Monday 25 October 2010

Pasta Fast to Cook, Good to Eat

Pasta - before instant noodles, these were the instant noodles! ;)

We had 2 versions of a pasta lunch today, and I thought it would be good to blog about how to cook these fast to cook, good to eat meals. Unfortunately, it's a lot of estimation because I literally just threw in stuff into the pot... we've made these so often that I didn't measure it out.

Chicken Alfredo (for 2 Adults)

INGREDIENTS
1 Chicken thigh, cut into strips
1 stalk celery, sliced thinly
About 1 tablespoon Olive oil
About 1 tablespoon Flour
About 1 cup Milk
120g Dried Pasta, cooked in water until ready to use (we used Fusili today)
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated Cheese for garnishing

METHOD
  1. In a pot, heat up the oil and fry the flour lightly. When the flour has browned a little, whisk in the milk until you get a thickened white sauce.
  2. Add in the celery and chicken strips.
  3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  4. The sauce is done once the chicken is cooked.
  5. Either separate the pasta into 2 dishes and pour the white sauce over, OR put the pasta into the sauce, give it a good stir and then serve it out into two dishes.
  6. Garnish with grated cheese. You can add in sliced olives too.

Prawn Aglio (for 1 Adult)

INGREDIENTS
6 to 8 prawns, shelled and the shells kept aside
1/4 cup Olive oil
1/2 Small Onion
1 tsp Minced Garlic
1/2 stick Celery (or equal amount of hardy veggies like French Beans)
Sliced Olives
60g Dried Pasta, cooked in water until ready to use (I used Fettucini today)
A dash of Paprika
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD
  1. In a pan, heat up the oil and fry the prawn heads and shell with a little salt, until you get the lovely, yummy fragrant prawn scent. Use a sieve and a spoon to squeeze and drain the oil from the prawn shells.
  2. Return the reddish prawn oil into the pan and add in the onion, garlic and celery. When the scent of the spices are released, add in the prawns, cooking it until they're done.
  3. Add in the pasta and olives, and give the mixture a good stir to coat the pasta.
  4. Finally, add in the paprika, salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Serve it up on a plate.

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