Okay, okay, I haven't starved myself since I last cleaned the floor. I just haven't documented my cooking in this blog. Plus the fact that it was our summer show and I have been quite busy with things. Finally, I told myself, I need to keep this blog moving and document some cooking.
And speaking of busy schedules, I thought of doing another quick recipe. I'm trying to avoid fast food as much as possible. Since our work's crew meals often are fast food (chicken and rice or burger meals, non-vego obviously), I have resulted to just bringing my own food so the coordinator or crew wouldn't worry where to hunt my meal. For busy seasons, cooking my own prepacked lunch or meal can be a chore especially when I get home late and tired. So, the solution is trying to look for quick and light meals that are 1. easy to do 2. do not require so much ingredients 3. easy cleanup so I don't end up running late.
I always have a stock of pasta because it's easy to cook and I can just like make an easy shala meal worthy of Instagram posts in a flash, no culinary degree required. It's also quick to make and easy to share. Here's a heartier take to pasta aglio olio (quite simple, but still one of my favorite pasta variations). I added fresh mushrooms to this dish for one. It's easy, quick, and warning, can be a bit spicy. The best part is that this is no production number to do.
That's all the chopping and slicing you need. Yay!
Garlic Mushroom Pasta
- half a cup of dried twisty pasta (or ribbon, just enough for one)
- 5 cloves pounded garlic because I like things garlicky
- 2 fresh button mushrooms sliced
- Extra virgin olive oil
- to taste: salt, chili flakes (the ones from the pizza containers), Italian seasoning.
Note on fresh mushrooms: Never wash them like veggies. They tend to soak up water. Just wipe them with a damp paper towel.
- Cook and drain pasta according to manufacturer's instructions.
- Heat a small pan in low heat. Add and heat olive oil.
- When oil is hot (but not super hot it will burn the garlic), add in the garlic and cook until soft. Add some salt and a teensy bit of chili to bring all the flavors out.
- Add mushrooms and continue stirring and cooking until mushrooms are cooked.
- Season as desired.
- Toss in pasta. Adjust flavors if you want.
- For cheesiness, toss in some nutritional yeast (Nutritional yeast may be purchased at Healthy Options. Its packaging and contents are similar to grated Parmesan cheese)
- Serve. For more color and flavor, you may tear up some fresh basil leaves and toss them in as well.
This is also great for dorm-style cooking since it doesn't need like a lot of equipment to use. When you got more time and ingredients, you can toss in sun dried tomatoes, olives, capers, and bell peppers. But this one's for those who need more time in their hands.
