August 31, 2011

Savoury | Truly Tender Meatballs in a Rich Tomato Sauce … #comfortfood

“Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.”
Sophia Loren

It’s been a while since I posted something savoury here on PAB. A link that I followed after posting my #pieformikey led me to the beautiful Food52. There was this huge connect I felt; loved the honest to goodness style of posting. Meandering around with Jennifers voice playing in my head , don’t wait for tomorrow, my eye caught a link to Spaghetti and Meatballs… there was going to be no waiting now!
Delving deeper and deeper I landed up at this tried and tested recipe for Truly Tender Meatballs in Rich Tomato Sauce by lastnightsdinner that promised the best meatballs ever in a rich tomato sauce. I knew I had to make this without wasting another day … the tiresome teen had been begging me to make some for ages. Heed Jennifers advice … do it now!
This has entered my recipe folder as one of the BEST.COMFORT.FOODS.EVER! We are a family that love our food, be it the healthy version of Indian Butter Chicken, Pizza {with Peter Reinharts pizza dough}, Chicken Quark Crossover Pastry, Thai Chicken Satay {not blogged yet but made recently & it was delicious} … … or then this version of spaghetti & meatballs. I’ve made meatballs before but these turned out to be the best to date. I think it was the ricotta in there AND a great recipe!!

Tell me dear readers, do you have a favourite bunch of comfort food main meal recipes you reach out for over and over again? Would love you to share the links with me.

Recipe: Truly Tender Meatballs in a Rich Tomato Sauce

Summary: A recipe adapted from Last Nights Dinner is true to its title…these are truly tender meatballs in a rich tomato sauce. The secret ingredient probably ricotta that makes the meatballs tender and delicious.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes + chilling time
Ingredients for Chicken Meatballs:

500gm chicken mince {from thigh tenders}
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 cup ricotta, drained {homemade recipe here}
1 onion, chopped fine
5-6 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1/2 tsp roasted red chili flakes
Handful of fresh basil
1 egg
Salt & pepper
Oil to shallow fry

Method:

Run all ingredients in processor until the mince is smooth.
Thermomix: Drop 1 slice of bread in and process on Speed 4 for 10 seconds. Add the onion, garlic and basil and chop on Speed 4 for 10 seconds, scrape down, and process for another 10 seconds. Add remaining ingredients and process on Speed 6 for 15 seconds}
Chill in fridge for 30 minutes {I left mine overnight}
Make small meatballs and shallow fry in batches until golden brown on all sides {don’t over crown the pan}
Remove and keep warm.
Once all done, pour the tomato sauce {recipe follows} into the same pan and simmer the meatballs in the sauce for an hour or so.
Check seasoning, add fresh basil and serve over spaghetti. {About 400gms spaghetti}
Note: Thin out the sauce with some pasta water if it is too thick.

Ingredients for Rich Tomato Sauce:

1 kg tomatoes,
1 onion
1 red bell pepper
5-6 cloves garlic
Red chili flakes
Zest of 1 lime
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Handful of fresh basil
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method:

Saute the finely chopped onion, garlic, basil and bell pepper in olive oil for 2-3 minutes.
Add chopped tomatoes and cook covered on simmer till sauce comes together. Blend rough or smooth as you like it. {I left mine medium}
Add zest of 1 lime, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and sugar. Simmer for 5-7 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Thermomix: Place onion, garlic,basil, bell pepper in TM jar and process on Speed 4 for 6 seconds. Scrape down sides and repeat. Add EVOO and cook on 100C, reverse speed 2 for 3 minutes. Add halved tomatoes and run on Speed 4 for 7 seconds. Season with red chili flakes, salt and pepper. Cook on 100C/reverse speed 2 for 20 minutes. Once cooked, puree to desired consistency on Speed 8 increasing to 10/ 10-20 seconds depending on how smooth you want the sauce to be.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

January 9, 2011

Baking | Chicken Quark Crossover Puff Pastry … Savoury Comfort!

“Food is the most primitive form of comfort.”
Sheilah Graham

These savoury pastry puffs seemed just right for the severe cold spell our entire region is reeling under. The papers compare us to the North European freeze where our highs are hovering around 12C and lows around 3C {add to it some treacherous wind chill}… beating winter temperatures at Geneva, Barcelona, Madrid and Paris! Oooh just reading that feels even colder. The difference lies in the fact that we don’t have central heating as standard fitting in houses here like the West, and thus the chill is even worse. Schools across the region have been shut for another 2 weeks as majority of the classrooms, school buses etc aren’t heated either. We’re just not equipped to deal with such low temperatures, and the poor are the worst affected. Extended power cuts, as the grids try and cope with the increased demand for power, add to the arctic freeze! Inconsequential things like my little blog suffers. When electricity finally shows up, important chores like laundry & turning on the oven take precedence over time spent online! These days I struggle to find time to post, blog hop etc…I’ve finally found time to post this week, and this time it’s some savoury comfort food. I just had to share a delicious pastry we really enjoyed ‘hot and puffy‘ the other day. With puff pastry calling me from the freezer, I wanted to make mince pies with my homemade mincemeat reserved from the Garam Masala Christmas Fruit Cake. I even had stars stamped out and frozen for the tops from some earlier left over puff pastry I used in these Rustic Apple Galettes. BUT, the need that day was different. We craved something comforting, warming and cheesy, and my plans changed to savoury.It was a day of cleaning the fridge out … some leftover chicken from yet another batch of Chicken, Bell Pepper Mushroom Jullienes and also a little left over quark cheese. Coupled with inspiration from a White on Rice sweet post on Homemade Strawberry Crossover Puff Pastries, I made these. A heart warming combination of chicken, sautéed mushrooms and roasted bell peppers, some creamy homemade quark mixed in with mozarella, embracing each other in a creamy delicious way… need I say more?Yes, these were indeed delicious! For a tutorial on how to make puff pastry and how to do crossover puff pastries, you must stop by at the beautiful White on Rice blog. I got terribly distracted while making the cuts on the pastry and did it any old way, but they have a nice systematic approach in pictures for you to see.I continue to use the Ottolenghi recipe for rough puff pastry, and it is wonderful. Haven’t needed to look for another as I love the results of this recipe. Have to add a disclaimer to say that it is very dangerous to have ready made puff pastry in the freezer … you can even hear it beckoning to you in your sleep! That is one baking temptation I need to break! It’s a bit of a long task making the pastry, but once ready, it’s a real cakewalk, and a pleasure to have on hand!

Chicken Quark Crossover Puff Pastry
250gms rough puff pastry
50gm quark {homemade recipe here}
50gm mozzarella, grated
2 chicken breasts, cooked & chopped
100gms mushrooms, finely sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1 stalks of garlic greens, chopped fine
1 small onion, chopped fine
1/4 tsp red chili flakes
Salt & pepper to taste
Method:
Filling

Sauté the onions, garlic greens and red chili flakes in 1 tbsp oil till fragrant, 1 minute.
Add the mushrooms and stir fry until they give up their water. Add chopped chicken and stir fry for 5-7 minutes on high. Season with salt and pepper.
Take off heat and add the quark and grated mozzarella and mix until the cheeses have melted. Cool completely
Assemble
Preheat the oven to 225C. Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
Roll out pastry as thin as possible into a large rectangle, trim the edges, and cut into 6 equal portions.
With a pizza cutter, cut strips into 1/3rd of each side, leaving 1/3rd space in the centre for the filling.
Place 1/6th of the filling in the centre, and fold over the sides, pulling one strip from each side alternatively to meet in the centre. Secure with beaten egg yolk. Continue till all the strips are used up and the filling is covered. Brush lightly with the beaten egg yolk. Repeat for the remaining 5.
Bake till the tops are golden brown and the pastry is puffy, about 20-25 minutes.
Serve warm.

♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥

I’m sending these for the COMFORT FOOD EVENT hosted by Tamanna @ The Dazzling Kitchen
and also to Val @ More Than Burnt Toast for her event ‘Best Thing I Ever Ate‘

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

December 8, 2010

Baking | Chicken, Mushroom & Roasted Pepper Julienne … where French cuisine deliciously meets Russian Cuisine in India!

“Cookery is not chemistry. It is an art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements.”

Marcel Boulestin

Yes, I was back at a delicious food blog, The Mansurov’s, a favourite, but lack of time the past 2 months has kept me away from most of my faves. I have no idea what happened to time, but can’t believe that it’s December already! Hello? Still so much to do before the year goes by, bookmarked posts to try, breads to bake, cookies to make, fruit to soak for the cake, drafts to finalise … time to hit the panic button! If 11 months flew by so fast, then the rest of 2010 will be gone in a heartbeat!I’ve always wanted to bake a chicken pie at home, ever since we had some at Harry’s in Sydney way back in November 2008. Harry’s pies were served with peas and mash, and probably had gravy too. It’s been on my list to make forever, but I’ve never found a recipe that appealed to me a 100%. I had a vision in my mind … it would have a yummy ‘chicken with veggies’ interior, held together by a luxurious creamy sauce, with this puff pastry top etc. I repeatedly ‘chickened’ out each time, and my home made puff pastry found other use.This time as well was the same, well almost. Push came to shove, and we had folk for dinner. I sorted out almost sorted out the menu, but couldn’t get the right main course. Browsing the net, I saw this at Lola’s and I just knew it had to be the one. Her opening lines were as delicious as the dish itself. Just the fact that this is where French cuisine met Russian had me virtually eating the julienne right off her blog. Seriously, something strangely beautiful happens to the flavours of the sauce when you roast the flour before you add the butter. I think Lola mentioned clarified butter somewhere in her conversation. Will try that the next time… mmm!It’s become a favourite in our house already. I’ve made it twice in the last 2 weeks. Am contemplating making a vegetarian version of the julienne, maybe using broccoli, mushrooms, roasted bell peppers and cauliflower. The sauce is creamy and comforting. Once it bakes with the chicken and mushrooms, and stands for a short while, it takes all the ingredients into a ‘warm embrace‘ of sorts. YES, it’s quite the dreamy chicken pie I’ve been waiting for!Changes? Yes, but just a few and more for want of substitution. No full fat cream available here, so I went with low fat cream. Added milk to thin the sauce out as mine was very thick the first time around. I added a grating of Gruyère, chopped garlic greens and roasted bell peppers too. The second time around, I sautéed chicken and mushroom in a huge wok and mixed the warm white sauce through. I then ladled them out into the ramekins. I found it easier to work this way as I was making the dish for a crowd. It’s a great make ahead main course dish, and nice for the hoilday season. You can set up the individual ramekins, or one large serving. Top with mozzarella at this time, {or even later}, cover it with foil and refrigerate it. Before serving, heat in the oven covered for about 15 minutes, and then grill for about 10 minutes on high until the cheese is bubbly and golden on the edges. Don’t skip the mozzarella and the pinch of cayenne … it does contribute beautifully to finishing the dish well!

Chicken, Mushroom & Roasted Pepper Julienne
Adapted from Mansoravs
Makes 12-14 small ramekins
Prep: 45 mins | Bake: 20 mins | Oven: 180C
Ingredients:
6 small breasts of chicken, cooked, chopped
200gms button mushrooms, sliced fine
3 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1 large onion, chopped fine
4-5 stalks garlic greens, chopped fine
3 roasted bell peppers, red & yellow, chopped
3 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt to taste
1 tsp pepper
2 tbsp flour
50gm butter
200ml low fat cream {I use Amul 25% fat cream}
50gm Gruyère, grated {or cheddar}
1 1/4- 1 1/2 cup milk {as required}
200gms shredded mozzarella {I use Himalayan Buffalo Mozzarella}
Paprika

Method:
Heat 3 tbsp oil in a large wok. Sauté the chopped onions, garlic and garlic greens until fragrant, and the onions begin to colour a bit. Add the chopped chicken and mushrooms, and stir fry on high heat till the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt & pepper, and red chili flakes if you like. Take off heat, stir in the roasted peppers, cover and keep warm.
Now make the white sauce.
In a dry heavy saucepan, gently roast the flour on very low heat till light brown and fragrant. Add the butter and stir through well. Almost immediately begin to pour the cream in, whisking with a balloon whisk constantly to avoid lumps getting formed. Follow the cream with about 3/4 cup of milk, keep stirring and adding more milk as required. The sauce should be thick, and will continue to thicken as it cools. Grate in some Gruyère or cheddar, a grating of nutmeg if you like, season with salt and once the cheese has melted through, mix it into the warm reserved chicken, mushroom, bell pepper.
Divide this equally into 12-13 ramekins, or turn into one big baking dish, top with mozzarella, a pinch of cayenne and bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to turn a little golden. Stand for about 10 minutes, and serve hot.
Serving suggestions: Char-grilled broccoli salad, potato-mushroom croquettes, and a rustic garlic bread.

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