Tag: simple pasta recipe

Slightly elaborate Instagram updates with a Tomato & Ham Pasta recipe.

Do you know what this is?

# – Take a guess.

It’s a pet overall that my mom has fashioned out of a pair of old granny pants. My mom even made a hole for the tail…it is freakin’ brilliant!

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This is Charlie looking absolutely miffed because I tied his patch of hair up.

# – Dude needs a groomin’.

FTS, while writing this post I forgot he had a grooming appointment at 3pm today. Completely forgot about it T_T.

Looks like a couple more weeks before we’ve got time to make you look more presentable, boy.

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This qipao is 31 years old. My mom wore this on her wedding day and soon, I will be wearing it on mine too :)

My mom was a really tiny girl and according to her, the dress was loose on her.

I’m just glad I could fit in it now because I remember trying it when I was 15 and it wouldn’t even zip up pass my hips!!!

My mom has a good strategy, that I wear this while saying goodbye to guests on my reception cause I won’t be sitting down. Cause if I sat down, my belly layers will jut out. Well, thanks for the advice Mom!

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This is Mom being a total fan girl posing with Sam Lee, a HK actor. We were at Unity Store KL launch.

She’s currently watching a TVB show with him in it called Ghetto Justice. I think he looks a lot cuter in real life!

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Today’s dinner was pumpkin gnocchi with spinach & tomatoes in Chinoz BSC. One of my favourite foods and about the only vegetarian that rocks my socks off.

# – Top is fish & chips (ordinary) but pumpkin gnocchi below is OMGZ!

Pillowy but light gnocchi with a mild pumpkin taste with blanched spinach and tomato sauce. So simple but soooooooooo gooood!

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And now….recipe for my simple tomato & ham pasta. This is a truly simple recipe and doesn’t require many ingredients. Very tasty and quite healthy too!

# – Simple tomato & ham pasta.

The ingredients:

  • 200grams of pasta (I used tagliatelle), cooked according to instructions on packet
  • 2 tomatoes, quartered
  • 2 onions, thinly sliced
  • 3 slices of ham, julienned
  • 300ml of tomato juice
  • Salt and black pepper to taste

    • #1 – First saute the sliced onions until translucent.

    #2 – Then, throw in the ham and stir fry until slightly browned.

    #3 – Next, throw in the quartered tomatoes.

    #4 – With a potato masher, squash the tomatoes till they break down. Crying.

    #5 – Pour in the tomato juice, little by little and stir until you get the consistency of a slightly thickened sauce.

    #6 – Season with salt & pepper. Remember to taste as you go as tomato juice is quite salty on its own!

    #7 – Dump in the cooked pasta (which you of course, was already cooking while you were making the sauce) and mix to coat evenly.

    #8 – Tomato & ham pasta with a sprinkling of grated parmesan, DONE!

    Love this dish, I have made it several times actually. It’s quick & easy to make and really flavourful without having to use an entire can of plum tomatoes or herbs. You’d be surprised!

    Have a good week, peeps :)

    Everybody can make pasta carbonara!

    I remember my first time making pasta carbonara. Well, it ended in disaster. The pasta was overcooked to the point of clumping. The sauce was gloopy (I made it with corn starch….cue /screams of horror). The bacons were cremated. Yeap, it was that bad.

    But those days are behind me. I can now make pretty decent basic pasta carbonara and the steps are incredibly simple too! Don’t believe me? Read on…

    # – Creamy, porky, bacon carbonara pasta!

    The ingredients:

    • 4 egg yolks
    • 150ml of whole milk (you can use cream but that’s just naughty, isn’t it?)
    • 4 slices of back bacon (or 8, or 12 if you’re in the mood!)
    • 140 grams of pasta or enough for 2 people (I used spaghetti, but you can use other types too)
    • 2 spoonfuls of butter
    • 3/4 tablespoon of salt
    • Ground black pepper for taste

    # – First of all, cut the back bacons into strips. Make sure every strip has bits of fat attached ;)

    # – On medium flame, dump the bacon strips into a pan to brown. There’s no need for additional oil as the bacon will produce its own grease. Stir around occasionally.

    # – After about 10 minutes, they will look like this. Turn off the flame and set aside.

    # – Now in a bowl, pour the milk into 4 egg yolks.

    # – Add 3/4 tablespoon of salt.

    # – Followed by a dash of black pepper.

    # – Whisk with a fork till everything’s combined like this…

    # – Now cook the pasta according to instructions on its packet.

    # – Then drain the pasta and put it back into the pot it was cooked in. Add two dollops of butter.

    # – And now, pour in the eggy mixture into the pasta.

    # – Dump 3/4 of the cooked bacon strips into the pasta. Stir till pasta, bacon and the carbonara sauce are well mixed. If you find the sauce a bit too watery for your taste, you could actually put the pan on low heat and stir till the sauce looks a bit reduced and thicker…be observant though as you don’t want dry carbonara pasta. Dry carbonara pasta is nasty, trust me I know!

    # – Plate it and garnish with the leftover bacon strips.

    # – Simple, delicious, comforting pasta carbonara, DONE!

    This is also a great recipe when you’ve got a surplus of egg yolks. I make meringues once a week so I’ve got a lot of egg yolks lying around waiting to be turned into yumminess.

    You’d probably notice that there isn’t any cheese in this recipe. Well, you could put it in of course, but for a cheese fiend like myself, I was surprised to find this carbonara rather decadent without the cheese even. Who am I to dictate though? :)

    Easy peasy onion and chilli angel hair pasta with crabstick

    This was actually adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s Angel Hair Pasta with Crab, Chilli and Lime. I made his original version many times and it always turns out absolutely delicious! This afternoon, I thought of making it for lunch but realised I had no lime, no parsley and not crabmeat :(

    So what I did was substitute lime with lemon, parsley with onions and crabmeat with…well, crabsticks :D The result was a fresh, light, sweet (from the onion) and lemony pasta, perfect for a satisfying lunch. And the best thing about this dish? It’s so easy to cook!

    # – You may notice that my lemons look a bit ghetto, that’s because they were zested a couple of days ago. No wastage in this kitchen! Hehe.

    The ingredients:

    • 140 grams of angelhair pasta
    • 4 pieces of crabsticks
    • 1 chilli, sliced
    • 1 medium onion, chopped
    • 4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped roughly
    • Juice of 1 lemon
    • Around 6-7 tablespoons of vodka
    • Salt for season

    # – First, boil the angelhair pasta according to instructions on the package. Then drain, toss with olive oil and set aside.

    # – In a large saucepan, heat up some oil and fry the garlic.

    # – Dump in the chillies.

    # – Followed by the chopped onions.

    # – And then, the chopped crabsticks.

    # – Stir everything for a bit till the crabs are slightly browned and the onions have wilted slightly.

    # – Then you pour in the vodka, w00t!

    # – Season with salt and stir…

    # – After the vodka had reduced a bit, remove pan from heat. Dump in the drained angelhair pasta. Mix and toss till everything’s combined.

    # – Serve on a plate and lightly drizzle with olive oil. This recipe serves 2, by the way.

    # – And finish it off with juice of half a lemon for each plate.

    # – Easy onion chilli angelhair pasta with crabstick.

    This is perfect for when you don’t have to cook for so many people. Portions are easily controlled and ingredients are easily available. Most of them are probably in your pantry already.

    You can always substitute crabsticks with fishpaste or fishballs or better real crabmeats. I guess you can probably use chicken or pork too, but make sure they are tenderised properly (try marinading them in lemon juice with a drizzle of olive oil) otherwise they might not go so well with such a light tasting pasta.

    Happy cooking!