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

Watermelon & Parsley Popsicles

Unlike the widely written about freakish winter that's hitting quite a few countries in the northern hemisphere this year, KL is suffering from a heatwave. We on the equator have learned to adapt to the generally high temperatures, but these past few weeks have been almost more than I can bear. So to those friends and readers who are going through this dry and extremely hot season with me, I have this quick and easy recipe that is sure to cool you down on a hot afternoon NOT spent in the air conditioned office.



You can substitute the parsley with mint or basil, or leave it out entirely if you don't want to and just have a watermelon popsicle. A simple syrup, if you feel that your watermelon isn't sweet enough (though I'll point out that watermelon tastes sweeter after it's been frozen) is easy to make. Just boil 1 part caster sugar and 1 part water in a saucepan until the sugar granules have dissolved, let it cool then it's ready to use. There's no need for thickening or caramelising.

Also, if you don't have popsicle moulds and don't feel like wasting money on something you're likely to never use again and eventually toss out when you do a spring clean in 6 years time... use paper cups and stick a popsicle stick, or spoon in it. Ice trays are perfectly alright too, and would be quite a great way to make flavoured water.

Take care friends, whether you're too hot or too cold... be sure to take extra precautions against the weather. To friends in Malaysia, please drink more water and stop wasting water in and around your houses. A little goes a long way, and in about 15 years or so we'll wish we had done more to save our natural water resources. I'm not going to bore you with stats you already know... but don't be surprised if a water-related infographic shows up soon.

I'm not cool

Hey you,

Let me tell you a little something about me: I'm a loner; I'm not popular, but I have a solid group of really good people I call friends. I love reading and writing fiction, and sometimes... I may have issues distinguishing between fantasy and reality. I like dorky things like my talking, prophetic Yoda doll (I call it doll, it's probably called an action figure or whatever), my Mr Potatohead, the handmade Ron Weasley amigurumi that I got from Jan, working for hours on ridiculous photomanipulation projects for my friends on SnitchSeeker, HA! Snitchseeker, and only I know how much longer that list goes on.

My idea of a well spent weekend involves sitting in my various super comfortable pajamas, reading great fantasy/sci-fi novels, watching episode after episode of whatever I may have stored on my hard-drive, and sitting next to the pool/beach/large body of water for hours on end with a glass of ice-cold Malibu/pineapple.

I don't do too well in loud, dark, crowded spaces. I never know where to put my hands, and that said, I get all light-headed when I stand for too long. When going out, I'm always more comfortable in pub-style settings, where they play good, familiar music, decent steady lighting fixtures, and I can have decent conversations with my friends that I'll remember fondly on Tuesday morning as something that may have profoundly altered the way I look at things.

I've only ever been in two proper romantic relationships in my life, both of them in my early 20s, and within 3 years. Before that I was too shy to talk to people, and since them I've been too afraid. So here I am now, a baker, a writer, a reader, a collector of nonsensical information, and a blogger. It has taken me 2 years to finally like myself again, and now that I'm actually quite happy and comfortable with myself... with knowing who I am, what I like, and what I want, I've been told it's time to drop the wall and just be happy.

Here's how I define myself: I'm comfort food.

Very much like this recipe! HAHA see what I did there?!

Quick Lemon Spaghetti 

• A normal sized pack of dried spaghetti
• 4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped/crushed
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• A cup of chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• The zest of 1 lemon
• Optional: Chopped chicken breast fillets for some protein
• Salt and pepper 

1. Prepare the spaghetti noodles as per instructions, when it's ready, drain the water and set aside in a small amount of leftover water (my friend Jessica told me to drop butter into the still hot pasta and let it ooze through) 
2. Heat the olive oil and butter in a saucepan until the butter has melted, then toss in the chopped/crushed garlic and cook until the delicious aroma of garlic fills the air
3. Pour the olive oil/garlic mixture over the pasta and toss with all remaining ingredients 
4. Optional chicken: You can either grill the chicken separately (season with salt and pepper, squeeze some lemon juice over it and grill on high heat), or fry the chicken in the olive oil when the garlic has softened and infused the oil

I'm starting to really have an issue with my camera, lighting, and setting area. There's a spare room in the back of the house that we use for storage, but after this recent failed attempt at taking pictures of my foodscapades I'm seriously considering turning the room into a working studio area.

First things first: Make space. Which I'll do... this weekend... maybe. Knowing my ridiculous procrastinating ways, that may take a while. Then I need to find some decent light fixtures to replace my old ones (I still mourn those lights...), an umbrella stand, new tripod cos my old one broke into three pieces, and maybe read my camera manual! LOL

Anyway, please don't let that horrible picture put you off the recipe. It really is amazing, hope you give it a shot on one of these busy weekdays. x Nabs