Tasty, Fattening Pasta

[IanForbes]

I love pasta with cream sauce. Unfortunately, it's fattening... so beware of over indulging. I start with a simple cream sauce using margarine, white flour, milk and seasoning salt. The amount of ingredients depends on the amount you want to make. I'm flexible, but lean on the excessive side. The cream sauce can be used as a chip dip, for thickening soup, or for adding to many dishes. I usually use an extra sharp chedder cheese in my sauce.

Start by melting a large scoop of margarine and add white flour. I use wheat germ flour which gives it a slightly darker colour. Smoothly mix the flour into the melting margarine before adding the milk. Too much milk at one time will make a lumpy sauce that's hard to smooth. Once there is a nice white sauce cooking slowly I add my favorite spices. It all depends on personal tastes what spices are used.

Keep adding milk, while constantly smoothing the mixture, until it suits your needs. The flour continues to thicken the sauce when heated. At this point I add the white chedder cheese I've previously grated.

I like rotini pasta and boil it for about 7 minutes until soft. Any other pasta is suitable.

For this meal I peel a bunch of fresh prawns and boil them for 2 minutes prior to grating them in a blender.

Fresh peeled prawns

Cooked prawns prior to shredding

Pour the cheese sauce over the cooked rotini pasta and thoroughly mix it. Then add the shredded prawns and mix it in as well. If you wanted a nice seafood chip dip you could leave out the pasta and just go with the shredded prawns and white sauce.

Some folks say I'm extravagant with my use of seafood, but I collect it myself in prawn traps, crab traps or by catching salmon and smoking it myself. I'm pretty lucky living where I do.

[PoorSucker]

catching salmon?

I guess you don't live in Thailand.

[Goinghomesoon]

I make a similar sauce over fettucine (I don't put cheese in mine, so it's not as thick). I put thinly sliced smoked salmon in at the verrrry last minute. Yum!

Instead of cream you can make creamy pasta sauces with non-sweetened evaporated milk, I get it at our local Tops for less than 20 baht a can.

[Ave]

That's a yummy recipe, thank you for sharing it. I must admit, I wouldn't want to eat such a rich dish, the weather is far too hot for me to digest it in a hot climate. Also, I believe that in Thailand, for example, there are very few restaurants that can cook some decent pasta worth its value, even in places like Pattaya.. Coming from where pasta comes from (although some people, including myself, argue that spaghetti were brought initialy as noodles from Marco Polo's trip to China, which makes sense) I have come to the conclusion that pasta per se' is not fattening at all if cooked properly al dente and with a light sauce. My favourite version in Thailand is with raw veggies all chopped up very finely: ripe tomatoes, small red onions, local basil, chopped garlic, red chillies, olive oil, salt and, if you have the international eater's budget, some freshly grated parmesan cheese and a few thin slices of black olives. Luvvely

[cdnvic]

catching salmon?

I guess you don't live in Thailand.

Some of us are lucky enough to live on islands surrounded by them.

[IanForbes]

That's a yummy recipe, thank you for sharing it. I must admit, I wouldn't want to eat such a rich dish, the weather is far too hot for me to digest it in a hot climate. Also, I believe that in Thailand, for example, there are very few restaurants that can cook some decent pasta worth its value, even in places like Pattaya.. Coming from where pasta comes from (although some people, including myself, argue that spaghetti were brought initialy as noodles from Marco Polo's trip to China, which makes sense) I have come to the conclusion that pasta per se' is not fattening at all if cooked properly al dente and with a light sauce. My favourite version in Thailand is with raw veggies all chopped up very finely: ripe tomatoes, small red onions, local basil, chopped garlic, red chillies, olive oil, salt and, if you have the international eater's budget, some freshly grated parmesan cheese and a few thin slices of black olives. Luvvely

I was just posting one of many recipes that starts with the creamy white sauce. You can thin it out with more milk and add a variety of flavours. I also add chopped vegetables including garlic and hot peppers to some sauces. It all depends on what I want to achieve. I've never had a failure yet. Because I'm single it means I only need to make one large bowl and reheat it in the microwave for later meals. Shrimp and prawns are readily available in Thailand, but most of the other Thai seafood is too bland. I just happen to be fortunate living where I do and being able to harvest my own seafood.

[JimmyTheMook]

Nicely done and the food looks very good !!!!

[davyboy]

Yes thanks Ian a good recipe, and it looks so delicious.

Got to try it!!!

[SlackJawChef]

I do miss living on Vancouver Island for the "line to plate living" we take for granted there.... Worked in some nice fishing lodges on the West Coast, and the Queen Charlotte's .....

Now I lay my hat on a different Island ... Just with less rain '

If your looking for a twist on that Ian, Mix the sauce (without cheese) into the seafood, and roll it up in sheet pasta like a cigar. put them in a baking dish and top with a your favored tomato based sauce, fresh herbs and the cheese then bake....... Freezes well too..

Tight line's

S.L.C