Spaghetti Tossed In Tuna-in-Oil

Simple and easy to prepare. Just cooked the spaghetti as instructed in the package, drain and toss all the ingredients together, then, VOILA!!!! nom, nom,nom

Ingredients:

• 1 medium bowl of cooked spaghetti
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 95g canned Tuna in Oil
• 1 - 1/2 tsp lemon juice or to taste
• salt to taste
• dried mixed herbs
• dried parsley

Method:

1. Cook spaghetti as instructed in boiling salted water. Drain and transfer into a medium bowl. 
2. Drizzle olive oil and sesame oil on the cook spaghetti. Toss them well. Add in canned tuna with oil, lemon juice and sprinkle some salt. Then, top with sprinkle dried mixed herbs and dried parsley or herbs of your choice.

Baked Mushroom Spaghetti with Homemade Tomato Pasta Sauce

CookBook Challenge Week 47: Italian

If I decided to stay eat at home on weekends I would rather stick to something simple, easy and have minimum dish washing to do. Last weekend I decided to cook spaghetti with homemade tomato pasta sauce with portobello mushroom and bake in the oven to melt the cheese toppings. You can substitute portobello mushroom and spaghetti with any mushroom and pasta of your choice. I also make some white sauce to have with boiled brocolli.

Ingredients:-

• 500g packed spaghetti
• 400g Portobello mushroom, sliced
• 20g butter
• 1/2 tbsp olive oil or cooking oil
• 1 tbsp or more dried mixed herbs or any dried herbs you like (how to release the dried her flavour? Click here)
• Shredded cheese (as much / as little as you wish)

     Homemade Tomato Pasta Sauce

• 1 brown onion, sliced
• 1 french shallot, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (400g) canned chopped tomatoes or 2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 2 1/2 tbsp tomato paste or to taste
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 tbsp sugar or to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:-

1. Homemade Tomato Pasta Sauce: Saute onion, shallot and garlic until soft. Add in chopped tomatoes and stir until it is soften. Then, add in tomato paste. Stir constantly to make sure all ingredients are well combined. Add water, bring to boil and lower heat to simmer. Add sugar, salt and pepper and simmer further until the pasta sauce thickened. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, while waiting for the pasta sauce to thicken, preheat oven to 200 degre celcius and boil a pot of salted water and cooked spaghetti as instructed in the package. Drain and drizzle with some olive oil/cooking oil/butter so that it doesn't stick together. Set aside. 
3. Mushroom: Using the same pot, wipe dry and at medium low heat, melt butter, add dried mixed herbs and drizzle in olive oil. Once it is frangrant, add in sliced mushroom, coat all mushrooms with butter mixture. Cook until the mushrooms moisture is ooze out. Then,pour in the pasta sauce and simmer at low heat for 10 minutes and adjust the sugar, salt and peppper to taste. Then, toss the spagetti in pasta sauce and mix well. Remove the spaghetti and sauce into a baking dish. Top with sprinkle shrreded cheese. Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese melted. 
4. While waiting for the cheese to melt, boiled brocolli in salted boiling water and prepare the white sauce. 

    For white sauce:-

     Ingredients:-

• 50g butter
• 1 tsp olive oil or cooking oil
• 1 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 cup milk, room tempreture

    Method:-

1. At low heat, melt butter and add olive oil. Once the butter is completely melted, add in flour and make sure it is well corporated with butter. Add milk and whisk to get rid of any lumps. Simmer until the desire consistency. 
2. Serve with boiled brocolli or top the bake spagetti before serving.

Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• about 500g mince beef
• 3 fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp dried mix herbs
• 1 cup water
• 1 - 2tsp sugar
• salt and pepper to taste
• some dried parsley
• some parmesan cheese

 Methods:-

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Saute onions and garlic until fragrant.
2. Add beef and brown over high heat. Stir occasionally to break up the lump. 
3. Add in tomato paste, fresh tomatoes, dried mix herbs, sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well for abt 2 minutes. 
4. Add in water and bring to boil. Then turn the heat down and simmer for 30 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated and sauce thicken.
5. Serve with any pasta you like and sprinkle some dried parsley and parmesan cheese.

 

Potato Gnocchi with Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients:-                                                                  

• 300g potatoes
• 2 cups plain flour (you may not need so much)
• 1 egg
• 1/8 cup grated parmesan(optional)
• salt and pepper

Method:-

1. Cook whole unpeeled potatoes in salted water and bring to boil for about 25 minutes or until tender. 
2. Drain and peel the potatoes when it is still warm. Mash the potatoes until smooth. The potatoes should still remain warm at this stage,
3. Make a hole in the centre a the mash potatoes add in egg, 1/2 cup of plain flour, grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Fold, mix, stir and combine mixture together using any large spoon. Gradually adding more flour if the mixture is too wet. Use hand to knead the dough until smooth.
4. Once the mixture has come together rest for 5 minutes.
5. Divide gnocchi dough mixture in quarters and knead on lightly floured surface. Roll each piece about 2cm in diameter. Then cut into 3cm pieces and indent each pieces with a fork. After that, place them on floured wooden board or tray, cover with damp tea towel for an hour or 2 before cooking. 
6. To cook gnocchi: put gnocchi in gently boiling salted water, stir an cook  for 2 to 3 minutes or until it floats. Drain gnocchi ansd spoon over sauce. I serve gnocchi with bolognese sauce.

TIPS:

• Add more flour if mixture is to wet/soft. However, becareful on the flour among you add because more flour added the firmer the gnocchi will be
• The potatoes should remain warm during the mixing process.
• Gnocchi will float when it is cooked.
• Do not put raw potaotes in hot water because the skin will fall apart and the potatoes will be soggy. 
• It is better to pass the potatoes through ricer then masher. I use masher because I dont have any ricer.
• Any uncooked gnocchi can be frozen. Freeze them in single layer using cling wrap and put in freezer bag. No need to thaw them before cooking.

I will give bolognese sauce an independent page. Therefore please click the link below for bolognese recipe:-
http://lovetocooklovetoeat.blogspot.com/2010/06/bolognese-sauce.html