Shrimp and Artichoke Pasta (Using Canned Artichoke Hearts)

Question first, why this recipe is often called shrimp and artichoke pasta instead of artichoke and shrimp pasta? In the beginning I was like maybe I should go with alphabetical order, so putting artichoke before shrimp. However, after a quick search online, most of the recipes are titled shrimp and artichoke, with shrimp in the front.

Why is that? Or it's like way too normal and too common so no one ever thought about it? Not like it's super important but it'll be nice to know the reason behind. I'm a little curious cat here.

Shrimp and artichoke pasta using canned artichoke hearts - 

Ingredients (about 3 to 4 portions)?

• 290 grams (60 grams solids) canned artichoke hearts
• 360 grams linguine pasta
• 16 to 20 shrimps
• 30 small or 20 medium cherry tomatoes
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 small bundle flat leaf parsley
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• Some extra virgin olive oil
• Some salt

How?

Have a big pot of water ready and bring to a boil. Season with few good pinches of salt and add in the linguine pasta. Cook till almost al dente. Before draining, save about a cup of pasta cooking water on the side, then proceed to drain out the water.

Try to calculate the pasta cooking time so when the sauce is ready, the pasta should be just about finished cooking too, then you can simply drain and dump into the sauce right away.

Peel and slice the garlic cloves. If the cherry tomatoes are on the bigger side, cut into half. Peel and devein the shrimps. Zest the lemon before slicing it in half. Chop the flat leaf parsley, do not use the stems if appear too tough. Remove the artichoke heart from the jar and give it a few chops.

Bring out a big pan and drizzle 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Use medium heat and add in garlic slices along with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Sear till slightly golden then add in halved cherry tomatoes. Swirl the pan once a while and cook till the tomatoes seemed about to burst or slightly charred on some sides.

Add in shrimps and cook for about 30 seconds. Add in artichoke and continue to cook for a short moment.

Pour in 1/2 cup of dry white wine, also add all the lemon zest we prepared in the beginning, squeeze in juice from half of the lemon. Also add 1 teaspoon of salt and most of the chopped parsley. Swirl and toss to make sure every ingredients are evenly mixed together. Taste and adjust with salt if needed.

Check and see if the sauce is enough. If not, pour in some pasta water that we saved earlier. I added about 1/4 cup here. Then I transfer drained pasta over. Swirl the pan and try to blend in some air to the sauce.

Cook till the sauce looks slightly thickened, and the oily part appears binding with the sauce. Give it a last couple rounds of extra virgin olive oil drizzles. Toss a few more times. Plate and garnish with the remaining chopped parsley.

You know what? Canned artichoke heart ain't bad at all, it's actually quite delicious. Especially with all the hard prepping work being dealt with, the only job we have is to utilize the tender hearts into our cooking.

And using canned artichoke heart for pasta was such a great option. A slightly tangy touch worked really well with lighter-tasting shrimps. Not just shrimps, flat leaf parsley also balanced well with canned artichoke hearts. 

Extended reading:

• Thick cut bacon and lentil ragu
• Pasta all'ortolana (healthy pasta with lots of vegetables)
• Tuna and olive linguine for two
• Oyster and shiso peperoncino
• Paccheri with tuna in red bell pepper sauce

Soft Batter Taiwanese Breakfast Egg Pancakes 軟粉漿蛋餅

Calling it Taiwanese "breakfast" egg pancakes is in fact quite an accurate description. No matter where you go in Taiwan, you can always find some breakfast joints selling egg pancakes. Some places even extend their opening hours till early afternoon for working crowd coming out during lunch time, seeking for a cheap and lighter lunch option.

So basically there are two types of Taiwanese breakfast egg pancakes texture-wise. Usually you'll find thinner and sometimes slightly crunchy on the edges for the wrapping. However, traditionally there's also this thicker and softer type of wrapping, like this recipe here. 

The soft batter wrapping is not as main steam as the thinner type. Partially I suspect that the thinner version is cheaper and easily accessible with factory premade product, and that's what you'll find at most of the little breakfast joints.

Soft batter Taiwanese breakfast egg pancakes 軟粉漿蛋餅 -

Ingredients (about 3 to 4 pancakes)?

Batter: 

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca starch 地瓜粉
• 1/2 cup potato starch 太白粉
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1 stalk scallion (green part)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Others:

• Some eggs (1 or 2 per serving)
• Some mixed shredded cheese
• Some canned corn kernels (optional)
• Some olive oil
• Some soy sauce or soy sauce paste (optional)
• Some chili sauce (optional)

How?  

To make the batter, measure 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1/2 cup of tapioca starch, 1/2 cup of potato starch, and 2 1/4 cups of water to a big mixing bowl. Whisk till evenly blended.

Destem and chop the scallion. Add the green part to the batter along with 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Mix till evenly blended. The final consistency for this type of "soft" batter will be somewhat similar to thinner pumpkin soup.

Bring out a pan, I used non-stick pan because it'll make the job a lot easier. Drizzle some olive oil and switch to medium heat. Wait till it's a bit warm and make sure the oil spread throughout the surface. Scoop some batter over and swirl the pan to form an even round sheet with a little thickness to it. I used about 3 ladles per sheet.

It'll take about 2 to 3 minutes for each side, and don't try to move around the batter early on. The batter will start to set and since I'm using non-stick pan here, it'll be very easy to "detach" and flip to the other side.

So also 2 to 3 minutes on the other side, or till slightly golden brown color. Once ready, transfer the sheet to a plate. Repeat the process and continue to make more sheet/wrappings. Depending on the size of the pan you're using, my recipe should give you about 3 to 4 medium sized sheets, with some thickness that is.

To finally make the breakfast egg pancakes. Drizzle some oil to the pan to cover the surface again. Still using medium heat. Crack one or two eggs in a bowl first and beat it. Pour the beaten egg to the pan and try to swirl the pan to spread out the egg.

Before the egg sets, top with the sheet we just made. Give it a few gentle presses using a spatula, helping the egg binds with the sheet. Flip and add your preferred fillings to the center but a bit towards one side of the sheet.

I used lots of cheese here. Then try to fold in the sheet to make a log in the end. Maybe use some force here to give the log some pressure in order to hold the shape.

Transfer the log to a cutting board, slice to medium pieces then move to serving plate. Serve with some soy sauce, soy sauce paste, or chili sauce if desired. 

If you happen to have more sheets in the end, you can stick one sheet of parchment paper in between and store the sheets stacked together. Seal tight in a big Ziploc bag and send to the freezer. Just defrost for like 30 minutes or so before cooking the next time.

And if you're really not up for the challenge and make the sheet yourself, you know sometimes you can find the prepade sheets in the frozen food aisle in the supermarket. Just note that it'll most likely be the thin kind, not this special soft batter version. I've never seen the soft batter version sheet being sold as frozen product anywhere.

Also flavor-wise, I focused on oozing cheese this time so mixed shredded cheese is key here. You can play around with the fillings. In Taiwan, some of the most popular fillings you'll see at the breakfast stand are pork floss, tuna, and Chinese basil, cheese or without cheese is optional.

Extended reading:

• Basic scallion pancakes 基本款蔥油餅
• Pan-fried Chinese beef pie 牛肉餡餅