Spaghetti Chicken (Simple Style)

I have a friend who had continued his tertiary education in Rome, Italy a few years ago. And I remembered every time when he comes back for his annual holidays and even in his emails, he would complained loudly about the food over in Rome - that's it's all pasta and pizza. As I'm a pasta lover, I told him, why don't we switch place - I don't mind having Italian's authentic pasta almost every day ... I sure won't complain ! ^_^

I never get bored with cooking and/or eating pasta. But I prefer to cook spaghetti over others as the members in my family are more receptive to it - maybe it resembles my very own Asian yellow noodles :)

Anyway, this home-made Spaghetti Chicken is quite straightforward. I use tomato sauce and tomato puree together instead of making a tomato concasse as my family members aren't really receptive to pure tangy tomato flavour - or else, no one will eat it. :)

Ingredients :

Sauce 

- 3 pieces of medium-size drumstick (without skin, de-bone and cut into smaller pieces)

- Tomato Sauce (about half a 500gm bottle)

- Tomato Puree (one and a half standard can)
- 1 carrot (big size)

- 1 or 2 fresh tomatoes 

- 2 medium size onions

- a few cloves of garlic (chopped)

- a few teaspoons of sugar - according to taste (optional)

- cooking oil

Pasta

- 500g of spaghetti (serves about 4 persons)

- 2 teaspoons of sea-salt

- some butter

- Parmesan cheese (grated or shredded)

- a bit of cooking/olive oil (optional)

How-to:

1) Parboil tomatoes (with skin), then dice it (after taking out the skin & seeds)

2) Parboil carrots & onions (both with skin peeled off), also dice it. 

3) Heat up pan with cooking oil, put in the chopped garlic, stir it until near brown.

4) Put in immediately the chicken drumstick pieces, stir-fry it until near cooked.

5) Add in the parboiled carrots, onions and tomato, continue stir-frying under medium heat. 

6) When the chicken meat is cooked, time to add in the tomato puree and tomato sauce.

7) Stir evenly until all ingredients are covered in the sauce, add in sugar.

8) Add some water if you need to create more gravy for your pasta, bring it to boil. 

9) On another stove, bring to boil a pot of water that is big enough to submerge the pasta. 

10) Add in the salt, then slowly dip in the uncooked spaghetti.

11) Add in a little cooking oil if you like, stirring the pasta occasionally thru out the cooking.

12) Let it boil until 10 to 20 mins, depending on whether you like it al-dente (firm) or soft.

13) Drain the pasta, and toss it in a bowl, mix/toss some butter into the cooked pasta.

14) Serve a portion of the spaghetti on a plate, add in the sauce & sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on it.

Options:

- If you can take the acidic/tangy tomato taste in the sauce, you can leave out the sugar or/and you can even add more of the tomato sauce.

- If you like 'firm bites' of onions, you can leave out the parboiling process.

- After adding water into the sauce, if you like, you may add a bit of corn flour to thicken the consistency of the sauce.

- You may not need to add in oil while cooking pasta, but for me I still think it does help in preventing the pasta from sticking together in a clump, plus I like that it glistens the texture of the pasta.

- Instead of Parmesan, you can use Mozarella ... but it wouldn't have the same pungent taste and aroma - which I favour. ^^ 

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Solo Garlic (Single Clove Garlic)

I went out to get some garlic and I did. I came home with these beauties - Solo Garlic. I knowwWWwW, right? When did garlic ever look so enticing!

It's nothing like the ones we usually buy ... *sniff, sniff* mild, no strong garlicky smell. I would describe the texture as something in between an onion and the regular garlic.

I did some digging around the internet and discovered that Solo Garlic originates from Yunnan, China. Garlic is generally associated with being great for reducing high blood pressure and cholesterol. I assume the same can be said for Solo Garlic. There is a lack of specifics in write-ups on this particular variety of garlic, leaving my curiosity unanswered.

Cook-wise, I have yet to bake this whole although it has been suggested as the ideal way to appreciate this garlic. Instead, I have been including it into stir-fry dishes, usually in finely chopped bits. It tastes just as good so I don't think it compromised the yummy-ness of our food much. 

My personal opinion? It could be a hit with many people because of its milder smell ... plus, it doesn't cost a bomb.

Solo Garlic - About 1½ by 1½ inches in size

Solo Garlic -Inside

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