Fennel Pasta

I formatted my laptop recently and along with that deleted all the photos that had been stored on the machine over the past few years. These included ALL the photos that we had taken over the last few years. I panicked and called up my husband to report the terrible news to him.  That was when he gave me the good news that he had backed up the photos two days before and we hadn't lost all our photos. Whoosh! That was a terrible 10 minutes, while I tried to figure out how to retrieve the photos or what I could do. I am so glad that he had backed up the photos by chance and it is definitely a lesson in backing up data more frequently.
Well, so I still haven't gotten to moving the photos back to the laptop, but I did take pictures of some dishes I made recently, so I have something to tide me over for a while. This is a fabulous dish. It has a wonderful aroma and a very mild and pleasant taste.

I hadn't cooked with fennel before, well not the plant itself, just the seeds  I had a great time exploring this new vegetable. The fragrance took me back to the old days when we used to plant fennel in our backyard and wait for the plant to bear the tender seeds. Those seeds used to taste so sweet and delicious, we used to enjoy it. However, we never thought of using the actual plant to cook any dish. This was a pasta dish that was introduced to me by my sister-in-law made when I visited them this summer. It is a perfect pasta dish for summer! I absolutely loved it and she graciously shared her recipe with me. So here it is.

Ingredients
1 fennel bulb and its leaves (discard the stalks. See details in method below)
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, zest and juice (optional)
1/2 packet of linguini pasta (about 16 ounces)
water to cook the pasta
salt
pepper
parmesan cheese

Method
In a pan deep enough to hold the linguini, take enough water to submerge the pasta. Add salt to the water, sufficient enough to make the water salty and then cook the pasta per directions on the package.

Cut the leaves off the stalks of the fennel and chop them finely. Do not use any stalks. Next, cut the large stalks off the fennel bulb and discard them. Then, divide the bulb into two and then remove the core of the bulb. Then slice the bulb into thin slices.

In a large pan (sufficient to hold the pasta), heat the oil and then add the fennel slices to the oil. Cook the fennel for about 10 -15 minutes till the fennel slices are cooked through and become soft. Cook on medium heat, so that they don't burn. The fennel slices are tough and will take some time to get cooked through. Next add the garlic and the fennel seeds to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes, till the garlic is cooked through. Then season a little with salt and pepper. Then add the cooked pasta to the pan and mix it all together. Next, add the chopped fennel to the pasta and lemon zest. Mix well. Add a little lemon juice and mix well. Cook for a minute or two till all the ingredients are well blended. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over it and serve hot.

Tips
You can cook the pasta till it is al dente if you wish or cook it for a few more minutes till it is softer. I prefer the pasta being at a softer texture. Al dente is when the pasta is cooked through, but it still has a bite to it. The fennel core is pretty obvious and can be seen as a triangle at the base of the bulb when you cut the base into two parts vertically. If you are confused, it will be the tougher, central part of the bulb which is difficult to cut through.
When you zest a lemon, remember to stop grating the lemon rind when you reach the white part of the lemon skin called the pith. This is the bitter part. The zest is just the yellow part of the rind.

Sphagetti Squash with Marinara Sauce

Once you have cooked the marinara sauce and the sphagetti squash, pair them together to make the most delicious meal. This is the perfect food for a warm, filling and a really low calorie meal. Enjoy it for lunch or dinner. It is high in vitamins with all the goodness of vegetables, but low in fat, carbs and absolutely delicious. You can garnish with some parmesan cheese if you want.

Ingredients
See recipe for sphagetti squash
and recipe for marinara sauce

Method
See recipe for sphagetti squash and marinara sauce

Tips
You can prepare the marinara sauce in advance and on the day of the meal, cook the squash. Thaw the sauce, and serve hot with the sphagetti squash. Add any vegetables to the basic marinara sauce after you thaw it.

Homemade Marinara Sauce - Tomato Based Pasta Sauce

There are many many brands of marinara sauce available in the grocery stores, however my favorite sauce has always been the homemade kind. It  is an easy recipe and a quick preparation too. Also, you can make this in advance and freeze it for later use. Homemade marinara tastes fresh and light. This is a recipe you can improvise on and change based on your taste preferences by changing the proportions of the ingredients. You can add an assortment of vegetables into the basic marinara to change the taste everytime you prepare it. This is a recipe that I have demonstrated to a few friends and is probably one of my  most requested recipes.

Ingredients
For the basic marinara sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
salt to taste
5-6 tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp italian seasoning
1/4 cup water
1 tsp sugar (optional - see method)

Vegetables that can be added
bell peppers, sliced (assortment of green, red/yellow/orange)
mushrooms, diced
broccoli florets

Method
In a broad, deep pan heat the oil and add the onions to it. Next add the garlic. Season with a little salt and let the onions and garlic cook till the onion becomes transparent. Next add the italian seasoning and stir it and then add the diced tomatoes. Cover the pan and cook the tomatoesfor a few minutes. Then add the water and cook till the tomatoes soften up.  Then take about 1-2 cups of the cooked down mixture and blend it into a puree and add it back to the sauce. Add salt and taste. If the tomatoes are not in season, they maybe a little tart and the sauce may taste a little sour. If so, add a little sugar and balance out the taste. The sauce is ready. Toss it with pasta and serve hot.

Tips
You can blend the entire sauce to get a smoother consistency or blend it partially for a chunky texture. You can add sauteed or partially cooked vegetables to the sauce, and cook them together. If you cannot find italian seasoning, then instead you can use a blend of basil and oregano. I have added a mix of diced bell peppers to the sauce in the pictures, by sauteeing them in a little oil in a pan and then adding them to the sauce. Then I cooked it for a few minutes, before tossing it with the sphagetti squash. Top with some parmesan cheese for a richer taste.

Sphagetti Squash

This is the healthiest "pasta" you can possibly have. I had noticed it stacked next to the butternut squash, on my visits to the grocery store but hadn't tried it.  This is the first time I cooked this squash and I absolutely loved it. Once the squash is completely cooked, it forms ribbons or sphagetti like strands. Hence, it gets the name "sphagetti squash".

This makes for a wonderful, low calorie option for pasta. You can pair it with marinara sauce and it is a delicious alternate to regular sphagetti with marinara. This is also a really great substitute if you are looking for a low carbohydrate option and is gluten-free.

Ingredients
1 sphagetti squash
1 tbsp olive oil (optional)
salt to taste

Method
Preheat the oven to 350F. Cut the sphagetti squash into half along the length. Remove the seeds. At this stage you can apply a little oil over the exposed cut side of the squash. I didn't add any oil and it still cooked perfectly. Bake this for about 20-30 minutes, till the skin softens up a little. At this stage the squash is completely cooked. Use a fork and separate out the strands of the cooked squash. At this stage it is ready to eat.  You can sprinkle a little salt and pepper and it tastes great just by itself.

Tips
Top it with marinara sauce or any pasta sauce that you would usually pair with sphagetti pasta.

Sphagetti with Peas

This is a wonderfully easy and quick recipe to make.  All the different flavors complement each other to create a slightly sweet, sour and savory pasta dish. Most of the times pasta recipes involve some kind of a sauce. This is a great alternative to sauce based pasta recipes. The best part of the recipe is that it involves minimal preparation time, has limited ingredients and still is so delectable that you would want to repeat this often. It is also a great recipe to make when entertaining, easy to scale, elegant and tasty.

Ingredients
1 packet whole wheat sphagetti, cooked per instructions on the box
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 tbsp Italian spice mix
salt to taste
1/4 cup black olived, sliced
4-5 artichoke hearts, chopped - use the pickled variety
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-3 garlic gloved, finely chopped
Parmigiano Reggiano, also known as Parmesan cheese, to garnish

Method
Heat the olive oil. Add the chopped garlic and let it cook for a minute or so. Then add the peas. Stir fry for a minute, then add the olives, artichokes and Italian spice mix. Stir around, then add the sphagetti. Mix all the ingredients together. Add salt to taste. Add parmesan cheese. Serve hot.

Tips
Cook the pasta in saline water, which means that add sufficient salt to the water that you cook your pasta in so that it tastes salty. This will flavor the pasta and it will not taste bland when added to the other ingredients.

Baked Pasta - A Healthy Spin on Ziti Al Forno

I was in the 8th grade when my friend and I came across a recipe to make a baked dish with macaroni. Of course, we decided to wait until the next time Mom was out of the house and then made it. We went to the store, got all the ingredients and made this perfectly delicious baked macaroni dish. I still remember the excitement and pride, especially when my brother (a particularly finicky eater) praised it to no end. So after that almost everytime I had an opportunity, I prepared this dish. The following is a cross between this baked dish and the baked ziti al forno that I ate at an Italian restaurant. I am generally not inclined to make a dish whose sauce consists of five different types of cheeses as the main ingredients. So I decided to experiment, and finally came up with this variation. Definitely a healthier option and delicious!

Ingredients
1 packet of penne pasta, cooked per the instruction on the box
1 cup whole milk
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp, Italian spice mix
4-5 tsps of crushed tomato
1 tbsp butter cut into small pieces (optional)
white pepper, to taste
salt to taste
cheese, to top the pasta dish (you can use a mix of shredded cheese, or parmesan cheese)
3-4 tbsp bread crumbs

Method
Mix together the milk and egg. Add the Italian spice, crushed tomato, pepper and salt to this. Mix the cheese and bread crumbs together and keep aside. In a baking dish, layer the pasta, then pour the milk and egg mixture over the pasta layer. This will fill the spaces between the pasta. Then add a layer of cheese and bread crumb mixture (add as thick a layer of cheese as you want). Add the butter pieces. Bake this for 15-20 minutes at 400F. After 10 mins, cover the dish with aluminium foil (do not wrap it as you want the water vapor to escape), so that the layer of cheese doesn't burn. Insert a knife into the center of the dish and if it comes out clean, the pasta is completely cooked.

Tips
You can also bake the pasta without the cheese layer. Then add the cheese layer to the pasta, switch the setting of your oven to broil, and broil it till the cheese melts. Make sure that you pan is broil safe.
You can also added some vegetables along with the pasta layer, like diced carrots, beans, peas or corn.