Homemade Noodle in Pork Broth and Chili Oil

中文菜谱：猪骨汤面

As an Asian, I love having noodles.  And I love making them at home from scratch too. 

For pork broth：

4 pounds pork back bones
5 quarts water
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 large piece of ginger root, smashed
2 star anises
2 to 3 tablespoons rice cooking wine
4 to 5 dried chili peppers , cut into small pieces
2 to 3 bay leaves
1 black cardamom pot
2 to 3 cloves
1/4 teaspoon Sichuan pepper corns
2 to 3 pieces of dried rhizome/ dried ginger slices
1 teaspoon sugar
salt to taste

For homemade noodle：

250 g bread flour
a pinch of salt
90 g water

Directions：

Wrap star anises, dried peppers, black peppercorns, dried rhizome/ dried ginger slices, Sichuan peppercorns, black cardamom pot, bay leaves and cloves with a piece of coffee filter paper and tie it up.

Pork back bones are different from neck bones because they are from different parts.  I prefer back bones and leg bones when making pork broth. 

Fill two pots with water.  Heat both of them over high heat.  Add back bones to one pot.  When it comes to boil, transfer the bones to the other pot along with spice bag, rice cooking wine and ginger root.  Discard the water where the bones were previously cooked.

Cover the pot with lid.  Reduce the heat to simmer for 3 to 4 hours.  I use a 5.75 quart Staub cast iron pot which is super great for making stew and broth.

Add ground white pepper, sugar and salt to taste.  Cook for another 15 and 20 minutes.

Add flour and salt to Philips pasta maker

I love thin noodles, so I always use Tagliatelle Pasta Disc

Cover with its lid.  Start the machine and slowly add water on top.

It will automatically knead the dough and squeeze the thin noodles out. 

There is a trick here for better textured noodle/pasta.  You can replace the water with egg + water mixture.  Or you can pause the machine for a few minutes after it kneads the dough so that the flour and water in dough can combine better.

Cook the noodle in boiling water for 45 seconds to 1 minute.

Doesn’t it look good already?

I prepare diced bamboo shoots, soft boiled egg, chili oil, chopped pickled daikon, chopped peanuts and chopped green onion as toppings.

Soft boiled egg is my new favorite as noodle topping

Add pork broth and toppings to the noodle.  A bowl of freshly homemade noodle in pork broth and chili oil coming right up! O(∩_∩)O~

Bon Appétit!

Bacon and Mac and Cheese

中文：奶酪培根通心粉

What can beat homemade creamy and cheesy mac and cheese?  Absolutely nothing!  O(∩_∩)O~ 

 Since a pasta machine was given to me as a holiday gift last year, I became obsessed with making all kinds of noodles and pasta at home.

For the pasta：

250 g all purpose flour
95 liquid including 1 large egg + water

Directions：

There are different discs for making different pasta.  I am using the penny disc. 

Although the pasta machine  comes with a couple measuring cups, I still strong recommend weigh the ingredients with a digital kitchen scale.  Measuring ingredients by volume and by weights could end with different results. 

Add 250 g all purpose flour to the pasta machine

Whisk egg and water together

Start the machine and choose 300g and then press “start”

Add liquid from top

The dough is being mixed

When the kneading is finished, I usually pause the machine for 10 minutes so that the dough can rest.  The pasta will taste better with extra resting time.

With a dough scraper, cut the pasta they way you like it.  The machine comes with a plastic one which I don’t like. 

Freshly homemade penn

Now it is time to boil some penne!

Ingredients：

300 g freshly made penne
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
2 cloves of garlic, peel and minced
1/4  teaspoon onion powder
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup pepper jack cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt to taste
bacon crumbles
panko bread crumbs

Directions：

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add salt and penne.  Cook for 6 to 8 minutes or until al dente.  Drain and rinse under cold running water for a few seconds.  Drain well.

Preheat a toaster oven to 425F/218 C

Dice the cheese.

Heat a medium cast iron pan  over medium heat.  Add butter and minced garlic.  Cook for about 1 minute. 

Add flour, onion powder and black pepper.  Cook until the flour turns slightly yellow.  Add milk.

When the milk is heated but not boils yet, add diced cheddar cheese and pepper jack cheese. 

Whisk and cook until the cheese is completely melted.

Add cooked penne and parmesan chees

With a wooden spoon, mix everything together; divide into two small cast iron pans; and top with bacon and bread crumbs. 

Bake them in the toaster oven  for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown. 

Serve immediately. 

Spinach Noodles

中文： 菠菜面条

Spinach is a popular choice when it comes to natural colorful noodles.  I love using spinach in my noodles or spaghettis.  The color is always vibrant and beautiful.  And the best part is that there is food coloring involved!  It is totally natural. O(∩_∩)O~  

Ingredients：

2 cups bread flour
1/2  to 2/3 cup spinach puree*
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oil

*for spinach puree:
1 bag frozen spinach (12 oz), thawed
1 to 1 1/2 cups of water

Directions：

In a vitamix, add thawed spinach and water.  Blend at high speed until the spinach juice is really smooth.  I use vitamix because it does such a good job.  It is fine to use a regular blender too.  Just blend it a little longer. 

Measure the needed amount spinach puree.  Divide the rest into 3 to 4 Ziploc bags and freeze.  When you want to make spinach noodles again, just take out 1 bag and thaw.  How convenient is that! 

In a medium bowl, whisk together bread flour, spinach puree, oil and salt.  When everything starts to come together, knead with hands until the dough is smooth.

The dough might a little firm to knead.  That is ok. 

Wrap it up with plastic wrap.  Allow it to rest for a couple hours, or overnight.

With a rolling pin, roll the dough as flat as you can.

And then feed it through the pasta roller for KitchenAid stand mixer for several times.  At the one last time, set the thickness to 3.

I also make egg noodle dough sheets.  Don’t they look pretty already?

Remove the roller, and put on the spaghetti cutter .

Run the thin dough sheet through pasta cutter.

They are getting prettier.

Now you have freshly homemade spinach noodles!  You can cook them right away; or you can just freeze them for later use like I do.

Beef Noodle Soup with Beef Shank and Tendon

中文： 清汤牛肉牛筋面

I enjoy making all kinds of soup from scratch at home.  They are great right off the stove.  Sometimes I use them as the soup base for Asian hot pot.  Most times I use them to use noodle soup and rice noodle soup.

The picture above is beef rice noodle soup.  And the picture below is beef noodle soup.  Can you tell the difference? O(∩_∩)O~

Ingredients for beef soup:

2 to 3 pounds of beef shank
1 1/2 to 2 pounds of beef tendon
2 to 3 star anises
2 to 3 tablespoon rice cooking wine
1 small piece of ginger root, smashed with knife
4 to 5 dried chili peppers , cut into small pieces
8 to 10 black peppercorns
2 to 3 bay leaves
1 black cardamom pot
2 to 3 cloves
1/4 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 to 3 pieces of dried rhizome/ dried ginger slices
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4teaspoon ground white pepper
chopped cilantro
a few drops of sesame oil
chili oil sauce
water for stewing
salt to taste

Ingredients for noodle：

1 cup of bread flour
1/4 cup of water
a pinch of salt

Directions：

Soak both beef tendon and shank in cold water for at least an hour.  Change the water twice in between.

Here are the spices for beef soup: star anises, dried peppers, black peppercorns, dried rhizome/ dried ginger slices, Sichuan peppercorns, black cardamom pot, bay leaves and cloves.  Wrap them with a piece of coffee filter paper.

Tie it up

In a 5.75 quart Staub cast iron pot, add water, beef tendon and shank, rice cooking wine, spice bag and ginger root.

Heat the cast iron pot over high heat.  When the soup comes to boil, remove the white gray bubbles on the top with a spoon.

Cover with lid and reduce to simmer for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Beef tendon might need longer time to cook.

In the last 15 minutes cooking, add salt, sugar and ground white pepper to taste.

Now we have a pot of wonderful beef soup.

When the soup is being stewed, I make the noodle.

In a medium bowl, add bread flour, water and salt.  Whisk with a pair of chopsticks or a wood spoon.  When everything starts to come together, transfer the dough to a dusted wooden board. 

Knead with hands until the dough is smooth.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Flatten the ball of dough with a large rolling pin.  And then feed it through the pasta roller for KitchenAid stand mixer for several times.  At the one last time, set the thickness to 3.

Remove the roller, and put on the spaghetti cutter. 

Run the thin dough sheet through pasta cutter.

I do enjoy this moment.

What to do next is pretty easy and simple because most of the hard work is done by now.

Cook the fresh noodle in a large pot of boiling water for 30 to 45 seconds.  Drain well and add it a medium bowl, along with beef soup, sliced beef shank and tendon, a couple teaspoons of chili oil sauce, chopped cilantro and sesame oil.

The beef tendon and shank are sliced hot so they are kind of impossible to slice thinly.

The next morning, I made another bowl of beef rice noodle soup exactly the same way.  I allow the beef shank and tenon to completely chill in the refrigerator before slicing them.  Now they look much better in the soup. O(∩_∩)O~

Time to enjoy!

Spicy Noodle with pickled Vegetable and Ground Pork

 中文： 雪菜肉碎拌面

Noodle to Chinese people is just like pasta to Italians. We are obsessed with it and devoted to create many, many, many varieties.

I, too, love to make noodle from scratch at home.  They are mostly for breakfast.  I usually make dough and toppings ahead of time so that I can make noodle soup fast in the morning. 

Ingredients：

1 cup bread flour
1/4 cup of water
a pinch of salt

Pickled vegetable and ground pork toppings：

1/2 package of chopped pickled vegetable (available in any Asian grocery store)
1 cup ground pork
2 gloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
1 slice of ginger root, minced
freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4  to 1/2 cup chicken stock, hot
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon garlic water (minced garlic in water)
1/4 teaspoon ground Sichuan pepper corns
2 to 3 tablespoon chili oil sauce (available in any Chinese grocery store. I use homemade version.)
1/2  teaspoon sugar
chopped cilantro
roasted soy beans
chopped green onion
salt to taste
2 tablespoons oil for cooking ground pork

Directions：

In a medium bowl, combine bread flour, salt and water.  Mix them together and then knead into a smooth dough ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for at least 1 hour.

Heat a wok over high heat.  Add oil to the wok, along with garlic and ginger.  Add ground pork and salt, black pepper and oyster sauce.  Stir fry the ground pork on high heat until the pork is golden brown.  Add chopped pickled vegetable.  Stir fry for a couple more minutes.  Remove from heat.

Bring a large pot of water to boil.

Run the dough through kitchenaid pasta roller several times until the dough is smooth out.  Set the thickness to 3 and run it through one more time.

Use the pasta cutter attachment to cut it into spaghetti size noodle.

Isn’t it beautiful? O(∩_∩)O~

Cook the noodle in boiling water for 30 to 45 seconds.  Drain and transfer to a bowl.

Add cooked ground pork, chicken stock, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic water, ground Sichuan pepper corns, chili oil sauce, sugar, salt, cilantro, green onion and roasted soy beans.

Mix well with a pair of chopsticks.  Now it is time to enjoy a bowl of tasty noodle!