Softshell Crab & Italian Sausage Pasta

This pasta is more than just softshell crabs and Italian sausage. It has mushrooms, olives, spinach, bacon, all tossed in garlic oil.

 

2 servings of pasta (pictured is whole wheat spaghetti)

4-5 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup of olive oil

2 softshell crabs

1 Italian sausage

4 button mushrooms (sliced)

1 bacon (chopped)

1 cup of fresh spinach

1/8 cup olives (sliced)

 

1)  Cook pasta in a pot of water until cooked thru (or slightly under)

2)  While pasta is cooking, place olive oil and garlic in a large pan, set on medium heat to lightly cook the garlic (do not let garlic brown)

3)  Reduce heat to low, place cleaned softshell crabs in the large pan with garlic and olive oil, cover, and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until crab turns orange (turning once)

4)  While softshell crab is cooking, in a small pan, cook Italian sausage and bacon, slice up the Italian sausage and set sausage and bacon (with it's dripping) aside

5)  Remove softshell crabs and cut them into pieces, place them back into the large pan

6)  Add in pasta, Italian sausage, bacon (and its dripping), spinach, olives, and mushrooms

7)  Turn heat to medium high and toss often

8)  Add in salt & pepper to taste

9)  Plate and serve

 

The "poaching' of softshell crab allows the crab juice to go into the garlic oil. The softshell crab and bacon gave a bit of crunchiness which worked exceptionally well in this dish!

 

Mr. P really likes the dish....minus the softshell crabs (he end up finishing the entire plate anyway), but I LOVE this dish because of the softshell crabs!

 

This dish is pretty versatile, you can add more meat/veggies, or remove any of them if you wish. It's like making fried rice!! LOL!!



 

Spinach Ambrosia Salad

I was craving for this last night. Although this recipe doesn't call for dijon mustard, generally the dressing would include that which I didn't have at the time.

2 slices of bacon
3 cups of spinach
3 mushrooms, sliced
1/4 of an onion, thinly sliced
feta cheese (to your liking)
5 tbs red wine vinegar, more if desire
pinch of sugar, salt, and black pepper

1) Cook bacon on skillet, remove bacon and cut into pieces, set aside. Reserve bacon oil.
2) On low heat add to bacon oil red wine vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper until well blended.
3) Pour warm bacon dressing over a bed of spinach, sliced onions, sliced mushrooms, and chopped bacon topped with feta cheese.
Optional: Can substitute onions with pickled onions for an even more tangy taste.

I made myself a small bowl last night. Yummers! Saving the rest for today's lunch. Putting this on What's for Lunch Wednesday - I haven't done this in a long long time...

Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pizza)

Have you tried this before? I've tried it once at a restaurant in Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center in Wakiki. I saw the package on the shelf at Marukai Store several years ago so I thought I should try make some. But now I don't have membership there so I haven't been getting them. I recently saw them at Don Quixote so I picked up 2 packages, make one and give the other one on my giveaway!

Everything on the outside package is in Japanese, but the good news is that the inside has picture instructions in Japanese, English, and Korean!

Unfortunately it isn't colored so it took me awhile to figure out which package to use for what. This is what I have.

1) Cut up cabbage.
2) In a bowl, add 160cc of water, which is equivelent to 2/3 cups of water, add the pink packet and the clear and orange packet, mix well.
3) Add in the cut cabbage, two eggs, and the yellow packet, mix but don't over mix.4) Drop it in a greased pan like a pancake and cook for 3 minutes.
5) Place 3 pieces of bacon on top, then use a spatula or two, flip the content with the bacon now on the bottom, cook for 5 minutes.
6) Flip over once more and cook for 3 more minutes.
7) Plate with bacon on top, sprinkle the green packet on top.
8) Drizzle okonomiyaki sauce all over (not provided), and you can also sprinkle some salmon skin on top too (also not provided).

The package makes 2 pizzas. Mr. P doesn't like the fact that it tastes nothing like a real pizza, so I was able to pack the 2nd one up for lunch tomorrow! I omitted the bacon for my lunch.

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp and Asparagus Kabobs

I had friends visiting from Las Vegas so we had a get together last night. Feast included Ahi Poke, Caesar Salad, Kim Chee Fried Rice, Kalbi, Bacon Wrapped Shrimp and Asparagus, pumpkin pie, and egg custard. The food was great but the company was even better!