Linguine in Mushroom Sauce

This is the first time I made pasta in this way and I think the result is satisfactory although hubby said it'll taste better with more black pepper or a bit of cheese. Anyway, we don't have cheese at home except sliced cheddar cheese, so maybe next time ;p The mushroom taste is not very strong and perhaps using button mushroom or some other type of mushroom would be better. Anyway, I like the thick sauce even though no cream is used (I prefer not to use any cream since it's very fattening ;p).

Ingredients:

Linguine (cooked per packet instruction)

Fresh shitake mushroom (sliced - can't remember how much I put in ;p)

Onion (sliced and cut into smaller pieces)

Salt

Black Pepper

Mixed Herbs (dried)

Milk (I used low fat milk - don't have cream at home ;p)

Chicken Meat (deboned and cubed)

Tomatoes (cubed)

Garlic

Oil

Water

Method:
1. Heat some oil and saute onion.
2. Put in about 1 cup of sliced mushroom and leave the rest aside.
3. Season with some salt, black pepper and mixed herbs. Dish up.
4. Pour milk into the blender. Add in the mushroom in 3. Blend well. Put aside.
5. Heat some oil and saute the garlic.
6. Add in chicken and stir fry with some salt and black pepper.
7. Pour in tomatoes and the remaining mushrom, stir fry for 1 min.
8. Pour in the blended mushroom sauce. Season with salt.
9. Cook till it simmers and sauce thickens.
10. Sauce is ready and you can just pour it on top of the cooked linguine.

Linguine in Tomato Sauce

I love the fresh tomatoes taste in this pasta. :)

Ingredients:
Pasta (I used linguine- cooked per packet instruction)
Tomatoes (very ripe – cut into small pieces and blend using a blender)
Onion
Garlic
Button Mushroom
Chicken Meat (minced)
Salt
Black Pepper
Mixed Herbs
Olive Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat olive oil and sauté garlic and onion until onions turn soft.
2. Add in chicken meat and button mushroom. Stir fry for a while.
3. Season with salt, mixed herbs and black pepper.
4. Pour in the tomato puree and cook till it simmers. You can add a little water if you want.
5. Pour in the pasta and mix well. Serve hot.

Fellowship Dinner Aug09

Vegetarian Pasta

The food: a very simple dinner…pasta, salad, fish, jellies and fruits.

This should be posted last month, but I have too many posts to update (OK, sounds like an excuse), so am only doing it now. ;p

We hosted our church’s weekly bible study last month and usually the host will provide dinner. It was a nice and warm (literally too…imagine about 15-18 of us in a tiny apartment) fellowship. The topic of discussion was the role of a husband and we had a meaningful discussion over what God has to say about the husband’s role; to love and to lead. Thanks to hubby for leading the session! I was too busy entertaining the kids (auntie, I want to go toilet….auntie, I want to eat biscuits,….) ;p Hahaha…anyway, it was fun and also the first time there were so many people in our home. We hope to have many more such sessions of bible study.

Here’s sharing with you the recipe for the lovely vegetarian pasta.


Ingredients:
Tricolour Spiral Pasta (I used Agnesi’s) – cooked per packet instruction
Garlic
Onion
Button Mushroom
Carrot
Basil
Salt
Sugar
Black Pepper
Oyster Sauce
Light Soy Sauce
Water (boiled)
Olive Oil


Method:
1. Heat olive oil in a wok and sauté garlic and onion until fragrant.
2. Add in carrot and button mushroom.
3. Season with salt, sugar and black pepper.
4. Pour in the pasta and mix well.
5. Season with light soy sauce and oyster sauce.
6. If it gets too dry, add a little water.
7. Add in basil and stir fry for 1 min and it’s ready to be served!

Stir Fried Tomyam Spaghetti

Ingredients:
Spaghetti (cooked per packet instruction)
Big Onion
Tuna
Carrot
Green Bell Pepper
Button Mushroom
Tomyam Paste
Salt
Sugar
Water (boiled)
Oil


Method:
1. Heat some oil and stir fry onion till fragrant.
2. Add in tomyam paste and stir fry for 1 while.
3. Add in green bell pepper, carrot and button mushroom. Stir fry for 1 min.
4. Add in tuna and season with salt and sugar.
5. Add a little bit of water if it gets too dry.6. Put in spaghetti and mix well. Stir fry for 1min and it’s done.

Stir Fried Spiral Pasta with Teriyaki Chicken

It’s been pouring here for the past few days and rainy days somehow often make me feel lazy. I, originally wanted to cook teriyaki chicken and a vege for dinner but changed my mind to cook just a one-dish meal for dinner. Hubby, who is forever very supportive of my cooking said “ok”. Hehe…so, I chose the easy way yesterday with this pasta. These spiral pasta (am sure they have an Italian name, but you don’t expect me to remember, do you??) are so colourful and it seemed to have this “cheer-you-up” effect as you cook them.

No, I’ve not gone crazy. I just love food :)


Ingredients:
Chicken Meat (de-boned)
Teriyaki Sauce
Pasta (cooked per packet instruction)
Carrot
Broccoli
Onion
Dark Soy Sauce
Salt
Black Pepper
Oil (I used olive oil)
Water


Method:
1. Marinate chicken meat with teriyaki sauce for a few hours or overnight.
2. Heat some oil and stir fry onion till fragrant.
3. Add in carrot and broccoli. Stir fry for 1 min.
4. Add in chicken and stir fry for a while.
5. Season with dark soy sauce, black pepper and salt.
6. Add a little bit of water if it’s too dry and cook till it simmers.
7. Add in the pasta and stir fry for 1-2min.

Dig in!

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Chicken and Basil

I cooked this sometime back for dinner and enjoyed it very much. I think it was the first time I cooked with basil although I’ve always wanted to experiment with fresh basil. Simply love the taste and aroma and it’s become one of my favourite herbs.


Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Spaghetti (cooked per packet instruction)
Carrot
Chicken
Basil
Black Pepper
Light Soy Sauce
Cooking Wine
Salt
Sugar
Garlic
Onion
Olive Oil


Method:
1. Heat some oil and saute garlic and onion till it starts to brown.
2. Add in the carrot and stir fry for 1min.
3. Put in the chicken and stir fry for 1 min.
4. Season with salt, sugar and cooking wine.
5. Add in the pasta and mix well.
6. Season with light soy sauce and black pepper to taste.
7. Add in the basil and stir fry for 1/2min and it’s done!

Mushroom Carbonara Angel Hair

No, I am not paid to do this....but this creamy carbonara from Campbell is good. :)

So, all I did was just cook the angel hair (I wanted to have it with spaghetti but ran out of stock in my kitchen) and toss it in the sauce. OK la..at least I decorated the plate a bit. Haha...

I didn't feel thirsty after this meal, so I guess probably there is no or maybe only very little MSG is used.

Stir Fried Angel Hair Pasta Chinese Style

This is really easy to do and angel hair is really very versatile. You can mix almost anything with it and it'll still be easy to cook and turn out well.

Ingredients:
Angel hair pasta (cooked per packet instruction)
Chinese Mushroom (soaked until soft and sliced)
Dried Shrimps (soaked and chopped coarsely)
Carrot
Garlic (chopped)
Onion (cut into small cubes)
Black Pepper
Salt
Olive Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat oil and saute garlic and onion until fragrant.
2. Add in dried shrimps and stir fry for 1min.
3. Mix in carrot and mushrooms. Season with salt.
4. Put in the pasta and mix well.
5. Sprinkle a dash of black pepper and add some water if it’s too dry.
6. Stir fry for 1min and it’s done.

Baked Pasta with Fish & Vegetables

This is pretty easy to do and quite yummy. The best thing I like about this dish is the “oil-free” preparation. No stir frying, so the kitchen floor is oil free. Haha…


Ingredients:
Pasta (cooked till semi soft)
Fish (cut into bite size and marinate with cooking wine, salt and pepper)
Potato (cubed and cooked till soft)
Broccoli
Carrot (cut into wedges)
Onion (cut into thin slices)
Tomato (remove seeds & cut into small pieces)
Yellow Bell Pepper (cut into small pieces)
Milk (200ml)
Cheese
Salt
Black Pepper
Herbs
Olive Oil

Preheat oven at 200C.


Method:
1. Put some olive oil in a baking dish.
2. Mix milk, pasta, fish and all the vegetables in a bowl.
3. Season with salt, pepper and herbs.
4. Pour and arrange the mixture into the baking dish.
5. Top with cheese. You can also put some cheese in between the mixture.
6. Bake for 30min or until cheese has melted and turned a little golden brown.

Stir Fried Animal Pasta

I was in KL after Christmas to visit a few good, old friends and naturally, shopping is part of the agenda of the trip. Surprisingly, we didn't buy any clothes or bags or shoes but we filled our shopping bags with foodie from Marks & Spencer. Hahaha....That's where I 'discovered' these cute little pasta. It costs much more than normal pasta but I couldn't resist buying these!!! These are whole wheat pasta and if you have not tried it, you might not like the 'rough' texture of the pasta but the cute animal shapes compensated for the taste ;p

Although it seems to be good for kids but I think mothers might run into the problem of having to feed them for hours to finish their meal. Kids are a curious lot and they might spend their own sweet time trying to figure out the animal shape of the pasta. Hohoho...

Say....can you spot the horse in this pic??






Ingredients:
Animal-shaped Pasta (cooked per packet instruction)
Carrot (chopped coarsely)
Broccoli (cut into small bite size)
Tomatoes (cut into small pieces)
Red & Green Bell Pepper (cut into small pieces)
Button Mushroom (cut into small pieces)
Garlic (chopped)
Mixed Herbs
Salt
Olive Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat oil and sauté garlic till fragrant.
2. Add in tomatoes, carrot, broccoli, red and green pepper and button mushroom. Stir fry for 1-2min.
3. Season with salt and herbs.
4. Add a little water and let it simmer.
5. Mix in pasta and sir fry for 1-2min. Add more herbs if you prefer stronger aroma of the herbs. Ready to be served!

Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Felt like eating something light (er…if you consider pasta a light meal ;p) and healthy but lazy to cook. Anyway, this is ready in 30min and it’s yummy!


Ingredients:
Spaghetti (cooked per packet instruction)
Tomatoes
Red bell pepper
Parsley (chopped finely)
Mixed herbs
Garlic (sliced)
Olive oil
Salt


Method:
1. Heat olive oil in a non stick pan and saute garlic till it starts to brown.
2. Add in red bell pepper and stir fry for 2-3min.
3. Add in tomatoes and continue to stir fry for another 1-2min.
4. Season with salt.
5. Put in the spaghetti and mix well.
6. Add in mixed herbs and parsley. Stir fry for 2-3min.
Dinner’s ready!

Spaghetti in Chicken Mushroom Sauce

Want to make a quick spaghetti dish? :)


Ingredients:
Spaghetti (cooked per packet instruction)
Button Mushroom (sliced)
Chicken meat (minced)
Cauliflower (cut into small pieces)
Garlic (sliced)
Onion (sliced)
Mixed herbs
Salt
Olive oil
Chicken Soup (e.g. Campbell’s or any brand will do)
Water


Method:
1. Heat oil in a non-stick pan and sauté garlic till it turns golden brown.
2. Stir fry onion till fragrant.
3. Add in chicken meat, button mushroom and cauliflower and continue to stir fry for 3-4min. Add a little water if too dry.
4. Season with a little salt and mixed herbs.
5. Mix in spaghetti and chicken soup. Cook till soup becomes thick and coats the spaghetti.

Pasta in Baked Beans Sauce

Usually when I cook one dish meal for dinner that means either I am feeling lazy or it’s a busy time for me at work. I’ve been super busy since past 2 weeks so here’s another quick pasta dish I made for dinner.
While I was thinking what to cook, I saw this can of baked beans sitting in the cabinet, so I thought why not use it to make pasta sauce??? Hehe….and I think it really mixes well with pasta. You can even blend with some herbs! I’ll try that next time.

Ingredients:
Pasta (cook per packet instruction)
Baked beans
Cabbage (shredded)
Tomato (remove the seeds & cut into small pieces)
Garlic (chopped)
Salt
Oil
Water


Method:
1. Heat a little oil in wok and saute garlic for 1-2min.
2. Put in cabbage and tomatoes and stir fry for 1-2min.
3. Add in baked beans and season with salt.
4. Add some water and cook till it simmers.
5. Put in pasta and cook for 2-3min. Serve hot.

Stir Fried Tomyam Angel Hair pasta

As you know, I love to mix things and create unusual recipes. This is another east meets west pasta dish and I really love it! It’s like eating dry laksa.

How did I think of this? Well, VIP requested fried noodles for dinner but since we just had fried instant noodles sometime last week, I don’t want to do a repeat.
I had something tomyam in mind but I did tomyam mifen before, so that is also out. So, I just see ingredients are available in the kitchen and there’s some leftover angel hair pasta and a can of tuna and so, that’s how this came about! We both loved it and I hope you give it a try too!

Variations: Try adding other vegetables or using different kinds of pasta.


Ingredients:
Angel hair pasta (cook as per packet instruction)
Onion (cut into slices)
Oyster mushroom (sliced)
Carrot (cut into thin strips)
Tomato (cut into strips)
Tuna fish (1 can)
Tomyam paste
Honey

Method:
1. Heat a little oil in a wok and sauté onion for 1-2min.
2. Add in tuna fish, carrot, oyster mushroom and tomato. Stir fry for 1-2min.
3. Add in tomyam paste and honey. Mix well.
4. Put in angel hair pasta and stir fry for 1-2min and it’s done. Yummy!

Bow Tie Pasta in Tomato Gravy

This dish is actually very colourful if you put enough bell peppers. Most of all, it’s a ‘healthy’ meal with all the vegetables (you can omit the egg if you like).

Ingredients:
Bow tie pasta (cooked per packet instructions)
Tomato (cut into small pieces)
Green bell pepper (cut into thin strips)
Yellow bell pepper (cut into thin strips)
Onion (cut into small pieces)
Tomato puree
Egg (beaten and add with a dash of pepper)
Mixed herbs
Pepper
Salt
Water
Note: Make sure the pasta is soft before you use them for cooking otherwise when you start to stir it too much in the wok, the bowties will start to break….just like what you see in the pictures.


Method:
1. Heat some oil in the wok and sauté the onion for 2-3min.
2. Add in the egg and when it’s cooked, add in green and yellow bell peppers and tomatoes.
3. Stir fry the vegetables for 2-3min.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Add in tomato puree and some water and let it cook till it boils.
6. Put in the pasta, add some mixed herbs and let it simmer for ~2min.
7. Eat. ;p

Penne in Beancurd Sauce

Unveiling the dish of the week! Ta-dah…

This one is for those who are adventurous and love to try something new. It’s an ultimate east meets west dish. Can you imagine preserved bean curd with pasta???
Well, I'd always strive to make a difference especially when it comes to cooking (my passion), so I do experiment with 'weird' dishes when I have the insporation. Haha...
Don't worry, this is edible. VIP and I finished everything :)

Ingredients:
Penne (cooked per packet instruction)
Yam (cut into small cubes)
Pork (cut into thin slice, marinate with a little pepper, sugar & soya sauce)
Chili (chopped)
Shallot
Preserved bean curd
Water
Sugar
Oil


Method:
1. Heat a little oil in the wok and stir fry the shallots for 1-2min.
2. Add in yam and chili. Stir fry for 5min.
3. Mix bean curd with some water and sugar. Pour this over the yam and let it simmer until yam is soft.
4. Add in pork slices and penne.
5. Once pork is cooked, dish up and serve.

Stir Fry Penne with Vegetables

After experimenting with macaroni and angel hair, now let’s try a new ‘shape’ of pasta, which is the penne. As usual, I like to add in many different types of vegetables and this time, I added some leafy vegetable for a difference. :)

Ingredients:
Penne (cooked per packet instruction)
Chicken (cut into cubes)
Spinach
Grey oyster Mushroom
Carrot (shredded)
Potato (shredded thinly)
Tomato (cut into thin slices)
Yellow bell pepper (cut into thin slices)
Green bell pepper (cut into thin slices)
Onion (cut into thin slices)
Garlic (chopped)
Oil
Water
Salt
Soya sauce
Pepper
Chinese wine
Sugar
Oyster sauce


Method:
1. Marinate the chicken with soya sauce, sugar, Chinese wine, oyster sauce and pepper for at least 30min.
2. Heat oil in a wok and sauté the garlic and onions till fragrant.
3. Add in carrot and potato. Stir fry for ~3min.
4. Put in the green and yellow bell pepper and mushroom plus a little salt and stir fry for 2-3min.
5. Next, add in the chicken and stir fry for 1-2min.
6. Add in the cooked penne and put in some soya sauce, Chinese wine and oyster sauce. Mix well.
7. Add a little water if it’s too dry and continue to stir fry.
8. Lastly, put in the tomatoes and spinach.
9. When the spinach looks cooked, dish up and serve.


For me, pasta never fails to make a decent meal and the reason why I used penne is because we can just eat everything with a spoon. By taking even this into consideration, you can sense how lazy I can get, sometimes...Hahaha...

Vegetarian Stir Fried Macaroni

Here's another quick and easy one dish meal which I've cooked for dinner this week.

Ingredients:
Macaroni (cooked per packet’s instruction)
Corn
Carrot (diced)
Onion (diced)
Garlic (chopped)
Ladies Finger a.k.a. Okra (cut into small pieces)
Tomato Sauce
Chilli Sauce
Sugar
Salt
Oil
Water

Method:
1. Heat oil in wok and sauté the garlic for 1-2minutes.
2. Add in the onions, carrot and corn. Stir fry for 2minutes.
3. Add the okra and cook for another 2minutes.
4. In a small bowl, mix chilli and tomato sauce together with 1tbsp water.
5. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and stir fry for a while. Add more water if too dry.
6. Put in the macaroni, add some sugar and salt to taste.
7. Stir fry for another 2-3minutes and it’s done!

Stir Fried Macaroni

Today Carmen and I played "masak-masak" as she wanted to learn how to cook while I've always welcome any cooking session! Haha... Cooking is such a fabulous way to enjoy some time cathing up with each other while creating something delicious to fill our stomachs. Since my cholesterol level is sky high, I've decided to cook a simple dish loaded with vegetables. Here's stir fried macaroni version 2 which is better than the 1st one I did some time ago.

Ingredients:
Macaroni (cooked till soft per packet instruction)
Green bell pepper
Yellow bell pepper
Carrot
Mini corn
Celery
*Cut all vegetables into small pieces
Chicken meat (cut into small pieces and marinate with soya sauce and pepper)
Garlic (chopped)
Shallots (sliced)

Black pepper

Mixed herbs

Oyster sauce

Soya sauce

Salt

Oil

Water

Method:
1. Heat oil in work and put in garlic and shallots. Stri fry till fragrant.
2. Put in all the vegetables and stir fry for ~3min over medium-high heat.
3. Add in the chicken meat and stir fry over medium heat for 1min.
4. Put in a little bit of oyster sauce and 1 tbsp of soya sauce and stir fry with the vegetables.
5. Add in the cooked macaroni and mix well.
6. Add a dash of pepper and put some mixed herbs. Put a little bit of salt. If it's too dry, add some water so that the macaroni do not stick to the wok.
7. Stir fry till water is dried up and serve.

This is a very simple dish but it taste great with all the crunchy vegetables. I couldn't find tomatoes in the supermarket the other day otherwise would have added some chopped tomatoes too. Some red bell pepper would make the colour really nice!

Angel Hair Pasta with Sardine Sauce

This great idea of cooking pasta with sardine came from my friend, Maggie who really has much cooking inspiration especially when it comes to cooking one-dish meals.
I am not sure if this the way it should be cooked but there are no strict rules when it comes to cooking, so I agak-agak and came out with this. Looks great huh? ;p

Ingredients:
Angel Hair pasta
Sardines in tomato sauce (canned) - remove the bones and mash
Tomatoes - cut in cubes
Big onions - diced
Garlic - sliced
Salt
Black pepper
Mixed herbs (those sold in bottles)
Olive oil
Water

Method:
1. Bring water to boil in a pot and cook pasta per packet instruction.
2. Add some salt to the pasta.
3. When pasta is soft, drain in a bowl. You can divide it into serving portions if you prefer.
4. Heat some olive oil in wok and brown garlic.
5. Add onions and stir fry till fragrant.
6. Add in tomatoes and stir well.
7. Pour in the mashed sardines and mix well.
8. Add some black pepper, mixed herbs and salt to taste.
9. Add some water and bring to boil. You can adjust the amount of water according to the thickness of sauce (personal preference).
10. Cook for a few minutes and the sauce is done.
11. Pour sauce over pasta.

I like a balanced meal, so added some stir fry sweet peas with carrot.
The colour makes the whole presentation nicer too :)
Since my VIP dinner guest must have some meat, the other addition you see is fried black pepper frankfurters which I have cut in slices.

I think you can garnish or add anything you like to the pasta. I usually think of the colour of the ingredients and its texture when considering the combination.

VIP guest said it's yummy, so thanks to Maggie for the idea!
This is really easy to cook and the preparation + cooking time is only 45min including the "side dishes".