Anyways, D and I decided to stay in on Sunday to catch all the F1 action. The plan was initially to just order pizza in so that our eyes would be glued to the goggle box but a quick shop around the Holland V. area got us into the kitchen again. We bought sausages from The Butcher at Chip Bee Gardens for a simple pasta. They really have a good selection of sausages there. We decided on the Mexican Jalepeno Sausages on one of the staff's recommendation since we wanted something with a lot of spices in it.
After we got home, we headed straight to prepping for our 2 dishes. D for his sausage pasta and my Tomato Crisp. I must say that I was really proud of his efforts. D has always been my companion at the dining table and I'm really glad that he's taken to spending time in the kitchen recently. The pasta dish is really easy and mighty quick to whip up. Have a go at it!
Aglio Olio with Bell Peppers & Mexican Jalepeno Sausages (serves 4)
Ingredients
300g dried pasta; spaghetti or linguine
1 medium sized red pepper, diced
1 medium sized yellow pepper, diced
3 Mexican jalepeno sausages; skinned
4 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
chopped parsley for garnish
- Boil the dried pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water according to the time stated on the package of the pasta. i.e. If it has a '7' stated on the packaging, cook the pasta for approximately 7 minutes. The pasta should be al dente.
- In a separate pan, heat up some olive oil and saute the meat from the sausages, breaking them up into pieces. Remove from the heat when it is about 90% cooked.
- In the same pan used for frying up the meat, heat up some additional olive oil and saute the chopped garlic until it turns slightly golden brown. Add the diced red and yellow bell peppers and saute until it turns slightly soft. Be careful not to burn them.
- Add in the pre-cooked sausage meat and saute for around 1 minute.
- Remove pasta from the boiling water and throw straight into the saute pan to toss with the meat and peppers. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Remove pasta from the heat and sprinkle chopped parsley on pasta before serving.
I also contributed to dinner by baking a Tomato Crisp, a dish I learnt from watching Chef at Home on the Asian Food Channel. I love that programme because Michael Smith's recipes are casual and easy to follow although I do find his way of talking a little unnatural. I wish I had a well stocked kitchen like his though. This dish is somewhat like a cooked bruschetta. It's super duper delicious and I'm sure it'd be a family hit just as it was in mine.
Tomato Crisp (serves 4)
Ingredients
1 box mixed red and yellow plum tomatoes or cherry tomatoes; halved
1/2 large white onion; diced
7 - 8 cloves garlic; chopped
1/2 loaf crusty bread; torn into pieces
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
parmesan cheese; shaved
- Pre-heat oven at approximately 220℃.
- In a baking dish, combine the tomatoes, onions and garlic. Drizzle a generous amount of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and ensure that the tomatoes are all coated with the olive oil.
- Tear the crusty bread into pieces and place them on top of the tomatoes. Try to get each piece of bread to have the crust only on one side so that you can a mixture of the crust and bread when eating it.
- Drizzle more olive oil on top of the bread. This is to make sure that the bread will brown and crisp nicely in the oven.
- Shave a generous amount of parmesan cheese using a vegetable peeler and lay on top of the bread covering all areas.
- Bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes. The cheese should brown, bread turn crispy, onions and tomatoes soft and well-cooked.
ha.ha.ha. so much for your pun..!
ReplyDeleteand hey our kitchen is pretty well-stocked you know. a lot of stuff we bought over the years. look through them properly. and keep cooking! :]