Recipe: Shrimp and Ruote Pasta In Pesto-Marinara Sauce

Prep time: 20mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

Pasta is popular in our household. Partly because, I can cook them effortlessly and fast given a few ingredients. This is usually my go-to recipe on lazy weekends or days when the fridge goes empty and none of us are willing to do the groceries. So I usually just stock up on different types of pasta and lots of tomatoes for days like that. Even our little girl is used to eating all types of pastas and sauces. On good days, she would even volunteer to help me cook. 

What I used for this recipe:

about 400g of ruote pasta, cooked al-dente per package instructions 

1/4 cup pasta water

3 pcs large plum tomatoes, blanched, peeled and diced (for the marinara sauce)

1 med red onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped finely

1 pack Clara Ole Three-cheese spaghetti sauce

4 tbsps tomato paste

100g fresh shrimps, peeled, deveined and quartered

1 knob butter

olive oil

salt and pepper

fresh herbs (i used italian oregano and basil), chopped finely

chopped parsley and grated cheese for garnish

How I did it:

1. Saute onion, garlic in olive oil and butter till fragrant. 

2. add in tomatoes and pasta water and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the mix has a thick, soupy consistency.

3. pour in the spaghetti sauce, tomato paste and fresh herbs. Whisk till tomato paste is evenly incorporated unto the sauce.

4. add in the shrimp, stir until they change color.

5. toss in the cooked pasta. garnish generously with grated cheese and chopped parsley.

6. enjoy!!!!

This recipe can feed about 4-5 hungry stomachs. (and still save enough for meryenda)

Recipe: Freezer Leftovers Pasta with Quezo De Bola

Yes, I made this pasta out of all the leftovers we had from the holidays. Two weeks past and we still have some stuff in the freezer. Good thing when we got home last Sunday, I was really starving so I was able to come up with a tasty pasta dish out of all the leftovers that I was close to throwing away.

What I used for this recipe:

about 400g of cooked spaghetti
3 pcs med tomatoes, diced
1 med red onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped finely
about 150g of frozen, cooked tahong (mussels)
4 slabs honeycured bacon, chopped and cooked (to render fat)
2 pcs spanish sardines (a leftover from our pantry, technically not from the freezer), deboned and mashed
grated quezo de bola
a handful of fresh basil (torn into small pieces)
1/4 cup olive oil

How I did it:

1. Saute onion, garlic and tomatoes (till the skin peels off from the tomato and the onion translucent. make sure you don't burn nor brown the garlic) in olive oil (using half of the olive oil)
2. add in the mussels, bacon and sardines.
3. pour the remaining olive oil, add fresh basil and toss over cooked pasta until it is fully coated.
4. garnish with grated quezo de bola.
5. enjoy!!!!

This recipe can feed about 5-6 hungry stomachs.

Closer look. :-)

Recipe: Farfalle with Spanish Sardines and Olive Oil

This recipe is actually an offshoot of a co-worker's recipe. Her's had fried eggplants in it but since my family is not very fond of eggplants (even more of the fried kind) I decided to omit and load on garlic instead which they really love. This was again experimental since it was my first time to try the recipe but I'm glad that it turned out great. I served this when some relatives and friends came over to join us for trick or treating in our village and I'm happy they all went home with happy tummies.

What you will need:

350g Farfalle pasta, cooked per package directions
2 small cans of spanish sardines (deboned and flaked using a fork)
1 head of garlic, finely minced
1 medium white onion, chopped finely
5 medium plump tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
about 10pcs of fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces
Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper for seasoning

How I did it:

1. Saute onion, garlic and tomatoes (I do it in this order usually and I make sure I don't burn any of them) in olive oil.
2. Add spanish sardines and the rest of the olive oil.
3. Season. (I skipped this in my recipe because I usually make sure that the pasta is already seasoned well)**
4. Add basil and toss over cooked pasta.
5. Garnish with parmesan cheese.
6. Serve with a smile.

This recipe can feed 6-8 hungry stomachs. And I think this was the first recipe that I cooked where I spent less than P150 to feed that much people.

**By well-seasoned I meant cooking it in pasta water that taste similar to seawater (I got this tip from a cooking show that Cibo owner Margarita Fores once guested in).

Recipe: Crab Aligue Pasta with Lemon and Fresh Basil

On her last visit, my mother-in-law brought us a bottle of Taba ng Talangka. I've long wanted to try making Aligue pasta so it was just perfect timing. Two weeks ago, I was inspired to finally try the recipe but I was already done with our weekly grocery so I made use of whatever was in our pantry and fridge at that time. Most of the recipes I came across in the internet made use of other seafood (tuna, clams, mussels). I was able to whip this recipe in less than 30 mins (prep time including). It turned out to be amazingly easy.

For my version, I used the following ingredients:

• 200g spaghetti (cooked al dente. don't throw away the pasta water, by the way)
• about 4-5 tbsps of Crab Paste/Taba ng Talangka (we used Navarro's); some recipes I came across also made use of almost a bottle but I was just too scared of the cholesterol
• 2 medium-sized tomatoes, chopped (I would have used more but that was all we had)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• Fresh shrimp (we only have about 8pcs on hand), shelled and deveined (I chopped it so everybody will have a taste of it hehehehe)
• 1/2 large white onion, chopped
• juice of half lemon
• a handful of Fresh Basil, torn in half 
• 1/2 cup pasta water
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• Parmesan cheese (since I omitted salt on this recipe)

My version: Aligue Pasta. 

How I did it:

1. Saute garlic, onion and tomatoes in olive oil till translucent.
2. Add crab paste. Saute for about 5 minutes (well I'm just OC on this but I'm sure there's really no need to saute since the crab paste is already cooked anyways).
3. Add the pasta water and simmer for 2-5 minutes.
4. Add the shrimp and wait till pinkish.
5. Toss over cooked pasta.
6. Add fresh basil and squeeze in the lemon.
7. Top with parmesan cheese and you're good to go!

This is good for 4 hungry stomachs (and I was even able to bring in an extra serving for my co-workers to taste). 

Recipe/My Take: Yellow Cab's Charlie Chan Chicken Pasta

I have always been a big fan of Yellow Cab's Charlie Chan Chicken Pasta. One weekend I was terribly craving for it but being a bonafide denizen of the hills of Cavite we will need to travel the least an hour before we get to the nearest Yellow Cab outlet. So each time a battle between Laziness and Food ensues, it is always laziness that wins by default.

Living in the hills has its share of advantage and disadvantages. But I'd like to believe that apart from the traffic congestion and the occasional feeling of deprivation especially when terrible cravings hit me, we are still at big advantage. We have fresh air, the feel of Christmas air during the Yuletide season with us waking up to foggy window glass on most days, and wide play spaces for Maia. Also, one big advantage is me learning to make homemade versions of my favorite dishes.

So enough with the blabbering, I present to you my version of Yellow Cab's Charlie Chan Chicken Pasta. As my fans would say, nothing beats the home cooked version! :)

What I used to cook this recipe:

300g cooked spaghetti (al dente)
150g boneless chicken breast (cut into strips) or you can used chicken fingers too (less hassle)
1 tsp sesame oil
Olive oil for sauteing
1 pc med sized onion, finely chopped (I used white for this one)
garlic cloves, minced (I used about 5 since our household loves garlic)
Lee Kum Kee Char Siu Sauce (I used a small pack)
Lee Kum Kee Chili-Garlic Sauce (I used half of the pack/sachet)
9 tbsps Oyster Sauce (I used 4 tbsps to marinate the chicken)
3 tsp muscovado sugar
1/4 c water from the cooked pasta
salt and pepper to taste
toasted peanuts (preferably unsalted)
spring onions for garnish
chili flakes (optional)

What I did:

1. Marinate the chicken breast using 4 tbsps of oyster sauce for about 20 mins.
2. Saute onion and garlic till translucent in olive oil.
3. Add chicken and stir fry till browned. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Mix the remaining oyster sauce with charsiu, chili garlic sauce, sesame oil, muscovado sugar, and water well.
5. Pour over stir-fried chicken, stir and simmer.
6. Toss over cooked pasta and garnish with toasted peanuts and chopped spring onions. You can also add chili flakes for that extra kick if you like it spicy.

There you go. Enjoy! This recipe can feed for 4 hungry stomachs.

Recipe: Spaghetti with Homemade Tomato Basil Sauce and Ham Bits

This makes a Perfect Sunday Merienda.

As a working mom, I am always on the lookout for easy to prepare recipes. I feel happier if I come across easy to prepare and delicious recipes.

We have a helper at home who is tasked to cook for our little family of 3. But most days, I really prefer to cook our meals by myself. Cooking is a great therapy for me, a respite from all the typing and reading and all-that-boring-stuff-office-people-do kind of thing.

I am a pasta fanatic. Although I have been desperately trying to cut down on carbs recently, I would often choose a pasta meal on my cheat days. A pasta recipe is always easy to whip out. Actually, it was after learning to cook pasta al-dente that I fell in love with cooking. The rest is history, as the cliche goes.

In my side of the family, we've always preferred to prepare homemade tomato sauce for tomato-based dishes. Through the years, we've finally learned how to make the perfectly easy yet tasty homemade tomato sauce. So if you like tomato-based pasta, let me share with you my version which was a recent hit with my co-workers. Their admiration of my home cooking inspired me (and gave me the confidence as well) to share the recipe in this blog.

Fast and Easy Tomato-Basil Sauce

You will need:

1.5 kilos of fresh tomatoes

¼ cup of olive oil

1 medium size red onion (1 large if white)

1 head garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

A pinch of pepper

1 small pouch of tomato paste

1 cup fresh basil or

1 teaspoon dried basil

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Procedure:

Simmering Tomato Sauce

• Wash the ripe tomatoes properly.
• Make a small cross on the bottom of your tomatoes (this trick is just to make it easy for you to peel off the skin later)
• Blanch the tomatoes, drain and put in ice bath or run through cold water. Peel the skin off.
• Chop the tomatoes. Make sure to save the juice as well. You can take out the seeds if you want (but I leave them since seeding takes so much time). Add about a teaspoon of salt and a dash of pepper. Mix then leave overnight in the fridge.
• Saute chopped red onion in olive oil  until translucent . Add minced garlic. Do not brown the garlic to retain taste. 
• Add Tomato Paste (I used 2/3 of a small pouch on 1.5kilos of fresh tomatoes)
• Add the chopped tomatoes (including the juice), stir and simmer for 5-10 mins. (I personally like to have tomatoes chunks on my sauce so I just simmer for 5mins). Add a cup of fresh basil or a teaspoon if you’re using dried.
• Transfer to blender or food processor and puree. Sauce is good for 1 kilo of cooked pasta (best to use is angel hair/spaghetti pasta). Top with sauteed mushroom-ham and Parmesan cheese. 

This recipe can feed 10 hungry adult stomachs.

To make the mushroom-ham/bacon topping:

You will need:

1 big can of button mushroom (pieces and stem), chopped coarsely

1 med white onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 pack sweet ham/or whatever cold cuts you prefer/bacon bits

1 tsps olive oil or bacon fat if you use bacon instead of cold cuts (if you use bacon, cook it ahead so the fat is rendered)

1 tsp butter

Procedure:

• Sauté onion and garlic till translucent over olive oil and butter. 
• Add chopped mushroom and cold cuts/bacon bits.  
• Top over tossed tomato sauce and spaghetti.

It's super easy and you can store the topping and the sauce separately. You can also opt to store the sauce on a sterilized jar for future use. You can probably store it for a week in the fridge or you can opt to freeze it for longer shelf-life and just thaw it in the microwave if you already intend to use it.