Kitchenmaus: pasta

Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts

Pesto alla genovese

>> Thursday, January 27, 2011 – food friday, pasta

Whenever I eat pesto (alla genovese in particular) I'm reminded of a friend who loves this italian dish. We both love food, the difference is she still maintains her 23-inch waistline...yes, it's true and no I won't divulge mine lol.

Pesto is a sauce originating in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy hence the name, pesto alla genovese. The name is the contracted past participle of the Genoese word pestâ (Italian: pestare), which means to pound, to crush, in reference to the sauce's crushed herbs and garlic. This same Latin root through Old French also gave rise to the English word pestle.

There are now many variations chefs and homamakers all over the world has developed but I guess it would always remain unique especially to my kids...it's pasta with an odd green sauce. :)

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Salmon-Parsley Pasta

>> Monday, November 15, 2010 – Food Quote, pasta, Ruby Tuesday, salmon

"No man is lonely eating spaghetti; it requires so much attention." -Christopher Morley

Two weeks ago I received a whole 5 kilo salmon right in our kitchen. Well, it's more of bought because I paid 50€ (60$/2,999Php) for the whole of it. This is really a steal considering such expensive fish. I usually get salmon cuts for sushi at 20 a kilo! And since it was delivered at home, I do not need to worry about losing the freshness. So I got salmon stacked in our freezer, enough to feed us through a whole winter month. (Reminds me of bears happily catching their salmon by a river!) :D

Since the kids love salmon, they won't be bored eating it as sashimi, in a soup, grilled, baked or in pasta. This is one of the simple dishes I prepare with salmon. I think I had this featured here before but with a different twist. This version has 2 or 3 more added ingredients. (lol)

Ingredients:

salmon fillet, skinned

pasta of your choice

cherry tomatoes, halved or pressed

low-fat crème fraîche

chopped fresh parsley

orange zest

salt

ground black pepper

Procedure:

Cube salmon and dust with salt and pepper. Sear the pieces and set aside.

Cook pasta per package directions.

Drain pasta and toss in tomatoes and salmon.

Mix in crème fraîche, parsley, orange zest and pepper to taste.

Top with as much salmon pieces as you want.

As the quote above says, eating spaghetti or pasta for that matter requires much attention. Add salmon to it and you need to double the concentration savoring the flavor. :)

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Food Friday - Salmon Lasagna

>> Thursday, November 13, 2008 – food friday, Food photos, pasta, salmon

Salmon Lasagna

My boys and I went out yesterday and they ganged me up to eat at Nordsee, their favorite fastfood resto.

I ordered the Salmon Lasagna, why not, its salmon! Layers of lasagne, salmon bits, ricotta, spinach in fraiche. First bite was 'wow' this is really good..but would be too much later on. I wasn't able to finish my portion actually, if they serve it in smaller portions, that was ok too.

The boys had their usual kiddy meal of fish sticks and fries, a drink plus a toy.

Smoked Salmon Pasta

>> Tuesday, October 7, 2008 – Food photos, pasta, salmon

It is official, I am a salmon freak...we had this dish 2 days ago and I'd certainly make it often. Aside from being easy to prepare, salmon could be substituted with other stuff such as bacon for carbonara, tuna, green peas and mushroom, and crab and corn too!

INGREDIENTS
smoked salmon, cut into small pieces
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, finely chopped (optional)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 cups milk
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 package farfalle or your preferred pasta

How to:

1. Cook pasta per package directions, drain and set aside.

2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute onion in butter.

3. Stir flour and garlic powder into the butter and onions. Gradually stir in milk.

4. Pour in cheese until the sauce is smooth. Stir well and cook over low heat for a few minutes.

5.Toss in smoked salmon, and cook for 2 more minutes. Serve over pasta. Voila!

You can also serve it with caviar!

Lasang Pinoy Sunday Edition - Creamy

>> Friday, August 29, 2008 – Food photos, Lasang Pinoy, pasta

Broccoli, mushroom carbonara---

Ingredients:

1 mediun onion, chopped
bacon, cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon butter
Mushrooms
broccoli

1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 large egg yolks

Spaghetti or your desired pasta
some more Parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta per package directions.

2. In a large pan or skillet , combine bacon, onions and butter over medium heat. Sauté bacon until brown and crisp.

3. Put in mushrooms and broccoli, cover and let simmer for a few minutes.

4. Whisk cream, 1/2 cup grated cheese and egg yolks in medium bowl to blend; whisk in 2 tablespoons drippings from skillet. Set cream mixture aside; discard remaining drippings.

5. Add cream mixture to pasta. Toss over medium-low heat until sauce cooks through and coats pasta thickly, about 4 minutes (do not boil).

6. Mix in the bacon, mushroom and broccoli combo. Season with salt and pepper. Top with parmesan, serve.

For more Creamy-goodness food, visit Ces' page.

Food Friday - Cannelloni

>> Friday, August 15, 2008 – food friday, pasta

Cannelloni con Ricota e Spinati

Cannelloni (Italian, meaning large reeds) are rectangular pasta sheets that are rolled with a filling. It resembles a crepe, generally 8-10 cm (3-4 inches) in length and once rolled, 2 cm (1 inch) in diameter.

The filling could be varied. Still in Venice then, I had a dish filled with ricotta cheese and spinach covered with bechamel sauce.

Happy eating and happy weekend!

Pasta from where IT originally is

>> Saturday, August 9, 2008 – Food photos, pasta, Review, salmon

We arrived at around 2pm somewhere in Lignano, Italy on Saturday...the trip was almost 8 hours coming from Vienna. But thanks to the bus driver, he took us directly to the villa where we are staying instead of the agency where we need to get the keys first.

Tired from travelling, we sought the nearest restaurant open at that time...since it was siesta hour most of them were closed.

Il Dollaro was the nearest one we saw and was I glad too that it was as the food tastes good, the ambiance friendly, and the staff were eloquent both in German and English, they were a big help too...(in helping us find our supposed destination).

We took turns giving our orders, the kids chose pizza while all 5 adults (mil, bil and his wife, hubby and I) went for pasta.
While waiting for our orders I took the opp for photoshooting hehe. (Also smelling the aroma of olive oil and all those good stuff! lol)

We sat at the veranda and the breeze added comfort to the smell of good cooking...

Then came food, served in hefty portions...My little boy was running around and I had to follow him so I didnt have much time to really choose what to eat, but when I saw this particular dish I know I would love it!

Tagliatelle e Salmone

Of course, bits of salmon - fresh from italian waters served with white sauce over tagliatelle. They serve parmesan generously so I had my pasta sprinkled with lots of it! (Little boy liked it well too!)

Spaghetti Pomodoro

MiL had a simple dish and she simply said "hmmmm...good" which I do not take much as an A-rating considering her very good cooking skills...the parmesan was actually given to her ;-) and she also had lots of it over her tomato sauced spaghetti.

Carbonara

Hubby, my helpful but could be critical food critic chose Carbonara, at first bite he said "Tikman mo, masarap!" I did and I knew what he meant, the taste of authentic carbonara from butter, egg yolks and pork fat and no cream!

Pizza Prosciutto

Prosciutto (ham) is one of the kids' favorite pizza topping, so my two bigger kids shared a whole (it was also a big serving). Still, they weren't able to finish it that hubby and I had a little slice too...and yum, one bite and I can tell the crust is really something! I could eat it even without the toppings! lol. No wonder he had such a big smile after eating!

So where to get the best pasta and pizza? Of course I'd suggest, where they originally are from, anywhere in Italy...

Tuna and Crab Spiralen Pasta

>> Tuesday, July 29, 2008 – Food photos, pasta

Surimi; is a Japanese loan word referring to a food product intended to mimic a lobster, crab, and other shellfish meat. It is typically made from white-fleshed fish, (such as pollock or hake), that has been pulverized to a paste and attains a rubbery texture when cooked. The term is also commonly applied to food products made from lean meat in a similar process.

Surimi is a much-enjoyed food product in many Asian cultures and is available in many shapes, forms, and textures. The most common surimi product in the Western market is crab legs. Such a product is often sold as sea legs and krab in America, or seafood sticks, crab sticks and fish sticks in the UK, or seafood extender in Australia.

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Its given that I like (crab) surimi however they are served. The above photo's recipe was supposed to be tuna only but I can't help putting them on top since they are both flavors of the sea, I just thought maybe they might complement well, and was I glad they did. Although I imagined fresh tuna would have been better. =P

It was also a quick dish, good for kids who love to eat but do not have the patience to wait! lol.

Ingredients:

A can of prepared spaghetti sauce
A can of tuna
1 tsp olive oil
a clove of garlic, minced
medium onion, diced
a teaspoon of dried basil leaves
crabsticks

preferred pasta, cooked per package directions

1. Open tuna can and drain.

2. Heat olive oil in a small pan and add garlic and onion.

3. Throw in tuna and basil and combine well.

4. Pour spaghetti sauce and leave for a few minutes before turning off stove. Serve over pasta and top with crabsticks.

Salmon delight

>> Tuesday, February 26, 2008 – pasta, salmon

Another Salmon recipe, just can't get enough of them.

Perhaps the most recipes that I have posted are those of Salmon and Shrimp, my two most favorite seafoods. This recipe is so simple, in preparing and cooking and to how it tastes.

I have posted lots of pasta recipes and everytime I have always used spaghetti, but this one goes well too with farfalle and macaroni.

Ingredients:

2 tbsps Olive oil
Salmon filet
2 tomatoes, cubed
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp chopped parsley
pasta, water, salt, pepper

1. Cook preferred pasta per package directions.

2. In a saucepan, heat olive oil. Add garlic, put in the salmon fillets before the garlic turns brown. Cook Salmon over low heat, stir using a wooden spoon to avoid the fillets from breaking into pieces.

3. Add tomatoes and parsley, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Add a little water to add moisture then pour over pasta. Serve hot!

The Peach Spaghetti

>> Sunday, December 23, 2007 – pasta

When I served this spaghetti, the kids had the same reaction...Warum ist das farbe so? (Why is the color like that?) In actuality, the sauce has a strong hint of peach, hence the title.

I originally wanted to cook baked macaroni and cheese, however, I saw too late that we run out of macaroni, there was no time to buy at the store. (I am at home with 3 kids and its winter. To go out of the house to buy macaroni pasta means us dressing up layers of clothes first.) =(

So I came up with an idea, use spaghetti instead of macaroni. =D And that's how the peach pasta was born.

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Ingredients

ground beef
onion
garlic
tomato sauce
ketchup
salt and pepper

half stick butter
1 cup milk
1 cup grated cheese

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Saute garlic and onion, throw in ground beef when onions are transparent. Cook beef until brown. You may also add hotdogs.

Add tomato sauce and ketchup plus salt and pepper to taste. Stir. Put the stove on very low heat.

In another pan melt butter, drop grated cheese slowly, stirring continously. When the cheese melts add milk, still stirring. Make sure that all of the cheese melts.

Combine the cheese melt with the tomato sauce mix. Stir well. Serve over hot pasta.

You can also serve this with the cheesemelt over the sauce instead of combining it but the mixed version tastes better.

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This is the same recipe for baked macaroni and cheese, you only need to combine the tomato sauce mix with macaroni in a baking dish. Spread the cheesemelt over before baking in preheated oven at 180degs (C)/356 degs (F) for 15 minutes.

Garlic Shrimp Pasta

>> Friday, December 7, 2007 – pasta

While posting the kids' photo, I noticed the google ad on my page...it says Garlic Shrimp Pasta! How good can google come up with that from my tags??? lol. Anyway, I actually had this recipe saved up,here again a simple pasta dish...(again) with shrimps!

Ingredients:

Pasta

Olive oil
Garlic head
Shrimp (shelled and devein)
Dried Basil
Salt and Pepper

How to:

1. Cook pasta per package direction. Heat olive oil. Saute garlic and shrimps...do not overcook the garlic.

2. Add basil leaves and season with salt and pepper. Drop in the spaghetti so it gets covered with basil.

Try not to let the basil get all over your face. Click this pic. =D