Recipe for my version of incredibly awesome mac & cheese.

You know what, this is not even really mac & cheese because I used spirali rather than macaroni.

You could substitute macaroni with other kinds of short pasta and it doesn’t matter what pasta you prefer but do take into account the pasta shape.

“Will it be able to trap all the delicious sauce?” – that’s the question you must constantly ask yourself!

# – Spir & cheese, heh.

This pasta & cheese bake was so delicious. Creamy, cheesy, a little tart from the mayo to balance it all out. The addition of ham gave it some yummy savoury notes.

Without further ado, lets get on with it.

Ingredients:

  • 200 grams of short pasta (I used spirali), cooked and drained
  • 1 cup of mayonnaise
  • 250ml of whipping cream
  • 2 cups of grated cheddar
  • 1 red onion, diced
  • 1 red capsicum, seeded and roughly chopped
  • 1 canned of straw mushroom or button mushroom, sliced
  • 3 slices of ham, julienned
  • 3 slices of bread or garlic bread crisp, torn
  • Salt and ground black pepper to taste
  • Olive oil or grapeseed oil for drizzling
  • # – First, cook the pasta according to instructions on the packet. Drain, give it a dash of olive oil and set aside.

    # – In a pan with some oil, shallow-fry the sliced mushrooms, onions and capsicum until fragrant.

    # – Then, add the cooked pasta and stir.

    # – Pour in the mayonnaise.

    # – Followed by the whipping cream.

    # – And lastly, the cheese. Stir…

    # – Add salt to taste.

    # – Don’t forget the ground black pepper.

    # – Pour the mixture into a baking tin. Then, lay julienned ham all over the top.

    # – If you’re using garlic bread crisp, pound it with a rolling pin until it becomes smaller pieces.

    # – Sprinkle the garlic bread crisp all over the top. Otherwise, just tear out ordinary bread and sprinkle all over :)

    # – Drizzle olive oil or grapeseed oil all over.

    # – Bake in pre-heated oven of 190 degrees celcius for 20 minutes or until the crust turns golden brown.

    # – Spir & cheese, DONE!

    # – Dig in!

    This is a crowd pleaser, if you have complaints…can scold me :D

    Let me know how it goes.

    Eating Hot Vit Lon (Vietnamese Fetal Duck Egg) in Hanoi.

    When I was in Hanoi earlier this year, there were 3 things that I was determined to eat; Bahn My (Vietnamese sandwich), Bahn My Pate Thit (Vietnamese sandwich with pate) and Hot Vit Lon (Vietnamese fetal duck eggs).

    I am glad to say I managed to eat all 3 of them and more. The most interesting experience was of course eating the barely formed duck still encased in its egg.

    The eggs are quite easy to find on the streets of Hanoi, especially where food is common. I spotted the stall I bought my egg from not long after walking down a road near my hotel.

    After I ate my egg and continued walking, I spotted many more stalls selling Hot Vit Lon.

    # – Lady boss cracking the egg.

    # – Dropped it into a bowl.

    # – Then served it to me along with fresh herbs and seasonings.

    # – The partially formed baby duck.

    # – Then I ate it.

    The best way to describe the taste…it was like eating a large egg-yolk with bits of marrow and bits of gelatinous parts. The partially formed beaks, bones and hair were very mildly crunchy, kind of like eating really soft cartilage.

    It was quite tasty really with seasonings and fresh herbs. Like eating an enhanced egg. I would eat it again.

    In fact, they should do the same thing to chicken eggs here to be honest.