Nourish with Five- Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, Garlic and Chili

Somedays, Chubbs takes a lot out of me by late morning, and for lunch, I crave something easy to make, but utterly satisfying, delicious and nutritious at the same time. And for Fuzzy and I, pasta is the ultimate comfort food. I actually get a mild anxiety attack when I'm not stocked with at least three packets of various dried pasta in the pantry :/

I often whip up this simple, light pasta for lunch, which is basically a simple aglio olio, but with ripe cherry tomatoes thrown in for a refreshing sweetness. Many years ago, while waiting tables, I eavesdropped on one of Singapore's top chefs, JQ, when he took time to give an aspiring young chef a tutorial on cooking the perfect aglio olio, after his attempt at the dish turned out disastrous. "1) The garlic must be sauteed till just golden. Not white, not dark brown, just golden. 2) Add just a few slivers of chili, not a handful. You are not cooking mee goreng. If customers ask for it to be super spicy, ask them to go elsewhere for mee goreng. 3) Tear fresh basil leaves with your fingers; if you use a knife, the leaves will bruise and the herb flavour will be flat."

So he went on and demonstrated how it's done. He put in a lot of good extra virgin olive oil and even added a touch of freshly grated parmesan at the end (which I thought was a little weird). After him and the young chef tasted the pasta, he looked at me and said, "You over there... listening so intently. Want to try?" I stood hunched over the kitchen counter, and twirled as much noodle on my fork as possible. It was glorious.

Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes, Basil, Garlic and Chili

Ingredients:-

1 clove of garlic, sliced very finely

Half a red chili, deseeded

A large handful of cherry tomatoes (about 10), halved

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt for seasoning

Spaghetti/ linguine/ vermicelli

A handful of fresh basil

Method:-

1) Cook pasta in very salty water, according to package timing instructions.

2) Saute garlic slivers and chili in a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil till garlic is tender and slightly brown around the edges.

3) Add tomatoes and saute until skin is slightly wrinkled.

4) Add cooked pasta and some of the pasta water. Swirl everything around swiftly so that the water and oil emulsifies into a light sauce. If the pasta looks dry, add a little more cooking water.

5) Season to taste. Scatter with basil leaves. Serve, eat and clean your plate as quickly as possible.

Nourish with Five- Tomato and Bean Stew

1 December! I can smell Christmas in the air! There'll be lots of cooking, baking, eating and entertaining in the weeks to come, and I'll get so fat after all the Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year festivities! Holidays are so exciting with the promise of fun/ family/ food-filled days to come, and I think this is also a good time for me to launch a little project called, "Nourish with Five". This series of recipes will showcase some of the five-ingredient recipes that I make at home. I'll try to sneak some bakes under this category too, and hopefully, you guys will try some of these simple dishes and sweets during the holidays.

I decided to start this project because, as mentioned before, I have a five ingredients per dish guideline (not including the necessary oil and seasonings) when cooking. This is not to say that I never make a dish that requires more, but I go by this mantra 90% of the time. Streamlining the processes in cooking, and quoting Mr. Jamie Oliver, "stripping down recipes to their bare essentials", makes cooking more pleasurable, and saves me a lot of time. Perhaps some of you might think that using just five ingredients to create a tasty, satisfying and nourishing meal sounds too little, but I assure you, it's not.

Another decision I recently made, is to go vegetarian for all my meals except maybe dinner. I'll still be eating a limited amount of seafood, but for the most part, it'll be cheese, eggs, vegetables, fruit, carbs and the lot. I'm not doing this because I'm on some weight-loss program, or that I dislike the taste of chicken/ beef/ lamb/ pork/, etc. It's just the same reason why I've never taken shark's fin... I'm sick of the torture that animals have to go through for our pleasure. Yes, animals were initially meant for our consumption, and mankind supposedly has free reign over all livestock. But in biblical times, chickens weren't caged up so tightly that they trample over and kill one another, geese and ducks were not force-fed with metal tubes down their throats to abnormally fatten their livers, poultry weren't injected with hormones to force them to grow faster... and sadly, the list goes on. I'm not naively thinking that I have the power to change the world with my decisions, but I just can't live with myself supporting this cruelty anymore.

On a lighter note, here's a great tomato and bean recipe that is healthy, comforting, quick and easy to make and very economical. Fuzzy and I chose to eat it with some pan-fried barramundi (you could substitute for any white-fleshed fish) for lunch, and I'll have the left-overs with a toasted cheese sandwich tomorrow.

Tomato and Bean Stew

Ingredients:-

1 can of canellini beans, drained

1 can of diced tomatoes

3 stalks of celery, diced

1 big onion, diced

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

water/ vegetable stock

salt and pepper, and optional dried herbs for seasoning

Method:-

1) In a small pot, sautee onions in olive oil till translucent.

2) Add celery and fry till slightly tender.

3) Mix in drained beans, and tinned tomatoes.

4) Add enough water/vegetable stock to cover all the ingredients, and bring the stew to a boil before turning the heat down to a slow simmer. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and add dried herbs if you'd like.

5) Simmer for 1 hour.

6) Serve with fresh basil and a good glug of extra virgin olive oil. This makes a great dish on it's own with some crusty bread, or with some pan-fried fish/ chicken as a side.

Feeds two very hungry adults.

The Simple Things

Recently, I've been craving for simple things to eat. Not that I've ever longed for the opposite, but more so nowadays, chomping on a thick slice of good bread, thoroughly soaked with the best fruity olive oil one can find, makes me more cheerful than I'm genetically inclined to be in the late afternoons.

I've long gone by the yard stick that the best foods are those made with five ingredients or less (without counting salt and pepper). Think for instance, pizza margherita, spaghetti aglio olio, scrambled eggs on toast, a piece of salmon belly sushi, the perfect steak, a wedge of butter cake, and my home-made granola.

Everybody has a granola recipe to share, and for me, it's all about finding one that is fuss-free, and creates granola that is crunchy, nourishing and not cloyingly sweet. So after a few trials, I've finally come up with a recipe that makes me the best granola.

Nourish with Five- Granola

Ingredients:-

3 1/2 cups whole rolled oats (not quick-cooking)

1/2 cup honey

3 tbsp light brown sugar

2 tbsp canola oil

100 grams slivered raw almonds and/or 100g sunflower seeds/ pumpkin seeds/ chopped pecans/ chopped walnuts...

50g sesame seeds

a pinch of salt

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 150degreesC.

2) Mix oats, almonds (and any other nuts/ seeds), salt and brown sugar in a big bowl.

3) Mix in oil and honey and stir till everything's coated.

4) Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

5) Pour mixture onto baking sheet, flatten out evenly, and bake for 30-40 min, until the granola's a deep brown. But be sure to take the granola out of the oven every 10-min to give it a good stir around to ensure even baking.

6) Cool completely before storing it in an airtight container and use within two weeks.

You could of course jazz this simple recipe up to suit your taste. Try adding a teaspoon of cinnamon, stirring in some butterscotch chips/ chopped dark chocolate at the end (I like!), or throwing in some currants/ cranberries/ dates. But the simplicity of this basic granola really does it for me. I eat a bowlful of it with plain Greek yogurt and a splash of unsweetened soy milk, and a fruit on the side for breakfast, and it keeps me going all the way till lunch; no icky hunger pangs in between! I pack a little for Fuzzy to munch on throughout the day in the office, since it keeps well, and is also wheat and gluten-free, and full of good fat from the almonds and sesame seeds. I really hope you enjoy this.

My bucketful of bird-food-looking joy.

19-Months and Baked Potato Fries

My 19-month old darling is finally starting to eat potatoes; in the form of baked fries. Previously, I have tried feeding him white, yellow sweet, orange sweet, blue potatoes steamed, mashed with butter, with cheese, baked in their jackets... nothing worked. He would take an occasional bite, but was definitely not fond of them. Then I came up with this simple recipe. Bingo!

Ingredients:-

1 medium sized sweet potato

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper for seasoning (optional)

Note: Different potatoes yield different results. My personal favourites to make baked fries with, are Aussie Gold potatoes and organic sweet potatoes (purple skin and peachy-coloured flesh). Both are so sweet and fragrant, and bake up to be crisp on the outside while soft and fluffy inside. Perfect! But they are a tad pricey; double the price of the more common Vietnamese/ Japanese yellow sweet potatoes. Although tasty, they are a little too dense in texture for baking; so they end up being too dry. I like to bake with blue potatoes from the USA too. They are a deep indigo colour (packed with antioxidants) and bake well. However, these (as with any white/ yellow potatoes) weep after you cut them, so be sure to dry them with a paper towel before dousing them with oil so that they crisp up nicely.

Method:-

1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

2) Peel and cut potatoes into batons about 1cm in width- I'm not talking about French cooking school precision here, just the general concept similarity in shape and size so that they cook in the same amount of time.

3) Coat the potato batons evenly with olive oil (and seasonings if desired).

4) Place onto a baking tray in one single layer, and some space between each fry.

5) Bake for 20-25min, or until golden and crisp on the outside.

Last night, Chubbs' doting Pseudo-Godpa, A, bought him a pair of training chopsticks for lefties (Chubbs is primarily left-handed). It has the penguin Pororo (Korean cartoon character) on it, and that thrills Chubbs to bits. He has recently started watching the cartoon, and it quite taken the dance moves of the characters (when the theme song comes on). Anyhow, he has been practising picking up biscuits and such with the chopsticks, and I must say he is coming along rather well. I'll see if he can pick up sweet potato nuggets next.