Oxtail stew with fettuccine

Was shopping for beef at the supermarket the other day when I came across some beautiful oxtail. I've never cooked it before, but I was suddenly feeling adventurous. "What's the worst that could happen?" I thought, so tonight I finally did it.

It was delicious!!!

Days before, I've been doing my homework and reading up on all sorts of recipe online. Including the original inspiration, Heston Blumenthal's oxtail and kidney pudding recipe. But it's so complex, not very realistic for a busy mommy of 2 kids. So i did a mash up of several different recipes I read and it turned out awesome.

Of course, I'm using my trusty pressure cooker which gives you the melt-in-your-mouth texture in only an hour. If you don't have one, I suggest you go buy one. Meanwhile, you can follow the steps accordingly,  just double the braising time.

500g oxtail
1 stick of celery
1 stick of carrot
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
4 brown mushrooms
4 tablespoons of traditional pasta sauce from a jar
1 glass of red wine of your liking
2 cups of chicken stock
Thyme and a bay leaf
Salt and pepper

Additional vegetables: (to be added later)
Diced carrots and potatoes, cabbage and mushrooms

1. Season the oxtail with salt and pepper and brown them in hot oil. Set aside.
2. Using a food processor(save time!),  blend all the vegetables finely and stir fry them in the same pot with a pinch of salt.
3. Put the oxtail back on top of the veges and add in all other ingredients except the seasoning. Make sure the oxtail is just covered in liquid.
4. Stew in low heat for one hour, release pressure, add in rest of the vegetables, and stew for another 30mins.
5. Remove oxtail from stew and you should be able to tear the meat off the bone easily! Reduce stock if you like but note that the sauce would thicken further once cooled. Season accordingly.
6. Cook pasta according to instructions and ladle sauce and meat over noodles.

Enjoy!

*my pasta looks watery cause I was carrying my baby in the other arm while trying to get the pasta out of the pot of water :p

Macaroni and cheese with beans

This dish is the ultimate comfort food! Delicious and at the same time nutritous, this is actually a pretty well balanced meal consisting of carbohydrates, proteins and also vegetables. Great for kids!

Cheese Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon plain flour
1/4 cup milk
1 handful romano cheese
1 handful chedder cheese
pinch of salt

Flavour Mix
4 strips of bacon
1 stalk celery
3/4 carrot
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 can of cannellini beans (can't find, so I used butter beans)
Splash of water
Pinch of salt

1. Get macaroni cooking in a pot of boiling salted water and cook as instructed on the packaging.
2. Prepare cheese sauce by melting butter, add in flour and cook for a minute in low heat before adding milk to get a creamy white sauce. mix in cheese and salt and put aside.
3. For the flavour mix, dice bacon and fry till crispy. Add in finely chopped onion, carrot, celery and garlic and salt and fry till softened.
4. Wash beans under running water, add into flavour mix and cook for a few minutes with a splash of water to get all the flavours together.
5. Mix cheese sauce and flavour mix to cooked and drained macaroni and mix well.
6. Serve as it is, or sprinkle more cheese over macaroni and melt it in the toaster oven.

Basic Pasta Carbonara

This is such a classic recipe. I've seen it countless times on Nigella and Jamie Oliver shows, but I've never tried making it before. I guess I was never a fan of creamy sauces. They make the dish so heavy, I could never finish them. But one day, the cosmic forces were aligned, and I just happened to have all the available ingredients for it, so I made it as my two-year-old daughter's dinner.

I may not be a fan of cream sauces, but I think it's great for kids. All the cream, eggs and cheese make the dish high in protein and calcium, great for young developing children! Anyway, back to the recipe. If you have the ingredients at hand, this is actually a very simple pasta dish to make.

All you need is:
Bacon
Egg yolk
Cream - I use milk
Parmesan cheese
Pepper

1. Chop up the bacon into small pieces and pan fry them with low fire till crisp. Meanwhile, boil the pasta according to instructions on the packaging.

2. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a small bowl.

3. When the pasta is cooked, toss the pasta with the bacon and it's oil.

4. Switch off the fire and add the egg and cheese mixture into the pasta.

5. Serve immediately.

I hope that you would enjoy this dish as much as we have! :)