Evelyn's Favorite Pasta...tried at home

EVELYN'S FAVORITE PASTA Penne Tossed with Broccoli, Oven-Dried Tomato, Roasted Eggplant, Peppers, Artichoke, Kalamata Olives, Basil, Garlic, Pine Nuts and Parmesan Cheese

We went to Cheesecake Factory for the first time, couple of weeks ago. We were actually giving farewell to a friend of ours who was leaving to India for good. We decided to go to Thai first but one of our friends mentioned that they use Fish oil in cooking. And being complete vegetarians, this was alarming. I called up all the Thai restaurants I ate in and around RTP and everyone said the same thing “yes, we use fish oil, but if you don’t want it, please let us know”. It was our fault that we should have asked but who knew they would use that…so, we cancelled our plan to Thai and went to Cheesecake Factory instead. We thought there will be less number of vegetarian dishes or none and went with the idea of eating a salad.

We ordered Eggplant Burger, Cheese Quesadilla and this pasta. We loved them all and thought of going there again but it never worked out . So I made this at home by bringing all the necessary ingredients. The only difference was that they added roasted brinjal and I didn’t. But, still the taste was close. I omitted Artichoke, Kalamata Olives, Basil and Parmesan Cheese and instead of pine nuts, I added walnuts.

You need…

2 cups of veggies-broccoli, oven-dried tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, eggplant, all chopped
1 cup of penne pasta
4 or 5 tbsp olive oil
About 5 or 6 walnuts
2 or 3 garlic cloves.
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
Salt to taste

1. Heat oil in a pan, add cloves and fry them till light brown. Add a little pepper to it while cloves are frying.
2. Add all the veggies and stir fry them.
3. In the mean while, cook penne pasta till al-dente.
4. Drain pasta and add to the veggies and mix.
5. Add Italian seasoning, walnuts and salt and mix everything for 1-2 minutes and remove.
   

Serve hot.

Fiesta Spaghetti

Tasty, wholesome and an exciting recipe to make. Added some green chillies and red chilli powder for the Indian taste buds. I imagined it one way but it was way different when done. The kitchen was filled with such fantastic smell, Ravi kept asking me to switch on the fan when the fan was already switched on. Especialy when you combine onion, garlic and black pepper, the taste buds start dancing for some exotic food. But, I had to omit pepper tonight for the sake of adding green chillies. And green chillies in fact made complete justice to the dish. This is loved so very much at home that I guess I would be making this again and again.

I found the recipe on the back of the whole wheat spaghetti packet but I changed the recipe to suit our taste buds.

Try this and you will love it for sure.

You need...

2 bowls of spaghetti
1 cup frozen zucchni and squash (fresh can be done, I had some in the freezer)
1 small onion, chopped
1 large beefsteak tomato (the one that oozes out more juice)
1 cup yellow and red peppers, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp italian seasoning or dried herbs
3 green chillies
parmesan cheese (optional)
salt to taste

1. Cook spaghetti according to the package directions.
2. Heat oil in a pan, saute onion, garlic and green chillies.
3. Add the veggies, zucchini, squash and peppers. Cook for 5 mins or until veggies are tender. Keep stirring in between to avoid burning.
4. Add tomatoes, chilli powder, salt and dried herbs. Cook for 2-3 mins stirring in between.
5. Add spaghetti and simmer uncovered for 5-10 mins.

Serve hot by sprinkling parmesan cheese on the top.

Tip: Sanjeev Kapoor says: add more salt while boiling pasta, otherwise no matter how much you add while cooking, pasta remains bland.

Broccoli Fettuccini Alfredo

Since we were in no mood to cook all these days, I made foods that are easy to make and those that take less than 10-15 mins to cook. We survived mostly on sandwiches and all but I am back to cooking in the kitchen now. This is one of those dishes that I made but didn’t find that restaurant taste unless we put more Alfredo sauce which was too much fat and too many calories.

All you need to do this are fettuccini noodles- boiled in salt water, chopped broccoli (frozen) and ready-made Ragu’s Alfredo Sauce.

Heat oil in a skillet, add fresh/dry garlic, black pepper and cook for 30 sec. Add chopped broccoli and cook until broccoli is soft and tender. Add fettuccini and mix everything for 30 sec. Finally add Alfredo Sauce and keep mixing. Remove after 2 or 3mins and serve hot.

Mixed Veggie Soup

I was trying to make this soup from a long time. My colleague made this for our Women’s network potluck at my work place and this was a hit. Since then, I was thinking of making it but finally I did it today and changed almost 50% of the recipe, so this is not her recipe anymore but the ingredients are still the same. And wow! This was so tasty that I ate 2 bowls of it and on top of that it is nutritious with so many vegetables going into it.

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Ingredients
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1 cup mixed vegetables frozen (carrots, peas, beans, corn)
½ can cooked Rajma/Kidney Beans
1 cup cooked Conchigliette Pasta
3 tbsp EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
1 tbsp crushed garlic
½ medium onion
½ medium green peppers
2 or 3 small bell peppers (optional)
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
Salt to taste
3 cups water
1 tbsp Coriander powder
1 small bay leaf

1. Heat the pot, add EVOO and garlic. Let garlic be cooked for a minute and put onions and cook for 3 mins.
2. Add boiled mixed vegetables, green peppers, small bell peppers (I had these in the fridge; I chopped them and added them). You can boil all these in microwave too.
3. Add Italian seasoning (thyme, rosemary, parsley), some coriander powder, a bay leaf (remember to remove it once the cooking is complete), some salt and put about 3 cups of water and bring all to boil.
4. Take a cup of boiled veggies, blend them and put the puree back in the soup, I did this way to get soup little thicker (plus to make my brother eat the veggies, otherwise he throws away some).
5. In the mean time, make tomato puree by boiling tomatoes or get canned tomatoes and add them to the soup.
6. Finally add a spoon of cornflour mixed in water, add cooked Rajma (kidney beans). Let that cook for 10 more minutes, add pasta just before serving. Serve hot.
   
   It tasted even better on the second day too.
   For my soup loving friends out there, please try this when you find time.