For Presto Pasta Nights this week, I decided to make a pasta soup instead of a main dish or salad. The autumnal weather definitely calls for something warm and hearty, and a large bowl of hot soup with some wram crusty bread is just so comforting. Soups are also a great way to use up vegetables languishing at the bottom of the fridge so feel free to throw whatever you have instead of following the recipe strictly (e.g. potatoes, celery, squash, beans, mushrooms).
The addition of sausage meat rolled into little meatballs add great flavour to the soup and will also be a hit with kids. You can also use alphabet pasta in the soup for young diners, or those young at heart. If using small shell pasta or other shapes, it might be a good idea to cook the pasta separately and add them to the soup at the end, so that the pasta does not get to soft and soggy or expand too much in the soup. Since it takes almost the same amount of effort to make soup for 2 or for 6, I always make a large pot. Leftover soup can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 1 month. Store it without the pasta unless you don't mind them soft and bloated. We had this minestrone soup with bread and cheese. 
Ingredients (serves 4)
2 tbsp olive oil
200g sausage meat (about 2-3 sausages)
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 medium carrots, diced
1 medium leek (white part only), sliced into rounds
1.5 litre chicken or vegetable stock
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 cup uncooked pasta (small shells or elbow macaroni)
Method:
1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, leek and and dried oregano and sautee until the onion has just turned translucent.
2. Add the stock, tinned tomatoes and bay leaves and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes.
3. While the soup is simmering, heat a little oil in a frying pan. Shape the sausage meat into small marble-sized balls and brown them in the pan. This will seal juices and flavour and prevent the meatballs from disintegrating in the soup. Add the browned meatballs to the soup where it will finish cooking. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. (The sausage meat will flavour the soup; I didn't need to add salt or pepper in mine.)
4. Cook the pasta in a separate pan of boiling water according to packet instructions. Divide the cooked pasta amongst soups bowls. Ladle the soup over the pasta and serve immediately. 
There is still plenty of time to send in your entry for Presto Pasta Nights this week. Please send your entries to nilmandra(at)soyandpepper(dot)com with the following information:
1) Name
2) Blog title and URL
3) URL of the post containing your pasta dish
4) A picture of your pasta dish
The deadline is Friday 21st of November. In your write up, please mention and link to Presto Pasta Nights and Soy and Pepper. I have already received a number of delicious-looking and some very creative entries, and I look forward to more great ideas from you. As long as it is pasta or noodles, send it in!
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Minestrone soup with sausage
Friday, 14 November 2008
Announcing Presto Pasta Nights #90
Presto Pasta Nights is a weekly event started by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast that has grown to become one of the most popular regular blog events amongst foodies. There is no special theme or requirements, just cook up a pasta dish and enter! Since pasta or noodles feature quite prominently in my cooking, at least once a week, I have entered a number of times and it is always great to browse through the entries and get new ideas for pasta dishes.
This week, I have the pleasure of hosting the event. Please send your entries to nilmandra(at)soyandpepper(dot)com with the following information:
1) Name
2) Blog title and URL
3) URL of the post containing your pasta dish
4) A picture of your pasta dish
The deadline is Friday 21st of November. In your write up, please mention and link to Presto Pasta Nights and Soy and Pepper.
I plan to make my pasta dish this weekend and will post it later in the week. In the mean time, here are some pasta dishes that I have previously entered for Presto Pasta Nights:
Spaghetti aglio e olio with sundried tomatoes
Cold soba
Yaki udon with beef
Chicken and chorizo pasta
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
Restaurant leftovers - do you take it home with you?
We had lunch out yesterday (Remembrance Day holiday) at a Chinese restaurant and the food portions were so big that we both had enough leftovers for lunch today. That has been quite a consistent trend in my travels and life abroad: restaurant portions in the US and Canada are much larger than found in the UK and most European countries, which are in turn larger than those in most Asian countries. Draw your own conclusions!
For our lunches, I just added in some vegetables to make the meals a bit more nutritionally balanced. Apart from having a well stocked pantry, freezer stash, and making extras during dinner with bento in mind, meals out can also contribute to lunch the next day. Don't be shy about asking for leftover food to be packed up. In most Asian restaurants (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Indian), it is not only accepted but almost expected that customers will request for leftovers to be packed up. I have also been asked in other restaurants whether I wanted leftover pizza and other non-Asian type food to be packed up, so please feel free to ask your server and don't feel embarrassed. Why waste food and money?
AP's lunch is kimchi and bacon fried rice, and kailan in oyster sauce. The fried rice tasted pretty good and should be easy to make at home. I'll give it a go some time and post a recipe here later. 
Mine has the same veg, but with a three meat stir fry with thick rice noodles. The noodles were stir fried with slivers of chicken, beef and Chinese ham. Pretty tasty. I would probably add some shredded carrot and shitake mushrooms if I cook this dish myself. 
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
Bento backlog
I just realised that I have a backlog of bento made in the past 2 weeks... So please bear with me with this too-long and bento-ful post.
These two were made after Thanksgiving here in Canada (yes, ages ago!). We actually didn't have leftovers for lunch! Well, there were leftovers but more suitable for dinner, so all that went into lunches were some carrots and brussel sprouts.
My lunch: Inarizushi, brussel sprouts and bunny container of soy sauce on top tier. Bottom tier has one onigiri, vegetable gyoza, fish container of black vinegar and carrots. 
AP's lunch: egg and mixed vegetable fried rice, vegetable gyoza, brussel sprouts and carrots. 
This lunch was mainly to use up leftover foccacia bread. We had caesar salad, grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes and foccacia bread. Yellow container held caesar dressing and strawberry container had extra virgin olive oil for the bread. 
Three mushrooms rice with steamed broccoli (tossed with some soy sauce and sesame oil) and cherry tomatoes. As ever, the rice was leftover from dinner because it just makes more sense to cook a larger pot of rice. 
A simple bento for AP: potato salad with parsley, red peppers and sliced kiwi. 
Chicken katsu (breaded chicken), cherry tomatoes, inarizushi, onigiri, edamame and soy sauce in elephant container. The lettuce leaf under the chicken katsu kept it from getting soggy. I let it cool down a little after cooking but given that everything had to be pack fairly quickly this morning, there was still residual heat and resultant moisture, which was absorbed by the lettuce. I should have arranged the lettuce leaf nicely so that it peeked out around the chicken, but oh well, time pressure kind of short circuited the thinking process. 
Just a very simple one today. Salmon teriyaki, rice, cherry tomatoes and kailan in oyster sauce. Made this morning before AP had to go to work. I should have added perhaps a little cup of sweetcorn, for some extra colour and variety. But oh well, I didn't think on my feet very well that early in the morning! At least the lunches will help with our fish intake (I try to cook fish or seafood twice a week).
Sunday, 2 November 2008
Mushroom lover's risotto
This is definitely a risotto for those who love mushrooms, with the use of four different types - dried porcini, portobello, brown chestnut and shimeiji. The dried porcini, in particular, has really intense flavours and the addition of the soaking liquid really adds some mushroom-omph. Mushrooms that are strongly flavoured such as portobello, brown chestnuts and even shitake are pretty good for this dish. Milder ones like white button mushrooms and king oyster are less ideal as they have little flavour on their own (but absorb other flavours like a sponge). The shimeiji mushrooms are best added towards the end of cooking as they are quite delicate and requires less cooking to preserve a slight crunch in texture. 
I must admit that I probably went a little over enthusiastic on the amount of mushrooms. I could have just used either the large portobello or the brown chestnuts, and not both. It wasn't a problem since AP and I both adore mushrooms, but you might want to cut it down to try out the recipe for the first time.
Ingredients (serves 2):
Risotto rice 150g (I used arborio rice)
Butter 20g
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
3-4 pieces of dried porcini mushrooms
1 large portobello mushroom, chopped
4-5 brown chestnut mushrooms, sliced
1 small bundle of shimeiji mushrooms (about a handful), base trimmed and separated into stalks
A large glass of dry white wine
400ml chicken stock
30g grated parmesan cheese
Small handful of parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in hot water for 10 minutes until soft. Gently squeeze out excess water and chop into small pieces. Reserve the soaking liquid. 
2. Place the stock in a small saucepan. Add the mushroom soaking liquid (discard the gritty bits at the bottom), bring to the boil and keep on a low simmering heat.
3. Heat some oil and half the butter in a large pan. Add the chopped onions and garlic and cook over moderate heat until softened but not browned.
4. Add the dried porcini, portobello and chestnut mushrooms and sautee for a couple of minutes.
5. Add the rice, dried porcini and white wine, stir well and heat until all surplus liquid has been absorbed. Add a ladle of hot stock to the rice and stir the mixture until all the liquid has been absorbed. Continue to add the remaining stock ladle by ladle, stirring frequently, for about 25-30 minutes, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is just cooked to al dente. If you run out of stock just before the rice is done, just add hot water. (I found myself needing more liquid than in previous risotto recipes. It might be due to the mushrooms absorbing more water.)
5. In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add the shimeiji mushrooms and the last portion of stock or water. Cook for a few more minutes until the shimeiji is tender and stock is absorbed. Add grated parmesan and remaining butter. Stir well, and season with salt and pepper. The mixture should be slightly creamy and the rice al dente. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.
Other risotto recipes:
Chicken and bacon risotto with peas
Asparagus and lemon risotto
Seafood risotto in tomato sauce
Prawn and pea risotto
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Mediterranean pasta salad
I made this Mediterranean pasta salad for bento but it could easily be multiplied for a potluck dish, or for picnics and BBQs (if it's that kind of weather where you are at now!). The bento pictured here has pasta salad (with roasted peppers, courgettes/zucchini and salami) with cherry tomatoes and sliced kiwi. 
This pasta salad was conceived out of extra roasted peppers and courgettes from dinner based on an earlier recipe for oven roasted peppers. I just added cooked pasta and a few other ingredients and seasoning. Pasta shapes such as farfelle (bow tie), fusilli (spiral) macaroni and small shells would be ideal for this. This dish can be eaten cold as a pasta salad, or served straight away (or reheated in a microwave if packing in a bento) for a warm pasta dish. Omit the salami/pepperoni for a vegetarian version.
Ingredients (serves 2 as a side dish):
1 red peppers, diced
Half a small courgette/zucchini, diced
6 slices of salami or pepperoni, diced (optional)
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
100g pasta shapes
3 pieces of sundried tomatoes
2 tbsp sundried tomatoes oil
Small handful of chopped parsley (or use 1 tsp dried)
Method:
1. Cook the pasta shapes in a large pan of boiling water according to packet instructions, until al dente. Drain, rinse with cold water and leave to cool.
2. While the pasta is cooking, preheat the oven to gas mark 5/200 degrees C. Mix the diced peppers, courgette, olive oil, salt and pepper in an oven proof dish. Cook in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes (less cooking time is required compared to the other recipe as ingredients are in smaller pieces). Stir and mix the peppers halfway through cooking, adding the salami/pepperoni if using.
3. Add the cooked pasta to the dish of roasted peppers and courgettes. Cut up the sundried tomatoes into small pieces (I find it easiest with scissors) and add to the pasta mix. Drizzle with 2 tbsp of sundried tomato oil (from the jar that the tomatoes are soaked in), season to taste with a little salt and pepper, and sprinkle over chopped parsley. Mix well and serve.
I am submitting this to Presto Pasta Nights, hosted by The Cooking Diva this week. 
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Food-o-graphie event: My cameras for food photography
Unlike most other blog events, Food-o-grafie is not only about delicious recipes or beautiful pictures but also a networking event for the exchange of ideas and experience about food photography. For the inaugural event, Zora has requested that we post about the cameras that we use for our food photographs. I have written a post of some tips for food photography, and a few lines in my About page, but have otherwise not said very much about the camera equipment that I use. So here's the run-down on the cameras responsible for the photos you see on Soy and Pepper.
The older photos (prior to February 2008) were taken with a point-and-shoot Canon Powershot A75. I have been a long-time fan of Canon cameras and loved the quality of their lenses since the days of film photography. Although their Powershot series is bulkier compared to the slim and sexy Ixus range, you get much better control of the mechanics and settings with a Powershot. The macro settings have served me well for food photography and it has pretty good colour representation, focus and White Balance treatment. A good all-rounder. Here are some photos taken with the old Canon Powershot A75. 
Unfortunately, my trusty Powershot died earlier this year in April 2008. It was damaged while I was on a trip to Boston. I contemplated getting a slimmer camera for convenience, since I have bought a DSLR by then, but eventually decided that the limited user control with a smaller but simpler point-and-shoot would annoy me too much and I went with another Canon Powershot, an A720 IS. I often carry this with me particularly to restaurants where whipping out a larger DLSR camera might seem too intrusive or conspicuous. Again, I am pleased with the results. Very simple to use, intuitive menu controls and the quality images that I have gotten used to with Canon lenses. Given the very dim lighting in most restaurants, I have been quite impressed with the light sensitivity of this camera. Another plus with the Powershot range is that they tend to be on the cheap side, compared to the ultra-slim range. So if function is more important than looks in your books, I would definitely recommend a Powershot (or the higher end ones like the Powershot S5 IS, which I very nearly bought while debating whether to buy a DSLR)
Earlier this year, in February 2008, I gave in to a beginner's digital SLR, the Canon EOS 400D (Digital Rebel XTi in North America). The camera came with the Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens. With a DSLR, it is true that the quality of the lens is more important than the body. With the EOS 400D being so affordable, the advice has been to forgo the kit lens (which is good value at that price, but not really a great performer) and pay a bit more for a much better lens instead. However, with no prior knowledge of using an SLR, and having very limited knowledge of a DSLR camera, I had no idea in the slightest what lens I would want to buy and so I took the 'easy' option of just buying the kit lens to start off with and learn about the camera as I go along. I figured that I could then make a more informed decision as to what type of lenses I would need for the photography that I am interested in. That worked for me, as I did figure out that lenses I want, but I do sort of regret buying the kit lens now as I have become increasingly dissatisfied with the quality of images. It is supposed to be an all round lens (arguably good for a beginner) but ended up being mediocre in all aspects and doing nothing very well (landscape, telephoto or macro).
After a few months, I was encouraged to buy a prime lens (non-zoom) that offers much better quality for the price compared to zoom lens. In a perfect world, I would have bought a dedicated macro lens but budget dictated that I go for a Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 II. It is one of the best lens for the price and have produced beautifully sharp close-ups and very lovely portrait shots as well. A very 'bright' lens at f/1.8, it also performs very well in low light. The downside is that it feels rather plastic (not very study feel) but one can't complain very much with the price tag. I would highly recommend this lens for those looking to get more money for their buck in close-up shots but not wanting/able to fork out for a dedicated macro lens. 
I hope this has given you some ideas about camera options for food photography. Zorra has requested that we post a photo taken in September 2008. Here is one that I like for its clean colours and the curves of the shitake caps highlighted by the more elaborate whirls of the bowl pattern: 
