Meatball Pasta

Hi everyone!

So here's a dish that I make when I get too lazy to cook, but not lazy enough to just eat ramen. The only thing you need to cut are just the garlic and onions. You can just use onions if you don't have garlic - I just LUURRVV the smell of garlic so I add them to anything I make (plus I have a Costco-sized bag of them). Vampires will definitely run away from me with the amount of garlic I have lol.

Ok, let's start!

This will serve about three portions. You can adjust the amount by increasing or decreasing the amount of pasta sauce you add, and the amount of meatballs you use.

Ingredients

Italian seasoning & black pepper - I don't think you need a picture for this.



7 cloves garlic - sliced

The amount of garlic you want really depends on your preference. If you only want it for the fragrance, you can just use 3 cloves. I like my garlic, so I tend to use a handful of them =)








1/2 Onion - julienned

I know different parts of the world have different sizes for onions. If your onions are small, just julienne them. If they are large (like the ones you get at Walmart), then halve them before you julienne them.







12 Meatballs

I am using chicken meatballs, but you can easily get the swedish meatballs from IKEA - they work great! The only thing you need to do with those is instead of thawing them, take however much you need from the freezer, put them in a bowl and microwave them for about 3 minutes (stir them once at 2 minutes before you microwave the last 1 minute). And just cook them up the same way!

18 oz. Pasta sauce

In guesstimating how much pasta sauce to use, I can tell you that if you buy the 24 oz. glass bottle, that one whole bottle is enough to make four portions. So use 3/4 for three people! If you're wondering why I don't get the giant plastic bottles, I used to. I stopped because once the sauce bottle is opened, it doesn't take long for the sauce to start turning bad, no matter how much care I took to wiping them clean, using clean utensils, etc. So I just opted to these small bottles so that I don't have to worry about them turning bad since I run through them whole bottles at a time =)





1 Egg

This is really up to you if you want to add to your pasta sauce or not. I've always added it to thicken up the sauce, and to reduce the tangy tomato taste. Some people find it weird, but I've always liked it ever since I added it on a whim.

6 oz. Angel hair pasta
(approx. 2" diameter)

I LOVE angel hair pasta because it takes the shortest amount of time to cook and it doesn't expand that much, so you can better estimate how much pasta to cook. Also, I don't believe in getting the pasta measuring plastic thing-a-ma-jig. Just because it's another thing to clutter up my kitchen with. I just agak-agak (estimate). The amount of pasta you eat changes from person to person, so if you know you eat |-----this much-----| then just make that much... x3. Make it once, and you'll know if you've made too much or too little. As a reference, I know that half a bag of the Walmart angel hair package (16 oz package) is enough to make four portions.


Instructions

1. Boil about 1/2 a pot of water (for the pasta).
2. Cut off the tops of the garlic, and slice them up.
3. Julienne the onion.
4. Once water is boiling, add some salt. Then add the angel hair pasta.
5. Turn heat to medium-low so that the water continues to simmer while you cook the pasta. Stir it every minute or two until it's cooked.
6. Heat up oil, then add garlic. Fry till brown.
7. When garlic is brown, add onions and fry until translucent. (Note: Check on the pasta here. If you can't tell if it's cooked, take one out and try. It should be bouncy but not hard on the inside. If it's cooked, run it through cold water, sieve, and dish them on to plates)
8. Add meatballs, pepper & italian seasoning (in that order). Leave to cook, stirring occassionally.
9. Add pasta sauce and stir it in.
10. When pasta sauce starts bubbling, turn the heat to low and add in the egg. Stir it in quickly to make sure it is well-mixed before the egg cooks.
11. Turn heat back up to medium and leave until sauce begins to bubble again.
12. Serve!

You can also add grated cheese on top if you wish. I ran out of cheese, so I didn't lol.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Till next time!

Sausage & Onion Fried Rice

Hi peeps!

Today's dish is perfect when you cooked too much rice the night before, and just want to finish it off because you don't have any other dishes to go with it =P

Ingredients
 

Leftover rice (refrigerated overnight to reduce the moisture in the rice). Mine was slightly over 1 cup uncooked, which resulted to about this much after it has been cooked. You will want to break up the rice before you fry it as this will make it easier for you to mix it in the pan later.





 

1/2 Onion - diced

 

2 Bratwursts (or 4 regular sausages). For those who are wondering, I used Costco's chicken jalapeno and mango brats for this dish.

2 Eggs







Soy Sauce. I prefer Lee Kum Kee's soy sauce over the Kikkoman brand. Yes, there is a difference. Lee Kum Kee's is lighter colored, and has a lighter salty taste to it. Kikkoman is darker, with a fuller taste. It goes well as a complementary sauce to sushi and the likes, but not as good for cooking.

(optional) Spicy Chili Crisp - for that kick! It's also great if your fried rice turns out tasteless =)

Instructions

1. Dice up the onion & slice up the sausages/brats.
2. With the fire on high, pour a generous amount of oil to a large pan and heat it up.
3. Add onions and fry until either translucent or slightly brown (depends on your preference, or how hungry you are).
4. Add in the sausages.
5. Once sausages are cooked, stir in some soy sauce. (Note: I estimate how much soy sauce to pour by how many people I'm cooking for. Two persons mean about two rounds around the pan.)
6. Turn fire to medium, and add in the rice. As mentioned earlier, break up the rice first before you add it in. If the rice is not dry enough, this will make it easier to stir and mix in the pan.
7. Once rice is well mixed, make a hole in the middle of the pan and add in the two eggs.
8. Scramble the eggs and cover up with the rice for about 30 seconds before mixing it all in.
9. Continuously stir to keep rice from sticking to the pan.
10. When eggs are cooked, add some salt to taste and serve!



Add some Spicy Chili Crisp for some kick!

Sausage & Onion Fried Rice: COMPLETE!

Until next time!