Penne Tuna Pasta

Have you tried the pouch tuna? I recently bought some to try because it was on sales and I seriously liked it. No draining required and it was so convenient. It was fairly expensive without the sales so stock up when it goes on sales. Friday noodle/pasta night again and of course I had to think of something to cook. Saw a packet of Penne pasta and pouches of tuna in my pantry and my sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil on my kitchen counter and thought it would make a good combo. I read that tomatoes, mushrooms and Parmesan cheese have naturally occurrence glutamate (amino acid) that said to produce the fifth taste called "umami" by Japanese. No wonder so many people loved to sprinkle Parmesan cheese on their pasta and pizza and love tomato based products and mushroom soup. Parmesan cheese especially has high level of glutamate, so I am wondering if you stay away from MSG (salt form of glutamate), do you stay away from Parmesan cheese too?

Wild Mushroom Agnolotti with Shrimps Sauce

Foodbuzz and Buitoni partnered up and sent the Tastemakers of Foodbuzz a packet of Wild Mushroom Agnolotti to try. This is one of Buitoni newest products and I was glad to be one of the first to sample this, even before it hits the market, cool right? Frankly I never had this before and was scrambling my head of how to cook this pasta. Just so it happen that Buitoni is also running a promotion contest for the original pasta sauce recipe to compliment one of these pasta in the month of April. So, put on my creative hat and started to picture a sauce that will compliment the wild mushroom agnolotti that I received. I thought shrimps will go well with the wild mushroom and some Italian herbs and white wine reduced sauce. So, this recipe was created and it passed the taste test of the four of us. The wild mushroom agnolotti was flavorful on its own but in combination with my shrimps sauce made it a more complete meal. Truly delicious! You guys should try it! Now, just hope that my creative shrimps sauce (something different eh?) will win me a prize from Buitoni. :)

Chicken Alfredo Spaghetti

We have a favorite Italian restaurant (Zio's) that we go to for our Chicken Alfredo. I tell you their chicken Alfredo, either the spicy one or the regular really hit the spot. The creaminess and flavor is just right, perfect!

So, for my Friday night dinner, I decided to cook this dish but with whole wheat spaghetti and store bought Alfredo sauce. Of course the store bought Alfredo sauce is nothing compared to the restaurant standard. I will still go back to that restaurant for the real deal.

Spaghetti with Chicken and Shrimps

I love this easy one dish meal. I usually cooked this dish when I was tired of eating rice or when I ran out of idea of what to prepare for dinner or just plain lazy. I always keep bottled spaghetti sauce, canned mushroom and whole wheat or whole grain spaghetti in my pantry for a day like this. However, instead of the usual ground beef or ground pork, I love to use chicken and shrimps. I actually got this idea from a friend who gave us some of her spaghetti to try. I love this combination and have been cooking my spaghetti this way most of the times.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti

Non-spicy one for the kids.


With chillies in oil added, extra spicy for the parents.

Ingredients:
1 (13.25 oz) box whole wheat spaghetti
1 cup imitation crab meats
1 skinless & boneless chicken breasts, cut
10 asparagus, cut into 1-inch
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
6 sun-ripened tomatoes, sliced
Olive oil
2 tsp. chicken stock granules
Salt & black peppers

Method:

1. Cook spaghetti as directed by package, drain and set aside.

2. In a saucepan, heat up olive oil. Add garlic and chicken breasts, fry until chicken is almost cooked. Add in asparagus and carrot and fry until the veggies are cooked. Lastly add in the sun-ripened tomatoes and imitation crab meats, stir-fry for a minute and add in the cooked spaghetti. Season to taste with salt, chicken stock granules and black pepper. Mix well to combine. Taste test and season to your liking. Serve warm!

3. Optional: Top with chillies in oil, chili oil or dried chili flakes for the extra kick.

I'm serving this up at Presto Pasta Night. This week the host will be Ruth at Once Upon A Feast.

Whole Grain Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

I was first introduced to Aglio e Olio by Rainbows. Aglio means garlic and Olio means oil in Italian and she said this is one easy pasta to prepare. Indeed she was right, and any easy recipe I wanted to try. And I was introduced to whole grain pasta by watching Racheal Ray. Anything whole wheat and whole grain is to my liking because it speaks an healthier choice. So, I purposely searched out whole grain pasta to try, if it's good then next time I will just stick to whole grain pasta, unless the other one is on-sales for a price that I couldn't refuse. I bought some beautiful grape tomatoes the other day and I thought why not I just added some to it. Since I was not used to eating plain pasta, I took out some sea scallops and cut it into half.

Verdict: I really like the whole grain pasta. It was not hard like what I have read. It's as al dente as the white pasta. And it makes me feel healthier by eating it. As for the aglio e olio, I found it kind of plain, needed an extra dose of salt to bring out the flavor. Being a true Asian, I even added some sesame oil! :P Here's my version:

Seafood Pesto Spaghetti

I was left with some cilantro pesto and I was trying to think of a different way to use it instead of making my usual pesto pasta. After much thought, I still couldn't come out with a better way to use it except to pan-fry some chicken breast cutlets and spread the pesto on top before serving. If I prepare it this way, then I would have to prepare at least two sides to go with my pesto chicken cutlets and make it an American dinner. Mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus sounded like a great side dishes. BUT, more work for me! So, ended out making this seafood spaghetti instead. All in one as my hubby preferred this better than the other version. Yeah, it's boring but he loved it! By the way, mine sharing what other way you used your pesto?



I added the juice from pan-frying the scallops and shrimps when mixing the spaghetti. You can also sprinkled a little crushed red pepper flakes before serving. Mmm...mmm... look at the bouncy shrimps and juicy sea scallops, who wouldn't want a bite?

My picky eater Evy who refused to try the chicken version was tempted to take a bite and hooked. She said, "Mmmm...hen hao zhi" and asked me to serve her a plate and cleaned the plate! :o)

Method:
Heat a saute pan with some olive oil. Fry the shrimps and sea scallops until cooked. Dish out and set aside. Heat the pan with more olive oil, stir-fry the broccoli and carrot until soften, add in the cooked spaghetti/pasta, shrimps and sea scallops, cilantro pesto and mix and blend well together, turn off the heat. Season to taste with salt and pepper if needed.



This is my first time submitting my pasta entry to Presto Pasta Nights hosted by Once Upon a Feast. Do visit there to feast your eyes on the variety and interesting pastas that bloggers whipped up.

Cilantro Pesto Spaghetti

Clear my fridge time! I need to clear my cilantro which I bought two weeks ago. The best way I know how is to make pesto out of it. I have been making cilantro pesto instead of basil pesto for years. Reason is very simple, I always buy cilantro and hardly ever buy basil. My cilantro pesto consisted of cilantro, garlic, walnut, olive oil and season to taste with salt, black pepper and sugar. We love it!

I stir-fried some sliced fresh button mushroom in olive oil until soften. Added carrots and the leftover chicken breast meats from KFC and stir in the spaghetti and toasted well with my pesto and dinner was ready.

Citrusy Tuna Shell Pasta

I haven't made this dish for almost nine years. This is one of my oldest recipes that doesn't look quite appealing but will leave you wanting for more. That was the reason I wanted to make it again because I couldn't stop thinking about it! Why wait until now was because I don't normally buy can tuna, like hardly ever, thus didn't get a chance to make it. But when craving strikes, I just have to make an effort to get those can tuna. I will share my recipe with you and hope you will like it too.


Top with Mozzarella Cheese before serving. You can add some crumbs and bake in the oven to melt the cheese too.

My Twist on Macaroni & Cheese

I was left with half a packet of cream cheese from making cream cheese bread. Thought of making cream cheese soup but I was out of milk. So, I put it in my macaroni & cheese! I was really happy with the result. Delicious!

Stir-Fried Rice Macaroni

I was introduced to this rice macaroni by Lily while we shopped together at the Asian store. She told me this dried noodle resembled the "lor see fun" and since I have been wanting to eat "lor see fun", I quickly grabbed it and put in my cart. Sorry for the empty packet because I only remembered to take a picture after I done cooking it. Lily, thanks for the recommendation! :)

This is what I came out with. Stir-fry rice macaroni with "chai hsin" and fish cakes. The sauce I used were oyster sauce, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and sesame paste. It tasted pretty good along with some cut chili padi. But I don't think it really resemble the "lor see fun" leh. Man, I miss eating "lor see fun" with ground pork.

Spaghetti with Homemade Sauce

I made this sauce using chopped garlic, chopped yellow onion, fresh mushroom, ground pork, Italian seasonings, diced tomatoes and canned tomato sauce. Served it with angel hair pasta and top it with chilli oil and grated parmesan cheese. Quite an easy dinner for a lazy night!


When stirred to coat well.