Zucchini Bruschetta, Greek style.

When I announce I'm making things like Skordalia with feta and parsley for dinner, I expect my family to be just a teeny bit impressed. Definitely annoys me when they appear apprehensive, exchange looks and double-check to see if there's bread and jam in the refrigerator as a back-up plan. But that's mostly because mum goes and announces to the world I'm making Cornella (really, how the heck does she come up with these things?)

Skordalia is one more Greek thing that I'm positive I've tasted before, unaware of its identity and history. One hungry day (a.k.a dosai-for-dinner day), I typed a bunch of things that were languishing in the refrigerator into the Google search box to cook myself a merry little dinner, and a very promising website popped up. Souvlaki for the soul. Poetic or what? Souvlaki, for me, embodies soul food... the grilled chicken and salty fries wrapped with tzatziki in a fluffy pita... Life doesn't get simpler than that.

So I immediately opened up the website, and eye-feasted on Greek recipes I know I'll be trying very soon. The zucchini bruschetta was what I finally decided I had to eat ASAP... took me less than an hour from starting to photographing to eating. Just what one needs after a hard day's work. Pink grapefruit shower-gel, bruschetta, Dexter on TV. I'm happy.

The skordalia is a spread similar to Muhammara. Bread crumbs, garlic, olive oil and walnuts are blitzed to a smooth paste in a food processor. This can be stored in the refrigerator for a bit. Zucchini gets grilled, feta gets sprinkled on, and baguette slices (brushed with Extra Virgin olive oil) broil in the oven. All of this together forms a cohesively delicious appetizer/dinner.

And I hope this post appeases all the health-food fanatics who complain that all my recipes consist purely of butter and sugar and little else. This one is for you. You've no choice but to make it now and let me know how it turns out.

Zucchini Bruschetta:

Ingredients:

For the bruschetta:

1 zucchini, cut into batons.
Extra virgin olive oil, for grilling.
1 baguette or french loaf.
1 small bunch parsley (or mint), chopped.
A few chunks of Feta
Salt and pepper to taste.
1/2 a batch of skordalia(recipe follows)

For the Skordalia:

1 cup of walnuts
1 cup of cut-up stale bread pieces
6 cloves of crushed garlic
2-3 tablespoons of vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

For the skordalia:

Dry roast the walnuts over medium heat for five minutes. Let it cool and set aside.

Soak the bread in water for a couple of seconds, then squeeze out the water and set aside.

In a food processor or mixie, blitz together the walnuts, bread, vinegar and garlic, until it resembles coarse sand. Then add in the olive oil, little at time, until a paste forms. Taste it, add salt and pepper to taste.

Needs way more olive oil than in the photo!

Scoop it out and stash it in the refrigerator, wrapped with cling film until you need it.

For the bruschetta:

Saw the bread into diagonal slices. Spread a teeny bit of olive oil and broil/bake/grill until crisp. Keep it aside.

Mix the zucchini strips with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill or pan-fry then. I used my panini press for convenience's sake.

Spread the skordalia over the toasted baguette slices.

Top with grilled zucchini. Sprinkle over some feta and chopped parsley. Serve.

These would make awesome appetizers or canapes. Or like I said, you can eat half a loaf for dinner.

As always, healthy food can also be loaded with calories (albeit nutritious calories) in form of nuts and olive oil. It is the only way you'll get your Omega 3s and 6s. Unless you can spend loads on Absolut 3G capsules (interesting name, huh? Like vodka they'd serve in a space shuttle). That was totally not a prescription. So now you have two options to avoid the fate of being a stick with no hair and toad skin.

But then again, who says food has to always about nutrition or hunger, anyway?

Greek Chicken(or not) Pizza/Tossing up a weekday wonder.

I promised you a to-die-for pizza recipe on Monday. And Monday, like my fitness levels, has been long gone. Monday doesn't mean Monday. What it stands for is any insipid, tiring, manic-in-a-bad-way weekday. Which today definitely counts as, for me. A day that needs melted cheese to soothe away the crappy-ness of the morning. Here's where my weekend experiment with pizza dough comes in handy.

Or you could stop in at French Loaf after work and pick up half a dozen of their wholegrain pizza bases. Will make life that much easier for you. And from all the whining (in a non-Akon way) I hear from friends, we could all stand for life to get a little less difficult.

The first pizza I wanted to make was this Barbeque-chicken-ranch-cheddar cheese pizza. One of those things that confuse and blow your mind at the same time. Is it a burger? Is it a pizza? No, it's Super-freaking-deliciousness on a plate.

Alas. Time wasn't on my side, so I got to marinating and grilling some chicken (used my Chicken Gyros recipe) and put some pizza sauce to bubble away merrily on the stove. The toppings weren't that demanding to prep for, except for the unpitted olives, half of which ended up in my mouth, any way.

And you can skip the chicken altogether, making it a completely vegetarian pizza, but the whole lemon-oregano-olive oil Gyros wasn't something I was going to pass up on. Maybe you could try the same with mushrooms? Let me know!

Greek Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:

1 recipe of the pizza dough (or 6 medium sized bases)
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
6 cloves of garlic, minced
250 g grilled chicken (Chicken Gyros).
1/2 cup sliced pitted olives
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 recipe pizza sauce (or open up a bottle of the same)
2 onions, cut into slices
2 tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 bunch spinach, washed and drained.
2 tsps Extra Virgin olive oil.

Method:

Roll the pizza dough out onto greased foil or parchment paper (NOT BUTTER PAPER).
Alternatively, you can use a readymade base.

Brush the circumference with a teeny bit of Extra Virgin Olive oil. Strew minced garlic, pushing it into the dough.

Spread the tomato sauce on the pizza base.

These are the toppings that I used.

Make sure the spinach has been washed and scrubbed!

Top with tomatoes, onions, feta cheese, mozzarella cheese, olives and spinach. Add a drop of olive oil over the onions, so they caramelize as they bake.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celcius. After the edges become brown and the cheese bubbly (it took me 12 minutes), take the pizza out.

Top with the shredded chicken. I prefer to do this after the baking is over, so the chicken won't dry out or go rubbery due to overcooking.

Sprinkle with oregano, and enjoy/attack!

Recipe source: barely adapted from Food Network

And while this is Mmm-Mmm-Mmm, I can't wait to try the Ranch-Barbeque thing.

Make this, don't think about it. You know you want to. Don't blame me if you can't eat at the Hut again, though.

Pasta with Rainbow Veggies/United Colours of Pasta-ton!

The easiest way to keep yourself away from pastries would be to bake them yourself. By the time you're done taste-testing and batter-tasting and baking yet another batch of cookies, you don't want to see another one. Only for the next few hours, though. You'll be putting your hand into the cookie jar the most, if you're, well, me.

I do make things without vanilla and chocolate; here's one of them. Pasta with Rainbow Veggies. A great way to deal with those boring weekday dinners. You've had a sandwich or less for lunch, and you want a proper dinner, to combat the weekday blues.

You know what my medical advice to you is? A pot of pasta, bursting to the seams with vegetables, with a hint of comforting cheese; it fills your whole house with the smells of tomato, garlic, onion and oregano. Don't go around getting pizza cravings now.

And it's healthy enough for you to have an excuse to indulge over the weekend (get yourself a steak au poivre with a side of potatoes!).You meet atleast two days' worth of your vegetable requirement. And veggies are so forgiving; besides cleaning up your cells, they don't give you food poisoning if undercooked or go all eraser-textured if overcooked. I also used a bechamel, so I can get creaminess in the dish with less than a tablespoon of butter.

It isn't restaurant-style Italian, so don't expect pancetta to be fried or carbonaras being cooked. It's fancy enough to be eaten with a fork, and not so fancy that it tastes weird.

Pasta with Rainbow Veggies:

Ingredients:

1 bag of baby corn (up to 2 cups when chopped)
200g mushrooms, quartered.
3 bell peppers/capsicum (I use red, orange and green), cut into slices.
3 tomatoes, pureed.
1 onion, chopped.
5 cloves garlic, quartered.
1 tbsp butter.
1 tbsp all-purpose flour (maida)
1 cup milk.
1/2 cup ready-made pasta sauce (can be substituted with 2 tbsp if ketchup).
250 g pasta (penne, fettucini, spiral, bowtie/even macaroni).
Olive oil-2 tbsp.
Dried herbs-2 tbsp, and some more to sprinkle.
A handful of cheese-either parmesan/feta/mozzarella.
Dried red chillies-3 or 4.
Salt and pepper-to taste.

Method:

1) Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Drop in your pasta; when al dente (meaning they still have  a bite to them, not too soggy), take it out and wash with cold water to stop the cooking process.

2)Make your bechamel-the white sauce that goes on an Au Gratin.

Heat a tablespoon of butter over low heat. Stir in the maida and make a roux.

                                

When golden, pour in the milk while whisking actively. Let the bechamel concentrate over low heat, until you have a creamy consistency. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg (optional). Keep aside.

Don't let any floury lumps remain-it is not appetizing.

3)Prep your veggies. Make sure they're all equally sized pieces so they finish cooking at the same time.

Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick vessel over med-high. Add in the baby corn (it takes the longest to cook). After a minute of tossing, drop in the chopped onion and garlic. Toss until the onion turns transclucent.

4)Add in the mushroom. Cook for 2 minutes. Add in the bell-peppers. Cook for another 2 minutes. Add the pepper and salt.

Less is more. You can always add extra salt later. And I strongly recommend you pound some vathal (dried red chillies) or add chilli flakes to the vegetables. It cuts through the homogenous bechamel.

5)Add the tomato puree (it'll taste better if you've boiled it before blitzing). Cook until the raw smell of it goes away. Approximately 5-7 minutes.

Add the readymade pasta sauce. If you don't have any, increase the tomato puree mix and add tomato paste/ketchup. I only had it because I got it on an offer (free bag of Fusilli with the Pasta Sauce). I am not a fan of readymade pasta sauce, but it's handy on a weekday, I won't lie.

6)Cook down for 10 minutes. Add the herbs. Taste the mix, and adjust the seasoning according. Toss in the cooked pasta until well coated.

7)Add in the white sauce you've made. Toss some more.

Don't keep mixing the pasta with a spoon; you'll make it all gloopy by overworking the gluten.

8)Spread the pasta out on a baking tray. Sprinkle a handful of cheese. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees celcius (maximum, you don't want to dry it out).

9)Serve with a slice of garlic bread. This is simply to mop up all the juices and sauce from your plate. Yum.

Recipe Source: Me! Don't be too scared.

And I know I've been doing too many "Loaded with Vegetables", "Super Healthy, Super Tasty!" type of recipes lately. So next time, it's going to be a meat and cheese affair. At least, that's what I told my family, and that's what I'm telling you.

Omm-lay du Frrromage!/Brunch, Part 2!

I'm pretty sure all of you know how to make an omelette and churn out smoothies.

Still, omelettes are something I manage to routinely screw up. I always use lesser oil than I'm supposed to, or my pan isn't non-sticky enough or the high heat makes fried-rice eggs out of them. Sometimes they brown up too much, sometimes they aren't cooked enough for me to flip/fold over.

Mum says I'm just picky.

However, as I'm sure all of you have been taught by experience and know how to fry a couple of eggs, so I'll post my modified Tortilla de Patatas recipe. You need atleast 6 eggs to make that fluffy, potato-Spanish omelette.Since nobody at the household are big fans of the egg/potato combination, I use just 2 eggs and make a thin crepe-like omelette. What's not to like? Eggs, good. Potatoes, good. Bread, gooood. Yes, I grew up watching Friends.

And for as for the smoothie, it isn't weekend brunch, more like a weekday breakfast because it takes approximately two minutes to make and ten minutes to consume. If you want to take it easy on your day off, make this, drink it up and go out and get overpriced coffee and buttery croissants later.

Easy Fruit Smoothie:

Recipe Source: ME. As in Rabia.

Ingredients:

4 plump strawberries, hulled and halved.
1 banana, frozen overnight, cut into chunks.
1/3 cup yogurt (low-fat is fine)
1/3 cup cold milk (low fat is fine)
1/3 cup granola/muesli
Ice cubes, for serving.

Method:

Pulse/Blitz all of the ingredients in the food processor/mixie.

The granola had berries and nuts in it! Yum.

I freeze the banana, so I can use it in lieu of ice cubes that will water down my smoothie in an unpleasant manner. Baggry's Fruit N Fibre muesli is what I used (for the extra strawberry flavour), but any granola with a teensy bit of brown/raw sugar should do.

You can play with the combinations. Mango in place of strawberries, with a little elaichi, in the summer, maybe. Blueberries if you have access to fresh berries. Dates and bananas. Mmm. Flavoured yogurt, if added sugar is kosher to you. Too many choices, not enough Weight Watchers points.

I sincerely hope you know I'm kidding.

The mint-failed attempt at Chef-ing it. Never you mind.

Take advantage of seasonal produce, and since we've got strawberries flooding the market at Madras, I used them. You can pick up a box at Rs. 55 at Mint (sowcarpet) and similar neighbourhoods or at the more high-end greengrocers' for Rs. 100.

Spanish omelette a la Rabia:

Recipe Source: If it turns out good, it's mine. Lol. Mine, either way.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
5 thin slices of uncooked potato.
1/2 cup chopped bell-pepper (green, orange, red, yellow)
1/4 cup chopped onion
Salt & Pepper, to taste.
1 tbsp olive oil.
A matchbox-sized cube of feta/2 tbsps of grated Parmesan.

Method:

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt and pepper until nice and frothy.

Heat a small, non-stick saucepan on medium-high. Add the oil.

When hot, drop in the potato. Let it sizzle around for a while on low heat until it becomes fork-tender. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Try one of the slices. If you feel it's done, it's done.

Take the slices out and saute the onion. When pinkish, throw in the peppers, and saute until just heated through. Sprinkle some more salt and pepper. Soggy peppers do not a good omelette make.

Strategically place the potato slices around the pan, onion, peppers and all. Douse it all with the egg mix. Add a few drops of olive oil if you deem it necessary.

When the omelette holds it shape, sprinkle the cheese. Fold over, if you like runny eggs or flip and cook the other side if you like your eggs fully cooked.

Serve garnished with fresh/dried herbs. I use dried parsley, extra pepper and freshly chopped coriander/cilantro.

And pick up some good bread to go with it, won't you? I bought this fabulous multi-seeded bread at Nilgris; a whole-wheat bread with grains of rye, sprinkled generously with pumpkin seeds. I toast it for a tiny bit, and serve it hot with the omelette.

Another good way to ruin the posh-ness of it all would be squirt a little ketchup when nobody is watching. Oh, come on. It's Sunday. Rules are for wusses and weekdays.

From Odds-and-Ends to Mock-Fancy in Twenty minutes.

How do I know it's 6: 30 in the evening? Because that's when I experience actual hunger. Not the false pains (OBG talk) that are very specific for mint chocolate-chip ice-cream or shawarma-pickles.
Solid hunger pangs, which I try to tide over with a slice of wholewheat toast+peanut butter(Crunchy, of course) or a bowl of cereal because dinner-is-served! happens only after nine at my household.

At six last evening, I went foraging into the store cupboard (I won't call it pantry because it isn't fancy enough, currently) and dug out a nice big bag of arborio rice that had been sitting pretty for quite a while. Not if I had a say.
Arborio rice is a short-grained, glutinous rice that goes into risottos, paella and rice puddings.
It's quite hard to get access to, but the recipe I'm posting below will accept regular white rice leftover from the afternoon quite well.

Arroz=Rice. And I thought it was the brand name!

Next, I opened the refrigerator; half-used bell peppers, half a packet of Cream of Chicken soup and Feta cheese left over from the pasta I made the other day, all crying to be used.

Ooh. I have to use up the Feta by next month. Burgers, maybe?

I went straight to Allrecipes, and did an Ingredient Search. After reading approximately 15 recipes, I made stuffed peppers

This one got mixed reviews from the people who tried it: needs spice; excellent; needs cheese; why didn't you make more?; yummy-licious! Easy to guess who said what if you know my family.
If you want something healthy, easy to make, can sub-in for dinner, I suggest you give it a try!

Stuffed Tricoloured Peppers.

Ingredients:

3 whole bell-peppers (I used red, yellow, green)
1 cup uncooked Arborio rice
3 cups soup or stock (I used chicken)
1 cup sliced onion
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tomatoes, diced
3 tbsps olive oil
3 tsps mixed dried herbs (I used basil, parsley and oregano)
1 tsp salt, more as needed
Pepper, as needed
1 cup Feta cheese (or a mix of Feta-Parmesan or Feta-Mozzarella)

Method:

1)Preheat the oven to 240 degrees Celcius. Line a baking tray with foil; grease it with olive oil, lightly.

2)Prep the peppers. Cut them into two, vertically. Deseed, destalk, and place cut side down on the baking tray. Drizzle over with 1 tbsp olive oil.

I didn't grease the peppers/tray to save a few paltry calories. Yeah.
Mistake no: 1. Please use atleast a little.

3) Place the tray into the oven, and let it stay there for 25 minutes, until the peppers get slightly blistered.

Pick off the burnt bits, but they HAVE to be blistered to this point!

4)While that happens, bring the soup or stock to a furious boil. Pour in the rice, set the flame on Sim, and let it simmer away, covered, for 20 minutes.

Do not keep mixing your rice around, because that will break down the rice to puddingy consistency. At the end of 20 minutes, try a few grains and see if it's done. It shouldn't be al dente, but still have its shape.
Keep checking to see if the rice at the bottom isn't burnt or sticking too much to it. If you feel it needs more water, because it's still undercooked, confidently add.

If you're using left over rice, just simmer it for two minutes with very little water and a stock cube. It gets gloopy really fast, so, careful there!

3)In a big pan, heat the olive oil. Toss in the onion and garlic and let them turn golden. Next, add the diced tomato and give it a good toss around.

4)Add the salt, pepper (even, jalapenos/chilli to tide over the lack of spice that was the main complaint) and the dried herbs. Spoon in the rice, mix it through. Take it off the heat, and add in the feta cheese.

                                    

5)Spoon the mix into the pepper halves. Sprinkle with some more cheese (mozzerella or a plain old Amul slice) if necessary. I skipped this step for everyone except my sister(she loves her Amul cheese); because it defeats the purpose of a healthy dish. And cheese can be like ketchup. It masks the taste of the peppers and the rice.

6)Return to the oven for another 5 minutes at 220 degrees celcius. Take it out, make it pretty, and serve!

You can make it your own by adding in sauteed mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, whatever and adjusting the seasoning/oil accordingly. Eat this, and feel the rush of Vitamin C and other antioxidants clearing up your skin and unclogging your arteries (as long as you tone down the cheese).

Mmm. Only this time, for a much-needed change, you can have a self-satisfied, smug smirk on your face.

Panini. And then some.

You know how Shoppers Stop and Lifestyle Home have a section devoted to kitchen appliances? I behave like a kid set free in a candy store there. Actually, I behave like me-post-diet in a candy store there.

After much grovelling, I made Mum buy us a panini-maker (Morphy Richards). Ever since it made its appearance, the humble triangle-sandwich maker has been hibernating in the dark recesses of the store cupboard. You can grill vegetables and meat, toast bread, cook a burger patty... I don't know if the warranty will be valid after the first couple of crazy tries, but there's a tasty way to find out!

I made this panini on one of those days I had to fend for myself. And since I've got a lousy exam in ten days, I have to pretend I've mugged 100 Multiple-Choice-Questions instead of cooking up a storm. Plus, I was hungry and I needed food. Fast.

There's no set recipe as such. We've all made a version of this sandwich on that hungry day. Open your refrigerator. Find the most appealing thing there. Make a sandwich out of it. Think peanut butter, mustard, tuna, apples, eggs, anything.

My eyes fell on a can of black olives (un-pitted and un-fun). When I pulled it out, I discovered. the holy grail. A nice block of Feta cheese. Feta cheese is difficult to find. Even Nilgris, to whom I'm eternally loyal to, does not steadily retail it. And when it is, you can go home knowing that you spent 125 bucks on a small bar of cheese, but it is money well-spent.

Salty, crumbly cheese; half-a-handful spins the humble sandwich and churns out a Grilled Mediterranean Panini, one that you pay close to 200 bucks for at French Loaf.

Grilled Mediterranean Panini

Ingredients:

Bread-8 slices

1 yellow pepper, cut into strips

1 red pepper, cut into strips

1 small onion, diced

5 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped

Spinach- 1 cup, washed very carefully and shredded

Feta cheese- 3/4th of a cup

Olive Oil-1 tbsp

Dried Herbs (Basil, Oregano, Thyme)

Black Pepper, crushed or Chilli Flakes- to taste.

Extra ingredients of your choice- not authentic, but your palate won't complain, will it?

I add olives and jalapenos. You can add mozzarella cheese, capers, an omelette or maybe even sneak in leftover grilled chicken.

Method:

Prep the vegetables. You can substitute the peppers with zucchini or plain old capsicum if that's what you find at the grocer's. Do not use raw eggplant in a quest to get Greek-y. That needs the eggplant to be sliced thin, salted, rested, drained and pan-fried. Try keeping the proportions even though.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Put all of the vegetables except the spinach on a foil-lined tray (Yes, I know spinach isn't a vegetable... either way, don't add it here). Toss them with the Olive Oil. Extra-virgin would be a treat. OK. I'm lying. Extra-virgin is a necessity.

You'll notice how salt isn't added here. Feta cheese is naturally very salty so a forgotten addition would lead to a Sodium OverDose. Experience is the best albeit an expensive teacher.

Throw them into the oven and let it roast away for 20 minutes. Make sure the oven setting is on Bake or Broil. You'll know when it's done; the kitchen will smell heavenly.   

When the veggies look blistered and caramelized, take them out. Chop up the garlic in it.

They don't have much of a taste right now. Stay cool.

 Add in the feta, spinach (yes, raw spinach), herbs, pepper, and the aforementioned Additions-of-your-choice. Toss it all again. Taste it. Add extra olive oil, salt (if you need it), chilli flakes (if it's not hot enough).

Place a scoop of it between two slices of bread (butter it if you're lucky enough to be able to afford to). If you're serving it to company, try ciabatta or a honey-mustard bread. I used Modern Multi-grain bread; that'll do nicely for my face for weekday brunch.

 The pre-heated panini maker would do the rest. If you don't have one, any normal griddle greased with a little olive oil would do. As long as it doesn't smell of Masala Dosa.

When it's steaming inside and gorgeously crisp on the outside, it's ready!

You can also stuff the mixture into a roti and call it a wrap. You could place it on top of sliced baguettes and stick them in the oven, and they come out as bruschetta. You can stuff it into Pita bread with Tzatziki. You can make Quesadillas, heck, even triangle-sandwiches, with them. Puristas will cry. But you'll thank me for it.