Rigatoni with skinless pork sausages, tomatoes, oregano, tumeric, wine

For 2 p
120g of pasta
8 pork sausages
1 can of Italian tomatoes (just tomatoes)
2 tsp of oregano
1 tsp of tumeric powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp of brown sugar
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 Spanish onion, diced
1 cup of white wine, or sparkling wine.
Olive oil for pan

Use a heavy based pan with lid

Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan.
Add salt, onions and garlic, leave till softened.
Meanwhile, with the sharp tip of knife, cut across the sausage, to open skin.
Peel off sausage meat from skin and throw into pan.
Break the sausages up into smaller pieces, and cook for 1-2 minutes till rawness dissappears.
Add sugar, oregano, tumeric.
Add tomatoes and juice, and wine.
Stir through.
Cover lid and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

While the sausages are simmering, cook pasta for 11 minutes.
Add pasta to sausages when cooked, and stir through.
Serve.

Bon Appetite!

Spiral pasta with Cherry and Sundried tomatoes, Mushrooms, Anchovies, Parsley, and Garlic

Bon Appetite!

Spaghetti with Garlic, Cherry Tomatoes, Winter Gourd ("Xi Gua") and Shallots Omelette.

Bon Appetite!

Tuna and leek pasta

A very simple but tasty one, can be done in 1/2 hour. I suggest either a tuna with leek, or bacon with leek with feta cheese. This cheese gives you a light creamy texture without smelly cheese smell and not too rich unlike cream. Buy a fresh good feta.

Ingredients for 4p:
- Either spaghetti or linguine - Cecco is a good Italian brand. The trick is dont buy those shiny smooth ones, buy the floury/powdery ones, they absorb the sauce better. 1 packet usually feeds 5.
- 1 leek, very very finely sliced.
Use only the white parts ie the stem, the dark green leefy bits are too course which I put aside for making stock for future use.
- 1/2 bulb of garlic ie about - or about 6 cloves - finely chopped or sliced.
- Either 500g of can tuna or 8 pieces of bacon
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Fresh parsley, chopped - maybe 3/4 of a Chinese soup bowl full when chopped.
- Good feta cheese about 60g. Chopped or crumbled into crumbly bits and set aside.

Cooking pasta
Boil water onto pot, make sure covers pasta well so that pasta cooks properly and evenly. When boiled, add a pinch of salt into water, and add pasta to cook. (Cooking time, look at instructions on pasta pack. Different ones/thickness etc requires different cooking time. )
When ready, dish out pasta onto a large mixing bowl together with a ladle full of the "hot pasta water". Then, add generously extra virgin olive oil and stir, for flavour and to keep the pasta from sticking together.

Cooking sauce
Sautee chopped garlic in a bit of olive oil till fragrant - not browned nor burnt. Add the leek and sautee till the leek is softened. Season with a pinch of sea salt.
When leek is cooked, while it is all hot, pour onto cooked pasta. Quickly add tuna, chopped parsley, lightly toss all together. Then add crumbled feta, lightly tossed all the ingredients, and serve.You want to toss with the still piping hot leek, to bring out the flavour of the fresh parsley and melt the feta! Which is why I time my cooking pasta such that it is almost done when my leek is done, so that everything is nice and hot when I am about to toss all together.

Bona apettite.:-)

Tip: If you like anchovies (I call it the kwai loh salted fish) - put 1 o 2 anchovies in when sauteeing garlic and combine together with leek for cooking.
- Fry chopped bacon, and add on to pasta, if you prefer bacon to tuna. Bon Appetit!

Hot Spanish chorizo and leek pasta

I have not been posting any blogs the last few days. I made some good food, but none of them seem WOW enough for me to want to put on the blog. But today, Andrew made me this pasta that blew me away. It was a pretty blue day, and he blew the blues off with this pasta. Of late, we have been into experimenting cooking with leeks. I did make a pretty good leek, tuna and feta cheese pasta a few weeks ago, but I am not putting it into the blog till I next make it.

Today is about Andrew's SUPER YUMMY pasta. As those who love chilli will understand, this has a great "kick" to it. Not for faint hearted, for this is HOT. I took my 1st bite, it was yummy. It was so hot, my tongue burnt, but I just wanted to go on eating. My tongue is still burning now, 2 hours after dinner, a hot chamomile tea and a hot milo. No regrets:-)

The trick I have learnt about good pasta is that once the sauce and ingredients are cooked, it is best just to toss and mix the pasta in the sauce, with the heat OFF. That way, pasta doesnt get overcooked.

Serves two.
Pasta (chitarra) for two.
2 chorizo sausages, sliced.
1 leek, sliced.
2 cloves of garlic crushed, 2 cloves sliced.
1 or 2 small chillies, as hot as you dare.
2 large mushrooms, coarsely chopped.
Half cup of white wine.
Handful of grated cheese, a soft mild cheddar or havarti.

Cook pasta and set aside.
Heat a little olive oil in pan.
Add sliced chorizo and crushed garlic, fry over medium heat until chorizo cooked.
Add sliced leek and fry until leek separates and softens.
Add mushrooms, sliced chilli, sliced garlic, cook until mushroom softens.
Add salt and pepper as desired, then turn up the heat and deglaze pan with white wine.
Turn off heat, add cheese and mix in then add pasta, mix together well and serve

Bon Appetit!