Shrimp and Veggie Pasta Casserole

This is one my most favorite casseroles. I love shrimp and I love white sauce. Combine it with pasta, mixed veggies and you've got a solid meal!
This recipe is inspired from a mix of two recipes. One from the heritagecook and the other from stacey snacks.

Ingredients:

For shrimp:
Large shrimp - 1 pound (1/2 kg) - shelled and deveined
Garlic - 3 cloves - minced
Green onions (spring onions) - 2 stalks
Butter - 4 tbsp - softened
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Ground black pepper - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Salt to taste

For garnish:
Panko breadcrumbs - 4 tbsp
Canola oil - 1 tsp
Parsley - 3 sprigs - minced
Grated parmesan cheese (optional) - as per taste

Pasta:
Linguine pasta - as per serving nos.
Water - to fill 3/4 of a stock pot
Salt to taste
Olive oil - 1 tbsp

For Bechamel (white sauce):
Butter - 2 tbsp
Flour - 2 tbsp
Milk - 1 cup (warmed or at least at room temperature)
Cream - 1/4 cup (optional)
Pepper - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

For veggie mix:
Cooking wine - 3/4 cup (I used rice cooking wine)
Green onions - 2 stalks
Yellow onion - 1/2 chopped
Frozen mixed vegetables - 1 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix salt and lemon juice with shrimp and leave for 10 minutes. Meanwhile mix all the other ingredients in the shrimp section to form a buttery paste. Add this paste to the shrimp and coat well.
Lightly cook linguine pasta in boiling water in a stock pot with salt and olive oil. Drain and place onto the casserole dish. This is your first layer.
Onto the sauce. In a sauce pan, melt butter on medium heat. Add flour and whisk until smooth and also giving some time for the flour to cook. This mixture is called the 'roux'. To this add a small amount of milk and whisk so that no lumps are formed. Add the rest of the milk and cream if using. You could also use half and half. The sauce will thicken. Season with salt, pepper and paprika if desired, and your bechamel sauce is ready.
In a separate pan, heat oil on medium heat. Fry the onions and whites of the green onions until soft. Then add the thawed mix of frozen vegetables. You could also use a mix of fresh vegetables. You can use your preferred combination like green peas, french beans, carrots, broccoli, corn kernels. Add remaining green onions. Pour the white wine into this and allow to cook until its reduced and thickened (for about 2-3 minutes). The alcohol would evaporate at this stage, but you could leave the wine out if you dont want the flavor. Pour this mixture into the bechamel sauce and combine well.
Pour this mixture all over the paste in the casserole. Use a fork to shake it a little so that the sauce seeps through the pasta.
Now for the third layer - place the shrimp mixture over this.
For the garnish, mix the canola oil with the panko or breadcrumbs so that its lightly coated but still fluffy. Mix grated parmesan cheese if desired. Sprinkle over the top of the casserole. Sprinkle chopped parsley over this.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. I had some leftover cooked bacon strips that I crumbled on top as well, so that I don't have to throw them away. It added more flavor to the already awesome dish!

Note: For a simple shrimp appetizer, you can just bake the shrimp mixture alone with the garnishing at 425 degrees F for 12-15 minutes, until the crumbs are golden brown and shrimp is cooked through.
Also the recipe of the bechamel sauce is very versatile and is used in many continental dishes.

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Italian Spaghetti Sauce served with Chicken Hawaiian Meatballs and Linguine

My husband came back from the grocery store with a packet of Aidell's Chicken Meatballs - Hawaiian style Pineapple. So I made an easy pasta sauce (similar to the one I made for Chicken Parmesan), and served it with Linguini. I did not have spaghetti in stock, and I like Linguini better.

Ingredients:

Onion - 1 medium, chopped
Garlic - 4 cloves chopped finely
Olive Oil - 3 tbsp
Red Bell Pepper - 1/2 chopped
Tomato - 1 chopped
Salt to taste
Sugar - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Bay Leaf - 1
Tomato paste or Pasta Sauce - 1 cup
Dried basil - 1/2 tsp
Ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp
Parsley - a handful chopped

Method:

Heat meatballs in oven as per instructions on packet. Or make your own. (I've never done this yet).
Heat olive oil in a saucepan. Add chopped garlic and onions. Saute till onions turn translucent. Add red bell peppers and saute for a few minutes. Stir in chopped tomatoes, salt, sugar (if using), and bay leaf. Reduce heat to low, cover and let simmer for about 10 mins.





Now add tomato paste and basil. (I used a pasta sauce that has tomatoes and basil), black pepper and meatballs. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Serve on cooked linguine and garnish with freshly chopped parsley.

Note: Inspired by All recipes Italian Spaghetti Sauce. It says that the simmering time is 90 mins first, and 30 mins after the tomato paste is added. I was not so patient, but you can try and see if it really brings out the flavours more.

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Sautéed flank steak beef strips in a honey-orange-spice sauce

I bought a pack of frozen pierogies on the recommendation of a neighbor who took us grocery shopping as we don't have a car of our own yet. Sweet right? Pierogies are of Polish origin and are something similar to Raviolis, a dough covered dumpling, and the filling would be predominantly mashed potatoes. Other variants would include sautéed onions, cheese with the potatoes. More info on wikipedia: Pierogi.
I bought the one with potatoes and onions. As the flavour would be on the blander side, I wanted to make a side that would complement it with a good kick!

 So I made these sautéed flank steak beef strips in a honey-orange-spice sauce with onions, cabbage and red pepper. I know it sounds like a lot of ingredients but its easy to make. It was inspired by a show I watched long ago on the travel channel, called Everyday Exotic. It was an episode devoted to the spice Star Anise, and it was used with beef strips and had a honey orange sauce. But my version is totally different.

Ingredients:

Beef steak cut into thin strips (similar to the cut in Philly Cheese Steaks) - use flank or sandwich steak

To Marinate:

Garlic - 1 tbsp, chopped
Ground black pepper - 1 tsp
Star anise - ground - a pinch
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Lime juice - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Other Ingredients:

Orange juice - from one clementine
Honey - 2 tbsp
Soy sauce - 1 tbsp
Ginger - 1 inch (optional)
Onions - 1, sliced
Red pepper - sliced lengthwise (same length as beef flanks)
Shredded cabbage - 1/2 cup.
Cheese - grated (optional)
Butter - 2 tbsp
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) - 2 tbsp

A box of Mrs T's Pierogies.

Method:

Mix the beef strips with the marinade ingredients and leave for an hour.
In a bowl, mix soy sauce, honey and orange juice. Heat a frying pan and add a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of EVOO.
Add the beef strips until its just  cooked. Dont mix it around too much if you want a nice carmelization to happen. Add the orange juice mixture into the pan. This is called deglazing. Allow the sauce to thicken and dry up a little. Keep aside.
In the same pan, add another tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of EVOO. Saute thinly sliced onions with a bit of salt till its light brown and caramelized. Now add red peppers, chopped ginger (if using) and shredded cabbage and sprinkle freshly ground black pepper. When its cooked, add the beef strips and combine well.

Pierogies can be boiled in hot water, or baked, or sautéed in oil or butter.
I boiled it as per the instructions on the box, then added gave it a quick toss in the same frying pan the beef was cooked, to get its edges browned a little.

All in all, it was fun!

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Indian Penne: A Twist of the Twist of Taste

Two fusion foods in one day? I must be goin bonkers!! I think its because of watching this new show on Fox History & Traveller channel, called The Twist of Taste by Vineet Bhatia. This guy is totally twisting Indian foods into more gourmet-like fine-dining platters. So I googled him and found this article. I learned that he's the only chef apart from Gordon Ramsay to receive Michelin stars in two separate countries. So he seems to be a pretty big name in the food industry, now probably a celebrity chef. At the end of the article, he mentioned this penne with chicken tikka pasta dish he cooks for his sons at home. It sounded wierd and I had no idea how it would taste like. But having had a horrid day at work, I decided to try it and surprise myself. Thank god it turned out well. I did twist this twister's recipe to suit the stuff I had in my refrigerator. I did not want to make chicken tikkas because of the marinating time. I had some chicken seekh kababs in the freezer. Also had capsicum, baby corn, so I used em all.

Ingredients:

Penne Pasta: 250 gms
Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp.
Red chilli powder: 1 tsp.
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Onion: 1 medium chopped
Capsicum: 1/2 chopped
Baby Corn: 4 cut into strips
Garlic: 2 cloves minced
Ginger: 1 tsp minced
Green chillies: 1 finely chopped
Seekh Kabab: 2
Tomatoes: 2 chopped
Tomato Puree: 3 tbsp.

Method:

Slice the Seekh kababs into half inch thick pieces. Boil water, add turmeric, chilly powder and salt. Add 400 gm pasta, preferably penne. Cook until slightly softer than normal. Separately, in a little olive oil, sauté garlic, mustard seeds, green chillies, ginger and finely chopped onions. Add baby corn, capsicum and seekh kababs. Allow to cook till the seekh kababs change colour to your preference. Add chopped plum tomatoes and a pinch of chilli powder (optional, its spicy already). Add tomato puree. When the mixture is ready, Toss it all up with the penne. Let the spices seep into the pasta. Serve.

Note: So if you want to use chicken tikka instead, just add the chicken tikka after adding the tomatoes. And I guess tomato puree wont be necessary.

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Penne Yummyolio

I just didn't know what to name this pasta dish. Its yet another penne pasta dish I made with different ingredients available wth me at that time. It was a weekend when I blackmailed my sister into coming over because I was cooking something yummy. So thought of naming it that way.

Ingredients:

Penne Pasta: 250gms

Olive Oil: 3 tbsp.

Salsa: 100ml

Garlic: 2 cloves

Onion - 1 medium

Cherry Tomatoes: 10

Capsicum: 1 (yellow or red)

Baby corn: 5 or 6

Sausages: 2

Streaky bacon: 3 strips

Basil Leaves - a sprig

Black Olives: 5

Parsley - garnish

Cheeses: Parmesan, Emmental, Mozzarella

Method:

Boil water and add penne to it with some salt and olive oil. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and keep aside. Mince garlic, chop onions, capsicum. tomatoes. Cut baby corn into thin strips. Slice sausages and olives. Heat olive oil in a pan, add minced garlic and let it sizzle for a few seconds. Add onions, capsicum and baby corn. Toss around till onions become soft. Add sausages. Take streaky bacon strips and snip them up using a pair of kitchen scissors into the pan. Allow the bacon fat to melt, and add the the cherry tomatoes and basil leaves. Add in the salsa and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the sliced olives, grate the cheeses and add them too. Combine well and garnish with parsley and some grated parmesan or emmental. Pasta Yummyolio is ready to serve!

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Penne Pasta with shrimp and chicken sausage

So I was lazing around on Saturday when I was supposed to finish some work. Wasted lots of time watching tv and at around 10.30pm, I started to get the hunger pangs coz the last time I ate something was in the morning. There's so much of chaos outside my house, lots of kids running and shouting about, huge family get togethers happening on a Saturday night. Ignoring the ruckus outside I decided to fix something really fast, and walk into the kitchen to see a huge pile of dishes in the sink and on the countertop. If I had to fix anything, I had to first clear out the dishes. I quickly set myself at the task so that my hunger doesnt start to give me a headache. Almost finished, suddenly we lost power. If it goes late at night, surely its some problem and it should be back soon. I wait it out by watching the latest episode of Desperate Housewives I downloaded. Power comes back after half an hour. I pause the episode, return to the kitchen and finish the remaining dishes. I decided to do a quick one pot meal. No referring recipes, just dumping stuff I had around the kitchen to make one nice hearty meal. I saw a packet of penne pasta and put that onto boil. I check the freezer and got out one last chicken sausage lying in there. Ooh a packet of small shrimps. Thought I'll use em too and get it out to defrost. Checked the refrigerator, found one red capsicum and a packet of cherry tomatoes. I start chopping the vegetables and I lost power again. Grrrrr... I wait it out again, ignoring the hunger pangs again. Resumed my tv episode and it got over too. Just waited silently in the dark, and got it back again in another 10 minutes. I slice an onion, mince some garlic, drained the pasta, put the shrimps to boil (I cant eat it raw like some people do). And yet again, I lose power. God, this is so damn frustrating now!! I switched off the boiling shrimps coz I did not want to overcook it, wait again, and its back after 10 minutes. Thankfully, I managed to prepare the rest of the meal without losing any power. The recipe is explained below. So I plated it nicely to take a picture to post it on the blog. The first one I took is the one you saw above. The dish did look nice and colorful. But I notice that some of the penne is jutting out awkwardly on the sides and maybe I should re-arrange it a bit more to look more elegant. I focus my camera again and click. At that very second I clicked, guess what happened. Look at the shot I got and take a wild guess!! Aaarrggh!!

Ingredients:

Penne pasta - 250 grams

Cherry tomatoes - 10 pcs.

Tomato puree - 1/2 cup

Chilli-garlic sauce or any hot sauce - 1 tbsp.

Capsicum - 1/2 or 1 whole

Onion - 1

Garlic - 3 cloves

Chicken sausage - 1 large

Shrimps - 1/4 cup

Parmesan cheese - 1/4 cup, grated
Olive oil - 3 tbsp.

Black Olives - 6 or 7, pitted

Parsley - to garnish

Oregano, Italian seasoning - a pinch

Method:

Boil penne pasta as per instructions on packet, with some salt and oil. Drain and keep aside.

Chop the cherry tomatoes, capsicum, slice onions and mince garlic. Chop the chicken sausage into bite size pieces, grate the parmesan cheese. Wash and clean shrimps and boil it for about 5 minutes and drain. Slice pitted olives and chop parsley.

Take a heavy bottomed pan, heat 3 tbsp olive oil, add the minced garlic, sliced onions and capsicum. Cook until soft. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning (I added some garlic bread seasoning I had) and oregano. Add shrimp and sausages and toss to coat with oil. Add chilli-garlic sauce. Add the cherry tomatoes and tomato puree. Toss again. Lower heat, cover the pan, and simmer for about 5 mins. Open and add parmesan cheese (leave some for garnish). Add the pasta little by little, tossing at the same time to coat it with the sauce. Take off the heat. Sprinkle black olives, parsley and parmesan cheese. Serve hot.

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Chicken Parmesan and Spaghetti

I bought a chunk of the original Parmigiano-Reggiano from Spar about a month back. I've used it while making different Italian dinners but have been wanting to try the Chicken Parmesan, and I decided to try it out when my sis came to visit me on a weekend. Oh, it was super tasty! I'm thinking of repeating it again for dinner tonight.
Parmigiano-Reggiano is the original Parmesan cheese from Italy. Its a bit grainy and salty to taste, so be careful about adding salt to your dish when using this cheese. You can identify if the cheese is original by checking the seal on the outer ring which has Parmigiano-Reggiano printed on it.

Inspiration: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/simple-chicken-parmesan/detail.aspx

Ingredients:

For one serving:
Chicken Breast - 1 breast half
Butter - 5 tbsp.

For chicken coating:
Coating 1:
All purpose flour (Maida) - 50 grams

Coating 2:
Egg - 1, beaten

Coating 3:
Bread crumbs - 100 grams
Parmigiano-Reggiano(Parmesan cheese) - 50 grams grated.
Oregano, Garlic bread seasoning - 1 tsp (optional)
Ground black pepper - 1/2 tsp.

Pasta:
Spaghetti: A bunch

Spaghetti Sauce:
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp.
Garlic - 2 cloves, minced finely
Tomatoes - 2, chopped
Onion - 1 chopped
Tomato puree - 5-6 tbsp.
Water - 1/2 cup
Parsley - handful, chopped
Basil - 1tsp chopped (I used flakes since I did not have fresh ones :( )
Pepper - 1 tsp.
Sugar - A pinch
Salt - to taste

Method:

For Spaghetti:
Boil water in a pot, add a pinch of salt and put the spaghetti into it. Also add a tablespoon of oil into it. Allow it to cook. Make sure spaghetti has a thin layer of oil coating, otherwise it would stick to each other after draining. Drain and keep aside.

For Spaghetti sauce:
In a pan, heat olive oil. Do not heat it too much like other oils. Add garlic and allow it to start sizzling. Add onions and allow it to soften. Now add tomatoes and mix again for 2 minutes. Add the tomato puree and a pinch of sugar. If the sauce starts to stick to the pan, add some water to it to get desired consistency. Add parsley, basil, pepper and salt. Simmer until sauce thickens a bit and flavors meld, 10 to 12 minutes. Cover and keep warm. If you have black olives, chop them and add that as well.

Chicken Parmesan:
Wash and clean the chicken breast. Put the chicken breast into a plastic bag. Take a heavy bottomed pan and whack the hell out of it! Lol.. just batter it so that its flattened until its about a quarter inch thick.
Spread out maida on one plate. Pour the beaten egg in another plate. And in a third plate, mix all ingredients of Coating 3 and have them all ready. Heat a frying pan and add butter into it.
Dip both sides of the pounded chicken into the flour first, then dip it into the beaten egg, now transfer it to the bread crumb and parmesan mixture. Make sure chicken is well coated. Now place it on the frying pan and fry till golden brown on both sides. Top each with a portion of the cheeses. Broil cutlets, 4 to 5 inches from heat source, until cheese melts and is spotty brown.

Serve with spaghetti and top it with the spaghetti sauce. Yummmm....

If you dont have Parmesan then you could try with Mozzarella or any other cheese you like..

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