CREAMY TOMATO PASTA

Since it was my rest day, I decided to cook something really special for my family. It's not everyday that I could spend time in the kitchen but I make sure to do so everytime I get a day off.

Like most Saturdays, my daughter was taken by her grandma to the Mall. They left in the afternoon and were due to be home in less than half an hour. I had nothing to do so I volunteered to do the cooking. One quick look inside the cupboards made me decide what to cook. I wanted something fast and easy to prepare yet delicious and satisfying at the same time. My daughter is pretty picky when it comes to food so I chose one of her favorites.
I cooked Creamy Tomato Pasta for dinner.

Turn that radio on, rev up the stove and let's start cooking! 

1) Cook spaghetti noodles as per package instructions. Of course, drizzle water with oil and add a pinch of salt. I used 250g of noodles for this dish.

2) Dice one medium-sized onion and mince four cloves of garlic. Chop the ham.

3) Once the skillet is hot enough, put one tablespoon of butter and one teaspoon olive oil. Stir until butter is melted. Add the onions. Add the garlic once onions are translucent.

4) Time to put in the ham. (This step can be omitted or you can use any other "sahog" that you want, i.e hotdog, chicken bits) Stir around.

5) Pour in the tomato sauce. (Now's the time to add seasonings/spices; I added a pinch of salt, a dash of ground black pepper, a pinch of ground red chili, and a dash of sugar.) Stir around. Let it cook until the sauce turns into a lovely dark red.

6) Remove from heat. Add a cup of cream. Stir around.

7) Throw in the spaghetti noodles. Toss gently. Make sure each noodle is thoroughly covered with the creamy sauce.

8) Serve. You can sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top and some chopped basil leaves.

Yep. There you go folks. All done in less than 25 minutes.

Right about the time I finished cooking, my daughter and her grandmother arrived from their trip to the mall. Just in time! We ate this dish together with a serving of fried chicken marinated in lime juice and fish sauce. Perfect!

Why don't you try cooking this dish? It's definitely worth it.





The Verdict:

Deliciousness: 5 / 5
Quickness: 5 / 5
Easiness: 5 / 5
Budget-friendliness: 5 / 5




Want another Pasta Recipe? Try checking SPICY TUNA PASTA.

SPICY TUNA PASTA

Just got home from a very tiring day at work and I was famished.

I've spent a full minute looking inside a pot and wishing that it's something I could eat. But I could only see Paksiw, and sad to say, I couldn't eat it.  (I don't eat Paksiw for two reasons; one is that I couldn't tolerate the smell, (the smell of the vinegar irritates my nose). The other reason, probably a stronger point than the first, is that eating Paksiw makes me very itchy; red patches would be appearing on my skin and would be bothering me for 24 hours. You're probably thinking "ang arte naman nito!", and I'd gladly accept your opinion if only you are in my shoes everytime the itching is too much to bear.)

I had no choice but to come up with something to eat. I scoured the cupboards and pondered on which food item can go with which. I could see a bottle of olive oil, some eggs, and all kinds of spices in one of the cupboards, and in another one there were two cans of spicy tuna, a pack of spaghetti noodles, and some cans of... oh wait, wait... did I say Spaghetti noodles? Eureka!

I was starving and I needed to fix myself some grub, so I had to move fast. Right there and then I decided to make tuna pasta. I have cooked that dish three times before and I'm pretty much familiar with it now. Unlike those times though, today I had to settle with what the cupboards contain. I had to stick to the basics.

Without further hoopla, here are the steps for my simplified version of SPICY TUNA PASTA:

1) Of course, cook the spaghetti noodles as per package instructions. Boil in water drizzled with a little oil and some salt. The oil will prevent the noodles from sticking to each other. The salt will add taste to the noodles. I used olive oil instead of regular cooking oil and salt. By the way, I used 250g of noodles for this.

2) Pop the tuna cans open and dice the onions and tomatoes. As you can see in the picture, I used a regular can of Century Tuna and a small can of San Marino Corned Tuna, both in spicy variants. (Those two were the only cans of Spicy Tuna I've found.) As for the tomatoes and onions, I used two medium ones of each.

3) The tomatoes go in first. Let sit until an "almost-dry" look is achieved. Add the onions. Stir. I wanted some garlic in there but I wasn't able to find some. If you want some garlicky taste you can definitely use some garlic in your version. You can add vegetables too, some bellpeppers and some greens would be great. They will also add color to the dish.

4) Once the onions are translucent, add the spicy tuna. Stir around. Let sit for atleast 5 minutes. Now's the time to add spices/seasoning if you want your tuna pasta to come out according to your desired taste. I didn't use any seasoning for this version, though.

5) Throw in the spaghetti noodles. Toss gently. Make sure each noodle is thoroughly covered by the sauce.

6) Serve. This dish goes well with Parmesan cheese. Lucky for me I've found some Parmesan (and a can of Pepsi) inside the refrigerator.

Well, there you go. That's how I survived this afternoon of starvation. Haha..

Well, seriously, I can't cook. I have tried to cook several dishes in the past, but they were, of course, cooked by an amateur trying to imitate recipes from a cookbook. My version of the dishes were good and they satisfied me. They were delicious enough, although I couldn't speak for people with discriminating tastes. Maybe I'm just lucky enough that I have the motivation to cook and the hunger to be better at it. Besides, I also make sure to pour in the two main ingredients in every dish while cooking for other people (and myself)...  yes, I'm talking about love and happiness. No  kidding!

Having said that, then it's not impossible for you to whip this up yourself (and ace it). If you need to come up with a quick but delicious dish; say for instance you have unexpected visitors, or you want a welcome dish to bring to the new neighbor, when you want to give your hubby (and the kids) an impromptu romantic dinner, or even when you just need something to eat other than Paksiw, then you can surely try this.

You can definitely ace this. Believe me, it's just childplay.


The Verdict:

Deliciousness: 5 / 5
Quickness: 5 / 5
Easiness: 5 / 5
Budget-friendliness: 5 / 5

You might also like: Creamy Tomato Pasta