Italian with a 'Twist'

Yet another cooking demonstration at Nature Basket and this time it was an ‘Italian Cooking Demo with a twist’ by Chef Thomas Zacharias from Olive Bar and Kitchen

When I received the invitation on my phone, I should have understood that it would be crowded. I should have gone earlier to occupy a comfortable seat. It was an Italian food demonstration; so naturally many people would be interested.

But I took a mid-day nap and reached the venue at the dot at 4:30

The place was jam-packed with the crowd leaking into the passage way. There was no place to move and many of the women just took U-turn and walked away. The women who stood in the crowd were equally irritated and complained of imaginary pushes and pokes. Some were scary lot who kept adjusting their hand-bags closer to their breast and spend more time  at watching people around them rather than to concentrate on the demonstration. One late-comer scolded the management of Nature Basket for having invited her to such a crowded place with so little space.

 "Have it in a larger room next time, if you wish to invite me, understand?" she said as she pouted, fumed and walked away.

I was curious to know about this ‘twist’. I waited in the crowd just listening to the instructions and the comments that were made in the audience, but unfortunately, missed most part of the demo because I went away for a coffee to the next door restaurant and returned after 30 minutes. Towards the end, I was able to find a seat, left vacant by woman who wished to leave mid-session.

Well the ‘twist’ in the demo was the sauce that was cooked in cream and shrimps. The taste was sweet and sour; the lemon zest gave it tangy taste which induced the desire to ask for second helping of one more spoonful of this spaghetti.

Tangy shrimp Picante sauce

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 large shrimps roughly chopped

1 tsp garlic, finely chopped

½ tsp fresh red chili, finely chopped

1 cup tomato sauce

1/2cup heavy cream

1tsp fresh basil

Water as needed

1tbsp lemon juice

10large shrimps, halved and diced

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

1 tsp lemon zest, grated.

Method

Step one

Cook spaghetti as instructed on packet and keep it aside

Step two

Stir fry shrimps with salt and pepper and keep them aside

Step three

Heat oil in a non-stick pan, sauté finely chopped shrimps with salt and pepper. Add chopped garlic and fresh green chilies.

Step four

Add tomato paste to the mixture

Step five

Add fresh cream and basil leaves, mix and stir.

Step six

Allow it to cool and puree the mixture in the food processor till completely smooth.

Step seven

Add the puree mixture back in the pan, and heat it. Add lemon juice and lemon zest.

Step eight

Add the boiled spaghetti to the sauce and cook it

Step nine

Serve with stir-fried shrimp that were cooked in step two.

Junior Chef Cookery Workshop

My friend, Aanchal, conducts one-day cooking workshopsregularly and most of them are exotic dishes. I am always amazed at the knowledge she has of the latest trends and knows exactly what the people might be interested. Sometimes its dips/pesto and sometimes mock-tails/cocktails, sometimes infused oils and sometimes herbal salad dressing. 

I asked her, “Where do you learn these?” 

She says that she socializes a lot, visits various restaurants and reads latest cooking literature to keep herself updated.

Well, it’s a hard work then.

This week she invited me to attend the children’s workshop that she would be conducting. The menu for the day was Double Chocs-Chip Cupcakes, Mexicans Mini Pizza, Red Cheesy Pasta and  Ferraro Roche shake 

Since I love the company of kids, I was most eager to attend.

I arrived at the venue when the session was on. All children were dressed in cute personalized aprons and a chef’s hat which were especially bought for them. That set the mood and children took cooking quite seriously, willing to learn some basics of cooking. 

All children were given the typed recipes which they could refer to. As the session progressed, some children made separate notes, adding details and their observations.  

There were about 15 children of ages from 4 year-old to 12 years old.

The session started with cupcakes.

The children learnt to identify each ingredient by taste, touch and smell. 


While they mixed the ingredients they licked their finger each time, each one willing to do their part of mixing and setting, getting hungrier each minute, so much so that they could not wait till it was baked and served. 


And yes! They were too hungry to wait for decorating the cup cakes with confetti and cream……

While they waited for the cup cakes to be baked, they were to learn to make Mexican Pizza.

In group of four, children were led to the kitchen to cook the tomato sauce using ingredients such as onions, tomatoes, salt, sugar, basil leaves, oregano, garlic and baked beans. The pizza bread was toasted in the oven and back came the group to the living room to make his/her own pizza according to his/her own taste, adding assorted veggies like red and yellow capsicum, chili flakes, cheese and olives.

While the pizza baked, it was time to make cheesy Pizza. Aanchal, my friend, demonstrated the boiling method of Pasta, informed them about  the right consistency and the duration of time needed to prepare the pasta, then to mix it in the tomato-onion sauce, add herbs and cheese and bake. 

It was interesting to see the children’s focused interest in this activity. Some of them related to me about their interest and their favorite cookery program on TV. All the kids were aware of the TV program ‘Junior Masterchef’ and had their own favorite cook

The impatience was growing and children were eager to taste, Ferrero Rocher milk shake would have to wait, all children were already seated, waiting to eat, and of course, best part of attending cooking demonstration is that there is always food to taste.


After having their fill, children were ready to make Ferroro Rocher milk shake.

In a batch of four they made their milk shake, mixing Ferroro Rocher chocolate with coffee powder, milk, vanilla ice cream, syrup and condense milk with topping of cream and choco-chips.

No children’s workshop is complete without a game and gifts. 


A customized housie ticket with each child’s name printed on the top of the ticket was distributed. But wait, this wasn’t an ordinary ticket; it had the ingredients that were used during the session, very innovative and carefully organized.

There was a gift for every line and two full houses. 


By the time the session ended, children were charged with energy, they shared notes and phone numbers, they even got one cup cake to take-away to share with their family.

A lot of effort was put behind the scene, because planning a children’s workshop is no child’s game……

Magazine Review - BBC GoodFood

Cooking is my passion. 


During my growing up years, there used to be a column in Mid-day called  ’Culinary Chat’ that featured 2 recipes per week in Chinese cuisine. During the week, I used to try both the recipes that were featured in the column. I learnt the basics, the correct method of cooking Chinese meal and became a Chinese pro. I learnt more cooking from another monthly magazine called ‘Cuisine’ which used to have the information about the regional dishes of India. Some cooking I have learnt from friends and family, but most of my cooking has been on experimenting and experimenting. I am grateful to my family and friends who have been very cooperative in risking my sometimes disastrous food.

Although I do have many recipe books but magazine is always better because it gives you the insight of more details in cooking. Therefore I was happy when I saw BBC ‘GoodFood’ on magazine rack at the store.

GoodFood India Magazine is published by Worldwide Media Pvt. Ltd under licence from BBC magazine.

I have regularly bought this magazine since November2011. Last month I even won one extra copy when I participated in 'Breakfast twitter contest'. I have liked this magazine so much that I have already gifted to four of my friends and they have been bright-eyed and very grateful.

Our cooking styles have changed a lot over the years, there is no more cooking just those common traditional dishes which our grandparents and aunts cooked when we were kids. Now-a-days, we have bigger supermarkets that have great variety of sauces and food stuff that we don’t even know how to use. I know a friend who bought an exotic sauce from supermarket but came home and ate with chapatti like an achar. Now this is not done. To relish the taste of the sauces and the ready packets one must know how to consume. 


I have travelled places and have developed taste for many different kinds of food and I am glad to see such bottles on supermarket shelf, which has now relieved me from over-weight luggage  that contained all food stuff, but what about those who have tasted those kind of food only in my house but want to try too?


Well here is the magazine that does just that. It educates you on use of those exotic dishes.

Good Food Magazine is the one which guides people in cooking different kind of food from different regions around the world.

The magazine is divided in 5 main sections that help you navigate exactly what you are looking for. This month features Italian Cuisine

Section one –First Bite.

This section brings out the month’s freshest food fuzz.  It spots light on local produce, some tips, and important food insights.  In ‘supermarket sweep’, they use ingredients from the supermarket shelf to create a full meal. In this month’s issue, they have combined rice, chorizo, bottle of sun-dried tomatoes and medium prawn packet to prepare rice dish for the family. In ‘Cupboard love’ they have discussed how to use the bottle of ‘Tapanade’ that you may have picked up from the shelf. The news, food trends and shopping of kitchen accessories are also discussed in this section.

Section two – Eat in

This is the largest section of the magazine covering all the recipes from simple to difficult recipes that can be tried by anybody who wishes to cook. This month’s most interesting recipe that I would like to try is ‘Tuscan bean soup’ which looks quite tempting in the photograph and has ingredients such as French beans, potatoes, pancetta ham and fresh oregano. I find this section interesting because 7 meals have been planned for Rs700, listing the grocery that needs to be bought and the stylish meals to been prepared over the seven days of the week - definitely a must-try treat.

Section three – Eat out

This section is about restaurant reviews. Whenever I get guest in my town, they are always asking me about new restaurant where they can try some new cuisine. This is the section which might help me decide where I might be able to take my guest out. In this month’s issue, there are 7 haunts for perfect Italian cuisine in different parts of India. I am happy that two Mumbai restaurants are reviewed - Vetro at Nariman point and Don Giovanni at Juhu – they seem quite interesting.

Section four – Eat away

This section covers places to eat out during our trip abroad. In this month’s issue, we go to Italy to try the local flavors, eat like locals and shop for must-buy-products that one can bring home. There is a local knowledge on the essence of olives, a postcard from Venice and local knowledge on food etiquettes while in Italy.

Section Five – Masterclass

This is the most interesting section of all. There is a cooking class directly from cooking master who shows the recipes, in step-by-step demonstrations , in such a way that one who knows to read and write, can never go wrong. In this month’s issue, there is a master class by Giovani Federico who demonstrates step-by-step cooking of Ravioli. Beside this, there is also a note on mastering the art of Risotto and the recipe of my favorite homemade pesto. There are also 5 homemade pasta sauces, 10minute wine guide on Italian wine and Indian food.

The magazine is packed with surprises and it is a perfect guide in understanding the different flavors in food kingdom.

Baked Dish- Macaroni and Vegetables

Just bought a packet of macaroni and have been longing to cook for somebody, which friend to invite? Has to be some-one who enjoys my food and is not too critical, not that I am shy of critiques, but I like to cook at my own pace and if somebody is watching and expecting me to create a competitive dish, I am sure to disappoint. Some of my friends (and family too) know that I cannot cook the same dish twice, even if I followed the recipe to the point, word by word  (but hey, what are friends for,) if they can forgive me for a bad dish and enjoy the dish that I have made especially for them, I am most willing to experiment. After all, the main ingredients that we use in every cooking is always  love and interest, so understand that if I love you and I am really interested in impressing you , I am sure to cook a tasty meal for you..go figure….

Pastas of any kind if mixed with vegetables can make a complete meal, and it’s is used all around the world. There were records of pasta in Italy 500 years before Marco Polo returned from China.

Pasta is science and an art. Everybody had their own style of cooking the pasta to suit their palate. You can call it by different name; it’s just to identify it by its shape. Visit Europe and you discover spaghetti, gnocchi, tagliatellea, ravioli, vincisgrassi, strascinati, fancy names with sexy curves of pasta, each with an identity of its own.  Travel to Asia, and you have noodles of all shapes with an amazing history of its own. Americans not only cook bad pasta but they also use wrong sauce with noodle. Many are confused as to which sauce could match with which type of pasta.

Have you sometimes floundered as to when to add salt? How much to boil? Sometimes it’s too soggy, sometimes too raw and sometimes an embarrassment. Such knowledge cannot be achieved by reading encyclopedia of pastas, all we need is to wear our apron and discover it our self. With experience we learn and with every recipe we discover how to improve it the next time.

Ah well, all I care is that I need to eat the pasta that will suit my palate. So this week I dared to make pasta again and it behaved. I know it did because I saw my guests go for second helping…….

Step 1

Collect all the ingredients:

1 cup macaroni

1 tbsp olive oil

2 pods garlic (grated)

3 green chilies (cut slant wise)

200 grams Mushrooms (chopped)

1 medium carrot (thinly diced)

100 grams corn

1 medium Capsicum (diced)

10-12 leaves Spinach

20 grams baby tomatoes

20grams olives

20 grams white cheese

1 tbsp butter

1 cup chopped spring onions

1 tbsp white flour

1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Step 2

1.     Boil the pasta adding salt and oil,

2.     Add in 1 cup of cold water.

3.      Keep it aside

Step 3

1.     In a pan, stir fry garlic and green chilies in olive oil

2.     Add mushroom and mix,

3.     Add carrots, corn, capsicum

4.     Strain the macaronis  and add to the pan, stir it lightly

5.     And add spinach and salt. Mix it well.

6.     Transfer it to a baking dish.

7.     Garnish with baby tomatoes, olives and white cheese.

Step 4

1.     Stir fry spring onions in butter.

2.     Add white flour and roast a little.

3.     Add milk.

4.     Add cheese.

5.     Stir till white sauce is creamy.

6.     Pour it in the baking dish on the top of pasta and vegetables.

Step 5

Bake it for 45 minutes at 180 degrees.

Serve it with garlic bread and a glass of orange juice.