Easy Creamy Mushroom and Bacon Fettucine

Got some fresh Fettuccine and Parmigiana Reggiano at Chelsea Market today so I'm making this for dinner. This recipe calls for brown beech mushrooms because I like to use them with bacon. You can, of course, substitute any mushrooms like sliced bellas. I love creamy Alfredo sauce but not too much with the calories that comes with butter and milk. Campbell's canned cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken) works great and is relatively low calorie.

This recipe is not low calorie but if you omit bacon (or use bacon bits), it should be fairly low. If you're not watching calories then go to town and use as much bacon as you want*. (*not responsible for clogged arteries and heart attack after ingesting this meal)

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked Fettuccine
2 cups brown beech mushrooms
1 cup chopped bacon (about an inch wide)
1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom
1/2 cup water
Some Parmigiano Reggiano

In a pan, cook bacon without oil over medium heat. You should be rendering the fat from bacon and when the bacon starts to brown transfer them to a paper towel. Throw away most of the oil except for about 1/2 tablespoon. Don't clean your pan! You want those brown bits on the bottom.

In a bowl, combine cream of mushroom and water. Whisk until smooth. Sauté mushrooms over medium heat for 2 minutes.

Add the soup mixture into the pan and let it get all the drippings from the pan.

Once it starts to boil, add in cooked fettuccine.

Turn off the heat and mix well with bacon. You can reserve some to top the pasta. Serve with a few sprinkles of Parmigiano Reggiano.

Roasted Zucchini Squash with Parmesan Cheese

Zucchini squash are best roasted, or at least that's what Vance told me. If you are roasting this on a roasting pan, you should half the time because it requires less time to roast on a roasting pan than a baking dish.

Ingredients:
3 cups sliced zucchini squash (green or yellow, or both)
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese or Parmigiano Reggiano 
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Add sliced zucchini squash into a baking dish.. Add dried basil, dried oregano, olive oil, salt and pepper into the zucchini squash and mix well. Roast for 20 minutes. Stir zucchini squash and bake for another 10 minutes.

Sprinkle Parmesan cheese or Parmigiano Reggiano on top of zucchini squash. Serve warm.

Vegetarian Sambal Edamame

This is a vegetarian version of Sambal Edamame with Shrimp. I also added in 1/2 cup baby corn cause Vance likes them and I have it leftover from making curry the other day. You can use or omit the baby corn. Be careful when choosing your sambal, make sure there are no shrimp in it. Any types of soy strips would do, even rehydrated ones. I have a packet of seasoned soy strips in the pantry so I used that instead. I washed the strip in cold water to wash off the seasoning (would probably taste weird with conflicting taste profile).

Soy strips (left) and sambal tumis (right)

Ingredients:

2 cups edamame

1 cup soy strips 

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 packet of sambal tumis 

1 tablespoon oil

some water (if too dry)

Add oil to wok or pan over medium heat. Add in chopped garlic and soy strips. Cook for a few minutes until garlic starts to brown. 

Add in edamame. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add in sambal and mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes. If it gets too dry, add in some water. Serve warm with rice.

Sambal Edamame with Shrimp

Sometimes prepackaged sauces are a blessing in disguise (oh course I say this in the most secular way possible). Sambal is a fragrant mixture of fried chillies and spices. Commonly used in Malaysian cuisine, sambal can be eaten as condiment or built into a dish as sauce. One popular sambal dish in grandma's household is the Sambal Petai with Shrimp. Petai beans come from the Parkia speciosa plant and are eaten throughout Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, petai contains certain amino acids that makes your urine stinks (much like eating asparagus) and complex carbohydrates (like most beans)  that causes flatulence. Petai can now be found in the frozen aisle in most Chinese groceries that cater to Southeast Asian customers.

But why edamame in this recipe? To tell you the truth, I couldn't find frozen petai today and thought edamame would make an interesting substitute. They look kinda the same, although obviously edamame wouldn't impart a reminder that I ate it for dinner. I use frozen edamame beans (without the pods). I'm happy to say that it tasted as tasty as petai. PLUS I can make a vegetarian version for Vance (who grimaced at the beginning when he saw the edamame, which he thought was petai). Of course, you can always use petai instead of edamame.

This is what I used for my sambal (left). You can also use other types sambal (right). It's the right kind if you see petai beans on the package :)

Ingredients:
2 cups edamame (or petai)
1 lb. shrimp (shelled and deveined)
1 bottle of sambal with shrimp (see above)
(if using Sambal Tumis without shrimp) 1/2 cup dried shrimp, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes then chopped
1 tablespoon oil
some water (if too dry)

Add oil to wok or pan over medium heat. Add in shrimp and cook until it starts to turn pink. Add in edamame. If you are using a sambal that has no dried shrimp in it, this is the time to add in the chopped dried shrimp. Cook for about 5 minutes.

Add in sambal and mix well. Cook for another 2 minutes. If it gets too dry, add in some water. Serve warm with rice.

Grandma's Green Bean Omelette

One of grandma's quintessential dish. As a matter of fact, this is the only way I've had green beans when I was living with grandma. Make sure you make this in small batches or the bottom would burn before the egg cooks (although I do enjoy a slightly browned omelette). This dish is very similar to egg foo young.


Ingredients:
1 cup chopped green beans
3 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon chopped garlic.
2 tablespoon oil
salt and white pepper to taste

In a pan or wok, heat oil over low heat. Add in garlic and green beans. Season with salt and white pepper.

 Cook for about 5 minutes until green beans turn emerald green. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

Add in eggs and move the beans around so the egg sets to the bottom. Once it starts to set, flip it to cook the other side. Cook for another minute and then remove from heat. Plate the omelette and serve warm.