Pasta, Bacon and Broccoli

Here’s a quick and easy recipe for those who would a) foresee themselves be “infected” with the coming Monday Blues, or b) already biting their nails, thinking of tomorrow like him. :p

I have cans of Campbells instant soup unopened in my cabinet and then one day, I realized their expiry date is approaching. Desperate to find a way to clear them up, I asked Precious Pea and even emailed Jaden from Steamy Kitchen if she could help. She sent me the Campbell’s Kitchen website and suggested that I should try to experiment with broccoli. That’s how the idea of turning the soup into pasta sauce came into my mind. However, I still wasn’t very convinced about it (the question “will the sauce tastes weird?” keep popping up in my brain), so I asked DL and WMW over to be my “lab rats“. :D

Cream of Chicken and Broccoli:

• 1 and a 1/2 medium broccoli, cut into florets and chopped coarsely (depending on your preference)
• 300 grams smoked bacon chips, diced into smaller bits (add more if you like bacon)
• 1 can of Campbell’s cream of chicken
• some olive oil, salt, sugar and freshly cracked black peppercorns to taste

1. Heat up some olive oil in saucepan with medium heat and put in the bacon chips. Stir constantly and let them brown nicely in the pan. Dish up and reserve the oil in the pan.
2. Increase the heat and add the chopped broccoli to the oil. Stir till the moisture from the vegetables has been drawn out. Add in the cream of chicken and water according to your prefered consistency. Mix well and let it simmer a while.
3. Season with salt and sugar and toss them with any of your favourite pasta. Garnish with bacon chips and freshly cracked black peppercorns.



The end product turned out to be pretty good; both DL and WMW liked it. I tried making this again few days ago with cream of mushroom and I found that the taste of the cream of mushroom blanketed the broccoli and with darker colour as well, so I recommends you to use only cream of chicken for this. You can also store the excess sauce in Tupperwares in the freezer.

Gia Long, Central World, Bangkok

Everytime I visits Bangkok, I couldn’t stop drooling over the wide array of sumptuous delicacies they have there, be it on the roadside hawkers or humble little coffee shop to the “grand-looking-but-very-cheap-price-tags” restaurants. Last month marked my fourth visit to the Land of Smiles and with a vegetarian lad in the group, there’s little choice when it comes to meal time, but for the most convenient and time-saving option, just walk into a café or restaurant with English menu and you won’t go wrong.

Located on the sixth floor of Central World Plaza, the E&E couple first spotted this place due to the decorations. As you can see, black and white are the main colors that adorn almost every part of the restaurant and they exudes a contemporary Roman-Greek feel to the overall ambiance. Food wise, there are Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese and Western cuisine to choose from.

My Bun Cha’s portion (100 Baht) might looked small but it’s enough to stuff half of my stomach… okay, maybe 1/3 of my stomach. Served with a side dip of lime and chilli dressing, the pork cutlets were a bit chewy (the don’t remove part of the skin, that’s why) but yet, very well marinated.

CK was curious about the Crispy Noodle (120 Baht) and it turned out to be deep fried rice vermicelli. Normal stuff, nothing to shout about. The Goi Cuan (70 Baht) was slightly better, with plenty of greens especially basil. Now you know what the vegetarian lad had for that night.

I didn’t touch the Crispy Shrimp (70 Baht) but they were gone in seconds as soon as they landed on the table, so I assumes that they were good. The Pad Thai (120 Baht) wasn’t salty enough for me and a little bit dry too.

Thai Fish Cake (150 Baht) proves to be a good snack; well seasoned although a little spicy and pretty big chunks too. Other than the items above, we also had Pineapple Fried Rice (120 Baht), Lemongrass tea (90 Baht per pot) and Papaya Juice (60 Baht). All for 1542.06 Baht for 5 person… quite cheap I would say, considering the area and ambiance.

Gia Long Cuisine
6th Floor, Central World,
Tel: 0-2255-9654 / 0-2255-9656

Fried Roti Telur

My first attempt on a recipe from Flavours! When I saw this recipe many months ago, (last year, in fact) I know I must try it out even though the description stated there “is a cholesterol bomb”. It’s very easy to prepare but do take note that since roti is already precooked with oil/ghee, I would suggest that you go easy on the oil when frying it the second time (you wouldn’t want your roti to be soaked in oil!).

I tweaked the recipe a bit since I was running out of ingredients:

• 2 pieces roti telur, shredded
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 medium onion, cut according to your preference
• thick chicken curry gravy and chicken meat (shredded) that comes with the roti
• a little salt to taste

1. Heat oil in wok and sauté garlic and onion till fragrant.
2. Add the roti telur, mix well. Add in the chicken meat and curry gravy little by little and mix well till the roti are evenly coated.
3. Season with salt and serve immediately.

And here’s the Flavours version:

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 2 bird’s eye chillies (cili padi), chopped (optional)
• 2 sprigs curry leaves
• 2 pieces roti canai, shredded
• 2 pieces curry chicken meat, shredded
• 3 tablespoons thick chicken curry gravy
• salt to taste

1. Heat the oil in wok over medium heat. Sauté chopped garlic and onion till fragrant.
2. Add the chillies and curry leaves and fry until aromatic. Add the roti and meat, using the wok stirrer (if you’re using the metal stirrer) to “chop” up the mixture.
3. Add curry and “chop” some more, working the curry into the roti. Fry until dry and aromatic, seasoning to taste.

Alternatively, if you’re using plain roti canai, you can add eggs while you’re frying the onion and garlic before you add in the roti.

Bon appetite, everyone!

*Recipe courtesy of Flavours, page 58, July-August 2008 issue*