Colorful Penne in Creamy Pesto

Penne is by far my most preferred kind of pasta. It works well with any kind of sauce and veggies and the shape is also very pleasant to look at!

This colorful recipe is easy to put together, provided you have pesto sauce at hand, if not then add a couple minutes more to your cooking time. The bell peppers give this pasta dish a nice crunch and color and the pesto of course lends it the delicious flavor.

Ingredients

Whole wheat penne – 1 cup

Colored bell peppers – 1 cup (chopped or sliced)

Carrots – ½ cup (chopped or sliced)

Almond Pesto – 4 tsp

Italian seasoning – 1 tsp

Milk – ¼ cup

Parmesan cheese – 4 tsp

Water – 4 cups

Olive Oil – 1 tsp

Butter – 1 tsp

Salt & Pepper

Boil water and season it with oil, salt and water. Cook pasta in that water as per package directions, drain and set aside. Heat butter in a skillet and sauté the carrots and bell peppers for a couple of minutes. Season the vegetables with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.  Mix in the pesto sauce and cooked pasta. Add milk and parmesan cheese. Gently stir all the ingredients so that they blend in together. Sprinkle pepper and more cheese if desired and serve this colorful pasta hot!

Serving suggestions

·         With soup/salad.

Tips

·        Any kind of dry herbs like parsley, basil, oregano etc., can be used in absence of Italian seasoning.

·        You can add any colored vegetables of your choice; just make sure you don’t overcook them so that they retain their crunchy texture.

·    Mexican blend grated cheese goes well with this kind of pasta in combination with parmesan cheese.

·       Pesto can last up to a week in the refrigerator and can also be frozen for later use
·         Store bought Pesto also works well with this dish.

  Interesting fact

·         Bell pepper is an excellent source of Vitamin A & C, both very powerful anti-oxidants.


This colorful pasta is going to:
http://cooksjoy.com/blog/2012/04/healthy-diet-vegetarian-side-dishes-event-announcement/
http://priyaeasyntastyrecipes.blogspot.com/2012/01/healthy-diet-event-host-line-up.html

Almond pesto with Penne

To me, the best sauce to go with Penne is Pesto. Maybe it’s the garlic or the parmesan cheese or the green color (which by now everybody might have known, is my favorite) that I prefer pesto over Marinara or Alfredo.

Store bought Pesto is definitely convenient but there is so much oil in it, I always get a bad throat later. So I decided to take matters into my own hands, literally and decided to make Pesto at home, and what a costly affair it was ! Do not let it dishearten you however; the fresh taste and flavor more than made up for the cost.

Ingredients

Fresh basil leaves – 2 cups

Garlic – 6 cloves

Almonds – quarter of a cup (peeled)

Olive oil – 6 tsp

Water – half a cup

Freshly grated parmesan cheese – half a cup

Salt and pepper

Broccoli florets – 1 cup

Orange bell pepper – 1 medium, roughly chopped

Thin sticks of Asparagus – 8 to 10

Butter – 2 tsp

Penne pasta

Water for pasta – as needed

Combine basil, garlic, almonds, cheese, water salt and pepper in a mixer. Grind it for a couple of minutes. Add the olive oil and again grind it to a fine paste. Your pesto sauce is ready.

Boil a big pan full of water (about 1.5 liters). Add salt, pepper and 1 tsp olive oil. Cook pasta in it al dente (firm but not hard) and then drain and keep aside. Save half a cup of the pasta water.

In a skillet heat the butter and sauté the vegetables stirring frequently. Continue for 5 minutes and then add the pasta water, salt and pepper to taste. Cook for 5 more minutes and add in the pasta. Mix well. Turn the heat off and add Pesto sauce as needed. If you prefer a dominant flavor go for all of it, or else reserve some for the next day!

  

Serving suggestions

·         Any Italian soup/bread

Tips

·         Pesto is originally made with roasted pine nuts.

·         You can use veggies like carrots, any color bell pepper or beans.

·      Grated parmesan cheese on top of the pasta before serving increases the taste and calories by 5 times !

·         If you want to store the pesto in the refrigerator for a week, use 1 cup of olive oil in the recipe.

  Interesting fact

·         Penne is one of the most popular pasta used for pasta salads.

·         Basil has often been regarded as the “King of Herbs”.

·         Basil is used in medicinal preparations mostly for stress, asthma and diabetes.

Baked Brown Rice Balls

I accidentally stumbled upon Baked Brown Rice Balls while looking for recipes with leftovers. And as I dug deeper and deeper, there were numerous recipes for this classic Italian dish made from leftovers. The yummiest of them being the fried ones.

Taking a bit from here and another from there, this recipe has been modified to suit whatever was available in my kitchen today. I baked them instead of frying, which is what everyone seems to be doing these days and what came out of the oven was nothing short of delicious.

Ingredients

Cooked Brown rice – 2 cups

Finely chopped Spring onions – 4 tsp (just the green part)

Bread crumbs – half a cup (divided into two portions)

Egg – 1 small

Italian seasoning – 1 tsp

Red chili flakes – as tolerated

Dried parsley leaves – 1 tsp

Olive oil – for drizzling

Grated Parmesan cheese – half a cup (optional)

Cheddar/mozzarella cheese – 8 small cubes

Salt and pepper

Combine the rice, spring onions, one part of bread crumbs, egg, Parmesan cheese and the seasonings. Mix well. Take a spoonful of mixture in your hand, insert a cube of cheese in between, cover it with yet another spoonful of the same mixture and roll to form a ball. In a plate, spread the other portion of bread crumbs. Roll the rice ball in the bread crumbs and put in the baking tray. Repeat with all.

I started baking the rice balls at 350 F for 30 minutes, added 10 more minutes, lost patience and increased the temperature to 400 F and time by 15 minutes. To avoid losing control of the mind, drizzle olive oil on top and bake on 400 F for about 20 minutes or until the rice balls form a nice brown crust.

Cheese in this recipe is optional but I do not guarantee if they will taste the same, never tried them without it!

Serving suggestions

*With ketchup or dipped in Marinara Sauce

*In red gravy in place of meat balls with spagetti

Tips

*Egg has been used as a binding agent here, you can use more bread crumbs or

  corn starch instead

*finely chopped vegetables like carrots/ bell peppers can also be added to the

  rice mixture

Interesting fact

·         The art of baking was made popular by the Romans.

Cauliflower Au Gratin

You can smell calories on this one well before you eat it. Didn’t stop me from eating it nevertheless!

Ingredients

Cauliflower cut into small florets – 2 cups

Water – 4 cups

Milk – 2 cups

Butter – 2 tsp

All purpose flour – 2 tsp

Bread crumbs – half a cup

Chopped parsley – 2 tsp

Red chili flakes – half a tsp

Grated cheddar cheese – half a cup

Grated Swiss and mozzarella cheese – half a cup

Salt and pepper

In a deep cooking vessel boil water, add salt and pepper. Cook the cauliflower florets in the water for 7-8 minutes till they are done. Drain and keep aside. In a saucepan heat butter and add flour. Stir briskly for a minute or so till the flour changes color. Whisk in milk slowly. Add the spices and cheddar cheese and turn the heat off. Stir continuously making sure the cheese melts and a thick sauce is formed. Grease a baking casserole and cover it with half the sauce. Layer the cauliflower florets and the remaining sauce again on the florets. Top it with bread crumbs and grated Swiss and mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400 F for about 15- 20 minutes until the crust is golden brown.

This recipe is a lighter derivation (if there can be one with cheese in it) of a very comforting, rich classic. Double the cheese and butter to enjoy it in its true avatar. Till then, food and more food….

Tips

*All purpose flour can be substituted with wheat flour.

*Any kind of cheese can be used in place of Swiss and mozzarella.

*Broccoli can be combined with cauliflower in this dish