London has been brighten up by scorching sun for the past few days! “It was boiling!” I heard this many times during the days! Well, deep down inside, I still miss Maldives and I check the temperature in Maldives almost everyday and I say to myself “It’s warmer in Maldives, no doub about it!” I know now that my memory in Maldives will remain in my life forever. It’s just too difficult not to have flash back from time to time! Anyway, I need to live in the present and look forward.

Well, back to the weather in London. Yeah, the summer is almost here. Not quite there yet when the temperature drops below 20°C like today! I really hope that we are going to enjoy a bit more sunshine this year than last, which it decided to skip the summer!

As summer is drawing closer,  I am really happy to announce that a series of summer recipes will be featured on my blog over the next few weeks!! (I am very excited about this!!) I thought this would be a great way to share no fuss and delicious summer recipe ideas with all of you! I have designed the badge to signify the launch of the ‘Summer Recipes’ on My Cooking Hut! I hope you’ll like this! I will put up this badge in each future post to indicate that it’s part of the series.

For the first recipe, I have decided to make Lemon & Chili Prawns Linguine. Linguine is a type of pasta in long, slender, flat strips. Linguine looks like fettuccine, but narrow like spaghetti. More often than not, linguine is served with seafood. To spice up our summer days, I thought prawns/shrimps and chili are good combination! Of course, lemon is not left out!

When I think of seafood and summer, I think of citrus!! Zesty, spicy, and light! It’s a great lunch/dinner for the summer! I garnish my lemon & chili prawns linguine with some finely chopped pitted black olives and some watercress. Just imagine having this plate of goodness with a glass of good Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling , Pinot Blanc.. etc in the garden under the sun, what more you want to ask for?

Recipe: Lemon and Chili Prawns Linguine

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Dried linguine, 400g

Olive oil, 5 – 6 tbsp

Garlic (chopped), 3

Red chilies (chopped), 2-3

Cherry tomatoes (quartered), 150g

Lemon zest, 2 tsp

Lemon juice, 125ml

King prawns (large), 16

Salt and pepper, to taste

Optional for garnishing:

Black olives (chopped), 5-6

Watercress, a handful

Method:

1. Remove the heads and shells from the prawns, leaving the tails on. Slice them down the back – without cutting right through, then open them out and remove the vein. Season the prawns with salt and pepper. Set aside.

2. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the linguine and cook according to the instructions or until they are al dente. Rinse under water and then pat dry.

3. Cook the prawns until  they turn pink/orange and slightly golden remove and keep warm.

4. Put oil in a big pan. Add garlic and cook until fragrant but not brown. Add chopped chilies and fry for 1 minute until fragrant.

5. Then, add the tomatoes and fry for a further minute. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice and season well. Cook for another 2 minutes.

5. Drain the linguine and add to the pan and toss together well. Divide between 4 warmed pasta bowls. Garnish with chopped dark olives and watercress.

Pasta is easy and fast to prepare and everyone loves it. As you may have guessed that my love for pasta is as great as noodles! There are many sauce variations. My all time favourites are tomato sauce and white sauce. Ingredients wise, I like seafood, vegetables, mushrooms, bacon and of course sausages!

Pasta comes in different colours and shapes. If you ask me how many? I really don’t know the answer. Here is the good source of infomation – List of Pasta.

I have made tagliatelle with spicy sausage, courgette, and petit pois for the Presto Pasta Nights, which is hosted by Soy and Pepper this week. It is my first time to join this event and I am quite excited about it. 

Is it spicy you may ask because of spicy sausage? No, not at all. In fact, it makes a real difference in eating sausages. Tagliatelle with spicy sausage, courgette, and petit pois is very easy to make. Apart from cooking the pasta, the other task is to cook up the ingredients. It’s then good to eat.

This dish is suitable to be eaten as dinner also for lunchbox next day! This is what I usually do for cooked dishes – I cook extra portions so that I can bring to work for lunch. So, there’s no chance of saying ‘not sure what to have for lunch!’

Recipe: Tagliatelle with Spicy Sausage, Courgette, Petit Pois

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Olive oil, 2 tbsp

Garlic cloves, 2

Courgette/Zucchini (sliced), 1

Petit Pois, 100g

Tagliatelle, 250g-300g

Red chili (finely chopped), 1

Spicy sausages (remove the sausage casing and made into small meatballs size), 4-5 

Crème fraîche, 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Cook tagliatelle according to the packet instruction.

2. Heat the pan and drizzle about 2 tbsp of olive oil.

3. Put in chopped garlic and cooked until fragrant.

4. Put in the sausage meat and cook for about 10 minutes until the meat is cooked.

5. Then, put in sliced courgette/zucchini. Stir well and cook for another 5 minutes until the courgette/zucchini is soft.

6. After that, stir in finely chopped chili.

7. Once all the ingredients are cooked, remove from heat and add in the cook tagliatelle. Give a good mix.

8. After that, add in dollops of crème fraîche. Mix well then serve warm.

I love using citrus fruits in marinates. Also to use them in preparing salads. Today, I am gonna share this simple and delicious recipe. It’s Baked Cod with Orange & Lime. You can substitute cod with other white fish, like Haddock. I cooked some pasta (Tagliatelle) to go with this dish with some toasted pine nuts to make the dish more interesting.

To make this dish, you don’t need a lot of ingredients. All you need are the following to make a meal for 2:

Ingredients:

2 cod fillets

4 slices of lime

2 slices of orange (halves or quartered)

1 medium red onion (thinly sliced)

a handful of pine nuts

some olive oil

some dill

1 tbsp orange juice

1 tsp lime juice

ground sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method:

1. Rub the Cod fillets with salt and black pepper.
2. Place them on a baking dish and drizzle some olive oil on the fillets.
3. Drizzle the orange & lime juice over the fillets. Arrange the orange and lime slices on the fillets.
4. Sprinkle some dill over the fillets. Rest them while pre-heating the oven at 180 celcius.
5. Shove the baking dish into the oven and bake the fillet for about 15 – 20 minutes depending on the size of the fillets. (The fillets are cooked once the flesh look completely white and not translucent.)
6. While the fillets are being cooked, on a pan, toast the pine nuts until golden brown then set aside.
7. On the same pan, drizzle some olive oil to cook the onions until caramelised. Add some of the caramelised onions on top of the fillets when they are almost cooked.
8. Meanwhile, cook tagliatelle according to the instruction on the packet in a pot.
9. Cook the tagliatelle until al dente. Empty the entire pot of pasta into a colander. Shake out the excess water and then pour back into the pot.
10. Drizzle some olive oil, add in the pine nuts and the rest of the caramalised onions. Give them a good toss to mix well. Then, placed the baked cod on top of the tagliatelle to serve.

Voila, cette recette est tres facile a preparer! Bon Appetit!