Marco Polo twists, lasagne review and a bread trial
You might remember that when we were in Bristol we visited Bella Italia and had that weird Penne Marco Polo - Chinese style pasta, sounds revolting but is actually delicious and I believe it arises from the probably untrue story that when Marco Polo visited China in 1274 he sampled the fresh pasta they made and took it back to Italy.
Anyway I really love it, but don't get out much, so thought I would have a go at making my own..only true to form when I went to the cupboard I had no penne- hence....
Marco Polo Twists
First get some pasta of choice cooking according to the packet instructions.
While it's cooking, heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry a sliced red onion, 2 cloves of garlic, a finely chopped red chili and 4 sliced spring onions until soft, add some sliced duck breast, cook for a couple of minutes, add some plum sauce and a few shakes of soy sauce. Season with salt to taste.
The sauce is ready when the duck is cooked to your liking, but I suggest just cooked through for this recipe. Stir in the cooked and drained pasta and serve sprinkled with chopped spring onions.
It was a tasty dish, it tasted nice, but it wasn't like the restaurant version. I think it must be all in the plum sauce, I used a blue dragon sticky plum sauce and like I say, it was nice but not the same, plummy, but not sweet enough. I think if you make this sauce, you will be just as well to eat it with medium noodles or some boiled rice stir fried with an egg and some chines 5 spice powder.
Tonight I had intended to make a lovely aubergine dish, but time got away with me and I didn't really feel like cooking. In the freezer I had a family favourite, a lasagne, a Sainsbury's one we'd not had before. I made a couple of jacket potatoes and some salad and then realised to my horror that it took 55 minutes from frozen in the oven, so I did something I've always wondered about, I followed the microwave instructions less a few minutes and then finished it off for 10 minutes in the oven. It came out lovely and bubbling and brown and was easy to cut up. It was juicy and the meat was soft, it could have been a bit more tomatoey and herby for me and I would've liked a bit more cheesy topping but for the price it was a good standby. I know I should make my own, but it's a very tedious and time consuming thing to make and uses a lot of pans, not something I want to do mid-week!
Finally, I got some new flour this week a bag of rye and a bag of spelt. I have started to see if I can recreate our favourite Morrison's Spelt and Rye loaf, the first attempt has just come out of the bread maker. I can already tell it needs a bit of tweaking but if it tastes as good as it smells then it should be delicious, I will keep you posted.
Anyway I really love it, but don't get out much, so thought I would have a go at making my own..only true to form when I went to the cupboard I had no penne- hence....
Marco Polo Twists
 |
| The ingredients... |
While it's cooking, heat some vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry a sliced red onion, 2 cloves of garlic, a finely chopped red chili and 4 sliced spring onions until soft, add some sliced duck breast, cook for a couple of minutes, add some plum sauce and a few shakes of soy sauce. Season with salt to taste.
 |
| Not quite the real deal, but OK for a first try! |
It was a tasty dish, it tasted nice, but it wasn't like the restaurant version. I think it must be all in the plum sauce, I used a blue dragon sticky plum sauce and like I say, it was nice but not the same, plummy, but not sweet enough. I think if you make this sauce, you will be just as well to eat it with medium noodles or some boiled rice stir fried with an egg and some chines 5 spice powder.
Tonight I had intended to make a lovely aubergine dish, but time got away with me and I didn't really feel like cooking. In the freezer I had a family favourite, a lasagne, a Sainsbury's one we'd not had before. I made a couple of jacket potatoes and some salad and then realised to my horror that it took 55 minutes from frozen in the oven, so I did something I've always wondered about, I followed the microwave instructions less a few minutes and then finished it off for 10 minutes in the oven. It came out lovely and bubbling and brown and was easy to cut up. It was juicy and the meat was soft, it could have been a bit more tomatoey and herby for me and I would've liked a bit more cheesy topping but for the price it was a good standby. I know I should make my own, but it's a very tedious and time consuming thing to make and uses a lot of pans, not something I want to do mid-week!
Finally, I got some new flour this week a bag of rye and a bag of spelt. I have started to see if I can recreate our favourite Morrison's Spelt and Rye loaf, the first attempt has just come out of the bread maker. I can already tell it needs a bit of tweaking but if it tastes as good as it smells then it should be delicious, I will keep you posted.
I love pasta.
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