Peperoni Arosto

Well, am not sure if this is really peperoni arosto, but this is my version of it, and it tastes pretty damn good.
Can be used as a topping on toasted garlic bread like a Crostini, or can be eaten with lavash crackers. I intend to use this in a pasta, to get a smoked bell pepper flavor next time. Another idea is to add this to a salad, with tons of feta cheese, and may be some pineapple cubes. If all else doesn't work out, you can slip in these smoked peppers into your mouth as it is!

This dish takes a long time to make, but is very easy, and can be made well ahead in time. I've noticed that it stays well in the fridge for up to a week.

Method -
1. Over roast full bell peppers at 200C for 30-45 min, till the skin blackens.
2. Once roasted, keep them in an airtight container for 10 min.
3. When the peppers are still hot, peel the skin off and chop coarse.
4. Mix in washed parsley , oregano, sea salt, red chili flakes, grated/chopped garlic and extra virgin olive oil.
5. Store in an airtight container for up to a week

Baked tomatoes with garlic

Sometime last year, there was this chain-reaction-like thing. Everyone I knew was baking these tomatoes, and posting the pic on their timeline, and I could smell these beauties from within the comp. Yeah, that’s possible ;-)!

There is no recipe to this awesome dish, and there is no decided way in which you can use this too. I have mashed the baked tomatoes and used them as a dip when we feasted on a Mediterranean-type dinner. This goes well with garlic bread, or with bread sticks too. One time, I mashed it well, and used it as a pasta sauce. Then, there are a zillion times these tomatoes didn’t even make it out of this tray. I stood at the kitchen counter and polished off all of them in one go, many times! :)

Here’s how we make this -

1. Cut the tomatoes into halves along the spine and arrange in a bake-safe dish.
2. Crush garlic pods and insert into the tomatoes. ( I inserted an average of 3 thick pods for two halves).
3. Sprinkle sea-salt and pepper generously. Drizzle virgin olive oil more than generously on these halves.
4. I used my herbed olive oil, and even topped the halves with some of those herbs.
5. Preheat the oven to 200 C, and bake this for 60-90 min at 120 C or 140 C. (depends on the oven, I had to bake for 90 min). The key is to get a heavenly smell in the kitchen! 😄

Quick cauliflower salad

Do you love veggies, the crunch in them, their taste as they are and how they look ? Well… I do. I love the crunch of the uncooked vegetables, and how they look as they are… in all their natural glory and colour!

That is why when Nandita first talked about this salad, the veggie-lover in me was excited. The simplicity in making this salad, the time it takes to be put together and how it tastes made it a favourite. But not until I saw Siri’s recipe of a cauliflower salad, did I realize I never blogged this one, my ever-favourite.

Homemade Pop-corn

I love pop-corn. Well, who doesn’t, tell me?

As kids, much before Act-II made the instant pop-corn famous, the only time we would get to eat pop-corn was in movie theatres, and I remember very well that my friends would buy me an extra packet of pop-corn… always…

One love… Garlic bread!

 

Is there anyone under this big, bright, beautiful, blue sky who doesn’t love Garlic bread? One person? Show me one person who doesn’t and I’ll make him a convert. :-D

I was lost in this big world of numerous garlic bread choices, wondering which one to make my favourite, and then my dear friend, Nandita told me how to make my own garlic bread. Its the simplest ever method to make your own garlic bread, though not from scratch.

Whole wheat crackers

 

The last time I tried crackers, I remember it was a lengthy and a very boring process. They tasted alright, but I was so tired by the end of it that I did not try them again! Till now. :-)

The idea to make these crackers was a very housewife-y idea. You see, I did not want to waste to all the extra rotis the cook made one day. So I thought I’d dehydrate them and store them for future use. Little did I know after I actually baked them that they would turn out to be so crispy, and tasty !
Yes, its that simple.

Pic – Hummus with spinach wheat crackers

Procedure

Make rotis with whote wheat flour. If you like it, add some greens like spinach, or methi to this, to up the nutrients and taste also. You can add masala like garlic, red chillies and garam masala to make the rotis more tasty.
Cut the rotis into small pieces with a pair of scissors. I make them into triangular pieces.
Bake these pieces in a pre-heated oven for 6 minutes at 200 C.
Flip the pieces and bake them for 4 more minutes at 200 C.

Cool and serve with Hummus or any other dip. Or just eat them as chips!
These stay good in an airtight container for days, and you can serve them as appetizers too.

Oven-dried Tomatoes

 

The other day I was blog-hopping and bumped into this post by PurpleFoodie. Having always loved the taste of sun-dried tomatoes, I immediately tried this on half-a dozen tomatoes that I had in the fridge, and lo.. they were ready – my own first batch of oven-dried tomatoes.

They tasted awesome, and yes, this was what was left by the time I got around to photograph them. That is a testimony of how good they were! :) I haven’t used them in a pasta or a pizza yet, but I plan to make another batch soon and use them for that purpose.

The only deterrent, if at all, that can stop me from making these would be the time. It takes atleast 2-3 hrs of prep time, and 2 hrs of electricity and oven running. For all that effort, it seems like a little return :)

Guava Kebab

 

Growing up, guava is the least favourite of all the fruits in our house. We all knew that it was good for health and all, but the seedy and hard texture of the fruit,and its near-neutral taste have been huge turn-offs forever. The only variety that was given any interest was the one with pink center, but that too was for the looks and never the taste. As I grew up, and read up on the nutrients in this fruit, I kept on thinking on how to include it in the diet atleast once in a week, and this dish came as a total pleasant-life-saver-surprise for that need.

The other day, I was lunching at the Great Indian Kebab Factory with my team. It was the lunch buffet, and that was when I tasted this dish. It was called fruit chat, and he served Pineapple and Guava grilled in some masala. It wasn’t the first time I was eating pineapple as a savoury (I’ve always loved the smoked pineapple panna at Sahib Sindh Sultan and the pineapple-vodka pizza in Little Italy) but eating a savoury version of guava was a total bumper. And my, did I love it. I asked for a second, third and a fourth helping of the guava pieces, and even licked my fingers as I finished it. I loved it so much that the taste stuck to my tongue, and my mind started wondering how exactly it was made.

This evening, fresh from my outing at the farmer’s market, I had a couple of good guavas at hand, and lots of time to try something new too. Giving some reins to the imagination, I quickly made a marinade of whatever nice and spicy was at hand, and cut the guava into pieces, and grilled it. The result was a lip-smacking kebab, which though didnt taste like the one I ate at the TGIKF, but was good to be served as a starter when friends come over.

Ingredients:

1 measure cumin powder
1 measure coriander powder
1/2 measure dry ginger powder
1/2 measure chilli powder
Sea salt – to taste
Orange juice – just enough to make a paste out of the above ingredients
1 guava – cut to 1 inch pieces

Method:
1. Pre-heat the over to 215C
2. Mix all the above ingredients except guava into a thick paste.
3. Put the guava pieces into the paste, and roll it, so that the paste coats the piece. You can also marinate the guava in the paste for 2-3 hrs.
4. In a baking tray , bake these pieces at 200C for 15 mins.
5. Let it cool for a minute or two, and dig in ! :)

Variations:
You can also add ginger-garlic paste, green-chilli-coriander paste also to the marinate , but in my opinion, the paste should be tangy in taste. Only then the chatpata-flavor of the kebab will burst in your mouth as you eat it.

Bruschettas… Yaay!

 

Yes! I made Bruschettas. First time ever! And I can’t stop grinning. They have been a favourite with both of us since forever and these actually made the husband so excited that he even asked for some bread based dish for dinner also!

Of course, as usual the inspiration came from Nandita, but the achievement here is that I did not look up for the recipe. I just went through the taste in my mind and made up the list of ingredients. I still haven’t looked up for the correct recipe, coz I loved mine so much.

Ingredients:

For the topping:

3 ripe big tomatoes, de-seeded and chopped into small pieces

1 big onion, chopped into small pieces

2-3 tbsps olive oil

1 dollop basil pesto sauce

Salt & Pepper for taste

Oregano, if required for taste

For the bread:

Baguette. But I used regular whole wheat bread. Cut it into pieces and baked it at 200C for 5 mins. Rub in peeled garlic clove into it. Its amazing to see how the garlic clove melts and sticks to the bread.

Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients for topping. Place small quantities of this on the baked bread pieces.

Serve and gorge!

Now, I made these as a tester to see if they’d be good if I make them when S and her family came over tomm. They tasted so great that we had these for dinner that day. Yes, one full loaf of bread between the two of us! :)