Sunday Dinner: Clams and Mushroom Soup

If you read my previous post, then you must’ve known that I planned to cook the clams for lunch. But again, I get sleepy in the afternoon and decided to take a nap—a nap that went too long. Gosh, all those waking up in the morning to shop and make breakfast really drain my energy :p


Anyway, at first I planned to make farfalle with creamy clam sauce. But I decided to try something else. Soup! I never cook cream soup at all. And all the recipe I found in the internet were involving wine, sherry, or any other ingredients that I don’t have and quite hard to find in my country. So I brace my self and decided to improvise with this recipe. 


I made Clams and Mushroom Soup and add a scoop of mashed potato on the side. The recipe is simple. It’s just an improved recipe of the béchamel sauce.

Serving portion: 3
Cooking time: 1 hr


Soup Ingredients:
- Milk.
- Flour.
- Handful of Clams.
- Mushroom, sliced or diced, anything you like.
- Parsley.
- Beef stock (I use Royco beef flavored, a some kind of flavor enhancement powder, since I don’t have any home-made beef stock.)
- Butter.
- 4 cloves of Garlic (I just love garlic!)
- Half of Onion.
- Freshly ground black pepper.
- Salt to taste.


And now, how to make it:
1. Heat pan. Add butter, garlic, onions, and mushrooms until well cooked.
2. Add clams and parsley. Cook for about 3 minutes.
3. Add flour and cook until all mix well.
4. Add the beef stock, or in my case, water and then the beef flavor enhancement powder, and milk. Let it thicken.
5. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Serve it nice and hot.


I don’t really know how to make a good soup. I just improvise my ways. And it turns out to be okay. At first, my soup was still taste fishy from the clams. So I add extra black pepper and cook it a bit longer. But hey, it works! Grazie a Dio. Otherwise, the soup will go straight to the drain :p


Oh, I almost forgot the mashed potato. You can see the recipe here. Enjoy!




Cheers!

Farfalle Aglio Olio con Gamberi e Funghi

As my promise yesterday, this is my dinner recipe. Farfalle Aglio Olio con Gamberi e Funghi. Well that's just the fancy name, the normal name would be Farfalle Aglio Olio with Prawns and Mushroom :p


Actually this is my lunch menu. But, because I got so sleepy in the afternoon (because I had to woke up so early to shop. sigh.) and decided to take a nap, which turns out into a very long nap and I woke up at 6.30 pm, so I cooked this dish for dinner. 


Bored with spaghetti and fettuccini, I decide to go with farfalle. Farfalle are a type of pasta. Commonly known as "bow-tie pasta," the name is derived from the Italian word farfalla (butterfly). (source: wikipedia.com)

The bow-tie pasta. Lovely isn't it?

I decided to cook it on aglio-olio style and with prawns and mushroom.  Here’s the recipe. Trust me, it’s so easy!

Serving portion: 3
Cooking time: 30 mins


- Half package of farfalle pasta (about 250 grams)
- Olive oil
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- Half onion, chopped
- Fresh parsley, finely chopped
- Mushroom, chopped
- Prawns, cleaned, peeled and devined
- Smoked beef, diced and crispy fried
- Chili powder
- Red chili
- Tomato, diced
- Salt and pepper

1. Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente and then drain and set aside.
2. Heat saucepan then adds olive oil, garlic, onion, chili powder, red chili, parsley, and mushrooms. Cooked till mushroomsbegin to brown. 
3. Add prawns to the mixture. Cooked through.
4. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 5 mins. Toss regularly. Add chopped        tomatoes just t heat. 
5. Pour the mixture into pasta and mix well.
6. Add grated cheese on top if you like.
7. Add parsley for garnish.

I also make some garlic bread as a starter. Too bad I forgot to take picture of them. 
For the garlic bread, I made the very simple one using wheat bread.


Garlic Bread
- 4 wheat breads. Lose the crust. Cut into quarter.
- Margarine.
- 4 cloves of garlic. Finely chopped.
- Parsley. Finely chopped.


1. Mix margarine, garlic and parsley.
2. Spread over one side of the bread.
3. Heat pan and grill the bread. Non-margarine side on the pan first.
4.     Let it brown but don't let it burnt.


That’s it, folks. Have it a go. Improvise. After all, cooking is fun! 

Cheers!