Raw pasta and sauce

Have you ever tried eating raw food diet, not salads but trying to eat salads with a twist. I love raw vegetables in any form... with a little dressing I wont complain if I have to eat it all the time. Throwing a twist on it by making pasta and a sauce gives it much more oomph. I saw this recipe while browsing somewhere and made it the same day. I just love this recipe for the ease of making and and the taste it packs. If you hate eating vegetables, try this recipe, you may just change your mind about them. This is a raw vegan recipe, if you want you can add a bit of Parmesan cheese to it. 

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

1. Zucchini: 2 medium sized
2. Plum Tomato: 2
3. Red bell pepper: 1 medium sized
4. Sun dried tomatoes -4
5. Garlic - a small clove, peeled or 1/4 tsp paste
6. Red wine vinegar/plain vinegar - 2 tsp
7. Salt - 1/4 tsp or 2 pinches
8. Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
9. Olive oil/any oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

• Chop the tips of zucchini and peel the skin off and dispose it. Continue peeling the flesh of the zucchini into strips till you end up at the seeds.. do not use it, dispose. Put the peeled strips in a bowl and refrigerate till you make the sauce.
• If you do not have pre-marinated sun dried tomatoes either in oil or water. Boil water and soak them for about 1/2 hour before you would use them.
• To make the sauce, chop all the vegetables into big chunks and make a smooth paste in the blender by adding all the ingredients together. Sauce is ready.
• Take the peeled zucchini pasta, arrange it on a plate and pour some sauce on top and chomp it down.. :) .Make sure to put the sauce right before you would eat, other wise it gets soggy and you wont like it much. 

Tips:

Kids can help you peel zucchini, so let them do it if they want to.. parents and kids can certainly have fun in the kitchen while making this recipe.

If you do not have zucchini try using cucumber... it will be slightly more watery, but is a good substitute. Since Zucchini and cucumber do not have much of taste on their own, they absorb the taste of the sauce well.

Penne with Butternut Squash, Asparagus and Portobello Mushrooms with dill pesto on side

Hmm.... the title pretty much sums up whatever this dish packs. A very good one to make on special occasions, I would say a romantic occasion. This recipe won't have too much salt or pepper in it. Just enough to enhance the flavours of the contents in the dish. It is very delicate on the pallet, so if you are a person who likes some taste buds kickn' action, this wont do any magic for you. However, if you can appreciate the subtle flavours of vegetables and pasta, this will be a hit with you. If you want to make something different and rocking, go ahead and try it out. 

Prep time: 20 mins [includes chop time]

Cook time:  45 mins

Ingredients:

1. Penne Pasta - 1/2 the box [use the whole grain one if possible]
2. Butternut Squash -  3/4 cup, cubed in to bite size pieces
3. Asparagus -  1/2 cup, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4. Baby Portobello Mushrooms -  1/2 cup cut into quarters [slice each mushroom into 4 pieces]
5. Garlic - 3 pods grated/minced or 1 tsp paste
6. Dry Basil - 1/2 tsp [if you get fresh, use 1 tsp finely chopped]
7. Salt - 1 tsp for cooking pasta + a pinch or two for baking and 3/4 to 1 tsp for the recipe.
8. Ground black pepper - a pinch or two for baking tsp for baking + 1/2 tsp for recipe
9. Parmesan Cheese - 1/4 cup
10. Water - Enough to boil pasta, follow instructions on the box
11. Olive Oil - 2 - 3 tsp

Method: 

• Preheat the oven to 475F or 245C. In a bowl, mix cubed butternut squash, salt pepper and 1 tsp of olive oil till they coat the pieces well.
• Now lay these pieces on a baking tray and bake it for 15 to 20 minutes or till the squash softens enough to let a fork through without much resistance. Remove from oven and keep aside.
• In the mean while cook penne pasta according to instructions on the box.
• Heat oil in a big pot which can hold all the above ingredients on medium flame.
• Add garlic and dry basil and saute for a few seconds.
• Add Mushrooms, saute for a few seconds, add a pinch of salt mix in well, close the lid and let it sweat for a minute.
• Add Asparagus now and saute for a few seconds.
• Add the roasted butternut squash, mix in well and add cooked pasta to this.
• Now Add enough slat and pepper to enhance the flavours  and mix all the ingredients to get them well coated wit salt and pepper.
• Pasta is ready to be served 

Dill Pesto: A pesto is more like an Italian chutney... easy to make a yummy to eat. You can simply make a pesto and mix it to cooked hot pasta, it is a recipe by itself. Pesto is generally made with pine nuts, they are not available everywhere, even if they are, they come very expensive. if you want to use pine nuts, go ahead and use them instead of cashew. Make sure you dry roast them before you make pesto. .  The pesto I made was with dill and capers. Capers in Hindi is kabra, you can see them in Punjabi pickles and I have heard they are used in Tamilnadu pickles as well. Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

Dill -  a handful

Capers - 1/2 tsp(optional)

Cashew nuts - 1/2cup

Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 1/4 cup

Lemon Juice - 1 tsp

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Method:

In a food processor, make a powder of cashew nuts. then add Dill, capers salt and pepper, run them all for 30 seconds. Now slowly keep adding the oil till you get a nice silky paste. You may not use up all the oil you take.

Serving Suggestions:

This is a good entree, you can serve a salad with sun-dried tomato dressing. This will compliment the flavours of the pasta.

Sprinkle some more Parmesan cheese on top to make it more enticing.

To make a complete Menu, you can make a soup or salad for starters. Soup suggestion would be Spinach, Zucchini and Lemon with Roasted Chiabatta Bread and herbed Extra Virgin Olive oil. To end it with a sweet, you may bake a cannoli cake to make the whole theme Itlaian.

Tips:

Change the ingredients from, butternut squash, asparagus and mushroom to grape tomatoes or regular tomatoes chopped into bite size, chopped green bell peppers and chopped red onion. Saute all these one after the other and instead of Black pepper add a little red chilly powder. This will make the dish more easy and faster to cook and is an entirely new recipe... Don't have to bake a thing here... but the taste is great. [use the rest of the ingredients and follow the method except baking]

Lasagna

I love Italian food. I love the way ingredients get enhanced in the dish. Full of flavour and aroma, this cuisine had my tongue at the first bite... ooo i feel like eating some lasagna now. There are a gazillion ways of making lasagna, this way is certainly low fat, high fiber, high on taste and vegetarian too. If you want, you can make it vegan by using vegan cheese, as simple as that.

Prep time: 30 minutes

cook time: 45 minutes

servings: upto 5

Ingredients:

1. Lasagna noodles - 6 (whole wheat/ multigrain/ whole grain pasta)

2. Plum tomatoes - 3 to 4 chopped

3. Tomato paste - 2 6oz cans

4. Onion - 1 medium, finely chopped

5. Garlic - 3 to 4 pods, grated or minced (approx 1 tbsp)

6. Basil dry - 2 to 3 tsp (use fresh if on hand, you will need more about 2 tbsp)

7. Black Olive slices - 2 to 3 tbsp, drained.

8. Green olive slices - 2 to 3 tbsp, drained.

9. Sundried tomatoes in oil - 5 to 6 finely chopped

10. Cayenne/chilli flakes - to taste

11. Ground black pepper - 1/4 tsp or more if you want.

12. Parsley dry - 3 tsp (use fresh if on hand, you will need more about 2 tbsp)

13. Parmesan cheese (skim)- 1/4 cup grated

14. Skim Mozzarella cheese - 1/2 cup grated

15. Skim Feta Cheese - 1/4 cup (optional)

16. Olive oil - 2 tbsp

17. Salt to taste.

16. Water as required to boil pasta and for sauce.

 Method:

1. Boil sufficient water to cook pasta noodles by adding adequate amount of salt and oil. Cook the noodles according to instructions on the box.

2. Heat oil in a pot on medium heat, add dry basil and parsley with garlic and saute for a few seconds.If using fresh, add them once the sauce is well done and stir them in well.

3. Add onions, a pinch of salt and saute till it turns slightly golden brown. close the lid on pot for faster cooking.

4. Add sundried tomatoes and olives and saute for a minute or two and add chilli/cayenne and black pepper at this point and stir it in well.

5. Add tomatoes, stir, close the lid on the pot and let it sweat well.

6. add the tomato paste and mix it well with the ingredients in the pot. 

7. add water little by little, till it gets saucy and let it boil for a few minutes, about 5 to 7 minutes till it gets slightly thick. the right consistency would be of the ketchup. 

8. In a oven safe tray layer the sauce first, drizzle feta cheese and layer noodles on top. Next layer some more sauce and drizzle Parmesan cheese, place the noodles on top and layer the remaining sauce and sprinkle all the mozzarella cheese evenly. Cover the tray with foil.

9. Preheat oven on 350F for 10 minutes, place the try in and let it cook for 15 minutes. Take out the tray and pull the foil off then again place it in the oven for 5 to 7 minutes so that the top gets slightly golden brown.

10. pull it out and cut same size pieces and dig in... enjoy your lasagna.

Tips:

1. You can reduce oil and amount of cheese if you want.

2. Use very little salt, just 1/2 tsp goes very far in the sauce.... salt is to enhance the flavours of the ingredients, not to mask them.

3. Use some oil from sundried tomatoes to make the sauce, it makes it so much better.