The main ingredient for this dish was meant to be thick slices of pancetta cut into cubes. However, the grocery store next door does not carry such ingredient. Maybe it ain't so bad for me? Last time when I bought those Italian cured meat, just 2 slices of pancetta cost me $$$ compared to the more wallet-friendly and more accessible bacon counterpart.
Bacon it is.
Very bacony and garlicky spaghetti -
Ingredients (3 to 4 portion)?
8 strips of smoked bacon
8 cremini mushroom
2 Roman tomatoes
1 bundle of spinach
4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon of red chili flakes
Some sea salt
Some freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 portions of spaghetti
How?
Bring a big pot of water to a boil, add in few pinches of salt,
Cook the spaghetti in boiling water according to package instruction,
Preferably al dente in texture. Once done, drain well and aside for later use.
Cut the bacon into bite size pieces, toss half of the bacon to the pan then turn to medium-high heat.
While rendering the fat, let's dice up the remaining ingredients. Do remember to check on the bacon and give it a quick stir once a while to prevent burning.
Peel and finely chop the garlic,
Cut the mushroom in half then roughly slice it -
Dice up the Roman tomatoes, there's no need to remove the skin first -
Give the spinach a few chops to shorten the length -
Back to the bacon,
Add in the remaining 1/2 of bacon, all the chopped garlic, and chili flakes,
Sprinkle some salt and pepper, cook for about 30 seconds -
The reason why I add the bacon in separate batches is to get two different textures while biting into the pasta. You get that semi-burned yet crunchy edges together with soft and moist fat at the same time, how good can it be?
Toss in sliced mushroom and sprinkle some more salt, we want to season every layer for this recipe.
Cook for about 30 seconds,
Add the cubed tomatoes and sprinkle some more salt.
On top of juicy tomatoes, adding salt will further help in drawing out the liquid from them. Those yummy juices will then be absorbed by the mushroom - the flavor just keeps building up in our magic pan.
Lastly, toss in the spinach and cook till it starts to wilt, sprinkle some more salt if needed. It should be on the slightly salty side since we are going to mix in the spaghetti, which will dilute the taste a bit.
Once the flavor is checked, mix in the spaghetti and you'll have a very bacony and garlicky meal. I suppose some freshly grated parmesan will be a great addition to the pasta!
Buon appetito!
Cindy's Rating: 8
This recipe requires zero kitchen skills,
As long as you know how to wash the vegetables and hook up the steamer,
You'll find yourself the best steamed veggies ever,
Healthy, colorful, and maybe the best thing of all - no crazy cleanup after cooking!
Steamed vegetable with Asian vinaigrette -
*Note*
I was basically in pain while packing for my U.S. trip couple weeks ago,
Due to my excessive "necessities" of clothes, lotion, shoes..you know..all the girl stuff..
I had to leave my digital SLR camera at home,
Literally, there were tears in my eyes while walking out the door to the airport,
Hugging my camera goodbye, making sure "he" can take care of himself in the cabinet..
So for this and the next few posts,
All pictures will be taken with my second greatest helper - Iphone 4!
Ingredients?
3 skinny carrots
3 small/medium squash
1 to 2 broccolis
10 button mushroom
3 tomatoes on the vine
4 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Some sea salt
Some freshly ground black pepper
Vinaigrette:
1 lime (juice part)
3 tablespoons of light soy sauce (I used tsuyu sauce)
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
How?
Thoroughly clean up all the vegetables -
Rinsing, peeling, and cutting them into bite sizes.
Take the container that's going to be used for steaming,
Layer the tough vegetable on the bottom, here's my sequence from bottom up:
Carrot, broccoli, mushroom, squash, tomatoes.
Finely chop the garlic, evenly layer on the very top of the vegetables,
Also evenly sprinkle some salt and pepper on the top, this will help in drawing out the liquid from the vegetables,
Thoroughly drizzle some olive oil,
Steam for about 10 to 15 minutes, or till desired texture,
I like mine mushy.
Once the veggies are ready, transfer on to a plate and leave the juice inside the container,
Combine all the ingredients for the vinaigrette and mix together with the steamed vegetable juice,
Pour the sauce all over the veggies and toss the whole mixture,
Sprinkle some toasted sesame seed for extra nutrient (too bad mine was out).
I actually served it with seared chicken breast marinated in garlic and herb sauce,
For sure this healthy side dish will also work well with grilled salmon or steak!
Cindy's Rating: 9
Since I was going to be on a trip to California for about one month,
There has to be a way to use up the spinach left in my fridge, perhaps something for my parents while I'm away?
Homemade spinach noodles (recipe adapted from Martha Stewart) -
Ingredients (for 2 to 3 people)?
1 bundle of spinach
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of sea salt
Some extra flour for dusting and storage purpose
How?
Steam the spinach till wilted or softened,
Wait till it cools down, drain well and transfer to a food processor,
Drain well - I mean really squeeze out the liquid from the veggie, a kitchen towel might do the trick for you.
Puree the spinach and set aside for later use.
With the same food processor,
Add in the eggs and yolks, blend till fully combined,
Pour in half of the flour, give it a few pulses then pour the in the remaining flour and salt,
Again, few pulses then just keep blending while drizzle in the olive oil at the same time,
Blend till nearly combined.
Sprinkle some flour on the working surface,
Transfer the dough over and knead till elastic, took about 6 minutes for me,
You might have to sprinkle some more flour either on the surface or on the dough if too sticky.
Wrap the dough with plastic foil and just let it rest for about an hour.
Now here it comes the labor work,
Since I don't have a pasta machine, or a pasta roller/cutter, I had to "manually" roll out the dough and cut into noodles one strip at a time.
Here's how I did it,
Divide the dough by 4,
Take a rolling pin, dust with some flour and start rolling out the dough into thin flour sheet,
Remember to dust the dough also to prevent stickiness,
Once one, I used a cutting board as my leverage in order to cut out straight lines for the noodles.
Dust the noodles; you can cook them right away or store in Ziploc bags up to months in the freezer.
But man oh man...
I think I got buff just by rolling out these 4 small dough.
Quick advice,
Invest in a pasta roller/cutter if you're planning on making more noodles and pasta in the future.
Mine is already on the way,
They're kind of costly but I think it's totally worth the $$,
What's even better?
No more sweating and man-like arms while making noodles!
Cindy's Rating: 7
This is my first time cooking with Chinese cured meat,
Depending on the region, the cured meat is usually made by smoking or marinating pork belly strips -
After consulted with my mom, here's my very first try of this traditional dish,
Stir fry cured meat with garlic sprout -
Ingredients?
1 strip of Chinese cured meat
1 garlic sprout
3 red chili peppers
Tiny bit of olive oil
How?
Bring a pot of water to a boil then add in the cured meat,
Cook about 5 minutes on each side to get rid of excess salty flavor from the meat.
Wait till the meat cools down a little bit then cut off the upper tough skin part,
Just cut away a thin layer on the top and discard it,
Cut the remaining strip into very thin pieces.
Mine doesn't look that thin..well...guess I'm not very good with knives*
Plus I didn't cut off the chewy skin part..because my mom forgot to mention this crucial step..
One of my fellow food blogger recommended another tip to deal with the chewy skin - by steaming the strip with rice wine prior stir frying the meat, maybe I'll test it out next time!
Remove the stem from the garlic sprout and slice it diagonally,
Remove the stems from chili peppers and cut into tiny pieces.
Drizzle just a tiny bit of olive oil to the pan and toss in garlic sprouts and chili peppers,
Cook till almost burned, add in cured meat,
Give it a quick stir, the dish is ready once the garlic sprouts turned slightly burned on the edges.
Even though that chewy skin is kind of annoying, but overall this is still a very flavorful dish, despite the fact that only few seasonings were used,
What do you think?
At least not bad for a first try?
Cindy's Rating: 7
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