it will tend to be quite sticky so flour your benchtop generously to make it a bit less messy.

So this was how my dough turned out afterwards and you will need to knead it after resting it in the fridge for 1-2 hours. It will be a very soft dough so it will break apart a little when you transfer it to the mould

The next step was making the caramel brulee. This was quite tricky since the you are meant to melt the sugar in a saucepan and then incorporate warmed up cream into the saucepan. What I realised was that the cream’s temperature is lower than the caramel mixture hence it will solidify, so to solve this problem just reheat the mixture till the caramel melts again and infuses with the cream. Silly me i forgot to take a picture of it but it will look like a milk chocolate colour and a texture of heavy cream.

Next was the date filling, which was the easiest part simply boil the dates in an earl grey tea bath for 10 minutes then mash it up.

So after pre baking the dough and then incorporating the caramel brulee and date this was how it looked like after I pulled it out from the oven.Image

So what did it look like when served on a plate? Image

Ps. the earl grey tea syrup wasnt made caused I ran out of cream haha. so next time i shall recreate it.

So things that I think I did well would be 

  • caramel brulee was smooth and perfect texture, the baking time for it was spot on
  • date filling had the earl grey tea taste to it
  • tart lifted from the mould fine

Things I need to improve on for next time

  • thinner dough (was too thick and the sides was not even) might need to buy a different mould a shallower one
  • Need to make the earl grey syrup (ran out of cream)
  • date layer could’ve been thinner or food process it to make it smoother

After having two slices, I decided to get my dad to be the scorer and he gave it a 6.5/10 so I not bad for a first attempt. But I will revisit it again with a more shallow mould and a thinner layer. Hmm so who wants the rest of the caramel tart?


DEN there was dinner. (Conceptual planning)

So the other day my friends were writing a list of things which they wanted to do by the end of the year (kinda like a new years resolution except 6 months late), and the list ranged from having a lamb on the spit right through to watching a whole season of revenge in one night.

A few days later whilst being bored at work I thought to myself, why not try to do a degustation at home for a group of friends. The menu would consists of food which I have enjoyed from a wide range of restaurants and trying to recreate the ULTIMATE dining experience. Just like that wish that you might’ve had where you hope you had that chicken from that restaurant followed by a salad from another place and finished off with an exotic ice cream from a place far away.

Don’t get me wrong I’m no professional chef and to be honest I don’t think my skills have gone past cooking the occassional steak and pasta. So I now this is going to be a challenge and it will take a few months to perfect (the word perfect is used quite loosely here)

With flames blazing in my eyes during my lunch break I came up with a mouth watering 8 course menu. So what does this list look like? I hereby introduce to you my hopefully successful event

Den There Was Dinner” (Note: Den stands for my name Dennis)

Sourdough bread with truffle butter (Baroque)

Seasonal oyster with vietnamese dressing and baby coriander (assiette)

Kingfish ceviche (three blue duck)

Hand torn pasta with goat cheese, chilli and mint (momofuku)

Pan-fried scallop with califlower puree (Gordon Ramsay)

Pressed pork with asian greens and soy foam ( Three blue duck)

Wagyu steak with red wine jelly, char-grilled baby carrorts and triple fried chips with roasted rosemary (Heston)

Pear snow egg (Quay)

Caramel date tart, earl grey tea syrup and vanilla ice cream (etch)

So here it is my ultimate degustation menu. But before I invite all my friends over I’ve got to try the menu out myself and hope for the best. Hence the reason why I created this blog so hopefully as I create each dish and keep track of this event and to also show my friends at the end of this (fingers crossed) unforgettable dinner.

Wish me luck as I head off and tackle this challenge.