Continued from previous post….
Monday Morning
Spent the morning cooking for our Italian-themed potluck Eid get-together at Farhan’s. Thank you Farhan for being such a great host, as usual. Your seafood pasta was gorgeous! Not that I expected any less 
and thanks for the recipe too! Loved all the potluck contributions by everyone else as well. Its amazing how such simple items can taste so good ya girlfriends? Yani/Farhan the affagiato was amazing… definitely worth breaking my no-coffee pact! Mel you must tell me how your threw together that lovely salad. And Farah I loved your bruschettas, couldn’t get enough….
These were great, and so quick and easy to make too. The base was olive oil and pesto sauce, and the topping a salad mix of herbs, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and capsicum. And of course, a sprinkle of grated mozarella.
With the ladies after the meal…
Btw, did you guys know that potluck is a foreign concept in Italy? I read this article while I was googling about Italian cuisines. You see, I was a little uninspired about what Italian dish I should make. Been feeling a little lazy to try anything complicated, but then again, I’m tired of lasagna and other favourites of D. Time to find him a new favourite! In the quest of this, I dug up an Italian recipe book (a gift from my MIL when she realised how much I enjoy trying western dishes, and how much more her son enjoys them!) and decided on a sexy-sounding dish. Presenting to you… Turkey Tetrazzini!
D loved it… kept picking at it while I was preparing, but I suppose there’s no better compliment than a husband’s oooh, ummss and aaaahs. I never have the heart to bat his hands away! At lunch, everyone else made the necessary appreciative noises too so I suppose I passed Here’s the recipe, at Yani’s request….
Ingredients:
6 turkey bacon, chopped (the original recipe uses ham)
4 tbp Butter
5 button mushrooms; sliced
1 medium onion; chopped
4 tbp Flour
1/4 ts Pepper
300ml Chicken broth
250g double cream
250g tagliatelle
300g cooked Turkey or chicken (I used grilled chicken)
100g Parmesan
50g Mozarella
Parsley; chopped
a pinch of salt
a pinch of nutmeg
Method:
1. Cook pasta in a big pot of salted water just to the al dente stage, then quickly drain and rinse in cold water to arrest the cooking.
2. Add butter to large saucepan. Saute the chopped bacon till fragrant and crispy. Put the bacon aside.
3. Add mushrooms and onions to the butter and saute 4-5 minutes.
4. Stir in flour for 2 – 3 minutes, to form a roux. Remove from heat and add broth slowly, stirring continually.
5. Return to heat, stir in double cream, stir well and season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and chopped parsley.
6. Stir in pasta, chicken, bacon and half the parmesan. Mix well.
7. Transfer to a greased casserole, sprinkle mozarella, parmesan and breadcrumbs (optional) and bake at 180deg for 30 – 35 minutes until the top is golden brown and the sauce is bubbling
Monday Afternoon
Dragged myself out of the house for a walk around Bedok Reservoir, while D had his run, to avoid an Italian potbelly after a hearty Italian lunch! So glad I went; I didn’t realise how much I needed the walk… felt sooo refreshed right after. There’s nothing like a good workout to take away the strains. For those of you living in the East, have you checked out Bedok Reservoir’s new floating platform? Its now my mid-walk reward; so therapeutic it was, to do my stretches there as the platform swayed beneath me, enjoying the nice breeze and view of the afternoon sun making the water sparkle beautifully… wish I had my camera with me.
Monday Evening
I was still in a cooking mood so I pulled out a wonderful-looking cream of pumpkin soup recipe from the same Italian cookbook, and yeayyyy it turned out exactly like the pumpkin soup I tried once in a hotel. Heh such modesty. It was soooo rich and flavourful… gorgeous mix of pumpkin, leek, celery, carrots, and of course, cream Recipe coming up in abit.
That about sums up my weekend! To my Hindu friends/readers, Diwali Mubarak to you all!
October 28, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Wow, for once someone asking me for a recipe!
The flavoring is just olive oil, lime, Italian herbs and ground pepper and the other stuff are your normal salad veggies. Oh, I also added some toasted almonds for extra crunch.