Pasta with Scampi Lime and Saffron

I have been always a huge fan of Peter Minakis Greek Food blog Kalofogas and that has been for years. And I have made few dishes from his place which are all absloutely Delicious.

And when he posted this Scampi recipe I remember saying to myself I am going to make this one day, but then as always there is so many dishes I want to make and sometimes it happens like this one.
Have to say only regret I have is that why I hadn't made this one earlier as it is so Delicious.
With the zest of lime it is a real refreshing pasta dish.

You can always make exactly as Peter has made, I kept ti the original recipe just that I made with less pasta but mostly kept the rest of the ingridients quantity for the amount of pasta he used.

And instead of white wine I used Nolly prat as I always have a bottle of that and I tend to use that when I don't have opend up wine or wine in the freezer for cooking purpose.

And ok I did add a bit more chilli flakes :-)

The Original recipe you can find here

350 gm Pasta ( I used Linguni)
1/4 cup olive oil
18 medium sized Shrimps
1 onion finely chopped
8 garlic thinly sliced
100 ml Nolly Pratt
Few stands of Saffron
Zest of 2 Limes
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp chilli flakes
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsely
1/4 cup sliced spring onions
Black and white seasame seeds for garnish
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Season the scampis with pepper and salt.
Heat a pan with a little of oil and fry the scampis for 1 minute each side and keep it aside.
Add the rest of the olive oil and add the chopped onions and saute for few minutes ,
Add the garlic slices and the chilli flakes and fry for few minutes.
Add the Nolly prat and cook in a high heat for couple of minutes .
In the mean time cook your pasta according the the packet instruction , drain,make sure you keep a few bog spoons of pasta water to add later.

Now add to the pan, the chopped parsley, lime juice,chopped spring onions and the lime zest and the drained pasta together with the few spoons of pasta water.
Add the scampi's which are kept aside , mix everything together and serve with a sprinkling of seasame seeds.
If you like you can sprinkle with a bit more chilli flakes.

Tortellini with peas and Ham

Here it was Fathers day sunday ( I know rest of the world have next week and belgium has it one week earlier)
Shyama is having exams plus she is busy with her thesis so she is staying there a month and not comming home on weekends So we decided we will go and visit her for father's day and take her out for lunch.
So as we were any way going that side I told her I will bring for her home made ravioli. So I made ravioli with ragu sauce in a tomato sauce and I thought why not take another pasta dish and decided to buy shop bought cheese  tortellini and make a easy sauce and take that too.

So that is why the invention of this recipe as I have used ham, peas and cheese combination in pasta sauce and knew this will be very good, which I was not wrong as I did taste to see how it was before i put them in tupperware for taking with me.

Tortellini with Peas and Ham :

300 gm fresh Cheese Tortellini ( Shop bought )
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 garlic finely chopped ( optional)
100 gm peas ( I used from a can, you can use fresh or from the freezer) if you are using fresh ones or from the freezer cook them.
100 gm thinly slices Italian ham chopped
200 ml single cream
50 gm parmesan grated
Pepper and salt to taste
1 tbsp of chopped parsley

In a pan add the oil and fry the onions for few minutes , add the garlic if you are using, fry for one minute , add the ham and saute for few minutes, add the peas and the cream bring everything to boil, add pepper and salt to taste .
In the mean time cook the cheese tortellinin according the the package instruction. Drain and add to the creamy sauce, mix everything and serve sprinkled with the parsley and generous portion of parmesan cheese.

Pasta With Italian Ham and Asperagus

If you are planning to use Green or White Asparagus, now is the time as they are fully in season .
Even though my favourite is White Asparagus which we have been buying every week from the local market.
And few days back when I was in the shops I saw green ones and they were really so cheap that I said I will take a bunch.
And next day for lunch I was like what am I going to prepare with these and I thought I usually make a pasta dish with peas and Ham and I thought why not use the green asparagus instead of peach, which I think give a much better taste to the whole dish.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I took a trip to Paris with two other food bloggers and Nisha from My Kitchen Antics had given me these beautiful bowl and plate and till now I have been waiting to use them for a dish and as the green Asparagus suits the color of the bowl and parsley is green too , I thought it is about time I used them.

Serves 4

3 tbsp oil olive oil
1 onion chopped fine
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
100 ml Noilly prat ( you can add a sweeter white wine , but i always have Nolly prat which i think is so handy to have at home )
150 gm of Italian Ham slices roughly
300 gm green asparagus ( I peeled them, you don't have to) chopped keep the part of the tips whole
1/4 tsp chicken stock powder (optional)
A big hand full of chopped parsley
100 ml cream
200 ml milk
2 tbsp corn flour ( Mix with little bit of cold water)
Pepper and salt to taste
350 gm pasta
60 gm freshly grated parmesan.

Heat in a pan the oil add the onions saute till they are soft, add the garlic fry for 1 minute and add the chopped asparagus , cook for 2 minutes add the Noilly Prat and cook for few minutes till most of it has evaporated, add the stock powder if you are using, . Cook till the asparagus tips are cooked but not too soft, add the tips, Ham ,parsley and cook for few minutes.
Now add the milk and cream and bring the mixture to boil, add the corn flour water mix and thicken the whole dish ( you might not have to use the full amount of the cornflour paste)
Add pepper and salt ( take care with the salt as there is salt in the stock powder and italian ham is salty too)
Add the cooked pasta and serve with a generous sprinkling of pasta.

Pasta With Bacon and Parsley

 

Usually I don't post on weekends , but this week has been super busy that I didn't even have time to come near my blog.
Shyama had planned to go to Egypt for 2 months ( not for holiday but from their university for learning there) she has been so much looking forward to that but it got cancelled again as the Professor and the University didn't want to send their students there as still there is trouble in Egypt.

So instead they will be going to different places in Europe to study.
So in February and March she will be off to university in Nederlands, then to Berlin, Leipzig and even to Brussels.
So thursday we went to pick her up from Leuven and she brought all her clothes back that I think there was clothes to wash for 10 washing machine, so the last 3 days the only thing I have been doing apart from cooking was washing, ironing, wasshing and again iroining and still it is not done.

Now enough about my life of doing laundry and to this delicious recipe.

We love this pasta and I have been making this few times these months. Could be also it is such a easy dish to make.

Serves : 2

100 gm bacon ( I buy from the shop in packest which are cut into cubes)
2 medium onions chopped
2 garlic cloves chopped fine
75 ml of white wine
1/4 heaped cup of parsely chopped fine.
Pepper and salt to taste
2 tbsp of olive oil
200 gm pasta
50 to 75 gm of freshly grated paremesan cheese.

Method:
Cook the paste according to the instruction on the packet.
In the mean time,Heat the pan with olive oil and fry the onions for few minutes till they are soft, add the bacon cubes and fry for futher few minutes. Add the garlic fry for 2 minutes then add the white while and boil for few minutes till all the wine is evaporated.
Add parsely , pepper and salt and add the cooked and drained pasta.
Keep a little bit of water were the pasta is cooked as I add couple of big tbsp of this water to the pasta dish so that it is not that dry.
Serve with generous sprinkling of paremesan cheese.

Penne With Chicken Brocoli and Cheese

Here at home we love pasta. And if I am honest after rice , pasta is my second favourtie carb.
And I am always trying to find some new pasta dishes than sticking to the same ones. Well I usually do that but then suddenly I will be like I must try something new and then I try something like this dish.
Ofcourse not every body like the blue cheese like Gorgonzola so if you don't like the taste of this cheese then there is no use in trying it as you won't like it.
When I tried this cheese years ago I must say I didn't like it could be also I didn't had the habbit of eating cheese when I was in India.
But then bit by bit I started enjoying most of the cheese and one of the cheese I love now is this one.
We even have a cheesey sauce made with this cheese which we love and usually I make them when we have lamb chops .

Ingridients:

200 gm brocoli floretts
50 gm butter
2 chicken breast in small slices
2 garlic chopped fine
400 gm Penne pasta
120 ml white wine ( I usually open up a bottle and then freeze the rest of the wine in a bag so that I always have white wine for cooking when the recipe ask)
200 ml cream you wan use low fat
100 gm gorgonzola cheese without the crust.
Salt and pepper to taste ( take care there is salt in the cheese)
Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top just before serving.

Cook the brocoli florettes ( I steam them) Keep them aside.
Add the butter in a hot pan when it is melted add the sliced chicken pieces with salt and pepper and fry them for couple of minutes.
In the mean time cook the pasta according to the instruction in the packet.
When the chicken is fried for few minutes add the white wine boil it for few minutes then add the cream and cook for futher for couple of minutes till the chicken is done  and the sauce is looking a bit creamy.
Add the brocoli florets and the pasta and mix it well. Then add the gorgonzola cheese and mix well.
Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and enjoy .

 

Creamy Pasta With Salmon and Chives

In my laast post which was Fresh home made pasta I had mentioned my next post will be what I have made with the delicuous home made pasta.
Well one of the dishes I made with them is this super creamy delicious pasta dish with salmon.
Ok I have made something else too, but that will be for the next post :-)

I think making this salmon dishe with fresh pasta made it double delicious.
In my pasta book it was written as the fresh pasta don't swell up you need to use 125 gm pasta per person.

Ingridients.

2 table spoon of olive oil
1 big onion finley chopped
2 tabls spoon of tomato paste
1 big garlic cloves choppes very fine or into paste
2 tbsp of sun dried tomatoes in oil thinly sliced. ( I use my home made ones )
100 ml Dry Vermouth ( if you don't have this you can use good white wine)
200 ml cream
100 ml fish / chicken stock
400 gm fresh pasta ( of course you can use dry ones)
200 gm fresh salmon diced
3 table spoon of chopped chives
Salt and peper to taste

Heat the oil in pan add the onions and fry till golden brown.
Add the tomato paste and garlic, fry for few minutes make sure you do'nt burn them.
Add the vermouth ( be carfull) stir, then add the stock, cook for few minutes.
Add the sun dried tomatoes, cream, parsely, pepper and salt to taste. Add the salmon pieces as they are cut into small pieces it will only take a minute or two to cook and any way it will continue to cook when you add the cooked pasta.

In the mean time boil water in a big pan and cook the pasta, if it is fresh pasta it will only take 3 minutes to cook, and if you are using dry pasta cook according to the instruction in the packet.
When the pasta is cooked drain and add to the pan with the sauce and mix everything good and serve with a sprinkle of chives and if you want you can slice extra sun dired tomatoes and add .

 

Chorizo and Scampi Pasta

I noticed these last months I am so lazy to write a post here something new.
And yesterday while taking picture of this dish I was promising myself I am going to be more active and write recipes and post here more regularly here.

The recipe is from a food programme from BBC 2 called Lorrain's Fast, fresh and Easy food recipes i love her cooking as she makes everything so easy to make.
And I was delighted when I saw her making the dish as I had chorizo Hans had brought back from his trip to Portugal ( yeah spain is near so guess they also have excelent chorizo)
BBC food gives some of her recipes from the show, but this they didn't give, so I had recorded the programme in the digi box and I watched a little by litle stopping each time she spoke and wrote down the recipe :-)
I agree when she says this pasta dish is with character and if you don't like striong flavours and chorizo etc....don't even attempt to make this.
We loved it and it is so easy to make that I am sure i will make this again.
Don't be alarm with all the pics, I just added almost each step picture.

 

 

1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp crushes fennel seeds
1 tsp dried chillie flakes
One onion chopped
2 Springs of Rosmary
2 cloves of garlic chopped
150 gm of chorizo chopped
2 good tbsp of Harissa
700 ml chopped tin tomtoes
2 tsp of oregano
150 ml red wine
1 tsp sugar
Hand full of fresh parsley chopped
Salt and peper to taste.
24 big scampis peeled
450 to 500 gm pasta

Heat the olive oil, add the fennel seeds and fry in a low flame for a minute, add the crusehd chillies along with the sprigs of rosmary, then add the onions and the garlic and fry for few minutes.
Add the chorizo pieces and fry for futher 2 minutes.
Now add Harissa paste and fry for few minutes,then tinned chopped tomatoes into the pan, plus the oregano , sugar and the wine. Let it simmer for 20 minutes.
Afte the 20 minutes add the parsley, and salt and peper to your taste.
Mean while cook the pasta according to the instruction of the packet.
Now add to the sauce to simmering sauce the peeled scampi's and cook for 4 minutes.
You should take care the scampi's ar enot over cooked otherwise they taste rubbery.
Drain the pasta and mix it with the sauce and serve with a sprinkling of parsley.

 



 



 

Pasta With Sundried Tomatoes, Rosemary and Pinenuts

First time when we went to Italy, we travelled around , well not all over Italy but we did went to couple of places as we where there for 15 days.
And when we were in Rome we went to this shop filled with lots of goodies and there we bought few packs of sundried tomatoes ,and when we came back home I added some into olive oil and from that time onewards I always have a bottle in my kitchen shelf.

And then we went back to Rome as a specail treat for Shyama as she got 18 and we went back to the same shop and bought a whole load of sundried tomatoes.

I do have to admit they are almost finished ( well still have two packs left).

So the first trip we went, Hans took us the second evening to a restaurant as he had been to this place during one of his concert trips and according to him the food was super yumm.
I do have to agree to him, the food there was so good that we went back to the same place couple of evening and then when we made the trip to Rome again we went to the same place again for few times, so the last evening we went to this place again and the owner of the shop offered us free drinks as she said you all have been comming here so many times.
But then Hans would disagree he would say she only gave the free dirnks becaus he was so charming to her :-) and to that I replied to him you cann be charming as much as you want as long as I get free drinks :-)

Ok so this Rosemary-Sundried pasta I ate there and I fell in love with it and I remember ordering it again while we went there.
When we got back home I wanted to recreate the dish here at home and that is exactly what I did.
So the recip is not from a book or magazine , I just created it according to how it tasted when I ate it.
Oh and it is really good as I have been laking this pasta for the last 3 year

Another reason to have this post is because Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen, which I am certain most of you will know her through her wonderful and beautiful blog, is starting with photography Excersie.
Which I think is a wonderful idea, and every month she will be giving new excercise.
So if you are intrested in improving your photographic skills which I am sure you all are, then do participate.
You will find the information here

I do have to say I took the pictures before I read the whole post in detail, so I didn't use a tripod. So you can see the two pictures are not taken in the exact position that will teach me to read the whole detail than hurrying up with the project.
The left side pic f / 4.5  ,  Shutterspeed 1/125s and ISO is 200
The right side pic f / 2 , Shutterspeed 1/ 500s and ISO is 200

I always take my pictures near to a huge window, especially as it is still dark and dull weather here so I get enough light , also use a white board on left side to reflect the light.

Now to the recipe.
For 3 person:
300 gm dry pasta
4 to 5 tbsp sundried tomatoes slices ( don't slice them thin, slice them in chunks)
Couple of sprigs of Rosamary ( you might think it is too much while you make the sauce it won't be, it is to flavour the sauce and while eating the dish you pick out most of it)
2 to 3  large onion chopped
6 to 8 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves finley chopped
1 tsp chilie flakes or according to your taste ( i usually add more)
Couble of  tbsp fresh parsley chopped
2 to 3 tbsp toasted pine nuts
Pepper and salt to taste
1/4 cup grated paremesaan cheese.More if you love cheese like in my family so i would opt for more :-)

Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions fry for few minutes add the chillie flakes and garlic and fry for a minute or two.
Add the rosemary and parsley,  sundried tomatoes salt and pepper. Fry for few  minute.

In the mean time cook the pasta according to the packet and drain , I always keep a cup of pasta water aside.
Add the pasta, few tablspoon of cheese and the pinenuts to the pan and mix everything together. If the mix is too dry add a couple of tbsp of pasta water to loosen it up.
Serve  sprinkling with the parmesan cheese.
I also usually add a tbsp of olive oil on each plate before serving too.

Linguine con asparagi, pancetta e limone

Doesn't that title sounds so sexy :-) well actually it is just Asperagus,pancetta and lemon linguine :-)
For the last two weekends ( this weekend ) it has been just Shyama and I at home. As hubby was gone out of Belgium.

Ofcourse when he is not home I do miss him.
But it has been also very good just to spend time with Shyama alone.

Not that we have been going to the next city for spending a whole afternoon looking to the shops and going to a coffee shop etc... which we would have loved to, but she will be soon having exams next months and these days weekends are spend learning especially saturday.
The weekend when it was Mother's day we had a cosy dinner and then late evening we made a cocktail and enjoyed and watched a luvvy duvvy mocie which we usually won't watch when hubby is there as he thinks it is too musshy, well S also thinks when I choose to see a musshy movie but then as she do love a romantic movie even though she woudn't admit to that :-)
So now to the recipe.
Ok we love Asperagus, green and the white variety.
When I say we I mean hubby and me not S. She fished out all the asperagus and gave it to me.
So now that it isin full season I thought I will make something with them before I start moaning that the season is gone and that I didn't make anything with them when I had the chance.

This is a recipe from Taste Italia Magazine.
Sending this delcious pasta to Pasta presto Nights and the host is Cassie, of the Kitchen Alchemist.
Serves 4

250 gm Pancetta cubed. ( I bought from the delli in one fat piece and cubed them myself)
One onion finley chopped
1 garlic finley chopped
250 gm Green Aspergus, woody ends trimmed, spears cut into small pieces.
350 gm dried Linguine ( I didn't have them so used normal pasta)
200 ml double cream
200 ml Cream fraiche ( if you don't get them you can use sour cream)
2 large egg yolks
40 gm Parmesan grated plus extra to serve
Grated zest of one lemon
Salt and freshly ground peper.

1. Heat a frying pan. And add the pancetta.
You will not need any oil as there is a lot of fat in pancetta.
Fry the pancetta really crispy, remove them with a slotted spoon and keep in a plate.
Add the onions and garlic in the pan fry them for few minutes , add the asperagus and fry them for few minutes untill it has begun to soft. Add the fried pancetta back to the pan.
2. In the mean time bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil, add the pasta annd cook according to the packet instructions, but cook it for a minute or two less, so it is little under done.
3. Mean while mix together the double cream, cream fraiche,egg yolks, parmesan and lemon zest in a bowl,then season with salt and peper.
4. Drain the cooked pasta, make sure to keep a bit of the pasta water, so you can add to the dish if needed.
5. Add the pasta to the pan together with the sauce mis and give it a good mix untill it is evenly incorporated and all the ingridients are cooked. If you need add a bit of the pasta water which we kept aside.
Serve with a good grating of parmesan chees and black pepper.

.

Pasta with Artichoke, Mushrooms and caramalized onions



I regularly buy food magazines and I also have subscription to some food magazine which I really look forward to get in the post.
So you can Imagine how much food magazines I have here at home. And I dont throw them away, why should you, they are like cooking books but then in form of magazine.
So last month I was looking to one of th  magazine I got and I saw a recipe for pasta wish mushroom and artichoke etc...........and showing to hubby saying I should make this, ofcourse hubby was really excited that I am planning to make a totally new pasta dish.
After few weeks I said Ok now I will make that new pasta dish I saw in the magazine, just that I didnt know which magazine it was and I told hubby well it was a pasta dish so it has to be in the Italian magazine I get. So I was looking to all the magazine page by page nothing to find and then ofcourse hearing me grumbling, hubby said he will look as I must have missed it but he also didnt find, so all this was happening in the evening and then in the end we deicided to go for sleep, next day I got up and told hubby it could be in a another magazine and indeed it was, I took another bunch of magazine and in few minutes I found this recipe back to both our delight.
We both loved the pasta dish, I had some left over well much more as the recipe was for four so I took the rest to my in laws place, MIL lloved it but my niece didnt like it, saying she didnt like arichoke etc.....
So I guess if you dont like the ingridients you should not make it :-)

The recipe is from Delicious Magazine
Sending this delicous pasta dish to

 Presto Pasta Nights organised by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast which is hosted at Maison Cupcake this week.

Serves 4-6
500 gm spaghetti
3 tbsp olive oil
2 large red onion slices
250 gm Chesnut mushroom quaterd
200 gm marinated artichoke hearts quaters ( you can buy in bottle from the shop)
300 gm large tomatoes , skinned , desseeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves finley chopped
200 ml white wine
100 ml single cream
Hand full of finley chopped parsley, I didnt have i used fried.
50 gm parmesan, shaved

Cook the spaghetti according to the pack instruction. Drain well.
Meanwhile, heat the oilve oil in a large saucepan and fry the onione ofr 10 minutes over a low heat.
After the 10 minutes increase the temperature, add the garlic and then the mushroom , the wine and cook for 6 to 8 minutes.
Then add the tomatoes, artichoke pieces and cook for 5 minutes more.
Add the cream and parsley
Season with peper and salt.
Mis in the cooked spaghetti.
Serve in a bowl sprinkled with the parmesan shavings.
Will post the step by step pics later.
I am taking a week holiday from blogging and blog hopping, hubby is in holiday .