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.

Pan Seared Lemon Garlic Basa Salad

Pan Seared Lemon Garlic Basa Salad 

These days I am on a high protein, high on vegetable and extremely low on carbohydrate diet which I absolutely love and what also puts me in a good mood are salads especially a light fresh one.

So here is a simple Pan seared basa salad

Serves 1 :

200gm Basa fillet
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 fat clove of garlic
A pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Salt as per taste
1 ripe red chili sliced
1 tsp Olive oil + extra for spraying

For the salad

2 cups of assorted lettuce
5 to 6 cherry tomatoes
Half a red bell pepper chopped
1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive oil


Thinly slice the garlic and chili and then marinate the fish for 1/2 an hour and then heat a pan and spray with a bit of oil add the fish and seal it juices on high heat for less than a minute on each side and cover and cook for about 5 minutes to 8 minutes on low heat .

Arrange the lettuce , cherry tomatoes and bell pepper and drizzle with a little EVOO and add the fish and enjoy a healthy meal. 

Garlic Potato salad

Garlic Potato salad 

Sometimes cooking becomes easy . Well if you have a kitchen where you have all the equipment such as a gas-stove, oven ingredients then preparing a meal becomes much more easy but I came to Bombay all for love and ah well the husband uses an induction cooker. 

Having landed at night the first night was all about some ordered food but today morning once the other half left for some conference or training I was feeling smug about having bought my Darjeeling tea when I realized I am terribly hungry. Here is what I had, tomatoes, some fruits, oats but no milk and just when I was feelign annoyed that I woudl have to go out ah there I spotted one of my favurite things in the world, potatoes.

I looked in the cabinets and there was some extra virgin olive oil, garlic and chili flakes. Well I didn't need anything else. The best part is this dressing can be stored and can also be used as a dip.

So here is a simple recipe for a simple potato salad

Serves 1

1 medium sized potato

For the garlic dressing :-

1 head of garlic
1 tsp chili flakes
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
Salt as per taste
A good splash of white wine vinegar

Simply boil and peel potatoes and blend the ingredients for the dressing. You'l need round about 1/2 to 3/4th  tbsp dressing and you can store the rest for later usage.

Balsamic Honey Paprika Bell Pepper Salad

Balsamic Honey Paprika Bell Pepper Salad 

For me a salad's success largely depends on the dressing. I don't mean that I would want my salad to be drenched in the dressing but a good dressing can definitely make a boring salad extremely delicious. 

I believe it is only balance alone which keeps everything in its place. Just like you vcan't simply keep on indulging in unhealthy fattening food you can't go on eating low calorie salads without a break. A break I did take last Saturday with an indulgent meal which included a cheese tart and brioche au chocolat so it was time for a nice healthy low calorie salad again . With a tangy sweet and sour dressing this salad is a keeper for me. The dressing is a classic one with a tiny twist

Serves 1

2 small tomatoes
Half a red bell pepper
Half an yellow bell pepper
1 tbsp dried cranberries
2 dried prunes

For the dressing

1 tsp honey
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp paprika
Salt as per taste
1/2 tsp finely chopped mint leaves

Chop your salad to make long stripes and chill it for 1 hour. Just before serving whisk together the ingredients mentioned in the dressing to create an emulsion and pour over your salad and enjoy this tangy sweet delight.

Lemon Garlic Chili Grilled Chicken

Lemon Garlic Chili Grilled Chicken 

Truth is I love having grilled chicken. Out of the many reasons the two most important ones are well, the first is obvious I love the taste of grilled chicken but the other one is simple. Grilled chicken means minimum work in the kitchen and it comes especially handy when I am working on a project. So I feel grilled chicken is the freelancers saviour. 

To be fair I knew exactly how I wanted my chicken to taste and threw in the most basic ingredients but boy oh boy was I in for the most delicious surprise ever. As I have already mentioned I love grilled chicken and so I have quite obviously tried numerous marinates and so when this most basic marinate yielded one of the best grilled chicken ever it just made a very ordinary day extraordinarily beautiful.

Here is a simple recipe which serves 2 to 3

400gm to 450gm of chicken with bone (Preferably the thigh and leg , wings with bone)
3 large cloves of garlic or 5 to 6 medium sized ones
1 tbsp chili flakes
Salt as per taste (I required about 1.5 tsp)
2.5 tbsp lemon juice
1.5 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

Simply make a marinate by blending all the mentioned ingredients except the chicken and marinate the washed and dried  pieces of chicken for 2 hours and then grill . I use a convection oven and it took me 15 minutes on one side and about 10 minutes on the other. pair it with a salad of your choice or you may even make a delicious grilled chicken sandwich.

Tips

1. If you are using small cloves of garlic it is often difficult to peel them quickly. In that case soak them in water for 15 minutes and you shall be able to peel them quickly 
2. Keep a tray at the bottom of the rack on which you are grilling so that those juices fall on the tray. This way your oven stays clean and you can use a piece of bread to soak up the juice for an amazing treat. 

Almond Tomato Pesto

Almond Tomato Pesto 

Well when you restrict your diet sometimes it can be hard especially if you are part of too many food groups on the virtual media. Someone wanted to know about pesto and that led to a serious craving for pasta and I was glad that I hadn't eaten dinner. I decided to read a bit about pesto and ah ha it provided the exact information I needed , while there are the traditional recipes which mostly needs cheese it is also a generic term for anything which is pound or crushed. I knew exactly what to do. So here is a pesto which is bursting with flavours and is healthy as well

Makes 2 servings

5 to 6 medium sized cloves of garlic
4 plump juicy medium sized tomatoes blanched and peeled
30 to 40 almonds blanched
2 to 4 dried red chilies
Salt as per taste
1 tbsp to 2 tbsp  extra virgin olive oil
1/4th cup fresh mint leaves

Simply start by pounding the garlic and then add the mint leaves and almonds and keep pounding till its more or less smooth and add the tomatoes after chopping them and then add salt and finally add the oil bit by bit to create a smooth emulsion. Serve over wholewheat pasta and you have a healthy meal . You can use it as a dip as well.

In case you do not want to go through the whole process of pounding the ingredients just blend away in a mixer grinder.

Chili Garlic Sesame Dip

Chili Garlic Sesame Dip 

The truth is I love having vegetables. Yes that is right I love my bacon, cake and steamed or raw vegetables. Well sometimes the salt and pepper isn't enough and so you need an extra boost with a dip but most dips are unhealthy and high in calories . Well a few years ago I had suddenly become interested in Middle Eastern cuisine and finding the ease of availability of the ingredients used in many of their dishes I became a fan of both tahini and Toum and that is how I came to make this dip of mine which is heavily borrowed from those two dips. This takes very little time to make and is a wonderful accompaniment to fresh vegetables or crisps or even nachos.

Makes 4 servings

1 head garlic
4 to 5 dried red chilies
1.5 tbsp red wine vinegar (you can use any other vinegar)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt as per taste
1.5 tsp thyme
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds

Soak the peeled garlic and red chili in the vinegar and oil for 1 hour. This helps reduce the heat of the chili and then just add everything and blend away and you have a healthy dip ready for you. Can be stored in the refrigerator for a week.