Gong Bao Seafood Pasta

Ever had pasta with Gong Bao Sauce? I always enjoyed the Prawn Gong Boa Spaghetti at California Pizza and decided to attempt making it for the first time at home ….the is my home-prepared Gong Bao Sauce 😉 “click on Gung Bao Sauce highlighted above to take you to its recipe”

First and foremost, you need some seafood if you gonna make Gong Bao SEAFOOD Pasta … okay, you can substitute the Seafood with Chicken if you so prefer …. seen here, I’m using squid + Jumbo prawns 😉

Simple ingredients … besides your choice of pasta, that is … I ❤ spaghetti which is my pasta of choice of all times … left to right clockwise … 1 small bunch of spring onions sliced into 1″ lengths; 1 onions, wedged; 50g toasted cash nuts; and about 2″ length of ginger, thinly sliced

Heat a wok with 1 Tbs oil … I use canola oil … and toss in onions & ginger slices and sauté until fragrant

Add in the prawns … sauté until prawns are almost half-cooked ….

… then toss in the squid and sauté until seafood is almost done …

… then add 5 Tbs of your home-prepared Gong Bao Sauce … stir to mix evenly ….

…toss in the toasted cashews and then drizzle in about 1 Tbs of cornflour mixture (made up of 1 Tbsp of cornflour with 2 Tbsp of water)…the cornflour enables the Gung Bao sauce to bind better with all the ingredients …

….add in the pasta of your choice .. in my case, it’s spaghetti … and stir to mix up evenly … then toss in the spring onions and sauté for another minute …

… dish out and make sure each is plated with equal portion of seafood varieties and also the cashews ….bon appetite :-p … psst : we didn’t add any parmesan but if you so wish to do so, you may 😉

Grilled Seafood Skewers

Was gonna make Seafood Paella for dinner tonight but ended up with Grilled Seafood Skewers and since this was impromptu, I wanna quickly blog my recipe lest I forgot the marinade I concocted which tasted relish!

Whisked together all ingredients for marinade … i.e. 2 Tbsp tomato sauce, 1 Tbsp Sriracha Chili Sauce, juice of 2 lime, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, a dash of freshly ground black pepper, 3 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil, 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley and 1 Tbsp minced garlic … marinate seafood with marinade for 30 minutes …. thought to self : try adding 1 Tbsp fresh ginger juice or 1 tsp ginger powder next time 😉

Thread prawns, scallops & squid onto pre-soaked bamboo skewers

Preheat barbeque grill on high heat until hot … reduce heat to medium-high .. grill skewers, basting with marinade, for 1 to 2 minutes each side, or until cooked through

Bon Appetito!!

Chicken, Shrimps & Squid Paella

Haven’t been posting for quite a while as I’ve been away from homebase … got home 2 days ago and last night, although knackered from jet-lag, I still managed to dish out this simple yet absolutely awesomely tasty meal 😉

There are so many recipes variations for Paella Valencia or similarly Valencian Arroz al Horno (Oven Baked Rice) that I kinda adapt it to our preference in terms of ingredients, i.e. I used main ingredients that we love …I have both the earthern/ceramic Paella pan and the regular saucepan type and here, I’m using the latter

Look almost way too beautiful to dig in 😉

Don’t you just love the awesome colour of the rice!! The wonders of saffron ….I added a dash of turmeric powder, too to further enhance the colour …. and the nice red paprika added to the richness of this awesome colour too 🙂 I omitted the red bell pepper because I personally don’t like bell peppers!

The meal served up … it was heavenly even if I may say so and yes, Hubby Dearest enjoyed it lots, too …the dash of extra hot chilly I added along with the other spices certainly rounded off the perfectness of this simple meal for us 🙂

RECIPE

Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds), skinned

            1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

            1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

            2 teaspoons vegetable oil

           2 Chorizo

            1 cup chopped onion

            1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper, optional

            1 1/2 cups uncooked Valencia rice

            1/2 cup diced plum tomato

            1 teaspoon sweet paprika

            1/4 teaspoon saffron threads, crushed

            1 garlic clove, minced

            3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

            3/4 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

            1 cup (1-inch) diagonally cut asparagus

                        1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed

Methods:

• Preheat oven to 400°
• Sprinkle chicken with rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper … I used 4 whole chicken legs, chopped into 2 pieces each leg = drumstick & thigh and I added squid.
• Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet or a Paella pan over medium-high heat and brown chicken pieces 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned … remove chicken from pan, cover and keep warm
• Remove casings from chorizo … slice or chop it up and  add sausage to pan … cook 1 minute, stirring
• Add onion and bell pepper (if using) and cook 7 minutes, stirring constantly
• Add rice, tomato, paprika, saffron, and garlic and cook a further minute, stirring constantly
• Return chicken to pan then add broth and 1/4 teaspoon salt; bring to a boil
• Cover pan and bake in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes
• Add in shrimps, asparagus and peas then cover and bake an additional 5 minutes or until shrimp are done