Vegetable Pasta

I love Pasta! but I have posted just one Pasta recipe in these 8 months since I started blogging. I will try to post more pasta recipes in the future. Now, I have made a vegetable pasta recipe to start with.

Basic Information:

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes + 20 minutes for cooking pasta

Serves: 3

Ingredients:



For Pasta:



Uncooked fusilli Pasta - 1 and 1/2 cup

Onion - 1 no, small size, finely sliced

Carrot - 1no, medium size, sliced

Capsicum/Bell pepper - 1 no, any colour, cubed

Eggplant - 1 no, small size, cubed

Potato - 1 no, small size, cubed

Salt - to taste

Black pepper - 1 teaspoon

Olive Oil - 1 tablespoon



For Sauce:



Milk - 1/2 cup

Cream cheese/Soft cheese - 1/4cup -1/2 cup

Dry herbs - 1 teaspoon (oregano, thyme)

Method:



1) Cook pasta as per instructions given in the pack. I cook it by adding water with a teaspoon of oil for 20 minutes in microwave. The time differs depending on your microwave and type of pasta.

2) Once it is cooked, drain the excess water. Keep it aside.

3) Take a pan and heat oil in it. Add onion and saute it well.

4) Add vegetables and salt. Sprinkle little water. Cover and cook it for 3-5 minutes, until soft. Make sure not to overcook the vegetables.

5) While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the sauce for pasta.

6) Heat milk in a saucepan. Add cream cheese. Stir it well to avoid any lumps and continue stirring till you get a creamy texture.

7) Reduce the flame and add dried herbs. Mix well. Let the sauce be in low flame.

8) Now, check the vegetables. If they are done, add the sauce followed by pasta and mix it well on high flame just for a minute.

9) Sprinkle black pepper to taste and mix well.

10) Garnish with mint leaves and serve hot.

Note:

1) Add vegetables as per your choice.

2) I used less milk and cream cheese as per my family taste. It is absolutely your choice, to adjust the milk and cream cheese. Add more to get more creaminess in the pasta.

3) If you don't have cream cheese, use only milk. I have prepared many times only with milk and sometimes substituted with single/heavycream. Still it tasted good.

Guest Host for my "SYF&HWS - Cook With SPICES" Series Event - JAN 5th to FEB 5th

Hello Friends,

Sorry I am late again...

I started this Event in December 2011 and called it as "SYF&HWS - Cook With SPICES" which is a series event.

This month my fellow Blogger Friend Anusha of  "Tomato Blues" is guest hosting from Jan 5th to Feb 5th and she had chosen the Spice - CUMIN (Jeera).

Anusha has a beautiful collection of recipes and hosting other events too in the same time. So please visit her site and hope to see many participants for the event.

Happy Hosting Dear.....

Banoffee Pie - Sweet Punch Challenge, January 2012

Sweet Punch Challenge, 2012, begins the year with an Easy to make and an excellent tasting Pie, Banoffee!!!! Thanks a lot for Swapna for the step-wise explanation of the recipe.The Best part of making this dish, was making Dulce de  Leche!!!! My In-laws are here for 3 months vacation, i made this Last week for a get-together with  my Brother-in-law's Family. Me and my Co-sister together made this, She wanted to feel the excitement of Baking, it was lot of fun!!!!! 

Ingredients

Condensed Milk-1 can (400gm)

Bananas-2nos, large

Whipped Cream-2 cups

Marie biscuit-200gms, approx. 48-50 biscuits

Cold Butter-100gms

Grated chocolate or Cocoa powder to decorate

Chocolate chips, to decorate

Chocolate sauce to drizzle on top (optional, i didnt use it)

Method

• To make Dulce the Leche, put the can of condensed milk, unopened, in a large pan, cover with water, bring to boiling point, Cover and boil for 2 hours, topping up with boiling water as needed. Ensure that the can remains covered in water, as otherwise there is a risk of the can bursting open. Remove and leave to cool completely. You can make this ahead of time or even boil several tins at one go and store the unopened cans in the fridge for several months. I used Idli Cooker to make this. 
• Take all the biscuits into a Ziploc Pouch and Powder them using Rolling Pin. Take the Powdered biscuits in a large bowl and Cut the cold butter and to it and slowly incorporate it well. Line a pie dish with this mixture and Bake @ 170C for 12 minutes. This makes Crust Crisp. 
• If you don't prefer a Crisp Crust, just keep the Lined-Pie dish in the fridge for sometime and start doing the next step.
• Open the cooled can of condensed milk, which will have turned to toffee. Spread this over the layer of biscuit.

• Peel and thinly slice the bananas, and arrange in a layer over the toffee.
• Whip the cream until thick and stiff and spread over the bananas.
• Finally, decorate with Choco Chips, grated chocolate, dust the cocoa powder on top using a sieve. Drizzle with chocolate sauce (optional).
• Refrigerate for 1-2 hours and Dig in!!!!