Bigoli con Patate e Tartufi (Bigoli with Potato and Truffle)

From My Italian Heart: recipes from an Italian kitchen, Guy Grossi, Lantern, 2006.

I always enjoy trying out new pastas. This one from Guy Grossi’s book looked a little different from the usual. Apparently bigoli is an old Venetian pasta.

Making the pasta is almost like starting off to make a pastry. Is there any connection between the two words: pasta and pastry? Apparently yes. After a research hunt I found that they both have as a source the Latin word ‘pasta’ meaning dough. Interesting. I'd never connected them before.

You begin by rubbing butter into the flour until you have what looks like breadcrumbs. Egg and milk are added and a dough is formed and kneaded. It’s then rolled flat and cut into strips like spaghetti. I found it to be quite a lot softer than the usual pasta mix.

The sauce is cooked in the oven. Onions, garlic, potatoes and herbs (rosemary and sage) are placed in a baking dish. Oil and stock are poured over them and some Parmesan added. It's then baked.

When the bigoli has been cooked it is drained. It’s then put back in the saucepan with the contents of the baking dish. They are gently mixed together and served up. Some truffle shavings were supposed to be sprinkled over. That was out of my budget so I dribbled on some truffle oil.

The bigoli being a softer pasta than usual had no al dente dimension to it but it had an extra element of flavour from the butter. The sauce—if you can really call it a sauce—was wonderfully flavoured from the herbs and oven baking rather than on the stove top.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔ 

Kuching: Kek Lapis

Walking along the streets of Kuching I was often struck by the stalls that sold Kek Lapis (Layer Cake). These cakes, which are a feature of the local cuisine, are like pieces of art in cake form.

They are formed of layers of different coloured and flavoured cake, each layer added one at a time and cooked before the next one is added. The cake is thus built up layer by layer until the cake is complete.

For the more elaborate Kek Lapis, which have geometrical patterns inside them, two or more cakes must be made. These are cut up and added into the layers of the main cake as it is being constructed. Some of the results are most amazing.

When the cake is complete it is not particularly impressive looking but when it is sliced open the magic inside is revealed. 

Broad Bean, Baby Beetroot, Celeriac & White Onion Salad with Walnut Cream Vinaigrette

From Salades, Damien Pignolet, Lantern, 2010.

The last time I used this book it was for a fruit salad of papaya, blood orange and strawberries. This was a great success so I’m back now into the vegetable salads. There’s heaps to choose from in this elegant book.

For this particular salad there was a reasonable amount of pre-cooking before it could be put together. The beetroot had to be boiled (I used normal beetroot as I could not find babies). The broad beans had to be boiled and then skinned. A slow process but the resulting beans look wonderfully green. The onions had to be boiled. The walnuts had to be fried to gain a little colour.

The other ingredients were prepared without cooking first. The celeriac was cut into julienne. The dressing ingredients (walnut oil, crème fraiche, garlic and cider vinegar) were whipped into a creamy mixture.

The salad was put together in stages. The celeriac, beans and walnuts were dressed and put onto the plates. The onions were then dressed and put on the plate. Lastly came the beetroot so they did not colour the rest of the salad. They were dressed and placed into position and some frisée leaves added. The remaining dressing was poured over.

It was a bit on the fiddly side with all the elements having to be handled separately but it turned out to be a salad that was worth all the work. The creamy dressing worked well with the ingredients. There was a good element of crunch with the celeriac and walnuts. The sweetness of the beetroot was a nice contrast for the onions and broad beans.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔ 

Kuching: Fook Khang Restaurant

The next restaurant tried was the Fook Khang. We walked there but wished we hadn’t; it was much further than it appeared on the map.

The restaurant was well patronised—a good sign. We managed to obtain a table and when the waitress came to serve she was asked to suggest what might be a good meal. We did however stipulate that we wanted to have a dish of midin. She chose well for us with the other two dishes.

Midin is a local fern which I had been wanting to taste for some time but it was generally cooked with belachan. This one was also served with belachan but it was vegetarian. The midin was worth the wait. The fern is flavoursome as a green and retains a small amount of crunch.

The waitress suggested what was called ‘rids’ on the menu. I thought this was supposed to be ribs, but as we had the same name at another restaurant I’m not sure that I was right.  This dish proved to be my favourite from all the restaurants we eventually visited. The mock meat pieces were crisp and the sauce was rich.

We also had a handmade bean curd dish. The bean curd was made on the premises and not bought in. The curd was creamy and flavoursome like no other bean curd I had ever eaten before. As a contrast to the crispy rids, these soft pieces of curd floating in a gentle sauce were excellent.

Chinese tea accompanied the meal.

It was an exceptionally good meal chosen by the waitress. I can see why the restaurant was well patronised. And you can see by this shot of the table at the end of the meal just how much we enjoyed it.

Kuching: Zhun San Yen Restaurant

It had become quite clear that finding meals for a vegetarian was not going to be easy in Kuching. Looking into a tourist guide we found the names of two vegetarian restaurants. A friend gave us the names of two also. With one repeat in the two lists we now had three to try out.

The first was Zhun San Yen which was not far from the hotel. So this was first one that was tried out.

It was a buffet-style restaurant. There was a good selection of dishes to choose from. The food was pleasant, a little over-cooked but a nice selection of flavours and textures. As a place for a fast but satisfying meal this was a good choice.

I had lime juice to drink. This was a new sensation for me as it was flavoured with salt as well as sugar. The woman at the counter explained this as ‘Asian style’. I liked it.

The other drink is an iced tea.

Kuching: A Western Meal

One day on our way from Permai to Kuching we noticed a large new supermarket so we decided to investigate. It was huge and consisted of several separate buildings that seemed to be in an area that so far had not been developed. Everyone would have had to arrive by car—and they certainly did. When the area does become more developed it will be amazingly well situated.

There were numerous places to eat. We visited most of them looking for one that might have had vegetarian food—without any real success. So we had to eventually settle for one café that was not near any of the other food places. It was a bit more up-market and the menu had a selection of Western Food. This was also mainly not vegetarian. However I was able to get two items to satisfy my hunger: A cheese sandwich and French fries with mayonnaise.

It was here that I was introduced to a great cold drink that I was destined to have more of during the stay in Kuching: Teh C ‘Special’. It had three levels of different teas. The bottom was richly sweet and caramelly and gradually you worked your way up to the less sweet upper layer. It is a really special drink.

Kuching: A Kolo Mee at Carpenter Street

Carpenter Street

One day in Kuching we walked along the rather wonderful Carpenter Street. Once apparently a small lane, Coffin Lane, led from here where you had coffins made. Nowadays the street is largely the street to go to find furniture. There’s a large number of furniture streets along its length.

We stopped at the old Chinese Opera Theatre. The stage seems to have been retained standing grandly there, but in front where the audience would have been are now tables and chairs and food stalls.

My partner wanted to renew acquaintance with some of the food eaten as a child in Kuching so we decided to eat there. It is incredibly difficult to obtain vegetarian food at the local food stalls. However at one stand the lady said she would make me a dry Kolo Mee, that is, I could have the noodles without the meat broth.

That suited me so I was able to have the Kolo Mee. The noodles were fresh and subtly flavoured. They were topped with crunchy bean sprouts and greens. I thoroughly enjoyed my plate of noodles at the Chinese Opera.