Quick Meal : Pan-Fried Saba Fish & Stir-Fried Linguine with Mixed Vegetables

It's Friday evening. Stay up at work quite late. I managed to reach home at 7.15pm. Wanted to take a break and skip cooking tonight and eat out. But Max text me that he's coming home for dinner. So? He expect a dinner! Gosh! I left with 30mins!

I open the fridge, and I dig out whatever I have... and I started brainstorming...
Frozen Saba! This is Max all time favorite. Got it from Giant S$8.20 for 2 pack (Promo) last weekend. This is indeed comes in handy whenever I wanna cook a quick meal.

It had been a loooooog time I never buy frozen Saba to keep stock. The reason? Because whenever I pay frying Saba, the whole house will smell sooooooo fishy, and the smell just doesn't go away for the whole damn night! No matter how much air-freshener I spray, how I use fan to "blow" away the fishy smell also no use. But kinda no choice sometimes. Max love to eat this. So, it's really a love-and-hate thingy. But that is BEFORE i purchase HappyCall Pan lah. It's different now. Hahas...

Ever since I bought HappyCall Pan, my phobia of pan-frying fish is gone. The moment when Max saw me buying Saba Fish, he's mad happy and kept asking me when will I be cooking it for him. Urgh! Ignore him anyway...

Come back to the fish. There's no recipe for pan-frying Saba Fish. Yes! You hear me! There's NO RECIPE at all! This is extremely easy. Even a kid can do that.

Method (Pan-Fried Saba Fish)

1. Take the Saba Fish out of the freezer, wash the fish fillet. Pat dry using kitchen towel.
2. A tablespoon of oil. Fish fillet on the pan straightaway. Yes! You can skip the long-waiting thawing process. Trust me, it works. Look at the thickness of Saba Fillet itself, and you will know why I say it works.
3. In a medium heat, pan-fry it with your lid covered. If you have HappyCall Pan at home. Your work will be much easier! And the fishy smell in your house is much much much lesser.

Normally frozen fishes are soaked in brine water before they're packed and freeze. So, it has a mild salty taste. Marinating is not necessary.

Unless you don't like it plain, you may want to baste it with some shop-bought Teriyaki sauce to add more flavor to the fish. I like my fish plain tho. It's up to you.

................................................................


While the fish is cooking.... At another stove, a large saucepan, I boiled some water, throw a handful of Linguine and let it cook.

And then.. I turn to the fridge and start digging out whatever veggies I have. I always did that. Sometimes, when I wanna cook a quick meal, I don't really have a recipe to follow. I just cook based on what I have, what is left-over, which veggies can't keep any longer and need to be consumed fast & bla bla bla...

Ahhh...See what I get in my fridge today? Beautiful!

With these, I shall cook stir fry Linguine with Mixed Vegetables! Asian Style!
(The easiest way... hehe!)

Ingredients (Serves 2 hungry people)

• 100grams of Linguine. Make it 120grams if you are feeding a hungry man.
• 1/4 stick of carrot. Julienned.
• 2 shitake mushroom, sliced.
• 1/2 Lettuce, Julienned
• a stalk of spring onions
• 2 cloves of garlic, skinned, chopped.
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil / cooking oil
• 5 - 6 tablespoons of good quality soy sauce
• a splash of white wine (if you have it at home)
• salt & pepper to taste

Don't stress yourself. No need to follow whatever veggies I use. Just relax & be flexible.

Method (Stir Fried Linguine)

1. In a saucepan, boil water, cook Linguine (you can use Spaghetti or Angel Hair or Fettuccine. It's your choice)
2. Strain Linguine, set aside. Keep the starchy water that you used to cook Linguine. It will be useful later.
3. In a saucepan, 2 tablespoon olive oil, lightly fry the chopped garlic till fragrant, add in julienned carrot & mushroom. Give it a quick toss.
4. Add in Linguine, Lettuce, spring onions, soy sauce, salt, pepper. Toss. Add abit of the starchy water along the way, to give the noodles more moisture. Give a splash of white wine and give it a quick toss before you turn off the heat.

And... Wala!

Oh yes! The pan-fried saba fillet is ready too!

All done in less than 30minutes! And the 30minutes includes spending time shooting these photos. So, in total, i think i only spent 20 to 25minutes to prepare this meal. Haha!
The Saba fish looks charred? Yes. It looks abit charred on the picture. But the actual thing? Crisp on the outside, and juicy on the inside.

There's nothing special about my stir fried noodles. It's really a plain ordinary pan-fried noodles that everybody can easily do better. And the part that I wanna highlight is that... I'm really using whatever I have in the fridge. Save the time & hassle. But I do serve Max a complete meal here. Noodles, varieties of veggies, and fish.

I hope this could give you abit of idea if you wanna cook a quick meal if you fought your way thru the rush hour try to make a meal for your loved ones.

Now, who say cooking is a fuss? :D