Dischi Volanti with Shitakei and Fresh Basil in Basic Italian Tomato Sauce

I know what you guys are thinking out there, what a long name for this beauty huh? As of now, my brain's kinda dead from last's night long hours of journal reading therefore, naming the dish right now isn't the best time. Despite the partial brain dead i'm experiencing right now, i'm pretty focus especially when i have something cooking on the stove! All this while i've been a linguine person. and as of late, i find myself liking short pasta more, perhaps its easier to work with and i don't need a big pot to boil my pasta! Also i love experimenting with different shapes of pasta. This is my first time cooking with dischi volanti and it seems like i've already put it in my list of favourite pasta.

INGREDIENTS
* 411g diced tomatoes
* 2 cloves garlic. minced
* 2 medium red onions, chopped
* 8 fresh shitakei mushrooms
* Handful of chopped fresh basil
* Salt and black pepper to taste
* Some brown sugar
* Dischi volanti for two.

Method:
1) You can work on the sauce and the pasta simultaneously if you've more than a stove to work on, otherwise you can prepare the sauce then proceed with the pasta.
2) Cook the pasta according to the package direction or about 10-12minutes. Add some salt and a drop or two of olive oil.
3) Heat your pan with some olive oil and add minced garlic and when it turns golden, add your sliced shitakei mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.
4) Next, add your chopped onions and stir further until it turns translucent.
5) Introduce your diced tomatoes into the pan and stir further and let it simmer.
6) You can season with salt and pepper after you've added the diced tomatoes or you can do it when your sauce is almost done.
7) Sugar is optional. Do add in if you want to cut down the sourish tomato taste.
8) Add in your chopped basil and stir.
9) Add in water or vegetable broth if it starts to dry.
10) Again season with salt and pepper if you didn't when you added your diced tomatoes.
11) Taste from time to time and add what is necessary , salt/pepper/sugar.
12) Remove your pasta from the boiling water when its done and add it to your pan of sauce and stir to combine thoroughly and serve.
13) You can garnish with some torn fresh basil and coarse black pepper or some finely chopped basil with grated parmesan cheese.

Note:
Add in more ground black pepper if you like a spicy after taste in your mouth. I surely did for my pasta sauce.

The red onions used in this recipe is to add sweetnees to the sauce. You can also use yellow onions but do sure to replace the water with vegetable broth for more flavour.

You can also add the chopped basil shortly after you've added your diced tomatoes. Do break up your diced tomatoes with your spatula while cooking.

Portobello & Bacon in Cheese and Herbs Sauce Fettuccine

I believe that preparing food that people crave for or wanna try out something new or simply just wanna eat might just unleash some hidden creativity there. I was giving my bro a few suggestions and he wanted carbonara but too bad the usual place where i shop for my grocery do not have any cream and without that i dont think i can make the basic carbonara.

Since no carbonara for my bro, i opted somethin close to it.

INGREDIENTS
* fettuccine
* sliced bacon
* butter
* sliced onions
* finely chopped garlic
* coarse black pepper
* extra virgin olive oil
* water/chicken broth
* portobello mushrooms
*chopped parsley
* Prego - Cheese & Herbs

Method:
1) Boil fettuccine until al dente and drain
2) Fry the bacon with a lil butter until crispy and set aside
3) Saute the garlic and onions in olive oil
4) Add the sliced portobello musrhooms and chopped parsley
5) Add the can of prego sauce and in some water or chicken broth
6) Next add the bacon and the fettuccine and simmer until the sauce thickens
7) Dish out and garnish with parsley and black pepper and some cheese powder if you like

This dish was too creamy for me and my mom and granny dont fancy it much as well. As for my bro, he didnt say much but kept diggin his plate. He definitely added more cheese powder and coarse black pepper to his pasta.

Portobello Mushrooms Fusilli

Previously i used up 3 huge portobello mushrooms as a side dish and i've 5 more left. I didnt wanna keep those lovely mushrooms for too long so i combine both the meaty mushrooms and the tricolour fusilli i have in the cabinet. Since I was in the mood to pick out and separate the tricolour fusilli, i used the orange coloured ones instead of the green and the yellow ones.

Supposedly this orange coloured ones are made outta tomatoes, some source stated that its made outta beet juice. Not sure which is of a more accurate information but i love all colours, and somehow it all tasted the same.

For this simple dish, i made it vegetarian, perhaps not totally cuz i've got butter in it but the rest its al vegie.

INGREDIENTS:
* fusilli
* sliced onions ( one medium size)
* finely chopped garlic ( 3 medium cloves)
* olive oil ( i used extra virgin olive oil)
* butter
* coarsely ground black pepper
* salt
* chopped parsley
* roughly sliced portobello mushrooms

Method:
1) Boil the fusilli until al dente and drain
2) Heat olive oil and butter and saute the garlic and onions
3) Add in the sliced portobello
4) Season with salt and black pepper
5) Add in the fusilli, chopped parsley and toss
6) Serve while its hot

Feel free to add in some grated parmesan. As for me , i didnt feel like adding any cheese for the sauce from the portobello mushrooms is creamy and buttery enough for me.

Corned Beef Fusilli Casserole

I've been doin a lot of food research, be it American dishes or cuisine of Argentina. I was very much intrigued by all the foods i came across. I've been meaning to try my hands on some casserole dish and finally today's the day. Since i've a new packet of rainbow fusilli in the kitchen cabinet so pasta casserole it is then.

I'm not so much of a cheese person but i couldnt help but prepare this dish for the family. I'd wanna know how it really tasted like though. From all the reading and the research of recipes i finally wanted to try out my version of casserole. Being part of my family means lab rat indirectly :P

I was feelin happy when i was preparing this dish. Perhaps its somethin new to me and i was like a lil girl, eagerly anticipatin for the final outcome of the dish.

I wanted to use some mince meat but too bad i couldnt get my hands on any, so i replaced it with corned beef. By preparing this dish im somewht breakin one of the household rules. My granny believes that those who practices Buddhism shouldnt be consuming beef. Me being the "black sheep" in the family, i decided that corned beef isnt as bad as the whole chunk of beef. Besides i dont really believe in what can we or can we not eat. Food is all the same to me.

INGREDIENTS:
* corned beef
* chopped onion
* finely chopped garlic
* butter
* Prego Sauce - (Tomato with Basil and Garlic)
* fresh chopped parsley
* shredded carrot
* chopped tomatoes
* freshly ground black pepper
* salt
* mozzarella cheese ( I used low-fat mozzarella cheese)
* cheddar cheese
* water/chicken broth
* rainbow fusilli
* virgin olive oil

Method:
1) Boil the pasta according to the packet instructions, 8-10 mins or until al dente and drain
2) Heat olive oil on a non-stick and add a bit of butter, saute the finely chopped garlic and onions
3) Add in the shredded carrot and corned beef
4) Add in some water/chicken broth and simmer it
5) Add in the can of Prego Sauce, chopped parsley and freshly ground black pepper
6) Let it simmer, add in some butter if you like
7) Lastly season with salt to taste
8) Pour the drained fusilli into the non-stick and coat it with the sauce
9) Grease your bakeware according to the instructions and transfer the pasta into in it
10) Top it up with any choices of cheese ( I used mozzarella & cheddar)
11) Bake bout 20mins in the preheated oven, and you're ready to serve

I served this with some crunchy Romaine lettuce and chopped tomatoes.

Penne con Polpettine

Polpettine is Italian for tiny meatballs. As i was goin through my kitchen cabinet, i found bout 1/4 packet of penne left layin around. So i checked for the expiry date and i have till the end of the year, so i thought i might as well cook before i forget bout it. Its been a good few months since i last cooked pasta. And i thought, wht a perfect timing to do it now!

I dont have much ingredients at home so for this dish its more like do with wht i have in the kitchen cabinet and the fridge.

Ingredients:

Meatballs
* lean pork mince
* paprika
* breadcrumbs
* finely chopped onions
* finely chopped garlic
* salt
* black pepper
* egg,beaten
* all- purpose seasoned flour

Method:
1) Combine the first 8 ingredients together
2) Roll tablespoonsful of mixture into balls
3)  Then roll the balls in the seasoned flour

Sauce
* chopped onions
* finely chopped garlic
* finely shredded carrot
* chopped fresh tomatoes
* butter
* salt
* sugar
* chicken stock
* black pepper
* tomato puree
* tomato paste

Method:
1) Saute the garlic and onions with butter
2) Next, add the shredded carrot followed by chopped tomatoes
3) Pour the chicken stock in and bring to boil
4) Add tomato puree and paste
5) Season with salt and sugar 
6) Add in more butter if you like
7) Lastly add in black pepper.

As for the meatballs, you can either drop all the balls into the sauce and let it simmer or you can coat it only when you're bout to dig into your food. Also do add in some freshly grated Parmesan cheese on your pasta, if you have any at home. Parmesan will do good in the meatballs mixture as well. Since i dont have parmesan at home, i substituted it for paprika in the meatballs and freshly ground black pepper on my pasta.
 

A meal in the out door

Black pepper sauce fusilli

well , the pic on my left , i dont have a name for this dish yet though. perhaps i'll just name it Black pepper sauce fusilli.

its my first time tryin out this combination. i'll always go for tomato based sauce but i thought i might as well come up with somethin new. besides i was preparing this for a friend.

well basically for the fusilli , i chose the green and red varieties, just to add colour to the food. what do i have in it? basically its a very simple dish, chicken cubes ( preferably breast meat , marinade and diced in cubes), lotsa garlic (minced) , margarine (to replace the oil) , black pepper sauce ( sauce & coarse black pepper added) and lotsa chinese parsley (coriander).

STEPS :

1) add fusilli to boiling water & cook until al dente ( dont forget to add salt to the boilin water).

2) heat up margarine ( for those who like butter , u may do so) & add in the minced garlic n stir till its golden brown & add coarse black pepper to taste.

3)add in the black pepper sauce & stir & add it hot water to the level of dilution u prefer ( not too thin for it might not coat the fusilli well, dont want your fusilli to be swimming do you?) sugar & salt may be added to taste.

4)in a large bowl , pour in the fusilli and pour in the black pepper sauce n chop some (in my case , lotsa ) chinese parsley and drop it in the bowl & mix well
5) ta-da! there u have it , ur simple Black pepper sauce fusilli.

Garlic mashed potatoes

from the name of it , i'm pretty sure you can figure out what's in it. anyway here are the list of ingredients in it.

INGREDIENTS :

1) russet potatoes
2) low- fat milk
3) coarse black pepper (preferably white pepper for display purpose & a more pungent taste)
4) salt
5) grated parmesan cheese
6) garlic

STEPS:

1) peel & add russet potatoes and garlic (dont forget to peel) into boiling water.

2) pour the potatoes and garlic in a colander & transfer it to a big bowl.

3) add in salt (to taste) , grated parmesan cheese and coarse black pepper (for black pepper lover) & start mashing.

4) next add low-fat milk to the mashed potatoes. the more milk u add the creamier your mashed potatoes will turn out.

5) you may add more parmesan cheese & coarse black pepper if you like.

And there you have it, your very own garlic mashed potatoes! oh yea , before i forgot , for those who are a garlic lover , you can add more garlic clove to it or black pepper if you like that spiceness! i'm a sucker for both but again moderation is good otherwise it wouldnt be garlic mashed potatoes :P

Mini Pita

You can have this for breakfast too , or as a snack. If the mini pita is unavailable you may go for the normal size pita . This is the simplest recipe of all.

All you need are mini pita breads , chicken ham ( u can replace this for your personal fav.) , slices of cheddar cheese (or any kinda cheese) and again , my fav, chinese parsley.

To make one wholesome mini pita , you need two slices of mini pita.

STEPS :

1) pan toast both slices of pita and remove it once its hot.

2)on a slice of the pita , add chicken ham , chinese parsley & cheddar cheese , u can a dash or two of black pepper if you fancy & lastly cover it up with another slice of pita.

3) pan toast the pita again (to melt the cheese & get it all yummy sticky!) n u may use a kitchen towel to press of the surface of the pita so that the filling stay intact. constantly flippin the both sides to get the even crunchiness on the crust.

4)you may cut it into half like what i did or you can have it just like that.

So there you go , 3 easy simple recipes! :) happy tryin for those who are interested to get it hands on!