It came to my realization that I haven’t been posting savory recipes as frequent as I used to be. It’s mainly because the time that I have to cook regular meals is limited with kids around. I’m only allowed to repeat the same dish over and over again unless that specific new recipe is extremely simple and can be done within a blink, like this one.

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

Dressing

4 garlic cloves

2 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup sesame paste

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon hot chili oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/4 freshly ground black pepper

Others

1 dozen shrimp, peeled and devined

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 pound soba noodle

1 red bell pepper, julienned

1 cup broccoli floral, cooked and cut in small pieces

1 teaspoon sesame seed

Directions:

Heat oil over high heat in a small skillet, and cook shrimp 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Set aside.

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook soba noodle until al dente. Drain the noodle and place it in a large bowl.

Toss the warm noodle with the sauce. Add red peppers, broccoli and shrimp. Sprinkle with sesame seed. Toss well. Serve at room temperature.

My previous mac-n-cheese attempts were always dry, not cheesy and most importantly the leftovers did not reheat well.

The cheese and cream melt-together sauce in this recipe completely solves this problem. I didn’t 100% follow the original recipe, I omitted the cauliflower, added mushroom and I used gouda cheese instead of parmesan, and it didn’t taste half-bad.

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups sliced mushroom

1 teaspoon dried herb (thyme, basil or oregano)

1 lb macaroni

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated gouda cheese

1 cup cream

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup breadcrumb

Directions:

Heat pan with olive oil. Add mushroom and dried herb. Stir until mushroom is cooked. Set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Cook macaroni until al dente, not fully cooked. Drain in a colander. Reserve the pasta water.

In a sauce pan, gently melt the cheese with cream. Season with salt and pepper. Stir evenly until smooth.

Preheat over to 400F.

Transfer macaroni to a greased baking dish, pour in the melted cheese, mushroom and 1/4 cup pasta water. Stir to a silky consistency.

Sprinkle breadcrumb on top.

Grill macaroni on top shelf until golden and bubbling, about 10 minutes.

I’m in a lobby of an old apartment building where a homicide just happened. A wife was stabbed exactly 100 times by her husband. I’m assigned to go up to that apartment and examine the wife’s body.

Inside the elevator I go. The walls, floor and the ceiling are splashed with blood. Light is dimmed. All focused on the shinny bloody red control panel, I use the key to activate the elevator. I try very hard to push the key in as the keyhole is stuck with dried blood.

I’m too scared to get off the elevator as the doors open. Then one of the detectives comes in and says, “I think I have seen the wife walked by.” Before I’m able to feel what I’m supposed to feel, I wake up.

Outside my bedroom window, the trees are as silent as they are on a painting. Shaken, I realize I just had a nightmare. Probably because the crappy bloody martial art movie I saw recently. I just don’t understand one thing though. I did watch “An Education” before I went to bed that night, how come God didn’t give me a better dream of a wealthy handsome English man who falls for me at first sight and brings me to Paris to spend the most romantic vacation of my life!

Bolognese Sauce

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

4 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 pound ground beef

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 28-oz can whole or chopped tomatoes

1 cup low-sodium beef stock

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Bechamel Sauce

2 cups milk

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

3 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I used mozzarella as I ran out of Parmesan cheese. It turned out fine and cheesier!)

Directions:

Combine olive oil, onion, celery and carrot in a saute pan with butter and cook over medium heat until onion turns pale gold, but not brown.

Add beef, and increase heat to high. Cook until browned. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Stir in tomatoes, stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, then turn down the heat, cover the pan and let cook for 1 hour. Stir occasionally.

To prepare bechamel sauce. Warm milk in microwave until almost boiling. In a sauce pan melt the butter with flour over low heat. Stir rapidly with a whisk and cook for 1 minute.

Slowly add in the hot milk while stirring. Reduce heat to low, and keep cooking until the sauce begins to thicken.

Season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking and stirring until the right consistency has developed and lump free. Remove from heat.

Preheat over to 350F. Cook the lasagna in boiling water with a little bit oil for about 8 minutes, until al dente.

Lightly grease the baking pan. Put a layer of lasagna noodles down first, then layer on a third of the bolognese sauce, then a third of the bechamel sauce. Sprinkle with cheese. Repeat two more times. Top with a final layer of noodles and sprinkle with cheese.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil, and bake in the over for 45 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling. Remove the aluminum foil, cook for another 8 minutes until the top begins to get lightly browned. Remove from over and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

I’m such a dumb who can’t even manage to use your can-opener for one single time. Always stuck in the middle of the can top circle, I can never have a smooth cut. And the dumbest of the dumb was I used my bare hand to finish the thing off. I got cut. So deeply that I was not able to cook for days.

YOU ARE NOT PERFECT. But I love you.

I’m now just posting what I have in my archive.

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

Dressing

1 cup honey

1 whole red pepper, seed removed

3 garlic clove, crushed

1 teaspoon hot pepper paste

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons oyster sauce

Noodle

1/2 lb capellin noodle or spaghettini, cooked and cooled under cold water, drained

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves, sliced

1 red pepper, finely sliced

4 green onion, cut thinly on the diagonal

1/2 cup Italian Parsley, coarsely chopped

Directions:

To prepare dressing, combine honey, red pepper, garlic, hot pepper paste and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Blend until the red peppers are pureed. Add lemon juice, vinegar and oyster sauce, stir well and set aside.

Heat oil over medium heat in a small skillet, and cook garlic just until it is fragrant and begins to brown, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

In a large bowl, toss cooled pasta with garlic and oil. Add red pepper, green onion and parsley. Toss with enough dressing to coat and chill before serving.

This is actually one of my inventions. Yes, I heard you, “Really? Such an easy recipe, you call it an invention?” Well, honestly, I didn’t plan to post it until my sister-in-law, who’s a huge fan of this dish, kept begging me to put it on my blog so that she can make it on her own.

Now, Keturah, if you ever try to make it, but ruin it. You are not eating in my house for the rest of your life!

Ingredients (serves 6):

8 chicken thighs
Salt and freshly ground pepper to season

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced
5 tomatoes, diced

1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon capers

1 tablespoon chopped rosemary

Directions:

Season chicken with salt and pepper.Heat oil on medium high heat in large sautee pan. Add the chicken (skin side down) and cook until browned on each side. Set aside.

Add onion, garlic and tomato, and cook for 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Add wine, cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat.

 

Add broth, tomato paste, caper and rosemary. Mix well.Put in chicken thighs. Cook until the juice bubbles. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

 

Serve with spaghetti or rice.

One thing I love about this recipe is its flexibility. You can make a delicious stew with big cut of chunky meat, served with mashed potato or rice. With minced meat, you can make an amazing pasta sauce. Leftover sauce could be eaten on toast for lunch too!

I do recommend to make a large pot of sauce, it freezes really well.

Ingredients (serves 6):

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 carrots, finely chopped

1 large onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 lb minced beef

Salt and pepper to taste

2 cups white wine

4 tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 cups beef broth

A sprig of fresh rosemary

A small bunch of fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

1 cup cream

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

A bunch of fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Directions:

Heat oil in a large, heavy-based suacepan over medium heat. Add carrot, onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until soft.

Add beef with pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 5 minutes or until beef begins to brown. Add wine to deglaze the pan, and cook for 8 minutes until most of the wine is evaporated.

Add in chopped tomato and tomato paste. Simmer for 10 minutes until the liquid is much absorbed into the meat.

Pour in beef broth, rosemary, thyme and bay leaves. Put the lid on and cook for 1 1/2 hours.

Stir in cream and cheese. Garnish with chopped parsley. Serve with pasta.

Directions:

Mix by hand in a large bowl all ingredients, except the last four.Shape into 1 inch meatballs. Roll and compress tight.

Heat frying pan on high heat. Add olive oil. Brown meatballs on all sides, about 2 minutes. Do not overcrowd the pan. You may need to cook them in 2 batches.

Add tomato sauce and ketchup. Gently stir the meatballs. Simmer for 20 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season water with salt, and cook spaghetti for 8 to 10 minutes until al dente.

To serve, put plain pasta on a plate, top with meatballs and sauce, and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.

2 teaspoon minced ginger