I live alone in my apartment in KL.
As a result of that, I always have to find my own dinners and most of the time it’s fine because I’m out meeting clients for dinner most of the time.
But sometimes, whenever I find the time, I like to sit down to a dinner I made myself.
Any real man knows how to cook. He may not need to be a good cook but at least knowing how to cook is a sign that the man can survive on his own!
So one day, I left the office early. Went home.
Rolled up my sleeves.
And decided to cook!
I can’t say I’m a good cook.. but I can say that I LOVE my cooking.
I never always knew how to cook and it was only in my student days in London that I learned how to cook bachelor like food. Simple meals like Pasta.
So that day I decided to make pasta.
Now I don’t like tomato-based pasta and don’t quite fancy carbonara as well. What I do like however… is Pesto-based pasta or Aglio Olio type of pasta.
Here’s how I did it.
First, you need the ingredients.
Simple stuff.
Sausages, ham, fresh mushroom, garlic, mixed herbs, olive oil and pasta (Duh!).
If you want you can include some vegetables but I’m not a big fan of vegetables.
So after you get your ingredients together, chop them up into however you want it to be.
I don’t believe in chopping anything down until it’s small small pieces simply because, it takes too much time (that I don’t have) and… whatever you do, it’s all going into that one frying pan anyway.
So I don’t even bother cutting my ham into small small pieces.
In fact I like it a little bigger so I can feel it when I bite it.
Then of course there are the sausages which are easy to cut.
Except for one thing that most noobs forget about.
For some reason, sausages seem to come in condoms.
I shit you not… they really do come in condoms.
So always remember to REMOVE the condom before you throw them into the frying pan.
And when you do… don’t hold it up and laugh at it!
Don’t!
Just don’t do that… especially if you’re cooking for your date.
Because she’s going to think you’re a little kiddo that has never seen a condom before (let alone put one on later in the night).
Now the next thing and the MOST important thing you gotta do is… boil the pasta.
Just chuck it all into a pot, fill it up with water and boil away.
Now why I say this is the most important part is because… I am VERY particular about my pasta. IT HAS to be AL DANTE which means not too soft and not too hard, but a little chewy.
I like my pasta like that… and you can even give me Al Dante pasta with nothing but olive oil and I will eat it.
I get very very pissed off when I go to a good restaurant and pay RM30 for pasta and the damn chef can’t even make the pasta Al Dante.
I mean.. how hard can it be!
If a noob like me can make it Al Dante, I don’t see why a restaurant chef can’t do it.
Here’s what I do to make it Al Dante.
When you’re boiling the pasta, just remember to stir it and every once in a while try a piece to see if it’s the texture you want it to be.
Just right after you feel it is JUST BEFORE how you like it to be, lift it off the stove and pour all the water out.
Now when you’re done, chuck it all into the frying pan along with the other ingredients that you should’ve started cooking 5 minute ago.
Note that this is not the way ALL pasta is made.
Some pasta especially those with sauce just needs you to pour some olive oil around it then pour the pasta sauce on top of it.
But for this particular one, I like to pour the pasta into the pan and mix it.
And before you know it… VOILA.. it’s done!
This meal should take you 15 minutes to prepare if you’ve done it many times before, 30 minutes to prepare if you haven’t, 1 hour to prepare if you’re a noob and 3 hours to prepare if you’re completely hopeless with a frying pan.
Now if you’re making this for a date then you can go ahead and beautify it to make it more presentable.
But if you’re cooking for yourself then don’t bother.
And Voila… Boss Stewie cooks.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space