Simple Pasta with Small Organic Plum Tomatoes

Our neighbor gave my parents some small organic plum tomatoes the other day -

Even though these tomatoes are not as large as the regular plum tomato,
These tiny jewels still look so full and yes, they are indeed very juicy!

Tomato is considered as a "cold" ingredient when you eat it raw,
What do I mean by "cold?"
Well, try it yourself,
If you eat a lot of uncooked tomatoes, your body temperature will actually drop a few degrees, thus make you feel - cold.

That's why my mom gave me half of the tiny plum tomatoes,
But I don't wanna get that chilly feeling after munching on it too, so that's how this dish was born, simple pasta with small organic plum tomatoes -

*Tomatoes can actually make you feel "warmer," by raising your body temperature if they are cooked, preferably with olive oil!

Ingredients (4 to 5 portion)?

1 package/500g of any type of short pasta
1 small bundle of thin asparagus
1 small lemon
2 cups of small plum tomatoes
1 1/2 cups of chicken breast
1 cup of corn
1/2 medium sized onion
1 tablespoon of drained capers
1 tablespoon of ketchup
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
Some olive oil
Some sea salt
Some freshly ground black pepper
Some parsley

How?

Let's prep the ingredients first,
Peal the onion and cut into small bite sizes,
For the asparagus, discard the bottom stem part and cut the remaining into smaller pieces,
Cut the plum tomatoes in half,
Cut the chicken breast into small bite sizes,
Finely chop the parsley and set aside.

Bring a big pot of water into a boil,
Toss in few pinches of salt, pour in the pasta and cook according to the package instruction, al dente preferably.

Meanwhile, have a big pan ready,
Drizzle some olive oil, toss in diced onion, sprinkle some salt, pepper, and red chili flakes,
Cook till the onion turns slightly burned on the edges, add the chicken.

Toss in all the tomatoes when the chicken is about 70% cooked through,
Season with more salt and pepper, cook for couple minutes.

Now we can add the asparagus and corn, give the whole mixture a quick stir,
Add 1 tablespoon of ketchup and a little bit more salt,
Mix it up, let it cook till the veggies soften,
Don't cook for too long if you prefer a more crunchy texture for the asparagus.

Few more final steps,
Add in the capers and juice of 1 lemon.

The pasta should be ready by now, drain well and pour into the sauce mixture,
Mix well and cook for another minute or two,
Serve with chopped parsley.

This is my hearty brunch!
The tomatoes are fully cooked through and blended into my sauce mixture,
Chilly tomatoes no more!

Cindy's Rating: 7

One Way to Utilize Your Leftover Egg Whites - Scrambled Eggs

Do you always end up with lots of egg whites especially after baking bread or cakes?
So what do you do with it?
Don't tell me you just throw it away or pour it down to the sink,
Let me show you what I did with "excess" egg whites from making my unsuccessful bread the other day...
(That was one big failure, the bread turned out nice and pretty...but taste-wise...totally the opposite...)

Scrambled eggs with Asian pickled radish -

Ingredients?

Some leftover eggs/egg whites (at least the amount of a small bowl)
1 stalk of scallion
2 to 3 tablespoon of pickled radish
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
Some olive oil
Some sea salt
Some Sriracha sauce (if you like it spicy!)
Some freshly ground black pepper

How?

Beat the eggs and/or egg whites first,
Chop the scallion and pickled radish into smaller pieces -

Drizzle some oil to the pan and turn to medium high heat,
Toss in chopped scallion, sprinkle some salt and pepper,
Let it cook till the edges turned slightly brown,
Don't be afraid if you gonna over-cook it,
The key here is to drive out all these simple ingredients' aroma,
Rather burned than sorry (at least that's what I think!).

Toss in pickled radish and cook for about another minute,
Add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and give it a quick stir,
You might need to adjust the amount of soy sauce depending on how saltiness the radish is.

Pour in the egg mixture and cook it just like all other regular scrambled eggs,
I prefer the eggs a wee bit burned on the edges too, but it's totally up to you.

Serve with Sriracha sauce if you like it SPICY!

Well, even though my bread was miserable,
At least the leftover egg whites turned into something delicious!

Cindy's Rating: 8