Farfalle with Eggplant Marinara Sauce

Dear All,

I have been experimenting a lot with different sauces and dips which can be used with pastas and pizzas. So stay tuned as lots of different pasta recipes will be coming up in next few weeks. One such successfull experiment was Rachel Ray's Eggplant Marinara Sauce. Initially I was little skeptical about this sauce as eggplant in a pasta sauce? I have  prepared curries using eggplant but never a sauce! Some googling and i landed on Pavani's version of eggplant pasta sauce, with such grt reviews I had to give it a try! Pasta are really easy, quick and extremely versatile in nature. You can have them baked, boiled and even rooasted! I love to prepare my pasta sauce at home, even if it takes 15 to 20 mins more, i think its totally worth it!

Most of the pasta sauces you can prepare in advance and freeze them, later on use them whenever required. I like to freeze my basic tomato sauce as it works well with both pizza and pasta and its a real life savior when I come back from long day of work! I also love to add pasta to my soups which makes them more healthier and fulfilling! The best part of pastas is that they are one pot meals extremely easy and no compromise on health and taste!

This is off to Presto Pasta Nights guest hosted this week by Rachel of The Crispy Cook an event started by Ruth Daniels of Once Upon A Feast

My Version of Eggplant Marinara Sauce:
For Roasting: 
2 big eggplants
2 medium tomatoes chopped
Salt and Pepper to drizzle


For Sauce:
1 can crushed tomatoes or 3 medium tomatoes finely chopped
1 red jalapeno, finely chopped
2 medium red onions finely chopped
1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp paprika flakes(optional)
Salt and Pepper as per taste
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano (optional)


Pasta:
2 cups farfalle pasta
4 cups water
1 tsp oil
1 tsp salt

Procedure:

• Cook the pasta with water, oil and salt. Drain and keep aside.
  
• Slice the eggplants into halves, drizzle some olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Roast the eggplants at 200 degrees C for about 45 mins, until tender and golden brown.
  
• Half way through, spread the chopped tomatoes besides the eggplants on the same baking dish, sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and pepper too.
• At the end of 45 mins both eggplants and tomatoes will be roasted. Remove and keep aside to cool. Mash them nicely using your hands or a fork.
  
• In a pan or skillet, heat a tbsp of olive oil, add in onions and jalapenos. Saute them for 3 to 4 mins until soft. Now add in the crushed tomatoes, mashed and roasted eggplants and tomato mixture. Mix well.
• Add in vinegar and season with salt and pepper if required.I also added 1 tsp of paprika flakes to give a spicy kick.
  
• Cook the sauce for 15 to 20 mins on slow-medium heat, until everything is well blended.
• Finally add in freshly chopped parsley and serve hot with pasta.
  

Creamy Eggplant and Bell Pepper Stew with few rants

Dear Foodies,

I cant tell you how much i have missed blogging in last two weeks. I felt as if an important part of me was missing. I thought all my blogger friends will forget me :((( thats seriously a scary thought and gave me nightmares! Blogging started with a hobby and now has become a passion for me. This blog gave me lots of new things, a new identity, people from all over the world visit my blog and appreciate my efforts, its such a great feeling and thats what every blogger is craving for, right? I got so many new and extremely talented friends, whom i respect and love for their talent of creating marvellous dishes, this blog is also a place where i can share my views and of course my recipes and experiments!

Shifting to a new place has some serious disadvantages. I have misplaced so many things which i am not able to find, either they are taken away by JADOO (remember KMG?) or i have a ghost in my house! Every morning there is a treasure hunt going on, the only difference being there is no actual treasure to be won but only to find my misplaced things back. Boxes and bags are lying around and with working 12 to 16 hours a day I hardly find time to sleep forget cooking and unpacking. Seriously gals if you are living alone dont ever shift apartments, its bad idea. My new kitchen is quite smaller as compared to the older one, it finishes the moment i step in :( At first i thought its ok as this is only a temporary place and as i will be moving back to india in another 2 months but now it has actually started to bother me, which in turn is worrying me .....ah ....sigh....

Now in such a scenario i require something comforting to my taste buds. No traditional khichdis or rasams and rice but today i present you extremely delicious and easy "Stew". Stewing is a method of cooking meat or vegetables using small quantity of liquid at a moderate heat for a long time. This way of cooking helps in enhancing the flavors in the dish and also helps in absorbing the spices in the meats and veggies. More information on Stews here. Do read it, quite interesting! I have adapted the below recipe from Pooja's traditional Ishtu. Thanks Pooja for this wonderful recipe, its one of my favorites now :)

EC, Rekha, Sanghi Indrani and Muneeba all have passed the below wards to me, once again thank you gals, this drives me to deliver more....oooohh talking like an IT professional now, arnt i? Thank you for having faith in me. The tag i have answered in my previous post here.

Ingredients: 1 big eggplant chopped 1 bell pepper chopped (i used an orange one) 1 spring onion chopped 1 medium onion thinly sliced 1 can coconut milk (400 ml) 2 green chillies slit 1 tsp black pepper 1 tbsp olive oil 3 elaichi (cardamon seeds) 1 cinnamon stick 3 cloves 1 bay leaf 1 tsp ginger paste Salt to taste 1/2 cup of water Procedure:

• Heat olive oil in a pan, add cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamon seeds , cloves, ginger paste and green chillies.
• Temper for a min, now add in sliced onions and spring onion, keep some greens aside for garnishing.
• Cook them until soft, now add in eggplant and bell peppers chopped.
• Saute for another 2 mins and then add the coconut milk, water, salt and pepper.
• Cover and cook on slow to medium heat for 15 to 20 mins, until eggplants have absorbed the flavors and are cooked.
• Garnish with some srping onion greens.
• Serve the stew warm accompanied with a bread or enjoy it with steaming rice.

Brinjal Potato Green Peas Curry

This is one of the most simple and commonly prepared curry at home, along with roti this meal is one of the most satisfying dish ever. In my school days i never liked brinjals, when my mom used to prepare Baigan ka bharta at home i never used to eat. Once during one of the christmas holidays we went to visit my aunt in gujarat in a small town named Anand, there first time I tasted brinjal. It was cold winter night and we group of 1o to 12 people were sitting at a dhaba and enjoying the night with bonfire. My mom had ordered baigan bharta and bajre ki roti which in my eyes was "yukkk", at that age we dont really go for nutritious food, do we? As usual my mom insisted to taste it....oh well it was cold and i was very very hungry so took one bite and i absolutely loved it, i thought why didnt i ever taste this before? From that day onwards i have never said no to brinjal. I love them in all forms..roasted, fried, curried or stuffed, they always taste wonderful!!!

Ingredients:

1 medium brinjal diced

2 medium potato diced

1/2 cup green peas

3-4 tbsp fresh grated coconut

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

a generous pinch of Asafoetida(hing)

2 bay leaf

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp sugar

Salt to taste

1/4 cup of chopped cilantro

Procedure:

• In a vessel, heat oil, add in cumin seeds, mustard seeds and bay leaf. When seeds start to splutter, add in asafoetida and brinjals and potatoes.
• Now add in salt, sugar, turmeric, red chilli, cumin and coriander powders and very little water and mix well.
• Cover and cook for 7-8 mins until potatoes and brinjals are half cooked.
• Now add in grated coconut and green peas and again cook for another 5 to 7 mins or until cooked.
• Before serving add in chopped cilantro and mix well.
• Serve hot with roti.