Seafood Aglio Olio

06 June 2019 - "一个人吃饭"

Today's special. Cooked this simple aglio olio specially for a VIP 😊 I have used my existing mushroom aglio olio recipe and add on seafood.

I have replaced swiss mushroom with shitake mushroom and added some fresh herbs from my garden

https://cathteo-john1427.blogspot.com/2015/06/mushrooms-aglio-olio.html?m=1

Detail method of cooking spaghetti is found in my recipe for Bolognese Spaghetti.

http://cathteo-john1427.blogspot.sg/2015/06/bolognese-spaghetti.html?m=1

Ingredients:

3 large prawns

3 fresh scallops

1 shitake mushroom -sliced

4 cloves of garlic - chopped

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

4-5 leaves sweet basil

1 stalk spring onion - chopped

1 chilli padi - remove seeds, chopped(optional)

100g -125g  spaghetti

Water for cooking spaghetti

1 tablespoon of oil

2 tsp salt

Method:

1. Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted  water(added oil) according to packet instructions and drain  thoroughly. Set aside. Note : keep 1/2 cup of water after boiling the spaghetti.

2. Clean and deshell prawns. Washed scallop. Seasoned prawns and scallop with a pinch of salt and some pepper. Set aside.

3.In a clean wok/frying pan , pan sear both prawns and scallops until they are cooked and lightly brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

4.Fry garlic in olive oil until fragrance and golden brown.  Remove fried garlic into a bowl, leave  the oil in the wok. Add mushrooms in the wok to fry for 30sec then add cooked spaghetti. If it is too dry, add a little water from boiling the pasta. Add a pinch of salt or 1 tsp of fish sauce to adjust to your taste. Add chopped onion and chopped basil. Add the fried garlic. Add chopped chilli if you like spicy pasta. Stir well. Remove from heat. 

Serve with pan seared prawns and scallop.

ONE POT PASTA

27Nov2018

Today is a very rush day!

Wanted iron son’s clothing for his performance.  Unfortunately the iron decided to retired after serving us for 15years. What to do now? He needs to wear that shirt and that trousers. SOS!  Tried calling a few neighbours. They were not at home. May be year end go for holidays. Finally I found an old neighbour who lives few blocks away. Whew!

I had planned to cook bolognese sauce pasta. After I got the iron and finished ironing, I did not have much time left to cook the proper bolognese sauce pasta. So, have to change cooking plan. ONE POT PASTA came to mind. Yes, this is an easy and nice meal. Can get done in 30min including preparation. 

No need to do much cleaning after cooking and it is delicious!

You may find this in my facebook Catherine's Cooking Journal

Ingredients :

250g Linguine /Fusilli / any pasta

200gm minced beef

1 small yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic , sliced it

½ carrot , chopped

1 big tomatoes, chopped

10 cherry tomatoes

3 cup of water

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp light sauce

3 tbsp pasta sauce

Pepper

Dash of dried basil and oregano

2 or 3 leaves of fresh basil, optional

1 tspn olive oil

Seasoning for minced meat : 1 tbsp light sauce, some pepper, 1 tsp corn flour

Method:

1. Season the meat with the seasoning.  Mix well. 

2. In a large pot, put in olive oil,  water, pasta , tomatoes, sliced garlic, chopped onion, chopped carrots, herbs, salt , pasta sauce and bring the mixture to boil.

3. Stir the mixture occasionally to prevent the base got burnt. Cook until the meat is cooked and pasta is tender. Approximately 15min.

4. Adjust the taste to your desire. You may add more salt or light sauce. Remove one pot pasta from fire and serve while it is hot.

5. Enjoy

Beef Meatballs (Ikea meatball copycat)

9 Mar 2018

Can't decide whether to make "ikea" meatball copycat or seafood pasta, so in the end cooked both. I have wanted to homemade Ikea meatball since last year. However, did not manage to do this dish until today. 

  

I googled several recipes online to have an idea how others make these meatballs. With wisdom from above, this is how I  homemade "ikea" meatball copycat😃..

Surprisingly, it taste very good though this is my first time making it. Hubby and dauggter loved this meatballs and hubby ate half of them. As he eat, he kept saying "nice! Very nice". Daughter too like these meatballs. She said "nice leh!"

This is the recipe. .

Ingredients:

500g minced beef

100g minced pork

1 egg

1/4 tsp pepper

1 slice of wholemeal bread - cut into small pieces

1 big onion - chopped

3 garlic - chopped

2-3 Tbsp milk

1.5 Tbsp light sauce

1 tsp salt

2 tsp corn flour

1 Tbsp oil

Method

1. In a frying pan add oil then onion n garlic a d fry until onion is soft and fragrance. Remove from heat and pour into cutted bread. 

2. Add milk into the bread n fried onion mixture. Combine them.

3. In a large bowl add beef and pork, egg, salt, light sauce, bread mixture and corn flour.

Combine them and mix well.

4. Prepare a baking tray layed with parchment paper.

Wear disposal glove and take some meat mixture and roll into 1inch meatball with hands. Place meatball onto the baking tray. Continue to roll all the rest of the meat mixture until all are made into meatballs.

5. Place tray of meatballs into preheat oven  200°C and bake for about 20-30min.

White Bee Hoon

If you find it is too far to travel to sembawang to order the white bee hoon, D.I.Y.  I like to make things. Time like this when it is too far to travel there to eat, I will cook it myself. Save time to travel and save trouble to queue up. Most important is you know what you put into a dish and also you can add or substract any ingredients. 

Ingredients:

Bee Hoon enough for 2 persons

Your choice of seafood( I used 6 prawns, 1squid)

100g lean pork thinly sliced

1/4 carrots - cut into strips

4 stalks of Cai Xin or Shanghai green

3 shallots finely chopped

1 garlic minced

1-2 tbsp cooking oil

1 egg

1.5 - 2cups Water

Seasoning:

Fish sauce

Light sauce

Oyster sauce

Chicken stock powder

Shao Xing wine

White pepper

Sesame oil

Corn / Potatoes flour

Method:

1. Soak bee hoon in cold water until soft. Do not over soaked. Remove from water and set aside for use.

2. Seasoned the seafood with some sea salt, shao xing wine and pepper.  Set aside. Seasoned the sliced pork with some light soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper and cornflour. Set aside.

3. Add oil in the wok and fry garlic and shallots until golden and fragrance. Fry the seafoods and pork. Remove from wok when it is cooked and set aside for use.

4. In the same wok, fry the carrots for few seconds. Add 1.5 to 2cups water. Add the seasoning, that is light soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce and chicken stock powder to your taste and bring to boil. 

5. Add bee hoon once the stock is boiled. Add also cai xin. Let it boil until cai xin is cooked, aprox. few min. Add in cooked seafoods and meat. While it is still boiling beat egg and stir into Bee Hoon. Add 1 tbsp of shao xing wine. Off the fire. Serve.

Note: The amount of seasoning is not indicated here as I usually do not measure but just add to the taste I desire.

Happy cooking!

😊