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roastedbellpepperpasta_featured5

Sometimes you have a special attraction towards a particular type of ingredient. You may be fascinated by its taste or simply its appearance. I have such a fetish towards bell peppers, the red ones, the yellow ones and oh the orange ones. When I find them displayed in the supermarket I wanna hoard them. I love the way they make every dish look and taste special. The most interesting thing is that when you roast them they become sweeter and have such an amazing smokey taste. 

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Last time when I found these I made charred Bell Pepper and Black eyed Peas Salad. Oh that was a hit in my house. The charred flavours of bell peppers lingers on in your mouth and want you to have them more and more. If you wanna know how to roast bell peppers in oven you can click here. For the sheer love of roasted bell peppers I tried pasta with charred bell pepper and pine nuts sauce. It came out so well and delicious that my husband wants this every now and then. Its a perfect under 30 minute dinner idea. Try it to believe it.

 Directions:

1. Boil pasta of your choice till al dente. Learn how to boil pasta perfectly. Strain and keep aside. In the meanwhile take some fresh pine nut and remove them from its shell. 

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2. Toss the pine nuts in a pan on medium high heat for a couple of minutes just to get a bit of colour on them. Do not burn them! Remove them on a plate and set aside.


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3. Chop Onion and Garlic finely and set aside. Also roast bell peppers and remove its skin, seeds and membranes. Learn how to roast your bell pepper in your oven.

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4. In a grinder add your roasted bell peppers and toasted pine nuts and make a smooth puree.


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5. In a pan add some olive oil and add Red Chilli Flakes. We are infusing the oil with the taste of chili. But if you dont like chili you can always ignore this step.


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6. Add chopped Onions and garlic and saute them till they have acquired a light golden colour.

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7. Add the puree and combine together with onions and garlic. Let it simmer on low medium heat for 5-7 minutes till it starts to bubble up.


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8. Season with salt and to make it more velvety add cream to it.


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9. Add the boiled pasta and toss it with the sauce.

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10. Add Parsley, I used dried because that is what I had on hand. You can use fresh and it will make it more delicious! Also add Parmesan Cheese and combine everything together.


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7. Serve hot and enjoy the incredible taste of Roasted Pell Pepper and Pine nut Sauce Pasta. All I need is a glass of wine to make my day 🙂

Other pasta recipes  Avocado Parsley PastaHealthy Broccoli PastaPasta Alla VodkaSautéed Red Bell Pepper and Olive Pasta SaladSpaghetti Vegetable PastaSundried Tomato Pasta SaladWild Fiddlehead Fern & Angel Hair Pasta

roastedbellpepperpasta_featured1[whohit]RoastedBellPepperPinenutPasta[/whohit]

[yumprint-recipe id=’245′]

MicrowaveMugLasagna_Featured2

I am an extremely lazy person and when that laziness assimilates in me I look for all possible ways to cut short my work, be it cooking, exercise or anything else. Such times see emergence of use of microwave in my kitchen. I hate microwaves and use it only for reheating. I detest baking in it but this lasagna recipe made me change my opinion about microwaves. This single serving lasagna in a mug is like your best buddy and can be made by anyone. Bachelors will love some quick fix dishes and so will people who are lazy like me.

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This no cook pasta sauce has been a boon in disguise. I love it for my pizzas and for everything which requires red sauce. Gets ready in a jiffy without any hassle. The ricotta cheese can also be made in no time. Its just paneer with a little salt which is not set and has a crumbly texture. All you need is to curdle milk, drain the whey and its ready to use. Check out a detailed step wise step recipe to make Ricotta Cheese at home.

Directions:
1.  In a glass microwave friendly bowl add water and Lasagna sheet and microwave for 3 minutes. Cut it into small squares and set aside.


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2. Chop Mushrooms and Shred Mozzarella Cheese, set aside.


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3. In a bowl add Chopped mushroom, Ricotta Cheese, ground black pepper, granulated garlic,red chili flakes, chopped basil leaves and salt. Set mixture aside.


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4. Prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients under No Cook Red Pasta Sauce. Set aside for assembly.

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5. Pour 2 tablespoons of pasta sauce at the bottom of the mug. Top with a piece of softened pasta sheet. Add some mushroom mixture, 2 tablespoons of mozzarella, and a pasta sheet. Continue building the lasagna, ending with a layer of pasta sheet at the top. Sprinkle mozzarella over the pasta.


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6. Microwave everything for 1 minute 30 seconds or until Mozzarella Cheese melts. Serve hot.

Other Lasagna recipes you can try: Vegetarian Mushroom Lasagna in Creamy White SauceCheesy Chicken Lasagna .

Other Pasta dishes you can try: Healthy Broccoli PastaPasta Alla VodkaSautéed Red Bell Pepper and Olive Pasta Salad , Sundried Tomato Pasta SaladWild Fiddlehead Fern & Angel Hair Pasta  Avocado Parsley Pasta.

MicrowaveMugLasagna_Featured1[whohit]LasagnaMug[whohit]

[yumprint-recipe id=’238′] 

I am always curious to try new food, especially which are localised. When monsoons engulfed the hills we were blessed with some interesting looking vegetables. They caught my attention and I decided to bring them home. They looked curvy coiling and simply gorgeous! I enquired the locals about its name and to share its recipe. It is known by many names Lingda, Lingadh, Lingude, Lingru, Loongru, LungduLiyon, Languda, Kutelda, Kasrod, Nuri, Neuri, Nigro, Niyuro, Dhekia Xaak.

FiddleHead_1

Interestingly it is found in spring season on hilly terrain near marshy areas. In the Indian subcontinent, it is found in the Himalayan North and North Eastern states of India. Also these are found in Canada, Alaska, France and East Asian Countries.

I asked my readers to suggest recipes from their regions and I am elated I have a few I would like to try. In the meanwhile I experimented and decided to cook it with Angel hair pasta. To my surprise it was beautifully delicious. The ferns which are thin and tender are best suitable for cooking and you can cook them directly without steaming or boiling. But if you end up finding ferns which are thicker simply boil them and the thicker outer skin will come out easily. This will help you save time on peeling.

Directions:

1.  Wash the entire fern under running water and specially the centre are which can have a lot of insects, after all its a wild plant. Once you wash them out. Run a kitchen towel it will clean out all the brown membranes , hair like structure and cut the ends.


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2. In a pot boil some water and add the ferns to blanch for good 8-10 minutes, in case they are thick and if you see they are tender about 2-3 minutes will do the trick. Do add salt and drain them once done.


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3. After draining them you will be able to peel out the top thick skin easily even with your hands, or else use a knife. Discard the skin and reserve the tender portion. Cut the tender portion into bite size pieces. I liked the coil shape of the fern so dint cut the circle. 


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4. In another pot add some water and boil some angel hair pasta or rice noodles. Cook them for 5-8 minutes and drain the water. Run them under cold water and reserve.


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5. In a pan add some butter and olive oil.


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6. Add chopped onions and garlic and saute them over low flame. Add chilli flakes to bring up the heat.


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7. Add boiled and peeled Ferns and saute them till they become slight brown in colour. Add some fresh herbs, I used fresh thyme and chives from my kitchen garden. If you do not have fresh herbs add a combination of dried herbs.


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8. Season with salt and ground black pepper.


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9. Add the drained pasta and toss iot around carefully. Add a drizzle of olive oil to unite them.


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10. Divide the portions into individual serving plates and grate some parmesan cheese. Serve hot.

Other Pasta dishes you may like to try here:  Avocado Parsley PastaCheesy Chicken LasagnaHealthy Broccoli PastaPasta Alla VodkaSautéed Red Bell Pepper and Olive Pasta SaladSundried Tomato Pasta SaladVegetarian Mushroom Lasagna in Creamy White Sauce.


[whohit]FiddleheadFernPasta[/whohit]

[yumprint-recipe id=’236′]

BrocolliPasta_Featured1

I have mentioned time and again that I am a die hard fan of pasta in all its forms. I don’t mind if its cheesy, boozy, creamy or simply loaded with veggies. Pasta holds a sacred place in my heart. As my little up is growing up I have seen similar or more violent streak to devour pasta. This makes the matter serious since we are a complete pasta loving family and I  have to come up with more and more pasta recipes. Sigh!

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Well  lately my husband and me are on a load shedding spree, which means creamy and cheesy pastas have to be kept at bay. 🙁 I decided to make this healthier pasta with Broccoli which uses no cream and very little cheese and that too is purely optional. I have always loved such simple pastas. You can enjoy them without feeling very guilty ;). I had earlier posted Sauteed Red Bell Pepper & Olive Pasta which was also without cream and cheese. 

Directions:

1. Cut the broccoli into florets and wash them under running water to make it dirt free. Boil pasta as per packet instructions. You can choose any shape you like. Learn how to boil pasta perfectly.


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2. Drain water and keep the florets aside. Also finely chop some garlic or you can even mince it. 

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3. In a pan add some olive oil.

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4. Add chopped garlic and Red chilli Flakes to the oil. Let the oil get infused with garlic and red chili flakes while it heats up.


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5. Add broccoli florets and give it a toss in the oil. 

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6. Add water and stock bullion. Or you can use vegetable stock only.


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7. Season with salt and let it cook covered on low medium heat till broccoli is partially cooked. You will be able to cut the broccoli with a spatula.


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8. Add boiled pasta to the broccoli and combine.

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9. Season it with Ground Black pepper.

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10. Add little butter to make it smoother.

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11. Top it up with Parmesan Cheese.

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12. Serve it hot with Cheesy Garlic Bread on the side.

Other Pasta recipes you can try here are: Pasta Alla Vodka, Sauteed Red Bell Pepper & Olive Pasta, Avocado Parsley Pasta, Sundried Tomatoes Pasta Salad, Spaghetti Vegetable Pasta , Chicken Lasagna, Mushroom Lasagna in Bechamel Sauce.

BrocolliPasta_Featured2[whohit]BroccoliPasta[/whohit]

[yumprint-recipe id=’173′]

 

BrocolliPasta_Pintrest

 

American-Chopsuey_Featured1
Okay! All this while I thought what they serve in the Indo Chinese restaurants was American Chop suey, because the menu card said so. But its amusing to find out that this particular Chop suey is actually Indianized version of American Chopsuey. Well stop rolling your eyes! Lemme explain again. Chop suey literally means odds and ends or assorted pieces. Its a recipe where all kind of leftovers are put together with noodles. However, supposedly in America some American Chinese started serving this dish with fried noodles. That is what named it American Chop Suey!

Traditionally this dish has a lot of sea food or meat or both but in India since we have a lot of vegetarians the Chinese living in India gave it an Indian look by replacing the meat with vegetables. This adaptation varies and holds good where ever Chop suey is loved like Filipino Chinese Cuisine, German Chinese Cuisine, Canadian Chinese Cuisine and the list is growing.

American-Chopsuey_Featured2
I remember the time I was dating like decade and a half back..(yeah I am ancient!) when me and my then boyfriend who is my husband used to hang out in Dilli HaatHe introduced me to Chop suey. Dilli Haat has some delicious Indo Chinese Food, whenever you get a chance to go do try it! 

Well coming back to the topic, in nutshell my husband is a big fan of Chop Suey, hands down. He will religiously order Chop Suey at every Chinese restaurant we go. So one day he was like make Chop Suey for me  and I was like whattt!!! I had no idea how to go about it. I mean had a basic idea that its fried noodles with vegetables and sauce. Mr. Google came to my rescue and I read some recipes. When I fried the first batch of noodles they became sticky and laced. It was a disaster. I kept searching and found a video of a humble lady who gave a tip as to how to fry the noodles so that they come out crisp and non sticky. The video is now taken down or the link doesn’t work. 🙁 The rest was easy and I came up with this delicious Indo Style Vegetable Chop suey.

Directions:

1. Boil the noodles till al dente. Learn here how to boil pasta perfectly. Drain the water and run them under cold water. Let them rest so that they become little dry.

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2. Chop some vegetables like carrots, capsicum, green beans, spring onions or normal red onions, whichever you have on hand. Set aside.

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3. In a wok or frying pan add some oil and heat it.

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4. Place the boiled noodles in a large plate. and Sprinkle on it some corn flour. 

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5. Mix gently so that each noodle is coated with corn flour.

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6. When the oil is hot add the noodles together into the wok. When one side is fried and turn golden you can flip it using a slotted spatula.

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7. Remove them on a paper towel so that extra oil can be absorbed. Keep them aside till we make the sauce for the chop suey.

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8. Remove the oil from the wok leaving only a tablespoon of it. Add ginger garlic paste and saute for couple of seconds.

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9. Add chopped onions and saute them.

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10. Add carrots, beans and capsicum and saute them on high flame till they become a little cooked but still crisp.

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11. Add salt and sugar. 

 


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12. Add some black pepper.

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13. Add some Szechuan Sauce. You can make it at home  and here is the recipe Szechuan Sauce.

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14. Add tomato ketchup and Soya Sauce.


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15. Also add white distilled vinegar.
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16. Add Water and bring it to a simmer. You can add vegetable stock instead of water or add stock cube with the water.


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17. In a small bowl mix cornflour and water. Add this to the wok.


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18. Let the sauce thicken up a bit and then switch the flame off. In the meanwhile line the serving platter with fried noodles.

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19. Top it with Sauce and Vegetables.

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Enjoy 🙂
You can even try other dishes from Indo Chinese Cuisine like Chili Mushrooms, Chili Honey Crisp Potatoes, Hakka Noodles, Szechuan Sauce, Vegetable Momos, Gobhi Manchurian.

American-Chopsuey_Featured3[whohit]Chopsuey[/whohit]

[yumprint-recipe id=’119′]


AvacadoPasta_Featured2
I tasted Avocado in Guacamole for the first time in Mexico. Frankly speaking I did ‘nt like its taste. Infact, it had no significant taste, just a creamy texture. But interesting thing about Avocado is that it acquires the taste of ingredients it is blended with and then the  taste becomes amazing. Gradually, I started liking Guacamole and started using Avocado in a number of dishes.

When I came to India, I missed eating Avocado. On one of my visits to Delhi’s INA market I found this and bought couple of them. I made Guacamole with one and the second one I used to make this delicious pasta. Its simple, light and very healthy.

Directions:
1. Boil Pasta and keep aside. Learn how to boil pasta here. Chop some tomatoes and take some corn kernels. I used canned but you can always take the packaged ones and boil them till they are soft and tender. Add pasta, tomatoes and Corn kernels together in a bowl.

 

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2. In a blender add avocado pulp. Learn how to peel and cut an avocado. Along with few cloves of garlic and parsley.


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3. Pulse the blender to form a smooth paste.

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4. Add Salt and Pepper.


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5. Squeeze in some lemon juice.

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6. Add Olive Oil. And combine.

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7. Mix this paste with the pasta mixture evenly.

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8. Serve at room temperature as a side dish with your favourite Pan Grilled Chicken or Pan Grilled Fish.

You can even try our other pastas like Pasta Alla Vodka, Sundried Tomatoes Pasta Salad and Sauteed Red Red Pepper & Olive Pasta Salad.

AvacadoPasta_Featured1

 [whohit]AvocadoPasta[/whohit]

[yumprint-recipe id=’82’] 

SundriedTomatoesPasta_Featured1

If you follow my posts you know I am a big fan of Pasta. I am on a constant voyage to look for new and exciting recipes of pasta. I stumbled upon this recipe on The Pioneer Woman’s webpage. It was like love at first sight. I brought home the ingredients and made it the same day for dinner. Wola! The pasta salad was soooo amazing with a lingering flavor of garlic.

Directions:

1. In a pot boil water and add salt. Once the water boils add pasta. You can choose any shape of pasta of your choice. I used spaghetti for this recipe. Cook pasta till al dente. Drain water and reserve pasta. Run it under cold water and keep aside.


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2. In a blender add sundried tomatoes after draining the oil from it. Also add garlic cloves to it along with salt and pepper.

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3. Now add some red wine vinegar and olive oil to it and give it a run. Keep aside.

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4. Slice some pitted black olives and handful red cherry tomatoes and keep them aside.

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5. In a big serving boil add the pasta and top it up with the sundried tomato vinaigrette and sliced olives and cherry tomatoes.

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6. Toss in some good amount of Parmesan cheese.

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7. Stir everything carefully and serve with additional parmesan cheese on top.

SundriedTomatoesPasta_Featured2

[yumprint-recipe id=’44’]

 

[whohit]sundried-tomato-pasta[/whohit]

PastaAllaVodka_Featured

Cooking with alcohol gives an extra kick to the dishes. Be it Grilled Chicken marinated with wine or Almond Biscotti baked with little liquor. As you add alcohol to the food you are cooking, it evaporates with heat and only thing left behind is the lingering flavour. The alcohol in the food doesn’t make you tipsy therefore its even safe for kids. Although its optional to use alcohol in most recipes but in this one I would say it is mandatory. The pasta wouldn’t be the same without vodka and you have to trust me on that.

Directions
1. In a large deep pan heat some water. The water should be at least 3 inches above pasta. When the water boils add pasta and 1 tbsp salt to it. Cook the pasta al dente.  Drain and reserve the water from pasta for later use .


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2.In a large skillet over medium heat, add olive oil and butter. When butter is melted, add in chopped onion and garlic. Stir and allow to cook for two minutes.


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3. Pour in vodka. Stir and cook for three minutes. Do not worry you wont go tipsy 😛

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4. Add in pasta sauce and stir. As a matter of fact my kitchen is always stocked with Pasta Sauce. It saves me a number of times when you have to cook something quickly.

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5. Reduce heat to low and stir in cream. Allow to simmer, being careful not to overheat. Stir in red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

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4.If you feel the sauce is too thick you can add water reserved from boiling pasta. Add cooked pasta to the sauce, tossing to combine. Stir in Parmesan cheese.


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5. Put pasta into large serving bowl. Garnish with more Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Pasta-Alla-Vodk_Featured2

[yumprint-recipe id=’39’] 

 

[whohit]pasta-alla-vodka[/whohit]

Vegetable-Pasta_Featured

I confess openly that I am a dire fan of pasta. So I constantly look for different ways and means to cook it. Most of the pasta dishes can be made vegetarian. It depends on how you cook, you can make it as healthier and as cheesier you want. I stick to the one overloaded with vegetables. This one has blast of vegetables and it tastes soooo gooood.

Directions :

1. Boil water and add salt and a tea spoon oil to it(Yes yes I know its a blasphemy to add oil to pasta when you boil. But I add oil deliberately because I want them in texture like noodles where veggies do not get over mixed with pasta. Still not convinced! okay skip the oil ).Now add pasta to the boiling water and cook till al dente.

2. Chop all the vegetables thin and long.

3. In a wok put little olive oil and saute Onions followed by other vegetables. Ensure you saute them one after the other.

4. Add Cooking wine and Vinegar to make them tender. You can also add little pasta water from the boiled pasta . Once the veggies are tender add the red pasta sauce and salt n pepper.

5. After mixing for couple of minutes add drained boiled pasta in it and give it a gentle toss so that everything combines.

6. Sprinkle some Parmesan Cheese and serve hot.

Other Pasta dishes you can try on The Secret Ingredient: Vegetable Hakka Noodles, Avacado Parsley Pasta, Sauteed Red Bell Pepper and Olive Pasta

[yumprint-recipe id=’145′][whohit]spaghetti-pasta[/whohit]