Day 106 - Baked Potato

So how many of you have potato friends..
Don't get me wrong I don't mean to offend anyone in any way ..

But I'm sure all of us have that one friend if not more , that truly gets you ..
That one friend you will go to when nothing seems right ..
Though not all may be quite wrong..
That one friend who will open the door to your not so happy face , and offer you green tea or chocolate or just make you laugh and not ask you any questions till you are willing to spill the beans..
Do you have anyone like that in your life ..
Well I hope you do ..

Because that is your Potato friend..

I do not know many in this world who do not like eating "Potatoes"..

And so that's why you must go ahead, and try this out ...

http://youtu.be/80nlavRkRKM

This is a hassle back potato, which is basically a potato that is finely sliced till the bottom but is still attached at the base, The proper noun "Hasselback" refers to the fancy Hasselback hotel and restaurant in Stockholm where this dish was made , or then you can be all "Einsteiny"  and call it a baked "Solanum Tuberosum, but I THINK IT WILL BE EASIER AND LESS DEMANDING A RELATIONSHIP for all of us involved, if we can all just call it a "Baked Potato"...
The taste will still stay intact ha ha ha ..
It won't get upset, don't worry..
But that is not something I can vouch for about the chef..ha ha Ha

C'mon lets face it..
The reason you are reading this is because probably
1. You love eating Potatoes ..
2. You love cooking..
3. You love me ..ha ha ha ...

Well if No.3 is why you are reading this..
Gosh gee....thank you so much , it's nice to be loved..

But I'm also hoping that you love eating potatoes as much as me and love cooking already or will soon start enjoying it ..

And so I really want you guys to reply back to me with a 1,2 or 3 !
A girl always likes to know..

So getting back to the simple Potato, the vegetable filled with high carbohydrate content , is not as bad for your health as you imagine,and because a small but significant part of it is not easily digestible by our enzymes, it also acts like fibre.
So before all you health buffs out there "dis" this humble vegetable, hold your abs in a bit ....

All you guys out there who look at a potato in disdain , I feel bad for you , it's like saying who needs a friend, I'm good on my own..
Well , it's really nice to be self sufficient and to not depend on anyone..

But is it not nice to be home..
Well that's what potatoes are they give you that feeling of home ..

Or then have you thought of this the other way around..
You may be some one's potato ..
And someone in your life looks at you like their comfort zone..
A person who will never judge them , but will always welcome them with that warm smile and a tight hug..

Life is too short to have complexes or problems..
We need to walk through the forest not around it ..
And sometimes walking with some one who has your back just makes you feel safer, even if the other person is as clueless as you ..
Just to know that someone , at least one person in the world will always welcome you with a smile , is just the most comforting feeling in the world ..

So here's presenting , just out of the oven,a simple but completely deliciously addictive baked potato..that looks like it wants you to devour it now...

And that's exactly what I'm going to do with a dollop of hung Yoghurt...
Yup, it's a "Hug of Food"...with much love from "Maria's Kitchen "

DAY 105 - PESTO ...

There is more to life than just living ..
There is loving have you ever tried it ..

Please do , there is nothing better in this world , than just deciding to like people for all their good ..
And also if we can ignore a few of their faults , it won't hurt nobody..

I just feel if I know I'm not perfect..
How can I expect anyone else to be ..
Frankly what is perfection..
It's just a perception..
And perception changes with time..
So it's nice if we could be a  percentage nicer than we want to be ..

Sometimes just sometimes, go out of your way to make someone smile..
Do a good deed for a stranger..

Actually ..
Forget a stranger, let's first reach out to someone close to us, give them a fun day..

I'm all for peace..
But sometimes in life , with its ups and downs, I sometimes go to pieces..
And then when that happens..
I do two things..
I either go deep into hibernation or go completely quite..
I have learnt that maturity is nothing but a series of really big mistakes that you have committed, and in time understand that , if you touch fire, you will get burnt..
And age has nothing to do with it ..
Infact I was a cautious young girl..
But I like the fact that I have thrown caution to the wind..
And I run with the wind and sometimes put fires off and sometimes start them...ha ha ha ..

Today I just want to share with you this beautiful "Pesto recipe"

http://youtu.be/oF7ZhkoO6Eo


It is one of my favorite sauce's in the world..
And you can use it with Pasta, breads, smear it on grilled fish, eat it with raw tomatoes and basically have fun.

The only thing is you can't heat it..
It loses its freshness and delicate flavour..
And does not stay flavourful pesto anymore..
This sauce is just a beautiful balance of flavours put together and when you bite into it , you can't help but go "ummmmmmm"...
It's like a beautiful loving relationship..
That you want to keep fresh..

If you put it through fire, it may still look green, albeit a darker shade of green..
But it won't taste the same..

Just remember this...


So here it is my favourite"Pesto" ..delicately balanced with the freshness of tender basil leaves, the coarseness of pine-nuts and the smoothness of cheese..
If this does not feel like the one you are in love with ..
Then just have another bite..
With much warmness from , "Maria's Kitchen"...

DAY 67 - GIRL TALK

I love visiting vegetable markets ...

And arguing with the vendors...

Even though I really do not know the prices of most of the things in the market...

But today went in search of the elusive fresh arugula leaves that I'm completely crazy about...

But found a whole lot of other vegetables and MANGOES...

So I stood at the vegetable pile and looked up to the fruit-wala who was selling them and pulled myself up to my entire height of 5.2", and in my most knowledgeable voice said,"Bhaiya, kitne ka dozen...khareedne ka price bolo"....

He just peered down at me and said...Pandhra Sao ...

Did I hear right rs.1500/- for 12 tiny mangoes...

Bloody hell...now what..

So I looked back at him, and made inane conversation about how,everything is so expensive these days...

And then picked up the rest of the vegetables and leaves ..and was getting prepared to leave...

When he said, the golden words,"memsaab... Bonnie kar de "...

Which basically means that since I'm his first customer, he will make the price better and so, I went away smiling with 6 Alphonso mangoes for Rs 550 /-...

And so yesterday after I finished assembling my red velvet cake...

I sent a picture of it to my friends..
Which basically was my non-verbal way of saying, "come over, share a few laughs and calories"

And in the night, a few of my friends came over to devour it...

Mini asked me to keep a piece for her and was coming over for lunch...

So I did..

And also made a simple salad and vegetables with quinoa and some barbecue chicken...
Because I know she likes to eat healthy and frankly I have been trying different things with Quinoa everyday, but dont really get down to taking a photograph..
But I did today so here goes...

So here goes...

ARGULA SALAD

A medium bunch of Argula leaves...pick the leaves , wash and keep with a few cubes of ice in the refrigerator..

1-orange peeled and sliced...

About 8 slices of mozzarella cheese

Dressing

Balsamic vinegar - 1 tbsp

Extra virgin olive oil -2tbsp

A tiny squeeze of lime

1/4 tsp mustard

Fresh orange juice - 2tsp

Let it all emulsify really well , store it in a glass bowl that you must cling wrap and keep in the fridge...

QUINOA TREAT

Cooked Quinoa - a cooked handful

Chili flakes -1tsp

Mushrooms-a packet

Cherry tomatoes -8

Asparagus -5 spears, par boiled

Broccoli - 8 florets, par boiled

Sprouts - a handful

Mixed beans - boiled..a handful

Garlic - finely chopped ..3tbsp

Dried Oregano - 1 tsp

Dried basil - 1 tsp

Fresh basil - - a handful

In a non stick pan, spray some olive oil and add the garlic , do not let it burn, then add, some oregano , chili flakes and some dried basil, add a handful of fresh basil too and then add the sliced mushrooms, when they are cooked, add the sprouts and give it all a quick stir, mix all the rest of the vegetables and the quinoa..

Taste it to adjust the seasoning , and it's ready...

I love it with a squeeze of lime, at the end...

BARBECUE CHICKEN

Chicken legs - 2

Mixed spice powder or garam masala - 1tsp

Garlic - 1 tsp

Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp

Yogurt -2tsp

A dash of Worcestershire sauce

Oregano -1 tsp..

Marinate the chicken well well with the above ingredients...

This is quite a mild marinade...

As did not want any over powering tastes..

Let the chicken rest in a zip lock back for at least two hours if not over night...

Cook it over a barbecue, and baste it while doing so..with a mix of butter and olive oil...

Or then just cook it in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees for about 30 -35 minutes...

When you are ready to eat..

Mix the Argula leaves with the orange wedges and pour your dressing over it and mix it very gently with your hands..
Roast some pine-nuts and sprinkle them into the salad..

Add the mozzarella and sprinkle with some freshly grated Parmesan ..

And serve the quinoa piping hot , with the chicken ...

This entire dish has a very simple taste ...because nothing is over flavored ...

So it is ideal for a light afternoon lunch ...

And yes it's flavorsome and feels very light on the tummy...

And so you can most happily gorge on some very yummy dessert, followed by green tea and plenty of girl talk...

So that's what Mini and me did......
Talked about food, kids and Boy's on the side...ha ha ha , but guess that's a blog on its own..

So here's presenting ,"Girl Talk " , a very simple, humble , uncomplicated , smart and sensible meal, just like the " GIRLS" in my life , made with lots of fresh vegetables and thoughts of yummy dessert on my mind...

Only from "Maria's Kitchen "...ha ha ha

DAY 62 - ALL ABOUT EVE...HEALTHY QUINOA SALAD AND BAKED MUSTARD CHICKEN..

And where do I really begin...
well I met Eve for the very first time on the 24th Sept 2011...
I did not have any assumptions or preconceived notions of , how she would be..
But when I rang her door bell, she opened the door , with a bright , "helllloooo" , something that I got sooo used to and also miss today...
I was greeted by this lovely bobbed silver haired woman, in trousers and a light blouse...who looked at me and said , "is that all the luggage you have?"
Well did not want to frighten her with what all I'm capable off so said"yup" and she and me proceeded to pull my bags in, for some reason , we both think of our selves as 'super-girl'..
So after I beg her not to carry my bags and she does not agree, we trudge up to the room , where I will spend my next 11 weeks in...
I loved my room on sight, it was small, had a cup-board , a bed and a study table with a window to the world...and a terrace...yeah yeah yeah...
I was a happy bunny...
We chatted a bit ...and like a good Brit-lady, she scurried away and left me to unpack...

The next day she took me on a tour around Woking, so I could find my way to class and to the Market or the mall...
Remember she took me to Carlton Road and stopped there...
And she said, so this is the famous Carlton Rd, and I looked at her and said "for what" and she looked at me incredulously and said, "this is where your cooking school Tante Marie is, so better don't forget this..."
Ha ha ha ....
Then we continued chatting 19 to a dozen and then she bought me Hot Chocolate, showed me the most IMP place in Woking the MALL ha ha ha...
Then Sainsbury,Boots , the railway station and various other necessary places like clothes stores...

Eve is a girls , girl and I realised , I have found an amazing person to live with, was just worried she may get fed up with my constant chatter ...
And then also told her to please not leave the house and go , as I'm petrified to sleep alone...
She looked at me like I'm nuts...

And I realised that she is Aries like my mad friend Sandy back home...
So being a true blue Sagittarius who believes in sun signs and all that Jazz..
I did some stupid calculation , told her we are both fire signs and she was up for the chatter and we had a lovely time...

This first week I came home with French vocabulary, that was really French to me ha ha ha...
And so Eve used to teach me correct pronunciation, but then after some time, I would go all about the place and she used to say learn it like you will remember it...
Then I started getting all the baked goodies home to Eve...
And she would taste a wee bit , because she always mostly ate right..
So I used to tell her, "we need to distribute the calories , so none of us get fat"....

I went to my First ever Ballet with her and her sweet partner Ralph, who is Virgo, so yes, occasionally we have talked about the various Virgo's in our lives and how different they are from Fire signs, I should know , my dad is one... And how this and that..and the other...
But Ralph was a doll..

And when I came home to Eve's with Goodies, I knew Ralph would always taste the calorie filled stuff and enjoy it...
So it made bringing home all the goodies worth while...

Well I went for my first ballet about Cleopatra, with Eve and Ralph...that was beautiful...

Well Eve would always ask me if I needed to be dropped to the train station on Saturday...
She did not have to but she always did...
Very time I had a problem , I would come and spill the beans to Eve...
And I would tell her, this is what I'm gonna say and this is what I'm gonna do..
And she would raise her eye-brows and say , "Young Lady,I don't think so, if I were you"....

And well she also said that her mum used to tell her that she would get quieter as she got older, which I never saw...
She was one of the most fun girls I hung with...
We would go window shopping at the drop of a hat...
She was spontaneous, always looked spiffy and drove like a fiend ha ha ha ...
And every time I shopped, "she would talk about the great depression that I kind of knew nothing about, and she would say, well thank you for helping my economy" ha ha ha

She would make me keep my credit cards home...
Take the taxi service card , before I left home , and always tell me to be safe....
Then she would say , I'm sorry I'm not your mother, but just needed to tell you this"adorable and absolutely loving, I just fell in love with this Eve and used to look forward to spending time with her , whenever...
And like my mum she would see that my uniform was impeccably kept ...
And we used to shop for fruits, groceries and general gifts to take home...
Eve was all heart always, I never ever saw her with a frown or in a bad mood ever..
She loved her garden like my mum, looked after her plants, fed a fox , I heard somewhere in conversation one day...and was the best land-lady a girl could ask for..
She always encouraged me to travel and when I was to go to Paris , she gave me books and maps...
I used to share most things with Eve, she was a modern woman but also so beautifully old fashioned..

So today am gonna share with you a recipe, that I made Eve a lot while I was practicing for my 1st practical exams...
And since she was very particular about what she eats ...
Have a lovely fresh Quinoa salad and a Mustard Baked chicken...

INGREDIENTS..
Quinoa - 1 cup
Hand-full -broccoli red and yellow, bean sprouts, mushrooms and assorted beans..
1 1/2 cup Chicken stock
1/2 lime squeezed
Oregano
salt to taste

Baked mustard Chicken
6 legs of chicken with or without the skin..
3 tbs olive oil
2 tbsp grainy mustard
Honey
2 tsp mixed Morrocan spice..
Salt to taste.

Method..

QUINOA WITH VEGETABLES...
Boil the quinoa in the chicken broth till nicely cooked..About 10 minutes...please do taste it..and when done, fluff it up a bit with a fork...
Par-boil the broccoli
Just stir fry the rest of the vegetables , sprouts and beans with a little olive oil, or a little more depending on how healthy you like your food to be..add oregano to the vegetables..
I love to roast pine- nuts and add them to quinoa..
Mix the quinoa and the vegetables , and add the lime and mix it throughly..
Sprinkle with pine nuts..

BAKED MUSTARD CHICKEN

In a glass bowl, mix the morrocan spice, grainy mustard, olive oil and honey to the chicken legs and let them marinate as long as you possibly can.
But at least leave it for an hour...so that the chicken is well flavoured.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for at least 35-40 minutes..

WELL Eve she ate my exam chicken 3 times before I finally made it for my exams....
She was always encouraging and so loving that frankly I felt at home with Eve...

So while my chicken was baking in the oven and I was multi-tasking all my par-boiling and stir frying activity...was thinking about Eve..

In the evenings, I would sometimes hear Ralph talking to Eve and she laughing hilariously .
It just felt so nice to hear them...share this beautiful companionship...
At the end of the day , is that not what love is all about...

Eve's home was always filled with laughter...
I always showed her all my shopping...
And when we went out shopping together, she would ask me, should I stop you, or should I not interfere, so we always made a pact that she should stop me and I always ended up with something new....

Went with Eve for a fashion show one day, and fell asleep...
And when I stirred awake , she said," go back to sleep, you are not missing much"...
Ha ha ha hilarious...
She helped me choose a beautiful gown, the one I have posted here on the blog, which when I wore I thought of "YOU" first Eve...
You would have liked how I looked ..ha ha ha


It was really cute, but every time I came home after class, would hear Eve say, "There she comes , that girl,and wonder what she has to say today ."
She would talk of me in third person, like I was not there...
There is another very dear friend of mine who also does that..who I really miss a lot...

And as I would walk into her hall, like I did when I was in school with my parents ...
And show her my food for the day, and then tell her about it, and then pour my heart out if anything was bothering me...
And she always gave me time..and that's what made me feel like home..

When I had over shopped and was packing my bags , before coming home, she came with me to buy my bags , not once or twice...but thrice...

She always gave me a napkin while I ate...and said, sit-down and eat properly...
I loved every moment of fussing that she did over me...
I love that feeling of having someone, who was so my own, so far away from home...
I will never forget, when I came home from my exams, she was just full of love and I could see , that both Eve and Ralph really do care for me as much as I had come to love them...
They were my family away from home and I can say without a doubt that my land- lady Eve is a loving Star....
And I was really lucky to get her...
Thank you Lorraine for making that call...

Now I can smell the lovely chicken baking in the oven..
Its come out looking crispy on the outside but is really soft and juicy...
Kept the quinoa salad nice and warm...

All food should always be eaten fresh and piping hot..
that's when it tastes OH SOOOO YUMMM...


And so todays meal, I dedicate to Eve who was my friend , therapist, psychiatrist, travel- encourager, French teacher, shopping-buddy, wine-buddy, food-taster, smile bringer and the most amazing land-lady a girl could have ..

So here's presenting, "Eve's quinoa vegetable salad with mustard Chicken"...
Fresh full of super nutrition, succulent and yummy, and made with lotsa love and some beautiful memories of Eve, Ralph, her kitchen, the room I lived in, my 'love-spell' green tea, my path to class everyday and all the music that will always play in my heart...
Only from "Maria's Kitchen"....

FRESH SUPER SEXY PASTA IN MINUTES

Every time I'm cooking at home , what always weighs heavily on my mind , are my vegetarian friends, have just 1 of those " species" actually, Jaya...ha ha ha
And she always offers to get her own food, which is sweet , but i think its also because she does not really trust me with vegetarian stuff, which i know completely changed since Sunday...
Promised to make her fresh pasta with vegetables, i did not really measure all the veggies but will give you a detailed account of how i made it

Spaghetti
Olive oil
Butter
Broccoli
Red and Yellow Peppers
Cherry tomatoes
Garlic
Pine nuts
Fresh Basil
Baby carrots
Fresh birds eye chili
Dried oregano
Chili flakes
Keya all purpose seasoning
Rock salt

Boil the spaghetti with some rock salt and a little olive oil and keep aside..
Cut all the vegetables exactly like you would like to eat them, i normally like the broccoli and carrots chunky and the peppers in slivers..Dunk these vegetables in boiling water for less than a minute and keep aside..
In a really hot non-stick add a little olive oil and mix in a dash of butter..
Add the garlic and the birds eye chili and toss it till your kitchen has that lovely waft of slightly burnt garlic, at this point add the All purpose seasoning (Jaya got me tons of seasoning for my birthday )and the chili flakes, if u feel you need to add a little Olive oil please do , and then add the pine nuts and roast them for about 30 seconds ...
Add the cherry tomatoes and toss them around till the get ever so slightly cooked...
Then add all the vegetables and give it a good stir..
Add the spaghetti now and toss it all around, in fact play with it like you were a kid with spaghetti and toss it all around till the spaghetti and the seasoning and the vegetables are all intertwined and happy...
I then put in a packet of dried oregano that you get when you order a Dominoes Pizza , i love it...ummmmm....
And the final kill ...is the fresh basil.... oh i so so love basil, so i put in quite a lot, let the leaves just about change colour and if you can inhale the lovely aroma , and want to dive into the dish ,you are done , grate a little Parmesan and serve piping hot....(if you want this to be slightly sinful , just add a tsp of Kraft cheese spread to this piping hot mix)
I saw Jaya's plate being attacked by the girls , so don't really know if she had a her fill..

But this pasta i now make for Arshad and Me nearly every time we have a late night...
If u want to add any choice of meat or some salmon to it , it just gets tastier..
I love this , but then I'm kind of very partial to pasta...Or rather to FOOD in general...

Enjoy "Fresh super sexy pasta " only from "Maria's Kitchen"....

DAY 18:FAST NON GREASY PANEER

When in doubt , i just make Paneer, its wholesome and tasty and really quick and easy, so after we watched Nadira Zaheer Babbar's children's play "Jungle Dhoom.com", which Zeke and Zene enjoyed ,because it had kids dressed like animals and they sang and danced, they were really cute .
So the next thing on the agenda ," food ", its just too hot to eat out ,so i got some paneer from "punjab paneer " on the way home and this is what i made....of course with hazaar instrucions from Zeke and Zene who think they are both chefs, so its really cute and funny, the stuff they come up with, and it always ends with , "good you listened to me na, i know how to make this "

300 g paneer
1 big onion
3 tomatoes grated
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp haldi
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 capsicum
salt to taste

In a non stick i added a little oil , then added the onion that i ran through the mixer, cooked it really well , then added the grated tomatoes and the haldi, coriander powder and the garam masala, added a little salt and cooked this till looked nice and thick and had a lovely orange colour, added cubes of paneer and the capsicum , cooked it for just over 8 minutes and , served it hot and piping with some fresh roti.....
Ok i did put a little home-made ghee over it for that special comfort feeling...
It is all over , which is why the photograph has such a small serving...
I use paneer in pizzas, kheema , pasta ....basically anything that needs a little more homey feel to it..Paneer also reminds me of my friend Jaya's daughter Gia, when i first saw her she looked like this chubby piece of paneer, completely chomp-able ha ha ha
This was the fastest dish i have made in 2 weeks, fresh , hot Paneer , straight from "Maria's Kitchen"

I Love Italian...

Now that i started cooking,just could not stop at just one dish ,so also made spaghetti with meat balls in a tomato sauce, which has come out pretty yumm...

Spaghetti and Meatballs
125 gms bread crumbs
125ml full fat milk
1 tsp butter
1 tablespoon wheat flour
2oo ml home-made chicken stock
5 large tomatoes, boiled , mashed and strained
1 tsp sugar
1 large onion
250 gms minced lamb
1 tsp paprika
olive oil
250 gms spaghetti
salt and pepper

The aroma of the fried meat balls were really something,i was going mad and jumping in my kitchen and my taste buds were running riot, though i added a very little flavouring to the mix....

To make the meatballs ,I put the milk into the bread crumbs and kept them for some time then added the mince and and onion and added Keya all purpose seasoning to it,did not add paprika because my kids were going to have it, added a little salt, made them into little balls and fried them with little oil.

The 1st batch of meatballs kind of broke when i was trying to turn them over not all of them but a few, so for the next batch , i did what my mum does , i dipped each meatball into an egg batter then rolled them onto the bread crumbs and fried them, this batch of meatballs , behaved themselves and came out roly poly and beautiful brown.

I then added the spaghetti to boiling water with rock salt and a little olive oil, and after it was cooked ,I drained the water and tossed it with a little olive oil over a full flame, and kept it aside.

Made very basic sauce , put butter in a pan added onion and garlic because i love the aroma of garlic ,and like a little textue to my sauce, i then added the flour to it, cooked it for a bit , added homemade chicken stock to it boiled it , then added the pre boiled tomatoes that i put through a strainer, added basil , salt a dash or oregano and a tablespoon of ketchup and a spoon full of sugar n have fresh basil aroma wafting through my hot kitchen.Yes i did not stick to the recipe because i like yo do my little thing and make it mine...

Then put spaghetti on my plate, and spooned the meatballs over it and then the piping hot tomato sauce....

Risotto Style Fusilli
200 gms fusilli
1 big onion
1tsp olive oil
1tsp
butter
500 ml home-made chicken stock
1/4 cup squared carrots
1/4 cup broken florets of broccoli

Even the fusilli turned out fine, added butter and olive oil to the pan then onions and then the fusilli, cooked it dry for a minute and added home-made chicken stock ladle by ladle till it was all absorbed by the fusilli and well cooked, so it looks glossy and the stock makes it taste very yummy and this risotto style of cooking gives it a different texture.

Put the vegetables in boiling water so that they get a bit cooked , i then made them dive into ice water to stop them from cooking any further and to retain their colour , then heated the pan added a little butter and tossed them in ...ok ok i also added a little Parmesan cheese because Mr. Parmesan was yelling at me from my fridge ha ha ha , i then added the vegetables to the fusilli and mama mia lunch is ready..

(Please say whats written below in an Italian accent)

Risotto Style Fusilli and Meatballs in Red Sauce only from "Maria's Kitchen".....