#asktay

It’s a pasta kind of day! Butternut squash tortellini with a egg pasta dough. Delicious and healthy ish…

Ill see if I can’t dig up the pasta recipe and the filling recipe tonight after work! Asks as always are open. But today I have a question for you! What’s your favourite pasta dish and why?

Cheers everyone for everything!

Hey! Thanks for the great question.

I like to switch to more complex carbs, brown rice lentils beans etc. Much cheaper and good sources of protein. Also don’t fear using canned/cheat products. Soup flavour packs with yoghurt makes an amazing dip while stretching the cost far. Ethan Chebowski on YouTube has some wonderful recipes for healthy budget meals. SortedFood on YouTube is the same, Sorted even has a meal packs app which helps a tonne. Controversial opinion but meal kits/boxes also help a tonne, meals are pretty good nutritionally and you get lots of value for money. (My personal recommendation is Dinerly)

Thanks for the great Ask!

Cheers

Hey!

I adore mushrooms. I’ve got a few suggestions for sure, I literally just cook off a big tray of whatever mushrooms I can find down with some salt. and whatever other seasonings and fats you like. And just add them to things. Want some soup, blend roast shrooms with some cream. Boom, Soup!

Personaly favourite snack, battered and fried enoki mushrooms bonus points for salt and vinegar powder.

If for whatever reason you get a crazy mushroom like a lions mane, press and grill like a steak with butter. Glorious.

Cheers

Hey! Thanks for the Ask!

One of my favourites is Roast Carrot Soup, you can always "soup" this recipe up by adding ginger, curry spices, coconut cream, basically anything you like with carrots.

I use about 600g/2lbs (I think?) of nice quality carrots. 2 Onions Peeled and Quartered. Toss it all in about 3 tablespoons of Either Olive Oil or your favourite oil and salt and pepper. Chuck it all in a large roasting tray with a handful or so of garlic cloves. Roast at 175C/350F until nicely caramelised and tender. Add to a pot and cover with 4-6 cups of stock (Or water if you want a healthier version) Bring to a gentle boil and cook for a further 10 minutes or so. If you have a stick blender break it out and blend together slowly streaming in about 1/4 Cup of a nice olive oil (This creates a silky smooth emulsion.) Then season with black pepper and any salt (Per your personal taste.) I love adding a bit of lemon juice and a drizzle of sourcream when serving. Honestly this recipe has always been one of my favourites. Carrots are generally cheap, tasty and healthy. Feel free to get creative and play with spices or garnish. If you do decide to cook it lemme know how it goes!

Cheers!

Rum Baba soaked in an orange rum syrup served with creme anglaise and a rum caramel. Delicious light and satisfying treat.

Ingredients

For the Rum Baba:

• 1 packet active dry yeast

• 2 tablespoons warm water

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 4 eggs

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup melted butter

• Pinch of salt

For the Orange Rum Syrup:

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup water

• Zest and juice of 2 oranges

• 1/2 cup rum

For the Crème Anglaise:

• 1 cup whole milk

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

• 6 large egg yolks

• 1/2 cup sugar

For the Rum Caramel:

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup water

• 1/4 cup rum

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Instructions

Rum Baba:

1. Prepare the Dough: Dissolve yeast in warm water, mix with flour, eggs, sugar, melted butter, and salt. Knead into a dough and let it rise for 2 hours.

2. Bake: Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Divide dough into greased molds and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Orange Rum Syrup:

1. In a saucepan, bring sugar, water, orange juice, and zest to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and stir in rum.

3. Soak Baba: Once the babas are baked, immerse them in the syrup and allow them to soak thoroughly.

Crème Anglaise:

1. In a saucepan, heat milk, cream, and vanilla.

2. In a bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar.

3. Gradually add the hot milk mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly.

4. Return the mixture to the stove and cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Strain and chill.

Rum Caramel:

1. Heat sugar and water in a saucepan until caramelized.

2. Carefully add rum and cream, stirring until smooth.

3. Allow to cool slightly before using.

Hey!

Fantastic question! Now I know pizza purists will argue and tell me this isnt pizza. Simply put though. If it tastes like pizza. Looks like Pizza and smells like Pizza. Its Pizza! There is two methods i can reccomend. Either way you go it starts with the pizza dough. This recipe does 2 Large pizzas but also holds well in a fridge for 2-3 days.

1.5 Cups of Warm Water, 1 package instant yeast (7g), and a pinch of white sugar. Mix well in a bowl and let stand till frothy. Then add 3-4 Cups of plain flour and mix till a shaggy dough forms, knead gently till smooth and elastic. Divide into how many pizzas you want and wrap in oiled plastic.

Now, the fun part! Cooking. So method one is the simplest. Preheat a large non stick pan to medium heat. Lightly oil the pan and roll your dough to roughly the size of your pan (Make sure to prick your pizza dough once rolled with a fork to prevent excess rising.) Cook your pizza dough flipping once nicely coloured and cooked. Finish cooking on the other side and remove from the pan, then dress with your favourite pizza toppings. I also highly reccomend using a tomato passata in place of a tomato paste (Paste is too acidic.) The other method is almost the same, except after cooking one side, flip it (Placing raw side on pan to cook,) add your pizza toppings and sauce, once the pizza is assembled, turn up the heat a touch, add a small splash of water and cover with a lid or a large heatproof covering. Let cook until the cheese is melted and your pizza looks delicious, remove from the pan and cut, eat and enjoy!

As always thanks for the support and thanks for the ask, feel free to ask anything anytime.

Cheers

Beyond bowls and measuring cups, what tools would you recommend for someone who really wants to get into baking?

My goal: be able to make just about any kind of bread, cookie brownie or cake.

Also, any opinion on Teflon vs non stick?

Hey! Fantastic question,

A beautiful spoon never goes amiss, a bread tester/fish tester, a bench scraper, a nice comfy whisk and a rolling pin are in my mind the other bare essentials, I also really recommend a bench mixer for quicker and more accurate mixing, and my personal biggest reccomendation, get yourself a few nice sized baking sheets of good quality, and a silicone mat. Trust me it will help a tonne!

I won’t lie and will admit fault in that I don’t know enough e out Teflon vs Non Stick to have an opinion. I generally have one teflon pan for eggs etc and then I use mostly stainless steel or Cast Iron. For baking id suggest Tefal which I believe is teflon, but really take good care of your equipment and use paper as required and it won’t matter a tonne.

Thanks for the great question!

Cheers

Hey thanks for the ask!!

I think this is such a unique question.

Okay at the risk of sounding crazy. I love Hannibal, the way all the cooking is shot is amazing and the food stylist of the show (Janice Poon) is phenomenal at her work. I’ve also worked with plenty of chefs who would “theory craft” cooking people so it’s interesting to see a mainstream representation of it.

Plus Mads Mikkelsen is just amazing. I’m not crazy I swear. :3

Cheers for a very entertaining question.