frenchinos at home
  • stories
  • about

Farfalle Bake

6/14/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
This is one of our all-time favourites at home. If you haven't been cooking for a while, you may want to get yourself warmed up with this because it is a very forgiving dish. It cannot go wrong and easily feeds four starving adults as a single-dish meal. All you need is bow-tie pasta, a thick slice of ham, one or two zucchinis depending on the size, a small tub of cream and some mozzarella.

As with most of my French (home-)cooking repertoire, I learned it from JL's mother. The only difference is the choice of pasta. She uses mini ravioli stuffed with cheese that would be so cute for kids, but unfortunately, I have yet to see it here in Kuala Lumpur. Thus the next best thing: bow-tie pasta, or farfalle (butterflies in Italian) as it is also called. 
Picture
Farfalle Bake
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
500 g zucchini
250 g dried farfalle 
250 g smoked ham (in a 6-mm thick slice)
100 g mozzarella, shredded
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
250 ml whole cream

Method
Finely shred the zucchini using a mandolin. Place the shredded zucchini on a strainer resting on a plate. Sprinkle some salt over the zucchini and set aside while you work on the rest.

Boil the farfalle in salted water two minutes less than the cooking time specified on the packaging. Do this in a large 30-cm saucepan, you'll find out why later. Meanwhile cut the ham into large cubes. When the farfalle is done, drain off the water, leaving the pasta in the saucepan.

Back to the zucchini. Its water content would have been extracted by the salt. Squeeze handfuls of the zucchini lightly and add them to the farfalle. You may want to pull the shreds of zucchini apart to loosen them, so that it can mix more thoroughly later. Add the ham cubes, nearly all of the shredded mozzarella, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Pour the cream over and, using a spatula, fold the mixture evenly.

Preheat the oven at 200°C. Drizzle some olive oil in a large baking dish, then use your finger to rub the olive oil over the base and sides of the dish. Transfer the farfalle mixture into the dish. Scatter the remaining mozzarella on top of the mixture. Bake for 30 minutes. 
Picture
Here's a look at what it is like inside. If you never figured out why I asked you to cook the pasta in a large saucepan, it is so that you only have to use this one pan to cook the pasta AND mix everything in. Had you cooked the pasta in a small saucepan just enough for it, you would have required a large mixing bowl for all the ingredients. You know what that means. 

Also, it doesn't help for you to mix everything in the baking dish. Because either the mixture will not be homogenous, or you'll have to clean up bits and pieces that fell out of the dish when you do the mixing. Take it from someone who's been there before.

Like I've said, it is a very forgiving dish. If you use two zucchinis, you can even have a mix of both green and yellow varieties. Pork ham, chicken ham, turkey ham, the choice is yours. But more importantly, ask the deli counter to cut you a thick slice. You want the ham cubes to be visible for better aesthetics.
Picture
These two photos were taken months ago. See the yellow zucchini in the one above? Don't worry if the mixture is watery. I'd rather it be slightly watery than too dry. The photo below is the final outcome of the same dish. The burnt bits of the farfalle - they can be rather hard so just be careful if you have children with vulnerable teeth and gums.
Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    briefly

    JL and S grew up in France and Malaysia respectively. They met while living in Singapore, stayed a year in the USA (Cambridge, MA) then the south of France, Malaysia, and are back again in the USA (New York, NY). 

    frenchinos at home is where we share some of our stories with friends, much like the living room, dine-in kitchen, or the timber-deck balcony which we've always wanted to have, which sounds most impossible where we live now. 

    Welcome and we're happy to have you here :)

    archives

    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    November 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010

    categories

    All
    15 Minute Meals
    15-minute Meals
    5 Minute Snacks
    All Things American
    All Things French
    All Things Malaysian
    All Things Singaporean
    Asian Recipes
    Baking Recipes
    Beef Recipes
    Carb Free Meals
    Carb-Free Meals
    Comfort Food
    Culinary School
    Desserts
    Easy Recipes
    Edible Mistakes
    Finger Food Recipes
    Fish Recipes
    Good Habits
    Hearty Meals
    Home
    Kitchenware
    Life
    Light Meals
    Marriage
    Noodles Recipes
    Pressure Cooker Recipes
    Salad Recipes
    Snacks
    Soup Recipes
    Stew Recipes
    Stuff
    Vegetarian Recipes

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.