Friday, June 12, 2009

Pasta in Tomato and Leek Sauce

I had first tasted Leeks in my office cafeteria and i absolutely fell in love with it. Leeks belong to the same vegetable family as onions and garlic, called Allium. Since Leek belong to thw same vegetable family as onions and garlic, they do share many health beneficial compounds. Research has shown that consuming allium vegetable reduces the risk of prostate and colon cancer, it also helps in stabalizing the bloog sugar level. Find more information on leeks, here. Leeks with a more delicate and sweeter flavor than onions adds subtle touch to the dish without empowering the other flavors present in it. The recipe I am sharing today is very simple one but tastes great. Ideal for weeknights meal and is ready in half an hour. The recipe below serves two. Sending this to Presto Pasta Nights, PPN#118 this week hosted by Daphne. Remember my question, here? A big THANK YOU to all who gave their suggestions and views. I chose Blogher because of their flexibility in contract and i really like the way they frame their ads, I am not sure about the revenue as I have just started :) Ammu has passed "One Lovely Blog Award" to me, thank you very much dear, you are very generous :) Ingredients: For Pasta: 1 cup pasta, any variety 1/2 tsp oil Salt to taste Water to cook For Tomato Sauce: 1 medium onion chopped finely 2 tbsp tomato puree 3 medium tomatoes quatered 1 medium tomatoe finely chopped 2 tbsp fresh crean 1 tsp dry basil leaves 1 tsp butter Salt & Pepper to taste For Leek Sauce: 1 big leek 1 tsp butter 1 tsp cornflour 2 tbsp milk 2 tbsp fresh cream Salt and pepper to taste
Procedure:
  • Cook the pasta in about 3 to 4 cups water, add oil and salt, cook till tender.
  • For tomato sauce, grind together 3 quatered tomatoes with very little water in smooth paste. Pass through a sieve to remove the seeds.
  • In a pan, heat butter, now add in chopped tomatoes and onions, sauce for about 2 to 3 mins, until onions become soft.
  • Now add in tomato puree and tomato paste which we prepared earlier, mix well and cook for another 3 mins.
  • Add dry basil leaves, salt, pepper and fresh cream and cook for another 2 mins.
  • For Leek sauce, clean the leek well. Use only the white and light green parts of the leek and chop them finely.
  • In a heave saucepan, add butter and finely cut leek pieces and sauce until light golden brown.
  • Mix cornflour into milk and make a smooth paste.
  • Add fresh cream and cornflour mixture into leek and mix well. The mixture will thicken very soon.
  • Season it with salt and pepper.
  • To serve, mix tomato sauce and pasta well together, add little leek sauce on top, garnish with few coriander leaves and serve hot.

56 comments:

  1. oh my! great entry parita. I love the leek sauce!!!!

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  2. Tomato pasta looks delicious!!! Nice presentation :)

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  3. Looks delicious. Never tried leek. lovely presentation:)

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  4. Pasta looks so creamy n delicious. I am sure with so much of those fresh herbs n vegetables , Italian dishes are mostly healthy . want to try it for dinner:)

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  5. Considering how much I like onion & garlic, i should try leeks sometime. That pasta dish looks absolutely tempting.

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  6. Pasta without cheese is my favorite.

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  7. Love the leek sauce...looks so rich and creamy...ideal combination with the tomato sauce! Congrats on your award dear :)

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  8. Yummmmm Yummmmm... Its too tempting.. I wish I could just have it right now.. Its so nice to see a lot of new vegetables that ppl introduce.. i just wish it was all available here in India too.. :( Anyways let me try this one with stuff available here. :)

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  9. The leek sauce sounds really good with this delicious pasta! Excellent!

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  10. I love Pasta .. this one looks really delicious

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  11. Parita i love this type of red and white sauce in same pasta dish..i too make this but slightly variated .. will post it one day.. really seeing urs feel like doing today itself...very tempting.

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  12. What a delicious pasta Parita! Love the leek sauce!

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  13. I love the addition of leeks ! must have tasted great ! Congrats on your Blocher !

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  14. I have never had leek sauce..looks rally gud.

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  15. looks yummy Parita. I've never tried leek before. Nice clicks!

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  16. The leek sauce sounds wonderful with the tomato pasta! I've only used leeks in stews and soups.

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  17. ummm...looks soooo yummyyyyy
    can't wait to taste it...

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  18. Mmmmm...pasta. Great job on the leek sauce. I've got to try this sometime as I've never had it before. Sounds great.

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  19. Pasta is the one thing I can cook, if needed. Rarely do it,though :P

    This pasta looks delicious, I'm sure that, god forbid, if I ever have to cook anything, this will be what I choose :P

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  20. Lovely pasta dish. Your pictures are just gorgeous too!

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  21. That is one pretty picture! leek & tomato.. yummm..

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  22. Lovely sauce beautiful presentation

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  23. Leek sauce caught my interest. Must be delicious with pasta. Yum!

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  24. Parita, Thanks for sharing the benifits about leek, I do love the taste of it:) this looks like a great combo with pasta...totally tempting.

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  25. Tomato pasta looks so yummy Parita :)

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  26. I watched chefs cut leeks in food network but have never thought of trying it in my kitchen.. that pasta looks delicious..

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  27. Leeks in a pasta dish sounds like a great idea. It looks like such a gorgeous dinner, so tasty.

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  28. simple and yummy parita..!

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  29. Looks yum..never tried leek....congrats on ur award gal

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  30. Great looking dish, thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights.

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  31. fresh cream and leeks and pasta, that looks so yummmmm!

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  32. Oooo my... It looks so yummyyyy...nice closeup clicks...too tempting.

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  33. looks awesome..very tempting picture indeed..

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  34. Yummm.. looks great..amazing clicks!!

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  35. I'm a big fan of leeks too, your sauce looks great!

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  36. pasta looks yummy Parita, I've never tried leeks,thanks for sharing the info about it. I will try it sometime soon :)

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  37. Ooohhh, I absolutely adore leeks - I can't wait to try your gorgeous recipe!!

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  38. oh wow what a presentation looks so so delicious paritha hummmmmmm.

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  39. Combining two sauces for the pasta sounds very good!

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  40. We enjoy pasta and I've never seen this leek sauce before.
    I do get leeks here and like the delicate flavour. Shall try this out.

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  41. love pasta a lot. but never tried this way.. a must try :)
    cheers!!

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  42. Hi Paritha,Love the sauce with leek.
    Looks delicious and Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  43. Leek sauce is a nice idea Paritha! Pasta looks so tempting and yummy!!

    Good decision on choosing Blogher :)

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  44. Wow! nice twist dear sorry for the late comment .(.was busy ..with my guests this weekend ..:P )..Thanks for sharing dear :)

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  45. hey this pasta looks yummy.
    Didn't know about the Leek but sounds and looks delicious!!
    amazing snap of pasta!

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  46. Leek sauce.......oh looks yummylicious....

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  47. Leek sauce - wow! I usually use it only in soups... Something new here...
    Presentation is awesome as usual too..

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  48. Yummy pasta, Paritha. Love to try, surely my kids will love ti. Leek sauce is new to me , surely try it out.

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  49. Never had leeks, and you made a sauce of it. Gives u a hint how far off I am in the cooking sphere hehehehe

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  50. I never tasted the leeks before...but after seeing a gorgeous sauce on top of your pasta...I love to try it..

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  51. Very new to me, looks delish!!

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  52. I love leeks but have never made a sauce out of them. this is definitely on my list of things to try!

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  53. WOW! I really love this! Didn’t know about leeks!

    Love
    http://www.meghasarin.blogspot.com

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