Pizza with Basil Pesto, Black Olives n Pine Nut

Elisa, the name of the Pizza in Spizza's pizzeria chain in Singapore, from where i had tasted a pizza with these ingredients. This was sometime in 2004 when i used to live in Singapore, Gagan, a friend of mine, who also introduced me to many restaurants in Singapore, had brought this pizza at our house from the Club street outlet. At the first look green and dark. totally not appetizing to even taste it. (The picture on left is when i had made this pizza for the first time when my friends were coming over for lunch) I was only introduced to Indian style of pizza at that time. Then my flat mate Shilpi and her mom( who was visisting us then) really appreciated the taste, so i thought to taste it. so very reluctantly i i took the first bite, then second and then third then so forth.. i wa

s confused coz i had tasted the basil pesto also for the first time then only. the virgin oil had added to the taste. The other ingredient which was adding to the taste were pine nuts (chilgoza). I never had pine nut until then other than in winters or when they us

ed to come as part of Diwali's dry fruit trays. And then what! this became my most fav. pizza ever.

I then started visiting Spizza at Club street quite often, just for this and also their tiramisu. The head chef there was pretty cool. She hardly spoke English but allowed me to the procedure, how she used to make pizza. generally it was open counter there but standing there and staring was litle odd, without taking permission.

And when i shifted to Harbour front office. voila, they had a branch of Spizza in Harbour front tower. Whenever we had team lunches, or lunches with friends or when with people visiting me from India. I introduced

me this pizza to everyone and everyone just loved it! such a simple ingredients and awesome taste.. leaving a slice behind was like a sin! Also, with additional $1, we get extra olives.. yum!!!

When i went to Singapore this time, to have Elisa Pizza was on my top of the to do list. I went to Club street, with few friends who hadn't this pizza, i was

making them feel as if they had committed sin! and straight awa

y ordered the pizza. But, it had come with added Tomato sauce also. I was shocked and told them, i didn't order this and ordered something which is without Tomato sauce and told them i came there for 5 years and had same ingredients. But then the waiter told me that ever since he had been working there, they pizza had looked like this only. I asked him, Since when he was working there, he replied 3 years. I said ... aaah! what they change the ingredients, since i left. But as he was i was so surprised and really wanted the Old Elisa, he called the chef. The chef got little irritated i think. he said that was from other chef she has gone back to Italy now and i have done some changes in the menu. if u want i can bake that for u, but please check

menu first then order. I was like... aw man... i apologised to him and thanked a million times to get

me the pizza i wanted.

Well when the pizza arrived. it wasn't the same but still the same. i mean the amount of basil pesto was far less, but i thought i wouldn't complain and just eat.

And was telling my friends how it used to be before, And my friends were like .... Ashima!eat this without any further complaints, but they really liked it and could guess how the original would taste like!

(these pics are from my last visit to SPizza, Club Street, with friends, in my last trip to singapore in April 2011)

When i moved back to delhi in 2008, i didn't find something like that in any pizzeria, so thought to try on my own. But on my last visit to Sartoria Restaurant at Basant Lok Market, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi, in December last year i could find a pizza with same ingredients.

Ingredients:

Pizza Dough (please find the recipe in earlier blogs)

1/2 cup Basil Pesto (recipe in previous Blog)

1 tbsp roasted roasted Pine nuts

1/2 cup Black Olives (chopped as rings)

1 tbsp extra vergin olive oil

100 gms mozzarella cheese ( u may choose other pizza cheese also if this is not available)

Parmigiana cheese (optional)

Method:

Preheat the oven at 230 degrees. if you have a terracotta stone slab or pizza stone slab or otherwise the oven try would also do, put it in the oven for preheat.

Mean while, Spread a little flour on kitchen slab or top, place the a dough bowl and press it with your finger first into disc type shape or roll it on slab with help of a rolling pin to create 9-10 inches circle.

In restaurants they have a tool with hold the pizza and put it in the oven, but at home we don't so, Before adding the other ingredients, Place the dough on preheated oven tray or any base.

First,Spread the Basil Pesto on the dough disc, then pine nut, black olives followed the cheese and few more olives (if you want) and lastly drizzle the extra virgin Olive Oil.

Place it in the oven for around 10-20 minutes. The heat and browning ability of the oven varies.So monitor it while baking, so that it is cooked evenly on the top and the bottom.

Remove from the oven, Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese if you want.

Variation: you may use sun dried tomatoes as an additional topping. Or use little tomato sauce as additional base sauce.

Basil Pesto

If you buy bottled Pesto in Delhi, it is expensive. Its yum tough! but then I had to drive atleast 15 KM to buy it. Since i use it in so many recipes. so thought to try to make it home. Following is the recipe i followed and still follow. It costs me 1/5 the price that of the bottled branded imported Pesto!

Ingredients

2 Cups Fresh Basil Leaves

2 tpsp Cup

2 Garlic Cloves

2 tbsp Parmesan cheese (grated)

1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method:

In a pan dry toast the pine nut, lightly and let it cool.

Mix all the ingredients in a mixer except the oil. While pulsing, add the oil slowly until you have smother paste.

So here is the Basil Pesto! Simple n Yummy!

If you want to store it then add additional layer of olive oil, else it would turn dark and discolour.

Baked Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

This is one of my never fail dish (touch wood). So i can swear on this. If i am risking with making new dishes, i generally make this also. As i know this will definitely work. (if in india, just electricity shouldn’t ditch me) :P. Well this gives me an idea i should try making this on gas sometimes ... i don’t know if it would work ... will try n write here, if i succeed or not.

Well, i had similar dish @ Chokola @ Khan Market in India. They serve 5-6 pieces of mini mushroom with ricotta on tarlets(baked together). Which , when i had it for the first time tasted very good. Second time i took my Husband there (my Fiancé then), we ordered same but found the tarlets were over baked so were spoiling the overall taste. Thought, i would try to make these at home.

When i went to Singapore, this April, my friend Noopur had invited me over dinner. There were green thai curry n rice, then freshly baked mushroom came out of oven. Wow, what a aroma, the texture... cooked to perfection they were!! I totally loved it. Thai green curry is my favourite, but this stole the show. Then i made my mind, i am now definitely and definitely gonna try these. And these were without tartlets and tasted far far better than what i had at Chokola. Noopur, after marriage, has definitely become better cook. I guess, its all love for her foodie husband. J

Anyways, i came back to India, and before moving to Rotterdam i had 2 weeks, i was at my maiden house as all my stuff here and loads of packing, so i decided to make this on a kinda very crucial day. The day my father in law n youngest Sis in law were invited at my mom house over dinner. As i mentioned above, this dish hasn’t failed until now, became the most appreciated dish among all i had made.

So, here it is how i made.

Ingredients:

9-10 Button mushrooms (or the many fit in your baking dish, depending on their size)

2-3 Spring onions, (finely minced)

3 tsp fresh Rosemary (if fresh, not available, you may use dried )

3 Garlic cloves (Minced)

2-3 tbsp Oilve oil

Salt to taste

½ tsp Chili Flacks(optional)

1 Cup grated Cheese (Ricota/Paneer/if both are not available you may use Pizza cheese)

Method:

Preheat Oven at 180 Degree C.

Take out the stems of the mushrooms gently, and finely chop them.

In a pan, heat the oil, add mushroom and onions, cook until, little soft. Add 2 finely minced cloves of Garlic, chilli flakes and salt and let it cool. Add 2 tsp rosemary and half the cheese.

Oil the baking dish, brush the mushroom caps also with lightly with oil and spoon the filling in. Top it with grated cheese.

Sprinkle little rosemary and a finely minced clove of garlic on the dish.(optional)

Bake them for 15-20 minutes or until they are tender when pierced and top are lightly brown.

Serve Hot!

Easy and Quick Salad

As mentioned in the blog below i had few friends over dinner on Sunday night and i made couple of Italian, so this Salad was one of them, i think i should blog all the recipe from that day every day one.

So when i went to Albert Hijn (SuperMarket Chain in Holland) I found this tri coloured lettuce .. Wow.. i wanted to make salad out of it.

This is mix of three types: Oak Leaf, Lollo Bionda and Lollo Rossa.. They both are Soft and less crispy. That’s the reason, the salad should be made at the time of serving else it would become ultra soggy. There are other varieties also, but i love the colour(s). So back to recipe.

Ingredients

1 bunch of tri-color lettuce

Few cherry tomatoes (cut into halves)

Pine Nuts.

1 tbsp Ranch Salad dressing

1tsp of olive oil

1tsp of vinaigrette

Pinch of salt n pepper

Lemon zest

Method:

In a plan dry roast the Pine nuts until the are slightly brown and u get the aroma. Remove from heat and let it cool in a separate dish ( u can do this in advance and store them in air tight container).

In a salad bowl, Put ranch salad dressing, olive oil, vinaigrette, lemon zest, salt n pepper and mix them well .

Add all other ingredients, and Toss them with help of Spatula or even hand!!

(I don't have salad pic :(, just lettuce pic for now )

Picture source: http://www.boerdenhoedt.com/products/tricolour-lettuce.html

Tomato Bruschetta

Wow, this is the most simplest yet tastiest appetizer!! and kinda never fails how so ever you make...

Well, the first time, i had it at a Restaurant called 'Pasta Fresca' at Boat Quay in Singapore.. Heavenly it was .. wanted to have just that in my dinner ... since i was with my friends .. i had to order other food. But, the first thing I did after I got back home, was to Google its recipe.

So, once I was in Delhi(home) on my vacations and my mom's cousin dropped by to invite to her daughter's wedding. Didn't have much at home, which was substantial enough for evening snacks, but, had all the ingredients that i could make Bruschetta except the Basil leaves (i used its sister Tulsi, instead, seriously). I dunno if that was good idea. I love Basil's smell, texture n taste.

Now, how I had made it that day, hmm infused the Garlic in Extra Virgin Olive oil. De-seaded the tomatos, put them into a bowl, added salt, a finely chopped garlic, tulsi leaves, dried oregano, olive oil.

Cut the bread (french loaf, 6 slices), toasted them Tava (Indian pan to roast breads) until golden brown and crisp on each side and brushed the garlic infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Then topped the bread slices with tomato mixture and served immediately.

Well, It turned out pretty nice, but still i felt something was missing. Actually the ones which were not eaten immediately were getting a little soggy.

After that I have made them n number of times, searched on net for different ways to make it.

The last time, i had made the Bruschetta, was yesterday evening, for few friends, who were coming from The Hague, over from dinner. From the previous conversations with them, I figured out, that they like Italian food, so thought to make few of them. Well, they really liked the bruschetta.

So here it is, how i made them. (10 serving)


I used Baguette French bread loaf (or you may use any similar bread). Cut them into number of slices as required.

Ingredients :

6 Red Tomatoes

3 Cloves of Garlic.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 2-3 table spoon

5-6 Basil Leaves

Salt to Taste

Chilli Flakes (Optional)

1 1/2 tbsp of Butter (i used Butter and garlic mixture to spread on bread slices, you make choose Extra Virgin Olive Oil, instead).

Method:

1. 1.Mince 2-3 cloves of garlic. ( i used garlic press to do that) and the same in butter(or olive oil as stated above) and mix well and set aside.
2. De-seed the tomatoes, Chop them and then slightly dab the kitchen paper to take away the moisture from the tomatoes,
3. Put them into a bowl, add 2-3 table spoon of EV Olive oil, chopped basil leaves, a finely chopped garlic and chili flakes. ( Don't add salt at this point, it it helps tomatoes to release water).
4. Leave the mixture aside for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven @ 220 degrees C for 10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, apply the the butter mixture on the bread slices. Roast them for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven (you may also roast them on Flat pan or bread toaster or grill and apply the butter n garlic mixture after roasting).
7. Add salt to the tomatoes mix and top them on bread slices. Serve, Eat n Njoy!

Variations or Additions:

Chopped Olives (black or Green) or chopped Onions or add mozzarella cheese :)

Fresh Lemon grass drink

Oh! Its been more than 2 years ... that i had posted any recipe.

Well, while I was travelling to Singapore in April this year, and since i love Thai Food, so went to this restaurant, where I used to go quite often, when i used to live there, it’s called Lerk Thai (in Bugis). It has many branches in couple of food courts in Singapore; but there, they don’t really offer veg. dishes, so i have to go to Bugis. So here, we ordered our standard dishes (Deep Fried Tofu with sweet n chilli sauce, Raw papaya/mango Salad, Green curry (in Red Curry they use shrimp paste) and steamed/ pineapple rice and water chestnut with coconut cream in dessert. I also ordered this Fresh Lemon Grass drink. which was so refreshing..... the most refreshing drink i had ever had.

So, when i came back to Delhi, thought to make some Green Curry for my Parents n my dear Sis in law. I headed to INA

market, where I get all the international food stuff. I got all stuff that i wanted, Galanjal (thai ginger), Lemon Grass, Lime leaves, curry paste (there are two kinds of pastes available, one with shrimp paste and other one is pure veg.(which comes in a bottle), you can get that in any supermarket as well.) and Green baby Brinjals as well. Wow!

So i headed back n prepared the green curry. Then realised, i was left with an Inch of Galangal; few lime leaves, and a stick of lemon grass. Thought to try to make that drink out of it. When i was cutting these for my curry ... these ingredients had reminded me of that freshness.. and the aroma is so refreshing.. i am unable to describe that in words.

Here is how i made that drink.(Makes for 4)

1. Stick of lemon grass (cut them into pieces)
2. Few Lime leaves
3. An Inch of Galangal
4. Few Basil leaves (optional)5. 3 tbsp (or to taste) of Sugar/ honey
6. 1 lt. Water7.Mint/Basil leaves for garnishing.

Method:

Boil the water and add sugar.Meanwhile muddle all the other ingredients.

Cool the mixture, till it reaches the room temp and refrigerate it.

While serving strain it and add just one or max 2 ice cube in the glass (i avoid ice as it further diluted

with water on the melting of the ice, i recommend to prepare the drink in advance, chill it in the refrigerator)

You may garnish the drink wit

h Mint/basil leaves and Serve!!

Quick version

of the recipe: I Boil water in the kettle and in a jug i put all the other ingredients.

Pour the boiling water into the jug and let it cool, then refrigerate.

(these Pics were taken when i made this drink out of quick version of the recipe)

But definitely, the original recipe tastes better as all the aroma n flavour is infused in the water well as its boiling.

Salud!

Mango Salsa

Ingredients:
1 Mango (pealed n chopped)
2 Scallions or 1 medium sized red onion (Finely chopped)
Fresh Cilantro aka coriander ( corasly chopped)
Juice of 1 lemon

1 clove of garlic (minced)
1/2 Jalapano (2-3 slices if you are using pickled ones)

red chilli powder (optional)

Asafoetida (optional)
Salt n pepper to taste.

Method:

Mix all the ingredients mentioned above. Chill in the fridge for atleast an hour.

serve it with Tortilla Chips or Top it on Papri (an Indian small, round, flat crisp fried dough wafers made from refined white flour and oil)

Tiramisu!!!

Aah.. Tiramisu.......... My Most Favorite dessert..!!

It is easy ....the difficult part is waiting ....when it is getting set in refrigerator....

What all u need??

1cup of espresso coffee...if u don;t have its all right.. Just mix coffee in hot water n let it cool.

45 ml of Rum/brandy (optional)

Lady Fingers .... Don’t u worry if u don't get it ... u can use sponge cake instead! :)

4 Eggs
2 table spoons Sugar
250 Gms of Mascarpone cheese!!!

2-3 drops Vanilla essence
1 table spoon of cocoa powdered ... (without sugar one!)

Method:
1. Put coffee in a flat deep dish add rum/brandy.

2. Seperate the Egg yolks and Egg whites in different bowls.

3. Whip egg yolks and sugar .. till it turns creamy n off white....

4. Add the mascarpone cheese ...in above mixture and blend it together.

5.Add a pinch of sugar in Egg whites and beat them upto the consistency that if you reverse the bowl, the beaten egg whites shouldn't drop.

6. Now gently fold the egg whites into the above mascarpone and egg yolk mixture (don't beat) till both are combined well.

7. Dip lady fingers in Coffee and place it in Dish.

8. Spread half the eggs and mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers.

9. Repeat the lay of lady finger followed by the rest of the half mixture.

10. Sprinkle cocoa powder using tea strainer....

11. Cover the dish with foil or plastic wrap n refrigerate for at least 4-5 hours.

12. Digg In!!!!

Pizza Dough!!

This saturday was Pizza Day!!! N i wAS craving to eat something not indian ...Suddenly decided to prepare Pizza that too right from scratch!! It was my first attempt!! And i had already made plans with deepa to go to market. What i did prepared dough and kept it aside to arise.
(Makes 2)

Ingredients
2 cups of Maida (All purpose flour)
1/2 tsp dry yeast ( you can easily get @ nearby groccery store)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup extra virgin Olive Oil (optional)
3/4 cup(approx.) warm water

Method

In a wide dish, Put Maida, Push the flour side ways and make a kind of well in the center.

Add oil, yeast,sugar, salt and warm water in the well and mix all the ingredients well.

then kneed the dough well adding few drops of additional water until smooth.

Grease a bowl/ deep dish with oil and put the dough in that. cover it with kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place to arise for about an hour.

After an hour Push down the risen flour to take out gases and make 2 ball out of the dough. set the aside to rise again for another 30 minutes.

If you wish to, make the pizza, later. You may refrigerate it overnight in a well oiled pan, brushed with oil, and covered with plastic wrap. Take out from the fridge in advance till it comes back to room temperature. roll then again into a ball.

Spread a little flour on kitchen slab or top, place the a dough bowl and press it with your finger first into disc type shape or roll it on slab with help of a rolling pin to create 9-10 inches circle.

Kulcha Sandwich

I was going to my Art class n the school is on 6th floor. I was just generally thinking about preparing something of the baked beans that i had bought the night before. Thinking about i entered into the lift .. and thought of making sandwich using Kulchas than using bread. And by the time i reached on 6th flour. i was ready with following recipe of kulcha and beans sandwich.
(Makes 8)

Ingredients
1 Can of Tomato based baked beans
1 medium Onion (Sliceit finely)
1 tbsp garlic paste
1 medium Capsicum (optional)
Salt, red Chili powder, to taste,

100 Gms Paneer.
Slice them with thickness of 2/3 centimeter.
Paneer needs to be marrinated.
For that you require:
2 table spoon of extra Vigin Olive Oil.
Pinch of Salt, Black pepper
(mix these ingridients and marinate paneer for 15 mins)

Sundried Tomato slices.
1 Spring Onion (chopped) (optional)
4 kulchas (standard size)

Method:
In a pan, add little oil in a pan, add Onion, Garlic paste, Capsicum saute them till they become tender. add beans and keep stiring. Add salt n chili to taste.( since baked beans are already salted, so add salt accordingly).

In the another pan, grill the Paneer until golden brown on each side.

To assemble the the sandwich.

Place a Kulcha, Spread the baked beans paste on it, top it with paneer, sundried tomatoes and sping onion. Cover this with another Kulcha.

On the Non stick grill pan or tava, (brushed with little oil), grill the sancwich, until crips and golden brown, Remove cut with help of sharp knife ( i use Pizza cutter) divide it into 4.

Serve it with mint chutney or tomato ketchup.

Water melon VodKa

Deseed the 1 small(1 kg) Water Melon. Pour 170 ML VodKa ... and Churn!

Refrigerate for atleast an hour!

Makes a Pitcher!!

Fresh Tomato Salsa

4 Tomatoes
1 small capsicum
5-6 pieces Jalapenos (since fresh isn’t available in India so I used chopped packed ones)
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
1/3 cup chopped fresh coriander.
Salt to taste
Red chili powder per the hotness you want.

Deseed the tomatoes. Don't throw away the seeded and liquid portion of tomatoes that come out while deseeding tomatoes. Prepare a pure of it. Stain the pure to separate pulp. (We only need pure no pulp).

Finely chop Capsicum, jalapenos, garlic and onion. And give a slight churn in blender. Add tomatoes, Salt, Chili, coriander, and Puree and again slightly churn all a blender.

If u sees it’s too watery then stains the water.

Refrigerate it for at least 2 hours.

And it’s ready to serve!

RaThi ke dhabe waali chutney!!!

let me introduce to Mr. Rathi. He had a small little dhaba in the parking lot of my office in gurgaon. The speciality were the parathas with different fillings. Though my fav. paratha filling is Gobhi (cauliflower) but i always loved the Aloo Parathas there. which he used to serve with a chutney ( which i had never tasted before) and curd. Curd coz compliment the chutney as it was quite Hot due to green chillis as one of the main ingredient in that!

Once i had gone to have my dinner there as i was suppose to work till late. And the dhaba had only one burner! which was causing hell lot of delay in preparing the parathas....and i could see big fully filled kadai on burner ... then i got to know .. m not getting any parathas for dinner now .. well, i just ordered tea which he had just prepared before placing the kadai on burner... while haaving tea he told me how to pepare that chutney @ home!!!

so it is here with some little variation ....

Onions - as much u can
green Chillies- much u want (chop them but not very finely, 3/4 cm piece)
e.g . if u r taking 4 onions then take 6-7 small green chillies, this is what i take, if u want less hot chutney then reduce the no. of chillies)
Galic - 6-7 flakes (chop them finely)
salt to taste
dried corriander - 3/4 table spoon,
dried mango powder - 1 tsp
turmeric - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 table spoon.

Heat a pan put oil, Saute the garlic first, put turmeric, dry corriender powder and dry mango powder. Then add the chopped onions and chillies and mix them well .... add salt to taste and mix it again ... and cook the chutney on medium heat till the oil seperates.

The chutney is ready! don't forget to serve curd also with it! atleast u'll never forget to do that if u would forget once! :)

Enjoy!

Gazpacho!

Hey Its Summer!!!!!

Its Summer in India right now and i just need some cool soothing yet nutritious. And what comes on my mind is just GAZPACHO!!! (A Spanish Cold Soup). Aah I love tomatoes .. tomato juices .. virgin merry, bloody merry.... well my no curry goes without tomatoes but only white curries miss tomatoes... in my cooking :( .. Why don't we have White Tomatoes???? WISH !!!

Anyways! how i learnt Gazpacho! well interesting story behind it! i was off alcohol when we went to a restaurant @ Clark quay in Singapore. While everyone else who went with me sipping Sangria (My Most Fav. cocktail) and i was waiting for my cold soup to come! i had no clue at that time what gazpacho is my fellow friend just said order it! its nice cold tomato juice! i was thinking, what the hell? they would just serve me a tomato juice out of a can! but when it came ... i was impressed! it was Fresh!! and the Garnishing was looking so yummy! it was Chilled!!! And the word came out of my mouth when i had my first sip was any guess?? "WOW" (m decent:P)and i ordered for second one!

Well, it was expensive! so i thought y not to search the recipe n make it on my own. googled for it! in some sites the the recipe was complicated ( I'm not criticizing what i meant that either ingredients were not available with me at that time or i had not even heard of any particular ingredient!) so, i took the basic idea and thought to improvise it on my own way! so here it is!

Tomatoes in large numbers.(12 makes for 3 glasses but again depends on the size of tomatoes. judge it yourself)

Onion - 1 small (1/2 if u have big onion)

cucumber - 1/3 of whole.

capsicum - 1 if small (half if big)

red bell pepper - 1 if small (half if big)

vinegar 3 tsp

salt to taste

sugar - 1tsp

For Garnishing finely chop the cucumber, red and green bell-peppers, spring onion, croutons (optional)

Blend the above ingredients in a blender and stain it with fine soup stainer. and put in refrigerate it 2 hours.

Garnish it small amount of finely chopped the cucumber,onion & capsicum and a small stick of celery .

ENJOY it in this Summer!!!! well all the summers! :) its a bliss!