Zucchini Lasagne

I have always wanted to make lasagne! Ever since I ate this wonderful Italian food in one of the street side Italian restaurant in Dusseldorf I became a huge fan. Lasagne is not for the diet-size conscious mind. It is for people who like to indulge in an extra dosage of cheese fueled by an uncompromising desire to eat the best! However, a lasagne made like this can be eaten once a year. Lasagne can also be made healthy and tasty and be a very wholesome and hunger satisfying lunch/dinner. Here I present to you a very healthy and tasty lasagne.

Lasagne-zucchini-onions-tomatoes-milk-basil-thyme-pepper-flour-cheese-salt.

First read the instructions on your lasagne package! Some require boiling in water before using them as layers and some can directly go into the oven without pre boiling. I choose to have a lasagne that doesn’t require pre boiling since it is easier to handle! Wash the zucchini and cut into thick round pieces. Cook on medium heat in an oiled pan along with sliced onions. Sprinkle salt and freshly ground pepper. Keep aside and let it cool. Meanwhile, chop fresh tomatoes into a pan and start to cook on medium heat with addition of some water. Once the tomatoes are cooked and smashed, add basil and thyme and two table spoons of butter. After the butter melts, add half a cup of milk and stir well. When the milk starts to boil, sieve in a table spoon of all purpose flour with constant stirring until the sauce thickens. Adjust salt in the sauce and add pepper if required.

Alternate layers of lasagne and cooked zucchini-onions in an oven bake-able glassware. Finish with lasagne on top and pour the sauce so that entire surface is covered. Sprinkle cheese on top (shredded or cut into thick strips). Bake for 40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. There is no need to pre heat the oven. Serve hot with a good red wine!

The kissable garlic : Aglio oilo

I was making spaghetti for dinner and I told Prashanth and Ramki “machis, tomorrow you are going to eat spaghetti in Italy. So don’t complain there that it is not as good as my preparation!” and that is exactly what happened. Probably it was just my luck that that particular restaurant in Venice did not serve us well, but as soon as Prashanth uttered those words, we could not stop laughing.

Many people would not eat garlic just because it would impart mouth odor and make it difficult to socialize. But when deep fried, garlic does not impose this restriction. And I am a huge fan of garlic! Who cares if the mouth is going to smell, I cannot restrain myself from garlic fried in ghee or when put in rasam. Me and my sister used to fight over who will get the extra garlic after amma has partitioned and rationed it out for us!

Aglio oilo is a basic simple spaghetti recipe that I would term as the kissable garlic. This is one of my most favorite non creamy and non gravy based spaghetti that can be enjoyed for its pure flavor of garlic and chili without interference from oregano or any other expressive seasoning. I love the olive oily feeling all around my mouth when I eat this.

Heat just a little excess of good olive oil in a pan. Fry finely chopped garlic until it is fried well. Add coarsely ground deseeded green chili paste into this. Toss in a few pieces of red bell pepper or minced celery or both. The red bell pepper and celery are just very optional for people who like some extra vegetables in their plate. Now add the well cooked and strained spaghetti into this and stir. Add salt and sprinkle just a dash of black pepper powder. Mix well so that every spaghetti strand is bathed in olive oil and the garlic pieces are spread well into them. Serve hot with an optional garnish of grated or powdered cheese.

Note: Add at least 5-6 huge pods of garlic. Chop it as finely as possible, but don’t make a paste out of it. Chili can be added as per your levels. 2-3 should be optimum.

My first Italian love, vegetarian Bolognese

I didnt know the difference between Spaghetti, Pasta, Penne, Macaroni, Linguine and Noodles. Yeah, the first time I made noodles by boiling it and adding the pre packaged masala, I thought I made spaghetti and it was Italian. And then my knowledge bank grew and learnt the noodles is Chinese! And when I first ate spaghetti, I thought it was a modified version of the Chinese noodles. Years have passed and I have matured!

I landed in Germany on a Wednesday and it was pommes (french fries) day in my mensa (canteen). Come the first Monday and I asked the serving lady (Frau Fidan Batman) what was the menu for vegetarians and she told me that they have spaghetti with vegetarian variant of Bolognese sauce. Though it looked suspicious to me at first, I trusted the dear old lady and took it and she served it to me with a topping of powdered cheese. I never knew how to eat it and spilled quite some on my shirt and felt embarrassed about it and after coming to lab, I googled on how to eat spaghetti with the fork and spoon! I fell in love with this bolognese the very first time and asked the Germans what their version contained. It was minced meat and then I went to the canteen people and asked them about my bolognese and they assured me that it was just vegetables! 

As a curious connoisseur, I always want to cook what I relish and after years, I ventured into cooking Italian masterpieces and the first one was Bolognese. It originated in the beautiful city of Bologna in Italy and is listed as the most favourable and delicious spaghetti topping. I had a hard time finding the right recipe and so I went to the Italian restaurant near my house and found out from the chef his secret. The funny part was that, I did not eat in that restaurant. It is a heavy budget one for a student and so I told them that it is just to satisfy my curiosity and they bought it looking at my innocent face!

Finely mince carrots, mushrooms, onions and celery. The finer your cut them, the better the sauce will be. Heat olive oil and add the cut vegetables into them, all at one go. When they are sauted well, add little concentrated tomato paste and mix. This is the right time to add salt and freshly grounded pepper and a sprinkle of nutmeg powder. Stir and add 150ml of dry white wine and allow it to boil until the wine nearly evaporates. Now add in as much of tomato puree you want to and cook for at least 30 minutes on low heat.

Traditionally this sauce does not contain oregano, but a little flavour will not harm it. Italian prefer this with pasta, but I prefer this with spaghetti and garnished with generous amounts of cheese!

This is a picture of my first bolognese preparation. Appa was the first to taste it here in Germany! I am going to cook it tomorrow and will post the updated one soon!

Romance, Tiramisu!

First, "dear Mom, I know you were upset when I told you that I am going to make Tiramisu. And yeah, you guessed it right, it does contain eggs. But right from childhood I got used to eating eggs in various forms. Cakes, ice creams and chocolates and it removed my aversion to it. Also, after eating this heavenly dessert at restaurants and authentically in Italy, it is very very difficult to restrain from it. I hope one day you eat this, prepared by me, and give a thumbs up."

 My first encounter with Tiramisu was in Lindau, Germany, 2006. Yeah, it is Italian, but you are seldom exposed to all these when you are in India. For me "Senthil softy" was one of the best and it will still remain so! And here in Germany, European cuisine is prominent. So, on a vegetarian food starved party, Tiramisu came to my rescue. The second time was in Rome and the most recent one was in Venice. And suddenly one day, my dear friend Vasudha sent me an email explaining how to coquere Tiramisu at home. When I read the instuctions, I knew I was going to make it, asap! 

I have a very good foodie with me here, Tez. He shares the same amount of enthusiasm I have for cooking and so we decided to make this a joint venture. Two many cooks spoil the broth is an old saying, but it never spoils when the cooks have the same frequenzy! After a real good game of Badminton, me and Tez went to the market to buy the ingerdients. Fresh eggs(4), Mascarpone cheese(500g), sugar, loeffel biscuits (a.k.a Ladys finger or just Tiramisu biscuits), whiskey, good coffee powder and cocoa powder (which we actually missed).

I was a bit skeptical actually. Eggs, yeah, okies, not an issue. But when I read the instructions, I realised, raw eggs! As I have already said, once you have tasted Tiramisu, its hard to give up. So, I proceeded. First dividing the egg yolk from the white, I added generous amounts of sugar (4 big spoons) into the yellow and beat it until the sugar dissolved. I smelled it several times to make sure it didnt smell raw, it actually did not. This put a smile on my face. When Tez added the mascarpone into this, I was so tempted to eat this mixture. Mascarpone is divine! Few minutes of beating and this became a soft cream. Next is to beat the egg white until it becomes soft and fluffy. Best is to use an electrical whipper, but since we were not equipped with it, it was muscular whipping. After adding the fluffy whipped whites into the creamy beaten yellow-mascarpone, I felt like diving right into the bowl! This mixture was set in the fridge for an hour.

We then made thick espresso coffee and after it cooled down, added the whisky to it and dipped the loeffel biscuits into this mixture and arranged them in a bowl. A layer of the prepared cream on top, and yet another layer of biscuits dipped in coffee-whiskey and then one final layer of cream on top. We didnt have the cocoa powder to sprinkle on top, so with a little sad face and a curse to our memories, we set it in the fridge for 4 hours.

Tez then calls me to my mobile " Machan, my entire house smells of Tiramisu and the taste is better than the ones we get here in Germany. We should sell this da!"

Tiramisu, sounds exotic, tastes divine, not so difficult to make! A perfect dessert for a candle lit romantic evening! Buon appetito !!