* quick tosser for lunch *

 I looked in the freezer today and pasta came to mind. Checked the pantry and saw the can of Prego's Cheese & Herb spaghetti sauce I bought to try. Mmm......oh why not?



So, You can do this with anything you like and of course, anyway you like. You can also work out your portions accordingly to your preferances too.
As I cook with my kids in mind, my ingredients are usually sliced thinly or small to accomodate the youngest's chewing habits.
For today, this were what I had in my pantry....... ;)

Stuff :

One Campbell's Prego Cheese & Herb spaghetti sauce (1st time for me)
Chicken breast (small slices marinated in abalone sauce & pepper)
Squid (sliced in thin rings because of my kids)
Prawns (de-shelled but saved to make stock for Miso soup later)
One big red tomato (wedged & sectioned in 3s)
Half a little carrot (thinly sliced quarters)
Handful of shitake mushrooms (Sliced thinly)
Onions (thin rings)
Some chopped garlic ( a portion for the seafood, chicken mix & rest for tossing pasta)
Green vegetable (stems separated from leaves-depending on type used)
Pasta


The Act :

1.  Fry some chopped garlic in oil for tossing with the pasta later.
2.  Heat oil in pan and throw in sliced onions.
3.  Add other portion of garlic as the onions begin to brown.
4.  Shitakes next followed by carrots. Cover and simmer awhile.
5.  Chicken pieces to add in, mix & cover again.
6.  Vegetable stems next with squid on top, cover once more.
7.  Prawns last, stir crazy and cover till ready. Set aside.

 8.  Prepare pasta as per norm, drain the hot water over the vegetable leaves to blanch them awhile, drain almost immediately. Lightly toss drained pasta with the fried garlic & some of  its oil to give added flavour & aroma. :)
9.  Heat up the sauce in a small pot with some miso soup as it is quite salty to taste & finish it to your taste.


The Miso soup....I cheated. ;P
I used the ready packed paste and added to the prawn shells stock I made earlier during preparation.
After straining the stock from prawn shells (kept the heads aside), I put the stock back on the fire and added some tomatoes, onions, squid heads & carrots. As it boiled again I added the paste according to my liking and having made sure the paste had mixed well, tossed the prawn heads in as it boiled once more and turned off the fire less than a minute later.

 The Meal :

Plate the pasta, blanched vege and stir fried seafood & chicken mix the way you like. Top them with some hot pasta sauce and we used fried onions as garnish.
Accompanying miso beside.... polished clean. :)

You can also add grated cheese on top or fresh herbs.
Of course, we adults added some sweet  lemony crushed chillie padi concoction to ours for some extra oomph. What to do? Spicy is the palate's demand.

Simple and tasty. Quick as well, took me less than an hour. Hope this will inspire you to head into your kitchen & try out something similar.

Happy weekend everyone!