Cheesy tuna pasta bake

   This recipe was born from a craving. Let me explain myself. After a lot of heavy meaty meals during the winter holidays, I felt like tuna for a change and I realized I missed pasta as well so I decided to marry the two and make a tuna pasta bake. I made a similar recipe once before but I wasn't super impressed with it, so this time I looked up some inspirational recipes. I found one I liked and I decided to tweak it and this is how this recipe was born :)  It's soooo cheesy and soooo delicious you'll really want to go back for more! ;) I feel like cooking it again already :)))

Ingredients for about 3-4 servings:

- about 200 g of fusilli pasta or your preferred pasta

- a tin of tuna chunks in sunflower or olive oil 

- 3 cloves garlic, crushed

- a pinch of dried oregano 

- a pinch of chilli flakes

- 1 teaspoon mashed anchovy filets or paste

- salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

- a 500 ml bottle of home made tomato sauce (Romanian "bulion") or a good quality store bought one

- about 100 g of grated Gruyere cheese or Parm cheese 

- about 6 slices of smoked cheese 

Steps:

1. Combine tuna and its oil from the tin, garlic, anchovies, oregano, and chilli flakes in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir and cook for 1 minute once oil begins to sizzle.

2. Stir in the tomato sauce. Increase heat to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes.

3. Fill a large pot with oregano salted water and bring to a boil. Cook your pasta until just slightly undercooked (2 min less than the package advice), then drain. 

4. Stir cooked pasta into the tuna tomato mixture, then add the Gruyere or the Parm.

5. Pour everything in a glass tray and cover it with the slices of smoked cheese.

6. Put the tray in the oven at 185C for about 15-20 min or until the cheese on top starts to melt.

Bon appetit! :)

Thai Beef and Pineapple Red Curry

   Oh my God, you guys! Tonight I reached culinary Nirvana once again. You know a recipe is good if it makes it on the blog. If I had tried it in a restaurant I would have totally wanted to make it at home! It's the best combo between Lidl, Auchan and a friend's pineapple :))) I know it might sound weird but bear with me. It all started from randomly finding a red curry marinated beef @ Asian week at Lidl, then receiving a fresh pineapple from a friend and looking up recipes that contain those two ingredients. That's how we found this amazing Martha Stewart recipe (who doesn't love Martha?) and then we ended up in Auchan to buy the rest of the ingredients: more red curry paste and coconut milk. Auchan has a great variety of International ingredients! You'd be surprised! (For foreigners, Auchan and Lidl are two supermarkets found in Romania.)

   I just LOVE how Oli and I find new absolutely mouthgasming recipes so randomly. Or maybe it's fate? Hmmm... Let me bring fate in your life by giving you this amazing, MUST TRY recipe:

Ingredients for 2 servings and a bit of leftovers:

- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup red curry paste (@Auchan)

- 1 pound sirloin steak, trimmed and cut against the grain into very thin strips

-  225g green/yellow beans, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
- 2 cups large diced fresh pineapple (fresh is always king, even though it might seem like a pain in the ass to peal it)
- 1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (@Auchan)

- cooked jasmine rice, for serving
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn (dry basil is OK as well if you don't have fresh one)

Steps:

1. In a large skillet or wok, heat oil over medium-high. 

2. Add curry paste and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. 

3. Add steak and cook, stirring, until browned, 2 minutes. 

4. Add green beans and pineapple and cook, stirring, until pineapple starts to release juices, 1 minute. 

5. Add broth and coconut milk and bring to a boil. 

6. Reduce heat and cook at a rapid simmer until green beans are crisp-tender, 8 minutes. 

7. Serve over rice, topped with basil. Bon appetit! :)