Pasta With Shrimps And Avocado Salad

I have been down with a bad cough and cold since Friday and the best food to serve is a plate of pasta....when I am tired and wanted something nice to perk me up, I will whip up a pasta dish.  To make it more delicious, I added a few shrimps for Wild Boar and a avocado salad as a side for my simple pasta.  The ingredients to go with this tasty pasta is black olives, tomatoes and slices of cooked ham and lots of dried herbs :)  This pasta dish surely whet my appetite and I wallop alot of the avocado salad....in fact I finished up the whole bowl of chilled avocado salad.  Simple and yet delicious !   

I simply stir fry the shrimps with garlic and olive oil and before dishing up, added a pinch of sea salt to it.  It smelled good even to an almost blocked nose.  Wild Boar and I had a wonderful meal before going off for our cell group meeting.   The cough was not that bad but got worse when Saturday came.  I hate cough and cold...really makes you uncomfortable especially when you are barking coughing throughout the meeting. the hardest was trying to suppress the cough  which makes the situation worse LOL !

I guess the tomatoes and olive may have made the cough worse...just guessing only ...just feel like blaming it on someone or something...and the best excuse is to blame it on the tomatoes and olives or whatever there are in the pasta :p

cooked the pasta olio aglio style...added in some meat stuff for

Wild Boar that is the cooked ham and shrimps....I would prefer it

plain ...with just the avocado salad, but nonetheless it was tasty

with the shrimps in it :)

the pasta is really tasty with the mixed herbs and

the meat stuff and the avocado salad is really

a great accompaniment for the pasta !

mix the avocado with japanese mayo and a shake of

dried herbs ...simple yet delicious

This is so easy to whip up , so for those who wants something

to perk you up, try making this tasty pasta with Shrimps and

Avocado salad !

Have a great day !

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Bloggers Meet Up @ Sun Lee How Fook, Ipoh

I know I am the last to post this up.....:p I had one hard week ..rushing a project off and finally I have it done. So I can now post up some photos taken during our bloggers meet up dinner @ Sun Lee How Fook Restaurant . I am sure many of you will know who is who without me introducing :)  They are all famous bloggers except Elin   :p  We had a wonderful  time of fellowship and walloping the  'poon choy ' a dish that I find intriguing.  For me digging into the claypot to see what is inside is kinda fun :p    The food was okay but food is not that important...it is the fellowship and my first time meeting Quay Po , her friend Peng and her reader Cindy.    Thank you girls , for your gifts and Lena , thank you for your Blood Orange Galette ! Love it !   Ooops.. I guess we have all forgotten to take a snap of her galette..;p  I guess we were like python after that heavy dinner LOL! 

 drums rolling....the beauties are.......

seated from left: Elin, Cheah, Wendy

Standing from left : Reana, Veronica and Lena

The main star dish....'Poon Choy'  a claypot dish for 6 persons...it is quite a big portion.  The dish consists of shrimps, fresh scallop, chinese black mushrooms, abalone mushrooms, sea cucumbers, steamed chicken, and many other stuff which I can't recollect all...eating and chatting away the whole night so I hardly remembers what I tucked in. Lena ordered two side dishes.  I can't remember the name of the dish but it is deep fried fish paste on chicken skin...quite yummy actually....the chicken skin is crispy and  fish paste is well flavored , so on the whole it was not bad.  After dinner, we adjourned for a session of  karaoke  at  Embassy K-Box Karaoke, Jusco  .....mmmm didn't know that I can croak away......LOL!  but you should hear Quay Po and Reana sings.....gosh ! they are born singers alrights.  I enjoyed their singing very much and I hope we can have this karaoke sessions more often :)  

Deep fried fish paste wrapped in chicken skin...yummy !

the skin is crispy and the paste flavorful...

' Poon Choy '  RM210 for 6 persons....

the sea cucumbers are thick ....mmmm 

this the second side dish...Fried Udon....not bad

Thank you girls for a wonderful time together

and looking forward to more fellowship !

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Pasta Ratatouille With Mussels And Fresh Shimeiji

Combining two most delightful ingredients in my pasta meal makes me the happiest person.  I can tuck in 2 plates each time and yet not feel guilty LOL!  Mussels and shrooms are the star of this pasta.  I added in eggplant/aubergine and tomatoes for a ratatouille flavor , turning it more into a ratatouille pasta than anything else.  Even Wild Boar took more than his usual portions :)  This is simple and easy to whip up especially if you are hard pressed for time.  The mussels I used are fresh from the wet market without shells on. I prefer this than the frozen ones . I love the flavorful thick sauce coated on every strand of spaghetti and the subtle fragrant of the fresh italian parsley ....mmmmm delish !  

Cooking the thick ratatouille sauce for the spaghetti is so easy.  Simmer the sauce until the tomatoes and aubergine has softened and the herbs fragrant sauce has thickened and  absorbed into their soft texture . Stir in the cooked spaghetti and mix until every strands of spaghetti is coated with the thick sauce. And garnish with the chopped Italian parsley....so easy ...right! Done under an hour.  

the sauce consists of tomato paste, italian dried herbs, black pepper

garlic, diced tomatoes, diced eggplant/aubergine, shimeiji and mussels.

seasoning to taste

Add in the cooked pasta ( cooked in salt water till al dente )

mix till  every strands of spaghetti is coated

with the flavorful sauce and garnish with

the chopped italian parsley

Seriously ,I can tuck in 2 plates of this delicious Pasta Ratatouille.

The mussels and shimeiji add extra protein and iodine to my diet :p

Pasta Ratatouille With Mussels And Shrooms

Ingredients:-

cooked spaghetti -  enough for 2 persons

ratatouille sauce

1 small can of tomato paste mixed with 1 cup of water

2 cloves of garlic- chopped finely

2 tsp of dried italian herbs

1 tsp of coarsely ground black pepper

2 tbsp of parmesan cheese

2 tbsp of olive oil

1 cup of diced eggplant/aubergine

1 cup of fresh shimeiji  mushrooms

1 cup of diced tomatoes

8 pieces of fresh mussels without shells - cleaned and drain dry

Preparation:-

Cook spaghetti with salt water till al dente. Drained dry and keep aside.

Saute the garlic with olive oil in a deep non-stick pan till fragrant, add in the tomato paste mixture , add in the diced eggplant and stir fry till half cooked, add in the tomatoes and shimeiji shrooms and let the mixture in the pan to simmer till softened, add in the mussels and continue to let it simmer till all the ingredients are cooked through.  * If you want more sauce, add in 1/2 cup more of water ) 

Add in the dried herbs , parmesan cheese and black pepper and salt to taste.  Lower heat and add in the cooked spaghetti and mix well till every strand of the spaghetti is well coated with the sauce.  Garnish with fresh parsley and serve them hot.

Enjoy !