Wholewheat pizza!

You might remember my excited experiments with pizza in the past. Recently I discovered how easy it is to get fresh yeast in Delhi and since then my pizza making has gone to a whole new level. For starters, please ditch the false lore that states pizzas require sauce and cheese. They don't. No, really. Second, also toss out the idea that they need to be round. Ever since my pizza revolution, as I like to call it, I've been making them all the time in my rectangular baking pans and putting all sorts of things on them. I've done potatoes+cheese+onions, random pasta sauce+cheese, potatoes+sausage+cheese, random veggies+cheese and my most recent favourite, blanched spinach, potatoes, onions and eggs. That's right, no sauce, no cheese. Of course all these things get eaten so fast I rarely get pictures, so here's one I took this morning of reheated lunch, terribly lit in the direct sunlight from my kitchen window and gently speckled by the shadow of the mesh.

Bechamel/cheese sauce

This one is always in demand when I say pasta. All my friends, especially the little boys, get this glint in their eyes and OOF has burnt his fingers many times trying to taste it too early.

This is a combination of a bechamel, and some sort of cheese sauce we used to eat with macaroni as kiddies. It usually serves 4, and is lovely in lasagna or with mushrooms. It also is the base for the veggie pasta sauce I make, with spinach ground into the sauce to turn it green.

MinCat's favourite pasta sauce

Somewhere in my time in the US, I realised that tomato sauce is REALLY easy to make - it just takes time. I usually make a huge batch that lasts for about four meals of two people each. It freezes very well, and lasts in the fridge up to a week (I've never been able to resist it longer.)

The basis is tomatoes and onions, with a ton of garlic. After that, toss in whatever you want. Obviously, the more veggies you put in, the more texture it will have; but that's not a bad thing, especially for vegetarian pasta. For pizza I recommend slicing things thinly or sticking to leaves and minced peppers, because that way it doesn't mound up on the pizza, ans leaves you free to add other toppings.

Strange Primavera Pasta

In delight at the success of this blog so far [snh snh] I've been cooking up a storm. This is the result of a pasta craving and a zucchini in the fridge. I'd say use what you have in the fridge, but I reccomend atleast some peppers, green beans and zucchini.

Serves: 2 and a bit
Cooking time: 30 min

6 cloves garlic
1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 medium red bell pepper*
1/2 cup green french beans *
1 medium zucchini*
4 tbs tomato sauce [not ketchup]
1 tbs dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
4 tbs milk [cream actually but I shudder at the thought]
1/2 cup white wine [optional]
1/4 grated edam cheese [substitute as you wish, it's what I had in the fridge]
2 tsp oil
salt to taste
as much cooked pasta as you like

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pot, I'm told the one I used is called a Peking Wok. Add garlic and toss. Add onions and when they are transluscent, add remaining vegetables. Add spices and stir fry for about 5 min. Add tomato paste and wine. Stir for 5 min, add milk. It might split. Don't worry. Add salt and allow it to cook for 10 min or till vegetbles are done. Turn off the heat and add drained pasta. stir in the cheese while still hot and serve.


*Try and cut the veggies to match the pasta, I used fettucini so they were [fancy cooking word alert] julienned.