Quick-Fix-Meal :- Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Sometimes, we mothers run out of ideas on what to cook on some days. Especially, on lazy days. 

On lazy days, one may not be up for cooking fancy or look forward to troublesome dishes. However, when the majority vote does not favour an order-in or instant noodles, here's what you can whip up, easily & quickly and yessss...... very fancily too. 

As this is good to be eaten, when served hot from the pan or eaten cold, it is a filling quick-fix-meal even for recess or after school lunches. If you fancy bento lunches for your children, you can add a side serving of salad or potatoes (whipped, mashed, baked or grilled) and another side of crunchy fruits. 

Here's sharing how to whip up the quickie, Spaghetti Aglio Olio . 

INGREDIENTS

(1) Choice of pasta
(2) Prawns
(3) Large onions
(4) Small red onions
(5) Garlic
(6) Parsley flakes
(7) Black pepper
(8) Salt to taste
(9) Chilli padis, because we like ours spiceh…

STEP 1
Boil your choice of pasta into a saucepan. Drizzle 1 or 2 table spoons of olive oil and add a few pinches of salt. Drain the pasta after 8 to 10 minutes of boiling and save the pasta water.

STEP 2
For fancier-styled prawns, peel off the shell in the middle, leaving the head and tail intact. If you don't so much fancy a full-bodied-flavour of prawns, wash the insides of the prawns' heads under small running water as per the picture shown.

STEP 3
Devein the prawns using a knife or scissors, at the top of its body and also the bottom too, if you like. Personal choice.

STEP 4
Rinse your prawnies and set them aside.

STEP 5

Once all ingredients are prepared, you are ready to whip up your chef-worthy aglio olio. If you like scallops, you can add those in as well. They sell scallops fresh and also frozen.

STEP 6
Drizzle some olive oil on saucepan. Throw in the onion slices and cook till fragrant or if you like, until they caramelize, is okay as well.

STEP 7
Once the aroma of the onion slices fill up your kitchen, add in the small red onions and the garlic. I had both these ingredients blended. It can be minced, sliced or chopped if you prefer. You can omit the small red onions if you want too. I've achieved similar success using just the garlic on its own.

Sautè until all ingredients are evenly mixed and slightly paste-y.

STEP 8
Throw in your prawns, add a dash of salt, black pepper and parsley flakes and cook briefly until they turn pink. Mix the paste-y onion mix until it coats the prawns. At this stage, it will exude immense aroma and totally arouse your senses…..

STEP 9
If you like to add scallops with your pasta, you may fry them earlier according to the texture and done-ness that you like, before you add your prawns and put aside.

If like us, you like your pasta a little on the spicy side, just before throwing in the pasta (next), add in a few sliced chilli padis (small red and/or green chillis) for extra shiok-ness!

STEP 10
After the prawns turn pink, toss in your pasta. In this step, the pasta choice was penne.

Step 11
Add more parsley flakes, black pepper and salt (to taste) to everything in your saucepan and give those things a good toss!

STEP 12
Add white wine or even sherry, to your saucepan.

For those who don't have these, pour in the pasta water, a little bit at a time. Ensure the pasta is firm and soft and not soggy. Once you achieve the texture of pasta you prefer, turn of the fire.

Now, you are ready to plate your dish!

You can assemble the prawns in a more aesthetically delicious position or add in some lettuce or salad with light dressing at the side. Me love crunchy vegetables like cucumber, capsicum, lettuce, large onions and the additional corn kernels and tomatoes will surely add to the vibrance in your presentation. 





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For a more gourmet feel to your dish, you may wanna dress to impress! Yeah, you can dress up your spaghetti with your freshly cooked pink prawns arranged with their tails up.

Tiger prawns are bigger and will command presence. They also add extra sweeeeet prawny flavour to your dish.For a more gourmet feel to your dish, you may wanna dress to impress! Yeah, you can dress up your spaghetti with your freshly cooked pink prawns arranged with their tails up.   

Tiger prawns are bigger and will command presence. They also add extra sweeeeet prawny flavour to your dish.

Seriously, even if you don't dress them up, this simple-to-whip quick-fix-meal is a looker all on its own. Even with the prawns just strewn all around or arranged at the side, it will looks as appetizing and yes, restaurant worthy.

Try it and update how this managed to impress your family! Cheerios!

Quick Fix Meals : Mee Sua

Managed to take pictures at last round's mee sua brunchie. An all-time comfort food.

Just to letcha know that this round I didn't have chicken broth to add on to the soup base so this is a simplified version since that was all budsie had available. Still turned out yumz tho. 

Of course, all agaration. 

Pound or dry-blend dried shrimps.

 

Drizzle small amount of oil, quick fry anchovies.

 

Remove fried anchovies from pan and strain oil. Sauté small red onions and garlic (mine is blended) till fragrant then add in dried shrimps and give them a good mix till slightly brown & even more fragrant.

 

Add hot water together with ikan bilis stock - store-bought or homemade up to what you have. 2 cubes of store bought enough to cook for 3-4 servings/people, this is subjective to individual preference of how flavourful u want your soup to be.

Add hot water together with ikan bilis stock - store-bought or homemade up to what you have. 2 cubes of store bought enough to cook for 3-4 servings/people, this is subjective to individual preference of how flavourful u want your soup to be.

Wait for soup to come to a boil, then dump the mee sua in. If not boiling, I find that the mee sua tends to clump. I've used these few brands and they are quite ok. In NTUC, I can get Maicar brand mee sua.

I'm not sure what it meant by Double Deluxe Flour but the mee sua is thicker and does not clump even if dumped slightly before boiling point. Their 1 portion is quite a lot. Very filling.

 

This Pagoda brand comes in smaller portions. May clump a little at the folds but can untangle pretty easily with chopstick or fork at boiling point.

Before mee sua fully cooks/softens, crack an egg and the veg of your choice. Budsie had chye sim in fridge so used that. DD2 like her eggs in a scatter like scrambled eggs in soup, so I'd stir up the egg with her mee sua. The rest of us are ok with just the regular egg drop version.

 

If you're cooking individual portions just transfer everything to a bowl n dish up. If there's a lotta soup to make another serving or more, then strain out the cooked mee sua, egg & chye sim onto a bowl. Cut red chilli padis. Add soy sauce/light soy sauce or you can soak those cut chillies in a separate small dish too, then top the anchovies over the mee sua. You can sprinkle some fried onions as well if you want. Then use a deep ladle to scoop up the soup into the bowl and voila. Ready to eat.

Occasionally when I make fried fish fillet, we'd eat with that. I find the JongFresh brand from Giant quite ok.

Sure-success cheesecake

Hi guys!  

A cyber-friend shared a cheesecake recipe and sometime back, I finally tried baking it. Well, as you already know, I love sharing the good stuff so here's sharing my report on that cheesecake attempt. 

The before...

 

 

The after...

 

 

....... in mini tartlet tins .......

 

 

....... in small round tins .......

The slice test...

 

Passed the slice test!

Crust intact! 

Next, the strawberry sauce...

Chopped strawberries..

Sugar and vanilla extract..

Sorry, all in agaration (estimation)... 

 

The plating... ala Master chef-amateur? 

 

The cross section… thin layer of both crust and cream cheese… I found that the digestive biscuit mix was a lot! Scared not enuff cheese to go around.  So, i rationed the portion for the mini tartlet tins. 

The close up...

Out of the few I tried, I think this was a clear winner. 

Thank u, Jennifer for sharing this recipe. 

Crust :- 

300g of digestive biscuits 

40g sugar 

120g butter

Melt butter and sugar in a small pot. Pour over the crushed digestive biscuits. If you have a food processor, you can also choose to dunk all the biscuits in instead of crushing them in a freezer bag.

Put the biscuits into a baking tin and chill in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour. 

Cream cheese :- 

250g cream cheese

70g sugar

80g sour cream

2 eggs

Cream the cream cheese with the sugar in a mixer until well combined. Add the sour cream. Add 2 eggs, one at a time until well combined, then add the next egg. Pour mixture onto to the baking tin with the biscuit mix. Bake for 20 mins at 150 deg C.

This was a winning recipe.

Definitely a recipe for keeps. 

One cannot find any fault with this recipe.

The recipe is just perfect. 

The taste was perfect. 

Budsy's Quick Fix Meals : Crumbliest Scones

The one thing that I would order when I visit a cafe is hot chocolate and scones. Little did I realize how easy it was to make these on my own.

I found a recipe at RasaMalaysia.com whilst on the prowl for something else. I bookmarked it immediately and finally found the time to try the recipe out today, with the girls, since they are still on final term break.

Crumbliest Scones Recipe

Makes 6 | Prep Time: 30 Minutes | 

Bake Time: 20 Minutes

Source: Jamie Oliver

Ingredients:

75 g dried fruit, such as sour cherries, raisins, sultanas, chopped sour apricots, blueberries, or a mixture
Orange juice, for soaking
75 g cold unsalted butter
250 g self-raising flour, plus a little extra for dusting
1 level teaspoon baking powder
1 heaped teaspoon golden caster sugar
Pinch of salt
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk, plus a little extra for brushing

Optional:

Jersey clotted cream, good-quality jam or lemon curd, to serve

Method:

Put the dried fruit into a bowl and pour over just enough orange juice to cover. Ideally, leave it for a couple of hours. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.

Put your butter, flour, baking powder, sugar and a pinch of salt into a mixing bowl and use your thumbs and forefingers to break up the butter and rub it into the flour so you get little cornflake–sized pieces. Make a well in the middle of the dough, add the eggs and milk, and stir it up with a spatula. Drain your soaked fruit and add that to the mixture. Add a tiny splash of milk if needed, until you have a soft, dry dough. Move it around as little as possible to get it looking like a scruffy mass – at this point, you’re done. Sprinkle over some flour, cover the bowl with cling film and pop it into the fridge for 15 minutes.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it’s about 2 to 3cm thick. With a 6cm round cutter or the rim of a glass, cut out circles from the dough and place them upside down on a baking sheet – they will rise better that way (so they say). Re-roll any offcuts to use up the dough. Brush the top of each scone with the extra milk or some melted butter and bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes, or until risen and golden. 

At that point, take them out of the oven and leave them to cool down a little. Serve with clotted cream and a little jam or lemon curd.

Budsy followed this recipe to a "T". This recipe turned out a 100% successful. This recipe is definitely a keeper. Many thanks 

to Jamie Oliver and Rasa Malaysia for sharing.

Credit to source :

Easy Asian Recipes @ Rasa Malaysia.com

Quick Fix Meals : Budsy's Baked Chicken Pie

If you're having one of those days again when you just don't feel like having another rice meal, you can consider whipping up this 

simple Baked Chicken Pie.

INGREDIENTS

Potatoes : We use Russet Potatoes from Cold Storage called, Cream of the crop. Boil half a bag of those potatoes to get 2 casseroles of the baked chicken pie. Once potatoes soften, strain water and allow for them to cool for a while before mashing them up either with a fork or a masher, if you have one. Set aside.

Chicken fillet : We use the fillets from Cold Storage as well, since we are there to get the potatoes. Retails for about $7 a pack. These fillets are washed and diced.

Heat a non-stick pan with garlic and a tad of ginger (helps rid off any unpleasant meaty scent apart from contributing its taste) with a teaspoon of oil. Add the diced chicken fillets and stir until evenly mixed before adding mixed veggies and two cans of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom. 

 

We use Wattie's Mixed Veges cos we love the additional long beans in them compared to other brands.

Next, pour in a cup of chicken stock, doesn't matter whether it is store bought or self-prepared... or whether it is cubed or broth. Add in sugar and salt to taste. Keep stirring everything until the cream thickens. Before turning off the fire, add pepper to taste as well.

Scoop the mashed potatoes into your preferred pans or casseroles, evenly covering the surface of the dish including the walls. We have this oval casserole we bought from Ikea. We are pretty satisfied that it does not stick when the pie is ready to be served.

When the base of the pie has been evenly spread with the mashed potatoes, scoop spoonfuls of the cooked chicken dices and spread this filling evenly onto the mashed potato base. Lastly, once again scoop more mashed potatoes to fully cover the filling. 

Pop the casserole into the oven for about 40 minutes on a high of 350 degrees celsius, after which we cover the top of the potato-covered casserole with Mozarella cheese and continue to bake for additional 5 minutes thereabouts, when the mozarella is nicely done.

 This is how the baked chicken pie will turn out once it's fully baked. This one below was baked till the mozarella was browned. 

You can choose to shorten the baking time should you prefer the mozarella more sticky and chewy instead of crisply done. Totally up to your preference. This is how a cross section of the baked chicken pie will look. A fabulous alternative to rice, any day. Try it and tell me how yours turned out.