Baked Stuffed Zucchini

This wonderful dish is at once light, delicious and awfully simple to make. It can be light based on what you choose to stuff the zucchini with - If you are thinking mozzarella, cream cheese,  meat, or some other high calorie stuffing, think again - We had this dish at a local restaurant and even as we were eating it, I had resolved to make it. This falls under the gourmet category and certainly has the WOW factor when it comes to impressing your family, friends or a very special person in your life. So go ahead and give it a try - takes all of 30 minutes to make and the end result is most "appointing" - used as an antonym to disappointing :)

Ingredients

• 2- 3 medium sized fresh Zucchinis
• 1/3 cup of greek yogurt (I recommend Fage)
• 3 tbps of mascarpone ( entirely optional) Can be substituted with more greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp of Miscuglio (a fine blend of italian herbs and spices)
• Tomato Sauce - We made ours with diced tomatoes, garlic and some red chilies and italian herbs
• 2/3 cup of grated sharp cheddar cheese for topping before baking
• Olive oil for brushing
• Bread crumbs for sprinkling

Method

1. Set oven to 400
2. On the slicer side of the grater, make long thin strips of the Zucchini 
3. Arrange on a baking pan and gently brush with olive oil and bake for about 10 minutes
4. In the meanwhile, prepare your baking dish
5. Add the tomato sauce to the bottom of the dish and keep
6. In a bowl, mix the yogurt and the mascarpone together along with the Muscuglio. 
7. Remove Zucchini from oven and let cool for a few minutes (else the yogurt will get liquify in the heat)
8. Once cooled,  add a tsp of he yogurt mix to one end of the strip and roll the zucchini as shown in the pictures
9. Once all of them are made
10. Place gingerly on the tomato sauce in baking dish
11. Top with the smallest amount of break crumbs
12. Add the grated cheese over the rolls
13. Bake again at 400 for about 15 minutes 

Serve HOT :)

Easy, Peasy Cheesy Spread

This is my entry for the Hush Hush week of Avant Garde Cookies. Priya Sreeram gave me an easy ingredient - cheese. And I had just stocked the fridge with Feta from the Indian store (never again since it was too salty, but perfect for the dish I made) and Gruyere from Trader Joes.
What to make??? I also had some paneer sitting in the fridge from a previous purchase, however it was not an option for this meal.

I have been cooking but blogging has been a luxury I have been unable to indulge in! Other priorities, kid applying to colleges, baking goodies for all the teachers and friends who have enriched our lives, horrific news that makes me want to sometimes curl up under the comforters with my children and never come out! Oft are the times I feel like taking them all back in my womb where I can keep them safe! If only that were an option! Kids grow up, get bigger than you, finish school and flee the nest in pursuit of their own destinies. As parents you have to learn to dwell on their success and not at the void they leave in the home as they do so!

I want a safe environment for the children and for all the people of the US. Many countries survive just fine with no weapons in their homes - I dream of a gun-free country where people once again learn to love their neighbors and let go of this built up hate and frustration.

Sorry to digress, this is after all a food blog and I am happy that is one thing that can please, made the right way :)

This was an uber delicious spread and a perfect addition to any dinner table and for entertainment.

Ingredients
1 pack of frozen peas (12oz)
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 cup of gruyere cheese
1/4 cup of creamy Feta cheese
3 spicy green chilies
2 tomato
2tsp of olive oil


Method
Sautee until all veggies are cooked.
Add the Feta to the veggies and melt
Cool and grind and put in a baking dish
Add grated gruyere
Bake at 350 for 20 -25 mins

Serve as dip or spread

Fabulous Focaccia my ‘Whey’

Oven ready

Today it is my pleasure to WOW you with my protein rich, colorful focaccia. Pronounced Fo-Ka-Cha

Pari of Fooddelicious had this ever so tempting post on her blog last week and I knew I simply HAD to make it – I had all the fresh home grown ingredients for it and I said, hey, let’s do it and I did. It turned out to be a phenomenal success (which is measured in how many minutes it takes to get devoured by my kids) and truth to tell, I am happy I got a minute to take the pictures before my kids went gung-ho with it.I had some when sitting around in the fridge left over from making some paneer. I used it in a couple of ways: one in the soup I made to accompany the focaccia and two, in the focaccia itself. While the taste did not change any, it felt better that with the carbs, there was also some protein. If you are a vegetarian, you know how difficult it is to avoid carbs – even if you are seeking the complex kinds. Anyway, without further natter, I present to you my fresh, really fresh, Focaccia

Baked to a nicety!

Ingredients

For the dough

• 3-4 cups of bread flour ( I used King Arthur’s unbleached bread flour)
• 1tbsp of instant yeast
• 2tbsp crushed fresh rosemary
• 1tsp salt
• 1tsp sugar
• 4cloves of freshly squeezed garlic
• 2tbsp of olive oil
• 1cup of warm whey (I subbed whey for the water which is the original way to go - Curd or milk would also be a good idea should you want to try)
• 2tbsp warm water
• Some more warm water as need to get the right consistency

Home grown tomatoes, onions and Rosemary

For the Garnish

• 1 cup of cherry tomatoes (any kind)
• 2 sprigs of Rosemary
• 1-2tbsp of olive oil
• 3small onions diced
• 2tbsp fresh garlic chives, chopped

Method

1. In 2tbsp of warm water, add the sugar & yeast and allow it to froth
2. In the meantime, combine flour and salt and all the chopped herbs and spices and mix dry
3. Add the olive oil and mix
4. Add the frothing yeast to the flour and mix in well
5. Now add the warm whey and knead either in your mixer or by hand
6. Knead until it is a smooth ball that lifts off without sticking to the sides of the bowl
7. Put a plastic cover (I often use grocery bags) and let it sit for a couple of hours
8. About 15 minutes before the dough time is up, chop your onions and chives
9. Get your pan ready and sprayed and set the oven to 350 deg. F
10. Take dough out and punch down to release the air.
11. Roll or knead it out to the shape of the pan (I used a rectangular one)
12. With the knuckle of you index finger, make dots or dips in the spread dough
13. Brush with olive oil
14. Arrange your tomatoes appealingly (:
15. And you onions and chives
16. Allow this to sit for about 20 minutes (keep covered if need be) This will help the dough to rise a bit more)
17. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until you see that the crust is brown and the top is starting to brown lightly too.
18. Remove, cut and eat…

Optional: grate some fresh Parmesan Cheese

A side view of the yummy crust

Hope you enjoy the visuals and please try to make this at home and show off to you family your gourmet chef qualities :) Adios amigos until next time

Roasted Garlic & Cherry Tomatoes

September 7, 2012 | Filed under: Curries and Veggies, Entree, Entrees, Recipes, Uncategorized, Vegetarian and tagged with: Baked,Cherry tomato recipe, Entrees, Italian, Low Fat recipes, recipes, Salad, Sun Gold Tomatoes, Vegan, vegetarian | Edit

They are small, beautiful, and perfectly round. They are sun kissed, thin-skinned and utterly juicy. They can be eaten like grapes and are a perfect addition to a green salad. So those were pretty much the two ways in which we were eating these beautiful tomatoes, a bumper crop in my friend’s veggie garden. She and I have bartered veggies from each other’s gardens, although hers is twice as big as mine – I got figs, sun-gold tomatoes, delicious cucumbers, basil and now spicy chilies (yes!) and I gave her some of my okra eggplant and earlier on some cilantro, lettuce.

The last time she gave me some of these, I had them unused in my fridge and she suggested this preparation to me. Thanks Fla! It was amazing!

Now this is a post for a special blogger friend, Radhika who is celebrating her birthday today. She has been appreciating recipes from my garden all through the summer and I thought it would be befitting to post something fresh for her.

I also take this opportunity to announce that I am joining Radhika and the stellar bunch of bloggers on their Avant Garde Cookies, Epicurean Voyage. I am thrilled and excited to be doing this with Radhika, a versatile and energetic woman who constantly organizes wonderful new ways of enhancing our culinary creativity and her own. Priya Sreeram, whom I’ve considered a soul sister from the get-go who writes from her heart and cooks that way too. Kavitha, a young lady who has impressed me as an enterprising “cookie” juggling a blog where she is so active and university, hats off to her! I am looking forward to getting to know my other cookies over the course of this voyage; Jay, Veena, Roshni & Anusha  – First impressions however…

When I visited Anusha’s Blog, the picture of her Vegetable Fried Rice bowled me over – I would have liked that bowl all to myself!

The Tamarind Ginger Pickle that I saw when I visited Roshni’s blog had my tongue in a tickle for a lick of that delish pickle

The Eggless Double chocolate cookies on Veena’s blog seem like the perfect post dinner munch for me as I write this

Jayanthy’s blog is a visual treat with amazing pictures…

My voyage with the group begins soon…

Back to the recipe with homegrown deliciousness – but for the garlic all else was grown in my garden – The tomatoes are of course courtesy my pal.

Ingredients

• 1 lbs of Sun Gold Tomatoes washed
• A Handful of  Red & Purple Cherry Tomatoes
• 3 small-medium red onions
• 2 pods of garlic
• Spices
• Rosemary & Oregano
• Ground Pepper
• Sea Salt
• Olive Oil Spray

Angel Hair pasta (as much as needed)

Method

1. Set the Oven at 350 degrees F
2. Spray a baking pan with olive oil
3. Layer with tomatoes
4. Place garlic pods in the pan
5. Chop the onions and find room for them as well on the pan
6. Add fresh oregano & rosemary
7. Bake for 45 minutes
8. In the mean time, boil your pasta, drain over cold water.
9. Drizzle a small quantity of olive oil along with some salt and toss
10. Remove veggies from oven and serve over the pasta.
11. Eat with gusto.
    

This is a perfect post for my blog event FAST FOOD not FAT FOOD guest-hosted this time by my sweet friend, Archana of The Mad Scientist's Kitchen - Do send you entries to her if you have a healthy recipe you've made - 

Other ladies wishing Radhika a happy birthday with a virtual treat are Priya, Roshni, Kavi

A couple of links to visit
Priya: http://eq-myblog.blogspot.in/2012/09/chilled-nutty-choco-bites-virtual.html
Roshni: http://arusuvai-kurippu.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/baingan-bharta.html
Kavitha:http://foodomania.com/quick-birthday-chocolate-cake/comment-page-1/#comment-1431

Presto Pesto

Homemade is always good. Homegrown even better - My mantra for this summer for those who have been tuning in. This is another of those beautifully satisfying posts of a most popular Italian Spread. I have tried to keep it authentic in that I added absolutely no "spicy hot stuff" and I want to say it tasted perfect - of course only judging by the gusto with which the kiddos spread away :)

My basil plants are still fledglings and while I got some of my basil from there, I have to thank my friend for allowing me to pick some from her wonderful garden.

The recipe without much further chitchat.

Ingredients
About 4 cups of basil leaves
1/2 cup of pine nuts
4 tbsp grated parmesan
2 tbsp grated Romano
1/4 cup of olive oil +1 tbsp
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp salt

Method
Wash basil thoroughly
Remove basil leaves from the stem
Add all the ingredients to the food processor and blend until you get a coarse texture
Transfer into a serving dish - Add more olive oil and stir in.

Spread on french bread, have it in pasta or any which way you like
This is my green dish for Independence Day :)
And stay tuned for my Garden Fresh Gonkura Chutney.

Some pictures...

It turns dark as soon as you make it - stir to see the green above!

Kumato- Mozzarella Hors D'oeuvre

Kumatos is a brand name but the most common one that comes up if you are googling brown tomatoes. The first time I saw them I was intrigued! Thought it was a cross between a plum and a tomato - My friend used Kumatos in a salad the first time I tasted them and I loved the crisp sweetness of it raw and enjoyed them a lot more than the regular raw tomato.

Of Spanish origin, Kumatos are a cross of red & green tomatoes. They are from the Mediterranean region of Spain but are now being grown in many parts of Europe and Canada since people have come to taste them and realize how incredibly sweet they are :) So it was a pleasure to make something with them for the first time after which I have gone on to experiment with other dishes which I will post soon, hopefully.
This hor D'oeuvre is a simple & sophisticated dish and would be an amazing addition to either fine dining or a casual party. I used port wine along with other ingredients to be listed below to marinate the mozzarella. I know many people in my circle who are not crazy about raw tomatoes, but even they loved this preparation.

Ingredients

6 Kumatos
About 6 ounces of Small fresh mozzarella
For the Marinade
2 tbsp port wine
1 tbps balsamic vinaigrette
1/2 tsp herb de Provence
1 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1tsp of agave nectar
1/2 tsp of freshly ground pepper
Fennel greens for garnish

Slice the tomatoes into 1/4 inch thick slices (this can be done before serving)

Similarly cut the Mozzarella balls into wedges

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together in a flat plate with sides - Soak the mozzarella in it and refrigerate for until an hour to half an hour before serving.

Arrange the cut tomatoes in a serving plate - Top with cheese as shown in the picture. Drizzle any extra marinade over the tomatoes as well. Place you fennel on each serving decoratively and hear the Mmm mmms or Wows :)