A quick fix for no water days: Spaghetti with Marmite

Many of us who live in the Klang Valley have experienced water rationing since March due to the drought. Despite heavy rainfall in the past two weeks, the water level in the dams are not even half full yet. It looks like we will have to suffer the inconvenience well into May. Affected households are getting water supply on a two-day rotation.

I live in a condo so it is not so bad. On no water days, the water from the tank in each block is rationed to conserve supply. We receive running water from 5.30am to 9.00am and 5.30pm to 9.00pm. Being at work the whole day, I’m not really affected as I have water to get ready in the morning. I just need to reach home in time to have a shower and wash the dishes. Thankfully, the rationed supply usually runs until 10.00pm. And there’s always the water I have saved in the pails.

It’s the weekends that are a bummer. If the no supply rotation falls on the weekend, that means I can’t cook lunch. It’s no fun prepping, cooking and washing up with scoops of water.

Today, I was reminded of an easy dish I have cooked before. Nigella Lawson’s Spaghetti with Marmite. It’s the perfect meal for no water days. Minimal prepping is required. There is nothing to cut or wash. Just boil the spaghetti, melt butter with Marmite and a bit of pasta water in a pan, toss in the cooked pasta, mix everything around and it’s ready to serve with a generous sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Sedap! (Delicious!)

From the pantry: spaghetti (I used linguine), Marmite, butter

Can I do it?: Yes, of course. You can’t mess this up. 

Credit: Kitchen by Nigella Lawson. Full recipe here.

 

Linguine with lemon, garlic and thyme mushrooms

Here’s something you can partly prepare in advance. Just marinate the ingredients for a couple of hours or in the fridge overnight. Cook it when needed and toss in the spaghetti, done!

I made this for visiting relatives and it was well received. It’s simple and has a fresh, clean and light taste about it.

The recipe calls for chestnut mushroom but I used Swiss brown mushrooms. I guess any fresh type will do.

Shopping list: chestnut mushrooms, lemon, thyme (dried will do if you can’t get fresh), parsley, parmesan cheese

From the pantry: linguine, olive oil, garlic, pepper

Can I do it?: Yes, it’s a toss and mix recipe. 

Tips: 1. For extra zing, add lemon zest.   2. Reduce the pasta and increase the mushrooms if you want more mushrooms with every mouthful. I find Nigella’s pasta recipes often has too much pasta and not enough ‘liao’.

Credit: Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson. Full recipe here.

Slut’s spaghetti

There’s nothing kinky about this recipe. It apparently is called such because a woman who has better things to do than grocery shopping could whip this up from items in her pantry. Not the case in Malaysia, as we don’t stock up on anchovies, capers or olives.

I tried this because I was curious about one of the ingredients – capers, pickled flower buds from the Mediterranean. I’ve never heard of it until a condo project in my neighbourhood bore this name. Curious, I hunted it down and found it at the ever reliable Hock Lee’s mini market. It comes in glass bottles and would be in the same section as where the olives are.

That bottle of capers remained in my pantry for a long time because I didn’t know what to do with them. I was told they go well with baked fish, but I don’t like the western style of cooking fish.

When I found this recipe, I had to try it. It’s easy and fast to make and you could pack leftovers for office lunches.

Shopping list: tomatoes, anchovies, dried chilli flakes, black olives, capers

From the pantry: spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper

Optional: parsley

Can I do it?: If a slut can do it, so can you. 

Tips: 1. If you don’t have dried chilli flakes, add anything else that can give your dish heat, like Tabasco sauce.   2. Get pitted olives if you can as deseeding them is a pain.   3. No need to follow the recipe to a tee. Cut down on the pasta so there’s more ingredients to go around.

Credit: Kitchen by Nigella Lawson. Full recipe here.