Penne with Roasted Bell Pepper Sauce

As most of you in the East Coast know, we have had a particularly challenging week with a massive snow storm and extreme low temperatures. I particularly have found it really painful to go out in this weather. Just thinking about the socks - boots - jeans - jacket routine gives me a headache. So imagine my irritation when I found myself gaping into an abysmally empty refrigerator this weekend.

I decided to take on the challenge and make a meal with whatever could find AND make it interesting. Let's just say - yeah, I did good :-)

First I broiled some orange peppers and let it rest in a ziploc bag for about 30 minutes. While broiling, the pepper will spit and ooze and make some unholy sounds. Fret not, it is supposed to do that! Once you remove the peppers from the ziploc, you should just be able to peel off the charred bits with your fingers. Try and get it as clean as possible. Slightly rinse with water if needed.

Slice the broiled and peeled peppers, add garlic, pesto/ basil leaves, salt and blend with lots of extra virgin olive oil. This makes the sauce for your pasta.

I wanted to add some veggies to my meal so I roasted some cherry tomatoes in the oven for about 40 minutes with olive oil

Cook the pasta as directed on the box. Combine with the roasted bell pepper sauce, roasted cherry tomatoes, fried onions and roasted pecans. Top with Feta cheese and enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 box penne or rigatoni pasta - cooked to al dente as directed on the box
1.5 or 2 red or orange bell peppers - halved and cored
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes
1/2 onion - thinly sliced
1/2 cup pecans
1 tsp pesto or 3-4 basil leaves
1 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 tbsp crumbled feta
salt to taste

This recipe serves 2

1. Broil the peppers as shown in the images above. Make sure all of the outer skin is charred and blackened completely. Place these charred peppers in a ziploc bag and let it rest for about 30 minutes
2. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Place them on a baking sheet, drizzle olive oil and let it roast in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350F
3. Slightly toast the pecans in a skillet and set aside.
4. Remove the peppers from the bag and peel off the charred skin with your fingers. Make sure you remove all the blackened bits. Rinse under water if needed. Slice into large chunks. 
5. Place the sliced peppers in a food processor with 1 tsp basil pesto, 3 cloves of garlic, salt and evoo. Blend until smooth
6. Heat some oil in a pan and saute the sliced onions until translucent, for about 5 minutes. Add cooked pasta, bell pepper sauce, roasted tomatoes and pecans. Mix until all of these are well combined. Top it up with feta cheese and enjoy!

Vegetable Barley Soup

Baby, it's cold outside...!

It's that time of the year again with snow on the ground and chills in our bones.  Quite often, I feel too lazy too bundle up and go out, but let's be honest, I just use that excuse to supplement my perpetual laziness! However, I do spend a lot of that time in the kitchen whipping up something warm and hearty so it all kind of works out!

Soup makes for a very tasty and satisfying meal. I could eat soup seven days a week and not complain. I do have a problem using canned soup since they are usually quite high in sodium. But the good thing is - soups are very easy to make at home. You can get quite creative with them and usually whip up something simple just using whatever is in the pantry. It is a great way to load up on lots of veggies and makes for a very healthy, hearty meal.

I have been looking for something different to cook with and hit upon this goldmine: Barley, which looks suspiciously like Urad Dal!

It takes a little while to cook but becomes soft and chewy. The cooking water retains a lot of the earthy flavour which I usually just use a stock for my soup

This particular soup is very hearty with this beautiful barley and lots of veggies. I used red onions, carrots, peas, corn, jalapenos and tomatoes. Yeah, that many.

You can go ahead and add peppers, zucchini and mushrooms as well if you have them in hand. Put everything together with some spices, boil and done! Easy does it!

Ingredients :
1/4 cup uncooked barley
1/2 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 small tomato
a small bunch of cilantro
1 cup mixed vegetables
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garam masala/ curry powder
3 cups water
olive oil
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

This recipe serves 1

1. Boil 2 cups of water with some salt. Add barley and cook for about 45 minutes. Stir frequently as barley tends to burn easily. Taste and make sure it is soft and slightly chewy. Drain and set aside to cool. Do not throw the cooking water as you can use it as stock.
2. While the barley is cooking, heat some olive oil in a sauce pan and fry the onions till they are translucent. Add the chopped garlic and fry for a few seconds.
3. Add the tomato and cook till it is mushy and then add the rest of your veggies. Fry this for about a minute. 
4. Add 1 cup of water with salt, chili powder and curry powder. Bring the water to boil and simmer covered until the vegetables are cooked, for about 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Once they veggies are done, add in the barley. Add a small amount stock water, adjusted to your preferred consistency. Let this simmer for another 10 minutes for the flavours to combine.
6. Top with a pinch of crushed black pepper and garnish with chopped cilantro.

Leaning Tower of Polenta - Zucchini + Polenta Stacks

I had my 29th birthday in August this year. I couldn't believe this was the last year of my twentiesTo celebrate, A took me to a lovely, modern, minimalistic Italian restaurant. I find that these modern places have a lot more vegetarian options than the typical, traditional Italian ones. We started off with a delicious dish called Polenta Fries, which was basically fried polenta sticks with a Fontina cheese dip. That was my very first taste of polenta and LOVED it.

Polenta is just corn meal / corn grits. It is extensively used in Italian cuisine and is very quick and easy to prepare. It is very versatile and can be used in several ways.

Preparing polenta is just like pasta: boil in salted water. It cooks in about 15 minutes and has a very creamy texture without having to add heavy cream. Once it cools down, it solidifies a little and can be removed from the pan to look like a sponge cake.

For this dish, I cut the polenta into cubes, grilled some zucchini ribbons and stacked them to make my leaning tower!

Served with a refreshing salad and a basil-yogurt sauce. Delizioso!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup uncooked polenta
 2.5 cups water
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 zucchini - cut into 2 inch slices
1 cup arugula
1/4 cup Pecans - Toasted in the oven for 5 mins at 350F and roughly chopped
Olive oil
Salt to taste

Sauce:
1/2 packed cup fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup non-fat Greek Yogurt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon water
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt, plus extra, as needed
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus extra, as needed

This recipe serves 2

1. To cook the polenta: bring 2 cups of slightly salted water to boil. Slowly whisk in the polenta and keep whisking till it starts cooking just a bit. Add the 1 tbsp of butter and continue mixing gently for about 5 - 8 minutes. Taste and continue cooking for another minute if needed. Set aside to cool.
2. Drizzle some olive oil in a skillet and grill the zucchini slices with a dash of salt. These need to cook on each side for about 3 minutes until brown. Set aside.
3. Once the polenta has cooled. just invert the pan over a plate. Cut the polenta into cubes of any size. Brush some more oil on the pan and grill the polenta on both sides. This takes longer than the zucchini. It needs to slightly brown, so grill this for about 5 minutes on each side.
4. Assemble the dish by stacking the polenta cubes and zucchini slices alternatingly. Serve with arugula and toasted pecans.

For the sauce:

In a blender, combine the basil, greek yogurt, olive oil, water, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth.

Pour the sauce over the stacks and enjoy your Leaning Tower of Polenta!

Grilled Veggie Sandwich

I have a confession to make. It isn't one that I am terribly proud of... not even one that I will admit to if you ask me about it in the real world. But, this is cyberspace. Anything goes, right? Having said that, here is my deep dark secret. I *bleeping* LOVE vegetable shopping. It's true. I do! I LOVE going on weekends, where I don't really have to worry about going home early to cook or think about any pending work that I might have on that day. It is bad, people. Ask me if I want to go out on a hike or do some kayaking and I will say 'Nope, just drop me off at your nearest Shoprite.' It is crazy, I have never admitted this to anyone before, not even to myself! Nonetheless, it is true. I have been thoroughly domesticated.

This week was a good one for me, produce-wise. I got a whole bunch of zucchinis, Japanese eggplant and some gorgeous peaches. I also lucked out and got my new FAVORITE green: Baby Arugula! I decided to put it all to good use today and made myself a delicious sandwich with a refreshing side salad.

Let's first start with the sandwich. First you need a few veggies. I used onions, peppers, eggplant and zucchini. You can also use sun-dried tomatoes or regular tomatoes.

Grill these veggies in a grill pan or even a skillet. Assemble the sandwich on a bread of your choice with some lettuce and feta cheese. That's that!

Ingredients:
4 slices of bread of your choice - toasted slightly
1 zucchini
1/2 onion
2 slices of Japanese Eggplant
2 leaves of butter lettuce
1 tbsp feta cheese
1/4th of orange peppers
1 tsp red chili pepper flakes
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp olive oil
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

This recipe serves 2

1. Slice your vegetables as shows in the picture and place them in a bowl with about a tsp of olive oil. Add the salt, pepper, red chili pepper flakes and oregano. Mix until the vegetables are well coated with the seasoning.
2. Heat a tsp of olive oil on a skillet or the grill. Grill the veggies until they are well cooked and tender cooked on both sides. 
3. Separate the two slices of bread and start assembling the sandwich. On one slice, place the lettuce topped with the grilled veggies. On the other slice, place a generous amount of feta cheese.
4. Finally, press the two slices together and enjoy with a side of Arugula and Peach salad!

Refreshing Peach + Arugula Salad

I initially made this salad just to have something light and refreshing to eat for dinner on my more *ahem* "full-figured" days. However, it is just so easy to put-together that I have started using it as a side salad for my everyday dinner. It is a simple salad with very light ingredients and easy seasoning so I always try to use fresh produce to really bring out the flavours of this salad.

Ingredients:

Baby Arugula

Baby Spinach

1 Peach

1/2 cup Pecans or Walnuts 

1 tbsp crumbled feta cheese

For the dressing:

Extra Virgin olive oil

Few drops of lime juice

salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut the peach into small triangular pieces of about an inch and a half in length.
2. Toast the pecans or walnuts in a skillet and break into smaller pieces.
3. Arrange the arugula and spinach in a salad plate and top with the peach slices and pecans. Drizzle with the desired amount of dressing. Top with some feta cheese, mix well and enjoy!

Quinoa and Black Bean Casserole

Quinoa is a staple in my house. I was initially introduced to quinoa  in a salad and I didn't think much of it. It gave a little texture to the dish but didn't add too much in terms of taste. So that was that for me. I put the little  bag of Quinoa at the back of my pantry and forgot all about it.

A few months later, I went to my cousin's house for Golu :). And dinner. Arvind and I had a lovely time catching up with them and eventually the conversation turned (as it so often does these days) to healthy food. They told us, to my utter shock and surprise, that they had replaced their daily rice consumption with Quinoa. As in Quinoa+Sambar, Quinoa+Rasam etc. I had a little taste at their house and I liked it. I came home, fished out the little baggy from the back of my pantry and set forth making Sambar and Quinoa for lunch the next day. Thus began my intense love affair with this beautiful grain.

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is grown primarily in Peru so we had some lovely local quinoa dishes when we were there. This is us looking proud as hell at Machu Pichu :) :)

Now, on to the dish. This is actually the first dish I ever made with my own recipe. I did this in an attempt to make something different with quinoa which seems to have so many possibilities. This has become such a staple in my house that it didn't ever occur to me to post it until recently :)

It basically needs some quinoa, cooked black beans, onions and some veggies to get it started. Saute the Onions, Veggies and cooked beans with some spices. Add the quinoa.

Assemble this mixture in a baking pan and top with some cheese.

Bake for about 15 minutes at 350F and serve topped with Greek yogurt.

Delicious! :D

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 cup cooked black beans

1 onion - chopped

1/2 red pepper - seeded and chopped

1/2 green pepper - seeded and chopped

1 jalapeno - seeded and chopped

1/2 cup frozen corn
2 tsp cumin
4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
4 tsp oregano
1.5 tbsp lime juice
2.5 tbsp red chili sauce
1/2 cup shredded cheddar or mozzarella cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

This recipe serves 2

1. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and saute the onion with some salt and pepper for about 2 minutes, until transparent. Add the chopped peppers, corn and jalapeno and saute for another 5 minutes, until slightly cooked.
2. Mash the cooked black beans with a little water and add to the veggies. Add the cumin, red pepper flakes, oregano lime juice and red chilli sauce. Adjust all the spices as needed according to your taste. Saute for about 3-5 minutes until the mixture combines,
3. Add the quinoa to the pan. Sprinkle a little water if this looks too dry. Mix well and taste to adjust the salt as needed. Add the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil and mix until well combined
4. Assemble the mixture in a baking pan. Top with shredded cheese and bake for about 15 minutes at 350F until the cheese melts
5. Top with a dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream and enjoy!

Colour me Coffee

I personally really love DIY projects. Lets be honest, I am kind of crap with crafty things. But, I recently saw something on TV where someone was making a beautiful display case with coffee stirrers. This looked SO easy and pretty that I just had to try it out for myself!

This is what i ended up with... Pretty huh? :) It is now happily sitting on my IKEA ledge. Next to a picture of my former pet cat Ozzy looking adorable as hell in his Santa hat. That is his Santa Claws picture.

Ok, looks like you now have an insight into my 'crazy cat lady' persona. Lets avoid eye contact for a while and move on, shall we?

You need: 
Coffee Stirrers
Shadow box frame
Chart paper or any other sturdy paper
Liquid Glue
Acrylic colour set
Paint brushes

I started off with *ahem* borrowing some wooden stirrers from Starbucks. About 15 sticks should do fine.

Measure the width of the shadow box frame you are using. I used IKEA's Ribba Frame, measuring about 9 cm in width. Be sure to measure only the glassed area and no the entire wooden borders. Cut the stirrers to the appropriate length. Now, pick a few beautiful acrylic colours. Go crazy here.. mix up a few colours to create new shades. Let your inner artist shine through :D Paint one side of the stirrers with colours of your choice.

Once you have painted the stirrers, lay them out to to dry. Be sure to line your work area with newspapers so that you don't spill on paint on any furniture. I learnt this the hard way.

Now, find a sturdy surface onto which you are going to paste the coloured sticks. You can use the backing of the frame or use of piece of chart paper or the backside of an old photograph that is sure to fit the frame or a magazine cover. Any slightly sturdy sheet of paper will do. Cut the paper to fit the length and width of the glassed area of the shadow box.

Finally, time to glue everything together. I used Elmer's clear glue and applied it to the unpainted side of the sticks with a thin paintbrush. Keep pasting the sticks to the sturdy paper as and when you apply the glue so that the it doesn't try out. Mix and match the colours to create a fun effect.

Finally, put the paper with sticks into the shadow box. Choose a lovely well lit place to display. It makes for a lovely conversation piece and leaves you feeling extremely creative with little effort!