IMBB #22 – Cook with noodle
Pasta, noddle, originality? Hmmm, let’s see, there are hundreds of years of noddle making, right? How many? And by the way what is a noddle?
See what Amy says:
In addition to being defined as “ribbon-like pasta”, noodle also means brain and to improvise.
So let’s improvise and use a bit of brain to make a noodle/pasta dish!
Dinner? Lunch? Savoury? Sweet? Dessert?
Hmmm…
Dessert! Sweet! Done!
So what would I like and need?
Pasta and noodles, yes, chocolate, that will work, custard, yes that will do too, what else? Cardamom (which I love), hmmm mais oui, good idea, and oranges, excellent! I have them all. [Brain processing] Click! Idea! Got it!
Tagliatelles au chocolat, crème anglaise à l’orange et cardamom- Chocolate Tagliatelles and its cardamom orange custard
I am delighted to participate in the event organized by Cooking with Amy, IMBB #22. My idea of the day is to make fresh chocolate tagliatelles and orange/cardamom custard. It sounds a bit surprising when you first think about it, but it is truly worth the work and the taste experience. And furthermore, it has all the regular ingredients that a nice dessert usually has, so just don’t let the word pasta with chocolate put you away! The taste is subtle!
So with no await, I will let you discover my improvised recipe:
You need:
For the dough :
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 3/4 cup flour
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 eggs
- Water (1/3 cup) but adjust accordingly
For the custard:
- 1 orange zest
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 5 cardamom pods, for the seeds
- 2 tbsp evaporated cane sugar
- Strawberries and mint
- Orange slices, without white parts (I used a nice organic blood orange)
Steps:
To make the dough
- Mix all ingredients in a food processor, or if working the dough by hand, start by placing the flour in a bowl.
- Add the cocoa powder (sift it) and salt.
- Make a hole in the middle of the cocoa/flour and one by one, add the eggs. Mix with the tips of your hands.
- Add the oil and enough water until you get a very elastic dough.
- Let rest covered for about 30 mns to 1 hour, then take a pasta tagliatelle machine (or your good old hands) and make the tagliatelles. Let them dry for 30 mns ( I placed them on a towel, on the back of a chair). Be careful that they do not dry out too quickly before using. If you do not use them right away, I suggest parchment paper to cover.
To make the custard
- Mix the egg yolks with the sugar until very white.
- Heat the milk with the cardamom seeds extracted from the pods and 3/4 of the orange thin peels (like small zest).
- Remove the milk from the heat, strain (but keep the orange peels in it) and add carefully to the egg/sugar mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon. Mix well and place back on stove.
- Heat on medium to low heat, without bringing to a boil. Stir constantly. Your custard is ready when it is thicker and coats your wooden spoon nicely.
- Remove from heat and let cool down a bit.
- Cook the tagliatelles Al dente in boiling water (2 to 3 mns are enough) and drain.
- Take plates and place some tagliatelles in the middle, in the form of a small stack (so that they stay together, like a nest – I use a small mold).
- Pour some custard over, mix slightly and add extra orange peels and a mint leave.
- Add and decorate with fresh sliced strawberries and more orange slices.
You can decide to eat this lukewarm or cold, it depends on your preference. We had it both ways and for both, the texture and taste were really nice.
I have to say, it was a bit of work, especially to do the tagliatelles, but totally worth the time. I was very pleased with the result. You can feel the chocolate taste subtely. Those flavours being amongst my favorites, it was a true success (for me anyway). Besides, what was a real satisfaction was the play with colours. The dark chocolate of the pasta and the yellow cream of the custard, with bits of orange and the red of the strawberries. And since I am visual, I needed that as well!
Ouf! (Phew!) Did I pass?
Ok yes … I would say that tagliatelle pasta made of chocolate is originality at its finest. You win the gold medal!!!
Bea you are a true artist! Felicitations! (I hope that’s the right word for congratulations.)
You have made me want to eat pasta first thing in the morning …
What a beautiful dish. I can only imagine how delicious it tastes!
Merci Ivonne. Oui oui félicitations is the right word. Your French is getting here, eh? 🙂
I actually could have easily have those pasta for breakfast. Very light in the end, really. Instead of bread.
Yes chocolate pasta served as a dessert is new to me, I have only eaten ‘normal’ chocolate pasta before!
There are many, many wonderful food blogs out there, but few actually make my jaw drop in amazement. Yours is definitely one of these, Bea!
The photo — magnifique!
And the chocolate pasta — how unusual, how amazing. Mmm … I’ll bet it was delicious!
Hi Ilva, just came out of my imagination, so maybe this is why it is new! 😉
Hi Tania,
Thanks so much for your very nice note. It is nice to read you appreciate it and it drives me to continue on!
Lovely ! I had tried sweet pasta already but not this way… I can’t wait for tasting them ….Yummi
Bravo Béa, C’est magnifique!
beautiful pictures as usual and the tagliatelle my god!! i have never made “sweet” pasta but i always intended to. this give me the right inspirations to start thinking about it :)) …in the meantime..may i have a dish or two please? (^_*)
Bea where you get all these ideas? before I could read I was wondering whats that strawberry doing on pasta? hehehe choc tagliatelle
YOU DESERVE ORIGINALITY WITH THIS CREATION…
(busy got my tropical cousin here for a week.. been touring her around)
chocolate pasta!! wow! and paired with custard and orange, definitely a good combination. but of course the photos are the clincher. 🙂
les photos sont magnifiques !
Beautiful! Just beautiful looking! I’m in awe.
Paz
Hi Thalie,
Looking forward to hearing how they turn out!
Coucou Flo,
Merci! 😉 Si tu veux venir pour pratiquer roll roll la pate, n’hesite pas! Mais cette fois, j’ai quand meme utilise la machine , pour les tagliatelles, quand meme! Pas folle!
Hi fiordizucca,
I am afraid we eat quickly the food just made , unless you are super fast 😉
Hi Sha,
Merci!!! 😉 I guess I used my brain 100% for once 😉
Hi Kat, Thanks a lot, yes the pics help to “feel” the food, eh?
Bonjour Laurange,
Merci beaucoup!
Hi Paz,
I am glad you like them 😉
Great minds think alike – I made chocolate tagliatelle too! 🙂 I stopped at that though, and served it with raspberries and whipped cream – your creation sounds delicious!!
Now, this is a sweet inspiration. What a lovely idea! I forgot to add chocolate topping to my noodle recipe variations. But of course, we could go on and on..
thanks.
What a brilliant idea and it looks positively gorgeous too! Genius!
So original! I like the idea of chocolate pasta! And the shot of them on the back of the chair – totally accentuates the homemade feel!
Gorgeous and intriguing, Bea!
I don’t know what sounds tastier, the tagliatelle or the sauce. Having to choose between chocolate and cardamom and blood orange just is not fair.
Je dois vous dire que vous prenez des photos tres belles, et vous faites des desserts que me donnent envie de manger chez vous.
Brava!
Thanks Keiko.
Rob, merci du compliment, Toronto , ce n’est pas si loin! 😉
Just what I was looking for! I was given a box of chocolate egg tagliatelle as a gift, and I was thinking poached pears on a nest of the pasta with a nice chocolate sauce drizzled over, but because the orange and chocolate combination is one of my favorites, your lovely dish is what I’ve decided to try. Thank you!
I was just looking through your recipes and came upon this one. What a masterpiece- Chocolate tagliatelle, now that’s genius.