Japatalian Pasta

Okay so I don't really know where this came from. A little bit of drive to try something different, experiment with some new flavour combinations. Here I fused Japanese and Italian. The combination seems to work! Wholemeal matcha pasta, pumpkin and parsnip roasted in ginger, green beans. Sweet potato, ginger and basil mash. Red onions pickled in mirin and rice wine vinegar. Green Beans. Loads of yum. Oh and sirloin. Humbly cooked with... salt.

Ingredients

For the Mash

- 600g Red Sweet Potato, peeled

- 1 Tablespoon Crushed Ginger

- 1 Handful of Basil

- Extra Virgin Olive Oil

- 1/2 Cup Milk

- Salt

- Pepper

For the Pasta

- 300g Flour

- 3 Large Eggs

- 1/4 Cup of Olive Oil

- Salt

- 2 Teaspoons of Matcha

For the Roast Vegetables

- 1/4 Pumpkin, deseeded and cut into slices

- 3 Parsnip, peeled and chopped into rounds about a centimetre thick.

- 2 Teaspoons of grated ginger

- Olive Oil

- Salt

- Pepper

- 15 Green Beans

For the Pickled Onions

- 1 Red Onion

- 1/4 Cup Mirin

- 1/4 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar

- 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt

Meat

- Clean Lean beef of your choice- Sirloin, Rump, it's all Good.

- Salt

Method

Start with the pasta. It'll need resting, so it's good to get it out of the way. 300g of the best quality flour you can get your hands on. Salt it with a few pinches of salt and mix in two teaspoons of matcha powder until well blended. Create a well in the center. Crack three eggs into the well and add the olive oil. With a fork, beat the eggs and gradually incorporate the flour until you have thick dough. Knead thoroughly until smooth and springs back when pressed.

Split into eight balls, and roll each ball in a pasta machine to size 6 thickness. With each, dust with flour and cut into strips about a centimetre and a half wide, and hang out to dry.

Roughly chop the red onion and soak in a mixture of the salt dissolved in the mirin and rice wine vinegar.

Next, prep the vegetables for the roast vegetables: toss the parnsip and pumpkin in a couple of lugs of olive oil and the ginger. Put into an oven and heat to 185 C.

Moving on to the mash, dice the sweet potato, put into a pot and cover with water. Salt generously. Cook until tender.

During this, boil a pot of well-salted water and preheat an iron skillet so it's screaming.

Once the sweet potato is tender, drain the water and mash with a masher. Whip in the olive oil and milk until smooth and creamy. Salt to taste, and then finely chop and add the basil.

Fry the steaks to your liking. Cook the pasta until al dente, and throwing in the beans at the last minute.

Drain the soaking red onions. Serve it all up with a dollop of mash on the bottom, a tangle of matcha pasta and dotted with the vegetables from the oven - basically as above with a drizzle of olive oil.

Get creative with the plating! There are plenty of colours and tastes to experiment with so go nuts!

Enjoy!