Spicy tuna and French bean tagliatelle recipe.

This dish was made by the BF. I was having the blues so he decided to cook dinner, which is a great thing because my food does reflect my emotions. When I’m feeling iffy, trust me whatever I cook would taste freaking iffy too :P

# – Spicy tuna and French bean tagliatelle.

The pasta was a superb comfort food! Thanks Boobehs! Al-dente pasta coated evenly with a perfectly flavoursome sauce. Hrmmm, my mouth waters at the thought of the dish.

The ingredients:

  • 3 cloves of garlic, sliced
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 1 can of plum tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 can of tuna chunks in brine, drained
  • 3 tablespoons of tomato puree
  • A handful of french beans, chopped
  • 3 fresh tomatoes, cut into wedges
  • 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of Italian Herbs or Herb de Provence
  • 2 teaspoons of ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 teaspoons of Tabasco sauce
  • Tagliatelle for two people

# – First, sauteed some garlic slices in a pan till fragrant.

# – Then, throw in the sliced onions.

# – Followed by 3 tablespoons of tomato puree. Stir to mix.

# – Don’t forget a couple of dashes of Worcestershire sauce.

# – Now, empty a an of drained tuna chunks into the pan.

# – Then, chuck in the french beans.

# – Some black pepper……..

# – As well as Tabasco sauce if you like a stronger kick…

# – Then, empty a can of chopped plum tomatoes.

# – Season with one tablespoon of brown sugar to offset the tartness a bit.

# – A few dashes of Italian Herbs or Herb de Provence for more depth of flavour. Let the mixture simmer while you cook the pasta.

# – Cook the tagliatelle according to instructions on the pack.

# – A minute before the pasta should finish cooking, throw in fresh tomatoes into the sauce mixture.

# – Pour in the drained pasta immediately. Mix till pasta are properly coated with the sauce.

# – Spicy tuna and French bean tagliatelle, DONE!

The BF really has a knack for conjuring up wonderful flavours, a skill that I have yet to master. Hopefully in the near future I’ll be able to simply throw some ingredients together and it can taste as good as this spicy tuna and French bean tagliatelle, hehe.

Everybody can make pasta carbonara!

I remember my first time making pasta carbonara. Well, it ended in disaster. The pasta was overcooked to the point of clumping. The sauce was gloopy (I made it with corn starch….cue /screams of horror). The bacons were cremated. Yeap, it was that bad.

But those days are behind me. I can now make pretty decent basic pasta carbonara and the steps are incredibly simple too! Don’t believe me? Read on…

# – Creamy, porky, bacon carbonara pasta!

The ingredients:

  • 4 egg yolks
  • 150ml of whole milk (you can use cream but that’s just naughty, isn’t it?)
  • 4 slices of back bacon (or 8, or 12 if you’re in the mood!)
  • 140 grams of pasta or enough for 2 people (I used spaghetti, but you can use other types too)
  • 2 spoonfuls of butter
  • 3/4 tablespoon of salt
  • Ground black pepper for taste

# – First of all, cut the back bacons into strips. Make sure every strip has bits of fat attached ;)

# – On medium flame, dump the bacon strips into a pan to brown. There’s no need for additional oil as the bacon will produce its own grease. Stir around occasionally.

# – After about 10 minutes, they will look like this. Turn off the flame and set aside.

# – Now in a bowl, pour the milk into 4 egg yolks.

# – Add 3/4 tablespoon of salt.

# – Followed by a dash of black pepper.

# – Whisk with a fork till everything’s combined like this…

# – Now cook the pasta according to instructions on its packet.

# – Then drain the pasta and put it back into the pot it was cooked in. Add two dollops of butter.

# – And now, pour in the eggy mixture into the pasta.

# – Dump 3/4 of the cooked bacon strips into the pasta. Stir till pasta, bacon and the carbonara sauce are well mixed. If you find the sauce a bit too watery for your taste, you could actually put the pan on low heat and stir till the sauce looks a bit reduced and thicker…be observant though as you don’t want dry carbonara pasta. Dry carbonara pasta is nasty, trust me I know!

# – Plate it and garnish with the leftover bacon strips.

# – Simple, delicious, comforting pasta carbonara, DONE!

This is also a great recipe when you’ve got a surplus of egg yolks. I make meringues once a week so I’ve got a lot of egg yolks lying around waiting to be turned into yumminess.

You’d probably notice that there isn’t any cheese in this recipe. Well, you could put it in of course, but for a cheese fiend like myself, I was surprised to find this carbonara rather decadent without the cheese even. Who am I to dictate though? :)

Easy peasy onion and chilli angel hair pasta with crabstick

This was actually adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s Angel Hair Pasta with Crab, Chilli and Lime. I made his original version many times and it always turns out absolutely delicious! This afternoon, I thought of making it for lunch but realised I had no lime, no parsley and not crabmeat :(

So what I did was substitute lime with lemon, parsley with onions and crabmeat with…well, crabsticks :D The result was a fresh, light, sweet (from the onion) and lemony pasta, perfect for a satisfying lunch. And the best thing about this dish? It’s so easy to cook!

# – You may notice that my lemons look a bit ghetto, that’s because they were zested a couple of days ago. No wastage in this kitchen! Hehe.

The ingredients:

  • 140 grams of angelhair pasta
  • 4 pieces of crabsticks
  • 1 chilli, sliced
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped roughly
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Around 6-7 tablespoons of vodka
  • Salt for season

# – First, boil the angelhair pasta according to instructions on the package. Then drain, toss with olive oil and set aside.

# – In a large saucepan, heat up some oil and fry the garlic.

# – Dump in the chillies.

# – Followed by the chopped onions.

# – And then, the chopped crabsticks.

# – Stir everything for a bit till the crabs are slightly browned and the onions have wilted slightly.

# – Then you pour in the vodka, w00t!

# – Season with salt and stir…

# – After the vodka had reduced a bit, remove pan from heat. Dump in the drained angelhair pasta. Mix and toss till everything’s combined.

# – Serve on a plate and lightly drizzle with olive oil. This recipe serves 2, by the way.

# – And finish it off with juice of half a lemon for each plate.

# – Easy onion chilli angelhair pasta with crabstick.

This is perfect for when you don’t have to cook for so many people. Portions are easily controlled and ingredients are easily available. Most of them are probably in your pantry already.

You can always substitute crabsticks with fishpaste or fishballs or better real crabmeats. I guess you can probably use chicken or pork too, but make sure they are tenderised properly (try marinading them in lemon juice with a drizzle of olive oil) otherwise they might not go so well with such a light tasting pasta.

Happy cooking!