Olio Olio

When it comes to cooking, I am pretty bad at following instructions. I love recipe books but if something is too complicated with a lot of steps involved and has a bunch of ingredients that I don't even know, I'd lose motivation.

So when we were packing our books to come to Bali and Michael asked 'ok, which ones would you really really really use?', I only picked one - the 4 Ingredients Book.

It's a birthday gift from my sister and it's perfect for me. I love how all the recipes only have 4 or less ingredients (not including 'to taste' stuff ie. salt, pepper, water) and the instructions are mostly only 1 paragraph long. This is the only no-picture recipe book that I would want to look at more than once.

Some of my favorites from this book:

1) Caesar's Fish

- 2 fresh white fish fillets

- 1/2 cup caesar salad dressing

- 1 cup crushed cornflakes

- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven 160c. Arrange fish on lined baking dish, drizzle with dressing. Psrinkle cornflakes on top, bake for 10 minutes. Top with cheese & bake another 5 mins.

2) Chicken & Jarlsberg Casserole

- 6 chicken fillet breasts

- 6 slices jarlsberg cheese (I use cheddar or any other available in fridge)

- 420g can cream of chicken soup

- 1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven 180c. Place chicken in casserole dish & cover with cheese. Mix soup & milk, pour over chicken. Bake for 1 hr at 150c.

3) Creamy Meatballs

- 750g minced beef

- 250g lite sour cream

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 tsp garlic powder (I use fresh garlic)

Combine all except half sour cream. Roll into balls. Brown in frying pan & place casserole dish. Dilute reamaining cream with 2 tbs water. Spread over meatballs & bake 160c for 30 mins.

* I never brown them, just put in dish & in oven - how lazy can I be?

I've tried them all more than once and they're always always yummm. Easy right?

They also have recipes for salad dressings, sauces, dips, veggies, snacks, desserts and more. Haven't tried them all yet but the ones that I did, all so good lah!

Another source of my quick easy recipes is of course - the internet. When I look for something that I crave for or something to use up the almost expired stuff in my fridge, I'd start the search with 'easy, quick or simple' in the front.

One recipe that I found way back in Sydney when I was trying to look for other things to cook besides using Kicap Manis, was the Spaghetti Aglio e Olio. Something so very easy to make with the simplest ingredients yet oh-so yummy. I've modified it a bit to make it our own Olio Olio - as Michael called it, using crabstick meat & broccoli. And as promised to my good friend Amz, this is what I made for break-fasting, just for you.

Let me warn you tho that I am quite bad at:

a) giving measurements - everything is 'to taste' (agak-agak, sesedap rasa, sesuka hati)

b) food presentations - I just don't have the talent to present the food nicely ala Masterchef's

c) taking photos - I have no idea which angle to take pictures from to make it more enticing :p

So on most part you'll need to use your imagination and more importantly, your taste buds to make it specially yours.:)

Spaghetti Olio Olio

- garlic

- Olive oil

- broccoli

- mushroom

- crabstick meat

- chicken broth/stock cube (optional)

- salt & pepper & water

Oh, and spaghetti of course. I used only a quarter pack of spaghetti for 3 of us, as we're on a low carb diet and include lots of broccoli & mushroom. So, really up to you. Agak-agak, sesedap rasa, sesuka hati. :p

Method

- Cook spaghetti al dente, set aside

- Heat oil, saute garlic

- Put in crabstick, then broccoli

- Put in chicken stock (I added bit of water as mine's cubed)

- Salt & pepper to taste

- Mix in spaghetti when ready to serve

Yo you! Keep away from the food!

And because it took me a while to put up a recipe for you and Ramadan is almost over, here's another one that I made 2 nights ago.

Chicken Udon

- udon noodles

- nori sheets

- chicken breasts (slice thinly & marinade with chopped garlic, light & dark soy sauce)

For soup,

- chicken broth (I use the bone from the chicken breast & boil)

- onion

- garlic

- ginger

- white pepper (lots of it)

- salt to taste

Method:

- mix all soup ingredients & let boil

- pan fry the marinated chicken (only when ready to serve)

- boil udon separately, drain & put in soup

- put cooked chicken on top and garnish with the nori sheets

So Amz, that's 5 non-rice recipes for you!