Noodles - my best friend on lazy days

Don't judge me. There are many nights when I go to sleep thinking of what I could cook the next day. I'd go through my mental catalogue of ingredients stashed in the fridge and cupboards, and wonder about all the exciting permutations.

But then there are mornings when I wake up long after the morning birds have sung their songs. Okay, fine. Sometimes those are afternoons. Just sometimes. Quite understandably, on those rare sometimes, Ed looks suspiciously ready to munch on raw garlic. So I really need to prepare something plus vite.

That's when I go to my... well, go-to carbohydrate - noodles. It doesn't matter what form these noodles take - fettucine, conchiglie, kuay teow (flat rice noodles), sweet potato noodles or egg noodles. The list is long and they are the best base on which to build a great dish. Better yet, they're so versatile that you can throw in little bits and bobs of your leftover (read: near expiry) ingredients and it could still taste great. If we're feeling like something Chinese, we make a simple soup stock from fried garlic and anchovies, throw in the last portion of sliced cabbage, some kuay teow, and top it off with that single stalk of spring onion slowly aging at the bottom of the crisper in our fridge.

More often than not, I would find myself with odd bits of a variety of herbs threatening to go mushy on me. I can always freeze them, of course. But more often than not, I blitz them in the mini food processor with some olive oil and salt for possibly the fastest pasta or salad sauce one can ever make.

This particular afternoon, I found myself with near expiring portobello mushrooms, a portion of conchiglie and a portion of fettucine. So I added the slick green paste of basil and coriander to some fried garlic, portobello mushrooms and almost al-dente pasta. After tossing the pasta through the sauce, adding a little of the pasta water to loosen the mixture a little, lunch was ready and Ed stepped in just in time. (Fried eggs are my cheat's way of giving the dish a shot at being somewhat balanced - 'hey look, there's protein!')

Even though preparing this meal took me just 15 minutes, of which the most challenging part was slicing the garlic, Ed happily licked his plate clean. Although I must admit the task was made easier with his favourite condiment - super hot Sriracha chilli sauce.

#FoodLunch