Pesto and Pinenuts Conchiglie (Shells) Salad...

Here is a very special tasty recipe for a pasta salad...I ate it at one of these welcome group dinners hosted for residents...it was delicious.. Must Must try it...Highly recommended...

Ingredients: 

Conchiglie (Shells) OR Rigatoni (fat tubular ribbed pasta) boiled and cooled...

( for pesto sauce)

• ½ a clove of garlic, chopped

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 3 good handfuls of fresh basil, leaves picked and chopped

• a handful of pine nuts, very lightly toasted

• a good handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

• extra virgin olive oil

optional

• a small squeeze of lemon juice

Pesto Preparation:

Pound the garlic with a little pinch of salt and the basil leaves in a pestle and mortar, or pulse in a food processor. Add a bit more garlic if you like, but I usually stick to ½ a clove. Add the pine nuts to the mixture and pound again. Turn out into a bowl and add half the Parmesan. Stir gently and add olive oil – you need just enough to bind the sauce and get it to an oozy consistency.

Season to taste, then add most of the remaining cheese. Pour in some more oil and taste again. Keep adding a bit more cheese or oil until you are happy with the taste and consistency. You may like to add a squeeze of lemon juice at the end to give it a little twang, but it’s not essential. Try it with and without and see which you prefer.

Putting it together:

In a large bowl put the pesto and the pasta together and mix. Garnish with some pinenuts and freshly cut basel. Serve chilled...

OR

Hope you guys enjoy it too..

Homemade Mustard-contributed by Bharati Rawat :-)

Hello Friends!!

This recipe is contributed and shared with us by my ma-in-law, Bharati....(original in her own writing) :-)
How to make your own mustard at home.....
Enjoy!!

Mumma says:


Homemade mustard:


100 gms roughly pounded mustard-brown or yellow wholegrain variety.
Put into a glass jar and slowly add cold milk, stirring well to attain a thick paste consistency.
Shut the cap and leave in a warm place and allow to mature for 7-10 days; stirring daily.
Add salt to taste and half a teaspoon of turmeric powder if using yellow mustard.
Taste the mustard, it should have acquired the characteristic zing!
Finally add a pinch of sugar and some good vinegar to acquire the right spreading consistency.
Happy eating! !


So try it and let us know how it came out...
See you later....:-)

Grilled Mustard Potatoes

Ingredients:

4-5 medium sized potatoes, par boiled. Let it cool, then cut in roundels with the skin.
2-3 tsps of good quality granular mustard (mustard with grains and not the smooth variety).

4-5 tbsps whisked yogurt.

Marinate the potatoes in the ingredients mentioned above for about 20 mins at room temp.

Put in the oven in a baking dish to grill for 20-30 mins. Keep checking, unless you want the potatoes to turn black to feed the hungry dustbin.

Serve hot or cold.

Variation 1:
Cut potatoes into squares without the skin and then marinate and chill. Serve cold as salad. Eat as much as you can, then feed the dustbin... if your fridge is too full to store the leftovers, hopefully there should be none.

Variation 2:
Can use cucumber instead of potatoes to serve as a cold salad.

Enjoy!!

Some recipes - try at your own risk....

Hulla girl!!

This one is specially posted for you...

Sausages in red wine sauce....

Ingredients:

About 5 to 6 pork sausages (good quality, PigPo keeps the best in town..)
2 -3 medium sized potatoes cut in roundels...
2 carrots cut in roundels
1 small cauliflower (florets)
1 Capsicum cut as medium sized squares (any colour you like)
Some white button mushrooms say about 5 or six, each cut vertically into 4 or 5 pcs(depending on the size)

For the sauce:
Once I made it with ginger - garlic paste and once only with finely chopped garlic, both came out well..

Some Red wine, about 4 to 5 tbsp, I guess..
2 big fat juicy tomatoes, finely sliced...
2 medium size onions, finely sliced,
1-2 green chillies, finely sliced,
2 -3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced. (if not using ginger-garlic paste)
a pinch of sugar so that the sauce gets a bit caramelised...
Some barbecue seasoning or mexican seasoning...choice is yours..(I am using barbecue seasoning)
or
red chilli flakes/powder
Some thyme either fresh or dried...
salt
2 tsp Coriander powder

Preparation:

• Boil and then fry the sausages in a pan, till they are brown and almost done but still tender not crisp from the outside. Remove and keep aside.

To do the sauce:

• In a pan add oil, then ginger-garlic paste, saute for a little while and then add onions / or if you are doing with sliced garlic, add onions first and then the garlic.
• Once the onion change colour add tomatoes and all the dried masalas.
• let it cook till the tomatoes get soft and the juices begin to cook. Then add water, not much and then let it reduce at a medium flame...this will take about 15 to 20 minutes..(anyways, you will know). It is done when the consistency is like a thick pasta sauce but still lumpy...
• Remove from the pan.

Putting together:

In a baking dish place the sauce right at the bottom..then put the sausages on top. Add all the vegetables (except the capsicum) on the sides and add very little red wine..so that the vegetables just get coated and not drown in it..they will leave their own water once they start cooking and we do not want a watery dish..

10 minutes in the oven at about 200 degrees ( I keep monitoring and changing the temperature accordingly) and once you see that everything is sizzling and just about cooked and the water almost dried up..

Now add a generous amount of red wine into it..and the capsicum..Not too much you want a thick sauce but not mashed veggies...Let it grill now at a high temperature so that the wine starts drying up and we will have a nice thick sauce...(but keep monitoring, thats what I keep doing :-))

And Voila!! the dish is ready, dont know how it will come out...Of course, do whatever variations you like, as I also keep experimenting...

Enjoy!!