Shrimp Pasta

It’s been raining non-stop for three days here. And what could be better than a warm bowl of shrimp pasta with delicious mushrooms to watch the rain go by?

That’s all. No personal anecdote. Just a warm dish, a lovely boy, and beautiful rain – & all does seem right with the world

What We Used:

Time: 30 minutes

Whole Wheat Fuseli Pasta – 1 box

Peeled Shrimp – 1 lb

Sliced Portobello mushrooms – about 10

Diced Garlic – 4

Diced Ginger – a inch

Sliced Onions – 1 1/2

Canned crushed tomatoes – 1 can

Diced Basil – 2 tbsps

Diced Cilantro – 2 tbsps

Chicken broth – 1/2 cup

Cayenne Pepper – 1/2 tsp

Salt & Pepper – to taste

Red Wine – 1/2 cup

Olive oil

Large pan – 1

Pot for cooking Pasta – 1

How We Did It:

1. Cook fuseli according to package directions. (Note – I always add a bit of salt to the boiling water before putting in my pasta. An absolute must from my mom, who swears it adds flavor ). Once the pasta is done, drain and keep aside.
   
2. In a large pan, add oil & cook the cleaned, peeled, deveined shrimp till it curls. Once cooked, remove shrimp & keep aside.
3. In the same pan, heat some more oil. Add the sliced onions and saute for 5 minutes. Add ginger, garlic and sliced mushrooms and cook, until the mushrooms turn color and are tender.
4. Add wine (we used a Merlot), canned tomatoes, broth, basil, cilantro, cayenne pepper, salt & pepper. Reduce heat and let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes or so. Add the shrimp to the sauce and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.
5. In a bowl, top the pasta with the sauce and enjoy.

Beetroot salad

Beetroots are such pretty little vegetables. So pretty, in fact, that if the vegetable kingdom had a beauty contest it would so win it (after doing a bit of undressing and showing off it’s pretty pink skin).

I clearly like beets and lucky for me, there’s an abundance of it at the Farmer’s market this time of the year. So we helped ourselves to a small bunch and made a simple salad, with help from here.

What We Used:

Beetroots – 3

Diced Tomatoes – 1

Ground Paprika – 1 tsp

Coriander Powder – a tiny pinch

Dried Basil – 1/2 tsp

Balsamic vinegar – 1 tbsps

Honey – 1 tbsp

Salt & pepper – to taste

Greek yogurt- 1 tbsps

How We Did It:

1. Trim ends of the beet and either cook them unpeeled in salted, boiling water (45 mins or till tender) or roast them (with salt & olive oil) unpeeled in a preheated oven (450 °F for 30 minutes or till tender).
2. Once cool, peel & slice the beets.
3. Whisk together the honey, vinegar, coriander pwdr, paprika, dried basil, salt & pepper.
4. Combine beets & tomatoes with the whisked mixture. Add the greek yogurt, mix well and enjoy with anything (in our case, turkey sandwiches )

5 Hour Goat

This is the delicious goat dish that the Mostafa made me for Easter. It comes from an Anthony Bourdain recipe, via the NYTimes. In our household, Anthony Bourdain is a god, for he can do no wrong on his show, where he samples food from here, there and everywhere, and for his vehement dismissal of the ‘wham, bam, thank you mam’ cooking style of the atrocious Rachel Ray.

Rant over.

This is a v. succulent dish but I had to (sort of) put aside my Indian palate, which kept asking for more flavor. The Mostafa says that the next time around, marinating it first in mild spices may give it the flavor we are used to.

So, here is the original recipe for a serving of two, Cooking time: 5-6 hours

What We Used:

Thinly sliced garlic clove – 1

Whole peeled garlic cloves – 4

4-pound goat legs, trimmed of fat and caul – 1

Thinly sliced small onions – 1

Carrots, peeled & cut into 3-inch chunks – 1

Bouquet Garni - 1 (We made ours with bay leaf, parsley and thyme)

Dry white wine – a little less than 1 cup

Olive oil

Salt and ground black pepper

For the Gravy:

Unsalted Butter – 1/2 tbsp

All purpose Flour – 1 tbsp

Dutch Oven – 1 (You can use a roasting pan but make sure you get one that is small enough to hold your meat and vegetables. It should also have a tight fitting lid)

How We Did It:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Make many small incisions around each leg, inserting a slice of garlic in each (we placed 4 cloves in one leg).

• Place meat in a large heavy Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid. Rub meat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add whole garlic cloves, onions, carrots, bouquet garni and wine.
• Place lid on pan and place in oven. Braise legs until meat is very tender and almost falling off the bone, 5 to 6 hours. Make sure you check at intervals to be sure contents do not become dry, adding water as necessary (Most important!)
  
• When done, transfer meat and vegetables to a platter and keep warm.
  
• The dutch oven will have drippings in it that can be used to make a gravy. Transfer liquid contents from pan to a container and refrigerate for 5 minutes or so. This will cause the fat in it to rise to the surface. Spoon off as much as fat as you can and pour it back into the pan. Set the pan on the stove over high heat. Add a little chicken stock and white wine and let the liquids simmer over medium heat. Give it a minute and you will see that the gravy liquid will have boiled away to 1/3 rd of the original quantity.
• In a bowl, combine the butter and flour well. Pour a little of the hot gravy liquid into the bowl and whisk together. When it has mixed well, pour the entire mixture (butter, flour, liquid) into the dutch oven and simmer till the gravy has thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
• To serve, cut meat off bones and place in wide shallow bowls with onion, carrot and garlic. Top with broth spooned from pan.