Day 12: Prawn and Zespri® Green Kiwifruit Aglio Olio Pasta

To be frank, I've never consumed so much of Zespri® Kiwifruits in such a short period but in the past 11 days, you can see that we have certainly have a fair dosage of kiwifruits in this Zespri® 14-Day Daily Scoop of Amazing Challenge. I know very well the benefit that my body had gained by simply reading all the nutrients information stated on www.zespri.com.my.

I don't have any qualms with Zespri® Green Kiwifruit but many I knew, complaint that it's very sour. However, if you have ripen a green kiwifruit fully, you would be surprise how sweet it can be! Use unripe green kiwifruits in your cooking, it's excellent in tom yum, green sambal, chutney or sweet and sour dish.

If you find ripening green kiwifruit is a task, try Zespri® Gold Kiwifruit. It's really 100% sweet and I love that fresh sweetness that it gives. However, I love my fruits to be sweet with a hint of tang, so I like to believed that the latest Zespri® SunGold Kiwifruit variety is designed and developed for me :p Other than tasting great fresh, I'm rather surprised that SunGold can be so versatile in many dishes I've created.

I've always heard that people shun buying kiwifruits because, one - they don't know how to pick or choose kiwifruits and two - they're sour. I'm going to repeat myself on these 2, hoping that I don't sound like a broken record.

How to pick kiwifruits:

Zespri® Kiwifruits are sold in plastic containers# to prevent them from being squashed. Open up the container and use your eyes to judge that the fruits are all nice without any blemished or squashed sign. Try not to poke or squeeze them as you wouldn't like other people to do the same to your fruits that you would want to purchase.

# do collect the barcodes to enter the contest to win a trip to New Zealand!!!

How to identify ripe kiwifruits:

Once you're back home, open the container and place one kiwifruit on your palm. While cradling it, using gentle pressure, press the kiwifruit with your fingers. If they're rock hard, means it's not ripe yet. For the Green kiwifruits, this stage would be suitable for cooking as they could be hard and sour. As for the Gold and Sungold, it's still not suitable for eating yet.

If the kiwifruit is slightly soft, you could eat them but if kept for another day or two, you'll be able to taste the sweetness even though if it's a Green kiwifruit but if they're Gold or Sungold, go for it!

How to ripen kiwifruits:

Place them together with apples or bananas in a cool dry place (or in the fridge) and they'll ripen hastily. You would be surprised that in our Malaysian weather, read hot and humid, when left with bananas and apples, the ripening process is not as quick we thought it would be! Yup, tried and tested :D 

I usually keep those foil bags that came with large pack of milk powder, Milo, instant coffee etc and use them to store fruits and vege which can last so much longer in the fridge. I did the same with my Green Kiwifruits that came rock hard from my Kiwifruits Fairies.

The next dish came up when I wanted to cook a quick lunch for BoiBoi and myself. I did think of a Minestrone which I think Green Kiwifruit could go so well in it but I do not have that many ingredients in my fridge. Next up, I had wanted to do a Seafood Marinara but BoiBoi doesn't really fancy seafood but a few prawns is ok o.O

The next best bet was a really simple aglio olio, something that can be racked up from a basic larder. Who knows that Green Kiwifruits can go so well in a pasta dish?!! BoiBoi and I cleaned our plates up in a jiffy!

Prawn and Zespri® Green Kiwifruit Aglio Olio Pasta
(Serves 2)

1 Zespri® Green Kiwifruit, slice into thickish chunks
120 g medium sized prawns, shelled with sand track removed
2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tsp chopped red chillies
Salt & freshly grounded black pepper to taste
150 g fusili pasta (usually spaghetti or angel hair is used)

In a large pot of boiling water with lots of salt, cook pasta till al dente according to package instruction. Drain pasta when cooked and reserve some pasta cooking water.

Fry prawns in 1/2 Tbsp of oil in a frying pan, on both sides until they're cooked. Remove to a plate and set aside. In the same pan, pour in remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp oil and fry the garlic till fragrant BUT not brown. Toss in the red chillies and stir. Add in the prawns and cooked pasta. Mix well and Turn off the heat. Add in kiwifruits, salt, black pepper and parsley and toss evenly. If it's a little dry, add in a little of the pasta cooking water.

Serve hot with more freshly grounded black pepper.

Day 1: Zespri® 14-Day Daily Scoop of Amazing Challenge

Day 2: Sunshine Zespri® Green Kiwifruit Smoothie

Day 2.1: Zespri® SunGold Rockstar Breakfast Smoothie

Day 3: Win A Trip To Auckland & Rotorua, New Zealand

Day 4: Zespri® SunGold Kiwifruit Parfait

Day 5: Zesty Zespri® Sungold

Day 6: Sunrise Zespri® SunGold Ice Lolly

Day 7: Zespri® Green Kiwifruit Chutney With Grill Chicken

Day 8: Lovin' Zespri® SunGold Kiwifruit Steamed Prawns

Day 9: Frangipane Zespri® Golden Drops

Day 10: Zespri® Kiwifruit Sambal Lada with Prawn Lemongrass Skewers

Day 11: Pandan Zespri® Kiwifruits Cooler

Day 11.1: Zespri® Kiwifruits Platter

Day 11.2: Lemony Sponge with Zespri® Kiwifruits

Paccheri with Salmon & Tomatoes

I chanced upon Paccheri recently when I was shopping for pasta meant for a catalogue photoshoot. It's a rather huge but short tubular pasta which has a diameter of about 1 inch and about 1 1/2 inches in length. After the shoot, nobody wants to take the pasta back so I pack them back and used them in 2 recipes. I did a bit of research, it's good for a sauce atop them or stuffed. When paccheri is done properly, it will flatten and not broken into small pieces.

The second time I chanced upon paccheri was during the launch of Italiannies' Festa della Pasta Promotion.

The first recipe, I just racked up something rummaged in my pantry and fridge. I had a can of wild salmon given as a gift from Canada which I've turn it into a tomato based sauce. A very simple dish that one can come up in less than 30 mins. Fresh salmon can be used too or even canned tuna fish (whole in brine).

The other recipe, I just stuffed the cooked paccheri with a beef bolognaise and layer with white sauce and cheese, baked them in a dish ala lasagne. BoiBoi loved this a lot and is already asking me to make again.

Hope you'll like this.

Paccheri with Salmon & Tomatoes
(Serves 4)

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp chili flakes (optional)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (400 g) whole tomato (I like Cirio)
1 can (180 g) wild salmon (can be replaced with fresh salmon or even canned tuna)
150 g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Extra chopped parsley and grated parmesan to garnish

Heat oil in a pan and saute onion until soft (5 - 8 minutes). Stir in garlic and chili flakes (if using). Next pour in the canned tomato. Using your spatula, break them up into small pieces. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add in a generous pinch of salt. Cook paccheri until al dente. The serving for pasta per person is about 75 - 80 g per person. Drain pasta and reserve some liquid.

Lastly add in cherry tomatoes and salmon. Season with salt and black pepper. Add in the cooked paccheri and chopped parsley. Mix throughly but gently. You may add in the pasta cooking water if it's a little dry. Dish into individual plates and garnish with grated parmesan and chopped parsley.

Italiannies' Festa della Pasta Promotion Till 30 June 2013

We were delighted to be invited by Italiannies, a popular Italian themed restaurant chain, for a taste of their latest Festa della Pasta promotion which is available from now till 30 June 2013. The media launch was held at Italiannies, The Gardens Mall but the promotion is available at Italiannies outlets at The Curve, The Gardens Mall, Empire Shopping Centre, and Paradigm Mall in Klang Valley; and Gurney Paragon in Penang.



For the Lunch promotion (11.00am till 3.00pm), just add RM6 to your choice of pasta from the Festa della Pasta menu to enjoy a choice of either a salad (Insalata Verde), a dessert (chocolate brownie) or a glass of Pepsi.

As for Dinner promotion (6.00pm till closing), pay an extra RM16 on top of your pasta (from the Festa della Pasta menu) for a choice of an entrée (Gamberi con Aglio), a salad (Insalata Mediterranea) or a dessert (Italian Trifle). Sounds like a really good deal to me.

During the media launch, we were introduced to Mr Andrea Rossi, the Regional Manager of Italiannies and were served the four wines to go with the 8 pasta dishes for this promotion. There's the white wine of Alois Lageder Riff Pinot Grigio Venezie and Adesso Inzolla IGT Sicilia and the reds Alois Lageder Riff Rosso Vigneti Dolomiti and Adesso Nero D'Avola IGT Sicilia (RM17.00 each glass).





There was a demonstration on how to make fresh pasta. The chefs showed us how to whip up a plain dough and a spinach dough. Mr Andrea Rossi explained that the plain one is known as straw due to its colour whilst the spinach dough is known as hay.



Do note that for the dishes served, I've decided to use the photos provided by Italiannies as they were shot in individual portions where else we were served the sharing portion also known as "abbondanza" to emulate Italiannies' "A'more di Merrier" shared presentation menu concept. I've uploaded the shared portion photos on my Flickr album if you wish to do a comparison but of course mine didn't turn out as pretty due to the low lighting condition - read candlelight dinner :p

We started off with the 2 appetisers of Insalata Mediterranea, a Mediterranean salad of black olives slices, cream cheese, tomatoes, onions, rocket and romaine lettuce topped with grilled chicken breast; and Gamberi con Aglio, shrimps sauteed with black olives, tomatoes and red dried chillies which made this dish a tad too hot. If you like it hot, do mop up the gravy with the bread!

Next on we were serve a total of 8 pasta dishes from the Festa della Pasta menu. The first, Mussels & Clams Lombardi con Pappardelle (RM26.90), pappardelle pasta tossed with fresh clams and mussels cooked with white wine. Garnished with fresh herbs and chilli flakes. Paired with Alois Lageder Riff Pinot Grigio Venezie.



Tagliatelle con Salvia, Funghi e Popettine (RM22.90), handmade tagliatelle pasta sauteed with lemon and shiitake mushrooms served with homemade beef meatballs. Paired with Alois Lageder Riff Rosso Vigneti Dolomiti.

The other handmade pasta dish in the menu is Tagliatelle con Pesto al Pomodoro (RM22.90), handmade plain and spinach (straw & hay) tagliatelle pasta served with green pesto and tomatoes with grated Parmesan cheese and pine nuts. Paired with Adesso Nero D'Avola IGT Sicilia.

The next type of pasta shape is new to me, a fileja which is a longish and loose fusili pasta. Fileja con Pomodoro e Basilico (RM18.90), fileja pasta tossed with fresh tomato puree and cherry tomato, sprinkled with Parmesan and fresh basil. Paired with Adesso Inzolia IGT Sicilia or Adesso Nero D'Avola IGT Sicilia.

Cannelloni (RM26.90), cannelloni stuffed with spinach and artichokes served with homemade marinara sauce, rich bechamel sauce and topped with mozzarella cheese. Paired with Alois Lageder Riff Rosso Vigneti Dolomiti.

Paccheri con Ragu (RM18.90), traditional Italian beef sauce cooked with paccheri pasta topped with Parmesan cheese. Paired with Alois Lageder Riff Rosso Vigneti Dolomiti.



Tortellini con Salmone ed Aneto (RM26.90), spinach and ricotta filled tortellini pasta tossed in alfredo sauce with sauteed salmon and fresh dill. Top with rosettes of smoked salmon slices. Paired with Alois Lageder Riff Pinot Grigio Venezie.



Fusilli con Spinaci ed Alfredo sauce (RM22.90), fusilli pasta sauteed with chicken breast and spinach tossed in alfredo sauce. Chilli flakes and crispy spinach to garnish. Paired with Adesso Inzolia IGT Sicilia.



Out of the 8, my personal favourites are the Mussels & Clams Lombardi con Pappardelle as the pappardelle was cooked perfectly and went very well with the white wine sauce and shellfish; and the baked Cannelloni. I did a similar version recently but using Paccheri instead as I have plenty of Paccheri left over from a photo shoot. BoiBoi loved that a lot and asking me to make it again! It's really simple to make as I stuff the Paccheri with a beef ragu, layered with a white sauce and top them up with Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese before baking.

Lastly, we got on to a dessert of Italian trifle, made with layers of Mascarpone, ladyfinger biscuits and topped with dark chocolate powder and chocolate chips.



Do check out this Festa della Pasta promotion at Italiannies before it ends on 30 June 2013!

Capt'n Hook and I would like to thank the management and staff of Italiannies for such a wonderful Italian experience complete with live music by violinists, and Jaslyn of RAPR for the coordination and invitation.

Buon appetito!!!

Italiannies

Lot G75 & G76, Ground Floor, The Curve
Tel: +603 7728 1715

Lot S209, Second Floor, The Gardens, Mid Valley City
Tel: +603 2283 3675

G16, Empire Shopping Gallery
Tel: +603 5637 7259

Lot CF15 & 23, Level CF, Paradigm Mall
Tel: +603 7887 4677

Lot 1-31, Ground Floor, Gurney Paragon Mall, Penang
Tel: +604 228 9761

Vegemite CheesyBite Spaghetti

Ok I know, this is kinda lame cos there's simply no recipe in this recipe :p

I saw this recipe on Nigella Lawson's but her version used Marmite, the very English version of a savoury yeast extract spread. Since I have a bottle of CheesyBite (a spinoff by Down Under brand Vegemite that contains cream cheese), I decided to use that instead. In Kuala Lumpur, you should be able to find Vegemite and Cheesy Bite at Cold Storage, Village Grocer or Jaya Grocer.

Just cook spaghetti until al dente, drain (reserve some of the water) and toss in some CheesyBite and a little of the reserved water. Since CheesyBite is not as salty as Vegemite alone, don't be surprised that you might need quite a number of teaspoons. Adjust the saltiness by adding a little by little of the CheesyBite and taste as you go along. Finish off with some grated parmesan. Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, I got love in my tummy!



Erm when it comes to Marmite/Vegemite, it's either you hate it or love it!!! So tell me whether you love or hate it???

Oh and I just realised this is good for a meatless Monday!

Chilli Angel Hair Pasta With Prawns, Scallop, Tomatoes & Basil

As I've mentioned earlier, we were featured in BSC's reTALE magazine shopping for organic products in O Gourmet.

This recipe was featured in the magazine together with another 2 recipes which I will post separately to ease searching. It's a very simple pasta recipe using Passion Pasta's Chilli Angel Hair. I find this angel hair exudes quite some heat in this dish, so if you're feeding children, I would recommend to use their saffron version. As these are handmade, they cooked very quickly so do look out for doneness within the recommended cooking time.

You'll noticed that Vom Fass oils and vinegars were heavily used in these recipes as Mr Teoh of Vom Fass has generously gave us some samples to work around with. I'm not going to be bias just cos of this but to tell the truth. We were sampling the oils and vinegars even before this and find that they're absolutely delicious! If you have sampled Vom Fass, you would agree that the quality and clarity of the oils and vinegars are simply amazing. A little goes a long way I would say.

Mr Teoh recommended to drizzle this pasta with some basil infused olive oil and a rather limited edition of balsamic vinegar. The basil olive oil gave it an extra fresh scent of basil where else the thick balsamic vinegar is used really sparingly, just droplets of them for a sweetish dense flavour.

Chilli Angel Hair Pasta With Prawns, Scallop, Tomatoes & Basil
Serves 4

250g Passion Pasta – Chilli Angel Hair
3 tbsp Vom Fass Basil Olive Oil
1 red onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
20 medium sized prawns, shelled and leave the tail on
300g scallops
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small red chillies, chopped
1 cup basil, roughly shredded and reserve 4 shoots for garnishing
Salt & freshly grounded black pepper to taste

Extra Vom Fass Basil Olive Oil and Aceto Balsamico di Modena Maletti Riserva Speciale for drizzling


1. Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain the cooked Chilli Angel Hair pasta. Reserve some pasta cooking water.

2. In a large pan, heat up the Vom Fass Basil Olive Oil in medium heat and stir in chopped onion and garlic. Saute until onion and garlic are softened, do not brown them.

3. Add in the prawns and scallops. Once the prawns turned pink and curled up, turn the prawns and scallops around.

4. Put in the cherry tomatoes and red chillies and stir well. Season with salt and grounded black pepper to taste.

5. Next, add in the cooked Chilli Angel Hair pasta and mix well. Add some of the reserved pasta cooking water if the pasta looked dry. Lastly, turn off the heat and stir in the basil.

6. To serve, dish pasta into 4 individual pasta bowls, ensure that prawns and scallops are divided almost equally. Topped with reserved basil shoots and drizzle some Vom Fass Basil Olive Oil all over. Drip on droplets of Vom Fass Aceto Balsamico di Modena Maletti Riserva Speciale and serve.

In this series:
Life is Colourful
Black Quinoa with Grilled Vegetables
Hazelnut & Chocolate Chips Cupcakes

Review: Alexis Bistro and Wine Bar @ The Gardens

I've been to all Alexis outlets but I'm liking it here at The Gardens. The place is spacious with high ceiling, food is good and best of all service is at its best on the day I was there. I also noticed they have tapas here in the menu.

So we have one serving of button mushroom (RM15) from the tapas menu. The mushrooms were halved swimming in a creamy garlicky gravy. Toasted french loaves rounds that came with it were great in mopping up the tasty gravy.



BoiBoi loved his Club Sandwich (RM20) but who doesn't when there are thick layer of chicken slices, ham (I can't remember of which kind but definitely not pork since this place is pork free), fried egg, and green salad leaves in between 2 slices of fresh toasts. The portion is rather huge as it came with a side salad and tonnes of fries. Thank goodness I did not order any mains since I have to perform my *ahem* Alam Flora duty that evening by picking up the salad and bits and pieces of his sandwich but he wallopped quite a fair bit though.



Capt'n Hook who is not a fan of pasta asked for a Penne Carbonara (RM32). He gave a rare full praise for his carbonara that have pieces of ham and mushrooms. I took a bite and I guess I know why... the sauce is not sickly rich which is great as it doesn't make one feel "jelak" quickly.



We were rather full but as usual BoiBoi would loved to have dessert to end his meal. What more when he had already spied the cake display as he went "browsing" around. I had to manipulate and control his ordering so that we won't end up with something rich. Since he loved pavlova, I managed to convinced him into having a Chocolate Nutty Meringue (RM15). It's our first time trying this as we'll usually stuck at Tiramisu :p This is a brilliant dessert with light marshmallowy chocolate meringue in between light chocolate cream and chopped pecans and macadamia, lots of them oh yum! There are a lot of nuts on top as well! I'm sooooo gonna make this one day!!!



Ahhh another good food option at The Gardens ;-) other than The Yogitree, Yuzu, Gelatissimo, I Love Yoo, Nyonya Colors, Belanga, Fong Lye, sbread, Shihlin...


Alexis Bistro and Wine Bar
Lot f209 1st Floor
The Gardens
Mid Valley City
Lingkaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (603) 2287 2281

Sick People's Food

Whenever my brothers and I were sick, we were not allowed to eat anything made out of rice, yup... not even rice congee/porridge. The first couple of days, we would be on mostly plain bread with light milk diet... or most to most we'll have the sweet braided loaf or those sugar topped sweet square bread with raisins all over inside bought from the rotiman on a bike. So can you image how horrible it was when your throat and mouth have this bitter tinge during that time and you have to eat all these bland stuff?!! Urrghhh...

However, things will get better as we recover... still no rice stuff including bee hoon or koay teow but we usually will have "chat tzai funn" (not sure what this is called in English but it's small bunch of noodle bundled with red or pink string, which I hardly see these days and it's not mee suah) or macaroni. They're usually made very plain with plain soup or just mixed with light and dark soy sauce. Still doesn't taste great but way better than plain bread. Sometimes, Mom will buy kurau fish (threadfin or mah yau in Cantonese) to add into the soup with plenty of amaranth (yin choy).

Well, that's what I fed my boiboi with over the weekend who wasn't feeling well since last Thursday. He is better now and is back to school today after his fever came back on Monday afternoon.

I cooked the macaroni slightly softer than al dente for easy digestion. In a another pot, boil some water but not too much since it's only for one portion. Marinaded the fish slices (bones and skin removed) with some garlic oil (just a wee bit) and soy sauce. Chuck in the amaranth first, wait for a while before adding the fish slices since they cook up rather quickly. Dribbled in wee bit of garlic oil like a few drops. Adjust the taste with a wee bit of salt and soy sauce (can just use soy sauce only). Once the fish slices is cooked, pour onto the cooked macaroni and serve.



This is sick people's food but slightly better than eating plain bread!

Review: Marmalade Kafe

Sometime back, I brought boiboi to Marmalade Kafe for his dinner whilst his daddy went off to run some errands on a Saturday. Ever since he could read, I would usually ask him to check out the menu and order whatever fancies him (*ahem* but the mummy still have veto power!). Sighhh but my boiboi tends to zeroed into Pasta section and pick lasagna, no matter where we go. His favourite place for lasagna would always be Delicious and I tell you... he even remembered the name for this dish - Classic Beef Lasagna... no need to read menu!!! *roll eyes*

And so as with Marmalade Kafe... he went and pick the same old beef lasagna (RM20.00) plus a cup of Chococino (RM5.00). The mummy had to go along and shared half one third of the lasagna and half of his chococino. The lasagna was just so so only and it seems I've heard from many that the standard have dropped. No wonder the kafe was kinda empty. Plus for that price, I think we could have gotten a better and hearty lasagna at Delicious. The Chococino, well, its just milk and chocolate, not thick, too little chocolate taste.





I asked for a Lemongrass Ginger Tea (RM7.00) which thank goodness still retain its merits. No more room for cakes this time.



There's a service charge of 10% in the total bill.


Marmalade Kafe
Lot 1F-18, 1st Floor
Bangsar Village II
2 Jalan Telawi 1
Bangsar Baru
Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 603 - 22828 301


Technorati Tags: pasta

Review: Pacific West Tempura Fish Fillets

Let's do a product review today. This Pacific West Tempura Fish Fillets was introduced to me by Yozora. I bought one box (about RM15 thereabout if I'm not wrong) and kept in my freezer for some time before cooking them over the weekend. I didn't go to the market and was sort of ran outta fresh food, save for a couple of yellow capsicums and half a head of iceberg lettuce. Thank goodness for the convenience of having frozen food around!



I shallow fried the fillets straight out of the freezer as stated instead of deep frying them. Lucky my experience had told me that these frozen stuff will cause hot oil to splatter all over as it cooks. Well, I manage to contain the splatters with a lid over my pan hahaha... phew, otherwise cleaning up will be difficult let alone getting burn marks all over my arms! Easy peasy...

Back in my head, I decided to make a super simple pasta salad to go with the fish fillets. I made these before frying up the fish so that they can be served chilled. I diced up the yellow capsicum and tear iceberg lettuce into small pieces. Cooked some elbow shaped pasta, drain them and dumped them into cold water to prevent them to cook further.

Next, I found a pack of edamame the same time in the freezer and decided to make use of them. Cook them according to the instructions then I removed the beans from the pods and dump them into cold water for the same reason with the pasta. Whilst I was doing this, my boiboi came and kaypoh asking me what I was doing. I gave him one edamame which he chewed and told me it tasted horrible. I disallowed him to spit out (bad mummy huh? hehe), hence he swallowed them reluctantly. So how to get him to eat them???

Very easy actually... just toss the edamame together with the lettuce, capsicum (something he won't eat on its own as well) and pasta with some Japanese mayonnaise and lots of freshly grounded black pepper. Chill in fridge before serving. My boiboi lapped these up after he has finished his fillets without any questions ask what's inside the salad!



A very satisfying lunch indeed. Thanks Yozora for the recommendation ;-)


Technorati Tags: frozen food + pasta

Kiddy Menu: Tomato Based Vegetables Stew

Found this in my Draft folder. My boiboi was having mild fever last weekend and I made the same dish for him which he ate up with 2 slices of bread. Somehow this slight tangy soup seems to be able to open up his appetite.



When my boiboi was having fever, I made him this Vegetable Stew since I'm sure he will get sick (pun intended) by just eating bread. Moreover, he doesn't seems to have an appetite. This dish just came up in my head in the morning when I was pondering what to feed him during such time.

All I did was just diced up potatoes, carrots and onions. Fry the onions in olive oil till translucent before adding some chopped garlic. Once the garlic is fragrant, add in potatoes, carrots and a bay leaf. Pour in a can of whole tomatoes and break them up into smaller pieces. Add some water to cover up the vegetables. Cover with the lid and simmer for 15 - 20 mins. Sprinkle in some dried oregano, salt and wee bit of black pepper. Give it a stir and serve this with bread.

I gave a bowl to my boiboi and surprisingly he ate them all up with a slice of bread. Not only that! He asked for another slice of bread. He loved it!

Come dinner time, I just cooked up some macaroni and spooned some heated stew over them. Voila, a pasta dish! My boiboi lapped it all up.



He liked this stew a lot cos he simply loved tomato based food. He even asked for this the next day *roll eyes*


Technorati Tags: pasta + kiddy menu

Roasted Duck and Baby Tomatoes Angel Hair Pasta

I was home alone one evening and was too lazy to go out for food. I rummaged my fridge and found some leftover roasted duck and baby tomatoes. Decided to turn them into a quick pasta dish.

All I did was fry some chopped garlic till fragrant in olive oil, taking care not to brown them. Add in shredded roasted duck and stir. Next, dump in halved baby tomatoes. Sprinkle in salt and freshly ground black pepper. Lastly, add in cooked angel hair pasta and mix thoroughly. Dish up and serve hot with another dash of freshly ground black pepper.

Dinner in a jiffy - less than 10 minutes including minor prep work. Heh...




Technorati Tags: pasta

Speedy Minestrone

Speedy Minestrone

30g butter
1 medium brown onions, sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 bacon rashers, chopped coarsely
1 medium carrot, chopped coarsely
400g can chopped tomatoes
310g can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
3 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup spiral pasta
1/4 cup flaked parmesan
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Heat butter in large saucepan, add onion, garlic and bacon; stir over medium heat until onion is soft. Add celery and carrot; stir over heat 2 minutes.

Stir in undrained tomatoes, beans, stock and pasta. Bring to a boil; reduce heat; simmer covered for 30 minutes. Serve topped with cheese and parsley.

Minestrone can be made up to two days ahead; keep covered in fridge or freeze for up to 2 months.

Ref: Food We Love by The Australian Women's Weekly, page 26

My version is adapted from this recipe basically. Just as simple... I've used chopped chorizo instead of bacon. Dumped into some olive oil and stir till fragrant before adding onions. Once the onions turned translucent, I added in the garlic. Next, I chucked in celery, carrots and asparagus. Since I could only see kidney beans in syrup on supermarket shelves, I have to opt the beans out. Poured in the tomatoes and water (worked as well). Adjust the taste with salt and some sugar if necessary to balance out the acidic tomatoes. Pour in the pasta and cook for 30 minutes. Served with flaked parmesan with freshly grounded black pepper.

This recipe is SUPERB and a must keep. It's so simple and hearty; best of all it tasted absolutely delish. Do give it a try!


Technorati Tags: minestrone

Babe_KL Had Bad Food Too at Delifrance!!!

To follow up with KY's bloody (pun intended) experience with Delifrance yesterday, this was mine, today...

This was the sausage pasta from it's ala carte menu but I thot I was having prawn mee!!!! Well I was careful at least not to order the chicken thigh which was today's set menu haha moreover I was invited for lunch, so I had to be polite.

This happened at Delifrance, The Weld. Luckily I downed 2 cups of hot tea there and now on my second in the office.

My Adapted Marcella Hazan's Bolognese Sauce

I saw Marcella Hazan's Bolognese Sauce here sometime back. Read and filed in my memory since it seems pretty simple just like her Tomato Sauce recipe. I got a pack of minced beef recently thinking of using it for the Bolognese Sauce that I usually make, somehow this Marcella Hazan's recipe appeared out of the sudden on my head. So why not huh... but since I did not have certain ingredients so I adapted it.


I sauteed 1 chopped onions in olive oil till translucent before adding some chopped garlic. Next chucked in the minced beef and brown throughly. Poured in 2 canned whole tomatoes and smash them up into smaller pieces whilst stirring. Since I have a bottle of red wine opened, I put in about half a cup of that. Added salt and black pepper to taste.


It was too tangy for my boiboi's taste, I added some sugar to adjust. Next, I spooned in about 2 tablespoon of butter. By now, the concoction doesn't look very appealing at all... I was kinda worried since I did not use any tomato paste. Thought that could affect the colour of this dish. Anyway, I placed the lid on and simmer.


Whilst uncovering after simmering on low heat for 20 minutes, I can't help but to soak into that whaft of steam, I know it's hot BUT the smell was great!!!! Didn't know flowery wine and butter could smell so good. The colour turned into a deeper red too. I gave it a stir and cover. Simmered for another hour since I need to leave the house. Note that the original recipe is to simmer for 3 hours.


And this was how the sauce looked like...






Technorati Tags: Marcella Hazan + Bolognese Sauce

Mushrooms Angel Hair Aglio Olio

Easy peasy super quick meal to prepare for the family - Mushrooms Angel Hair Aglio Olio. Just get the types of mushrooms you loved, sliced them into smaller portion. Cook the angel hair pasta in a pot. In another pan, heat extra virgin olive oil. Chuck in loads of chopped garlic. Stir till fragrant but don't brown the garlic! Next, stir in the mushrooms. Put in the cooked angel hair pasta, season with salt and freshly grinded black pepper. Dish up some for the kid and sprinkle in some chili flakes for adults. Topped with some freshly grated parmesan and more black pepper before serving.

Adult portion as shown above and kid's version below.



Technorati Tags: pasta + kiddy menu