Nigella’s Lemon Butter Linguine
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
This is something I whipped up this morning to eat for breakfast! Nigella Lawson’s lemon butter linguine, perfect for cold mornings when you don’t feel like doing any real cooking at all but still wanting something comforting and warm at the same time. This pasta dish is much like a dieter’s carbonara but making it is nothing as complicated.
I’ve actually modified Nigella’s recipe to make it er slightly more healthy by using whipping cream instead of the heavy/double cream she listed and cut down the amount of cheese and butter so just think of it as a lesser sin! Most “diet” recipes call for low-fat plain yoghurt to be used in place of cream but I think it’s an even bigger sin to even THINK about substituting cream with something else, especially in pasta. There is absolutely nothing wrong with eating a little cream, it’s an instant mood-lifter, something yoghurt will never be able to give you so please stop worrying about gaining weight when you eat this because a plate of pasta is not going to make you gain a kilo overnight.
Nigella Lawson’s Lemon Butter Linguine
Ingredients
Enough linguine for 2 people
1 egg yolk
1/8 cup of cream
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/8 stick of unsalted butter
Some pepper
1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves
Take note that all the measurements I listed above are just rough estimates!
1. Fill a pot with water and bring to the boil. Add some salt. Tip in the pasta and cook til al dente.
2. In a bowl, put the yolks, cream, grated Parmesan cheese, zest of the whole lemon and juice of half of it, a pinch of salt and a good grating of pepper and beat together until just combined.
3. Remove a cup of cooking liquid, drain the pasta and then, off the heat, toss it back in the pan, throw in the butter and stir and swirl about to make sure the butter’s melted and pasta covered by it all over.
4. Stir in the egg, cream, cheese and lemon mix and stir to coat pasta.
5. Sprinkle over some just-chopped parsley and serve now, now, now!
Note: Please for the love of god, I beg of you: do NOT use pre-packaged grated parmesan - I know it’s cheap and convenient but it is certainly not the same as buying a wedge of parmesan cheese and grating it yourself. It’s dry, tastes bad as heck that you might as well not cook the pasta at all >.>
If you’re not into simple, light pasta like me, you can add shrimp and field mushrooms sauteed in a little olive oil - guaranteed to hit the spot mmm!
Tags: nosh: italian food, recipes
The Marmalade Pantry
Posted by ilyana | Filed under Food & Nosh
I went out on a casual lunch date over the weekend with my fave lawyer couple, Shaz and Aidil! I’ve not seen Shaz in months, Aidil and I haven’t officially met so the lunch date was a long time coming. It was very impromptu honestly, Shaz had been tweeting about how deliciously light the food at The Marmalade Pantry was the past month, especially the risotto so I was like wait, hold on thar - did she just say RISOTTO?!
Here’s the sad truth: I’ve never eaten risotto in my life. I know it’s hard to believe since I’m pretty hardcore about food but yeah, srsly this girl here has never tasted a grain of the delicately flavoured arborio rice in the 21 years of her life.
So that was it, I had to ask Shaz out for lunch/dinner/supper/WHATEVER I DON’T CARE AS LONG AS I GET MY RISOTTO…Somewhere out there in the universe, the stars aligned in perfect symmetry and cleared Shaz & Aidil’s schedule on Sunday! We were all set for a gastronomical adventure whoo hoo!
God they are such an amazing couple. They have this special ability to make you feel comfortable, like you’ve known them for years because we just kept talking and talking and talking with no awkward pauses! They’ve been to the restaurant a couple of times already so they recommended me a few star dishes.
For starters, we shared this Warm Spinach Salad with breaded cubes of mozzarella and burnt butter dressing. It was served with a perfect poached egg on top and MY GOD IT WAS SOOOO GOOD. I have no clue what went into the burnt butter dressing but I did taste some hints of balsamic vinegar which I adore so that’s extra brownie points for The Marmalade Pantry!
* Muslims, please note that this salad originally has bacon in it, make sure to ask for the salad without the bacon when ordering!
Aidil had the Crabmeat Linguine with pine nuts in a tomato base. I had such a kick out of sampling his dish because I didn’t expect it to be…spicy. I love its spiciness, the crabmeat was flaked nicely and it was just really refreshing!
Shaz ordered the Cappellini Aglio Olio which had roughly a million tiny shrimp in it lol! I don’t know how to describe the taste of the pasta, it’s got a nice crunch and the shrimp added a slightly sharp contrast of flavour to the aglio olio - you guys just have to try it k!
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for - wait NO! it’s the moment I, ILYANA, HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR ALL MY LIFE…the Truffled Field Mushroom Risotto! My very first risotto and I am happy to say I’m not disappointed at all. It’s everything I’ve imagined it to be: creamy but light and absolutely bursting with flavour. Sigh I wish I could turn back time and savour it all over again!
CUPCAKES! So pretty to look at, no? They sell out really really fast and the ones we got were basically the “leftovers”. Shaz & Aidil recommended me the chocolate cupcakes the restaurant had like The Chocolate Deluxe (O.M.G) and The Nutella (how can u go wrong with nutella right?) BUT EVERY CUPCAKE WITH SO MUCH AS A DUSTING OF COCOA POWDER WAS SOLD OUT. WHY GOD WHY?!
We settled for the Limonata which is, if you might have guessed, a lemon glazed cupcake and the Strawberries and Creme (no explanations needed for this one I’m sure lol) They were nice but Shaz told me the chocolate cupcakes were much better in terms of taste and texture so I’m going to skip out on the fruity flavoured cupcakes and beeline for the chocolate ones next time.
Not only was it my first time eating risotto, it was also the first time I ventured into sticky date & toffee pudding land aka real-life heaven. This was actually Aidil’s but us girls being girls, we stole some baha! I LOVE THIS STUFF. I heard from the couple that this was the restaurant’s best seller and it’s no wonder really - the pudding was moist and slight chewy, accompanied with a sweet caramel toffee drizzle + a scoop of some damn good vanilla bean ice cream. Such a perfect symphony of flavours, yummm.
I think I’m in love with The Marmalade Pantry. I like the atmosphere, the food, the whole brand identity (srsly how quaint is the logo?!) I love this huge ass flower that sits prettily on every table (can someone identify this flower for me?), the prices, I won’t lie, are a little steep compared to what most people are used to but I believe you get what you pay for so if you have a special occasion coming up, bring that special someone here!
Lol moment: Aidil playing around with my wallet while we were waiting for the bill, you don’t mess with PRADA k!
A quick shot of me, Shaz and Aidil before we headed home! We watched Julie & Julia in the cinemas after lunch, you should check it out - it’s a nice heartwarming FOODIE movie! Just don’t watch it on an empty stomach, you’d be lusting after french food during the entire movie.
The Marmalade Pantry
Unit 03-22
Orchard Ion
2 Orchard Turn
Singapore 238801
Til next time~
Edit 10/11/2009: Okay guys I’ve just been informed by a commenter that the Risotto and the Cappellini Aglio Olio contains white wine in it! We were totally clueless about it and I’m slightly devastated that I can’t eat my risotto again. Muslim readers, I don’t want to go all preachy because I’m sure we get enough from our parents to last us a lifetime lol but please take note!
Tags: friends, life, nosh: desserts, nosh: italian food, nosh: salads
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