Basil Parmesan Pesto

Basil Parmesan Pesto 

I cook because I love cooking. I love exploring new dishes. I love spending hours trying to find out about a dish which is unknown to me or even a known one not belonging to my culture.

I remember the first time I had made Basil pesto. Till 2 years ago you would not find pine nuts in Kolkata's market and so when I found it in Bombay I was overjoyed. I bought some pine nuts shelled them and made my basil pesto and I was in love with it. My husband hated the taste of basil but then I hardly cared because I was in love with it and his aunt who had visited us at the time liked it quite well. The freshness of basil with the cheesiness and the flavour of extra virgin olive oil with pine nuts is delicious.

Thanks to Google translator I am able to read blogs written in different languages and that is how I had come to know that Carbonara Sauce in fact does not use bacon but uses Guanciale (Pig cheek) and going by this video over youtube a chef from Italy explains how bacon and Guanciale are very different.

And then a few months back I bought 'La Cucina' by the Italian Academy of Cuisine. It beautifully categorizes dishes as per their region and what I did notice was the frequent use of a cheese called Pecorino Romano. This was last year and I was overjoyed to find it online and I loved its sharp taste and felt relieved about having a source for this widely used cheese in Italian cuisine.


Anyway soon enough I found it to be discontinued due to lack of demand. I felt really bad because so many dishes use the particular cheese. Anyway I was checking my favourite site for Italian dishes, 'Giallozafferano' and their pesto alla Genovese used Pecorino cheese. I checked out a few other sites and found the use of this cheese in all the recipes. This is where I thank Google translator. While its true that the translation can at times be terrible you basically understand the sentences and that is all that matters to me. Anyway I was a bit sad since I had bought a big bunch of Basil leaves and then I decided to ask Manuela about this use of cheese in the particular pesto . She writes from ManusKitchen  and is from Italy. Do check out her site for some fantastic recipes.

Anyway she confirmed my suspicion about Pecorino being an essential ingredient for Pesto alla genovese and told me Parmesan is the closest substitute but would be milder in taste.

Anyway I did still proceed to make a pesto and the result was fantastic in taste.

I adapted  'Giallozafferano''s recipe and am loving this.

I followed the recipe as closely as possible wiping the basil leaves with a wet cloth instead of washing them as mentioned and using my mortar and pestle and so in the end other than the absence of pecorino cheese this Basil Parmesan pesto is something that shall have a recurring presence in my kitchen. Here is hoping I get to source some Pecorino real soon.

Basil Parmesan Pesto

25gm basil fresh leaves
1 large garlic clove (In India the garlic cloves are much more small than its European counterpart and I needed 4 small ones)
50ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
10gm Pine Nuts
Salt as needed
50gm Parmesan cheese (In case you get pecorino replace 50gm Parmesan with 40gm Pecorino and 15gm Parmesan)

75 dried gm pasta per serving


Start by pounding the garlic with salt and when it reaches a creamy state add the leaves bit by bit pounding them till they become smooth and then add the pine nuts and  then slowly add the cheese after grating it. Once it reaches a creamy consistency add the Extra Virgin Olive Oil bit by bit and enjoy it over pasta cooked al dente.

Linguine in Bacon Pomodoro Sauce

Linguine  in Bacon Pomodoro Sauce 

Sometimes you need to make some changes to the original recipe because of lack of ease of availability of ingredients. So I was set on this beautiful Italian recipe but the cheese used is rarely available and my friend had come over  before I had ordered the required cheese. Needless to say I substituted the required cheese with another easily available Italian cheese and the result was scrumptious even with the change. I mean there is little chance of going wrong when you have bacon, Parmesan, a nice tomato based sauce heaped on pasta cooked al-dente

Serves 2 :-

180gm to 200gm dried linguine pasta
4 to 5 plump big tomatoes
2 fat cloves of garlic
1 large onion sliced very thin
3 fatty rashers of bacon
A good handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Spray of olive oil

Simply boil your pasta as per instructions on the packet. For al dente be careful to take out the pasta and cook it for a minute less than the specified time. Now if the instructions ask you to boil the pasta for 7 minutes to 9 minutes start making your sauce after 4 minutes of boiling the pasta. Mince the garlic and chop tomatoes and slice onion. Now spray a pan with olive oil and fry the bacon and when its nicely done and you have a lot of bacon grease take out the bacon and  saute the garlic in the bacon fat and then add the sliced onion and finally the plump juicy chopped tomatoes and cook then for 1/2 a minute on high flame and add salt and then simmer covered to make a nice sauce and mash with masher and add 1 ladle of the pasta water . When you get a  thick sauce mix in the Parmesan reserving some to be sprinkled on each plate. Meanwhile keep an eye on the pasta and drain it and plate it and pour the sauce on top and add bacon and a sprinkle of Parmesan and serve

Two cheese pasta

Two cheese pasta 

There are times when you feel cheesy. Well no pun intended but surely when you have two varieties of cheese at home sometimes you end up using both for a delicious treat even if the cheese isn't a apart of the cuisine from where you have taken your inspiration from but then again if the end result makes you feel happy does it really matter? After all you aren't really calling it with a particular name from the cuisine. So here I am presenting my two cheese pasta

Serves 1 - 2 (depending on appetite)

2 cups whole wheat penne (yields 3.5 servings of pasta)
3 ping pong ball sized tomatoes
1 large garlic clove + 1 medium garlic clove
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balmasic vinegar
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried red chili
2 tbsp grated cheddar
2 tsp heaped crumbled feta

What you do is cook the pasta as per instructions on the packet. Now simply heat the oil and add the minced garlic and then add the tomatoes and use the balsamic vinegar and cook on high heat for a few seconds and add the herb and chili and add the pasta toss around and add the shredded cheddar , let it melt and add the crumbled feta before serving.

Spaghetti with sun dried tomatoes

Spaghetti with sun dried tomatoes 

So give me the simplest of Pasta recipes and I am a happy girl. You see unlike what many people think Italian food doesn't always require a lot of cheese or heavy sauces. Of course the meatball sauce is to die for but the pasta dishes I like best are so simple that when during the worst of the summers or for that matter even the pleasant winters its a real treat for people who enjoy individual flavours but likes keeping it simple. In fact I once came across a recipe for Spaghetti which simply used breadcrumbs and anchovies. Hard to believe but true.

While we are almost getting sun dried with this terrible weather in Calcutta I decided it was time to sun dry some tomatoes and 3 days of glorious basking in the sun led to a jar of flavoured delights . Once my sun dried tomatoes were ready I was only to excited to use them and then what I did was simply use it with my favourite pasta Aglio Olio peperoncino. Now many a restaurants will have you believe that Aglio Olio has a host of ingredients with olives chopped in , herbs , Parmesan but the simple truth is all it needs is garlic, chili peppers, salt, olive oil and Spaghetti or any other pasta. So this is simple, all I did was add in some Sun dried tomatoes  and a bit of herb and my pasta was bursting with flavours .

Here is what you need for each serving of this pasta dish  :-

100gm of Spaghetti
2 medium sized garlic cloves
2 ripe chili pepper
6 to 7 Sun dried tomatoes
1 tsp dried or fresh basil (With the scorching temperature most of my fresh herbs are quickly drying out and I simply grind them to make dried herbs)
1 tbsp oil from the jar of sun dried tomatoes (This bit makes the dish unbelievably tasty)
Salt as per taste

All you need to do is cook the pasta as per instructions and if you like it al dente as I do cook it one minute less than the given time on the packet. Drain the water. meanwhile heat 2 tsp of the flavoured oil and add minced garlic and let the aroma fill your kitchen and immediately add minced chili peppers and then salt and the cooked Spaghetti, add the basil and toss around and before serving drizzle with 1 tsp flavoured oil and the sun dried tomatoes and you are in for a treat if you like things simple yet bursting with flavours.

Aglio Olio Peperoncino

Aglio Olio Peperoncino 

The truth about some Italian pasta dishes is that it is so simple that many people cannot but put in some additional ingredients but the other truth is that nothing beats the amazing taste when the pasta is cooked in its original simple format. It takes a total of 8 minutes to prepare and is so comforting that it can easily become a pasta lover's comfort food. The famous Aglio Olio Peperoncino which literally transaltes to garlic oil chili pepper pasta.

I personally love this pasta because of the amazingly short time it takes and the ease with which it can be prepared. It has come to my aid many a times when I have approaching deadlines but quite honestly I love cooking this even when I have ample time on my hands for the amazing flavours and because of the few ingredients you get to enjoy each and every flavour individually .

Serves 1

What you need is :-

100gm spaghetti
1 gigantic clove of garlic
1 ripe red pepper chili
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt as per taste

Cook the pasta as per instructions on the packet. Drain and then Mince the garlic as finely as possible, heat the olive oil and add the garlic but do not brown it , when the aroma spreads throughout your kitchen add the minced red pepper chili and then add salt and add the cooked pasta. Toss well and serve. Its delicious

Feast of love 2014

Love is in the air. Well to be frank Valentine's Day for me is much hyped yet the celebrations of the day is infectious. To be fair my husband and I feel even more loved when we make ordinary days into Valentine specials. I will be honest here. I believe that love for thyself is the greatest love one can have and only if you love yourself can you love another being with all your heart. I decided I needed some much needed pampering and my better part of the day was spent in one of my favourite places, Downtown Bombay. The architecture , the brilliant food and everything else is a romance in itself. I treated myself to a wonderful lunch and would highly recommend Cafe Churchill to anyone who loves Western Cuisine and happens to visit Bombay. I have written about My Experience of Cafe Churchill which left me in a much better mood for love.

So I shall revel my secret today. My husband and I are far from being romantic and I have realized that while I am completely head over heels in love with love itself I am not a very romantic person in reality. Most of my romance is swimming around in my mind. Thed other secret is that my green husband is not far from being passionate when it comes to culinary interest. Having said that I must mention that he has expressed his love for my cooking from the day I had put something on the table. So while I personally love love love elaborate lunches and dinners since we are Celebrating Valentine's day I decided my food should be an ode to love and so I prepared a dish which is cherished by my husband and well I love it as well. I bought a bottle of white wine to make the day a bit special and with enough praises from the bear half I was quite happy and might I say romantic as well. The surprise element was the dessert. You see my husband does not have a sweet tooth and more importantly he had expressed his utter repulsion for dark chocolates so while I cannot have my chocolates but dark, bitter, creamy silky he loves his chocolates milky and sweet.

 The surprising part was when I made some Dark chocolate Swiss truffles a few weeks back for my dear friend Claudia and well there were a few leftovers. I will go on to give a detailed description of what happened. I was in bed with Anna Karenina where she is madly in love when my bear half came over murmuring ' Mmmm Manjari , these are delicious. I love them' I looked up to find him relishing the dark chocolates truffles. I said, 'but you do not like dark chocolates' to which there was no reply since he kept popping one chocolate after the other in his mouth. My personal belief is that the cream which is used for truffles makes it a delight for all people unless they dislike chocolates.

So for dessert I decided on some Swiss Truffles. Now we did not actually have the dessert on Valentine's Day per say since both of us believe that any day can be Valentine's day and so my basic truffle was ready by the next day and even before I could roll them in the nuts or coat them with chocolate 7 of them were polished off by a man whose teeth was dark after the overindulgence. I couldn't be more happy. By night I was done with the coating and well who knew that the man who once despised desserts would pop in two more truffles.

So coming back to my food I chose Spaghetti alla Arrabbiata a dish which is cherished by my husband. Now usually I make Arrabbiata the old fashioned authentic way which simply uses garlic, olive oil, tomatoes and chilies and I love how you can play around with taste by adding a bit of basil on some days and a bit of parmesan on other days .I have personally even added red bell pepper with raving reviews. Here I must share a particularly important bit of information that I have learnt myself. You see most people would have you believe that Arrabbiata is incomplete without Parmesan or basil but that is not the case as I have mentioned already. Arrabbiata means angry and the pasta is called so due to the presence of ripe red chilies which give it is fiery taste. For a true gourmet feel do add the cheese and basil , it might not be absolutely authentic but is certainly tastes heavenly. The best part about this dish is that it hardly takes 15 minutes giving you ample time for other romantic activities.

What you need for 2 lovebirds :-

2/6 of 500gm pasta or a bit more if you have a strong appetite
5 to 6 plump tomatoes
4 to 5 garlic cloves (Indian medium size)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 ripe red chilies
A good handful of grated Parmesan cheese
5 to 6 fresh basil leaves
Salt as per taste

Start by boiling your pasta as per instructions mentioned on the packet. Bring water to boil and add salt and pasta and cook as per instructions. It usually takes 10 minutes to 11 minutes . In the meantime mince your garlic as finely as possible, finely chop the chilies and chop those plump tomatoes and grate the cheese. Leaving 2 basil leaves finely chop the rest. When the pasta has cooked for 4 minutes start making your sauce by heating up 2 tbsp olive oil and saute the garlic. Saute the garlic but do not brown them one bit. Add the chilies and then the tomatoes and basil and cook on medium flame mashing them with a masher from time to time. When you see little bubbles lower the heat to low flame and add salt and cover . Once the pasta is done drain it and give the sauce a good mash so that it is smooth and simply mix the sauce with the grated Parmesan reserving about a tablespoon . Use a spatula to make sure that the cheese has melted which it anyways will due to the heat from  the sauce. Mix the spaghetti with the sauce and arrange in a pasta bowl or dinner plate and sprinkle Parmesan cheese and garnish with the basil leaves. Its simple easy , quick and a lover's delight. Oh by the way its red the colour of passion. Ah but did you know that basil is an aphrodisiac. So make anyday of the year a Valentine's special dinner with this easy simple delightful recipe which is tangy with the fresh sweetness of basil and the delightful fieriness and creamy cheesy taste.


Now what is Valentine's Day without some chocolaty indulgence.

Try some Swiss truffles, smooth silky soft and delicious inside with a nutty coating or a solid chocolate coating








This is part of Kolkata Food Blogger's Love on Plate  do check our Page for scrumptious dishes you might prepare for your romantic partner

Lemon Linguine Pasta

Lemon Linguine Pasta
Inspired from Sicily 

I do not like how or why our restaurants in India constrict the idea of pastas from the land which is a culinary lover's delight. I have been gathering recipes for different pasta recipes from blogs, chefs which seem very unheard of and are simple and would make such intense love to your taste buds that it , well it makes you feel happy.

Jamie Oliver mentions the fragrance of the Sicilian lemons which gives this dish its unique flavour. Of course I used the fresh lemons available in my local market since I don't have access to Sicilian Lemons and the pasta still turns out quite delicious.

The original recipe demands fresh rocket leaves which I could not procure in Calcutta, so I omitted it. Frozen food usually has no place in my pantry.

So I used the following ingredients

Serves 1 :-

80gm to 100gm Linguine pasta
A handful of Grated Parmesan
2 tsp juice from the freshest of lemons from the local market
1 tsp chopped Fresh basil leaves which are found in plenty in the vegetable section of New market or any other place you can procure it from.
1.5 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
lemon zest

This is what I did while rats and moles were playing volleyball in my stomach. Boiled and drained the pasta.
Whisk the lemon, olive oil and cheese reserving 2 tsp of the grated cheese and mix with the warm pasta and add the basil. Sprinkle some grated Parmesan on top