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My husband has this habit of tucking away important things carefully and considers himself very organised. While he is at it, he also likes to think that I am just the opposite and take everything lightly ('Think' is the keyword here). People who know me personally may beg to differ and call me a neat freak but that is what my husband likes to believe. He puts things away so carefully that no one including him would be able to locate them when they are needed. That's what happened when I went searching for a hard disk of our old computer which is stuffed with pictures that I was supposed to use for blogging. We looked and looked around the house and couldn't locate it until now. The pictures I could use for this post were in it and I wondered if this post of mine will ever see the light of the day. These zucchini crisps along with the okra fry, handvo I posted last week have been in my drafts for years now, for the lack of better pictures. It is another thing that I used the same pictures for okra fry and handvo in this marathon since I couldn't prepare them again this month. With these zucchini crisps it was totally another story. The pictures I took earlier were good but as I mentioned above, the pictures went missing.
These zucchini crisps were not an experiment for this marathon but are baked regularly in my home since they are my daughter's favorite. I got some zucchinis and baked them again instead of wasting time over the old pictures. These were baked last month as an evening snack and so the pictures were taken when the light was really low. I was not happy with the pictures and was thinking of posting something else. However when I realized that I have to yet bake four more dishes for this marathon, I gave up and used the image.
Zucchini is sliced into thin discs for this recipe and are coated with bread crumbs and cheese mixture. Then they are baked until the coating turns crispy. We cannot expect the zucchini to turn crispy here but the outer cheese coating provides the crunch and the flavor. These crisps are great to snack on and are a better alternative to the frying method.
Ingredients:
2 small zucchinis (I had around 25 slices)
1 tbsp oil
Salt and ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Method:
* Preheat the oven to 425 deg F. Grease or line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
* Mix bread crumbs, salt, pepper and cheese in a bowl.
* Wash and wipe dry the zucchinis. Slice them into about 1/4 inch discs. Add oil and the discs to a bowl and toss gently to coat.
* Dip the zucchini discs in the bread crumbs - cheese mixture and press down firmly so that the coating sticks to the discs. Flip and coat the other side too. Repeat the steps with the remaining discs.
* Place the bread crumbs - cheese coated discs on the prepared sheet and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes or until the coating turns crispy.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51.
Any colored pasta turns into a orange/red hued one as soon as it hits my husband's plate. He adds oodles of tomato based condiments to his pasta and tells me that he is making it more flavorful. I stopped complaining long ago and keep making tomato based pastas more often instead. Today's recipe is the standard one I make but added some evaporated milk to make it creamier. I used evaporated milk instead of cream / milk just because I had some leftover evaporated milk that had to be used. The evaporated milk lends a nice, creamy background for the tomato sauce based pasta and makes it more flavorful. I used twisted elbows that was a carrot, corn, squash pasta blend. Penne, shell pasta or any long pasta can be substituted for elbow pasta.
Ingredients:
1 & 1/2 cups twisted elbows
1 to 2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely minced
8 oz / 225 gm / 1 cup tomato sauce (I used store-bought sauce.)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
About 1/2 cup evaporated milk / cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (optional)
Chopped basil leaves to garnish (optional)
Method:
* Heat oil in a saute pan and add minced garlic and onion. Saute until light golden. Add tomato sauce and ground pepper to the pan and let it simmer on low flame, just to let the flavor build up. Taste and adjust the salt if needed.
* Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta in a colander and return it back to the pot in which it was cooked. Add evaporated milk or cream and gently give a stir to mix.
* Pour the tomato sauce mixture over the pasta and stir to combine.
* Garnish with Parmesan and basil and serve warm.
This goes to Blogging Marathon #50, under the theme of "Pasta". Check out the link to find out what other marathoners are cooking.
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I had noted down this recipe from a cook book that I had borrowed from my local library some time ago since the ingredients that went into making this pizza sounded interesting. This blogging marathon seemed like a perfect opportunity to try it and today I did. A different version than the regular tomato based one and it was like eating a cheese pizza with potent lemony flavor.
Ingredients:
1 pound pizza dough (Check recipe here.)
1 zucchini, shredded
1 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon / lime zest
1/2 cup / 2 oz grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp sliced almonds
Method:
* Toss the zucchini with the salt in a colander and drain for about 30 minutes. Squeeze the shredded zucchini to remove as much as liquid as possible. Add the lemon / lime zest to it and mix well.
* Preheat the oven to 450 deg F. Grease the pizza tray or baking sheet that is going to be used.
* Place the dough at the center of the tray. Form the dough into a flat thick circle by dimpling with fingertips. Then shape it into a 14 inch circle / 12x7 inch rectangle. (I used half pound dough and made a small sized one.)
* Spread the zucchini - lime mixture evenly over the prepared crust, leaving an 1/2 inch border at its edge.
* Top with the cheese and sliced almonds.
* Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for about 16 - 18 minutes.
Notes:
1. I had some leftover pizza dough when I baked the cheese pizza and I made use of it for this pizza. The original recipe uses a semolina based dough for the crust. I haven't tried it but here is the recipe for anyone who is interested.
List of ingredients:
3/4 cup luke warm water
1.5 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 & 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup semolina flour
2 Tbsp olive oil + 1 tbsp for greasing the bowl.
Preparation of pizza dough:
* Combine water, yeast, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir just until everything is dissolved. Cover and set aside the mixture for about 5 minutes at room temperature. The mixture would usually bubble and foam by the time.
* Stir in both flours and the oil. Transfer the mixture to a floured work space and work dough back and forth with the heels of your hands. Knead until smooth and elastic for about 8-10 minutes. If the dough is dry while kneading, add extra water in 1 Tbsp increments. I find that this recipe needs an extra tbsp of water.
* Grease a bowl and place the dough in the prepared bowl. Turn the dough so that all sides are coated with oil. Cover and place in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size, about 1.5 to 2 hours.
2. The original recipe uses a lemon that is cooked in water for about 25 minutes and drained. Then the inside pulp is removed, the rind is shredded and used in the recipe. I followed this method and found the flavor to be very potent. I like the lemon flavor to be subtle in any recipe and so I think lemon zest suits better here.
This is my Day 2 post under "Pizza" theme and check this page for other marathoners who are doing BM #35.
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Event: Blogging Marathon #32
Theme: International / Fusion Foods
Farfalle pronounced as fur-fell-ay originated in Italy centuries ago and is commonly known as bow-tie pasta because of it's shape. The name 'farfalle' is derived from the Italian word 'farfalla' meaning butterfly and so thus the word farfalle literally means butterflies. I had prepared this farfalle version after seeing it on a cook show and the whole family enjoyed it. The subtle lemon flavor and kick from chili - pepper combination makes this pasta dish special.
Ingredients: (2 servings)
2 cups farfalle
Salt accordingly
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 fresh red chillie, chopped fine
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup cream (or substitute half the quantity with milk.)
5 - 6 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
Juice squeezed from half lemon (or adjust as needed.)
Crushed black pepper
Minced parsley to garnish
Method:
* Cook farfalle al dente adding salt, according to package directions.
* Heat oil and add red chillie. Saute for a few seconds
and add cooked farfalle, lemon zest and cream. Cook for a minute and
then add cheese. Cook until the cheese is incorporated into the mixture.
Stir in lemon juice. Sprinkle black pepper, garnish with cilantro and serve. Go easy with pepper since the recipe has a chillie in it.
Check the blogging marathon page for the other marathoners doing BM #32. And logo courtesy - Preeti
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