Creamy Garlic Tuna Pasta

"I'm in a restaurant eating a creamy pasta that I can't see but I can taste garlic and tuna."

All of a sudden, nagising na ako. To my dismay, nananaginip lang pala ako. And suddenly, I am craving for a tuna pasta. The next thing I knew, I was already in the kitchen: boiling water in a big pot and preparing the pan for the pasta sauce.

Here are the ingredients that I found in my cupboard:

• approximately 300 grams of fusilli pasta

• can of tuna

• butter

• olive oil

• minced garlic

• shredded cheddar cheese

• ground black pepper

In the pot, I cooked the pasta until al dente. For the sauce, I melted the butter in a few tablespoons of olive oil, just to make sure na hindi masusunog ang olive oil. Once I noticed na melted na ang butter, I added the minced garlic. If you're into garlic, add to your heart content.

While waiting for an almost light brown garlic, I drained the oil of the tuna. Noong na-achieve na ang gusto kong kulay ng garlic, I added the tuna and continued stirring the sauce until the tuna turned brown. Hininaan ko ang apoy, just enough for my sauce to be heated until pwede nang ilagay ang pasta sa sauce.

I scooped a cup of pasta water before draining the rest and immediately added the pasta to the sauce and turned off the heat right away. I added pasta water to the mixture that I thought was enough to taste saltiness in the pasta. For an added flavor, I put some ground black pepper and a lot of shredded cheddar cheese.

Right away, I plated my pasta and enjoyed it with yellow mango smoothie while watching the new episodes of The Peacemaker on HBOgo.

Sautéed Glass Noodles

"I came up with this recipe because I wanted something that's hot, with soup, and sardines that were not directly coming from a can going straight to my plate."

My body naturally craves for something hot and spicy whenever it's raining. As I'm not so used to ordering food in the middle of the night, I had to look for any ingredients that I could cook into something that's hot and spicy. The following are what I found during my cupboard-and-fridge shopping.

• 2 bundles of glass noodles (sotanghon)

• 1 can of small sardines in tomato sauce with chili

• some chopped Chinese cabbage, separate the stalks from the leaves (any greens will do)

I also used the following cooking staples:

• 2 cups of water

• 1 teaspoonful of olive oil

• 1 small chopped red onion

• 2 cloves of chopped garlic

• ground black pepper, chili powder, and salt to taste

In a pot, I sautéed the onion and garlic in olive oil. I added the chopped stalks of the Chinese cabbage when the onion was already translucent.

Once I smelled the distinct scent of Chinese cabbage, I waited for another two minutes before adding the sardines. I let the sardines to cook for at most two minutes before adding the two cups of water. To make sure that I got every drop of the tomato sauce from the can, I wash its insides with water and poured it back to the pot.

Once I saw bubbles popping on the surface of the mixture, I added the leaves of the Chinese cabbage. After a minute, I added the glass noodles. Glass noodles cook very fast, at most two minutes, and absorb a lot of water. If you want more liquid, you can add another two cups of water.

After a minute of having the noodles in the mixture, I added the ground black pepper, chili powder, and salt.

I turned off the heat after two minutes and served it immediately. You may also pair it with garlic bread or some white bread slices and dip them to the hot noodle soup.

#BetterTasteTip: Since glass noodles absorb a lot of water, you may want to add another cup of hot water if ever you will want to have another serving. Also, don't forget to add more ground black pepper, chili powder, and salt according to your taste.