Penne in marinara sauce with spinach and mushroom

 I have been so engrossed in revamping my web page that I forget my meals. It is such a fantastic learning experience for me, that I feel so irritated to move away from my laptop to even cook. Now that mommy dearest has left, I hurry to make quick meals. That way, I can spend more time trying out nerdy stuff that can give my blog a new look .

So the easiest meal I could think of for this day was pasta. Hubby always wants veggies included in his meals. Hates carbohydrate-only meals. So, I think...................Penne with veggies in a marinara sauce. This he really  loves and so it is a win-win situation. Very easy for me to cook and meets his requirements too. It needs less prep time in the kitchen. 

To this day, I make a mean marinara sauce. Marinara is a sauce made from tomatoes, onions and herbs.

I learned to make good marinara sauce from my friend Katrin,  when we lived in Germany. She was gracious enough to let me in on 3 secrets to the most delicious and flavorful pasta sauce. As you read on you will know what they are.

It is essential to use a good, extra virgin olive oil to make a good sauce.
I have added spinach and mushrooms to my pasta sauce because I love the combination of these veggies with my pasta . Hmmmm! I just remembered that I could tell you something about mushrooms. There is a trick to know if your mushrooms are fresh or not.

Freshness of mushrooms can be seen and felt. They should look a healthy white, plump and firm to touch . But more than anything, mushrooms should always be closed at the bottom near the stalk. If they are open and show brown veins it means they are not very fresh. But, this doesn't mean that they are bad or unusable,  but, it is always better to buy closed mushrooms, which means freshness intact.

Now, here are the 3 little secrets to a good pasta sauce :

1.  Add tomato paste to the sauce.
2. Add a splash of good red wine.
3.  Let the sauce simmer for atleast 25 mins, but at best 30-45 mins.

Some people as scared or wary of using wine and alcoholic beverages in their cooking. But fact is, that the alcohol evaporates in the cooking process and leaves only a hint of the wine back.

 

I have used ripe, country tomatoes in my sauce beause they disintegrate easily into the sauce while cooking.  

Ingredients: (serves 2)

• Penne pasta - 2 cups (cooked as per package instructions)
• Olive oil - 2 tbspns
• Onions - 2 (sliced)
• Garlic - 10 large cloves
• Tomatoes -5-6 (cut in halves)
• Sun-dried tomato paste - 2 tspns
• Chili powder - 1/2 tspn
• Sugar - 1 tspn
  
• Salt  to taste
• Water - 2 cups
• Wine - 1/4 cup (optional)
• Mushrooms - 5-6 (sliced)
• Spinach - 1 small bunch (chopped)
• Dried oregano -  1/2 tspn
• Basil - 5-6 leaves (chopped)
• Parmesan cheese - Optional ( I did not use it)

Method:

• Heat olive oil in a pan and add garlic and onions. Saute till transparent.
• Add tomatoes and sun-dried tomato paste. Saute well.
• Add chili powder, salt and sugar. Saute for 2 mins.
• Add water and wine and cover and simmer for at least 30 mins. 
• Stir the sauce occasionally (about every 10 mins)
• Add mushrooms. Cover and cook for 6-8 mins.
• Add the spinach and cook for 2-3 mins
• Finally, add the herbs and serve with the penne.
• Grate a little parmesan cheese over the plate after serving. (optional)

 

Mom's sun-dried tomatoes

 

In the USA, I did not find the opportunity to make homemade sun-dried tomatoes, because, there just wasn't enough sun. Another reason was that we stayed in an apartment. So, I always had to opt for making oven-dried tomatoes. 

But now, in India, it is opportunities galore. The sun just shines and shines and shines. Especially, in my home-town. So, I asked mommy-dearest to sun-dry some tomatoes for me. And voila, beautiful sun-dried tomatoes.

Mom has come over to stay with us for a while and she has brought me some of these wonderful homemade sun-dried beauties. She had to dry about 10 kgs. of tomatoes to make me 1.5 kgs of dried tomatoes. She said that they dried in 4 days, so, just imagine the  heat.

Sun-dried tomatoes have an intense tomato flavor to them. It has that zing as well as a hint of natural sweetness.

 I chop these tomatoes and use then as toppings for pizza. That's  yummo! They work well in salads too.

I make a paste of these tomatoes to make my own pizza and pasta sauce.

To make sun-dried tomatoes.  All you need is some ripe tomatoes and salt. Cut each tomato into 5 slices and lay them out, in a single layer, on a large tray to dry. Sprinkle a dash of salt on them and cover with a net to keep dust and insects at bay. 4 days in the sun and the tomatoes are ready.

To make my tomato paste, I blend the sun-dried tomatoes in a grinder jar with a splash of hot water. Simple and yummy.

Plum Clafoutis for him

Watching the Masterchef series gets you so inspired sometimes, that last week saw the outcome of a wonderful plum clafoutis.  It was also baked in time for hubby dear's birthday.  He loves colorful desserts and this birthday, Plum clafoutis it was,  instead of the usual birthday cake.

Peak season for sweet plums was about 3 weeks ago and I kept postponing my clafoutis baking, because, each and every time we bought plums, they were gobbled up, leaving none for baking. So, finally when I realised that plum season was coming to an end, I bucked up and went full fledged to make my plum calfoutis.

The result........a really tart plum clafoutis because of tart plums :(  But luckily, it wasn't inedible. A tad  extra of powdered sugar dusted atop helped.

Lesson learned..... make hay while the sun shines.

 So, to reduce the tartness of the fruit I also caramelized them after pitting.

Since it was my first attempt at baking a clafoutis, I had my fair share of doubts. Is there less of flour?  Is there too much of milk? Is the batter too runny? But, all went well.( We women just worry for nothing :) The recipe was pretty easy. Easier than baking a cake.

When I saw my clafoutis all puffed up as it baked in the oven, I thought "wow!" Then, just like a souffle, it deflated when I took it out and let it rest . That was a disappointment and the next time I bake a clafoutis, I would definitely see if I can work on that .

He loved the dessert  and that was one more feather to my cap :)

So, here we come to the recipe part.

Ingredients : (Serves 4)

• All purpose flour- 1/4 cup
• Fine sugar- 1/4 cup
• Eggs - 2
• Butter - 1 tbspn (melted, cooled)
• Milk- 1/2 cup
• Cream- 1/4 cup
• Medium plums- 10 (halved, stones removed )
• Vanilla extract - 1/2 tspn

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 4 individual cups or a baking dish.

• Combine flour, sugar and eggs in a bowl. Beat well to combine. Add butter, milk, cream and vanilla. Whisk to combine.

• Place plums, cut side up, in prepared dish. Add flour mixture. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until just set. Let stand for 2 minutes. Dust with icing sugar. Serve immediately.

Pomegranate Breakfast Soda

Pomegranate is one of my favorite fruits. When it comes to nutrition content, this fruit is one of the toppers. On most days, my breakfast includes fresh orange juice and I shift to pomegranate when they are in season.


This breakfast soda is great for a sunny morning. The beauty of it lies in its simplicity . This recipe is adapted from Ina Garten.

I made fresh pomegranate juice at home. Care needs to be taken while blending the pomegranate seeds. Just pulse about 5 times to extract the juice. Too much blending will lead to a very grainy discolored juice. Straining the juice works best with a muslin cloth or small-holed mesh strainer.
(Always use gloves when removing pomegranate seeds as it stains fingers.)

Ingredients

• 100 ml pomegranate juice
• 100 ml sparkling water ( Soda)
• 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar(optional)

Directions:

Mix the ingredients together in a pitcher and serve over ice.

Zebra cake

The Masterchef Australia Season has started all over again and I love, love, love the show. I never miss an episode. Such a pleasure watching people cooking good food and all the more 'beautiful food'. There a so many talented people out there. Good to see wonderfully good food with quality ingredients. Have watched Masterchef USA and India and to be frank, I liked only Australia. The focus is only on food and no cribbing and fussing. I learn so much about food from this show. The judges are fantastic too.
I can just go on and on and on about this but let me just sum it all up with a Big Hurrah! for the Masterchef Australia series.

Now, let me get to my baked goodies. This time round, I want to share the recipe and pics of a  Zebra cake.  I think it looks adorable. I'm impressed with myself. Pat, pat, pat on my back. This cake went straight to a cousin's home. So I could not taste it, but, those who did, said it was fabulous.

What I would do differently next time,
1) make more layers. This time I tried just few.
2) Since I now know how to do it, I would spoon the batter a little neater next time. This time the job was shabby as you can see  :)

The layers were not so clear on the outside . But , when cut, there was this beautiful display of brown and white.The design looked so fashionable.

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cupsall purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 medium eggs at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup warm, whole milk 
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder.  

  

Directions:

• Preheat  oven to 400 degrees F or 205 degrees C . Line an 8-inch cake pan with parchment paper or butter and dust with all-purpose flour. 
• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
• In a large mising bowl, beat butter and sugar using an electric mixer set on low speed, until the mixture resembles damp sand (about 3 mins).
•  Beat in the eggs one at a time on medium-high, until wellblended and  a smooth fluffy consistency is reached. (About 7-8 mins)
• Add vanilla and mix.
• Add 1/3 of the sifted flour mixture and milk alternately and mix until you have added it all.
  
• Do not overbeat this mixture. Once the flour is incorporated well, stop mixing. 
• Separate this batter into 2 equal parts. To one part add cocoa powder and mix well.   

  

Now to create the zebra design.  

For this the batter has to be poured in a particular fashion into the mold.

• Take a large spoon or ladle and first spoon the vanilla batter right into the center of  the prepared pan. Tap the pan thrice to spread the batter a little.  
• Next, spoon the chocolate batter right in the middle of the vanilla batter and tap the pan.  
• Repeat these 2 steps alternately till you have added all the batter. (see pic above)
  
• Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean — 25 to 30 minutes. 
• Cool cake completely on a wire rack.

Coffee Pannacotta with Chocolate glaze

The scent of hot, freshly brewed coffee is heaven. Have been wanting to try a coffee flavored version of Pannacotta for a long time. Love coffee for its aroma and the slightly bitter aftertaste. Coffee flavored Pannacotta has this fancy taste without much hard work.
The recipe is simple. Similar to Vanilla pannacotta.(Recipe here). But, leave the vanilla out and add 2 tspns (or more, according to taste) of instant coffee granules when the cream has boiled. For those who love chocolate with coffee, the recipe for the chocolate glaze follows.

For chocolate glaze melt 1/4 cup of chocolate chips over a water bath and add 3-4 tbspns of milk to it and stir When cool, use as glaze.
As usual, I added mint leaves for a pop of color while photographing.

Luv 'n' luc'
Smitha

Home-made Strawberry Preserve

Fragrant, sweet strawberries are in season and to make best use of this I decided to make some homemade strawberry preserve. These fleshy, delicate berries are perfect for preserve.

The difference between jams and preserves is simple.

Jams use fruit pulp or crushed fruit and preserves use chunky pieces of fruit in a syrupy jam base. My husband hates jam and loves preserve for this reason alone. He loves the fruit chunks on his morning toast.

It requires just 3 ingredients to be precise, 2 of which are very basic and will be available in every pantry. The recipe requires only fresh strawberries, sugar and lime/lemon. Yes, it's that basic. And, the cooking time is only about 15-20 mins. Simple.

I followed Delia Smith's recipe.

But I did make a few changes to suit my convenience.
The changes I made are :
1. I did not use preserving sugar as recommended. I used normal white sugar.
2. I did not use any butter in my recipe. I skipped that whole step.
3. I reduced the amount of sugar to 600 gms for 900 gms of strawberries instead of the 700 gms recommended.
4. I cut the big strawberries in half because I did not want to many extra-large chunks in my preserve.
5. After the 8 minute boiling phase, and the consistency test, I continued with 5 more minutes of boiling.

On the whole, I really enjoyed the experience of making preserve and this being my first trial in preserves, I'm proud of the end result. My hubby and mom-in-law and I are thoroughly enjoying it almost every morning.
I always thought that strawberry preserves get their color from artificial colors. But I was pleasantly surprised at how the strawberries turned a deep red when the preserve was ready to be jarred. No artificial color.
What I would do differently when I make this preserve again? I would cut all the strawberries in half before sprinkling them with sugar. I prefer small chunks in my preserve.

The picture above shows how to check consistency of the preserve as mentioned in Delia's recipe. The crinkle test with a frozen plate.


Luv 'n' luc'
Smitha

Pistachio Kesar Kulfi Popsicles

Dessert again. Kulfi is a popular, frozen, dairy dessert from India, very similar to ice cream. I have a weak spot for good ice cream. I'm sure there are many like me. I like the "real thing" which is made of REAL DAIRY cream as opposed to the non dairy cream which does not render that genuine creaminess . Very many ice creams found in the market, especially in India, contain non dairy cream, artificial flavors and artificial colors.
Two brands that I know off which use top quality and natural ingredients are Haagen Daz and Ben and Jerry's. Thank God for globalization, these are available here today.
I've used all natural ingredients in my kulfi. Most Kulfi recipes call for corn starch to thicken the mixture. I've replaced corn starch with arrowroot powder. Flavor comes from using saffron, cardamom and pistachios. Creaminess from rich milk and whipping cream. These ingredients are a bit on the expensive side, but, I feel it is money well spent.
Another advantage is that it is a no bake dessert. Easy to make. You could avoid cardamom and add any fruit pulp to make fruit kulfis. My suggestion would be Mango and Chiku, as these fruits have a very Indian flavor which will go well with this Indian dessert.

Ingredients:

• Milk - 2 cups
• Sugar- 1/2 cup
• Arrowroot powder - 2 tspns
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 tspn
• Pistachios - 1/4 cup (chopped)
• Saffron - 4-5 strands
• Whipping cream-1/2 cup

Directions:

• Dissolve arrowroot in 1/4 cup of cold milk.
• Whip up the whipping cream to peaks and set aside in the refrigerator
• Take 1/4 cup of hot milk and to this add saffron strands and set aside.
• Heat the remaining milk with sugar and let dissolve. Once the milk begins to boil, reduce heat and add the arrowroot dissolved milk. Stir well
• Next add the saffron milk and stir.
• Stir for about 2-3 mins till the arrowroot slightly thinkens the mixture and it comes to a custard consistency.
• Turn off heat and add pistachios and cardamom powder.
• Let cool. Once cooled, add whipped cream and fold gently till it's incorporated well.
• Pour mixture into popsicle molds or any mold of your choice.
• Freeze for 4-6 hours or overnight.
• To unmold the popsicles, dip the mold in warm water for 10 secs. The popsicles will slide out easily.
• Enjoy.

Luv 'n' luc'
Smitha

Blueberry Walnut Cake

It's been very difficult to find blueberries here, in India, and so I asked an aunt to look out for some dried blueberries abroad. And lucky me, she brought me a pack of dried blueberries. I was so excited to bake this blueberry walnut cake. I did miss the plumpness of fresh, juicy blueberries as the dried berries had the texture and feel of raisins.They tasted very much like fresh blueberries though. So now, for all I care, I have blueberries in my pantry all year round and don't have to go hunting places for them.


It was a neat bake and and I was pretty happy with the result. A fairly easy recipe.
A moist cake with crisp walnut and chewy blueberries. This can be served plain or with fresh fruit.

Ingredients:

• Butter( at room temperature) - 1 stick( 115 gms)
• Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Eggs(large) - 3
• Pure vanilla extract - 1 tspn
• All purpose flour - 1-1/4 cup
• Baking powder - 1 tspn
• Baking soda - 1/2 tspn
• Salt - 1/8 tspn(optional)
• Milk - 1/3 cup
  
• Walnuts - 1 cup (chopped)
• Dried blueberries - 1/4 cup
  

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F( 177 C)
• When the oven is preheating, put walnuts on a baking sheet into the oven. This will toast the walnuts. Remove after 3-4 mins. Set aside to cool. Once cool, give walnuts a rough chop.
  
• Butter an 8" round cake pan or line it with parchment paper. Set aside
• Seperate the eggs. Put egg yolks in a small bowl and set aside. Put the egg whites in a large, clean, dry bowl and beat the to stiff peaks and set aside.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.
• Add egg yolks one at a time and beat well after each addition.
• Add vanilla extract and mix well.
• Now add the flour mixture and mix. Stir in the milk until batter is smooth. (Do not over beat the cake batter as it will result in a hard cake).
• Add the walnuts and the blueberries. Mix.
• Fold in the egg whites gently into the cake.
• Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Do the toothpick test to see if the cake is done.(See note below).
• If the cake is not done, reduce the oven temperature to 275 degrees F(135 C) and bake for 8-10 more mins.Repeat tooth pick test.
• When the cake is done, let it rest in the cake pan for 10 mins.Then remove the cake from the cake pan and cool completely on a wire rack.
  

Note: Take a tooth pick or a knife or a bamboo skewer and poke it till the bottom of the cake.If it comes out clean the cake is ready.If it comes out with wet cake batter, it needs additional time to bake.

Luv 'n' luc'
Smitha

EVER TASTED SILK ? - VANILLA PANNA COTTA WITH STRAWBERRY COULIS (REPOST)

Today, I am reposting my pannacotta recipe.

This is easily the simplest recipe for a pudding.You can totally astonish anyone with it. PANNA COTTA means cooked cream and COULIS is just a fruit puree. Panna cotta is an Italian cold dessert and as always........anything Italian never fails to make me go gaga... :) To me, panna cotta is a very versatile dessert.It can be made in various flavors and can be paired with any sweet sauce.With that said, today I am making one with pure vanilla extract which I think is a universally appealing flavor. Anyone who does not like vanilla(which I think is rare) can substitute it with a pinch of cardamom powder. For those of you who are not strawberry fans , you can try chocolate sauce, or any other fruit as per your taste(like mango, rasberry,mixed berry, orange etc) .Or even better.........you can have the panna cotta just the way it is.

WARNING : Once you see the beauty you have created, you may not have the heart to serve it to your family or guests. Just console yourself with the thought that this is such and easy recipe that you can make it, any time, in a jiffy. So go ahead and dive right in :)

INGREDIENTS :(serves 3-4)
FOR PANNA COTTA:

• Unflavored gelatin 1 (o.25 ounce) envelope -which equals to about 1 tbspn
• 1/3 cup warm milk
• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup white sugar
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

INGREDIENTS( FOR STRAWBERRY SAUCE)

• Fresh strawberries - 2 cups (substitute with strawberry jam or preserve)
• Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Lemon juice - 1 tbspn
• Pudhina( mint) leaves - to garnish
  

DIRECTIONS(for panna cotta)

• Pour warm milk into a small bowl and stir in the gelatin powder. Stir and set aside.
• In a saucepan, pour heavy cream and stir in the sugar and set over medium heat. Bring to a full boil, watching carefully, as the cream will quickly rise and overflow.
• Pour the gelatin and milk into the cream, stirring until completely dissolved. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla and pour into six individual ramekins( small cups) or tea cups or one big bowl.( I have used a ramekin).
• Cool the ramekins or the bowl uncovered at room temperature. When cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate(do not freeze) for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight. To serve, see directions below.

DIRECTIONS (for the strawberry coulis)

• Cut the strawberrys in halves and place them in a saucepan.Add sugar and stir on medium heat till the strawberry starts letting out its juices.If you are using fresh strawberries , you may have to add 3-4 tbspns of water to get the process started.
• Stir gently, because you do not want he strawberry peices to break up and get mushy.We need a chunky sauce.Cook for a total of 5-6 mins till all the sugar has dissolved.
• Remove from heat and cool well.Once it is cooled add the lemon juice.
  

DIRECTIONS TO SERVE :
There are 2 ways to serve panna cotta.

1) you can serve the pudding in the individual ramekins itself topped with the strawberry coulis. No need to unmould.

OR

2) Unmould and serve.

Directions to unmould:

• Dip the ramekins in hot water for 3 secs.
• Run a knife gently around the sides of the pannacotta.
• Take a large dessert serving plate and hold the plate with the palm of one hand and the bowl with the other and with a swift motion turn the pudding bowl upside down. Now, remove the bowl and u will see this beautiful, appealing, creamy-white panna cotta on your plate.

Wait , wait..........Don't pounce on it just as yet. One more step to go .Take your strawberry coulis and spoon it on top of the panna cotta. Garnish with some pudhina( mint) leaves.

It's ready now .

Luv 'n' luc

Smitha