Tag Archives: Pasta

23Jun 2012

Hungarian Roasted Pepper and Paprika Chicken

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Isn’t fire roasting the most wonderful thing in the world?

Doesn’t it take everything up a notch?

Like, normal eggplants are good. They taste absolutely fine. But roasted eggplants. Well they are just great! *yes, Baingan ka bharta, I am talking about you!*

And while I know V isn’t gung-ho over bell peppers. Roast them and serve them as a sauce or in hummus, he is always begging for more!

Roasting red peppers not only intensifies their flavor and sweetness but also imparts them with a touch of smokiness.

Of course you could use canned roasted red peppers. But, when roasting red peppers at home can be so easy, why not give it a try once?

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16Mar 2012

Home Alone making paranthas, salad & pizza and thinking of all things sweet & scary!

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So I am home alone for three nights.

V had to go for some office stuff to Texas, and I am left home alone.

This is the first time I am staying alone in our house. And I was very nervous about it. Our town is quite safe. So I was not scared of somebody breaking in (although, I made sure all my windows were closed and do not laugh, but I also put a chair/stool in front of the front and back doors. Just in case someone does decide to break in, I will be warned by the noise. Too much of CSI does that to you!)

Like I mentioned, I am not scared of someone breaking in (you are rolling your eyes, aren’t ya?), but all the horror movies I have seen have made me a little scared of the paranormal- ghosts to be more precise. So that you are sure, yes, I am an adult. But I have an overactive imagination. A very overactive imagination.

I remember after watching the movie The Ring , I slept with my lights on for a month, imagining the girl ghost in the movie standing next to my bed every time I switched off the lights off and then even when the image of the ghost left after a month, I continued sleeping with the lights on, thinking the ghost would get pissed off that I wasn’t sacred anymore, and would be tempted to scare me off.

Yes. Overactive. Imagination. Mine is.

So, how I always do when I am alone, the first night I slept with the lights in my room on. And with the TV on. And the bathroom lights on. And the hallway light on. And the living room light on. With the phone in my hand every time. I felt really bad that I was wasting so much electricity, but honestly I could not help it. This is how I slept last night as well. Today though, my protector, my husband, will be back home, and I should live in a world less scared of the evils it possesses. (I repeat- do not roll your eyes! or laugh! Please?)

Besides being scared at night, the other thing that was bothering me about being home alone for three days was the food situation. With V gone, I knew I would not feel like cooking for one. I knew I would be cooking Maggi noodles for lunch, dinner, and well, even breakfast. But, I did not want that. So, instead, as soon as V left I made it a point to pre-make things. I made the tomato feta pasta salad. I made the topping for the artichoke spinach pizza and also had the necessary leftovers for the chicken paranthas I had packed for V before he left. The maggi packets are left to be eaten some other week.

This post has no recipes. It has links to some of my previous recipes though. And all of them are good. Some are quite old, some not so much.

Chicken Paranthas

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06Sep 2011

Guest Post By The Pious Hippie: ‘Mint is the New Basil’

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My friend, lets call her Madame M, started a blog called the Pious Hippie a few months back.

Madame M and I have been friends for 9 years now. We met in college and instantly connected. Madame M has always been the intelligent types- class topper in school, and the streak followed her to college.

If ever I had a sister, I (and am sure I can vouch the same for my mom) would want her to be exactly like Madame M. I mean the girl is seriously talented. Intelligence aside, she is witty, writes amazingly well, is beautiful, cooks well, is charming, dresses great and well I could go on and on about her, but the bottom line is she is one of the best persons in my life and thanks to her I am a better person today.

In college, Madame M was the chef. My friend Ruchi and I would just lie on her bed, entering the kitchen only when it was time for us to eat.

Yup. My friends were amused when I started a food blog.

Madame M was the cook and I bet she can still beat my a** off when it comes to cooking. I guess she gets it from her mom.

Today, Madame M has been kind enough to guest post for me.

Do check her blog. Its quite interesting, with a lot of wit and humor thrown in. She tries to illustrate all her thoughts with drawings. You’ll get an idea of what I mean from this blog post.

Handing over to Madame M.

“MINT IS THE NEW BASIL”

by the Pious Hippie

Daniel Pink, in his book, A Whole New Mind, said that human beings are now searching for meaning in their day to day lives. Work just for work’s sake isn’t going to cut it any longer.

We want to do something that has meaning; that makes a difference in the world. We are looking for ‘our calling’.

I was deeply impressed by the book. And this particular chapter- on Meaning- made me think about the meaning of my life. What was my calling?

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18Jul 2011

Alfredo Sauce (With Fettuccine) for July SRC!

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When V and I had gone to Ogden, Utah, for a week, we ate at this restaurant called Jasoh. I don’t remember now what V ordered, but I had ordered this alfredo fettuccine served with mushrooms and duck, topped with a chocolate gastrique. It was sooooooo good!

A gastrique is a reduction of vinegar and sugar brought to light caramelization, to which a little stock is added. It is a base to which many other ingredients, or just a few, can be added to form a sauce. It is generally used to create a sweet and sour sauce.

This was the first time I had eaten something savory that had chocolate in it and was really happy to have been adventurous enough to try it! I really wanted to try cooking the chocolate gastrique on fettuccine alfredo, but never got around to doing it.

So, when I was given “From Apples to Zucchini” for my this month’s SRC assignment, I was glad to know Pam had a recipe for Alfredo sauce. I had to give Pam’s recipe a try!

In From Apples to Zucchini, Pam focuses on recipes that feed her family responsibly, with as much nutrition as possible.  She takes great pride in remaking recipes to be healthier, lower in fat and calories than the original, just to prove that healthy doesn’t mean boring and tasteless. The discovery of this site couldn’t come at a better time- I have resolved that this time I am going to take my weight loss program seriously and I have a feeling Pam will be of great help!

Her version of the alfredo sauce is considerably less in fat than the actual version and still tastes great. Its an easy recipe and V and I enjoyed eating it. I also made the chocolate gastrique to go with it but was not as successful- of course, with some tweaks I made it good enough but not like how I had it at Jasoh. And since there were so many afterthought additions, there is no recipe that I can write here today.

Although the gastrique recipe is still a work in progress, Pam’s alfredo sauce recipe is a keeper! Its an easy recipe and as Pam points out its really light in calories as well!

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26Jan 2011

ZUCCHINI PASTA- GLUTEN FREE RECIPE

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Happy Republic Day to all Indians!

Its Day Two of Denver and I got myself to go to the gym! Last night, we had Indian food at this place called India Tavern. V and I both enjoyed the food- it was really good and the host was a very sweet and friendly guy. We both ended up overeating, so gym today was definitely in line! I also tried eating healthier (as much as I could)- fruits and bagel with light cream cheese (yes, yes – “light” cream cheese- I really do need to lose weight!). (FYI dinner still awaits so I shouldn’t be jumping my gun.)

And, if you think I am bad with my weight issues, V is paranoid. He found a teeny weeny bit of paunch- and he has been freaking out since then- standing in front of the mirror, frowning at his almost negligible waist! And then, today on being asked what did he have for lunch, prompt came his response – a salad! Like, he could dream of eating anything else! (and here I am rejoicing for choosing “light” cream cheese instead of “regular”) Oh, the shame he brings to the Punjabi in me ;) (Punjabi people in India are known for eating a lot- and eating food full of butter and cream!)

So to keep the spirit of being healthy (or well, trying to be), I decided to post the low-carb zucchini pasta recipe I tried a few days back. I remember hearing/reading (memory fails me here) about this pasta a long time back. The idea stuck on my mind for some time, and the other day when I passed the zucchinis at the supermarket I thought I’ll give it a try. Luckily, I found a similar recipe online too. (Click here for the link).

The recipe is quick and easy to make. It would have been quicker had I a mandolin, but since I did not, cutting the zucchini into long strands did take some time. Loved the flavors, and more so because it is so healthy!

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21Aug 2010

SPINACH MUSHROOM FETTUCCINE

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I finally completed my second trunk yesterday. With that, Project Trunk is under wraps! Finally! This called for a celebration!

I had mushrooms lying in my fridge for some time now. V hates mushrooms- well hate would be too strong a word, but he is NOT a fan. I like mushrooms a lot. But, its quite ironical that growing up, I hated all dishes that had mushrooms in them.

Then, one fateful day (boy, do I like to dramatize things!), my friend from college, called us for lunch at her home. She made this garlic mushroom bread that was awesome and since then I have been in love with mushrooms.

Lot of people believe that it takes one dish to change a person’s opinion about a vegetable. And, I am a living proof of that!

So I thought I’ll try to get V to change his mind about mushrooms, and decided to make this pasta recipe I got from a special cookbook edition of Femina. The recipe is the same one that they use at Pizza Hut for their creamy Spinach Mushroom fettuccine. The first time I tried this recipe was while visiting home, and I made it for a party my parents were throwing. Everyone loved it. I made it again at my aunt’s place- it didn’t come out as good as the first time- there were some ingredient issues- but still was liked.

This was my third time, and this time the dish had a mission- to turn V to a mushroom lover. I had to get this one right! So, I set the table and went all out- they say people eat with their eyes first and I hoped that for V the first impression would be the last one.

 

V loved it- a lot! Proof..u ask? Look at the pics at the end. Its still too early to say whether he is a mushroom convert, but well, its safe to say that he will happily eat this dish again.

It does use a lot of cream though- but luckily, I had just one small packet of cream, and thus could not use the whole amount asked for. It still turned out great.

(P.S. : V got me those flowers!:))

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