Summer Pasta Means Loads of Veggies

My mother might have many faults but one of the things she did right was to teach me I need a balanced diet.  Which means I must have at least one vegetable in a meal.

It's become ingrained in me to have veggies in a meal such that when I don't, I keep having a sneaky suspicion that I am unwell.

In my crisper lurked the remnants of veggies.  A few stalks of asparagus.  Half a capsicum.  A couple stalks of young corn.  Half an onion.  I knew that if I did not use them up by these two days, it was off to the bin for them so despite feeling like death warmed over, I forced myself to make tea.

I guess I was lucky that it was such a rainy day that McDonald's was unable to deliver due to overwhelming orders.  Yes, I was feeling so horrid I was going to order from them.  And yes I know their food is MSG laden but I was desperate and already sick ... and I was just going to order their chips, cinnamon bread dessert and an apple pie.  They are the least MSG-dangerous grounds of desperation.

So God looked out for me and when I was told to call back in an hour, I decided that I should listen to the cosmos and go fix myself a fast and easy tea.

So I got chopping on the veggies, set the capellini a cooking and in about 20 minutes, tea was ready and I was 3/4 dead instead of half dead.

I was too knackered to even eat after all that effort!  The irony.  But I forced myself and just eating it took almost an hour as I literally dragged each forkful into my mouth.  If not for the fact I had to take my medicine since it was so late, I would have skipped dinner and gone back to bed.

Still, the pasta was fabulous and again, I thank the Italians for this wonderful invention.

Roast Honey Glazed Chicken & Vegetables Capellini
1 1/2 cup of shredded honey-glazed roast chicken meat - this was from the whole roast chicken I had purchased from Cold Storage before; one chicken gave me about 5 meals ... I kid you not
1/4 red capsicum, seeded and chopped coarsely
2 young, chopped into small disks
5 stalks young asparagus, cut into 1 cm pieces
2 white mushrooms, sliced
1/2 small onion, sliced thinly
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Water
Oil
Salt
Non-MSG chicken stock granules
Balsamic vinegar
Black pepper
A fistful of capellini - I just happen to like capellini but you can use any type of pasta you like


1. Set a big pot of water to boil with a healthy toss of salt.  I probably had about 1 1/2 litre of water and threw in about 3/4 tbsp of salt.  That's a lot for me since I do not take much salt.  A packet can last me almost a year!


2. At the same time, heat a large pan and once hot, add oil


3. When things are bubbling and heating, add, add the pasta to the water and the garlic and onions to the pan.

4. Stir the pasta to help things along and cover. Saute your onion and garlic till fragrant and transparent, then add the chicken stock granules to taste with the young corn.  Continue to saute briskly for about 1-2 mins.

5. Throw in the rest of the veggies and saute well.  

6. When your asparagus start to look really vibrantly green, which should be quite soon, add your chicken and saute briskly,


7.  Your pasta should be cooked now, or maybe not depending on your pasta, if you are using capellini.  Remove from heat, drain and rinse your pasta with hot water.  I use hot water because I read somewhere that your pasta is less likely to stick together than if you use cold.  Seems to have worked so far.  Anyway, save a little of your pasta water just in case. Set your pasta to the side.


8. Now add balsamic vinegar and pepper.  I probably used about 1 1/2 tsp of vinegar and about 6 dashes of pepper.

9. Add your pasta now and toss well.  If your pasta gets too dry, add some of the pasta  water.  Taste now before plating and adjust seasoning if needed.

And there you have it.  Pasta in about 20 mins.  And I mean from the moment you take out your veggies to chop them.  Of course I had the foresight to have shredded and stored my chicken beforehand so that saved me a lot of time.  Always, always prep your chicken leftovers so you can have easy and fast solutions for dinner.

Tea ended late.  Well, late for me since I usually have tea by 5 or 6pm so I can take my medicine and go to bed early.  I had a large cup of milo for supper and was too tired and full to even attempt to have a cheesecupcake.

Waking up half  to midnight for a loo run again, I checked the websites and was impressed by NTUC Fairprice's update to their weekly promotions.  They are getting more and more organised and timely!  If only their stocks and store management was as impressive.  I jotted down my list and will wait till tomorrow noon to see if Cold Storage will be as timely too.

After last week's dismal disappointment, I am going to be more stringent with my list and evaluation.

On that note, I was also impressed with Sheng Siong.  They updated their 4-day promotions for 10 May and I just wonder that a seemingly small player compared to the the other two is so spunky and efficient.  They have what seems to be rather good promotions too but as usual it is really nothing I desire and I am not compelled to make a special trip since they are so inconveniently located for me.

Anyway, it's off to the loo and bed again for me. It's day 9 and the loo and I are now inseparable.