food recipes

Soy sauce-balsamic fried sardine, Pasta crude (Dinner 30 Aug)

Pasta crude means raw pasta in Italian according to my Italian friend. 

Fresh tomatoes and basil is dressed over capellini with onion and garlic based sauce. 

This is a summery dish and definitely should be enjoyed before tomato season ends.

Ingredients (for two people)

200g Capellini 

1 clove of garlic

1/3 large round onion or 2 small onions

20-25g (a pack of) Basil 

2 handfuls of mini-tomato or 1 large tomato

1 teaspoon of salt (+3 teaspoons for boiling pasta)

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 teaspoons of truffle oil

Directions

1. Boil 3-4L of water in a large deep pan
2. Cut basil and tomatoes into small pieces (roughly 1cmx1cm)

3. Cut onion and garlic into tiny pieces. Heat up a large frying pan at middle temperature, spread olive oil and fry garlic and onion until they are done for 3-4 mins

4. Add 3 teaspoons of salt into the boiling water and add pasta. Cook it for 1.2 mins to make just before al dente condition
5. Add the cooked pasta, salt, tomato, basil and 1/2 cup or 100cc of boiled water into the pan. Mix all thoroughly

6. Serve with black pepper and truffle oil.

The season of sardine had started. I got 5 pieces of fresh sardine from Devon for 2.5 pounds from a local fish market, Hampstead Seafoods. Sardine is rich in Vitamin D and Calcium and is a great resource of good protein.

Sharp taste of sardine becomes elegant by the dressing of balsamic and soy sauce with a hint of garlic and chili. The asparagus and spring onion moderates the rich flavour of the dish.

I struggled to remove small bones near head and tail. I stored some pieces to freeze.

Ingredients

2 pieces of sardine (head off, cleaned the stomach, remove big bones)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of cornflour
1 clove of garlic (thin sliced)
1/2 teaspoon of chili powder
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
2-3 asparagus (lightly boiled and cut into large pieces)
1 Spring onion (sliced in thin stripe)

Directions

1. season sardines with salt and leave it for 5 mins. Then cut them into large bite size and dust with cornflour

2. Heat up a frying pan at medium temperature, spread olive oil and add chilli and garlic to fry for 1 min

3. Place sardines with the skin sides on the pan, cook them for 2-3 mins

4. Turn the sardines over to the other sides. Add asparagus and cook another 2 mins

5. Take asparagus and sardine out from the pan, put them into a dish
6. Add soy sauce and balsamic vinegar into the pan. Allow it gently boil

7. Top the sardine and asparagus with spring onion, pour the sauce over them to serve.

Time to prepare 1 hour (I spend 35 mins for removing out bones from sardines)
Total cost: 4.2 pounds (0.7 for pasta, 2.5 with basil, tomatoes and other veggies,1 for sardine)

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