Foodarrific» Pasta

mom makes something for everyone

chili queen — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:03:37 +0000

As a mom of three picky eaters, I often end up cooking two different types of pastas for one meal. One of my kids doesn’t like fish and shrimp but thankfully, he’s coming around a little this year; the other two are okay with it.

So today, I made garlic butter panfried salmon slices and broccoli to go with two types of pasta – a spicy spiral pasta and a mushroom macaroni, and everyone was happy. Salmon panfried this way is very tasty and the kids love it.

See, many times, I have to take into account each child’s taste and their overall well-being, like when I think one of my teens needs some sort of homemade acne treatment, I try to make the food less spicy and oily.

lunch @ Strada

chili queen — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:27:00 +0000

We were on vacation in Penang last week (read and see the photos here, here and here) and decided to check out Strada, a small restaurant tucked in a row of shophouses in busy Pulau Tikus. We’d read good online reviews about this place and thought, why not, since the set lunches seem reasonably priced.

The sets come with either soup of the day, which was Pumpkin Soup that day, or salad. Unfortunately the Pumpkin Soup was sweet and bland (if you can imagine that!) and none of us finished up our order, which is something we hardly ever do since my philosophy is not to waste food.

The salad came with the default dressing which means we didn’t get to choose our favorite dressing.

The Chicken Chop with Oriental Sauce was nothing to shout about either. The sauce was more like a pizza base.

I hate to say this but this Spaghetti alla Vongole was really hard to swallow. The presentation was great so I guess I set my expectations too high. It was bland (which is better than too salty, I guess) and the sauce was like some Chinese gravy?

The Salmon Fish and Chips was, by far, the best thing we had there though the portion was rather skimpy.

It’s a shame the quality of Strada’s food didn’t live up to the nice ambience of the restaurant. I guess if you don’t try it, you’ll never know, which also confirms my philosophy of not chasing down food no matter how good the reviews are made to sound.

On the day we were there for lunch, only a couple of other tables were occupied. There was a small family and 3 ladies discussing mortgage protection insurance rates.

garlicky buttery panfried salmon

chili queen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:53:51 +0000

Salmon is my favorite fish and it’s also one of the few types of fish that’s not bony that my kids will eat. I love it because it’s healthy and cooking it barely involves much work at all.

Since we won’t be going out too much due to the flu pandemic and we certainly haven’t got any Orlando vacations planned, I can afford to spend more time in the kitchen these days.

I just pat dry a couple of salmon fillets after rinsing them off. With my non-stick pan on medium, I heat up a little bit of butter. Once the pan is hot, I throw in the salmon fillets with a few cloves of chopped garlic and a pinch of salt, quickly reducing the heat to low.

I leave the fillets to brown and cook through slowly for about 5-7 minutes on each side. You can leave it for a while longer to get it crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. To test if it’s cooked, I pierce the fillet with my chopsticks or a fork. If it’s cooked, it should be flaky.

Most times, we eat this lovely garlicky buttery salmon with a very light pasta. A thick, heavy pasta sauce will overpower the beautiful lightness of this very simple yet delicious panfried salmon.

fried angel hair pasta

chili queen — Sun, 31 May 2009 08:12:02 +0000

I have half a pack of angel hair pasta left over from yesterday’s lunch. We’ve eaten every other type of pasta so I thought it was time we tried angel hair. But the kids don’t quite care for it so I have to find a way to finish it up somehow.

Now if you notice, angel hair pasta looks a lot like the thin Chinese egg noodle, and I’m guessing it won’t taste far different. So I decided to do a Fusion stirfry… just for the heck of it.

Here’s what I used:

0.5 packet of angel hair pasta
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
a handful of choy sum (mustard green), cut into 2-inch lengths
1 stick of celery, thickly sliced
a few pieces of mock char siew (vegetarian barbecue pork), sliced
3-4 tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce
spring onion and Chinese parsley, finely chopped
sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

The preparation of the angel hair pasta is the same as if you were actually using it for a regular pasta. Just boil till al dente.

Into my wok on high heat, I drizzle some oil and lightly saute the garlic. Then I quickly add the mock char siew followed by vegetarian oyster sauce, choy sum and celery. Add some water and allow to simmer for a few minutes to let the vegetables cook through.

Then add the angel hair pasta and stir well with the rest of the ingredients. Add a good drizzle of sesame oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped spring onion and Chinese parsley. Serve hot with a small plate of fresh bird’s eye chilly in soy sauce.

Heaven! I’m really proud of this creation of mine. You really must try it. You’ll truly be surprised how good this Fusion angel hair pasta tastes, wierd though it may sound . Best of all, it’s meatless, healthy and trust me, you can banish all thoughts of weight loss products when you’re eating this.

international spaghetti carbonara

chili queen — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:52:56 +0000

The last time I made spaghetti carbonara, I used canned carbonara sauce. It tasted alright but it’s not quite the same as the one made from scratch. Un-Italian though this version may sound, let me assure you it really has quite an international flavor about it .

Okay, I got creative and used French beans and enoki mushrooms which I take it are from Japan ? Anyhow I was looking for shiitake mushrooms but it didn’t have a price label and I didn’t want to waste time hunting down the barcode scanner so I opted for the enoki instead.

For this, I used:

spaghetti to feed 5 people
2 large slices of bacon ham, cut into long, thin strips
1 handful of french beans, blanched
1 pack of enoki mushrooms
1 onion, finely diced
1 packet (250g) of heavy cream
1 sachet of mushroom soup base
Italian seasoning
dried parsley flakes
black pepper
olive oil

I cook the spaghetti till al dente. In a non-stick pan, I drizzle some olive oil and saute the onions. Then I add the heavy cream and mushroom soup base, stirring continuously to mix well. I didn’t use any cheese because I reckon the heavy cream is fattening enough.

Then in go the french beans, bacon ham and enoki mushrooms. I let everything simmer for about 5-7 minutes on medium to low heat. Add a sprinkle of Italian seasoning, dried parsley flakes and black pepper, and season with salt to taste.

I pour the cooked spaghetti into the carbonara sauce, turn off the heat and mix to coat the spaghetti well. It’s best eaten piping hot before all that lovely sauce gets soaked up.

I made a huge big bowl for lunch and the kids whacked everything in one sitting. There were no leftovers and that’s definitely a good sign. It means I should cook this again sometime .

spaghetti carbonara

chili queen — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:50:11 +0000

I had two cans of mushroom carbonara sauce sitting around. They came free when I bought two bottles of Prego pasta sauce.

The last time I used sauce from a can, my kids didn’t care for the taste. So what was I supposed to do with these two cans? Cook ‘em, of course .

I used:

2 cans of Prego mushroom carbonara sauce
1 large onion, diced
6 slices of back bacon, sliced long
spaghetti
2 tablespoons olive oil
dried parsley

Boil the spaghetti till al dente. In a non-stick pan, lightly fry the bacon in olive oil for about two minutes. Then add the onions and saute till they become translucent.

Pour in the carbonara sauce. Use a little water to rinse out the cans and pour that in as well. Bring to a simmer and add the spaghetti to the sauce. Mix well. Serve with a sprinkle of parsley.

I prefer mixing the spaghetti in the sauce while it’s still in the pan to spooning the sauce over the spaghetti because I find the sauce is more evenly distributed and sticks better.

Linguine or fettucine would’ve gone better with this sauce but I was fresh out of those so I used spaghetti instead. You can be really flexi with this and use any pasta you like or happen to have sitting around. Enjoy!

Mom’s mac and cheese

chili queen — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:25:08 +0000

My cousin’s kids practically grew up on macaroni and cheese. She swears it’s so easy it’s not even considered cooking. She throws a handful of cheese over some macaroni and sticks it into the microwave oven.

My kids have always refused to eat anything that even looks like mac and cheese so I’ve never had the occasion to make any. Never mind, I guess it’s not too late.

This week, Steev, my eldest, has suddenly decided he’s got a thing for mac and cheese after tasting it at Friday’s twice last month. I do agree it does taste pretty good but my girls still wouldn’t touch it.

My recipe is actually pretty simple. Here’s what I use:

5 handfuls of macaroni
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 teaspoons cornflour
butter
salt and black pepper to taste

I get a pot of water boiling. Salt it a little and add the macaroni. Meantime, I grease a deep baking tin with butter. When the macaroni is soft, I pour it into the tin.

I make a roue with cornflour and water, and pour it in. I would use milk but because of the recent melamine scare in China, I decide not to. So in goes the roue over the macaroni in the tin.

Then I pour the breadcrumbs in. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well with the mac. Top off with the cheese and bake at 180 degrees F for 25 minutes.

The smell is heavenly. Steev gobbled up this entire tin of mac and cheese for lunch. I admit the end result isn’t as rich and milkily cheesy as it’s supposed to be. Next time, I’ll use milk.

painless meatless spaghetti in red sauce

chili queen — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:38:14 +0000

I make the simplest spaghetti in town. I don’t have the luxury of making my own red sauce so I cheat a little by using pasta sauce in a bottle. It tastes good, saves me time, serves my purpose, so what the heck !

What I use is:

spaghetti, enough for 4 persons
350 grams or about 2 cups of Prego pasta sauce of your preferred flavor
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, chopped into small chunks
6-8 cherry tomatoes, halved
olive oil
parsley

I start off by boiling the spaghetti in lightly salted water till al dente. This shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes.

While that’s happening, I happily cut the onions, carrot and tomatoes. I cut the carrot into small chunks and blanch it first for a reason.

Carrots are hard and take longer to cook. By blanching it, it’ll be half cooked by the time it joins the rest of the ingredients in the pan.

I drizzle some olive oil into a non-stick pan on medium heat and saute the onion till transparent. Then in go the tomatoes and blanched carrot chunks, followed by a good shake of the pasta sauce from the bottle and a sprinkle of dried parsley.

No, I don’t use the pasta sauce straight from the bottle, uncooked. Even though the pasta sauce is supposed to come with onions, garlic and mushrooms, I like to add more of my own.

Sometimes I add more herbs and some sugar to tone down the tartness of the fresh tomatoes. On a good day, I’d throw in broccoli flowrets and French beans as well. Notice I don’t add any salt at all because that’s already in the bottled sauce.

So yeah, that’s it and it took me less than 30 minutes from start to finish. Lunch is served.

This is definitely a great recipe to have at short notice. We observe two vegetarian days a month and sometimes it’s hard finding vegetarian dishes the kids like. At the same time, since the kids love this, it’s a good way for me to reduce our meat consumption.

spiral pasta bake

chili queen — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:21:20 +0000

I have half a bag of Tesco’s spiral pasta left. I bought them to try but they’re much softer than my regular Australian brand, San Remo. My kids, the picky eaters that they are, knew right away that it was a different brand.

Today I decided to camouflage the softness of the spiral pasta by using them in my pasta bake. My kids loved it so much they didn’t notice the difference at all. Haha, gotcha !

Okay, here’s what you need for this very simple pasta bake.

2 cups of fusilli, or spiral pasta
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely cubed
100 grams of ground pork
2 cups Prego pasta sauce
1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
drizzle of olive oil
dried parsley

I first boil the spiral pasta in lightly salted water. I’m not worried about keeping it al dente because I’m going to bake it afterwards.

While waiting for the pasta to boil, I prepare the sauce. Drizzle some olive oil on my non-stick pan to saute the onions, garlic, carrots and ground pork.

I add some water to soften the carrots before adding the pasta sauce. Bring to a quick boil, give it a quick stir and remove from heat.

I grease a baking pan lightly with olive oil. Next I throw in the drained spiral pasta, pour the sauce over it and stir to mix well.

Top off with a generous amount of the two cheeses and a quick sprinkle of dried parsley.

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes. I turned off the oven but left the pasta bake in while I went to pick up my daughter from school. Twenty minutes gives the pasta time to absorb the sauce and for the cheese topping to brown a little more.

I had a fairly large pan (photo shows a quarter of my actual pan), enough to feed 3 hungry teens just back from school. The spiral pasta was soft and made a great base.

The dish wasn’t too meaty but had a bite to it. Although I used quite a lot of onions and garlic, the taste wasn’t overpowering. Very nice. Go ahead, give it a try .

pasta @ All-Star Sports, Midvalley

chili queen — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 06:43:50 +0000

I discovered All-Star Sports when my Scottish friend and I decided to have lunch at Midvalley Megamall. As the name suggests, it’s a sports cafe with giant TV screens and pool tables where sports fans congregate over a few beers. Presumably the bulk of their business would be after hours. But surprisingly, they’re also open for lunch.

My all-time favorite is their Fettucine Alfredo that’s practically swimming in this fabulous cream sauce, complete with shredded oyster mushroom, ham strips and olives. Trust me, it’s one of the best fettucine alfredos I’ve ever tasted. Don’t look at the price and don’t let the word ‘fattening’ enter your mind and you’re on your way to culinary heaven!

Their Pasta Ai Fungi is a lighter, vegetarian version with spaghetti and a mountain of black and oyster mushrooms. It’s less saucy than the Alfredo but has a distinct mushroomy fragrance.

For the non-pasta fans, they have a great Crispy Chicken with Rice. The onion and deep-fried chicken chunks cooked in sweet-sour sauce gives it a great crunch. Very nice.

My perception has always been that the food can’t be all that good at sports cafes. But All-Star has convinced me otherwise. They’re on the ground floor of Midvalley, just across from Starbucks.