Spaghetti Aglio Olio

My first attempt to cook Linguini Aglio Olio wasn’t a successful experience. Hubby commented that it was tasteless. He is not choosy in eating. So, when he said tasteless, the food must be bland. That was more than a year ago.

Since then, I’ve been thinking on how to enhance the flavor with the limited ingredients. One day when I was in a hypermarket, suddenly I realized the trick of Aglio Olio....thanks to the smoked garlic that I bumped into. Good quality of garlic should be the secret behind it. That was what popped up in my mind. Then, I started to think about another important ingredient, the dried chili flakes. Not to forget about the olive oil. So, in order to experiment my theory of delicious Aglio Olio, I just concentrated in these 3 ingredients, together with spaghetti and some fresh prawns. And……I’m glad that the result didn't disappoint me. The Spaghetti Aglio Olio is much more fragrant with smoked garlic and dried chili flakes. Now, hubby won’t complaint if I prepare Spaghetti Aglio Olio for his bento.

Spaghetti Aglio Olio
Serves 3

Ingredients:
Spaghetti, quantity enough for 3
1 bulb of smoked garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
dried chili flakes
18 medium-sized prawns, shelled and deveined
generous amount of good quality olive oil
Salt to taste

Steps:
1. Cook spaghetti in a pot of boiling water until al-dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat enough olive oil in a wok. Saute the garlic. Do not brown the garlic.
3. Stir in prawns.
4. Toss in the Spaghetti and dried chili flakes. Stir-fry to mix well. Sprinkle sea salt to taste before dish out.

Mushroom and Char Siew Fried Rice

My husband brought back a packet of fresh Shiitake mushroom instead of dried Shiitake per my shopping list. Not knowing what to do with it, I just add it to the fried rice. It was not bad at all. It’s quite tasty with the combination of char siew (Chinese roasted pork), egg and fresh Shiitake mushroom with rice. Here comes our simple lunch on Sunday. 

Mushroom and Char Siew Fried Rice

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 cup of rice, rinsed, cooked in rice cooker and cooled
2 eggs
1 piece of char siew (about 8cm length), sliced and chopped into small pieces
8 pcs of fresh shiitake mushroom, rinsed and sliced
1 tbsp of chopped garlic
1 stalk of spring onion, chopped
cooking oil
light soy sauce to taste

Steps:

1. Heat up oil in a wok. Scramble the eggs and dish out.
2. Heat up oil in the same wok, saute the char siew. Add mushroom and garlic. Stir-fry till fragrant.
3. Add cooled steamed rice. Sprinkle the rice with light soy sauce to fry till fragrant. Toss in the scrambled egg. Fry till you observe the rice is "jumping" in the wok. Dish out.

Roast Chicken with Nando's Sauce

This is the meal that I cooked for 2 consecutive Sundays. With these 2 meals, my bottle of Nando’s Peri-Peri sauce was finally used up. That was one of my goal. Another target was to complete my other house chores while the chicken was roasted in the oven. I’m now a multi-tasking mom, hehe…

Roast Chicken with Nando's Sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 chicken thighs, deboned and excess fat discarded
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
6 fresh button mushrooms, quartered
1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
2 tbsp of olive oil

Marinades:

3 tbsp of Nando's Hot Peri-Peri sauce
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1 tbsp of light soy sauce
dashes of black pepper powder

Steps:

1. Make tiny holes over the chicken thighs with fork. Marinate the chicken thigh for 3 hours.
2. Boil the carrot and potato for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of olive oil in a baking tray. Arrange the onion, potato, button mushroom and carrot. Sprinkle another tbsp of olive oil over the vegetables.
4. Arrange the chicken on top of the vegetables.
5. Roast the chicken in the preheated oven under 200 deg C for 40 minutes. Next, increase the temperature to 240deg C and roast the chicken for another 8 minutes. Note: My oven requires higher temperature to brown the chicken. You can adjust accordingly.

I'm Back!

Hello friends! Thanks for those who left me messages and send me emails. Finally I'm back to blog. We were so busy welcoming our little girl to our family. I was away for good reasons, don't worry. I'm fine. :)

My baby girl is 2 months old now. With her around, I can hardly spend time to dish up my home cooked food, what's more to photograph it. I don't mean to quit cooking and blogging. My passion in cooking will never die. Just for the time being, I stick to simple food that is cooked in slow cooker. I rely on slow cooker to prepare a pasta sauce, meat sauce, and soups. 

I'll share some simple cooking. Hopefully I'm able to capture some food photos over the weekend.