Pasta Boscaiola

I had to whip this up pretty quickly the other night. You see, I got home early but because I've been having stomach cramps in the last few days, I couldn't be bothered doing much when I got home. My husband was at the gym after work and he likes to 'dilly-dally' (e.g. taking his time changing, walking back to the office, packing up his things etc). You may ask why he doesn't just take all his stuff down to the gym with him so he could come home straight after the gym, right? Yes, I've been on his case about this but he says he doesn't want to leave his stuff at the gym so he feels compelled to leave them all in his office. After a long wait, my husband finally gets home at 7:30pm and he wanted dinner. I didn't mind cooking coz I didn't want him to mess up my kitchen and tonight, after feeling crook the entire day, I needed to conjure up a quick meal. With leftover bacon and mushrooms in the fridge, I decided to make him my Pasta Boscaiola.

This pasta is great. It's very tasty and although it's a creamy sauce, the ingredients making up the sauce are not fattening at all. If you want to make a creamy pasta sauce but don't want to pack on the calories, I would encourage you to try using evaporated milk.


Pasta Boscaiola
(serves 2)

200g fettuccine pasta
4 pieces of fat-free bacon, chopped
6 swiss mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp garlic, chopped
1 can Carnation Light & Creamy Evaporated Milk
250ml vegetable stock
3 teaspoons cornflour
handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Parmesan cheese

- Cook pasta until al dente
- While the pasta is cooking, start making the sauce
- Mix cornflour with water, set aside
- Heat up a saucepan and cook garlic with bacon until ready; add mushrooms until they are tender
- Pour in vegetable stock and when this is heated up, add in the evaporated milk & bring it to the boil
- Turn the heat down and let it simmer; then pour in the cornflour mixture. Stirring until the mixture becomes a creamy texture
- Toss the pasta in the creamy sauce until the pasta is well covered
- Serve immediately with parsley, pepper and a handful of parmesan cheese (if desired)

Salmon Fettucine in a Light Lemon Sauce

*Sigh* The weather...Sydney has been raining since Thursday night! From the looks of things, it will continue to rain this whole week. Rain periods, showers, thunderstorms. What has happened to our summer? Where is the sunshine? Rain periods during summer reminds me of what the weather is like in HK during their summer time but luckily not as humid.

Today was certainly one of those days you'll want to stay indoors and veg. What goes well when you're vegging around at home is to indulge in a big bowl of hot pasta. I didn't want anything too heavy since I'm already not moving much except for picking up the remote control and moving my fingers every so often, so I didn't want my pasta to be drowned in any creamy sauces. For a refreshing summer taste, I used lemon juice in my pasta instead. Half cooked salmon adds creaminess to the dish. I also added a roma tomato, some fresh organic asparagus, swiss mushrooms and a small handful of dill in this pasta.

It's delicious and easy to prepare. It satisfied my pasta craving and was so comforting eating this whilst sitting on the couch. As I was sitting there with my bowl of pasta, I looked out the window and didn't care what the weather outside was like anymore. If only my apartment had a balcony, I would happily sit outside watching the rain whilst slowly enjoying this comforting pasta dish.



Salmon Fettuccine in a Light Lemon Sauce
(serves 1) - hubby is still away

150g salmon fillet, no skin
2 stalks of asparagus
3 Swiss mushrooms
1 roma tomato
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 small handful of chopped dill
juice of 1/2 lemon
fettuccine for 1 person
salt and pepper to taste
grated Parmesan

- Cook the fettuccine in a pot of boiling water until al dente
- Cut the salmon into 2cm cubes
- Cut the asparagus to 1 inch long; de-seed the tomato, cut into bit sizes; slice the mushroom
- In a pan, heat the olive oil then combine together the salmon, lemon, salt and pepper. Cook salmon until it turns pink. Remove from pan. Don't overcook it and even if it's still a little rare inside, remove the salmon from the pan. Don't worry if you think the salmon is not cooked properly because the heat will slowly infiltrate and cook the inside of the salmon. This way, the fish will remain buttery and not dry
- Use the pan again and cook the asparagus. When it's almost done, add in the tomatoes and mushrooms
- Add the salmon, asparagus, mushrooms and tomatoes into the pasta
- Add in dill and lemon juice. Toss well
- Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese