Baked Potato Wedges

Recipe for March 2011.
With a lot of work to wrap up and my impending travel to India, I had to keep this one simple. I made Baked Potato Wedges from here. Rohit loves potatoes and this was a pretty easy way to get brownie points (evil laughter!)

Ingredients 
4-6 Potatoes
1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
6-8 Black Pepper corns
1 tsp Red chili flakes
2 tbps Olive Oil
1 tbps Lemon juice
Sea Salt

Instructions 

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and grease a baking tray with 1/2 tbps olive oil 

2. Parboil the potatoes in water; drain cool and cut into wedges

3. Lightly roast the cumin seeds on a pan

4. For the Masala: Take the sea salt, roasted cumin seeds, peppercorns and red chili flakes in a mortar and crush coarsely 

5. Put the potato wedges in a bowl and sprinkle 3/4th of the crushed masala over them, add the remaining olive oil and mix well together

6. Spread these evenly on the baking tray and and bake for 15 minutes (at 200 degrees C) or until done.

7. Sprinkle with the remaining masala and lemon juice and serve hot.    

February's Recipe

February's Recipe Scallion Pancakes
On Friday night Rohit and I had these at a Thai Restaurant in Chelsea and I just had to try making them at home; there are a ton of recipes online, but I used this one from the Food Network. 


Ingredients
2 cups of flour
1 cup of hot water (easier for mixing)
1/2 cup of slices scallions
1/2 cup of Canola Oil (or vegetable oil)
Salt and Black pepper
1 tbps sesame oil


Directions

1. In a bowl, sift flour and slowly add the hot water while mixing with a wooden spoon. Keep adding water until a firm ball is formed (You could use a food processor as well). Let the ball of dough sit for a bit and keep it covered with a damp cloth.

2. On a floured surface roll out the dough into a thin circle. Brush on some Canola and sesame oil.

3. In  a bowl mix the scallions with some salt and pepper and cover the surface of the dough and re roll the dough into a cake-like shape.

4. Cut the pie into 4 pieces and roll out and flatten to achieve a pancake shape.

5. Coat a hot non stick pan with Canola oil and pan sear both sides of the 'pancake' until golden brown.
ummm awkward silence ... this is about where I realized my camera battery died and I couldn't get more pics despite having promised to have better pics in my Jan's recipe post, but I AM getting better - right? right? maybe? sorta? 
Anyway ... last step! 


6. Cut into wedges and serve hot!

SO good!

Pasta Alfredo with Mushrooms and Asparagus

Another one of my new year resolutions is to try and cook at least one new dish every month.
[Side note:  Initially, I thought of cooking something new every week, then I realized that's near impossible, following which I briefly considered once a fortnight but figured that was also being a little too ambitious and finally settled on once a month which I justttt about managed to do in January - the very first month of this year and the very first time this resolution has been put to the test. Clearly, this does NOT bode well. End of Side note]

January was Pasta Alfredo with Portobello Mushrooms and Asparagus. I had this at dinner while in Chicago last week and it was heavenly, so I tried to make it at home.

The Pasta (Better Pics for Feb's Recipe - I promise!)

Ingredients
1 pound Fettucine Pasta
1 cup Half & Half (or Cream if you're feeling particularly decadent)
6 tbps Butter
1 cup grated Parmesan
Chopped Asparagus (I used about 8 stalks but you could go with less ... or more)
Large sliced Portobello mushrooms (1 cup)
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
A little bit of fresh chopped parsley
Truffle Oil

Recipe
Step 1: Cook the pasta according to directions in salted water until al dente. About 5 minutes before complete, add Asparagus to the boiling water and cook. Once done, drain while keeping aside 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid.
Step 2: While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a saucepan, add the sliced mushrooms and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the cream and finely chopped fresh parsley and bring to a boil. Cook until the sauce has reduced slightly. Remove from heat.
Step 3: Return the pasta to its original pot with the remaining cooking liquid on medium heat and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the sauce, asparagus and and half of the grated Parmesan and toss to combine well. Season with Salt and Ground Pepper.
Step 4: Add a few drops of truffle oil, sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and serve immediately.

Deviled Eggs and Tomato Basil Crostinis

For the party last weekend, I made some Deviled Eggs and Tomato Basil Crostinis as appetizers. Here are my so-simple-if-I-can-do-it-anyone-can recipes.

Deviled Eggs
12 Eggs
4 tbps Mayonnaise
1 1/2 tbps Mustard
1 tbps Garlic powder
1 tbps Dill
4 tbps Finely chopped Green Onions
Paprika

1) Hard boil the eggs; peel and cut them lengthwise
2) Remove the yolk and mash well with a fork. Add in the mayonnaise, mustard, garlic powder, finely chopped green onions and mix well. You can taste it and see if you need to add any more salt, but often the mayo and mustard have enough salt for the dish.
3) Scoop the mixture back into each half of the egg white. I use a tiny spoon, but you can use an icing cone to make it look prettier.
4) Sprinkle paprika on top and cover with a plastic wrap; refrigerate till you are ready to serve. It ought to stay up to a day in the fridge.

Easy breezy! :)

Tomato Basil Crostini 
1 French Loaf
2 Fresh Plum Tomatoes
A few leaves of Fresh Basil
1 Crushed Garlic 
Olive Oil/Butter
Salt
Freshly Ground Pepper 

1) Slice your french loaf into small bite size pieces
2) If you are using butter melt it in a bowl, else put some of your olive oil in a bowl and add the crushed garlic to it. Take a pastry brush and spread the mixture on each slice of the bread.
3) Cover the slices with foil and bake in the oven at about 300 F for 20 minutes.
4) In the meantime, chop fresh tomatoes and basil.
5) Once the bread is baked, place the tomatoes with a little salt and pepper and some fresh basil on each baked slice and serve immediately :)

Portobello Mushroom Burger

A simple, quick, relatively healthy, vegetarian burger? Count me in!
I saw this recipe on the Food Network and couldn't wait to try it out.

Pic via Food Network

Ingredients
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
6 Portobello Caps
2 tbps Mashed Garlic
2 cups Spring Mix Greens
3 tbps Olive Oil
6 Mini burger buns

For the Salsa:
Crumbled Feta Cheese
1 Red Onion
8 Plum Tomatoes
Red vine vinegar
2 Grilled red peppers
Fresh Oregano

Directions:
1) Remove gills and stem from mushroom gently with a spoon (The gills are an inky black and could stain your clothes, so be careful. Also, the mushrooms are delicate and can break easily - which you want to avoid). In a bowl mix the mushrooms with 2 tbps garlic, 1 tbps salt and 1 tbps pepper and 3 tbps olive oil. Grill for about 8 minutes, till mushrooms are cooked.
For the Salsa.
2) Remove the skin from the grilled red peppers and chop.
3) Dice the Red onion into tiny pieces.
4) Seed and dice the Plum tomatoes.
5) Mix the peppers, onions and tomatoes with 1/3 cup of red vine vinegar, fresh oregano and 2 tbps of crumbled feta cheese
6) Layer your burger with the Greens and Salsa and add one large grilled Portobello cap to each.
7) That's it, you're done!


Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of our burgers, we polished them off too quickly! 

A Table for Four

Last week Rohit and I had a couple of our friends over for dinner. Being a weeknight with a dentist appointment that morning (yikes!), we decided to keep it simple. I found this great recipe by Ina Garten for spaghetti and made some garlic bread to go with it, an easy side salad and some wine completed the dinner. We also baked an apple pie which we paired with ice cream for dessert. The recipes below serve approximately four adults.

Spaghetti with Broccoli & Shrimp


Salt
Freshly ground pepper
8 cups broccoli florets
Olive Oil
1 pound shrimp
1 pound Spaghetti
8 large garlic cloves (sliced into thin slivers)
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

via House Beautiful (I forgot to take pics of mine)

Preheat your oven to 400F and bring a large pot of water to boil with 2 tbps salt. 
Combine the broccoli, 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper on a sheet pan, spread out and roast for 5 minutes. Add the shrimp to the broccoli, toss well and spread out in one layer. Roast the shrimp and broccoli for 8 to 10 minutes or until shrimp is cooked.
Cook the pasta according to directions. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the cooking water before draining the pasta.  

Heat 1/3 cup of olive oil over medium heat in a large pot (large enough to hold the pasta, shrimp and broccoli). Add the garlic and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring frequently until it just begins to turn golden, add the red pepper flakes and cook for 30 seconds more.
Carefully add the reserved pasta cooking water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and add 1 tsp and simmer for about 5 minutes until the liquid is reduced by about a third.
Add the drained pasta to the garlic oil and toss. Off the heat, add the cooked shrimp and broccoli, plus the parsley and Parmesan, and toss well. Allow the pasta to rest off the heat for 5 minutes, for the sauce to be absorbed in the pasta, then taste for seasoning and serve warm with extra Parmesan on the side.

Garlic Bread

1 loaf Italian bread
1/3 cup butter (softened)
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
Fresh minced parsley

Preheat your oven to 350F. Make thick slices in your loaf of bread, but do not cut all the way through. Mix the butter, garlic and parsley in a bowl and then spread it on each slice. 
Wrap the bread in aluminium foil and heat for about 15 minutes. 
Allow it to cool for a minute and serve. 


Apple pie


I have been looking for a good apple pie recipe for a while and this one was great. I followed it almost exactly to the letter and it turned out pretty well. However, next time I think I will employ some of the suggestions by the reviewers, add a little cinnamon and bake at 350F on the lower shelf for longer because the crust did brown a little much in some places and I missed the tinge of spice. I too used only 6 apples.


1 recipe pastry for an 8 inch double crust pie
1.2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
6 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced

I loved doing the lattice work

Preheat your oven to 425F. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce the temperature and let simmer.
Place the bottom crust in your pan, fill with apples mounded slightly.
Cover with a lattice work of crust.
Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust, so that it does not run off.
Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 F. Continue baking for 35 to 40 minutes, until apples are soft.