Reckless Cooking

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Puff Pastry: Spinach Cheese mixture

Thaw frozen spinach and squeeze the water out of it. Add finely minced green chillies + diced onions + salt + whatever cheese you have. Spread this over the pastry puff sheet (thawed). Now roll it to form a spiral and cut them into pieces. Bake and eat.

Puff Pastry: Apple Tart with Mascarpone Cheese

Based on a recipe from here
with the following tweaks:

Thaw the puff pastry to room temp. Cut the apple into thin slices and add jaggery to them (instead of brown sugar, am I a baker here?) and let it rest for a while. Then arrange the apple pieces on the puff pastry sheets and sprinkle sugar over it. Put it in the oven and bake for about 15-18 minutes. 

Meanwhile take a dollop of mascarpone cheese and add some lemon juice + 3/4 tsp of sugar. Whip this till you get a creamy light mixture. 

Spread this over the puff pastry once it is done, and serve.

Pasta: Vegetable Sauce (Red Pepper / Eggplant)

A change in the veggie and a new sauce is made. Rather than making pasta the usual style, I've started experimenting with the sauces making a few tweaks.

I love fusili  for this. Cook the fusili al dente (with salt + olive oil). When you drain the fusili, add some parmesan cheese to it when hot. This will melt it.

Red Pepper Base

Broil 1 Red Pepper (big pieces) mixed with olive oil + salt+ pepper. When you see the charring start, add one diced tomato (fresh) and let it roast. 
Then grind to a puree some of this mixture with marinara sauce ( I use trader joes brand) and green chillies. The quantity should be enough to coat the fusili. Toss in the fusili, sauce, remainder of pepper + tomato, olives + cheddar cheese + sliced red onion and let it stand for about 30 minutes.  

Eggplant Base

In hot pan add olive oil + sliced eggplant +salt+ turmeric. Grind store bought marinara sauce + some eggplant pieces + coriander leaves.  
The quantity should be enough to coat the fusili. Toss in the fusili, sauce, remainder of eggplant + tomato + cheddar cheese + sliced red onion and let it stand for about 30 minutes.  

Add other veggies like mushroom etc.. Can try making sauces with other veggies.