Strozzapreti with Spinach, Mushrooms and Sundried Tomato

On a recent business trip to Cincinnati, I ate at an American Italian Restaurant with my friend and colleague, M. We had an antipasti of Buffalo Mozzarella, with Tomatoes and Basil. So fresh! We shared a pasta (you know how American servings are, soooo huge!), which the restaurant called as "Country Style Pasta with Brocollini," with oven dried tomatoes, garlic and white wine sauce.

When the dish arrived, the pasta looked like short strips of dough which were rolled, so that it almost looked like coils with thin ends. Then I remembered watching a food show a few months back, showing two old Italian grandmothers, hand rolling these pasta, which are actually called strozzapreti. Strozzapreti literally means "Priest Strangler!" Why? Check out the interesting story behind the unique name here.

A few days later, on the way back to Singapore, I passed by New York City for a few days. On a visit to a Greenwich Village shop selling cheese, jams, foie gras and other deli items, lo and behold, I saw strozzapreti there and bought some!

Inspired by that dish at that American Italian restaurant, I've recreated my version of the dish here, Strozzapreti with Spinach, Mushrooms and Sundried Tomato, especially dedicated to my Pinoy friend M, now a Cincinnati resident.

This is a vegetarian version but you can easily turn it into a non-vegetarian one by adding some sausages. Or even bacon.

Spaghettini with Roe, Dill & Smoked Salmon

It's Good Friday, so no meat allowed for Christians. Here's a seafood pasta dish, that's fragrant due to the fresh dill herbs and a sprinkling of yuzu pepper. Very unique and refreshing.

Green Tea Banana & Granola Cupcakes

A lot of times, I tweak a recipe to utilise  certain ingredients I have in my pantry. I don't like wasting food, so I always watch out for stuff that needs to be used before they expire. Last weekend, I whipped up a batch of cupcakes from some soon to be unwanted ingredients from my pantry. The cupcakes are made from mashed, overripe bananas (the best for any kind of banana cakes or cupcakes!), breakfast granola, soy milk (a leftover when my husband made tofu; that's another recipe altogether), green tea powder and some chocolates a friend gave us for Christmas. So I made this:

Plus I wanted to use these very cute, girly Hello Kitty silicon cupcake holders which I bought at a recent vacation at Bangkok.

Sooooo cute, right? :)

Baked Cheesy Rigatoni with Spicy Sausage

This is like Mac & Cheese but only better. The rigatoni pasta is much bigger than macaroni, and holds more of the cheesy sauce, and the spicy sausage adds a flavour contrast to an otherwise rich dish. It's baked with flavoured breadcrumbs which makes the top crispy. Mmmmm!