A Scientist in the Kitchen

Cooking pasta almost every week, I already know that we can only consume around 250 grams (uncooked) per dish - more than enough for eating and having leftover for another round. I usually mix this with a can of tomato sauce and with whatever ingedients I have in hand. We had this 1 kg macaroni which we made into sopas (here and here) as well baked tuna macaroni.I usually add herbs that I have in hand and mix them all up. One thing to consider with making baked pasta is to make more than enough sauce so as not to dry the pasta during baking.

Spicy baked tuna macaroni

250 grams macaroni
1 can chopped tomato
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 can drain tuna chunks (reserve liquid)
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp each of dried herbs (basil, oregano, marjoram, crushed chili)
grated cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Cook macaroni according to package directions. Saute onion in olive oil. Add salt then add the garlic. Saute some more taking care that the garlic does not burn. Add the tuna and herbs and mix well. Add the reserved liquid from the tuna and the tomato sauce. Simmer for five minutes till sauce thickens. Add crushed pepper, salt and chili to taste. I usually make a stronger combination of salt, pepper and chili at this stage as addition of pasta will dilute the flavor. Add the pasta making sure the sauce is evenly distributed. Put half of the pasta in a baking dish. Top with grated cheese. Add the rest of the pasta and top again with grated cheese. Bake at 350 F until cheese melts.

Where to get cool ideas for pasta and noodles? Check out Presto Pasta Nights!

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Seaweeds are macroscopic, multicellar algae. They are not really plants but algae a group plant-like organisms, usually underwater, photosynthetic but they have different structures for taking in nutrients from the environment. For one thing, they don’t have roots. Nutrients are taken in by diffusion from the water to the algal body. Unlike plants, which have roots, there is nutrient uptake from the roots to the upper parts of the plants. There are three major groups of these photosynthetic algae-brown, red and green algae.They are not to be confused with seagrasses, though. Seagrasses are vascular like plants. They are attached to the sand as well and grow where there is maximum sunlight. Algae on the other can grow deeper in the sea as they have a different type of photosynthetic pigments to catch the sun’s rays.

Seaweeds are very useful as food and medicine. Most familiar would be the nori seaweeds you can find in sushi and other Japanese food. Or the konbu for making dashi, also in Japanese cooking. They are also sources of carageenan used in ice cream-making as stabilizers. These days, seaweeds are farmed for extracting carageenan. If you like agar for making flans, well, these come from seaweeds, too.

I’ve lived near the sea so I’ve made a lot of seaweed salads. Perhaps you might take a vacation near the sea and come across them. Let me share with you how to enjoy this wonderful bounty from the sea.

Ingredients

250 grams fresh seaweeds (in the picture is a red algae)
1/2 cup cane vinegar
1 medium sized tomato, sliced
1 medium sized onion, slice
salt and pepper to taste

Cut seaweeds along the stems into bite size pieces. Blanch seaweeds in boiling water, around two minutes. Be careful not to overcook them as they might turn into agar and you’d have a flan instead! Wash in cold water then drain. Mix seaweeds, tomato and onion. Add the vinegar and mix well. Season with salt and pepper. It’s this simple!

Seaweeds may not be really plants but they have a lot in common with plants. So this post goes to Weekend Herb Blogging hosted this week by Simona at Briciole .

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Setting up a spa? Check out massage therapy schools.

Nope, I didn’t get to cook this BIG lobster. We were in Puerto Pricessa with friends and we were really hankering to go to the market and buy lots of seafoods. We got this really big lobster that weighs more than a kilo. We asked the hotel kitchen staff to grill it for us. We instructed the cook to slice it in half then rub salt on the meat before grilling.

Here’s how it came out.

For really simple grills to bring out the flavor of the meat, I usually just rub the meat with salt before grilling. Dipping sauce usually consists of just vinegar, soy sauce and lots of fresh chili.

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What are your vacation plans? With the internet, it seems easy now to look for tropical beaches, vegas hotels or easy on the budget travel deals, right?

When I transferred to a new apartment last year, I knew I had to have it blessed with our family friend, Fr Val. The trouble was finding a schedule as he is no longer based in Los Baños. Just one Saturday, he called up to say he is available the next if it is alright with me. I said yes, as long as he expect lechon for lunch! Good thing that day, I had my supply of tiger prawns that I bought from my soccer team mate. I like it with catsup or tomato sauce, with the shrimp flavor overtaking the tomato flavor. Just clean the shrimps but do not shell, sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper then fry in very little oil. When the shrimps start to turn pink (or orange), add bell pepper (red or green or both for a more colorful dish) and ~1/2 cup water (I just estimate actually, depending on how much saw I’d like). Simmer for a minute or two to allow shrimp flavor to soak in water and then add tomato catsup or tomato sauce. Again, I just estimate the amount I want. I like the sauce to be thick. Simmer for a few minutes till you get a thick consistency, add more pepper and a dash of salt, mix some then and then add chili powder, according to taste. Tabasco chili sauce works well, too. Transfer to serving plate then sprinkle with sesame seeds.

That’s the main dish during my apartment blessing. The highlight of course, were the prayers and the gathering of my friends.

Shrimp recipes I’d like to try:

Shrimp fried rice
Shrimp tempura
Spicy shrimp on coconut rice

Try to add cumin, too, for an intensely Indian cuisine experience. Cumin works well as natural acne treatment, too.