Cooking with Papa - Seafood Spaghetti Aglio Olio

Yesterday I finally got my father to agree to sign up for my first ever cooking lesson! Imagine this... a man who has managed to avoid cooking an entire meal from scratch (there was a period of 2 months when he had to reheat mum's pre-cooked meals in Gabon while she went home to Malaysia to give birth to Mark) for over 50 years... saying he wants to learn to cook. How could I not totally jump on it?

So earlier this afternoon, just before it started pouring down with rain, I dragged him to the grocery store to pick up ingredients (we have enough supplies, but I figured he should learn the entire process for the first time). I was going to teach him to make a vegetable tian and easy roast chicken, but on the way there, he said "I love spaghetti aglio olio... is that easy to make?"

Heck yeah. The easiest.

Before I continue to gush overmuch about how proud I am, let's just get on with the recipe.

Seafood Spaghetti Aglio Olio

• 500g spaghetti
• 100g breadcrumbs
• Fresh Italian parsley
• 1/2 cup (or thereabouts) extra virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, diced
• 3 dried chili peppers, crushed
• 5 sundried tomatoes, chopped
• 6 medium sized fresh squid, cleaned and sliced across (I made him clean them)
• 500g fresh prawns, peeled and deveined (hahah he hated that part)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt to season

1. Cook the pasta in a pot full of boiling salted water until just before al dente, remove from heat, drain and toss in a knob of butter (optional), then set aside in serving dish while you prepare the dressing

2. Toast the breadcrumbs and finely chopped parsley in a preheated oven for about 5-8 minutes, remove and set aside for the last step

3. Drizzle some olive oil in a heated open frypan, then add the diced garlic, chili, and sundried tomatoes and toss until softened and the aroma starts to fill the kitchen.

4. Add the prepped squid and prawns and cook until just done. Season with salt to taste. There should be a lot of liquid in the pan from the squid and prawns. 

5. Pour the mixture over the pasta and toss to mix thoroughly. Drizzle more olive oil and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon over to toss in as well. 

6. Add the breadcrumbs and parsley garnish and add more salt if needed
7. Serve immediately! 

Well, it was an easy dish to begin with, he's got it saved on his phone for future reference. I really hope this won't be the first and ONLY time we cook together. It was so much fun, and from the sounds of it, he's really looking forward to making another dish next week. Maybe we'll try that vegetable tian and some milk roasted chicken. Mmmm

Domesticated Day In

On a typical day after a massive rave party, one would drag oneself out of bed around 2 in the afternoon, cursing the daylight and shouting for a nonexistent manservant to fetch one's cup of coffee and a handful of Advil. Last Saturday, however, after an amazing night at the Guetta gig (I never know what to call these things, concerts? Shows? Performances?) Alena and I woke up to watch Disney's Sleeping Beauty while Hodor (lol) tried his hand at the most amazing focaccia bread. 

A lot of Disney-esque (I'd say -esque as I doubt we actually managed any semblance of real singing) trilling and a properly risen dough later, Al and I started preparing the ingredients for our brunch. Despite the fact that it was well into the afternoon at that point, we had yet to change out of our sleepwear and thus still counted it as brunch.

You may recall me mentioning that on a recent trip to Singapore, we tried a Tunisian breakfast dish at a very popular breakfast joint called Wild Honey, and having seen various renditions of the recipe online over the past couple of weeks, we decided to give it a proper go. The recipe is easy enough to whip up in less than 20 minutes, and it's such a full meal that I guarantee it will keep you stuffed until dinner time (though it may have something to do with the fact that we had our "brunch" at 3 in the evening).

World's Most Attractive Siblings

With no further ado, let me share this recipe with you:

Shakshuka (North African skillet breakfast dish) 

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed/chopped finely
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 1 yellow pepper, sliced
• Salt
• Cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3/4 tsp paprika/cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 1/2 cup diced sausage/chorizo (optional)
• 2 cans diced tomatoes (no added salt), drained of the water
• 1/3 cup white wine/water
• 4 large eggs
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
• Fresh basil/parsley

1. First of all, preheat the oven to 200C, and heat your cast iron skillet (or if you don't own one, just use a basic pan and switch to an oven safe casserole dish later) on a medium fire. Pour in the olive oil, and cook the onion until soft and aromatic.
2. Toss in the peppers and garlic and cook until softened, for about 5 minutes
3. Add the spices and sausages and cook for a bit more
4. Pour in the tomatoes and wine/water and lower the heat to a small flame. Allow the mixture to simmer for around 20 minutes (this is where you take your shower), until all that delicious flavour has soaked through
5. Take the skillet off the heat, crack the eggs over the top, sprinkling each egg with salt and pepper then crumble the feta over. Pop the skillet into the oven until the eggs are baked. I prefer my eggs NOT runny, so I leave mine in for around 8 minutes, however if you're looking for the runny egg yolk, leave it for no more than 7 minutes
6. Serve with your bread of choice (seriously, try that focaccia recipe) and a garnish of fresh torn basil leaves or parsley

Enjoy!
Lots of love, The Breakfast Club

Savouring 2012

It's the first day of a brand new calendar year, however unlike my school days, a new year means little besides switching my desk calendar to a brand new one (I think I'm going with a word a day calendar this year...) as everything else remains the same. Mayhaps I'll start tracking a change in calendar years based on my birthday. Every 22nd September will mark a new year, otherwise it's business as usual, peeps!

However, I do have one thing I'm going to try and promise, or rather suggest... this First of January 2012: Share more savoury recipes in addition to the desserts. I love my desserts and sweet things, but my younger brother called me Jelly Belly the other day... which I don't appreciate. So it's time to cut down on my sugar intake (and make everyone else around me eat more of those) and find alternative, healthy (... ish) staple foods.

For this first time, I'm going to share my go-to lazy pasta lunch or weeknight dinner recipe. This is suuuuper yummy, and contains all my favourite tastes, and I've been whipping up variations of it since my uni days. It can be eaten hot or cold, though I prefer it right off the hob, sometimes I'll pack the leftovers in a container to be taken to lunch at work the next day.

Pasta and butter, trick I picked up from Jess

Roast Vegetable Pasta 

• 2 cups (or thereabouts) of instant pasta (I like Fusilli, though it's your choice)
• 1 eggplant, sliced thinly
• 1 zucchini (though for the pictured dish, I used japanese cucumber due to lack of resources)
• 1 cup of cherry tomatoes (you may use 3 normal tomatoes, quartered), sliced in half
• 2 sundried tomatoes, diced 
• 1/2 cup pitted olives, sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced or crushed
• 1/3 cup olive oil (plus extra for drizzling at the end)
• 1/4 cup red wine balsamic vinegar (plus extra for drizzling at the end)
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 180C 
2. Slice and dice your vegetables of choice, and place them in a baking tin (mine pictured here is ugly and dented and probably as old as I am... which isn't very old at all), pour over the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and salt and pepper
3. Then get in there with your hands (wash them first, you dirty wee scrag) and toss them around to ensure every slice of vegetable gets a good coating of the "dressing" 
4. Pop the tin in the oven and allow it to roast for a good 20 minutes, or until the vegetables get toasty around the edges. Yum. 
5. While waiting for the veggies to roast, boil the pasta in salted water, then upon draining the water when it's done, toss in a sliver of butter to mix with the hot pasta. I assure you it smells SO good, you'll be salivating at this point
6. Pour the prepared pasta into a medium sized serving bowl or plate, followed by the roasted vegetables then toss to mix. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and season to taste
7. In the wise words of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore: Tuck in! 

I've really got to start writing proper instructions, without the constant commentary. On those nights when you've just about dragged yourself home from the office, are too lazy to defrost a chicken breast or even order take out, this is the perfect recipe to quell the hunger with. 

Hope you enjoy it, and happy new calendar year! 

x Nabs