Macaroni with Parsley-Peanut Pesto

There was a time I hadn't heard of pesto. Then came the time when I'd heard about it, but knew nothing about it. Then came the time when I first ate it. And then came the present. The time when I've heard about it, I know about it, I've eaten it, I make it and I experiment with different flavours. I've come a long way from asking a friend to bring me pine nuts from the US to using the humble peanut in my pesto.


At one time, I'd substitute pine nuts only with cashews. But I've become a bit more adventurous of late. Any nut and any kind of herb (needn't be a herb) and I've got a pesto going. To make it suitable for a lunch box, I added some mushrooms and some milk.


1 cup Macaroni, Cooked/Boiled with a little oil and salt

1 tbsp Olive Oil
2-3 tbsp Milk
1/2 cup Mushrooms, sliced




For the Parsley Pesto:


1/2 cup Parsley Leaves
1 cube Low Fat Cheese
2 tbsp Roasted Peanuts
2 pods Garlic
3 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Chilli Flakes


Salt and Pepper to taste


Grind together all the ingredients for the pesto.


Drain the pasta and keep aside.


Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Saute the mushrooms for 3-4 minutes. Add the pesto sauce and fry for a few minutes. Add the milk to get a sauce like consistency. Add the pasta and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.


A meal that comes together in minutes. There's not much chopping involved. And since I use a food processor to grind the pesto, there's no pounding to be done either. This is a perfect recipe for times when you want a nice meal and don't want to slave over the stove too much.

I hope all of you had a good Christmas. Happy Holidays!

Spinach and Cheese Pasta

As an adult, I developed a taste for stuff that I almost always turned up my nose at as a child. Pasta is one of them. Considering how often pasta finds its way into our meals, it feels like my childhood must have been part of another life.

The inspiration for this dish comes from one of the baked dishes I tried almost a decade ago in Madras. It comes together very easily, especially if you always have a stash of processed vegetables in your freezer. For this recipe, I used the Whole Wheat Pasta from Fabindia. I've been hooked to this ever since I tried it for the first time.

1 cup Whole Wheat Elbow Macaroni

1 cup Spinach, chopped and steamed for 5-7 minutes

1 tbsp Butter

1 tbsp Flour

1 cup Milk

1/2 tsp Parsley

1/2 tsp Basil

1 tsp Chilli flakes

1/2 tsp Garlic Paste

Salt and Pepper to Taste

1 slice Low Fat Cheese

Boil the macaroni according to the instructions on the pack.

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the spinach and fry for a minute. Add the garlic paste, parsley, basil and chilli flakes and fry for another minute. Add the flour and fry without browning the flour. Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring continuously. Add the cheese at this point and stir the sauce well. As the sauce thickens, add the salt and pepper. Add the macaroni and serve hot.

I served this with some garlic toast. A quick dinner. Simple, yet wholesome.

Stir Fried Mushrooms with Spaghetti

The new year has been around for over three weeks and I have not visited this space to post anything. I haven't really cooked anything new. And if I have, I haven't had a chance to take a picture. In those rare cases where there is a picture, I haven't uploaded it. If I have, I simply haven't gotten around to blogging about it. I have been actively participating in the Project 365 and a fair bit of my attention was diverted there. I have also started reading and am onto my fourth book for 2010 already. To all my readers here at The Singing Chef, wishing you a happy new year.

I took part in the Taste & Create event almost two years ago. I really enjoyed it. I made the most amazing pumpkin cake from Ben's blog. More than the actual act of recreating a dish, I enjoyed going through the blog in detail. So, when I decided to participate in the same event this time around, I was paired with Vanilla Strawberry Springfields. Everytime I went to her blog, I got lost. One visit there and you will know why.

I dragged my feet on this event and suddenly I remembered that the last day for the event was round the corner. I went to the blog once again and I was, at the same time, wondering what to make for lunch. The very first post on her blog that day caught my eye. I had almost everything the recipe called for and this recipe called out to me. Without further ado, I bring to you Stir Fried Mushrooms with Pasta.

It is a keeper recipe and everything comes together rather quickly.

100g Spaghetti, prepared according to instructions on the pack

200g Mushrooms, sliced

1 cup Spinach, roughly chopped

1 cup Spring Onions, chopped (whites and greens)

1 cup Capsicum, sliced (I used red, yellow and green)

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tsp Groundnut Oil

1 tsp Garlic paste

1 tsp Soya sauce

1 tsp Chilli Sauce

1 tsp Sugar

Salt to taste

Heat the olive oil and fry the spring onion whites and garlic paste. Add the mushrooms and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the capsicum and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the groundnut oil and the spinach and cook until the spinach wilts. Add the spring onion greens along with the soya and chilli sauces, sugar and salt.

Serve over a bed of spaghetti. See, I told you. It doesn't get much easier than this. A wholesome meal is ready in minutes.

Macaroni with Tomato-Ricotta Cheese Sauce

When my parents spent a month with us, I realized that I barely cooked. I seemed to cook lunch for S and myself, but Amma took care of almost everything else. One weekend, I decided to drag my lazy self into the kitchen and cook a meal. I wasn't donning the chef's hat yet, so I wanted to be out of the kitchen as soon as possible. So, pasta it was. I got a lot of appreciation for a lunch that involved emptying different cartons/bottles from the refrigerator. Now, who can complain?

2 cups Macaroni, prepared as per the instructions on the pack.

1 cup Pizza Sauce (I used American Garden)

3/4 cup Ricotta Cheese

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tsp Garlic Paste

1 tsp Parsley

1 tsp Basil

1 tsp Oregano

Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the oil. Add the garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add the pizza sauce, parsley, basil and oregao and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the salt and cook for a minute. Crumble the ricotta cheese into the sauce and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Season with pepper and pour the sauce over the macaroni.

Enjoy this with some Garlic Bread or Garlic Toast. And wait for the compliments to come pouring in.

Macaroni Casserole

These days I seem to need all the inspiration I can find to cook. I've tried different meal plans, tried to cook as much as possible in advance, etc. But there are days when even the best laid plans turn their noses, lift up their thumbs and say Na-na-na-na-na. Last Thursday was one such day. I remembered my namesake's moussaka and Nupur's green bean casserole and ended up making a casserole with just about everything I could lay my hands on.

2 Potatoes, boiled, peeled and sliced

1 cup Macaroni, prepared according to instructions on the pack

1 cup Pasta Sauce

1 Onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup Spinach puree

1/4 cup Sweet Corn

1 tsp Olive Oil

1 tsp Mixed Herbs

1 tsp Chilli Flakes

1 cup White Sauce

1 slice Cheese

1/4 cup Bread Crumbs

Salt and Pepper to taste

Butter to grease the tin

Grease the tin with the butter. Preheat the oven to 200C (400F).

Heat the olive oil in a pan and saute the onions. Add the mixed herbs and the chilli flakes. Add the corn along with a little water. Cook until the corn is soft and the water has evaporated. Add the spinach puree and a little salt. Keep aside.

Blend the white sauce with the cheese and keep aside.

Arrange the potato slices to cover the base of the tin. Spread the pasta sauce over the potatoes. Spread the macaroni over this. Cover with the spinach and corn mixture. Pour the white sauce over this spinach layer. Season with salt and pepper and cover with bread crumbs. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Serve hot.

There were two things that I really liked about this casserole: The different flavours that came together beautifully and the wonderful colour combination that made it a visual treat.

If you miss the train I'm on...

... you will know that I am gone. You can hear the whistle blow a 100 miles.

I'm sure you're all wondering what these lines have to do with my food blog. Agreed that this is the blog of The Singing Chef and that music has to be a part of this journey. Read on till the end if you want to unravel this little mystery. This is a long post.

I have always talked about why blogs and cookbooks will co-exist. Each fixes a different problem, a different need. There is a certain joy in going through a cookbook, getting inspired by it, cooking something from it and enjoying it. There is a different joy in blog hopping, finding a recipe, cooking it, letting the blogger know (or even seeking inputs where necessary) and then telling the whole world what a nice recipe that blogger put up. Overall, it fosters a sense of camaraderie. This post is my way of saying thanks to my fellow bloggers for putting up some delicious recipes that have added much needed variety to our dinner table. Some of the recipes that I tried (and we loved) are:

Pumpkin Erissheri from the Jugalbandits.

Tomato Spinach Pulao from Nags' Edible Garden.

Indian Style Baked Tofu from Madhuram's Eggless Cooking.

Pasta the forgotten way from Arundati's Escapades.

Mushroom Stroganoff from Aarti's Life Goes On.

Baby Carrots and Thyme from Nandita's Saffron Trail.

Chukku Kaapi from Mishmash

I have told you all that I didn't intend for this blog to become what it has. All this is a bonus. I only hoped to create a repository of recipes that I can access easily. Today, there are so many people who write back and let me know they tried something from my blog. I feel thrilled. When my "forced-to-be-bachelors-for-a-week" friends write in and tell me they cooked a simple meal from my blog which spared them another night of Maggi, I feel honoured. Then there are some folks out there who would make it seem like I am a celebrity (one even said as much!) and have nominated this blog in the Best Baking Blog category in the FoodBuzz 2009 Food Blog Awards!

This post is as much one to thank each and everyone of you who has visited this blog, encouraged me to continue blogging (especially at those times when I felt like giving up). I want to acknowledge the friends who have come into my life through this very medium. I want you all to know that I am deeply grateful for your presence in my life today. To all of you, I say:

I'm on the top of the world lookin down on creation

And the only explanation I can find

Is the love that I've found ever since youve been around

Your love's put me at the top of the world

But why am I singing the song by Carpenters, when I started with that beautiful song by Peter, Paul and Mary?

If you miss the train I'm on, you will know that I am gone

You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles,

A hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles, a hundred miles,

You can hear the whistle blow a hundred miles.

Lord I'm one, lord I'm two, lord I'm three, lord I'm four,

Lord I'm 500 miles from my home.

500 miles, 500 miles, 500 miles, 500 miles

Lord I'm five hundred miles from my home.

Because Lord I'm one, lord I'm two, lord I'm three, lord I'm four, Lord I'm 500 posts from my home. And to reach this wonderful milestone on the day that S and I celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary makes both the celebrations that much sweeter! Happy Anniversary Sachin. You've made the last three years so memorable and I look forward to all the memories we will create together.

Tomato, Basil and Macaroni Soup

I can't remember where I tasted this soup first. But I do remember having loved it at first slurp! I made this on a day that I had a lot of tomatoes and a whole bunch of fresh basil. I know that tomato and basil are truly made for each other. I threw in some boiled macaroni and made a meal out of this soup.

6 Tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup Basil leaves, roughly chopped

1/2 cup Macaroni, prepared according to instructions on pack

1/2 tsp Chilli Flakes

Salt and Pepper to taste

In a pressure cooker, cook the tomatoes, chilli flakes and basil along with 2 cups of water. Blend in a liquidizer and strain. Bring this mixture to a boil. Add the cooked macaroni and season with salt and pepper.

Perfect for those times when you want a hot, comforting, yet quick meal. Off this goes to the Think Spice Think Red Chillies event over at Kitchen Chronicles.

Masala Vegetable Pasta

Macaroni with vegetables in white sauce is an absolute favourite of mine. When S and I met a friend in Hyderabad, he told S that I was a good cook. And that I tried very hard to match my mother's cooking standards. He went on to say that there were many dishes that I made really well, but that there was this one dish I just couldn't make the way she did. I can only keep trying!

1 cup Macaroni (Or any pasta of your choice)

1 cup Mixed Boiled Vegetables (Carrot, Beans, Peas, Cauliflower, Potato), diced
1/4 cup, Mixed Capsicum, chopped
1 tbsp Butter/Olive Oil
1 tbsp Flour
1 cup Milk
1 tsp Sambar Powder

1 tsp Oil

Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 slice Low Fat Cheese (optional)

Cook the macaroni in a cooker with a little salt, a teaspoon of oil, sambar powder and sufficient water. Drain.

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the capsicum and fry for a minute. Add the flour and fry without browning the flour. Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring continuously. If adding cheese, add it at this point and stir the sauce well. As the sauce thickens, add the salt and pepper. Add the boiled vegetables and the macaroni to the sauce.

Dig in!

Instant Pasta

I can have pasta for lunch or dinner. I can have it as an in between snack as well. I love pasta in any form and in any kind of sauce, stir-fry, sauté or salad. That pasta is an extremely popular breakfast dish is something I learnt only after I moved to Gurgaon this time around. The only pasta I’d eaten for breakfast had to be vermicelli.


I still don’t quite relish pasta for breakfast. But my colleague, D, brought this one morning and I loved it. I made it a few days later as a pre dinner snack (as dinner is mostly soup these days). It came out exactly like her dish.


I may not make this very often, but it is a keeper recipe that I had to save on my blog for posterity. Make it again, I certainly will.


1 cup Pasta of your choice, prepared according to instructions
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp Olive Oil
½ tsp Garlic Paste
2 tbsp Mayonnaise
1-2 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
¼ tsp Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste


Heat the oil in a pan. Add the onion and garlic paste and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the mayonnaise and tomato ketchup along with the oregano, salt and pepper. Add the cooked pasta and toss well.

(Remember to go easy on the salt as the mayonnaise and ketchup have enough already.)

Enjoy this with a bowl of soup or some toast or just as it is. It is lip-smacking delicious.

Sunshine Pasta

I love pasta. I love how I can throw in just about any vegetable into it and make the dish look and feel like a million bucks. This pasta was the result of what I had in my crisper one morning. Just like my Green Salad "happened", this sunshine pasta came together with a little bit of this and some of that.

1 cup Fusilli, prepared according to directions on the package
2 Medium Carrots, sliced and steamed
1 Orange Pepper, sliced
1 Yellow Pepper, sliced
1 Red Pepper, sliced
2 Tomatoes, sliced
1 Onion, sliced
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Oregano
½ tsp Basil
½ tsp Parsley
1 tsp Chilli Flakes/Paprika
1 pod Garlic, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to Taste


Heat the oil in a pan and add the garlic. After a minute, add the onions and the chilli flakes/paprika. Fry for a minute more. Add the herbs and the tomatoes. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the peppers along with the carrots and cook for 4-5 minutes. Toss in the pasta. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

This could be a quick fix lunch or dinner. I love the colours. What about you? Off this goes to dear Aparna as she hosts this month's edition of FIC-Orange, an event started by SunshineMom. That's quite a bit of Sunshine!

Kidney Bean and Pasta Salad

There is nothing permanent except change. That’s something I completely believe in. About a month ago, our diet plan underwent a complete makeover. The weather has also been very conducive. We eat stuffed parathas, salads, and filling snacks during the day and end the day with hot soup. While I try to plan ahead, there are times when I have no idea what to make. I usually try and buy vegetables for the week over the weekend. I then chop them according to different needs and then freeze them in freezer bags. That way, I can throw in a handful of vegetables into just about anything and turn any dish into a complete meal.


This is one of those “make-it-up-as-you-go” salads. I had a can of kidney beans and wanted to use it up. Rajma wasn’t on my mind. So I decided to pair it with some pasta and vegetables. Nothing unusual about that, I agree. The dressing is what took this salad to the next level. I was in an experimental mood that morning and this colourful salad was the result.



1 cup Pasta, prepared according to instructions on the pack
1 can Red Kidney Beans, drained
1 cup Mixed Vegetables, diced and cooked


For the dressing:

1 tbsp Olive Oil
2-3 pods Garlic, chopped
1 Onion, diced
¼ cup Capsicum, chopped
¼ cup Carrots, chopped
1 Tomato, chopped
2 tsp Chilli Flakes
1 tsp Oregano
½ tsp Basil
½ tsp Parsley
Salt to taste


To prepare the dressing, heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the garlic and onion and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the capsicum and fry for another minute. Add the chilli flakes, oregano, basil, parsley and salt and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the tomato and carrots and cover and cook for 5 minutes. Grind this mixture to a paste.


To proceed, place the kidney beans, pasta and vegetables in a bowl. Add the dressing and toss well.


The dressing is like chutney. It works very well in sandwiches and with crackers. All in all, this is a keeper recipe.

I'm sending this to Sug as she hosts this month's edition of My Legume Love Affair.

Penne in Tomato Sauce

I am a big fan of one dish meals and a bigger fan of pasta. For the longest time, I only ate white sauce based dishes as the tomato sauce versions almost always gave me very severe heart burn. I figured I could make tomato based sauces slightly differently at home. So, now I can make my pasta and eat it too. Just when I figured out a way to make tomato sauce that I can enjoy, S declared his undying love for the bechamel variety. So, this is one of my "once in a while" treats. Simple, easy, quick and filling.

1 cup Penne

2 tsp + 1 tsp Olive Oil
2 Onions, ground to a paste
1 tbsp Garlic Paste
3/4 cup Tomato Puree
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Basil
1 tsp Parsley
1/2 tsp Chilli Flakes
1 slice Low Fat Cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the 2 tsp Oil. Add the onion and garlic pastes and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the chilli flakes, parsley, basil and oregano and fry for a minute. Add the tomato puree and allow the mixture to boil.

Boil 2 litres of water with a little salt and 1 tsp oil. Add the penne to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes. Drain.

Add the cheese slices to the sauce and stir briskly till it blends well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the cooked penne in the sauce and serve hot.

Broccoli Corn Bake

Laks and I were chatting a long long time ago about casseroles and I realized I hadn't made a casserole in ages. Somewhere during that conversation I remembered the Broccoli, Corn and Mushroom Bake I had at Red E or Stop at Sams (a diner that, sadly, doesn't exist anymore). When I have no bread at home to go with the bake, I tend to add pasta and make it a meal. So while I was talking to her, I decided what our dinner would be. It had to be a casserole. There weren't any mushrooms at home (there almost never are in summer!) so I went ahead with broccoli and corn.

1 cup Spirali Pasta, cooked according to the instructions on the pack

1/2 cup Broccoli florets, steamed

1/4 cup Sweet Corn, steamed

1 tbsp Butter/Olive Oil
1 tbsp Flour
1 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Parsley
1/2 tsp Basil
1 tsp Chilli flakes
1/2 tsp Garlic Paste
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 slice Low Fat Cheese (optional)

1 tsp Butter to grease the baking dish

3 tbsp Bread Crumbs

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the garlic paste, parsley, basil and chilli flakes and fry for another minute. Add the flour and fry without browning the flour. Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring continuously. If adding cheese, add it at this point and stir the sauce well. As the sauce thickens, add the salt and pepper. Stir in the broccoli, corn and pasta.

Grease a baking dish with the teaspoon of butter. Pour in the white sauce-pasta mixture. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the mixture and bake in a hot oven (400F) for 10 minutes. Serve hot.

As I go continental this week, see what my friends are doing: DK , Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Lakshmi, Lakshmi Venkatesh , Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, DK, and Pavani.

Penne in Corn-Spinach Sauce

It was another weeknight. All I wanted to do was make a quick dinner, eat and hit the bed. S, however, was in no hurry to eat. I found a bunch of spinach in the fridge and suddenly I found myself thinking about the past. The days I spent in Chennai as a working girl. Those years were very different from the ones I spent growing up. I had, after all, left, seen a bit of the world, and then returned. I worked at a place where I thought of few people as colleagues. They were mostly friends. We had loads of fun, had many parties together, and ate out an awful lot. One of the places that we frequented was the Red E Food Court. I loved the casseroles and baked dishes we got there. One of those dishes was white sauce based with chopped spinach and sweet corn. They served it with some garlic bread. Pure bliss.

I had no bread and so I decided to put some pasta into the sauce and make it a complete meal. That's when things changed a bit. I decided I didn't feel like chopping the spinach. So dinner that evening took a green turn. Here's how.

1 cup Penne, cooked

1 tbsp Butter

1 tbsp Flour

1 cup Milk

1/2 tsp Parsley

1/2 tsp Basil

1 tsp Chilli flakes

1/2 tsp Garlic Paste

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 slice Low Fat Cheese (optional)

1 bunch Spinach, cooked and pureed

1/2 cup Sweet Corn Kernels

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the garlic paste, parsley, basil and chilli flakes and fry for a minute. Add the flour and fry for a minute without browning the flour. Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring continuously. Add the spinach puree and corn. If adding cheese, add it at this point and stir the sauce well. As the sauce thickens, add the salt and pepper. When the sauce is thick, add the pasta and mix well.

I was not sure how the dish would taste as I just turned lazy and pureed the spinach instead of chopping it. But not only was the colour appealing, the taste was wonderful. I suppose it is OK to be lazy every once in a while after all.

Do check out the blogs of these lovely ladies: DK , Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Lakshmi.

Spaghetti in Bechamel Sauce

I love pasta in any form and shape and can eat it any number of times. I have some folks at work who believe that eating pasta is a sign that you are snooty and, hence, look down on rotis and rice. I am sick and tired of explaining to people that I like variety. I am even sicker of explaining to folks that I grew up eating the stuff. Somehow, people are totally unable to believe that my mother made these part of our every day meals. Long before pizza sauces and bases made their appearance in supermarkets, she dished out pizzas from scratch as Monday night dinners. And I don’t count pizza and pasta in my list of junk food. These are full meals and can be as nutritious as you want them to be.

I’ve had some spaghetti lying in the cupboard for months now and somehow never got around to making it. I love spaghetti with tomato sauce and S loves his spaghetti carbonara. In fact, he’d try and order it at every Italian restaurant. I had a lot of milk in the fridge waiting to be used up and dished this out a couple of weeks ago. I loved this dish especially for the colours. (I really wanted to add corn for the yellow, but S didn’t want corn in his spaghetti!)

150g Spaghetti
1 tsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup, Broccoli, steamed
1/4 cup Mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup, Red Capsicum, sliced
1 tbsp Butter/Olive Oil
1 tbsp Flour
1 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Parsley
1/2 tsp Basil
1 tsp Chilli flakes
1/2 tsp Garlic Paste
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 slice Low Fat Cheese (optional)

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the capsicum and fry for a minute. Add the garlic paste, parsley, basil and chilli flakes and fry for another minute. Add the flour and fry without browning the flour. Add the mushrooms and fry for about 30 seconds. (Do not fry the mushrooms for too long as the water in them gets released.) Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring continuously. If adding cheese, add it at this point and stir the sauce well. As the sauce thickens, add the salt and pepper. Add the broccoli and cook for a minute.

Boil 2 litres of water with a little salt and 1 tsp oil. Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes.

Serve some spaghetti on a plate. Pour the sauce over it. Dig in.

Macaroni Salad and Anouncing MBP - May

The heat is killing. Much as I love cooking, it is the last thing I feel like doing these days. I don’t even mind cooking in the morning, but when I get back in the evening, the mere thought of entering the kitchen to dish up a meal is enough to kill any remnants of an appetite.

Monthly Blog Patrol or MBP an event started by Coffee of The Spice Cafe, is an event I participated in totally by chance. That too, because I happened to make something from her blog which fit very well into that month’s theme. After that, I have tried to be a regular. I know I've missed one or two, and then I missed the event itself for a good 6 months or so. I am guest hosting this event this month. And what I am looking for is a host of stuff that I cam make through summer without having to really toil over the hot stove. The theme for this month is Soups and Salads.

A few simple rules to enlist yourself in the patrol:

1. Make a Soup or Salad from fellow bloggers posted recipes, not food sites.

2. Post a picture of the final recipe on your blog linking it to the blogger, whose recipe you made. You can either post the recipe, or just the picture. Any variations to the original recipe will make interesting reading. One final picture and a link to the original recipe is a must.

3. Don’t forget your hosts! Please add a link back to this event announcement and/or the logo below, and to Coffee’s MBP page.

4. Email the following details to onlineraga@gmail.com with MBP – Soups and Salads in the subject line.

• Your name
• Your blog name
• Name of the Soup or Salad
• Permalink to your post
• Permalink to the original recipe
• A photograph of the final dish.
  

5. You may send as many entries as you like.

6. The deadline for this event is May 24th.

I will post the round up before the end of May (but forgive me if I am delayed as I am planning a trip to Madras around then!)


Here’s a simple salad to get you all in the mood.

1 cup Macaroni, boiled
1 Onion, chopped
1 Tomato, chopped
1 Green Capsicum, chopped
1 Carrot, finely chopped
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Mixed Herbs
1 tsp Chilli Flakes
Salt and Pepper to taste
Lime Juice, optional


Add the herbs and chilli flakes to the olive oil and set aside for 10-30 minutes.

Combine the macaroni with the chopped vegetables. Pour the herb infused olive oil over this. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add a little lime juice if you like. Toss together and enjoy your meal.

Spirali in Basil Pesto

Pesto is one of those things that I love today but didn't quite know about while growing up. The very first time I heard about it was about 5 years ago. A colleague, who had grown up in the US, told me about it one day while recounting her first cooking experience. So, after trying it out at several restaurants, I decided to make it at home. I made a coriander pesto sometime last year. And whenever I could lay my hands on basil, I made basil pesto. I asked a friend to bring me pine nuts from the U.S. And she did. For the very first time I made basil pesto with pine nuts. I didn't pound the nuts in a mortar, but used my food processor instead.

1 cup Spirali Pasta, Cooked/Boiled with a little oil and salt

1 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tbsp Milk

For the Basil Pesto:

1/2 cup Basil Leaves
1 cube Low Fat Cheese
2 tbsp Pine Nuts
2 pods Garlic
3 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Grind together all the ingredients for the pesto.

Drain the pasta and keep aside.

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Fry the pesto sauce in it for a few minutes. Add the milk to get a sauce like consistency. Add the pasta and mix well.

This is one of the simplest dishes I have come across and I make it as often as I can. I'm sending this super simple dish to Mathy who is hosting this month's JFI. The ingredient is one of my favourites: garlic.

Potato Gnocchi in Garlic Butter Sauce

A houseful of guests. And then an empty nest. We weren't exactly "relieved" to come home to an empty house. We weren't exactly feeling terrible about it. Mixed feelings would best describe what we felt on the evening of the 31st of December. Almost two months of having guests at home made us "get used to" the idea of having more than just us in the house. And at times I felt as though everyone should have just stayed on till New Year's and celebrated the end of the two month long party that started around Diwali.

We had no plans for New Year's Eve. We were not sure about what to do and where to go. I was at work the entire day and just wanted to get back home as soon as possible. The roads felt like all of Delhi was heading to Gurgaon to party. And I didn't want to be stuck somewhere on the road from Delhi to Gurgaon. Thankfully, we reached in about the same time that we normally take. I wished my colleague a happy new year and rushed home in the biting cold.

S had requested Italian food. I thought about a lot of things. And then decided to make it special. I had seen a recipe for lasagne on the net and I can't remember exactly where. So, the "Italian" bit fit really well into the evening's plans. I also wanted to make some sort of finger food. We had some bottles of fruit wine stashed away and cheese is usually what we love with our wine. But I thought there'd be too much cheese, what with the lasagne and all that. So, I made some gnocchi instead.

For the gnocchi:

1 cup Potato, boiled and mashed

3 tbsp Flour

Salt to taste

1 tsp Salt and 1 tbsp Olive Oil for boiling the pasta

For the Garlic Butter Sauce:

2 tbsp Garlic, finely chopped

2 tsp Chilli Flakes

1 tsp Mixed Herbs

1 tbsp Butter

1 tsp Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Knead the potato, flour and salt lightly into a dough. Make small balls of this dough and flatten them using a fork. Boil plenty of water and add the salt and olive oil. Drop these flattened rounds into the water and remove them when they come to the surface. Drain completely and keep aside.

Heat the butter and olive oil in a pan. Add the garlic, chilli flakes and herbs. Add the cooked gnocchi and the salt and pepper. Toss around a little and take off the flame.

I really didn't think I'd pull off something quite as fancy as a cozy candlelight dinner for two. I actually set the table, got the candles out, lit them. Poured the wine into the glasses and had everything ready before S returned from the boys' party at his boss' place.

It was an evening to remember. OK, the lasagne got burnt a little, but so what? In my opinion, it beat any party that we were invited to and didn't attend. No hotel, restaurant or pub could have given us a better deal.

I'm sending this to Sunita for her monthly event Think Spice - Think Garlic.

Penne and Vegetable Saute

Wishing all of you out there a very happy and fulfilling 2008!

After a spate of weddings, house guests and parties, S and I celebrated New Year's eve with a candlelight dinner for two. It was a very enjoyable evening with some plum wine, home made Potato Gnocchi, Vegeratrian Lasagne and Fruit Cake. I will share the recipes with all of you very soon.

We had decided in November that we would change our diet plan in 2008. More vegetables, more fruits, more fibre, less carb, less fat. That roughly translates to soups and salads on most days. Sautees also fit in very nicely with this plan. Since I am not on a zero carb or zero fat plan (and probably will never be - every food group has a place in our system), I will not eliminate either of these completely. And considering how much I love baking, I will continue to bake every once in a while. And I just received my copy of How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson in the mail. So, I cannot allow this investment to go waste.

But keeping in mind the resolution, I share with you a simple recipe that is tasty, filling and nutritious all at once, not to mention colourful!!

1 cup Penne, boiled/cooked

1/4 cup Sweet Corn, blanched

1/4 cup Broccoli florets, blanched

1/4 cup French Beans, cut and blanched

1/4 cup Carrots, sliced and blanched

1/2 cup Mushrooms, chopped

2 tsp Olive Oil

2 tbsp Garlic, chopped

1 tsp Chilli Flakes

1 tsp Basil

1 tsp Parsley

Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a pan and add the garlic and saute for a few minutes. Add the chilli flakes along with the basil and parsley and fry for a minute. Add the mushrooms and after about 2-3 minutes add the remaining vegetables along with pasta. Add the salt and pepper and toss the mixture around in the pan. Enjoy this saute straight from the stove.

This is really as simple as it is beautiful. I will be making this more often when these lovely vegetables are in season here.

Off this goes to Sunita for her monthly event Think Spice - Think Garlic.

Pasta Salad with Coriander Pesto

I'd mentioned in a post that we'd started eating salads for lunch and I didn't post the other simple recipes for salad since then. So here's something that has been pending for 2 months now while I have been posting about cakes and kheer and pizza!

I had made pesto sauce with basil several times after the chef at Earth, the Italian lounge S and I can't have enough of, taught me how to make it. I don't use pine nuts, but use cashews instead. While walking down the aisles of Morning Stores, a specialty store in GK I, I noticed coriander pesto in their sauce section. That gave me an idea. I came home and a few days later I made this lovely salad for lunch.






1 cup Pasta, boiled
1 cup Capsicum, cut into strips
1/2 cup Baby Corn, cut into long pieces
1/4 cup Broccoli, cut into florets and steamed


For the Coriander Pesto:

1 cup Coriander leaves

1 cube Low Fat Cheese

2 tbsp Cashews

2 pods Garlic

3 tbsp Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Grind together all the ingredients for the pesto. Toss the vegetables and pasta in the sauce.

This sauce makes a lovely spread for crackers and toast as well and in my opinion would make a great dip. The coriander flavour is lovely and I will be making this sauce more often as a pasta sauce as well.