The Pink Muse: Pasta

Thursday, April 10, 2014

The Urban Farm: Fresh, Unique and Delicious!

I'm all in for health food. I'm all the more in if it's healthy and delicious. The Urban Farm's concept is relatively new since they emphasize that they only use organic vegetables and grass fed animals. When I visited the place with my friend, we were talking about how the restaurant was formed because the owners had an organic farm. The menu consisted mainly of meat and vegetable entrees, fresh shakes, pastas, pastries and snacks. I was really satisfied with my visit there since I could pretty much say that it's one of the best lunches I had in a long time.

In our visit, these are the items that we ordered: 2 fresh fruit shakes (strawberry and grapes), roast chicken (good for two), salmon flakes pasta and a piece of lemon bar.

Roast chicken with black rice

Strawberry shake

Salmon flakes pasta

I was very very satisfied and full with what we ordered considering that I was very hungry prior to our lunch. The food tasted fresh and the flavors were alive. There was not a hint of greasiness even in the roast chicken, and the shakes were made from actual fruits and not powdered flavorings. I was also satisfied with the paste because even when it was written "salmon flakes" in the menu, what we really got were "salmon chunks" and we were really happy. The lemon bar also tasted fresh and homemade. I was not able to take a picture of it, sorry! The ambiance is really nice because their motif is light green and white and it's very refreshing to the eyes. Do visit the place while it's still new! By the way, price ranges of food are from 150-400 pesos each. Shakes vary from 70-100 pesos. For me, it's a great deal considering that I enjoyed the food very much.

It isn't readable but the quote there said, "Laugh so hard that even sorrow smiles at you". Nice, huh? :)

I don't usually write about restaurants that I don't like, so you'd probably get it by now that I highly recommend you to try The Urban Farm in BF Homes, President's Ave! This one is just across Tahanan Village, Paranaque. What other healthy restaurants would you recommend? Leave a comment below!

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Seafood Aglio Olio Recipe

This is a long overdue post! December has been pretty hectic for me now that I've been trying to make time to catch up with everyone. Belated Merry Christmas guys! I hope everyone had a great time with their loved ones during the holidays. Now here is something to impress your guests because it's really easy to prepare and it has a "sosyal" name: "Seafood Aglio Olio".

Who says that you only have to choose between white and red sauce when it comes to pasta? I am honestly not a big fan of the "Filipino Sweet Style" spaghetti. I especially dislike it when the pasta is already soggy that you can even cut right through it using a spoon. Uggghh! If you know me, I'm also not a big fan of sweet meals because I always think that sweet tasting stuff are always for desserts. Anyway, this recipe is inspired by the usual Aglio Olio with nothing but garlic and parmesan, and I decided to add something to it... none other than my favorite--seafood!

This is very easy to prepare. If you want to know how to do this recipe, read on:

Seafood Aglio Olio

Ingredients:
500g Pasta, any variant, preferably spaghetti
1 1/2 Head garlic
1/2 cup Olive Oil, reserve a bottle during cooking
100-200 grams medium sized shrimp
1 small pack of crabsticks (10 pieces will do)
10-15 pieces of mussels
1 can button mushroom, sliced
1/2 bell pepper
1 small cauliflower
Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Step 1: Cut each garlic clove, crosswise and into thin pieces. They should look like small pieces of chips when you're done slicing. Don't slice the garlic in any other way as this specific cut is the "Aglio Olio" way.

Step 2: Cut the crab sticks, bell pepper, open the can of mushrooms and cauliflower into bite size pieces. To remove "possible" pests in the cauliflower, place the sliced cauliflower in a basin of salt. Skin the shrimp, and remove the mussels from their shells. Don't forget to boil the shrimp and mussels until cooked and set them aside with these ingredients.

Step 3: It's time to sautee! Place the 1/2 of olive oil in a preheated pan along with the sliced garlic. Sautee continuously but do not let the garlic turn too brown. Wait for the moment where it is halfway between white and golden brown. Add the mussels and shrimp first, cauliflower and bell pepper second, crabsticks and mushroom third. Add more olive oil if too much of the oil is absorbed during the sautee period. Congrats! You made the sauce. Now it's time to cook the pasta.

Step 4: Boil pasta according to instructions to make sure it's Al Dente (firm to bite). Usually you do this by waiting for the water mixture to boil (water, a pinch of salt) and adding the pasta after this. Wait until the pasta is slightly soft on the outside but appear to be a little raw on the inside before you turn down the stove and strain the water. Drizzle the pasta with a little olive oil to avoid sticking.