Since my knife skills are very bad, I precut most of the stuff the night before but this can easily be done in 30 minutes since the cooking time isn’t that long.
Pasta with Veggies & Sausage
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
Pasta of your choice
2 cups Italian sausages - cut into large chunks
2 carrots - cut into small pieces
1 onion, large - diced
3 shallots - diced
1 bulb of garlic - peeled, minced (we love garlic so adjust amount to own preference)
Italian herb mix or any other combination of spices of your choice as seasoning
pepper flakes for some heat if you like it spicy
Boil water to cook pasta. Once you’ve added the pasta to the water, heat up a big pot with about 1/2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Add sausage and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove from pot and drain of excess oil, leaving about 1 tbsp.
In medium-high heat, add the garlic and shallots. Cook for 2-3 minutes. When it start to turn brown (caramelize), add in the onion and carrots with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water or stock. Scrape up any brown bits on the pot. Cook the veggies for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water if pot is too dry. Add in the sausages, spices and pepper flakes. Cook for another 3-5 minutes or until carrots are soft and sausages are heated. Remove from heat.
The pasta should have finished cooking so drain it, reserve about 1/2 cup of the liquid. Add the drained pasta to the sausage and veggie mixture. Toss it up with a dash of fresh pepper (optional) and it’s ready for plating. If it’s too dry, add a bit of the reserved pasta water to give it some moisture.
Note: This is the first time I’ve made pasta without sauce so let me know what you think if you try it. The twins said it was good but I don’t really trust them (they might only say that because they don’t want me to stop cooking!). Oh if you notice, I didn’t add any salt in the mixture because I find that the sausage is already salty enough for my preference.
I’m sure this recipe is out there but I made mine after reading Rachael Ray’s Poor Man’s Gumbo. I made this recipe to serve about 6 people. It was enough for 2 nights’ dinner for the three of us and Al’s lunch. We’re not big eaters though so keep that in mind.
Chicken, Sausage & Tomatoes Stew
Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast - cubed
1 cup of smoked sausages - cubed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion - cut into big pieces
2 carrots - cut into small pieces
3 stalks of celery - cut diagonally into small pieces
2 cans (796ml) diced tomatoes
1-2 can(s) tomato paste (use two if you want the sauce to thicken up faster)
dash of paprika, chili powder, pepper flakes (add to suit your taste)
salt & pepper
Marinate chicken with paprika salt and pepper for about 15 minutes. In a big pot, heat 1 tbsp of the oil and brown chicken pieces on all sides, for about 2 minutes. Remove from pan and add in the sausages. Cook sausage for about a minute or two. Remove from pan and drain off excess oil, leaving about 1 tbsp (if there isn’t enough, add some olive oil).
Return pot to medium heat and add onions. Cook until it start to get translucent. Add in celery, carrots and the tomato juice from the two cans of diced tomatoes. Cook, scraping up brown bits from the bottom of the pan, for about 3-5 minutes. Add in the diced tomatoes and tomato paste.
Bring the mixture to a simmer, and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Add in the chicken and sausage. Reduce heat and let it simmer for another 15 minutes or until it’s thicken to the desire consistancy. Add the chili powder and pepper flakes.
Serve with rice or crusty bread.
Note: I don’t like my tomato sauce too sour so I add a few tbsp of sugar at the end. Just add it a little bit at a time and taste test it to find the right amount.
Sorry, I didn’t have my camera with me this week so no pictures for the recent recipes.
This week the twin’s parents are away on a cruise trip so it’s time to play “Jan’s Kitchen” at their house. The challenge is to have food on the table in about an hour or so after we get home from work. I’m a very slow chopper, so it seems to takes twice as long to prepare the food.
My solution to a quick meal is one pot dinners. Well ok, that’s not exactly true. It’s actually two if you count the rice cooker as a pot. On Monday night I made a chicken and sausage stew with tomatoes served with rice. I found a recipe on Rachael Ray’s website and modified it. It turned out pretty well and I’ve made enough to last for next day’s meal also.
Yesterday was pasta night. I didn’t want to make tomato sauce because we already had the it for the stew for two nights. So it was pretty much a basic toss pasta with veggies and sausages. Just throw everything in a huge pot and toss. Again it turned out better than I thought considering the fact that I didn’t have a recipe to work with.
Wild sockeye salmon were on sale this week (2 for 1!) so we got two fillets which I’m planning on pan searing tonight. It should be enough for tomorrow’s dinner as well unless the twins decided to eat it for midnight snacks. Will update on how it turned out later.
Just a recap before you see the pictures. The wedding turned out really well. It was among one of the more organized ones I’ve been to. Waking up at 5am to get ready turned out to be pretty funny as multiple alarms started to go off and I still remember Chu wiggling off the bed to unplug her charging cellphone. I think we should have more girls sleepovers!
Anyways, as you can see from the previous post, we had a fun time making the boys do some weird games before we let them pick up Ying. I was then part of the crew (with Jen, Ames, Michelle, & Shirley) responsible for the tea ceremony and the decorations. We were well ahead of schedule and had fun chatting and fooling around before everyone arrives. The best moment of the day, aside from Ying & LawLi exchanging vows at the church, was when Shirely and I took off our shoes to decorate the reception hall. The carpet never felt soooo good.
Chu and LawTam did a fantastic job MC’ing the whole day. We finished the night with about 1hr of dancing. Mike was trying to teach me how to salsa dance. It was such a huge challenge as my feet seemed to be disconnected from my brain that night. I also got to meet up with some friends I had lost contact with since I graduated from SFU. It was really nice to see that everyone is doing great.
Here are some of the pictures from the cute couple’s wedding! LawLi look so different without glasses. I’m hoping to get more pictures from Mike and LawTam later. Will upload once I get them.
Ok I finally uploaded the Apple store opening clip I took on Saturday, May 24, 2008. As you can see from the video, there were a lot of others filming and taking pictures. Oh and I was standing on tip toes (I was pretty far from the entrance) so certain parts of the clips are shaky.
