Spinach & spiced Mozzarella stuffed Tomatoes

Stuffed tomatoes are such an easy addition to any meal. We had ours with an assortment of lovely food for our lazy weekend breakfast.

This post is dedicated to my parents who came, shopped and equipped. They thought of everything our kitchen would possibly want from mandolin slicers to gigantic stock pots & so calmly organized the pantry that I didn’t need to do anything but use it after they were gone. Thanks to them, we have a whole array of spice jars, spices & other what nots that we use to create all sorts of flavor for our dishes.

What We Used (for two):

Roma Tomatoes – 4

Chopped shallots – 2 shallots

Chopped green chillies – 2 small ones

Chopped Spinach – 1/2 cup

Chopped bean sprouts – 1/8 cup

Garlic & Ginger paste – 1/4 tsp each

Salt & Pepper – to taste

Mozzarella Cheese – 1/4 cup

Curry Powder – 2 tsps

Dried basil – a pinch

Olive Oil

Frying pan, greased baking dish, small bowl – 1 each

Melon Baller – 1

How We Did It:

• Slice and keep aside the top of the stem end of the rinsed tomatoes. Core tomatoes using a melon baller. Chop and reserve the core.

• Heat oil in the frying pan. Saute the shallots. When they turn translucent, stir in the chopped tomato cores, green chillies, spinach, bean sprouts, ginger & garlic paste with salt & pepper.
• Once the spinach has wilted, take off heat and put aside.
• In a small bowl, mix the mozzarella cheese with curry powder and dried basil. I wanted a hint of spice in the cheese and stopped at little less than 2 tsps of curry powder. If you like more of spice taste, as always, adjust accordingly.
• Preheat oven to 375 °F.
• In a greased baking dish, add a little salt & pepper to the inside of the tomatoes and rub olive oil on the outside of the tomatoes. (If you wish for the tomatoes to stay upright, cut off a v. thin slice off the bottom of the tomatoes)
• Place reserved stuffing of spinach and veggies in to the tomatoes. Top with mozzarella cheese.

• Bake for 15 minutes or till the cheese on top has melted.

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Curried Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie – is there anything that sounds more complete and filling than the idea of baked veggies & meat in a crusty pie? It’s almost like a gigantic samosa – if a samosa was baked instead of fried, was a little less compact & was done in a dish.

My brush with chicken pot pies has always been restricted to the frozen or fast food category – quite unwholesome & very unappetizing. Which is why watching Ina Garten cook one from scratch got me all riled up. The recipe is a bit labour intensive and does take time – you have to marinate the chicken, bake it, make the pie crust, make the filling and then bake everything together. But oh, to crack the crust on your very own home made pot pie, pausing just a while to get a waft of the sumptuous filling within, before plunging in and devouring it, is so worth the effort.

A couple of things – If you are strapped for time, ignore the marinade and go straight for baking the chicken with salt and pepper.

I found Ina’s recipe, while full of flavour, lacked the punch of the assorted tastes that my Indian palate is used to. Usually I can forgo the lack of the punch in more meat dominated dishes because of the succulence of the meat. But not so for this dish. So I tried out a wine based marinade for the chicken and curry powder base for the filling. I found that a Pinot Noir marinade works well because the wine is gentler and doesn’t try to overpower the chicken. Also, there’s a hint of spice in this wine that gets along amiably with the curry flavour. If you like more aggressive wine flavour, I am told that Cabernet Sauvignon may be a good idea, but I haven’t had personal experience with marinating with it.

So, that’ s my two cents. On to the recipe now.

What We Used:

For the marinade:

Red Wine – 1 cup

Olive oil – 2 tbsps

Minced garlic cloves – 4

Chopped basil – 2 tbsps

Red Pepper flakes – 1 tbsp

Salt & Pepper – to taste

Skinless, Chicken breasts – 2

Bowl – 1

Baking sheet – 1

For the Filling:

Chicken Stock – 3 cups

Unsalted Butter – 1/4 of a stick

Chopped shallots – 1 cup

All-purpose flour – a little less than half a cup

Heavy cream – 1/8 cup

Frozen vegetables (I used one that had chopped carrots, beans & corn) – 2 cups

Parsley – a handful

Curry Powder – 1/2 tbsp

Red Chilli Powder – 1/4 tbsp

Salt & Pepper – to taste

Saucepan – 1

Big pot – 1

For the pastry:

All-purpose flour – 1 1/2 cups

Salt – a little less than 1 tsp

Baking Powder – 1/2 tsp

Vegetable shortening – 1/4 cup

Butter – 1 stick (room temperature)

Ice water – 1/4 cup

Salt & Pepper – to taste

For the egg wash, 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp of water in a small bowl

Food Processor – 1

Medium Oven Proof Bowls – 2

How We Did It:

1. The Marinade:
   • In the bowl; mix the wine, olive oil, garlic, basil, pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Add chicken breasts and let marinate for an hour or two in the refrigerator.
2. The Filling:
   • Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake marinated chicken on baking sheet for 50 minutes or until cooked through.
   • Set aside to cool, then remove meat from bone and cut into cubes.
   • Heat the chicken stock in the small saucepan.
   • In the big pot, melt the butter and add the shallots. Stir on medium flame till the shallots are translucent.
   • Add the flour and keep stirring over low low flame.
   • Add the heated chicken stock, simmer & stir over low flame till the sauce is thick.
   • To the sauce; add salt, pepper, curry powder, red chilli powder and heavy cream.
   • After a couple of minutes, add the cubed chicken, frozen vegetables, parsley and mix well.
3. The Pastry:
   • Into the food process, add flour, salt and baking powder.
   • Add the shortening and butter and pulse. The shortening and butter makes it lumpy, so keep pulsing till the lumps are in the size of peas.
   • With the motor running, add the ice water, a little at a time, till the dough is moistened.
   • Take the dough out and knead into a ball on a well floured surface.
   • Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
5. Prepare the egg wash by beating the egg with 1 tbsp of water.
6. Divide the well rested dough into 2 portions and circles, a little bigger than the bowls.
7. Spoon the filling equally into two medium oven proof bowls.
8. Brush the outside edge of the bowl with the egg wash and place circle shaped dough on top.
9. Crimp the dough so that it sticks to the edges of the bowl, make 3 slits on top, brush with egg wash, sprinkle with salt and pepper,

10. Place on baking sheet and bake for and an hour & fifteen minutes or till top is golden brown.

Simple Whole Wheat Bread

We eat oodles and oodles of bread and are almost always confused by the ingredients in store bought bread. And so, in a burst of adventurous cooking, I decided to go forth and make bread. I used a combination of recipes from the Whole Wheat Bread blogger and the F&W.

When I started out, I have to admit that I was apprehensive about how cumbersome the process would be. But once you break it down, it’s just kneading, letting rise, kneading again, letting rise again, and baking. No knife work, no chopping, just a lot of of patience. Which is why I baked ours over two movies on a relaxed weekend afternoon .

What We Used:

Whole Wheat Flour – 3 cups

Ground Flaxseed – 1/2 cup

Warm Milk – 1/3 cup

Honey – 1/4 cup

Warm Water – 1 cup

Salt – 1 1/4 tsps

Olive Oil – 1/4 cup

Packet of Dry Yeast – 1

Roasted unsalted sunflower seeds – a handful

Large Bowl – 1

Wooden Spoon – 1

Loaf Pan – 1

Plastic Wrap or Damp towel – 1

How We Did It:

• In a large bowl, stir in the water, milk, salt, honey and oil. Empty the yeast on top and let stand for a couple of minutes till it starts to foam.
• With a wooden spoon, stir in the whole wheat flour and the ground flaxseed until the dough begins to form and pulls away from the bowl.
• Sprinkle some flour on a surface and knead the dough on it for about 6-8 minutes till dough is smooth.

• Wash out the bowl, dry completely and pour oil into the bowl. Transfer the dough into the oiled bowl and make sure dough is coated in oil on all surfaces. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise in room temperature overnight or in a warm oven for about 1 hr or so. [Our experience is that the time also depends on how warm your climate / room is. You are aiming for the dough to rise about double its size, so adjust accordingly].
• Once it has risen, sprinkle sunflower seeds on to the dough. Knead in the sunflower seeds on a floured surface. Shape in the form of a loaf and transfer to greased loaf pan.
• Loosely cover pan with oiled plastic wrap and let rise again in a warm place till the top of the dough is just below the rim of the loaf pan.
• Place in the centre of a preheated oven (350 F) and bake for 20 minutes. Then, cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake for another 20 minutes.
• All the sites we trolled recommended that the loaves are done if, when taken out of the pan, they sound hollow when knocked on the bottom. So knock away, and if no hollow sound is emitted, pop back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes or so.
• Once done, allow to cool on a wire rack.

Healthy Blueberry Muffins

Ever since getting fresh blueberries from the Farmer’s Market, I have been itching to make blueberry muffins. There’s nothing more wholesome sounding than blueberry muffins. Every time I think of baking myself blueberry muffins, my brain seizes upon images of apron clad beings in little cottages with iron ovens, from whence comes soft, bouncy little goodies stuffed with blueberries. Which they proceed to eat, along with piping hot coffee, by the sea. In my brain, all apron clad people live in cottages by the sea.

I digress.

Here’s an interesting tidbit about blueberry muffins. Did you know in 1988, Minnesotans decided to declare it their state muffin?

So, in honor of my lovely friend Anu who brings her own brand of sunshine to cold, cold Minnesota; I give you healthy Blueberry Muffins, modified from Coconut & Lime’s Virtuous Muffins.

What We Used:

Whole Wheat Flour – 1 cup

Flax Seed – 3/4 cup

Blueberries – 1 & 1/2 cup

Sugar – 1/2 cup

Yogurt – 3/4 cup

Oil – 1/2 cup

Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Baking soda – 1 tsp

Salt – less than 1/4 tsp

Egg – 1

Cooking Spray Oil

Bowl – 1

12 cup muffin pan – 1

How We Did It:

• Preheat oven to 350 °F. Spray oil & sprinkle flour over the muffin pan.
• In the bowl, mix well the flour, flax seed, sugar, yogurt, oil, vanilla essence, baking powder, baking soda, salt and egg till it makes a smooth batter.
• Fold the blueberries into the well combined batter.
• Pour evenly into the 12 cup muffin pan.

• Bake for about 17 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.

Our Verdict:

We love how soft these muffins are, despite the fact that it has no butter in it. Using yogurt reduces the fat content and also makes it chewier but still soft. As for flax seed – it adds a pleasant nutty taste to the muffin. If it’s not sweet enough, a little honey poured on top of the muffin will make it sweet. All in all, we enjoyed this moist, hearty concoction for breakfast, snacks and in between. Hope you do too!

Mini Berry Bundt Bread

This recipe goes to Mele Cotte’s Cooking to Combat Cancer Event. It’s a cause close to my heart and I took awfully long to figure out how to get the most healthy treat ever for this competition. So many times when we were faced with an illness, the food we get to eat is beyond blandness, and I wanted to make something that would be healthy but still a treat. And what could be more of a healthy treat than portion controlled mini bundt bread?

The recipe comes to you, courtesy of Nature Ripe Farms, with our tweaks.

Serving – 16; Time – 45 mins

What We Used:

Whole Wheat Pastry Flour – 3 3/4

The original recipe asks for plain flour. I like Whole Wheat Pastry flour because it imparts a heartier, more chewy wheat texture & taste to the bread. But in case you are not a fan, you can substitute by using a mixture of half whole wheat and half plain flour. You just have to make sure to monitor your baking time more closely.

Baking powder – 2 tsps

Sugar – 1 cup

Powdered sugar – 1 cup

Lemon zest – 1 tbsp

Egg Whites – 1 cup

Unsweetened applesauce – 1/2 cup

Lemon extract, divided – 1 & 1/2 tsps

Vanilla extract – 1/2 tsp

Skim milk – 1 & 1/2 cups

Frozen Berries – 3 cups

For the Glaze:

Powdered Sugar – 1/2 cup

Skim Milk – 2 tbsps

Lemon extract – 1/2 tsp

Large Bowls – 2

Mini Bundt Pan

Blender

How We Did It:

• Combine & mix 3 3/4 cups of flour, baking powder, sugar, powdered sugar and lemon zest in large bowl.
• Add egg white, applesauce, 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract, vanilla extract and milk to flour mixture, mixing until ingredients are blended.
• If batter is too runny, gradually add 1/4 cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing in between until batter is creamy and blended. I found that my mixture was too thick and so I had to add tiny amounts of water slowly while blending.
• Remove 1 cup cake batter and place in medium bowl.
• Puree the berry medley (thaw the frozen berries before pureeing).
• Add berries to reserved batter and mix just until blended.
• Spoon half the plain batter into the pan; top with half the berry mixture. Swirl the batters with a knife.

• Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• While the bundt bread cools, invert & keep aside. Combine powdered sugar with remaining 2 tablespoons milk and 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract; blend until smooth and creamy.
• Using an uncooked spaghetti stick, poke holes in the cooled bundt and drizzle lemon glaze over them. I let them sit for a while for the glaze to soak into the bundt, then filled the center with berries & had them for breakfast.

Easy Potato Gratin

Gawd, this recipe is easy. So easy that when the Mostafa said he would cook Potato Gratin for Easter lunch, I was slightly disappointed because it really doesn’t take much effort. And when I am being given a dinner by the Mostafa, I expect him to sweat over it a little

I did get over my disappointment quickly when I found the recipe was a modified version of an Ina Garten one, who though a bit on the ‘Hampton name dropping’ side, seems to have a deliciously calm cooking style, focusing on quality rather than ‘lets take 30 minutes to run around like a hurricane & make 10 dishes’ type of quantity.

Here’s our version of it for five servings:

What We Used:

Thinly sliced Celery – 1/4 cup

Fennel powder – 1/4 tsp

Thinly sliced yellow onion – 1/2 an onion

Unsalted butter – 1/2 tbsp

Thinly Sliced, peeled Russet Potatoes – 2

Heavy cream * – 1 cup + 1 tbsp (reserved)

Grated Gruyere Cheese - 1 1/4 cup (For substitution – Other cheese that have the same kind of buttery, salty flavor as Gruyere are Smoked Swiss cheese, Emmental or Jarlsberg cheese)

Salt – 1/2 tsp

Pepper – 1/4 tsp

Olive Oil

* I always have a problem finding Heavy cream. Instead I seem to run across a ton of Heavy Whipping cream. Most of the sites I have looked at tend to brush off the difference and condone the substitution of Heavy Whipping cream for Heavy Cream. The difference between the two lies in their fat content & I haven’t had any unfavorable experiences with the substitution, so I am doing the same here. If anybody does have an alternate view, do let me know.

Skillet – 1

Baking dish – 1

Large Bowl – 1

Total Time taken – 1 hr 30 minutes

How We Did It:

• Preheat oven to 350 °F.
• Heat oil on the skillet, saute the sliced celery with crushed fennel powder and onions till tender (about 5-10 minutes on medium-heat).
• In a large bowl, mix the sliced potatoes with the cream, cheese, salt and pepper. Add the sauteed celery mix and combine well. Don’t forget to keep aside 1 tbsp of cream.

• Butter the inside of a baking dish and pour the potatoes into it. Smooth the potatoes by pressing down with a wooden spoon.
• Combine the reserved cream with 1/4 cup of cheese and sprinkle on top (& that will give you the browned crust, from which comes the name gratin – ta da!)
• Bake for 1 hour, until the potatoes are tender and the crust is golden, like below:)

Ina recommends setting it for 10 minutes and then serving, which we dutifully did.

This goes to Tasty Treats for the ‘My Favorite Things’ competition.

Vegetable Lasagna

Everytime we traveled as kids, my parents would make their lists of sights to see and culture to experience. And I would make my list of things to taste. Yes, I was a little glutton. But I blame it all on reading. Have you noticed how kids’ stories almost, always mention their respective ethnic food? And really, I think you can only get the feel of a place till you experience what the locals eat.

In America, it was Lasagna and sundaes (I was easily satisfied at 10 ). I got to taste sundaes v.early on in the trip but the lasagna proved elusive. At the very end of our trip, we visited random family friends in Texas and that’s where I tasted my first lasagna – so deliciously cheesy and chock full of veggies and meat!

I haven’t been able to recreate that first taste till I came across Zonya Foco’s Lickety-Split Meals cookbook. She has a very easy-to-follow way of writing and, except for a couple of minor of changes (to account for my spice loving palate), I have tried to stick to her recipe for LaZonya . This is a vegetarian recipe but the book does say you can substitute tofu for turkey, if you wish And any left overs can be frozen for later.

What We Used:

Chopped Green Bell Pepper – 1/2

Chopped Red Bell Pepper – 1/2

Chopped Carrots – 2

Chopped Small Onions – 2

Sliced Zucchini – 1 cup

Minced Garlic – 1 tsp

Chopped Fresh Parsley – 1/4 cup

Firm Tofu crumbled – 12 oz

Haberno Pepper – 1 small

Frozen Spinach – 1 packet (10 oz)

Spaghetti Sauce – 1 jar (26 oz each) *

Canned tomato – 1

Low-fat Cottage Cheese – 1 tub

Dried Fried Onions – 1/2 tsp (the original recipe calls for dried onion flakes. I didn’t have any in the house and used dry fried, onions instead, the kind you get from the Indian Store)

Grated Parmesan Cheese – 1 cup

Reduced-fat Shredded Mozarella & Asiago – 1 bag (The original asks just for Mozzarella, but I like the taste of Asiago cheese also, so used a bag of mixed Mozzarella Asiago cheese)

Olive Oil

Whole-Wheat Lasagna – 2 boxes

Sriracha Sauce (Red Rooster Sauce) – according to taste

Italian Seasoning – according to taste

Pot – 1

Bowl – 1

Disposable Lasagna Pan – 1

* Store bought sauces usually have really high levels of sodium. Zonya recommends looking for a sauce that has 800 mg or less of sodium per cup and less fat = 5 grams.

How We Did It:

The Sauce

• Clean and chop the vegetables (I used the food processor). I like having big chunks of vegetables in my lasagna but if you don’t, chop & slice according to taste.
  
• Heat oil over medium heat in your pot. Add the garlic and all the vegetables.
• Add part of the chopped parsley and stir.
• Add tofu into the pot . Add the haberno peppers, stir, for five minutes.
• Add sauce, the spinach, canned tomato, a couple of squeezes of the Sriracha sauce, salt (use cautiously because the cheese also have a lot of salt in it) and pepper . Simmer over medium heat, and taste to see if the flavors are to your liking.

The Cheese Mixture

• In a bowl, mix the cottage cheese, the dried onions, the rest of the fresh parsley, and I tbs of Parmesan Cheese.
• Divide into three equal parts for use during the assembly process.

The Assembly Process

• Place the sauce, the uncooked lasagna noodles, the bowl of cheese mixture, the opened bag of Asiago/Mozzarella cheese, grated Parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning in an assembly line.
• Use a cooking spray to coat the lasagna pan.
• Laddle some sauce on to the pan, so that the bottom is covered evenly.
• The layers consist of: Lasagna Noodles topping the laddled out sauce (enough to cover entire sauce), one part of the cheese mixture over the noodles, even sprinklings of Asiago/Mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Repeat layers: (sauce, noodles, cheese). You will have enough for 3 layers.

• After third Parmesan cheese sprinkle, make the fourth and final layer with Lasagna noodles, 1 1/2 cup of the sauce spread evenly, 1/4 cup of Asiago/Mozzarella cheese, 3 tbsp of Parmesan Cheese and Italian seasoning sprinkled on top.
• Pour 1/4 cup of water all around the edges of the dish – this gives enough steam to cook noodles.
• Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.
• Uncover and bake for another 5-7 minutes.
• Take out from the oven, let cool (about 10 minutes) before serving. This is such a complete meal in itself but the Mostafa used a lettuce salad with tomatoes and a light vinaigrette sauce that did go nicely with this. Enjoy!!!

This goes to Sahaja for her Single Serving Recipes at SpicyRasam. I used to make this a lot when I was living on my own, so here’s hoping

Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti

We had guests over the other day and I couldn’t figure out what to give them for dessert that was unique but simple. So after much hunting, the Mostafa & I found a biscotti recipe from the most excellent Smitten Kitchen

The only biscotti we have eaten are from coffee shops and Starbucks, so it was pretty cool to come across a recipe for home made biscotti – the end product would be simple but oh so awe-inspiring. A sort of ‘you made this at home’ reaction was what I was hoping for from the dinner guests, which trust me, we got!!!

So here’s how we made it. We followed the smitten kitchen recipe to a t, except for some things like using pistachios & instant coffee powder, just because we didn’t want to make another trip to the grocery store.

You can find the original recipe at the Smitten Kitchen site or at the NYTimes

What We Used:

1/2 cup whole shelled pistachios, preferably blanched
2 1/2 cups flour, plus flour for work surface
1/2 cup Hershey’s Cocoa (Special Dark – a blend of natural & dutched cocoas)
1 tablespoon Nescafe Pure Instant Coffee
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar

Sieve – 1

Bowls – 2

Whisk

Rolling pin

Wooden spoon

Baking pan

Parchment paper

How We Did It:

1. Blanch the pistachios by dumping them in boiling water and letting stand for two minutes. Drain & cool before slipping the skin off. I tried putting them between paper towels and rubbing the skin off – which was successful to a degree
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the pistachios on baking sheet and toast for about 2 minutes. They’ll release a nice pistachio smell when you take them out of the oven (sort of like releasing their essence)
3. Side note – You will need the oven at 350 degrees for the biscotti, so let the oven be
4. Take a large sieve and place over your bowl. Add your dry ingredients – flour, cocoa, coffee powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder, sift and set aside
5. In another bowl, beat eggs lightly with a whisk or an electric mixer, until they are just blended.
6. Remove two tablespoons of egg mixture to small dish and set aside. Do not forget this step because your finished biscotti will look rather sadly whitish because you weren’t able to brush them with egg
7. Beat sugar into remaining eggs until blended. Stir in dry ingredients mixture to form soft dough. You an use a wooden spoon to mix everything together
8. Generously dust your work surface with either flour or cocoa. The advantage of cocoa is that, like a commenter put it, it “keeps the the biscotti from having a dusty white look & adds extra chocolate flavor”. If you don’t want the extra chocolate flavor, dust with flour. But make sure it is well coated because this really is a very, very sticky dough!
9. Divide the dough in half and place one portion on your well-dusted work surface. With floured/cocoaed hands, pat it into a six-inch square. Scatter half the pistachios on the dough and press them into the surface
10. With the rolling pin, roll the dough into a cylinder about 2 inches wide and 12 to 15 inches long
11. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and place the roll of dough on the baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough. Brush the tops of both rolls with the reserved egg
12. Place in the preheated oven and bake about 15 minutes, until firm to the touch
13. Transfer to a cutting board, let cool and cut at an angle into slices one-half-inch thick or however you like to look. Return the slices to the baking sheet, laying them on their flat sides, and return them to the oven. Bake another 15 minutes, until they are crisp and dry. Allow to cool completely before storing or serving
14. These went great with coffee for dunking or if that’s too simple, you can always use them like wafers with vanilla ice cream

Enjoy!!!