shella makes: cioppino and mentaiko spaghetti

i rarely post anything that i've made on this blog. i love to cook...well not all the time. i remember a friend telling me - cooking is not your passion. i was a bit taken aback but then i realized she was right. food/eating is my passion but not cooking! i started cooking at a young age maybe 10, i can still remember the first dish i've ever cooked. then i'd cook/bake anything i've discovered until i'm so tired making them that i move on to the next - i was making mocha bars, food for the gods, beef with brocolli practically every week until new recipes come along. i never follow recipes to a T. as i've heard biba once said on tv, a great cook never measures. and that's how i've been cooking. 

it's been weeks since i started craving for mussels so finally i bought a pack in the grocery. i also bought some squid since i didn't want the mussels to be lonely hehe. i could have added more seafood like shrimps but it was just too much, i'd end up eating that for an entire week if i did. i know i was making an italian seafood stew that up to this point i cannot recall the name. then i posted it on instagram and a friend mentioned seafood cataplana and that's portuguese so finally, i googled italian seafood stew and voila it's - cioppino,  how can i forget?! 

the ingredients i used were garlic, onions, celery, canned italian tomatoes, italian parsley and lemon. one of the recipes i saw included bay leaf and dried oregano, so i guess i was just missing out on a couple of herbs. for me it was nearly perfect, if only i thought of putting in some chilli flakes...i will when i reheat my leftovers. i'm on this pseudo diet so i ate it with rye crisps, but this is better with some crusty bread lightly toasted which you can use to mop the yummy sauce. 

another one of my creations which is long overdue is mentaiko spaghetti. inspired by cake club's.

here's what i did. saute chopped onions in butter, add the mushrooms and then some cream. the mentaiko was "marinated" with a light japanese soy sauce - i used yamasa and lemon. add cayenne or chilli flakes for some kick. once the cream has the right consistency i mixed in the spaghetti noodles and the mentaiko. topped with shredded nori.

well that's it. just got inspired to write this post since i just cooked the cioppino this morning. happy eats!