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Authentic Italian Tomato Sauce

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So here’s THE sauce that I was talking about. It’s pretty much a fail safe recipe and so much more flavorful and satisfying than the store bought varieties. Also when there is an overload of tomatoes in the market which you bought home just because they looked “so nice and juicy”, I suggest putting them to good use in this recipe. This sauce recipe can be used in so many dishes that it’s great to have around. And it’s perfectly healthy!!!

Authentic Italian Tomato Sauce

What you need:
1 kg Tomatoes (pureed)
500 gms Blanched Tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1 Large Onion, minced
6 cloves
1 teaspoons basil
1 Tbsp Rock salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

What to do:
In a large pot, sauté onion and garlic in olive oil. Squash the blanched tomatoes with your hands in a bowl and toss into the pot. Saute for a 3-5 mins. Now add the puree. Season with the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 20-30 mins. Check seasoning. Mamma Mia!

Aubergine Parmesana – fit for Royalty

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Aubergines/ Eggplants are not the co-resident’s favorite vegetable. Forget favorite, it does not even feature in an “I like” list. So when I suggested I was going to make Aubergine Parmesana, the response was a turned up nose and a resigned sigh. Not an encouraging start! When I started frying the aubergine, there was a grunt of approval and finally when the dish popped out of the oven, he ate more than me. So I’ve copied this recipe to help you convert others, after all who can hate a vegetable which is the color of royalty – purple!

Aubergine Parmesana

What you need:
1 large/ 2 small Aubergines/ Eggplants
2 Med Eggs
Flour for dusting
Salt and Pepper to taste
Oil for frying
2 cups Italian Tomato Sauce (Store/ Home made)
2 Garlic cloves
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
A few leaves of fresh Basil/ 2 Tbsp dried Basil
150 gms Mozzarella cheese (grated)
½ cup Parmesan cheese (grated)

What to do:
Preheat oven to 375F/ 190C. Start by salting and pressing the eggplant (aubergine). You need to do this several hours before you start the main part of the preparation. Cut the eggplant into ¼-inch slices, and arrange these on a large plate. Sprinkle with a generous amount of salt. Place another plate on top, and then place something heavy on top of that. When you are ready to start cooking, wash the eggplant thoroughly and dry with a paper towel. Coat each slice with a little flour, dip in the beaten egg mixture (season with salt and pepper), and deep fry for a few minutes in the heated olive oil. Drain on paper towels.

Heat a tsp of oil and sauté the bruised Garlic cloves and red pepper flakes. Add the tomato sauce and heat through. Mix in the Basil. Keep aside.

Grease a medium baking pan with cooking spray. Put enough of the tomato sauce to coat pan. Next layer eggplant slices, a little bit of both cheeses and a little more tomato sauce. Repeat layers ending with a topping of both cheeses. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes Cook removing the lid about ten minutes before serving. Let it cool for 15 mins before serving.

P.S. Look out for my Authentic Italian Tomato Sauce recipe in my next post.

Hummus Bi Tahini

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Hummus is a dip/ spread that is made from chickpeas. In fact, hummus is the Arabic word for Chick pea. The cool thing about Middle eastern food is that no recipe is set in stone. You can vary the ingredients to suit your taste and still end up with something amazing on your plate. This delicious puree can be served over salad, as part of a Turkish style mezze, a dip or even as a sandwich filling. Don’t let rules bind you … go have some fun!

Hummus Bi Tahini (with Tahini – sesame paste)

What you need:
Juice of two lemons
2 Garlic cloves, sliced
2/3 cup Tahini paste
Flat leaf parsley – to garnish
¾ cup dried Chickpeas
2 Tbsp Olive oil
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
Salt and Ground Black pepper, to taste
Extra Olive oil and Cayenne pepper for sprinkling

What to do:
Put the chickpeas in a large bowl with plenty of cold water and leave them to soak overnight.

Throughly rinse and drain the chickpeas, then place them in a large pan and cover with fresh water. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 10 mins. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 1 ¼ – 2 hrs until soft. Drain the chick peas in a colander and puree in a food processor until they form a smooth paste.

Add the lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, cayenne pepper and tahini paste and blend until creamy, scraping the mixture down from the sides of the bowl. Season the puree with plenty of salt and black pepper and transfer to a serving dish.

Sprinkle with a little olive oil and cayenne pepper, and garnish with a few parsley sprigs. Serve
with toasted pitta bread and olives if you like.

NOTE: Tahini is a paste that is made from sesame seeds, cumin and sesame oil. It is used in many middle eastern recipes, so it is a useful ingredient to have.

Chicken in Mustard Cream Sauce

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My friends and I went to this beautiful restaurant in Bangalore, 100Ft Boutique and they served a lovely Chicken in Mustard Cream sauce. I was hooked and had to try to replicate the recipe at home. So after scrounging the net for about an hour I realized that Mustard Cream Sauce is a classic recipe that every culinary student will learn sometime in their career. So my learning begins now. The recipe called for Chicken breasts but I used some drumsticks as well. I also used a mix of both white wine and chicken stock. I served the chicken with carrot shavings and mashed potatoes. If I must say, it turned out pretty darned good. Maybe I’ll try the sauce over some grilled fish next time… Sublime!

Chicken in Mustard Cream Sauce

What you need:
4 Chicken Breasts
½ tsp Salt
½ tsp Pepper
¼ tsp Cayenne pepper powder
Flour for dredging
1 cup dry White wine/ Chicken stock
¼ cup chopped Shallots
2 tsp Oil
2 cups Cream
¼ cup Dijon Mustard
½ tsp Salt
¼ tsp Cayenne pepper powder
2 tsp chopped fresh tarragon

What to do:
Mix flour, salt, pepper and Cayenne in a zip lock bag. Add Chicken pieces and shake well to coat all the pieces. Take them out and place on a wire rack in the refrigerator for about 20 mins.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté until cooked through, 10-12 mins. Transfer to a plate, keep warm.

Heat oil in a saucepan, add shallots and sauté until translucent. Add wine/stock and bring to a boil and cook until reduces to half. About 2 mins. Whisk in cream, mustard, salt, cayenne and tarragon. Cook, whisking, until thickened, about 2 mins.

Pour any accumulated chicken juices into the sauce. Right before serving drizzle cream sauce over chicken.

Garlicky Yoghurt Dip for Anything Anytime!

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This is one of my perennial favorite dips. I can’t however entirely take credit for this recipe – It’s from a Dutch friend of mine. (Thanks JW!) I’ve tweaked the recipe just so and love it even more now. I’ve had friends finish an entire jar of dip in one sitting – so be warned, making the quantity you thought is enough is actually never enough!

Garlicky Yoghurt Dip

What you need:
1 cup thick Yoghurt
¾th cup Mayonnaise
5 pods Garlic (minced)
2 pods Garlic (bruised)
10 sprigs of Parsley (Chopped fine)

What to do:
Mince garlic, smash two pods using the flat side of the knife. Combine the yoghurt and mayo. Toss in the garlic and parsley and stir. Serve with Nachos/ Chips/ Nuggets/ Vegetable Crudités.

Bangers and Mash

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Bangers and Mash = Sausages and Mashed potatoes. It’s called Bangers because if you don’t poke a hole in the sausages when cooking them, they tend to burst with a “bang”. This is a cheap and economical meal, but there is no compromise on the taste. It’s a British favorite and generally there serve whole sausages in gravy. However, I like to slice and dice mine up, so that the rich gravy can coat each mini piece of yumminess (Don’t know if that’s a real word!). The best part about this dish is that I can have it for breakfast or lunch or dinner. Promise you the kids will love them…and so will you. Easy Breezy.

Bangers and Mash

Cooking time – 15 mins
Serves 4

What you need:
8 Medium Size Sausages (Chicken – I like the flavoured ones)
2 Tbsp Oil
2 Med Onions (sliced)
4 Tbsp of Barbeque Sauce
2 Tbsp of Water
Salt and Black Pepper
For the Mash:
800 gm Potatoes
6 Tbsp Milk
1 Tbsp Cream
50 gm Butter
Salt and Black Pepper

What to Do:
Boil water in a saucepan and toss in the sausages for about 5 mins. Drain the water and dice them up. Keep aside.

In the meantime, boil the potatoes in lightly salted water until soft. Drain and keep warm until ready to mash.

Heat Oil in a pan and toss in the slices onions till they turn pink. Then the sausages go in and we need to sauté for 5 mins, till they start turning brown. Now mix the Barbeque sauce with the water, to get a gravy like consistency and pour over the sausages. Stir fry for 2-3 mins till the gravy coats each piece. That’s done.

Now mash the potatoes using a masher/ fork. Toss in the butter. The heat from the potatoes will melt it. Stir in the milk (adjust the quantity to how sticky you like the mash to be). Finally season with salt and pepper and mix in the cream.

Serve the Bangers and Mash with a nice Green Salad and you’re set.

Irish Cheese Pudding and some Beer

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I would presume cheese and bread are staple items in anyone’s cupboard. No matter which way you combine them, you’re sure to have a comforting meal. You can almost call them a happy couple – Wonderful by themselves and more fun when they are together. So obviously I was game when I came across a recipe for “Irish Cheese Pudding”. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out what was so Irish about it, then I read about the magic ingredient – Dark Beer. Magic? Well, if you’re a beer drinker/Irish (they’re almost synonymous) the reason will be obvious to you. But for the uninitiated, .. the Dark Beer will make the Cheese Pudding moist and fluffy. And anyone who’s tried to achieve the same result without beer, will now vouch, that beer in a main course weaves it own little magic. So I made my cheese pudding and served it with a green salad and like the Irish say, “LoVely it was!”

Irish Cheese Pudding

Prep time – 30 mins
Baking time – 30 mins
Serves 4

What you need:
8 slices stale bread
60g softened butter
150g cheddar cheese, grated
4 eggs
1 cup Dark Beer / Chicken stock
1/2 cup cream
freshly ground pepper

What to do:
Preheat oven to 150 degree C (300F/Gas 2). Remove crusts from bread, butter each slice on one side only. Sprinkle two-thirds of the grated cheese onto four slices, sandwich with the remaining bread. Cut Cheese sandwiches in half diagonally. Well you can make pretty star shapes for all I care.. but we are trying to keep it simple 🙂
Grease a shallow oven proof dish with the remaining butter. Arrange sandwiches over the base.
Beat the eggs, beer and cream; Note: You can substitute chicken stock for beer or go half and half (Just making the recipe kid friendly!). You can also stir in a spoon of Dijon Mustard for more flavour. Pour mixture over the sandwiches, moistening each. Make sure you cover all the sandwiches and there is some liquid standing at the base. Let the preparation stand for 30 mins. This is where the happy union begins.
Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and season with ground black pepper. Bake for 30 mins or until pudding is set and golden.
Serve with a green salad to make a complete meal. And more dark beer on the side wouldn’t hurt either!

Carrot Soup for the Single Soul

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Yesterday was one of the days when the co-resident was not going to be home for dinner. Considering I don’t really have any strong dislikes for any specific food groups, my options seemed endless. Cooking for one however can be quite daunting. You don’t want to go though a complicated recipe and have it turn out perfectly with no one to go “ta da” for. You also don’t want to curl on the couch with instant noodles, though trust me sometimes that’s the best way to relax. Most of my cooking revolves around what I have in my refrigerator on any given day. So a quick peak established that I would need to find a recipe that involved carrots. Everything fit into the plan perfectly as I zeroed in on Carrot Soup with Yoghurt! a. The co-resident does not consider “Soup” to be a meal, b. Carrots do not feature in his list of ‘yummy’ things to eat, c. Cold Soup?? … That was pretty much an oxymoron that I cannot be bothered to explain to him. So yeah, he’s out and I’m making Carrot Soup!


Carrot Soup with Yoghurt

Prep time – 12 mins
Cooking time – 30 mins
Serves 4 (I’ve given the standard recipe)

What you need:

30g Butter (everything wonderful starts with butter)
6 Carrots (diced)
4 cups Chicken Stock
¾ cup Sour Cream/ Yoghurt
1 clove Garlic (crushed)
1 Onion (chopped)
2 medium Potatoes (diced)
2 Tbsp Fresh Chopped Herbs (parsley/ sage) to garnish

What to do:

Melt the butter (sigh..) in a large saucepan. Add the onions and garlic, sauté till onions are translucent and you can smell garlic in the air. (It helps if you toss the onions in first so that way the garlic will not burn/ discolor). Add carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes. Toss in the potatoes, reduce heat to low, cover and sweat the vegetables for 4-5 minutes (Yes, the veggies love a sauna too!). Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Season to taste (I add rock salt, freshly ground pepper and garlic powder.. Yes, I am addicted to garlic). Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 25 mins. Take off heat, let it cool for a bit, then puree the veggie stew in a food processor/ blender. Serve garnished with a big spoonful of yoghurt/ sour cream, sprinkled with herbs.

I put some bread (need my carbs) in the oven, spread with a lovely Parsley Garlic butter to compliment my wonderful carrot soup….Give it a try!