Creamy Carbonara Linguine

It's pasta for our dinner tonight. I had bought a can of creamy carbonara sauce for quite sometime ago. This I kept reminding myself to use the sauce up before the can was forgotten and kept in the dark waiting for it's expiry date. I had used 3/4 quarter can of mushroom and fried some sliced bacon to add into the sauce and tossed with the cooked pasta. Pretty simple to prepare and to add extra cheesy flavour to the pasta, I had sprinkled with some Parmesan cheese and herbs on top. YUMMY! Dinner is served!

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Savoury Couscous

Bought the packed couscous from Cold Storage

The couscous - before cooked

The couscous - after cooked

The couscous was very savoury, can be eaten on its own or with meat/vegetables of your choice

Couscous is a coarsely ground semolina pasta. The grain is a staple in many North African countries. Over the last decade, it's cropped up on other parts of the world menu too. So when I saw Couscous in Cold Storage while doing my grocery shopping, I was very excited and decided to buy one pack. The preparation was very easy with all the directions stated at the pack. I had added extra garlic and onion during the preparation to enhance the flavour and aroma.

Ingredients

30 g butter
1 onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup couscous

2 cups water

Methods

1. Heat butter in sauce pan (which has a lid).
2. Add chopped onions, stir and allow to cook until soft.
3. Stir in minced garlic.
4. Add couscous and stir.
5. Add in water and bring to boil. Remove from the heat.
6. Cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes.
7. Return to the heat for 1-2 minutes. Stirring with a fork to fluff up the grains, until piping hot.

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Baked Seafood Pasta

It's seafood dinner for tonight... Oops.. I should be more specific.. It's baked seafood pasta for dinner. I had used fettucine for this recipe. The sauce in this recipe was actually the bottle of pasta sauce left in my fridge for quite some time. As I had make a promise to myself to avoid any food wastage, therefore I decided to used up the remaining pasta sauce. Hence, it definitely makes my preparation much easier. You don't believe it's that simple? Go thru the steps below and see for yourself.

Add 1-2 tsp salt to water. Bring the fettucine to boil and cooked al dente.

Place the fettucine in the baking dish. Set aside.

Add 1 tbsp olive oil to wok and add in minced onion and garlic. Cooked till fragrant and add in octopus and prawns and some herbs of your choice (I had used Italian seasoning - a combi of few types of herbs). Stir-fry till prawns turn slightly red.

Add in red capsicums and green peas. Stir-fry for a few minutes.

Add in pasta sauce. Stir till all are well mixed.

Transfer the sauce and fillings into the baking dish with pasta.

Topped the fillings with sliced crabsticks.

Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. and bake in oven for 15-20minutes at 200 Celsius.

Garnish with herbs again to enhance the aroma and bake in oven for 15-20 minutes at 200 Celsius.

Final product - baked seafood pasta.

So, what do you think? Pretty simple right... It's so simple that I think I wouldn't be ordering these types of food in restaurant anymore. I can have it in the comfort of own home and choose the ingredients that I love to be in this dish. Yumz yumz...

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Traditional Creamy Sauce Beef and Mushroom Fettucine

Close up look..

Fettucine, my fave pasta!

Pasta for dinner tonite. I had bought the creamy sauce from Leggo's last few weeks. Since we are bored of eating out for dinner, so I decided to prepare this simple yet yummy dish. I decided to add minced beef (since Hubby's love beef) and of course mushroom to this pasta. Half an hour preparation and Voila, we got our dinner ready. I aim to cut down the frequency for us eating out. Keep fingers crossed that my this year resolution comes true.. Hehe..

Ingredients

Minced beef

Sliced mushroom

Fettucine

Garlic (sliced)

Onion (sliced)

Cream sauce

Salt

Italian seasoning (for garnishing)

Parmesan cheese (for garnishing)

Methods

1. Fill a large pot with water and add a teaspoon or two of salt.
2. Bring to boil and add fettucine. When fettucine is cooked al dente, remove and set aside on plate.
3. Add oil to saucepan and fry the onion and garlic till fragrant.
4. Add in beef and mushroom and stir fry. Add in salt to taste.
5. Once the beef and mushroom are almost cooked, add in the cream sauce. Stir to combine.
6. Serve the hot sauce over fettucine. Garnish with Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese.

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Beef Lasagna

A few days ago a friend of mine gave me this recipe. Therefore, I decided to prepare lasagna for our dinner tonight. Indeed, the recipe was delicious and yummy.

Ingredients

250g lasagna sheets

2 tbsp oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

500g beef mince

5 tbsp tomato paste

2 x 400g canned tomatoes

2 cups of chicken stock

salt and pepper to taste

pinch of nutmeg

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp plain flour

2 cups milk

125 g mozzarella or cheddar cheese

Methods

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; season with salt. Add lasagna sheets, and cook until pliable and al dente, 1 to 2 minutes. Drain, and rinse under cold water.
2. Meat Sauce: Heat oil in a saucepan. Add onion, carrot and garlic, cook until soft. Add beef mince, cook until brown. Stir in tomato paste, canned tomatoes and chicken stock. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cover and cook gently for 20 minutes.
3. Cheese Sauce: Melt butter in a separate saucepan, stir in flour and cook for 2 minutes over gentle heat. Remove from heat, stir in milk. Return to heat, stir until thick and smooth. Season with salt, pepper and add mozzarella or cheddar cheese, stirring over low heat until cheese melts.
4. Preheat oven to 180 degree celcius. Pour 1/2 cup of the meat sauce into a lightly greased baking dish. Alternate layers of lasagna, meat and cheese sauces, ending with cheese sauce layer. Sprinkle with grated cheese, bake in oven for 35 - 40 minutes or until cooked through (test if cooked by pricking with a fork). Sprinkle with some herbs and serve hot.

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