Spaghetti with Prawns and fresh tomatoes and chili

I am not usually fond of pasta dishes. The only way I eat it is when I cook it with seafood, mainly prawns and I will make it spicy so that it's palatable for me. Of course, you can always omit the chili. I omit the chili when I cook this for the family, they don't like it spicy. So I separate some of the tomato mixture for me and then I add the chili.




Ingredients:

1 500 grams of spaghetti, cook as per direction

2 tbsp of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped finely
4 - 5 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
500 grams of prawns, shelled and deveined
salt and pepper to taste
chili (optional) chopped finely


Directions:

1. Saute garlic in oil until fragrant.
2. Add the onions and stir until translucent.
3. Add the tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes for about 2 minutes.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. If you're adding the chili, mix it now.
6. Add the prawns, and stir thoroughly.
7. Prawns are cooked when they changed in colour.
8. Remove from heat and mix the cooked spaghetti.

Serve with your favourite wine. I like banrock crimson cabernet. Cheers!

Prawn Curry

I harvested few beans, mexican chilis and even fewer cherry tomatoes the other day. So I decided to cook them. I just love fresh produce from the garden. So I quickly had a look in the freezer, and luckily I found some prawns there. So, prawn curry for me then.

I love my prawns. This is a very simple curry. Very few ingredients. The simpler to cook the food is, the tastier it is, I think. Of course you can substitute any vegetable. Whatever you have handy in your refrigerator.

And this is the result of my simple Prawn Curry. And it was yummy, even if I say so myself ;-)

Ingredients:



2-3 tbsp of cooking oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 medium onion, mince finely
1 1/2 tsp of curry powder
1 -2 tsp of fish sauce
handful of beans, top and tailed, sliced diagonally
1 mexican chili, juliene (or capsicum)
100 g of prawns, deveined and shelled
1/4 cup light coconut milk/cream



Directions:

1. Heat oil in a wok.
2. Saute the garlic in the oil, stir until light brown.
3. Add the onions, cook until transluscent.
4. Add the curry powder.
5. Stir in the beans and the chili.
6. When the beans are half-cooked, add the prawns and mix thoroughly.
7. Season with fish sauce.
8. Add the coconut milk and let it simmer for a minute or so.
9. Serve with steamed rice.
   
   
   

Penne pasta with Seafood

This is another favourite in our house. When pasta is cooked like this, then I love it. I love it even more if it is spicy. But of course, you don't need to put the chili if you don't like it spicy. There's no set rules in cooking any food. You cook it the way you want it. Or at least, that's always been the rule I live by. After all, it's me who is cooking it, and eating it.

Ingredients:

500 grams of Pasta Penne (cook as per direction in the packaging)
3 tablespoon of olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1 medium onion, chopped finely

2 - 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
200 grams of prawns (frozen is quite ok)
200 grams of scallops (again, frozen is ok)
Salt
Pepper
Chili flakes (to taste)

Directions:

Sauté the garlic in the olive oil until fragrant
Add the minced onions; keep stirring until it’s translucent.

Add the tomatoes, stir until cooked.
Add the prawns and scallops. Stir for a minute. Do not overcook the seafood as they will turn rubbery if they are overcooked.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add chili flakes if you like a bit of spice, or more if you like it spicier.
Mix the pasta, and mix well.

Mussels (Tahong)

I love mussels. When I went to New Zealand, I saw the biggest mussels ever. I was really awestruck with their sizes. I couldn't stopped talking about them. Not only were they really, really big, they were also meaty. Sometimes, the shells of ordinary mussels are so big, then the meat inside were very small. But New Zealand Mussels are really big and meatier. Here I am again, all agog about New Zealand mussels.

We're lucky living in Tasmania, because we're surrounded by water. Whenever we have the time, we go for a drive and collect mussels, oysters and if I'm lucky some crabs. But this time, these are bought mussels and they happened to be New Zealand mussels. And boy, did I enjoy eating them ....

Ingredients:

1 kilo mussels
2 tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic, minced finely
1 onion, chopped finely
1 inch ginger, thinly sliced or 1 tsp minced ginger from a jar
4 – 5 tomatoes, chopped
fish sauce to taste
a bunch of spinach or pechay or silver beet

Directions:

Clean the mussels thoroughly if they are not clean yet. Remove the moustache-like sticking out.
Sauté the garlic in the oil until brown.
Add the onion and ginger.
Stir for a minute then add the chopped tomatoes.
Add the mussels. Mix thoroughly then cover it. Let it simmer for few minutes.
Season with fish sauce. Be careful with your seasoning. Mussels have a natural taste of the sea, more often than not, they are salty already. So keep tasting the sauce. Put water if there is not enough sauce, or if you want your dish soupy. Let it boil.
Put the leaves in, mix and let it boil until the leaves are tender.
Serve with rice.

Rule of thumb with mussels. When they are open before you cook them, throw them away. If they don't open when you finished cooking them, throw them away.