Fettuccine with Ham, Corn and Peas

I wasn't able to join the celebration at Presto Pasta Nights last week, boo for me! But, I am super proud to take part in one of the longest running food meme, I may not be a regular contributor but I love it no less. I'll let you in on a secret, with my love of pasta, I think I was Italian in my past life *grins*.

This week's pasta feast is hosted by Debbie of Debbie Does Dinner, if you're craving for more pasta recipes, go and visit her for the round-up on Friday.


Ingredients:

• fettuccine noodles
• corn kernels
  
• green peas
• sliced ham, cut into square bits
  
• evaporated milk
• all-purpose cream
• butter
• olive oil (any kind will do)
  
• ground black pepper
• salt
• dried basil leaves

Procedures:

• Cook the noodles according to package instructions. Set aside.
• Heat a bit of oil before melting the butter slab, that would prevent it from burning.
• Put the ham in, roll the pieces in butter for a while until it sizzles. Add the green peas and corn kernels and saute.
• Pour the evaporated milk and stir. Pour the all-purpose cream and stir a bit more thus preventing the sauce from sticking to the pan. Lower the heat down and let it simmer for three minutes.
• Season the sauce with salt and pepper, try it out and do the necessary adjustments. Bring to a boil.
• Toss the fettuccine noodles in, sprinkle it with some dried basil leaves and mix until all the noodles are coated with the sauce.
• Let it cool for a few minutes and serve. (The sauce tends to thicken while it cools, the logic behind the let it cool phrase *grins*)

Try it and do tell me what you think, okie?

Pasta Negra

A leap of faith, I am joining Presto Pasta Nights, I know that me and my ways in the kitchen are still mediocre at best but I haven't read any rules that a newbie can't join so I am taking the plunge, que sera, sera! This is my second time joining, the first one was ages ago, it was one of those times when my bravery is at its peak *grins*. I, actually, love experimenting on new pasta dishes (I, even, think that I was an Italian in my past life *lol*) but as most of what I concoct doesn't follow a strict recipe, I seldom join any cooking meme, well, as I've said, this is a leap of faith.

This week's Presto Pasta Night round-up will be their 200th, so I'm kinda part of something special and it is hosted at Fuss Free Flavors. So, if you're in search for some great pasta recipes do visit that blog on Friday.



Ingredients:

• spaghetti noodles (any kind of pasta will do)
• fresh small to regular-sized squids
• all-purpose cream
• onion and garlic, diced
• butter
• vegetable oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• dried basil leaves

Procedures:

• Clean the squid thoroughly. Put the ink in a clean container, to be used as a coloring for the dish. Be sure to take out the white gooey thing that stick in the ink pouch, it's the source of that fishy smell so you better be careful about it. And remember to use fresh squid, the key to a flavorful dish is its freshness.
  
• Boil the squid until cooked. Set aside.
• Cook the spaghetti noodles according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
• In a large pan, heat up some vegetable oil before dropping in the butter to prevent it from burning.
• Saute the garlic and onion, until the kitchen smells or until the onion is mildly translucent, please don't overdo it.
• Pour in the squid's ink, the amount depends on how dark you want your pasta to look, I didn't used much as my son doesn't like it super black. Saute and mush it thoroughly.
• Add the cooked squid, stir and bring it to a semi-boil.
  
• Add the all-purpose cream (I used one tetra pack of Nestle cream), stir until blended, add a little water and let it simmer.
• Season with salt, pepper and dried basil leaves, taste test and do the necessary tweaking.
  
• Stir it continuously to prevent the sauce from sticking in the pan, add some dissolved flour on cold water to make the sauce thick. The color won't blend well with the noodles if your sauce is watery/soupy. Bring it to its final boil and you're done.
• Toss the noodles in and work on it until the black sauce incorporates with every strands of the spaghetti noodles, your arms might feel a little sore afterwards but the smile on your family/guests will make it all worth it.
• Let it cool for a while before serving.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Carbonara w/a Twist

My last post was about an experiment gone well, actually, great is a better term, hurhur. This one is not exactly an experiment but it was also done to maximize the benefits of an increase in our supply of Christmas ham, teehee.



Ingredients:

• pasta noodles (any kind will do)
  
• all-purpose cream
• ham, cubed (I used a honey-cured one)
  
• green peas
• corn kernels
• butter
  
• dried basil
  
• ground black pepper
• fish sauce/salt
• water

Procedures:

• Cook the noodles according to package instructions. Rinse and set aside.
• In medium heat, melt a quarter (of a bar) of margarine in a pan.
• Roll, not fry, the ham cubes in butter.
• Pour the all-purpose cream, add a bit of water and blend it all together.
  
• Add the seasonings - fish sauce or salt, ground black pepper and dried basil.
  
• Put the green peas and corn kernels last, stir and simmer until you get your preferred consistency.
• Taste test and do the necessary revisions, if there's a need to.
• Leave the sauce in low heat, drop the pasta noodles and toss.
  
• And you're done, let it cool for at least 15minutes, to make sure that the sauce are all stuck to the noodles, and then serve.
• I think, it will be great with garlic bread, sadly we have none *pouts*.

I think, I am Italian in my past life, with my obsession with pasta and all, hahaha.

Triple Longganisa Pasta

taken with a camera flash

Ingredients:

• pasta noodles of any kind (I used what's on hand, spaghetti noodles)
• smoked longganisa
• regular skinless longganisa
• longganisang macao
• butter
• olive oil
• salt, sugar, pepper, magic sarap
• dried basil
  

Procedures:

• Cook the noodles per instructed in the package, make sure to have it al dente. I, personally, add magic sarap granules on the boiling water aside from salt and oil, to give the noodles a distinct taste. Drain and set aside.
  
• Slice the longganisang macao thinly, cut the smoked longganisa into cubes, get the skinless ones ready.
• Heat a little olive oil in the pan, add half a bar of butter and let it melt.
• Mash and saute the skinless longganisa, add the smoked longganisa and the longganisang macao. Cook until the oil and sugar of the longganisa infused and caramelized.
• Season with salt, sugar or pepper, do it according to your preference.
• Drop and toss the pasta.
• Serve with a little drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of dried basil.

taken without a camera flash

My husband is a longganisa-lover so I tried inventing a pasta dish that he sure will love and my instinct didn't fail me, he ate as much as 3 plateful right after I finished cooking, I loss count of the rest *lol*.

Chicken Pesto Penne

My version of Pizza Hut's Chicken Pesto Penne, I cooked this for our New Year's Eve feast, it was my first time to try it without a concrete recipe to boot but to my amazement it was an instant favorite amongst my family, either luck was on my side or I'm really getting good at this craft *grins*.

And as I am super proud of my work, though I'm sure it won't compare to the recipes of other foodies, I am joining Presto Pasta Nights which is hosted this week by Gay of A Scientist in the Kitchen.


Ingredients:

• penne pasta (500g, San Remo)
• 1 chicken breast (or as much as you like)
  
• 1 big can of evaporated milk
• 1 tetra pack of all-purpose cream
• 1/2 bar of cheddar cheese, cubed or grated
  
• 3-4 tablespoon of Barilla Pesto alla Genovese
• olive oil
• butter
• fish sauce or salt
  
• pepper
• sugar (optional)
  

Procedures:

• Boil the chicken until tender. Cut the meat into cubes (as I did) or you can just shred it. Set aside.
• Cook the penne as instructed on the packaging. Put the chicken bones on the water that you'll use to cook the pasta to add flavor.
• Heat a pan or wok and pour an adequate amount of olive oil for sauteing, add a little amount of butter to enhance its taste.
• Saute 3-4 tablespoons (or as much as you prefer) of pesto.
  
• Add the chicken meat, some salt or fish sauce (I prefer the fish sauce as it adds a little tang to the dish) and a little of ground pepper, and saute some more.
• Add the all purpose cream and the evaporated milk while constantly stirring.
  
• Before it reach its boiling point, drop the cheese, stir and let it simmer for a few minutes or until the cheese have melted, be sure to keep on stirring from time to time.
• Taste the sauce, if the milk didn't give enough sweetness to counter the taste of pesto, you can add a little sugar, just be sure not to over-indulge, you don't want a penne pesto dessert *grins*. If you want it a little spicy add some more pepper, if you want it more salty add some more salt, you know the drill.
• When you're satisfied and all, bring it to a boil and you're done.
• Toss it with the penne pasta and serve.

My first (hopefully not the last) entry for:

Creamy Carbonara

I haven't been posting for a while now, sorry. I was just caught up in the Yuletide rush thus I forgot to do my responsibility to this blog, but I'll make it up and I'll start with the dishes I cooked up last Christmas (Noche Buena) and New Year (Media Noche) celebration. Shall we begin?

Note: Pardon the kinda dry photo of the Carbonara, it took me a little while before I made the shot and the electric fan was switched on high, but I swear it is a Creamy Carbonara *grins*.


Ingredients:

• spaghetti noodles (1k)
• all-purpose cream (2 tetra packs)
• evaporated milk (1 big can)
• condensed milk (1 regular can)
• cheese (1 pack), sliced, cubed or grated
  
• ham, cubed
  
• bacon, slice thinly
  
• mushrooms (1 big can), sliced
  
• pepper
• fish sauce
• butter (1/2-3/4 of a bar)
  
• oil
• water
  

Procedures:

• Cook the spaghetti noodles as instructed on the packaging. Set aside.
• Heat the pan and pour a little oil, just so the butter won't burn. Put the butter and let it melt and heat up a little.
• Put the sliced bacon and fry it on low heat, let the oil and juices of the bacon mix with the butter.
  
• Add the small ham cubes, fry on medium heat until it's cooked (if you want the bacon and ham crispy, you can go ahead and fry those on high heat).
• Add some fish sauce and ground pepper (as many or as little as you want). Saute, until you smell that salty and bacon-y aroma.
• Add the all-purpose cream, the evaporated milk and the condensed milk, one after the other while continuously stirring. Add a little water and then simmer it on low heat.
• Before the sauce reach its boiling point, drop the cheese and stir continuously to prevent the cheese from sticking at the bottom of the pan and to make the melting process faster.
• Put the sliced button mushrooms, incorporate it with the sauce and bring it to a boil.
  
• Taste test the sauce and make the necessary adjustments, also, check its consistency, if you want it thicker, you can dissolve a little amount of flour in water and add it on the sauce, be sure to mix it evenly.
• If everything's to you're liking, then you're ready to serve.
• You can put the spaghetti noodles in one big bowl or cauldron, pour the carbonara sauce and make do with one tossing, this will work well if you don't have any extra sauce or if you're in a hurry. If you wanna make it more gourmet, I suggest, you plate the spaghetti noodles and pour the carbonara sauce on top, garnish with some grated cheese and fresh basil and you're good to go.
  

Happy cooking! Happy eating! Happy New Year!