Broccoli and shiitake garlic cream pasta

I was craving something creamy and did what I could with the ingredients I had on hand.

Broccoli and Shiitake Garlic Cream Pasta

1 portion wholemeal pasta (I used fusilli but any kind of pasta works, really)

1 tbs unsalted butter

1/2 onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 handful broccoli florets

4 emperor shiitake mushrooms, sliced

150-200ml whipping cream

coarsely ground sea salt

coarsely ground black pepper

1/4 tsp thyme

1. Cook the pasta in a pot of boiling water. When done, set aside.

2. Heat the butter in a pan, sauté onions and garlic over high heat until the onions turn translucent.

3. Throw in the garlic and shiitake mushrooms, continue to sauté until the broccoli turns bright green and the garlic begins to brown.

4. Add the whipping cream, turn down the fire to medium-low heat. Add more whipping cream if necessary.

5. Season with sea salt and thyme.

6. When the broccoli looks cooked, add the cooked pasta and sauté until all the pasta is covered with the cream sauce.

7. Pour the pasta into a large bowl, add the black pepper and more salt to taste. Serve.

You can make this dish with a combination of different vegetables. I think asparagus and shiitake mushrooms would work nicely. Alternatively, you could replace the whipping cream with half-and-half, and add parmesan cheese for more flavour. If you like to add white wine to your cream sauce, a tablespoon would give it a nice sweetness.

Roasted sweet potatoes

My mom recently bought me some Korean chestnut sweet potatoes (밤고구마) from the supermarket and I was wondering what to do with them. Decided to roast them in the oven, and they turned out lovely. No oil, no sugar, just plain sweet potatoes. I've never tried cooking these sweet potatoes any other way, so I don't know what their texture would be like if they were steamed or boiled. But they were lovely roasted.

All you need are:

Korean chestnut sweet potatoes, washed

Parchment paper

Set the oven to 175 degrees celsius, and after the oven heats up (I waited about 15 min), put the sweet potatoes in on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. After 1 1/2 hours of baking, the sweet potatoes will be ready! If you want the sugar in the sweet potatoes to caramelise you could leave it in longer, but I couldn't wait because my house smelled of sweet potatoes and the glutton in me was just dying to get my hands on them. When you take them out of the oven, the flesh would have shrunk considerably and it will be fairly easy to peel the sweet potatoes with the aid of a small kitchen knife and a fork (if you can't wait for them to cool down and you don't want to burn your fingers).

The sweet potatoes were gooey soft and oh so delectable. No dryness (from boiling or steaming), just forkful after forkful of rich, moist, piping hot golden flesh.

[Update] I tried roasting Japanese sweet potatoes but the flesh wasn't as moist as the Korean ones. The surface of the Japanese sweet potato after roasting was dry, but if you slice it into half the innermost part of the sweet potato is more moist.

10 snacks for the stressed student

1. Frozen grapes
A good friend of mine who's constantly on a diet told me that grapes taste like sorbet when they're frozen. And he is absolutely right. I prefer frozen green table grapes to red, because the red ones don't have such a smooth consistency.

2. Bob's Red Mill Apple Strawberry Granola
I snack on these when I'm craving something chewy and sweet, but not too sweet. You can get it from Cold Storage outlets. I get mine from the Cold Storage at Ngee Ann City.

3. Toasted seaweed
One sheet is perfect for that salty craving.
I store the open packet in the chiller, but sometimes it still goes soft. When it does, heat up a pan and just place the sheet of nori on it. It'll become crisp straight away.

4. Yogurt popsicles
Adapted from one of Heidi Swanson's recipes in her book, Super Natural Cooking. I blended 3 cups of Greek yogurt with 8 ounces of mangoes and 3 teaspoons of vanilla extract, then sweetened the mix with honey diluted with a little hot water. Froze them in little plastic cups with ice cream sticks and they were the perfect cold treat. Swanson used acai berries puree in her recipe, but you can probably replace them with other types of berries, or sweet, soft fruit commonly used in smoothies like peaches and mangoes. If you're really lazy, then just use freeze store bought fruit yogurt. But don't forget the ice cream sticks!

5. Celery sticks with peanut butter
The combination sounds odd, but trust me when I say it's awesome. Organic peanut butter preferred. I favour Waitrose Smooth Organic Peanut Butter.

6. Heidi Swanson's Olive Oil Crackers
I threw sundried tomatoes and Italian herbs into the dough, and topped them with grated Parmesan or White Cheddar cheese. Delish, and so natural too.

7. Carrot, celery and cucumber sticks with ssamjang
Ssamjang is a spicy sauce Koreans eat together with meat. Here's the recipe I got from Maangchi's Korean recipes site.

To make ssamjang, combine these ingredients in a small bowl and mix them well:
1/4 cup soy bean paste
2 tbs hot pepper paste
1 stalk of chopped green onion
1 clove of minced garlic, 2 tsp honey or sugar (natural organic cane sugar if you have it!)
2 ts sesame seeds
1 tbs sesame oil

8. Carrot, celery and cucumber sticks with Thousand Island dressing
Chop a shallot and combine with store bought Thousand Island dressing. It's yummy but only for the desperate. When I'm stressed I get pretty desperate, so. :D

9. Kettle Chips Honey Dijon flavour
Not the healthiest of options either, but at least it's better than brands that are laden with transfat and preservatives.

10. Tempura sweet potatoes fried in olive oil
These are wonderful on their own, but even better when dipped into soy sauce. I like to think of them as a healthier alternative to McDonald's french fries. I could be wrong, but these taste so, so good.

I hope these help since exams are around the corner!