Shrimp, tomato and spinach pasta

I've made some changes to the recipe from the original source. I couldn't find any fresh basil from the supermarket, and so, I used baby spinach as substitue. I also used 3 more extra cloves of garlic coz the husband likes a stronger garlic flavour in his pasta dishes. And I think the overall flavour was just nice for us.

Shrimp, tomato and spinach pasta (recipe adapted from : here)

Ingredients:

- 1 1/2 pound(s) medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (tails removed)
- Coarse salt
- Ground pepper
- 6 teaspoon(s) olive oil
- 2 clove(s) garlic, minced 
- 1 can(s) (14 1/2-ounce) diced tomatoes in juice
- 1 pint(s) cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 pound(s) linguine
- 1 1/2 cup(s) lightly packed fresh basil leaves (I substituted with baby spinach leaves)

Directions:

1) Season shrimp with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat 4 teaspoons oil over high. Add shrimp; cook until opaque throughout, turning occasionally, 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl; set aside.

2) Make sauce: To the same skillet, add remaining 2 teaspoons oil and garlic; cook over medium heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add canned tomatoes and their juice, along with 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes have softened and are saucy, about 15 minutes. Remove sauce from heat; stir in cherry tomatoes.

3) Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain; return pasta to pot. Add tomato sauce, shrimp, and basil; season with salt and pepper, and toss. Serve immediately, garnished with basil leaves, if desired. 

Pasta with chicken and mushrooms

There is a slight difference in one of the main ingredients in this recipe, that is the Italian pork and fennel sausage. I really didn't know if it was sold anywhere in Singapore, much less in any supermarket near my place. Therefore, I substituted it with just plain normal minced chicken, which I seasoned with a little salt and black pepper and set it aside for a while before cooking.

However, if there is any chance that I could get the Italian sausage, I would certainly try this again. :)

Pasta with pork and fennel sausages (adapted from "Quick and Easy workday dinners")
Serves 4

Ingredients :

6 Italian pork and fennel sausages (I substituted with minced chicken)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
300g field or button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme
500g penne rigate
grated Parmesan, to serve


Directions :

1) Split the sausage open, remove and crumble the filling, then discard the skins.

2) Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and cook the onion for 3-4 minutes, or until fragrant and transparent. Add the garlic, chilli flakes, mushrooms and crumbled sausage meat. Cook over high heat, stirring gently to mash the sausage meat, for 4-5 minutes, or until the meat is evenly browned.

If necessary, use a tablespoon to remove any excess fat from the pan, leaving about a tablespoon of oil. Continue to cook, stirring once or twice, for 10 minutes.

3) Stir in the tomato and thyme, then bring the sauce to the boil. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the sauce doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.

4) Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large saucepan of rapidly boiling salted water according to the packet instructions until al dente. Drain well, then add to the sauce, stirring gently to combine. Garnish with Parmesan, then serve immediately.

Spaghetti with onion and zucchini

Yes, I hear you... "Zucchini again?"

As I've mentioned before, I would usually cook dishes with repeated ingredients one after another coz I bought too many, or because they were cheaper when bought in sets of 2 or more. But this round, it was not as 'stressful' since I was only cooking for the husband and myself. ;)

Linguine with zucchini and onions (adapted from "Thirty Minute Pasta by Giuliano Hazan")

Serves 4

Ingredients :

1 medium to large sweet yellow onion

4 tablespoons butter

Salt

1 ¼ pounds zucchini

Freshly ground black pepper

1 pound linguine

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions :

1.     Fill a pot for the pasta with about 6 quarts of water, place over high heat and bring to a boil.

2.     Peel the onions and very thinly slice them crosswise. Put the butter in a 12-inch skillet, add the sliced onions, and place over medium-high heat. Season lightly with salt and saute until the onions begin to turn a rich, golden colour, 6 to 8 minutes.

3.     While the onions are sauteing, wash the zucchini, cut off the ends, and slice into half moons about ¼ inch thick.

4.     When the onions are ready, add the zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini are quite tender and have started lightly browning, 12 to 15 minutes.

5.     After the zucchini have cooked about 10 minutes, add about 2 tablespoons salt to the boiling pasta water, add the linguine, and stir until all the strands are submerged. Cook until al dente.

6.     When the pasta is done, drain well, toss with the sauce and the Parmigiano-Reggiano, and serve at once.

Spaghetti with sausage and zucchini

After dunno-how-many months, the cooking finally started again. Actually the husband was the one who "pushed" me to start cooking coz he had been harping on how long it has been since he last had home-cooked pasta. *Thanks for the 'vote' of confidence, dear!* ;p

Since it would be a meal for 6, I chose something simple and easy to cook.

Spaghetti with sausage and zucchini (adapted from "Thirty Minute Pasta by Giuliano Hazan)
Serves 4

Ingredients :

½ medium yellow onion

3 tablespoons butter

8 ounces plain pork sausages

12 ounces zucchini

Salt

1 pound fresh tomatoes

1 pound fusilli (shells are also good)

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions :

1.     Fill a pot for the pasta with about 6 quarts of water, place over high heat and bring to a boil.

2.     Peel and finely chop the onion. Put the butter in a 12-inch skillet, add the chopped onion, and place over medium-high heat. Saute until the onion just begins to turn a rich, golden colour, about 5 minutes.

3.     While the onion is sauteing, remove the casing from the sausage and break it up into pieces. When the onion is ready, add the sausage to the pan. Break the sausage up into small pieces with a wooden spoon and cook, stirring often, until the sausage is slightly browned, about 2 to 3 minutes.

4.     While the sausage is cooking, wash the zucchini. Remove the ends, cut into quarters lengthwise, and then cut across into ½-inch chunks. When the sausage has lightly browned, add the zucchini. Season lightly with salt and cook until the zucchini begins to brown and is mostly tender, 6 to 8 minutes.

5.     While the zucchini is cooking, peel the tomatoes and coarsely chop them. When the zucchini is ready, add the tomatoes and season lightly with salt, and cook until most of the liquid the tomatoes release has evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes.

6.     When the tomatoes are halfway done, add about 2 tablespoons salt to the boiling pasta water, add the fusilli, and stir well. Cook until al dente.

7.     When the pasta is done, drain well, toss with the sauce and the grated cheese, and serve at once.

Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta

This has been one long overdue post. And I apologise for that shadow at the corner of the photo. I think that I was too hungry at that time to care to re-take another proper photo. I could still remember that it was delicious, despite looking a bit sad in this picture.

Garlic Butter Shrimp Pasta (recipe from here)

Ingredients :

- 1 lb raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and tails removed
- 3 cloves garlic, minced – divided
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon basil, chopped fine (I substituted with dried parsley)
- 4 oz dry linguine
- Grated parmesan

Directions :

1) Place the shrimp in a bowl and add one teaspoon of garlic, the lemon zest and the vegetable oil.  Stir and let marinate while the pasta cooks.

2) Cook the pasta according to the package instructions, but cook for one minute less than instructed.

3) During the last three minutes of the pasta cooking time heat the butter in  a large skillet until it foams.  Add the remaining garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the shrimp with the marinade and cook for 30 seconds, or until the shrimp are just turning pink.  Add the basil and stir to combine.

4) Reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid, then drain the pasta and add it directly to the pan – work quickly or your shrimp will over cook.  Stir to combine, allowing the shrimp and past to cook the rest of the way, about one minute more.  If the sauce does not coat the pasta completely add a bit of the cooking liquid to thin it out.

5) Top with grated parmesan and a spritz of lemon juice.  Enjoy.

Salmon and Broccoli Spaghetti

I made this about 2 weeks ago, when the husband and I were both attacked by the flu bug. The husband was worse off than I was, he got the cough as well. So, when he mentioned he wanted to eat at home for dinner, I had to think of something that was suitable for the sick. And according to my mother and Chinese physician, it is not good to take chicken when you are having a cough, though there are no real scientific evidence, but I had some experience in that, so I'd rather avoid it till we're ok.

So, off I went to the Internet (what would I do without it??!) to search for a quick and simple dinner. And I came across one with minimal ingredients, and decided to tweak it by adding some broccoli for a more balanced meal.

Salmon and Broccoli Spaghetti (recipe adapted from here)
2 servings

Ingredients :

- 1 steak salmon
- 200ml whipping cream
- spaghetti for 2
- broccoli florets
- 1 teaspoon tomato puree
- a little butter for frying
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (I omitted this)

Directions :

1) Season the salmon with some salt and black pepper. Then put it into the oven at 220 degrees Celsius for about 10-15 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of the salmon.

2)While the salmon is baking, boil the water and cook the spaghetti. When the water boils, what I did was to scoop some out to blanch the broccoli separately. Leave the broccoli in the water for about 3-5 minutes, then drain and set them aside.

3) When the salmon is cooked, it should be light pink and be able to flake apart easily when prodded with a fork. Break the salmon in the desired size and set aside.

4) When the pasta is within a few minutes of being done, heat up a pan and melt the butter over low heat. Add in the whipping cream, cayenne pepper (if using), tomato puree, salmon, broccoli, and salt and pepper to taste.

5) Gently heat this for a few minutes until hot (but NOT boiling), then add in the spaghetti, mixing it well to coat with the sauce. Serve immediately.

Sausage and Pasta

As I've mentioned before, it will be expected to see repeated ingredients from a previous dish as I can't vary the amount to be bought to suit to just the two of us. So, here it is again, the last Polish sausage from dinner previously. I adapted this from a real simple recipe, and the difference is that, the original calls for beer, but mine has chicken stock instead. Coz the husband and I are not beer persons. However, I might still give the beer version a try some time.

Sausage and Pasta (adapted from here)

1 serving

Ingredients :

- sphagetti for one

- 1 Polish sausage, sliced

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

- about 1/3 cup of chicken stock

- pepper to taste

- red pepper flakes (optional)

- dried parsley for garnish

Directions :

1) Heat up some olive oil in a pan. Saute the onion for a few seconds. Then add in the garlic and sausage to saute for about 3-4 minutes.

2) Add pepper and red pepper flakes (if using) to taste.

3) Add the chicken stock, cover, and let the liquid reduce to a little less than half on high heat. You can cook the pasta while the sauce is reducing.

(Note : I didn't add any salt because the chicken stock and the sausage provided enough saltiness for me, however, you can always adjust it according to your taste after you add in the chicken stock)

4) Serve the sausage and onion over the pasta. Make sure you get the sauce over everything. Enjoy!

Sausage and Mushroom Sphagetti

When it comes to cooking, I like to have a bit of time to plan ahead. Time to think of what to cook, time to look through my recipes collection slowly and see which is the one that will catch my attention that day. But once in a while, dinner plans will pop up at the last minute and I just had to come up with something fast. And so, here is my quick and easy sausage and mushroom sphagetti :

Sausage and Mushroom Sphagetti

2 servings

Ingredients :

- sphagetti for two

- 2 Polish sausages, sliced (I bought 3 Polish sausages for $5.50 from Cold Storage)

- 1 pack (~125g) white mushrooms, sliced

- 4 cloves of garlic, minced (coz the husband likes a lot of garlic in his food)

- half a bottle of pasta sauce (from the 397g kind, can adjust according to your preference for the sauciness)

- handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped

- black pepper

- grated Parmesan cheese

Directions :

1) Cook sphagetti according to the package instructions. 

2) Meanwhile, heat up some olive oil in pan and stir-fry the sausages till the oil is released. Dish out the sausages and set aside, leaving the oil in the pan.

3) Add in the mushroom and garlic, and fry till the mushroom is almost cooked. Add in the cooked sausages and fry for a few seconds.

4) Add in the pasta sauce and basil, and stir to combine all the ingredients together, until the sauce has been heated up.

5) Turn off the heat and add in the cooked spaghetti to the sauce, or vice versa. Season with black pepper and your desired amount of Parmesan cheese. Serve.

Chicken Pasta

I've decided that I had enough of outside food, and so it's back to simple home-cooked pasta again. With the use of chicken broth in this recipe, I was worried that it might turned out to be kind of soupy.. which is weird for a pasta dish. However, my worry was pointless. The moment the pasta and the sauce were mixed together, the broth was soaked up nicely and the dish turned out to be quite flavourful.

Chicken Pasta (recipe from here)

Ingredients :

- 1 pound of linguine

- 1 pound of chicken breast (I used chicken fillets)

- olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- red pepper flakes (as much or as little as you like)
- salt
- juice of 2 lemons
- 1/2 cup (or more or less, depends on how much sauce you want) low sodium chicken broth
- handful chopped parsley (I used dried parsley flakes)
- handful grated parmesan cheese
 
Directions :
 
1) Start out by boiling the water for your pasta, as that always takes the longest for me. Cook your pasta according to the instructions on the box.

2) Cut up your chicken, and set aside. In a large skillet heat up enough olive oil to cover bottom of pan. Add in garlic and sautee until tender, this should take a few minutes. Add in salt (about a tsp. or so) and red pepper flakes and cook for a minute.

3) Add in chicken and cook through. Once chicken is pretty much cooked through, add in lemon juice, and quickly bring to a simmer. Next add in chicken broth, and bring to a simmer again, yet let it simmer for 5-10 minutes.

4) Once pasta is cooked, either add the chicken mixture to the pasta, or vice versa, depending on how large your pot is. Sprinkle in parsley and cheese, and mix together.

Spicy Garlic Shrimp and Tomato Spaghetti

It's sometimes quite frustrating when it comes to buying ingredients for two, or even one. The quantities for most ingredients are pre-packed and limited in the supermarket. For example, I'm forced to buy a whole big bunch of packed parsley which most likely will last the 2 of us for the next 2 weeks, instead of just a handful which I only need to keep for a few days.

So, it's not much surprise that I had been cooking for the past 3 days. And even less surprising is that, all 3 were pasta dishes. I guess it can't be helped since the ingredients (cherry tomatoes, fresh parsley, sour cream) I bought were more suited for cooking pasta than anything else, or most likely, simpler for a lazy person like myself. ;p

However, I think I have reached my 'limit'. It's time to take a step back from pasta for a while. Let me look through my bookmarked recipes to see what else I can try next. :)

Spicy Garlic Shrimp and Tomato Spaghetti (recipe from : here)
4 servings

Ingredients :

• 2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 pound spaghetti
• 1/2 pound shelled and deveined medium shrimp, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 pint small yellow pear or red grape tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced rosemary
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Directions :

1) In a small skillet, cook the bread crumbs in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Scrape the bread crumbs onto a plate.

2) In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the spaghetti until just barely al dente. Drain the spaghetti, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.

3) Meanwhile, in a large, deep skillet, combine the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil with the shrimp, tomatoes, garlic, rosemary and crushed red pepper. Add the spaghetti and the reserved cooking water to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderately high heat, tossing the pasta and lightly crushing the tomatoes, until the sauce is slightly thickened and the shrimp are cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer the spaghetti to bowls, sprinkle the bread crumbs on top and serve.

Creamy Mushroom and Ham Pasta

Apologies first to those who might stumble accidentally upon this post, thinking there is some wonderfully delicious creamy pasta. Well, I may not have the perfect photo, but I have the recipe.

I know. You are probably wondering where is the "creamy" part of this dish. It looks so 'pale' and not that appetizing. You might even wonder whether those are tiny bits of scrambled eggs. I guess they are. Sort of.

After the success of the creamy shrimp pasta the night before, I decided to be more 'adventurous' and try my hand at cream + egg combi. (since I still had about half cup of sour cream leftover from the day before) I often read about how difficult it is to make a cream sauce with eggs in it, coz the amount of heat needs to be right so that the eggs won't scrambled, but remain smooth and creamy, like that of a carbonara sauce. But as you can see, mine didn't turned out like that at all.

I was thinking whether or not it was a good idea to put up this 'failed' attempt. But then, it might be a good reference for me, if, and when, I decide to try it again in the future. Also, it didn't taste as bad as it looks. Lucky for me.

Creamy Mushroom and Ham Pasta (recipe adapted from : The Australian Women's Weekly Pasta Cookbook)

4 servings

Ingredients :

- 250g fusilli pasta

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1 medium brown onion, chopped finely

- 4 bacon rashers, sliced thinly (I used 2 slices of ham instead)

- 2 tablespoons of pine nuts (Couldn't find this, so I omitted it)

- 250g mushrooms, sliced thinly

- 1/2 cup sour cream

- 1 egg, beaten lightly

- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions :

1) Cook pasta in a large pan of boiling water, uncovered, until just tender; drain.

2) Heat oil in pan; cook onion, bacon and pine nuts, stirring until onion is soft. Add mushrooms; cook, stirring, until mushrooms are soft. Stir in combined sour cream, egg, cheese and parsley; stir over low heat until heated through. Serve over pasta.

Spicy Shrimp and Fettuccine

I had been wanting to try out a cream-based pasta for a long time. As the husband is not really a fan of creamed pasta, I decided to start off with one that has a combination of cream and tomato sauce. And it got a thumbs-up from the husband. :)

Spicy Shrimp and Fettuccine (recipe from : here)
4 servings

Ingredients :

- 8 ounces (1/2 lb) uncooked fettuccine
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 2 cups chopped plum tomato (about 5) (I used cherry tomatoes)
- 2 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon dried basil (I used fresh curly parsley)
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions :

1) Cook pasta according to the package directions. Drain.

2) Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add red pepper and garlic to pan; sauté 1 minute. Add shrimp; sauté 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes, sour cream, tomato paste, basil and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in pasta; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated.

3) Place 1 1/2 cups pasta mixture on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1 tablespoon cheese. Serve immediately.

Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil

I don't usually have the 'motivation' to cook when I'm alone at home. The thought of washing up after that would be enough to deter me most of the time, and I would end up buying food from outside. But once in a while, I'm even lazier to drag my butt out of the house. And today is one of those days.

Thanks to this cookbook I borrowed from the library a few days ago, I managed to find some really simple pasta dishes that I can cook for myself without much fuss. Also, if you are trying out this dish, do note that there is a difference between the flat leaf parsley stated in the recipe, as to the curly parsley I used (bought from NTUC).

Spaghetti with Garlic and Oil (recipe from : The Best Ever One-Pot Cookbook by Jenni Fleetwood)

Note : the following quantity is for 4 servings

Ingredients :

- 400g fresh / dried spaghetti
- 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 - 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 dried red chilli (I substituted with red chilli flakes)
- 1 small handful of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped (I could only find curly parsley)
- salt

Directions :

1) Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted boiling water, according to the packet instructions, until it is just tender, adding plenty of salt to the water* (see note below).

2) When the pasta is just tender, drain it using a large colander, then transfer it to a warmed, large serving bowl.

3) Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the garlic and dried chilli and stir over low heat for a minute or two until the garlic is just beginning to brown. Remove the dried chilli and discard.

4) Pour the hot olive oil and cooked garlic mixture over the pasta, add the chopped parsley and toss vigourously until pasta glistens, then serve immediately.

* Note : Don't use salt when you are preparing the hot oil, garlic and chilli mixture, because the salt will not dissolve sufficiently. This is why plenty of salt is recommended for cooking the pasta.

And being a cheese person, I added a handful of grated Parmesan cheese to the pasta in the end so the saltiness of the dish is just right. :)

Pork Cannelloni

I would like to apologise for the terrible photo. It is really difficult to get a good shot at food with pasta sauce and baked cheese, everything always look like a mess no matter from which angle.

With that said, I always thought that it is not very common to use pork in pasta dishes. But I had a pack of minced pork bought the day before, as I was planning to make something else. However, I couldn't get the main ingredient so the pork ended up in here.

Since I couldn't find the frozen lasagna sheets, I thought using the hard ones might do. I just need to soak it in slightly salted hot water to soften it. But somehow, that didn't work very well, and the lasagna sheets were a little too chewy. Luckily, they were still edible and not that bad. The following is made up of bits and pieces of instructions I had read up on different cannelloni recipes.

Pork Cannelloni

2 servings

Ingredients :

- 4 (17cm x 12cm) lasagna sheets
- 1 cup minced pork
- 1 tablespoon bread crumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons of stock
- 1 bottle 575g pasta sauce (I used less than that amount)
- Shredded Parmesan cheese
- Shredded Mozarella cheese
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions :

To make the pork filling,

1) Brown the chopped onion and garlic in olive oil and add the meat, spreading it out well across the frying pan so that it cooks evenly.

2) Season with salt and pepper. Add in the stock, cover and leave to cook over a low heat until the stock has evaporated. Turn off the heat and add the bread crumbs, mix in with the meat, and leave to cool. When the meat is cooled, add in the egg. Mix well.

Note : As the stock and the pasta sauce are already salted, I would suggest to just add a tiny amount of salt at this stage. Or maybe not add any at all. It all depends on how salty you like your pasta to be.

To assemble the cannelloni,

1) Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

2) Spread the some pasta sauce over the the baking dish.

3) Taking a lasagna sheet, spoon the desired amount of meat at one end of the sheet. Roll up the sheet around the meat and place the seam side down over the tomato sauce in the baking dish. Repeat with the other lasagna sheets and the rest of the pork.

4) Cover the cannelloni with the rest of the pasta sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan and Mozarella, before placing a sheet of aluminium foil over the top and placing in the oven.

5) After 10 minutes, remove the aluminium foil and leave to cook for another 20 minutes, or until the cheese begins to brown.

Note : For my case, the cheese browns in less than 20 minutes.

Baked pasta (1)

After a failed attempt at baked pasta quite some time back (coz everything became too dry), I decided to give it a try again after reading through some recipes. I also realised that it's important to have a mixture of cheeses when it comes to baked pasta. And I was so glad that everything turned out good this time, though the amount was a bit too much for the 2 of us. So, here is my own (successful) baked pasta recipe.

Ingredients :

- 250g of fusilli pasta
- 1 onion, cut into strips
- 4 shittake mushrooms
- 2 sausages (I used garlic pork sausages)
- about 370g of pasta sauce
- 1/4 cup of water
- shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese, amount depends on how cheesy you like your pasta to be

Directions :

1) Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius.

2) Bring a pot of slightly salted water to boil and cook the fusilli according to instructions on the box. It is good to overcook the pasta a little, maybe about 2-3 minutes so it will not be too tough after baking.

3) Add a bit of oil into the frying pan and cook the sausages for about 4 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

4) In the same pan, add in the onion and cook till it starts to soften and add in the mushrooms (I did it this way coz the mushrooms will get cooked faster than the onion). Return the sausage to the pan and stir to combine. Add in the fusilli, pasta sauce and water. Mix well. Remove from heat.

5) Using a glass baking dish, I spread out half of the pasta, followed by a mixture of the two cheeses, then cover it with the remaining pasta, and some more cheese on top.

6) Put into the oven and baked till the cheese on top turns slightly brown and bubbly.

Spaghetti with Parmesan and tomatoes

As the recipe looks simple and fast enough, I decided to try it out one evening for a one-person dinner. There was no need to make any trip to the supermarket as I had everything on hand, including the cherry tomatoes I had left from the garlic toast previously. I was quite surprised that, despite it looking quite plain from the photo, the dish was tasty. As for the pecorino romano cheese mentioned in the original recipe, I did some research for a substitute and, what did you know, grated parmesan was the chosen one.

Spaghetti with Parmesan and tomatoes (Original recipe from here)

4 servings

- 1 (14.5 ounce) package multi-grain pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 3 cups halved cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
- salt

Directions :

1) Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil. Cook according to package directions. Strain pasta but reserve 1/2 cup of the water.

2) Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add pepper. Cook 1 minute. Add tomatoes cook 30 seconds.

3) Pour reserved pasta water into the skillet. Return pasta to the skillet, sprinkle with 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Toss continually until cheese melts. Add salt if desired. Cook 3 minutes, the water should absorb. Sprinkle with a little more cheese and serve.

Note : I didn't add any salt to this dish as I know the cheese will be salty enough for me.

Chicken Meatballs with Spaghetti

Since I had some unexpected off days this past week, I decided to try something new instead of the usual spaghetti with sausages and ham. And so, here are my chicken meatballs draining on a kitchen towel...


Chicken meatballs may not sound as tasty as beef or pork meatballs to some, but this is really quite good though abit dry as expected. I don't really know how to cook beef, and there is this really 'piggish' kind of taste in the packaged pork selling in supermarkets, so I always go for chicken.

However, I felt that meatballs are not that easy to be pan-fried. So the next time I try this again, they will be in patties, not balls.

Chicken Meatballs For Spaghetti (from : Recipezaar)

4 servings

Ingredients

- 1 lb ground chicken
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons fresh oregano (or the equivalent dried)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

1) Place ground chicken,egg,1/2 cup Parmesan,bread crumbs, garlic,oregano and 1/2 tsp salt in a medium bowl.

2) Knead mixture together with hand till evenly combined.

3) Form mixture into 1-inch balls.

4) In large non-stick skillet,warm olive oil over high heat.

5) Place meatballs in pan,up to 8 at a time,and cook until all sides are browned,approximately 8 minutes for each meatball.

6) Remove with slotted spoon,and add to your favorite spaghetti sauce.

Linguine with Shrimp and Basil

After 2 weeks of reservist, the husband mentioned that he felt like having some shrimp pasta and salmon. I was also craving for some pasta myself. So, I decided to cook something fast and simple. The following recipe was based on a creamy sauce shrimp pasta. But the husband doesn't like cream sauce, so I modified it some.

Linguine with Shrimp and Basil

Ingredients:

- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- linguine for two
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- 8 large shrimp - peeled and deveined
- 1 can Italian-style diced tomatoes, drained
- 1/4 cup dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- Parmesan cheese, for serving
- salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of slightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente, about 7 - 8 minutes. Place pasta in a colander, and give it a quick rinse with cold water.

2. Heat butter in a 10 inch skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic, stirring constantly, until the garlic is tender, about 1 minute. Do not let the garlic burn.

3. Stir tomatoes, wine, parsley, and basil into the skillet. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced by half, 7 to 10 minutes. Add shrimp, and continue cooking until the shrimp turned pink, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

4. Serve the shrimp mixture over the pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Shrimp Spirals

Sorry to disappoint if you are expecting something special with the name of the dish. It's just plain old tomato-sauced spiral pasta (below) with shrimps and mushrooms.

The husband and I thought it was something different from the normal pasta which we usually had and decided to give it a try, though honestly, I knew the taste would not be any different. And in case you didn't know, the orangy ones are supposed to be tomato-flavoured, and the green ones, spinach, and of course there is the normal wheat ones.

Once again, I tried to get rid of whatever ingredients that are still sitting around in my fridge, like the shiitake mushrooms and shrimps, which I bought two days ago.

Shrimp Spirals

2 servings

Ingredients :
- 1 1/2 cups of spiral pasta
- 1 bottle (14 oz.) of pasta sauce (Do not use the whole bottle if you don't like your pasta too sour)
- 8 shrimps, shelled and deveined
- 3 shiitake mushrooms, cut into strips
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- cooking oil
- salt and pepper
- red pepper flakes (optional)
- dried parsley

Directions :
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 7 to 8 minutes or until al dente; drain.

2. Heat up some cooking oil in a frying pan and add in the garlic. Stir-fry till the garlic becomes fragrant then add in the mushrooms and shrimps.

3. When the shrimps are just turning pink, add in the drained pasta, stir-fry for about 1 minute, then add in the pasta sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste, then garnish with dried parsley, if desired.

Aglio Olio with baked salmon

Got a piece of salmon from Mama and decided to get rid of it soon before I forgot its existence in my freezer. So, found a salmon recipe and made dinner last evening with the remaining linguine.

I didn't actually follow the recipe, just used whatever I had at home, minus the bread crumbs and thyme. It still turned out good and crispy, though I guess with the bread crumbs might be crispier. By the way, please be prepared to have a kitchen and your whole body smelling of baked salmon if you ever want to do this.

For the linguine this time, I followed Yun's and Kenny's advice (since they sounded like experts on it) to add some olive oil while boiling the pasta. The result : maybe there was a teeny weeny bit of improvement, as in the linguine didn't feel as uncooked as before.

Aglio Olio

4 - 6 servings

Ingredients:
- Spaghetti
- Olive oil (about 4-6 tablespoons)
- Lots of garlic (at least 3 cloves)
- ½ teaspoon chili peppers (optional)
- ½ teaspoon seasoned salt
- 4 tablespoons parsley(or any other greens, like spring onions)
- Parmigiano Reggiano (about 2 handfuls)


Directions:

1. Cook spaghetti until barely al dente (about 7 minutes)


2. In large pan heat the olive oil and seasoned salt and sauté until garlic is barely golden. Stir in parsley and remove from heat.

3. Drain spaghetti and add to pan with oil and garlic. Add parmesan cheese and toss quickly.

4. Transfer to serving dish and serve immediately. Sprinkle with parmesan to garnish.


Lemon Herbed Salmon (from : allrecipes)

4 servings

Ingredients:
- 1 to 1/4 cups fresh bread crumbs
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
- 1/2 (3 pound) salmon fillet

Directions:
1. In a shallow bowl, combine bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Parmesan cheese, thyme, lemon peel and salt; mix well. Add 4 tablespoons butter and toss lightly to coat; set aside.

2. Pat salmon dry. Place skin side down in a greased baking dish. Brush with remaining butter; cover with crumb mixture. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with a fork.