Wine Pick

Fetzer Gewürztraminer

Its about 6 bucks but a delicious wine that pair very well with Indian food.

Lemon Rice

This is one of my all time favourite rice dishes. It is especially great for serving non-desi guests.

Ingredients:

Rice - 2 cups
Lemon - one medium to large
Green chilles
Cilantro
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
Turmeric

How to:

1. Cook rice with 2:1 water ratio.
2. Dry Roast peanuts and keep aside.
3. Spread the cooked rice on a large dish so it cools.
4. Heat some oil and add mustard seeds and finely chopped green chillies.
5. pour this on the rice. Add peanuts and 1/2 spoon of turmeric and salt to taste. Do not mix it in while rice is still very hot.
6. once it cools a bit mix all of it till the rice is evenly yellow and salt is even.
7. Now squeeze the lemon on the rice and mix well. Addding lemon when rice is hot will make it bitter.
8. Garnish with finely chopped cilantro. Pair with Sambar and cucumber raita to make a simple and wonderful lunch :)

Yum.

Wine Pick

PKNT Cabernet Sauvignon (chile, central valley)

Pasta Al Pesto

1. Peel one big potato and cut into cubes.Put to boil.
2. Just when its boiling and the potatoes are almost cooked add green beans (I used mushrooms) and add a pinch of salt and cook pasta to perfection :)
3. In a separate bowl, Take the Trader Joe's pesto sauce and add some of the starchy boiling water to get right consistency for sauce.
4. Once pasta is cooked, Drain. Add the sauce.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste. I also liberally use Oregano or the Italian Seasoning from Henrys. Very nice.
5. Ricotta is good for health. Or so I like to believe. So one spoon gets mixed in before serving. :)

Enjoy.

Bucatini Dolce Salato (Sweet and Sour Bucatini)

Ingredients(makes for 4)

1 Red Onion
1 Jar of Trader Joes sundried tomatoes
4 spoons of ricotta romana(sweet ricotta)
3 Table spoons of ricotta salato(salty)
1 can diced tomatoes

How to:

1. Saute finely chopped onion in Olive oil.
2. Set water to boil. Add a few drops of vinegar. Blanch the sundried tomatoes.
3. Cut fine and add to sautee. Add half a can of the diced tomatoes till you have a gravy-ish thing. The pasta is a dryish pasta. Add sugar to remove the sour taste if you dont plan on using the sweet ricotta. Cook this thing very well.
4.Now add pasta in that water and cook.
5. In a separate bowl mix Ricottas and 1 tsp olive oil and ground black pepper.
6. Add saute to cooked pasta and toss in the pan. Add ricotta mix and serve as it melts into the hot pasta.

And, Oh the title suggests that you have to use Bucatini but Fetuccine works just as well. :-)

Mango Pie

I tried this at Sujata Auntie's house and fell in love with it. Its an amazingly simple recipe. And spectacularly delicious. Here is the recipe if you want to try it out for yourself.

Ingredients:

1 Pie crust (plain, trust me the chocolate one in the store is not good)
1/2 can - mango pulp.
3 tbsp - sour cream.
1/2 cup - sugar (skip this if you use sweetened pulp that you get in Indian grocery stores)
1 packet - unflavoured gelatine.

1.Dissolve gelatine in hot water.
2.Mix the rest of the ingredients and slowly stir in the gelatine water.
3.Pour into the pie crust. Decorate by sticking pieces of mango (or strawberry if you want to make it colourful)along the crust edges like a flower.
4.Allow it to chill overnight and set completely, in the fridge.
5.Serve with cool whip.

Voila !

Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

You need (Serves 6):

1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped nuts
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup chocolate chips
3 eggs
1/2 tsp salt

How to:

1.Cream together margarine( or butter) and sugars.
2.Beat in eggs and banana. Add flour, salt and soda. You can do these two steps in a regular blender. Makes life easy and turns out just fine.
3.Stir in chips and nuts.
4.Bake in greased loaf pan for 50 minutes in 350-degree oven.

Enjoy!

Swedish Apple Cake

Ingredients (Makes 6 servings)

5 Apples
4 c Dry bread crumbs (not seasoned)
1 c Butter (softened)
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 c Granulated white sugar

How to:

1.Boil apples in minimal water till they soften. Add 2 spoons of sugar to boiling water to sweeten.
2.Melt butter in pan; add crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon.
3.Butter deep cake pan well. Put crumbs and apples in layers, crumbs on bottom and top.
4.Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice-cream.

Trust me its YUMMMMMMM !!!!

Mushroom Broccoli Au Gratin

Ingredients (Serves 4)

3 Cup nicely chopped Broccoli (i used the frozen one)
1/2 Onion sliced thinly
1 packet of mushrooms chopped
1 Cup grated cheese (Optional)
1 Cup bread crumbs
5 tbsp butter/margarine
4 Cups milk
4 lg tbsp all purpose flour
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat 1 tbp of butter in a pan. Add onions and sautee till translucent. Add mushroom and broccoli. Add sat and pepper to taste and sautee for a minute or so. Add 2 cups of water, cover the pan and cook till tender.

2. Now while that is cooking ,heat 4tbsp of butter in a pan. Mix in the flour and add salt and pepper to taste. Now add the milk and bring to boil on low flame. It will thicken into a paste/thick sauce. As you take it off the heat, mix in the cheese if you are making the sauce with cheese in it.

3. Drain the vegetables well and layer the greased baking dish with the white sauce and the vegetables. First and last layer should be the sauce. Cover with the breadcrumbs and bake for 30 minutes.

4. Serve with Warm Bread, Salad and Wine to make it a fine meal :) !

Bon Apetit !

Wine Pick

Red Guitar Navarro 2006 - 8.99$

Cheers

Chocolate-Rum-Coffee cake

You need (Makes a decent size cake)

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

3/4th teaspoon baking soda

3/8 teaspoon salt

3/8 pound fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped

1.5 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/3 cup dark rum

1 cup strong brewed coffee

1 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs, beaten lightly

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. In a bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth.
4. Remove chocolate from heat and stir in rum, coffee, and granulated sugar.
5. Beat in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down side.
6. Beat in eggs and vanilla until batter is combined well.
7. Pour into a pre-greased pan and bake cake in middle of oven (about 40 minutes) until a tester comes out clean.
8. If you have enough batter for two not so thick cakes, you can stack them on each other with sweetened raspberry pulp in between. Else you have one nice moist cake.


Hmmmmm.. Rummmyyyy.. :)

P.S: Thanks Nija for the recipe.

Vodka Cream Sauce for Pasta

You need (Makes for 4):

Olive Oil
Diced Tomatoes (1 Big Can)
Salt - To taste
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Pepper - To taste
Chilli flakes - To taste
Oregano - To taste
Few cloves of garlic
One Medium Onion
Half cup Vodka
Half cup Broth
Half cup cream

Procedure:

1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. Add chopped garlic followed by onions and sautée till soft
3. Add the diced tomatoes from the can. Use half fresh if you want a less tangier taste. The canned tomotoes have sometimes a strange sour taste.
4. Cook till its a nice soft puree. Add sugar to remove the sour taste.
5. Add salt, pepper, chilli and oregano to suit your taste buds. (Don't skip Oregano)
6. Cook it well till it thickens on medium flame.
7. Now add Vodka and let it simmer and cook until all the vodka is absorbed and the sauce is further thickened.
8. Now add the broth ( you can add a little more than the recommended if you feel you may be short on quantity) and quickly bring to boil.
9. Hopefully the Pasta is done in time as well. Take the sauce off the heat. Mix in the cream. The sauce will now be a delightful pink colour.
10. Add to pasta and serve right away.

Bon Appetito !

P.S: Courtesy