Italian Sausage Penne

This is a quick and simple meal to prepare if you have unexpected guests and only have a short amount of time. Last night, I only had about forty-five minutes to prepare and had to send the kids out to their school functions after dinner.  With a couple of their friends suddenly showed up, I had to come up with something quick.  I saw this dish from TV not too long ago and tried it for the first time.  We all loved it.

Ingredients:

2 TBSP Olive oil
5 Fresh Italian sausages
2 Plum tomatoes, peeled and slice to cubes
1 Bunch arugula, rinsed and spun dry
1/2 cup White wine
1/2 to 1 cup Pasta water
1 TBSP Butter dip in flour
1 Box (14 oz.) Penne or other tubular pasta
1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

1. Bring a pot of water to boiling.
2. Cook penne according to package instruction with salt until al dante.
3. Drain and transfer the cooked penne into a serving bowl.
4. Heat oil in medium saute pan, saute sausage for 2 to 3 minuter or until partially cooked.
5. Add arugula and saute until wilted.
6. Add tomatoes, wine and enough pasta water to make a sauce, stirring to combine.
7. Add butter and flour and stir to thicken sauce.
8. Pour the mixture on top of cooked penne.
9. Sprinkle some pasmesan cheese and serve warm.

Note:

I found the dish tasted better when you let the pasta sit a little longer in the sauce and serve with hot sauce.  You can use mild flavor of Italian sausage if you don't like hot and spicy food.

For more healthier meal, I use multigrain pasta with ALA  Omega-3. You can also skip the butter.  I didn't have arugula at home. I chopped up a bunch of romaine lettuce instead. I would add more lettuce next time.

The pasta water helped thicken the sauce. When adding flour, be sure to constantly stir the sauce to thicken it.

Beef Chow Fun

This is a common Cantonese dish a lot of people love. It is not easy to master this dish!  It is common believed that you need to use a lot of oil to stir fry this. I had tried a few times to make chow fun without success.  Even though the taste was great, the noodles always tended to be too mushy or not fluffy enough (noodles were not separated enough, like some noodles were still in chunks) after a few stirs.   I have finally succeeded in making the chow fun very fluffy and tasty for the first time. 

Ingredients:

2 tbsp cooking oil
1 pkg Fresh chow fun

8 0z. Flank steak

1/2 Yellow Onion

1 pkg Bean Sprouts

1 tsp Dark Soysauce

1 tsp Oyster sauce

1 tsp Cornstarch

1/2 tsp Sugar

Green Onion 

Sauce: Some dark soy sauce and oyster sauce

Chili sauce (Optional)

Directions:

1. Rinse the noodles in cold water.
2. Separate the noodles into thin slices.
3. Drain the noodles well.
4. Slice beef and marinate beef with soy sauce, sugar, soy sauce, and cornstarch and set aside in refrigerator.
5. Rinse bean sprouts and slice yellow onion.
6. Heat oil, stir fry yellow onion until fragrant
7. Add in the beef and stir fry until cook
8. Add bean sprout and stir fry for few minutes.
9. Add noodles, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce and stir gently and until mix well.
10. Top with green onion to serve.

Note:

I learned that the oil is not the most important.  It is most important to separate the chow fun first before cooking.  The trick to separate it successfully is to make sure the noodle was already soft when rinsing. If it was previously refrigerated, microwaving it for 5 minutes until soft before rinsing helps separate the chow fun easier.

Low Fat Lasagna

My friend told me about this recipe while we did our routine morning walk.  She said her kids love to eat lasagna but it's too fattening to eat the one outside of home. She learned from her sister to substitute the ricotta cheese with low fat cottage cheese, and it tastes just as good as the one bought from the restaurant.
Since I have never made a lasagna before and we all love lasagna, this is a good chance for me to cook what we like and not have to worry about the calories and fat content. I made my first attempt, and it tasted fantastic.

 

Here's the recipe. Basically you can follow the instructions from the lasagna package.

1/2 package of Barilla Lagsana
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 lb. Ground Beef
2 gloves Garlic
2 Fresh Roma Tomatoes, diced
2 Cups Spinach *
Few Bella Mushrooms
1  small (16 oz.) Non-fat cottage cheese
1 Cup Shredded Mozarella cheese
1 Cup shredded Parmigiano Ramano Cheese

Directions:

1. Boil water and cook Barilla lasagna on a wider but shallow pan according to the package instruction.
2. Drain lasagna, rinse with cold water, and lay flat on a pan first.
3. Mix the 3 cheeses together with 2 eggs (eggs beaten lightly first)
   
4. Heat pan with oil, add in garlic,beef and mushrooms,add spaghetti sauce, then tomatoes and spinach.
5. Drain excess liquid from the cooked ingredients. 
6. Grease the pan first. Then spread 3/4 cup of meat sauce on the bottom of bake pan.
   
7. Start laying 3 pieces of lasagna lengthwise overlapping each other over the meat sauce.
   
8. Pour cooked ingredients and spread some cheese mixture on the first layer .
9. Stack on anothe layer of cooked lasagna, repeat adding the same ingredients on second layer of lasagna..
10. Repeat layering until the pan is filled to the top.
11. On the last layer, spread some sauce and mozarella cheese on top.
    
12. Bake at 375 degree for 15- 30 minutes or until a little brown.
13. Serve with baguettes or garlic bread.

 

Tip:

 

1 small package frozen spinach can be substitued.  Blanch in boil water until defroze.  Drain and squeeze excess liquid..

A small rectangular Pirex pan will make a perfect 3 layers lasagna.

Chinese - Style Spaghetti and Meatballs

A request from my daughter was to make my "secret recipe" spaghetti that the kids love so much and post my recipe on this blog. I think most people, including my children, love spaghetti.  I have always made a point to learn to make what they like to eat. However, they don't like vegetables.  They always complain whenever I give them vegetables.  As a result, I began sneaking in vegetables here and there without them realizing it.  My friend, Teresa, shared her spaghetti recipe with me.  She too made spaghetti with vegetables right under her children's noses.

This is a "blend" of my friend's and my own recipe:

Ingredients:

Meatball ingredients:
1 to 2 lbs of ground beef
6 Wood ears (soak in cold water for few hours until soft) finely chopped/ground -*Teresa's secret ingredient
1/2 cup ground walnuts -*Teresa's secret ingredient
1tbsp oyster sauce
1tsp soy sauce
1tbsp sugar
1tsp cornstarch
1tsp of water

1 (24 oz.) jar Ragu sauce (Teresa uses organic)
1/2 Onion, chopped
1 tomatoes, diced
3 gloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 cup sliced bella mushroom or any fresh mushroom
3 tbsp rolled oatmeal
1 package spaghetti ( I used Barilla, as it cooks faster)

Directions:
1. Put the ground beef, wood ears,walnuts,oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, a tsp of water into a big bowl and mix well with your hands until evenly blended. Form the meat mixture into shape of 1 inch balls.

2. Turn on high heat, heat the pan first until hot (when you see smoke), sprinkle 1 tbsp of cooking oil on pan so the pan is coated with oil.. Heat oil until hot. Pour in all the meatballs. Do not flip the meatballs right away, let them cook until a little brown, then flip with a spatula to cook the other sides of the meatballs. Make sure it's brown enough, if not the meatballs will crumble and become ground beef.

3.  Add  and cook onions first,then tomatoes and stir, then add mushroom, spaghetti sauce and oatmeal and mix well together and cook on high heat until boiling. Stir to make sure the bottom is not burned, then turn the heat down to low or to a simmer.

4.While spaghetti sauce is cooking, start to prepare the pasta according to the package instructions.
When the spaghetti is done, drain the water and pour them in a covered pot to keep warm (I used my tortilla warmer container). By then, the spaghetti sauce should be done. Turn off the heat and serve while hot.

*This is my modified recipe that includes the optional two ingredients wood ear, and walnuts.  I say that they are optional, for the meal will taste delicious whether or not you decide to use them.  All ingredients and sauce can be adjusted to your preferred taste.

Thai Noodle - Pad Thai

Over the phone, my Thai friend taught me how to make this Thai dish. All these ingredients can be found in any asian supermarket. This delicious recipe serves 4 people.

Ingredients:

1 pkg.  rice stick noodle
1 clove of Garlic
1 lb.  Peeled shrimp
2 eggs
1 pkg. fried tofu - sliced into tiny slices
1 pkg. bean sprout
Green onion

Mix sauce:
1 jar  Pad Thai Sauce
1-2 tbsp Dark soy sauce
1 -2 tbsp Oyster sauce

To serve:
Crushed peanuts
Pepper flakes
1/2 Lime

Steps:

1. Soak noodle in cold water for few hours or over night.
2. Heat 2 tbsp of cooking oil on high heat
3. Blanch shrimp in boiling water until cooked.
4. Stir fry garlic and sliced tofu.
4. Add egg and stir fry until cooked.
5. Add in the noodle and stir fry.
6. Add half of the mixed sauce and mix well with noodle
7. Add a little of water at a time if the noodle is too dry
8. If the noodle is not softened to your satisfactory, keep adding a little water and cover with lid and simmer at low heat, the water dry up easily, make sure to check on it so it's not burn.
9. When the noodles are done, add the cooked shrimps back and stir well together.
10. Fold in green onion and bean sprout.
11. Serve with crushed peanuts and pepper flakes.  Squeeze some lime juice on top.

Note:

Always taste and check the noodle before adding more water and sauce. Add any oyster or soy sauce to prefer taste.  Fresh noodle can be used and omit adding the water when cooking.