“Hassle-free quick lunch idea”
This is another quick-fix. No-frills. It’s not that I don’t make my own cream sauce (homemade creamy white sauce recipe), but I thought some of you were too busy making everything from scratch, yet wanting to have delicious quick fixed home meal.
Yes. Almost instantly, but don’t compromise on the taste with just an instant product. Get an instant solution instead. It was remarkably fast to prepare.
Yes. Lunch will be served in 30 minutes!
Serves 3-4
Handful of Spaghetti pasta (*amount about the size of the circle made up by your thumb and Index finger)
1 bottle of Cabonara sauce, off the shelves (about 380g)
300 – 350ml of milk, full cream
50g of grated mixed cheese (Cheddar, Mozzarella, Parmesan)
1 large onion, chopped
10 pcs of ham, diced
5 fresh Shiitake mushroom, trimmed stem and thinly sliced
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Garnish
Coarsely grounded black pepper
Method
(1) Bring a pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of salt and few drops of olive oil. Place pasta noodle in the boiling water and cook for 8 minutes. When done, drain and place in the dry pot. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of olive oil and mix well. Set aside.
(2) Concurrently, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small pot on medium fire. Sauté spring onion, ham and shiitake mushrooms till most of them are browned. Do not keep stirring it or they won’t turn brown. Just leave it and stir to turn over sides occasionally.
(3) Add bottled Carbonara sauce, followed by milk. Stir to combine. Add grated cheese now. Stir a little and leave it to melt. May add more milk, if you find the consistency is thick. Divide pasta noodles on plates and pour sauce over it to serve.
1 portion of my Spaghetti Carbonara counts about 360kcal.
I brown all 3 items together at one go. Of course the browning would not be even. To perfect the browning and you have the time, brown the ingredients one item at a time. Onion first, dish up. Then, ham, followed by mushrooms.
Tips: You may add milk in stages till reached your desire consistency. Not too thick, and not too watery. It should be smooth to stir.
* Any brand of the Carbonara sauce will do. Most importantly is how to incorporate my add-ons to taste great. :)
* Instead of fresh Shiitake mushroom, may use canned button mushroom, if you don’t like the strong flavor of mushroom. But I wouldn’t recommend fresh button mushroom in this recipe as taste would be too bland for it.
* Mixed cheese in a packet is available in Cold Storage supermarket. Otherwise, mix your own.
* If you are not serving your dish immediately, leave the sauce to simmer on super low heat or electric warmer until served.