Lasagna - With Spinach and Mushrooms

I was not really going to post this one. But K saw the picture on Fb and wanted the link.  I thought the pictures were not really good, and besides it was different - not like what is served at restaurants.  All that cheese, an overdose of white sauce etc etc  ... looks lovely on the plate, tastes good too, but after a couple of  spoons you are just too full.  This one is different.  And making it with whole wheat lasagna makes you feel you can even have a dessert after the meal without guilt.

Posting a not very detailed recipe, but indicative of the steps to ensure a layered lasagna.

Ingredients:
Lasagna sheets - use about 100-120 gms of any pasta per person
Spinach - a large large bunch
Mushrooms - 100 gms
Cheese - 100 gms or more
Milk - 500 ml
Flour - 30 gms
Oil/ butter - 20 gms
Tomato puree - 200 gms
Salt to taste
Herbs - to taste
Pepper - to taste

Prepare lasagna sheets just before serving.
Take enough water in a large bowl.  Bring to boil.  Add the lasagna sheets.  The temperature of the water comes down but soon picks up.  Bring it back to boil and allow to simmer for about 12-15 minutes.
Drain water and place in cold water or hold under a tap. The sheets should be separate

Make the fillings:
Spinach puree - Blanch spinach.  Make a thick paste with spinach, garlic and salt.

Wash and slice mushrooms.  Sauté them in butter , season with salt and pepper and keep aside.

Take tomato puree, add salt, herb and simmer till it becomes a thick sauce.

Make a white sauce.  Heat a pan, add butter, and then the flour.  Lightly stir flour - do not allow to brown.  When it is evenly mixed with butter, add the milk gradually.  Stir and keep over low heat till it forms a thickish sauce.

Take a rectangular pan or if it is circular cut the sheets so that it covers the sides.

Place a sheet on the bottom of the pan.  Layer it with white sauce.  Place another lasagna sheet.  And then the spinach sauce with mushrooms, the next sheet and then the tomato sauce.  Do this till the sheets are all layered in the pan.  Top with grated cheese

Pre heat the oven to 180C.  Place the pan with lasagna layers and bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

If necessary you can even place it in grill for some time to get a nice crusty brown layer.

Serve warm.

PS - the lasagna here is with whole wheat - and so that makes it different from what you get at a restaurant.  And the cheese has been used sparingly.  The ingredients can vary and so can the quantity.

For a detailed recipe - step by step check this link - Runner Girl..

A quick Mac and Cheese in the Microwave

After L left, I found a big packet macaroni and cubes of cheese that I know I will have to consume - V does not like pasta or cheese - and today since I had to make dinner just for myself, I looked for something simple to make.  I have always had a problem making a good white sauce and this recipe that I found at Picky-palate could not have been simpler.  And it worked well too.

Ingredients:
Macaroni - 100 gms  ( cooked al dente )
Cheese - cheddar - grated - as much as you would like
Milk - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Pepper - to taste
Italian herb seasoning ( optional) - to taste

Just a few simple steps to a quick meal -
1. Take a microwave safe bowl.
2. Put in the macaroni, cheese, milk, salt, pepper, seasoning in the bowl.  Mix well
3. Cover lightly with a plastic wrap
4. Cook first for 3 minutes.  Keep an eye on it, just in case your bowl is not deep enough the mixture
     may overflow
5. Then again for another 2 minutes till the mixture gets creamy and smooth

(The more cheese you have the better your mac and cheese will be. I did not go overboard with this one here )

You could add a few cooked veggies to it.  A pinch of mustard powder is also said to enhance the taste.  Garnish and serve.

Pasta - A light meal

This could pass of as a salad. But we made a meal of it.  Using some leftover veggies that were in the refrigerator.  And one of those - add anything and it could still taste right - kind of a dish.  No tomato base or a heavy sauce.  So no guilt with the extra helping.

Donna Hays says that you should use 100 gms of pasta per person ( tip provided by L - and we thought she was wrong - but found out that she was indeed right! )

Ingredients:
Pasta - 200 gms
Spinach - 1 bunch
Carrot - 1 large
Beetroot - 1 medium
Cabbage - 50 gms
Cheese Cubes - 3  - use at least another couple more
Italian Seasoning - 1/2 -1 tsp
(this one had dehydrated onion, garlic, bell peppers and herbs)
Chilie flakes - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - to taste
Salt - as desired
Olive oil - 4-5 tbsp

Boil the beet - and juliene
Blanch the spinach and shred.

Cook the pasta al dente

Julienne the carrots.
And also make strips of cabbage.

Cut the cheese into small bits

Heat a pan.
Add the olive oil.
Throw in the shredded cabbage - sauté 

This helps in caramelisation and you do get a overpowering smell of cabbage but ignore it - it tastes great

And after a few mins the carrot juliennes - continue to sau·té  till the carrot is cooked but still has a crunch

Add the seasoning - or the ingredients separately - do not forget the garlic, chilie flakes and ground pepper

Take a large bowl.

Put the cooked pasta

And the vegetables - ( the beet, spinach, carrot, cabbage) and the cheese

Salt to taste

Lightly warm the dish if you like.  Drizzle a little more olive oil - adds to the taste

Serve 

Gnocchi in Cheddar Sauce

I found this recipe at Authentic Food Delights - and here it was served with a creamy sauce - but I had a ready packet of cheddar sauce mix and took the easy way out.  The recipe is simple and as described at the original post - it really melts in your mouth.  I also used olive oil instead of butter and sprinkled some Italian seasoning in the Gnocchi which added an extra flavouring to it.

Ingredients: Easily serves 2


Medium sized potato - 2 nos
Maida - 2 tbsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Chilie flakes - to taste
Salt - to taste
Italian seasoning - to taste ( optional)
Coriander leaves - few

Cheddar sauce - made with a ready mix packet - follow instructions

Boil the potatoes
Grate fine
Add all other ingredients and mix to form a soft dough
Roll small balls of the mixture and make a small depression in the centre.
Heat water in a vessel
Put small batches of gnocchi in the boiling water.
It will settle to the bottom and will rise to the top as it cooks
Remove with a slotted spoon and allow to drain.

Arrange gnocchi on a plate and pour sauce of your choice on it and garnish
Serve with sauce.

Spaghetti with faux meat balls

Ingredients:

Spaghetti - 100 gms

For the sauce

Garlic - 4 pods - dice

Pasta seasoning - 2 tbsps

Olive oil ( seasoned) - 2 tbsp

Onion - 2 medium

Tomato - 1 large ( dice fine)

Green chilies - 2 dice fine

Chillie powder - to taste

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves - for garnish

Cheese - grated for garnishing

For the 'meat' balls

Soya granules - 100 gms

Potato flakes ( optional ) 25 gms

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp

Chillie powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Cornflour - 3 tbsp

Oil for deep frying

Slide spaghetti into boiling water. Add oil and salt and cook till al dente.

Drain the water and immediately immerse in or hold under cold water.

Keep aside

Prepare the soya balls

Soak the soya granules in warm water for 10 mins.

Drain and squeeze the granules well

Mix with the rest of the ingredients and a little water if required to bind

Make into small balls and deep fry till golden brown.

For the sauce

In a wok add olive oil

Add the garlic, onion, green chillies.  sauté .

Add the tomato, fry awhile
Add the tomato Purée
Crush the seasoning and add.
Also the salt, chilie powder, and simmer on slow fire till it thickens.

Slide in the 'meat balls' and allow to simmer and absorb the sauce.

Add a water a little at a time, if it thickens too much.

Remove from fire.

Serve spaghetti on a plate and spoon the sauce over it.

Garnish with coriander leaves and grated cheese and top it with seasoned olive oil if required.

Eat and enjoy.

Pasta with Cheddar Cheese

Once again an easy way out with some readymade sauce.  Thanks to the elder one who got me this Cheddar Cheese sauce mix.

Ingredients -

Pasta - 100 gms ( boiled as per instructions on the pack)

Carrots - 50 gms - peel and cut into cubes

Peas - 50 gms

Corn - 50 gms

Cauliflower - 30 gms

Salt to taste

Pepper powder- as per requirement

Make the sauce with milk and the mix

Parboil the vegetables - make sure the vegetables are not too tender

Place in a greased bowl along with pasta

Pour the sauce over it.

Cover with shredded cheese.

Bake till the cheese is slightly browned.

Have with garlic bread.

PS: Can you believe I forgot to take a picture of the finished product!!

And a bit about pasta physics that I read and shall reproduce here -

What's the best way to eat spaghetti without splattering the sauce? Physicist Colin Humphreys discovered the risk of sauce splash is greatest as you roll the last 4.33 inches of spaghetti onto a fork. "A final reckless flick of the wrist can accelerate the spaghetti speed to over nine feet per second;" he says.

The turning motion produces centrifugal force, which keeps an object moving in a circle. When the twisting stops, however, the sauce continues in a straight line--until it smacks your shirt! The trick: Use a fork to roll spaghetti onto a spoon held parallel to the plate. Then eat the pasta off the spoon. Bib not required!

Spaghetti Bolognese - Vegetarian

A niece on her visit to India gave me a Spaghetti seasoning. And it has been lying on my kitchen shelf for a while now. And C, my sister-in-law who makes her own spaghetti sauce at home, offered to show me a quick method to make this tasty pasta dish. Here is how she made it :

Ingredients:
Onions - 2 large - finely chopped.
Garlic - 7-8 pods finely chopped

Tomato Purée - 800 ml
Spaghetti - 200 gms
Salt, pepper to taste
Spicy Spaghetti seasoning - 2-3 tbsp
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
Cheese - as much as you like ( grated)
Sugar - 1-2 tsp

Take a wok and add the olive oil, and sauté the onions and garlic.

Take the spaghetti seasoning and place in your palm and lightly crush it to release the flavours and then add to the sauteed onion and garlic mixture. The seasoning contains dehydrated onion, garlic, spice, sugar, salt, green and red peppers.

Blend in the tomato Purée

And stir it for a while and leave it to simmer till it thickens. Add ground pepper too. And salt to taste. Mix in the sugar.

Meantime, prepare the spaghetti. Slide the pasta into boiling water to which a little salt and oil have been added to prevent it from sticking to each other. Allow to cook till the spaghetti is at the al dente stage ( firm but not mushy) . Once it reaches this stage, drain into a colander and hold under running water. This removes extra starch and allows the strands to remain separate.

By now, the spaghetti sauce would be nice and thick. Place the spaghetti on a plate and spoon the sauce on it and garnish with grated cheese.

You now have a quick delicious meal, ready to be devoured.

Note: My sister in law, however, says that the sauce made with fresh ingredients is hard to beat. If you have the patience, you would need to blanch a kilo of tomatoes, and then mash through a strainer to remove the seeds. Add dry/fresh basil, thyme, pepper, sugar, salt, garlic and make the sauce. The quantity of onion and garlic would need to be increased. Add bay leaf for a special flavour.

A spread cooked by Laku and Bobo

* The desert recipe is right at the end of this post*
Two of them cooked dinner for us last week. The meal started off with a cold pasta salad. It had macaroni, cucumber, boiled potato, capsicum, tomato, tossed with olive oil, ketchup, oregano and chilli flakes. Very nice especially on a hot summer day.





This was followed by stuffed capsicum - the filling was vegetarian - soya granules, peas, potato flakes and other masala for a tasty bite. Recipe can be got here




This was followed by a rich mushroom corn with white sauce, which was demolished with garlic bread.









Then for some yummy dessert.



I only know that these ingredients were used - a sauce of coffee, chocolate, cream, butter, jam and Marie/digestive biscuits, topped with vanilla ice cream. Once frozen and cut the layers were clearly visible. And it dissolved in the mouth and slid down the gullet and settled on the already existing layers of fat. But who cared!

Recipe for the Chocolate Biscuit Cake - (sent by Laku)
Layer 1

Biscuits- Marie or digestive. Nothing that already is sweet by itself.
2 to 4 tbsp- Coffee powder
Jam (Most flavours except Marmalade can be used)


Layer 2
1 cup- Fresh Cream
100 gms Butter
4 to 8 heaped tbsp of Cocoa/ Drinking Chocolate
Powdered Sugar

Topping
Thin layer of Vanilla Ice cream


1. Take a glass dish. Preferably square for easy arranging.
2. Make a coffee decoction and dip the biscuits in. Long enough for it to soak, but make sure they don't get too soggy and break.
3. Place one layer of the biscuits as a base without leaving any gap. If need be, break the biscuit in half for the centre bit.
4. Spread a thin layer of jam over the biscuits.
5. Now spread a generous helping of the mixture with all the ingredients in Layer 2.
6. Keep making such layers in alternation till the dish is almost full, making sure that the last layer is the chocolate mixture.
7. Spread a thin layer of vanilla ice cream on top of the cake.
8. Cover with cling wrap/aluminium foil and freeze without disturbing the same for at least 2 hours.
9. The dessert is ready when you can cut through it with a sharp knife like a cake.
10. Enjoy cold.