Made from scratch: Pasta

I'm in love with pasta, I could have pasta dishes all day and night, not really healthy but sometimes I just crave for a plate of hot pasta in the middle of the night after a tiring flight...
Because I have the equipment back home I love to make pasta from scratch, you can add any flavour you want to, from salty to sweet, add green colour, whatever comes to mind...
Note: Even if you don't have a KitchenAid with Pasta Attachment or a proper Pasta Machine, you can simply use your doughbeater and roll it out and cut it the way you want!

(for 500g dough)
300g pasta flour (don't use any other, cause it's not gonna work...i tried)
3 eggs
1 TL olive oil

- Mix ingredients together between 3 and 5min, until the ingredients have come together and are not sticky
- wrap into plastic wrap and put 1h into the fridge
- now roll it out on a clean surface with some pasta flour underneath or use your machinery for it, like in the video below

- Cook like normal pasta until "aldente"

Pao de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

2 cups tapioca flour

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese

• preheat oven to 450°F or 200°C
• boil milk and oil in a sauce pan, add salt and whisk occasionally, bring to gentle boil and remove from stove as soon as the milk starts to bubble
• add the flour all at once and stir (the dough will be unbelievably sticky like gelatine)
• transfer dough into a mixing bowl and let cool for some minutes until you can touch it without burning yourself
• now the workout part: beat in the eggs on at a time, it will be hard, but it is worth it :-)
• beat in the cheese, the dough will be sticky and stretchy and seems unworkable but just keep on beating, it will come together
• use a spoon or an ice cream scoop and portion the dough onto a parchment paper and transfer onto a baking sheet
• put your workout result into the oven and turn down the heat immediately to 350°F or 175°C
• bake for 25-30min or until the puffs are golden brown on top
• take out and let cool for at least 10min

Note: tapioca flour is not so hard to get anywhere in the Emirates, look in Spinneys or big Carrefour, in Europe you should get it at Asian markets or speciality food stores, in the US Walmart or Target should have at least a small package for a good price...

Step by Step: Banana Bread

500g flour

2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

2 tbsp cinnamon powder

230g soft butter

200g brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract (real one!)

4 eggs at room temperature

5-7 ripe bananas

250g sliced almonds

• preheat oven to 175°C or 350°F
• roast almonds over medium heat until golden brown
• mash bananas and add almonds and spices
• put aside

• mix soft butter and sugar until light and fluffy
• add vanilla and mix again

• add all eggs at once and beat until you get a white and fluffy mixture
• (can take up to 5min of mixing, the more you mix, the lighter the bread)

• add banana mash to the butter-egg dough and mix gently until just incorporated
• don't overmix as we don't want the dough to get runny

• add flour and baking soda at once
• fold in with a spatula, do NOT use the electric mixer at this time, the batter hast to be nice and creamy, no lumps of flour 

• butter a square loaf tin and put a hand full of flour in it
• shake the tin around until every side is covered with flour, then lightly tap on the back and sides to get rid of the unnecessary flour (best done over a sink, don't rinse the flour off with hot water due to its sticking ingredients)

• bake for 30min, then cover with aluminium foil, rotate the form so it bakes evenly and put back into the oven for another 20-25min until golden brown on top and a wooden toothpick once inserted comes out without any crumbs on it

Tip: change almonds to walnuts, add raisins as you like, use other kinds of cinnamon than the store bought (I got saigon cinnamon out of vietnam)