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. 

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.

One Pot

This kind of one pot dish is not only simple to cook, but also allows you the flexibility to add whatever you like into it. There is also less washing up to do, and is one complete meal when served with rice. Do refer to the original recipe for more ideas for ingredients if you are cooking for more than 2 persons.

One Pot (recipe adapted from here)
2 servings

Ingredients :

- 1 tube silken tofu
- 1 pack of Shimeji mushroom
- 1 broccoli
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 4 mini fishcakes, cut into 3 pieces each
- 8 grey prawns, shelled and deviened
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can chicken broth (~240ml)
- fried shallots, as garnish

Directions :

1) Marinate prawns with salt and pepper. Set aside for 10 mins.

2) Cut away the bottom part of the mushrooms and separate them. Blanch in hot water for a few minutes til they turned slightly soft. Drain and set aside.

3) Blanch broccoli and carrot in some oil with hot boiling water. Drain and set aside separately.

4) Heat up some oil in a claypot. Saute garlic til fragrant.

5) Add in carrots and stir-fry for a few minutes. Then add in the fishcakes and stir-fry for a few seconds.

6) Add in the chicken broth, and braise at medium heat for about 5 minutes. After that, give the soup a taste to see if salt needs to be added. (I didn't add any seasonings coz the canned chicken broth is already salty enough.)

7) Add in prawns, and simmer till they just turned pink. Add in the mushrooms, broccoli and tofu. Let it simmer for another 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, garnish with fried shallots and serve hot.

Tiger Prawns Noodle Soup

Are you a rice or noodle person? I mean, do you have a special preference for one over the other? For me, I'm more of a noodle person. I eat almost any kind of noodles, no matter their shapes and sizes, from Chinese vermicelli to kway teow (flat rice noodles) to spaghetti. I can eat them most of the times without ever missing my rice. Maybe it is because there are so many different noodles, and so, even more ways to cook them that make them so appealing. And when it comes to cooking for one, noodles are so much easier to deal with than rice.

I didn't follow any specific recipe for this noodle soup, but did adapt some steps from here.

Tiger Prawns Noodle Soup
1 serving

Ingredients :

- 1 serving of noodles (I used the one from instant noodles, which is just the right serving for one)
- 5 tiger prawns, shelled and de-veined
- 2 fresh shittake mushrooms, sliced
- 1 small bunch of bok choy
- 1 can (14 oz. , which is about 396g) chicken stock
- 2 small shallots, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 small piece of ginger, sliced and cut into thin strips
- salt, to taste
- cooking oil
- a handful of chopped spring onions, for garnish (optional)
- a handful of fried shallots, for garnish (optional)

Directions :

1) Put a pot of water to boil and add in the instant noodles (without any seasonings). Cook the noodles for less than the normal time required and drain away the water. Put the noodles aside.

2) Heat up the chicken stock in a pot.

3) Meanwhile, heat up the cooking oil in the wok, and add the garlic, ginger and shallot and stir-fry for less than a minute, just to release their aromas.

4) Add the prawns, and stir-fry for less than a minute, then add the button mushrooms and stir-fry with the prawns for less than a minute. Lastly, add in the bok choy and stir-fry all together for less than a minute.

5) Slowly pour in the chicken stock into the wok. Stir to combine the ingredients and stock, and give it a taste at this point to see if salt needs to be added. Once done with the seasoning, pour everything over the noodles, add garnishes and serve immediately.

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.

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.

Char Kway Teow

Yes, yes, I know my char kway teow is much 'paler' than the original ones that we are used to (unless we are talking about the Penang one). I only eyeballed the dark soy sauce amount, but I think there would not be much difference to the overall taste, except maybe a more distinct sweetness of the sauce if I had put in more.

In fact, this is one dish that I didn't really follow the measurements from the recipe. I only used it as a guide to get the ingredients and the steps to frying it. And I'm glad to say that it turned out quite well. However, I didn't really read the blog post well enough to see the suggestion : The trick to this dish is to use high heat and cooked one serving at a time for maximum 'wok hey' (wok's breath). I'll be sure to keep this in mind coz I know there will be a next time. :)

Char Kway Teow (Recipe from here )

Ingredients :

- 250 gm Kueh Teow (flat rice noodles)
- 150 gm prawns - shelled
- 100 grm of meat or cockles (I used char siew)
- a handful of beansprouts
- 5 stalks chives or spring onions - cut into 2cm lengths
- 2 eggs
- 3 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
- 2 tsp of chili paste - optional
- 3 tbsp of light sauce sauce
- 2 tbsp of dark soy sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste

Directions :

1. Heat up wok to high heat, add oil and garlic and fry till fragrant.

2. Add prawns, meat and ground chili and stir-fry for about 20 secs.

3. Add noodles, stir fry for a few second, add in soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Continue to fry until everything is well combined. Add in beansprouts.

4. Push mixture to edge of wok, add a little oil in centre. Add and fry the eggs and then mix everything together. Check seasoning.

5. Lastly add in chives or spring onions and give the noodles a few toss.

6. Dish out and serve hot.

Shrimp Wontons... from a box

After hearing some rave reviews about CP Shrimp Wontons from his colleagues, the husband decided to get a box to try it over the weekend.

Honestly, I'm rather skeptical when it comes to frozen boxed foods (except ice-cream, of course). I have the thinking that, if it is frozen, it will never taste as good as the real thing. Even if my cooking is bad, at least whatever I used is fresh. Maybe it's the constant influence from my mother. She was always talking about how frozen food will never compare to the fresh ones we bought from the market, blah, blah. When I was still living with her, I don't remember ever seeing any frozen boxed foods in the freezer.

Anyway, the husband was quite excited over these wontons and volunteered to cook them with some noodles for brunch.

I was quite surprised when I saw the cooked wontons. I didn't expect them to be so big, and from the looks of it, the skin was thin, and the shrimp inside was huge. There was absolutely nothing in the wonton skin except this big, fat succulent shrimp. I didn't think that once frozen and thawed, the shrimp could still remain so plump and juicy. Maybe some help came from the small packs of seasonings that came with the wontons to flavour the soup, but whatever it is, I'm sold.

Aromatic Noodles with Seared Salmon

I've decided to give myself a treat by getting 5 tiger prawns for $2 to cook with the noodles, when in fact, the actual recipe suggests salmon. But as I was having brunch alone over the weekend, it was more practical to get prawns rather than a whole piece of salmon which I could never finish alone. I think it doesn't matter what kind of seafood you use. The main point is the noodles.

It might seemed a lot of ingredients just to fry the noodles, but it sure turned out good. I really like the distinct taste of ginger that comes along with every bite. However, I omitted the fish sauce as I didn't think it wise to buy one whole bottle just for this dish. So, I'm not sure whether there would be much difference with it or not. And I didn't buy soba noodles as suggested, but used my leftover noodles from a previous dish.

Aromatic Noodles with Seared Salmon

(adapted from Marie Claire : Easy by Michele Cranston)

4 servings

Ingredients :

- 7 ounces soba noodles

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- four 6-ounce salmon fillets

- 1 teaspoon sesame oil

- 2 garlic cloves, crushed

- 1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger

- 2 large red chillies, seeded and finely chopped

- 4 scallions (spring onions), finely sliced

- 1 teaspoon lime juice

- 1 tablespoon soy sauce

- 1 teaspoon fish sauce

- 1 bunch garlic chives (about 1 ounce), snipped into 3/4-inch lengths

Directions :

1) Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the noodles until they are al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water and set aside.

2) Heat a large frying pan or wok over high heat and add half the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the salmon, skin side down, and cook for 1 minute. Turn over and cook for an additional 2 minutes before removing from the pan.

3) Drain the oil from the pan and return it to the heat. Add the sesame oil and the rest of the olive oil. Add the ginger, garlic, chillies, scallions, lime juice, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Stir-fry for 1 minute.

4) Add the noodles, tossing until they are nicely coated. Remove from the heat. Add the chives. Toss again. Divide the noodles between four bowls and top with the salmon.

Shrimp Wontons

Recently bought a cookbook on offer from Popular bookstore. It was going at $9.90 for members, compared to the original price of $19.90. As I was reading through it, I was happy to see that most of the ingredients for the dishes can be bought quite easily. I started off with the shrimp wontons recipe, as I have been wanting to make wontons for some time.

Looking at my first attempt at making wontons all by myself, I am glad to say that they didn't turn out too bad. Though wrapping 26 wontons is quite tiring, it was quite an enjoyable process, except maybe for the slight crick on my shoulder after that. Heh.

I was planning to have the wonton with noodles and some vegetables. But seeing the amount that I had come up with, I decided to forgo the noodles and just have 13 wontons each with vegetables. Haha. And maybe because I haven't been cooking for some time, I decided to make the chicken stock (recipe below) myself too, instead of buying a can off the shelf.

Anyway, like I mentioned, I managed to come up with 26 wontons with only half of the stated amount of ingredients (I used 14 medium-sized shrimps) from the recipe. I'm not sure if the author uses bigger pieces of wrappers, or uses smaller shrimps. Just make sure that there are enough wrappers at hand if following the actual amount in the recipe.

Steamed Shrimp Wontons

24 servings

Ingredients :

- 2 egg whites

- 1 cup ground shrimp meat

- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

- 1/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice

- 1/2 cup finely sliced scallions (spring onions)

- 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger

- 24 square wonton wrappers

Directions :

1) Lightly whisk the egg whites in a large bowl. Add the ground shrimp meat, sea salt, five-spice powder, scallions, and ginger. Stir to combine.

2) Put a heaping teaspoon of the filling mixture into the centre of the wonton wrapper and then seal the edges by moistening them with water, then bring the four corners together.

3) Put the wontons into a bamboo steamer basket lined with oiled waxed paper. Set the basket over a large saucepan of boiling water and steam for 10-12 minutes.

Note : Instead of steaming, I cook my wontons by dropping about 10 at a time into a pot of boiling chicken stock. Cook them for about 3-4 minutes, or until they float to the surface and you can see the pink of the shrimp. Then add in the vegetables, and let the stock reach a slow boil and it's done!

Shrimp Fried Rice

As the few previous fried rice meals we had were with luncheon meat and eggs, I thought it a change of ingredients this time might be good. So I bought some shrimps and a small cabbage as an alternative to the usual luncheon meat, and they were sort of a healthier choice too.

Anyway, I didn't really follow any recipe for this dish, so the following is just a rough guideline, especially for the amount of cooking oil and salt to use, is all up to the individual.

Shrimp Fried Rice

Ingredients :

- Cooked leftover rice, for 2

- 10 medium-sized shrimps, shelled and deveined

- 2 eggs (I used 3 coz I like my fried rice to be more "eggy")

- about half of a small cabbage, cut into strips

- garlic, chopped

- black pepper (optional)

- salt to taste

- cooking oil

Directions :

1) Heat some oil in a frying pan and toss in the cabbage. Stir-fry the cabbage for about 2 minutes, add in about 2 tablespoons of water, then put on the cover for the vegetable to cook.

2) When the cabbage has softened, add in a dash of salt, stir a bit and remove from the pan. (I try not to keep too much of the liquid left behind by the cabbage.)

3) Cook the shrimps. (Optional : you can sprinkle some black pepper over them as they cook.) When the shrimps just about turn pink, remove from the pan. Do not overcook the shrimps here as they will be cooked again when added to the rice later.

4) Again, heat some oil in the frying pan and toss in the garlic. Stir-fry till fragrant and slightly browned, then add in the eggs. Stir the eggs so that they look scrambled, and when the yolk is firm but slightly runny, add in the rice. Try to ensure that the eggs are evenly spread out over the rice.

5) Leave the rice to cook for a while until you can see the some of the rice "dancing", then toss again for a few times before adding in the cabbage and the shrimps. Add salt to taste.

You can refer to here for more detailed instructions for the fried rice, as well as some tips to make your fried rice taste better.

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.

Baked Salmon (II)

Baked Salmon (II) (from : allrecipes)

Ingredients:

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 6 tablespoons light olive oil

- 1 teaspoon dried basil

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1 teaspoon ground blackpepper

- 1 tablespoon lemon juice

- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley,chopped

- 2 (6 ounce) fillets salmon

Directions:

1.In a medium glass bowl, prepare marinade by mixing garlic, light olive oil, basil, salt, pepper, lemon juice and parsley. Place salmon fillets in a medium glass baking dish, and cover with the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator about 1 hour, turning occasionally.

2.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

3.Place fillets in aluminum foil, cover with marinade, and seal. Place sealed salmon in the glass dish, and bake 35 to 45 minutes, until easily flaked with a fork.

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.

Shrimp and Bok Choy Noodle Bowl

Stumbled upon The Savory Notebook and was looking through the recipes when this caught my eye. It looks simple enough to cook, and is healthy as well.

It was actually the first time I tried using ginger in noodle soup, and it tasted great. The taste of the ginger was not overwhelming but there was a hint of it in the soup, a mixture of its fragrance and slight tang of the spice.

I bought the Chinese wheat noodles, a packet which is divided into 3 separate bunches. So, seeing that it was stated that it serves 3, I cooked 2 bunches, and in the end, it was the error of my poor judgement again. The husband and I could not finish the noodles. Most probably 2 bunches would be just right for 3 persons.

Another thing to note is the amount of salt to add. I think most sold off-the-shelf chicken stock is already salty enough so there is no need for any more additional salt. I didn't add any extra salt in mine and the soup still turned out just right.

Spicy Shrimp and Bok Choy Noodle Bowl

4 servings

Ingredients :

- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 inches ginger root, peeled and cut into very thin matchsticks or grated
- 1/2 pound shiitake mushroom caps (a couple of cups), sliced
- 1 medium bok choy, trimmed and cut into 3-inch pieces, then cut into sticks lengthwise
- Salt and pepper
- 1 quart chicken broth (I used 1 quart, i.e. 1 L, for 2 persons)
- 1 cup seafood stock, available on soup aisle or 1 cup clam juice (I omitted this)
- 1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1/2 pound vermicelli (thin spaghetti)
- 4 scallions, cut into 3-inch pieces, then shredded lengthwise into thin sticks

Directions :

1. Heat a medium soup pot over medium-high heat. Add vegetable oil, three turns of the pan, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger, mushrooms and bok choy, then season with salt and pepper.

2. Add chicken broth and seafood stock or clam juice. Put a lid on the pot and bring soup to a boil.

3. Add shrimp and noodles and cook for three minutes. Add in scallions and cook two minutes, then turn off soup and let it sit 2-3 minutes more. Adjust salt to taste and serve.

Saturday night dinner

The mood for cooking was back again. So once again, I decided to try some new recipes for dinner before a game of mahjong, since there will be 3 guinea pigs to try my food. Heh.

Wanted to just have one dish and to go with rice, but then dear Mr. BT is allergic to shrimps. So made a last minute trip to the supermarket to get two slices of salmon and some vegetables for a more balanced meal.

Salmon Tango

Easy enough to prepare if you need a quick fish dish. But give an advance 1 hour as that is the time that you would need to marinate the salmon. After that, it was just into the oven (since I had no grill as stated in the recipe) for about 8-10 minutes.

The brown sugar gave the outer layer of the salmon some sweetness, but the taste of the fish is still maintained underneath. However, the husband mentioned that he preferred the ginger salmon I made some time ago, though I personally like this better.

Shrimp Etouffee

Put simply, etouffee is a Cajun dish typically served with shellfish or chicken over rice.

I'm not too sure about the weight of ingredients, meaning the shrimps in this case. But i feel that 11 ounces (about 311 g) as stated in the recipe, may be slightly too little for the amount of other ingredients stated. I estimated that about 15-20 tiger prawns may just be right for the final amount of sauce.

An important point to note : I don't think it's good to microwave (as stated in recipe) this whole dish, especially the prawns. So I cooked the whole dish over the stove, and I kept the cooking time about the same as the recipe's.

Another point to note : because the condensed cream of chicken soup is already salty, you do not need to add too much salt at the end. I forgot about this and the dish came out a little too salty.

And again, the husband and piglet mentioned that they much preferred the Tomato-Dill shrimp stew I made a few days ago compared to this.

But never mind. That's what it is to cooking. New dishes need to be tried out to gather feedback, then decide whether to have it again or not. At least I tried another two new dishes, and now I know what to improve on the next time if I were to cook them again.

Salmon Tango (from : allrecipes)

4 serving

Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons and 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon and 1-3/4 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon and 1-3/4 teaspoons white wine
- 1 pound salmon fillets

Directions:
1. In a medium glass bowl, mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice, and white wine. Stir until brown sugar has dissolved. Reserve a small amount to use as a basting sauce; the remainder is used as a marinade.

2. Place salmon fillets in a large resealable plastic bag. Pour in marinade, seal, and turn to coat salmon. Refrigerate at least 1 hour, turning once.

3. Preheat grill for medium-high heat.

4. Lightly oil grill grate. Place salmon on grill, and discard marinade. Cook salmon for 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until easily flaked with a fork. Baste with reserved sauce while grilling.

Shrimp Etouffee (from : allrecipes)

4 servings

Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons margarine
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 1/3 cup chopped green onion
- 1/3 cup chopped green bell pepper
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1/3 cup celery, diced
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2/3 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
- 11 ounces cleaned shrimp
- salt to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:
1. In a 2 quart microwave safe dish, combine margarine, onion, green onion, bell pepper, garlic and celery. Heat on High settings for 8 to 9 minutes.

2. Stir in parsley, tomato paste, soup, shrimp, salt, hot pepper sauce and cayenne. Heat on High setting for 5 minutes. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes until mixture thickens. Serve over white rice.

Tomato-Dill Shrimp Stew

Since today is the first day of my one-week break, decided to whip up something for the husband and the piglet - Tomato-Dill Shrimp Stew.

Not the really soupy kind of stew... more of like a kind of tomato sauce for pasta or rice. But we had it with some toasted white bread and it was good.

If you decided to try the recipe, remember to have chopped onions and fresh tomatoes as stated. I just cut my tomatoes to cubes and piglet helped to cubed the onion (coz she won't teared) as well... and in the end, they ended up a little too chunky. Need them to be in smaller pieces.

Also, one thing I changed was the cheese. I used grated Parmesan, as I realised that the stated feta cheese was goat cheese... not really to our tastes. I don't know how will it turned out if I followed using the feta cheese... but my grated Parmesan was ok.

Maybe I'll try it again and had it with pasta the next round. I followed the amount on the recipe and it filled the three of us just nicely.

Just for those who are not too sure of the conversions in the recipe :

1 ounce = abt 28 grams

1 pound = abt 455 grams

This metric conversion website may come in useful.

Tomato-Dill Shrimp Stew (from : allrecipes)

4 servings

Ingredients:
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
- 3 cups diced fresh tomatoes
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh dill
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 pound cooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
- 1 cup minced fresh parsley

Directions:
1. In a large saucepan, saute onion and garlic in oil for 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, dill, mustard, honey and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Add the shrimp, cheese and parsley; simmer 5 minutes longer.

Ginger Salmon

Haven't been cooking for a while now. Can't remember when was the last post showing off my cooking. Heh.

Anyway, cooked a simple dish tonight - Ginger Salmon... together with a packet of instant pasta.

Well, the salmon turned out well, except that I think I used too much honey, so in the end, the honeyed sauce that flowed off the salmon onto the baking tray got burnt quite easily. But all in all, quite a difference from the heavily-flavoured salmon that I used to make. For this dish, you can actually taste the flavours of the salmon and the honey-mustard quite distinctively.

This is a very easy dish to make, and all the ingredients are simple and most likely already readily available at home. However, I can't be quite sure what would be good to go with this... certainly not the chives and sour cream pasta I did tonight.

Ginger Salmon (from : allrecipes)

4 servings

Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 1 pound salmon fillets

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a small bowl, blend olive oil, honey, Dijon mustard and ginger

3. Brush salmon fillets evenly with the olive oil mixture. Place in a medium baking dish. Bake 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

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.