I love being at home mostly because I get to cook. And cooking ,as always, is a therapeutic routine. In most occasions,  I would cook pasta because it's quick , healthy and tasty.My family loves pasta and Fettucine Alfredo is one of our favourites. And so on a fine and sunny Sunday, I prepared the recipe together with home-made croutons and dried chili condiment. It is a simple, easy and quick recipe. It's something you can do as you roll out of bed- kid you not!

The recipe is as below:

A

500g chicken carcass

5 stalks of celery (remove and put leaves aside)

4 tbs of olive oil

3 tsp of salt

1 medium sized pot of water

B

3 NOS chicken breasts

750ml of heavy cream

1 NOS big onion - chopped

2 stalks of celery - sliced thinly

1 can of button mushroom - chopped

4 cloves of garlic - coarsely chopped

1/2 tsp italian herbs

1/2 tsp oregano

1 NOS bay leaf

S&P to taste

1. Start by making a chicken stock. Over medium heat, boil water with all ingredients in A. Once boiled, turn the heat off and put it aside.

2. To make the sauce, firstly,over low heat sauté the onions, celery and garlic with the bay leaf.

3. Until the onions turn slightly golden, add the mushroom in.

4. While sautéing, take the carcasses out of the stock's pot and add in the chicken breasts. Over medium heat boil it until cooked.

5. Add a few ladles of stock into the sauce mixture and leave it to simmer for about a minute then add in the heavy cream little by little. Stir continuously.

6. Once cooked, remove the chicken breasts from the stock and shred the flesh in strands. Add them all into the cream sauce.

7. Stir the sauce continuously while adding oregano and italian herbs. You may need to add more stock to get a nice consistency for the sauce ; not too thick that when you raise your spatula, it would take 4 seconds for sauce to drip. Add in parmesan cheese to replace salt ,if you like, then season well with pepper.

You may refer to my recipe 'Perfect Salad' for croutons and as for the chilli below, simply chop dried chilis and toast them on a pan for a minute or so. And then put them in a small bowl, with about 3 tbs of olive oil.

Serve fettuccine with this sauce as well as the croutons and chilli, and you will love your creamy indulgence!

Yours truly,

A.T.

I constantly remind myself to restrain the urge to binge on sweets or any other unhealthy snacks. I think the perfect alternative is either a really delicious salad or a fruit parfait. When i don’t stack up some yogurt, I would make myself a perfect salad. And so I have named the dish as ‘The Perfect Salad’ . The flavours, textures all unite in a harmonious, nutritious mix displaying vibrant colours.

The recipe is as below;

A

50g of bread trimmings or 2 slices of bread

3 tbs of unsalted butter

2 cloves of garlic, mashed

½ tsp dried parsley

S&P to taste

B

1 avocado , cut into chunks

½ Sunkist orange cut into chunks –squeeze a wee of the juice out

20g of chopped walnut

1 tbs sliced black olives

1. To make home-made croutons, slice the bread and or bread trimmings (I usually save trimmings from bread to make croutons and plus,they are crispy) into cubes.
2. Melt the butter with the mashed garlic and dried parsley. Stir well.
3. Mix all of them together and then season to taste.
4. Combine all the ingredients in B with the croutons made earlier. No seasoning is required.

In this recipe, I guarantee you that no seasoning is required for the salad; the croutons are already imparting its seasoning, the black olives are salty and the flavours oozed by the orange and the avocado all incorporate perfectly together. The bountiful fat coming from the avocado is cut by the citrus-y orange creating a balance in the salad. The walnut contributes minerals to the dish, the croutons are high in fiber and the olives provide just the right amount  of savoury into the dish. It’s the perfect dish for those who are hungry but are concerned about their waistline. But for me, I would have this any time of the day ‘cause its that good!

Yours truly,

A.T