Dutchess' Chicken and Pasta Bake
Labels: one dish meals, pasta, she cooks
Saturday, April 30, 2011
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 8:58 am
Tuesday Night's Dinner
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The monsoon season is upon us and it's been raining buckets on and off for the last two weeks. While the rain does bring relief to the sweltering heat, it means eating our meals in the patio was a no-go.
But last night was different. It had been dry all day and before you could say, "Monsoon", I'd laid out the table for dinner. Hubs was late, not from work for once but from collecting his birthday clubs and we didn't eat until almost 8pm.
Dinner was simple, just some ABC spaghetti I invented off the top of my head while at the supermarket earlier on. In case you were wondering, the ABC stands for Asparagus, Bacon and Courgette. The three ingredients were first stir-fried with some garlic (no oil because the bacon is already fatty) and finished off in cream before mixing in the pasta. This was accompanied by a no-frills Caesar Salad, some bruschetta and family time.
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 8:36 pm
One-Pan Skillet Ravioli
Labels: one dish meals, pasta, she cooks
Friday, October 23, 2009
Taken from the Italian Fall/Winter 2009 issue of Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications, this recipe is pure comfort food with its rich warm sauce and stringy mozzarella cheese. As if the ravioli wasn't filling enough, we had thick slabs of garlic bread to mop up the leftover gravy too. What can we say, we love our bread and pasta.
One-Pan Skillet Ravioli
What You Need:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large leek, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 tbsp snipped fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 package of refrigerated chicken or cheese filled ravioli
3 cups baby spinach
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grate Asiago cheese
Fresh rosemary for garnishing
What You Do:
Lekker!
Note: If fresh rosemary is not available, 1 tsp of the dried version is a good substitute. Just crush it first to release the flavour. As I couldn't find Asiago cheese in the shops, I replaced it with Pecorino Romano instead.
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 8:40 am
Home Leave
Labels: home life, pasta, she cooks
Sunday, November 09, 2008
If you recall, we went back to the Netherlands during the Golden Week Holiday in China. It was a much needed break for all of us and we now look forward to completing the other half of the posting in Beijing.
One of the things I enjoyed doing back home was visiting my regular supermarket. I tell you, I very almost got on my knees and kissed the front entrance. While traipsing in and out of the various aisles, every so often fondling the various bottles or packets, I felt my old cooking inspiration (quelled by the crazy prices and food scare in China) coming back. I wanted to buy and cook everything. And we haven't even got to the fresh produce, meats and poultry section yet!
I had to bite my knuckles and exercise self-control since we were only going to be home for ten days out of which we've already marked half for trips to our favourite restaurants.
Anyhow, I did rustle up a big fat juicy rib-eye for Hubs and some comfort food for myself. Sonny-boy had his beloved poffertjes (mini puffed pancakes), not pictured here because Mum's camera was no match for a hungry boy's fork.
Rib-eye steak with a bed of pan fried herbed potatoes and french beans.
Comfort food - Fresh spinach tagliatelle tossed in olive oil with black olives and sun-dried tomatoes.
And as luck would have it, I managed to buy some late season figs from the Turkish grocer, too.
Little bowl of heaven
So nice being home.
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 10:55 pm
Tagliatelle Alla Bolognese And The Co$t Of Food
Labels: home life, pasta, she cooks
Thursday, September 11, 2008
I made a rich, meaty ragù early this week. Bolognese to be exact, served with tagliatelle like they traditionally do in Bologna.
Tagliatelle alla Bolognese
All very mundane and unremarkable, I'm sure you'll agree.
However, the extremely remarkable point to this entry is the ingredients for said ragù cost a whopping 30 euros (S$60). Heavens to Murgatroyd! It's not like I used Kobe beef or flew in fresh herbs that grow only in certain regions in the Alps which only spring up specific times of the year and one has to risk life and limb to get at them. You know, stunts like that.
The reason for it is this: except for the 600g of ground beef, everything else was an import product. For a certain housewife - me - this means having to pay up to three or four more times for the same item found back home. Rest assured I strongly encouraged the two men to finish up every bit of pasta and if they wanted to lick the plates, I wouldn't be stopping them either. Whatever leftover sauce was sent packing to the freezer to be resurrected another day.
On a side note, I find myself gawking at prices regardless of which side of the pond I'm in. Back in Europe, I would lament about the prices at the asian specialty store, but still cough up all the same. A girl's got to have her belachan and pandan leaves, you know. Over here in Beijing, I cringe when the exact same brand of sausages at the Plus cost 2.85 euros (a bottle of 6) can be had for a small price of 7.50 euros.
On the flip side, eating out is cheap (for us) and we now have a legitimate reason to do so and we have - with a vengeance.
So really, it's not too bad if (western) ingredients are crazy expensive here. Unless you're like me, where cooking's a hobby but the prices have somewhat killed the joy a bit. I still cook, albeit more conservatively with my choices nowadays.
In any case, where are we headed off to again this evening?
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 9:46 pm
A Tale Of Two Pastas
Labels: one dish meals, pasta, seafood, she cooks
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Pasta Nero di Seppia, or Squid Ink Pasta is not for the faint hearted. Nor for the self conscious. It's black and if made properly from fresh squid ink, turns your mouth, teeth, tongue et al black. I love it.
One of my favourite ways of eating this is tossed in a cream sauce consisting of romano parmigiano cheese with lots of garlic. In this entry, I present two ways with the same base sauce.
The first one is rather fiery. That's because I use chilli infused olive oil and regular chilli oil to brown the garlic first before adding the cooking cream. I whisk everything together above a gentle flame until it thickens slightly and is well mixed. Then I throw in the grated parmiagiano, whisk it some more before adding in the blanched shrimps. Season to taste. Pour over the cooked pasta and garnish with fresh sliced red chilli. And don't forget that huge glass of iced water.
This next one is a bit more mild. Again, brown the chopped garlic in olive oil before adding the cooking cream. Follow as above but this time, toss in the blanched shrimps, sweet pea and brocoli. Season to taste and pour over the cooked pasta.
Some of you may notice how I choose to pour the sauce over the pasta instead of tossing the pasta in the pan first. I do it for asthetic reasons especially in the case of the first one. The white sauce against the black pasta packs quite a punch. With a couple of strategically placed sliced chillis, this is a visually stunning dish and I never tire of looking at it. Best of all, it can be achieved under thirty minutes.
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 10:56 pm
Easy Does It
Labels: asian food, pasta, she cooks
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
What's the easiest way of preparing a meal? Eating your ingredients raw, of course! I went psuedo Japanese this evening. I didn't feel like making a full blown sushi meal as I'm conserving all my cooking mojo for this weekend.
For my parents who might start calling me up after reading this entry: No, I did not feed your grandson raw salmon. I made him a very hearty and extremely cooked plate of linguine in carbonara sauce instead. *heh*
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 2:09 pm
Hey Pesto!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
I've always likened the Italian pesto with our Peranakan or Malay rempah. The principle is the same even if the ingredients are not. In both cases, one can employ the old-fashioned way of using a pestle or one can cheat using the blender.
Yesterday I cheated.
You see, I wanted to make something quick for dinner. I'm still manic about my current cross-stitching project so quick and easy without compromising on taste are the by-words nowadays in the kitchen. One can't get any quicker with pasta tossed in homemade fresh pesto. Here's what I did in only a couple of minutes:
And here is the recipe:
Pesto alla Genovese
You need:
30g fresh basil
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
100g Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese
How to:
1. Roughly chop up garlic and Parmesan or Romano cheese so you don't give your food processor a hard time.
2. Chuck everything into the food processor and blend until you get a thick, smooth paste. Do not over process or the pesto will be too thin in consistency.
Note:
You might want to scrape the sides during processing to really mix it all up.
The proportions in this recipe are made up to suit my tastebuds. You might like to find out what rocks your boat. Say, more pine nuts but less cheese... that sort of thing.
This keeps for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
And now, we've got the pesto, what do we do with it? Here's one way:
I tossed mine with fresh spaghetti and topped it off with lobster meat (not shown in photo). Of course it doesn't have to be lobster, I just happened to have it in my fridge. This goes well with most grilled steak or seafood - it's that versatile.
Here's how to:
1. Cook pasta of your choice till al dente. Set aside.
2. Heat up a little olive oil in frying pan.
3. Scoop an appropriate amount of pesto in pan. Sautee it briefly.
4. Season with salt and pepper, according to taste.
4. Put in cooked pasta. Toss until well mixed. Serve hot.
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 1:32 pm
We Are Not So Different After All
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Last week, during one of my usual grocery rounds, I came across this at the chilled fresh foods section of the supermarket.
I had to do a double-take because I thought they were wantons (Chinese dumplings). Upon closer inspection, I saw that they were Perline, a type of Italian stuffed pasta. It's similar to ravioli or tortelleni and this one is stuffed with cheese.
Last night, I decided to make Bolognaise Sauce to go with it. It's probably not the 'right' way of doing things and 100% born and bred Italians are possibly laughing their canoli off at my combination but hey, it doesn't matter does it? It was palatable enough and no one spit it out last night. Or dared to.
However, I think I'll do some research to find out how Perline should be served. Meanwhile, I've got enough meat sauce leftover to make a small lasagna.
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 4:24 am
Bouncing Back
I think I've redeemed myself. Labels: pasta, seafood, she cooks
Thursday, September 07, 2006
After the horrifying lasagna, I came back with this:
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 5:28 am
On The Menu This Evening
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Parma ham with melon served on a bed of rucola melange 
Main Course
Tagliatelle nero with lobster and shrimp in a creamy parmigiano sauce 
During our year's stay in Cologne, there was this cafe/bistro that we frequented. The place, while modern looking, was rather modest. The food, however, was anything but. One of our favourite choices would be nero spaghetti. This was an as-and-when item on the menu. That's because it all depended on whether the chef could get his hands on squid ink or not as he makes his own black pasta. As I recall, one silly thing my husband and I would do was to smile at each other after taking a couple of bites. Just to laugh at the other's inky, black teeth. Yes, fresh nero pasta does that to you.
Tonight's version is of the dried variety. Somehow, the taste is not quite the same. On the bright side, it doesn't stain our teeth either. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 12:29 pm
Last Minute
Saturday, August 05, 2006
It was just one of those days when I had no idea what I was going to do for dinner.
I was on the phone with a friend at 4.30pm and she asked me what's for dinner that evening. I blissfully replied I didn't know, I haven't decided yet. Taking the stance of crossing-the-bridge-when-we-get-to-it and all that.
At 6.30pm, I still had no inkling but this time, I was at the aforesaid bridge - I had to cough something up.
I poked around the fridge to see what was available. This is what I came up with:
Seafood spaghetti
Served with crostinis, danger averted.
Labels: pasta, seafood, she cooks
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 7:18 am 1 calories
