Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Chicken & Mussels Fusili in Spicy Chilli Bean Sauce - Food Blogging Events Fever


Food blogging events. Wow! There are just sooo many of them nowadays...check them out here, you will find sooo many different topics you can choose to participate in. You name it, they got it. Hats off to those food blogging events creators. Despite all the fun, it is a hard work to host an event, unless you are having other people hosting for you, which I think is very clever. Pure genius! ^_^

Do I like food blogging events? To be honest, I LOVEEEEEEEEEEE them! Probably a little too much...that sometimes I kept thinking about what I could come up with before I fall asleep and as soon as I woke up (SC, no worries. You were also there in my thoughts - pranching around amongst all the ingredients in ballet tights hehe).

Why do I love participating in food blogging events so much?
- I am a natural born virtual party animal. I sniffed a party, I got all itchy to join :). I got to know many cool food bloggers from everywhere from these virtual parties!
- I'll never get out of ideas. The events are stimulus for me to build ideas around various themes. Plus, they gave me the necessary nudge to try new things. Without participating in food blogging events, I probably wouldn't have known what leek is ^_^
- I know participating in events boosts hit rate, linky links and stuff like that, but I'd rather not get too focused on that. It could spoil all the fun for me :)

One of my favorite food blogging event in which I try to participate regularly is Presto Pasta Nights, created by Ruth from Once Upon A Feast. This event motivates me to should create a new pasta/noodle dish, at least one day of the week ^_^...and here's my spicy pasta this week:

Chicken and Mussels Fusili in Spicy Chilli Bean Sauce

Recipe
(serves two)
- 5 handfuls of mini fusili pasta (they are smaller than your regular fusili)
- approx 8 medium sized mussels, deshelled, marinate in lime/lemon juice
- half lb of skinless, boneless chicken breast meat, whacked and cut into bite sized chunks
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 2 cloves of shallot, thinly sliced
- a sprig of fresh corriander, chopped
- 3 tbsp of chilli bean sauce (dau ban jiang)
- olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar, corn starch

Marinate chicken pieces in a bit of lime/lemon juice, salt, pepper and 1 tsp corn starch. Start cooking pasta as instructed in the packet. Saute garlic, shallot, some of the fresh corriander, add chicken and mussels, add the chilli bean sauce, mix well, cook until the meat is almost done. Drain pasta, use some of the pasta water to thicken sauce, pour the pasta into the sauce mixture, mix well, add seasoning if necessary, garnish with freshly chopped corriander.

Now it is my turn to go pranching around in pink ballet tutu in SC's mind while SC's thinking about video games

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is one hot dish! and you would also be hot (for SC's eyes only, of course!) in your pink tutus...LOL!

A.G said...

ayo tunjukin dwong SC'nya penasaran kiy :D

tigerfish said...

I like to fuse asian sauces into my pasta too! HOoray!

daphne said...

^5! I love parties like that! hehe. And that pasta party is one of my favourite too!

I did a similar dish before but yours LOOK WAY MUCH HOTTER! Yum!

Laura Paterson said...

I'm a blog event addict too! In fact, as I'm too busy to blog more than 2/3 times a week atm, almost every post seems to be a submission!

Gorgeous dish - I haven't really experimented with fusion pasta before!

Jin Hooi said...

Thanks for sharing Rita, i was wondering where can I check for all the food blogger events.. and now i know !!! Big Thanks babe!!

CECIL said...

I just enjoy reading your blog!! So entertaining :) Should check out these blog events - I am still trying to figure out my way in this blogging business.

Lia said...

suwe ga gae pasta dadi kepingin, ikutan ahhh :P

aku lama ga ikutan blog event juga nihhh

Salt N Turmeric said...

This looks good and sounds easy to make. gotta bokkmarked for sure.

Elsye said...

aku wis rodo males iki ikutan blog event :((...

btw, pastane keliatan apik rit, tak comot semangkok :P

Ruth Daniels said...

Wow, what an awesome dish. I can't wait to give it a try. Thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights.

Pam said...

This looks really good. My daughter is a huge fan of mussels and would love this (if I don't make it too spicy). Thanks for the inspiration.

Sharon said...

You've outdone yourself. This looks truly amazing. I love presto pasta nights as well b/c it gives me an excuse for carb loading!

Kajal@aapplemint said...

Hi Rita, food events are fun, and i'm glad they have them , cuz we all benefit so much from the various recipes we get to see. This dish looks so yummm !

A.G said...

sido melu Masak Bareng pora dikau Jeng :) hari ini lho mostingkene

Little Corner of Mine said...

Give me your spicy pasta anytime! I also have been participating more in the blogging event, but I am not as consistent. :P

test it comm said...

Food blogging events certainly are fun. I really like the sound of using a chili bean sauce with pasta!

eatingclubvancouver_js said...

Oh look at how plump those mussels are! I mean, M-U-S-S-E-L-S, okay? Yummy!

Anonymous said...

wow, thanks for the great food event link! wow! there's so many event's, so little time!
You are such a cutie, always having so much fun with these events. You and your awesome mussels dish is inspiring.
Now I need to get off my butt and start participating more!

Wandering Chopsticks said...

What about my food blogging event? *Sniffle.* :(

Anonymous said...

I love fusion dishes like these ;)

Anonymous said...

Totally know what you mean about food blogging events! I love them too, especially Presto Pasta Nights. It's my all time fave and the one my blog has most actively participated in. Nice pasta dish!