The ‘cartwheel’ that won me the first prize!- Ruote pasta and eggplant gratin

Ruote pasta is popularly known as Cartwheel pasta or Wagon wheel pasta owing to its shape. This Ruote pasta & Eggplant gratin is a scrumptious one pot meal which is sure to please everyone.

Yotam Ottolenghi’s Caponata recipe and a ‘Festive Giveaway’

The Monsoon is retreating (having a hail storm outside as I type this) but we are moving into another season of festivities. I am excited to host my first giveaway from CSN stores for the festive season.

CSN stores carries everything from Dining tables to cookware to shoes and bags .CSN stores has generously offered one lucky reader of My Foodcourt from USA and Canada a Gift certificate worth $60 to use on any of the CSN stores websites.

I would like all my readers to please leave a comment below this post letting me know what you like about this blog and what would you like to see more often on My Foodcourt. Please leave one comment per person along with your E-mail address. All you silent readers, now’s your chance to share your thoughts with me.:).

The Giveaway is restricted to USA and Canada readers and there may be international shipping charges in the case of Canadian addresses.

One lucky winner will be chosen randomly and the winner will be announced on 17^th October 2010.

Here are the Giveaway details:

Gift certificate: A one-time-use certificate worth $ 60 at any of the CSN stores

How to enter: Leave a comment  with Email ID below this post letting me know what do you like about this blog and what would you like to see more often on My Foodcourt.

Giveaway closes: 16^th October 2010, winner will be chosen on 17^th October 2010.

Giveaway Valid for: Readers from USA and Canada (there may be international shipping charges in the case of Canadian addresses.)

A Special Thanks to CSN stores team for generously sponsoring this giveaway

§§§§§§§ ♥♥♥ ♪♪♪♪ ♥♥♥§§§§§§§

After the exciting  Giveaway now for an exciting Caponata recipe…..
Over the past few years Food blogging has changed my perspective about different cuisines. Chinese is no longer restricted to Hakka noodles and Fried Rice; Mexican is no longer just Tacos and Salsa; Italian is not just pizza and pasta. Surfing the various blogs each day has made me explore many vegetarian recipes beyond these popular dishes of that particular region.

Alessio  challenged us to make a Sicilian speciality-Caponata for this month’s Velveteer’s Challenge.

‘The 4 Velveteers was started by Aparna, Asha, Alessio and Pam, who are passionate about different cuisines and food in general. Each month, we will attempt a new dish and share our experiences and the recipes we used. If you’re interested in joining the Velveteers, please feel free to drop by our Google group‘

I have never made a Caponata before, so was quite intrigued by it.

Wikipedia describes Caponata as a Sicilian aubergine dish, a cooked vegetable salad made from chopped fried eggplant and celery seasoned with sweetened vinegar, and capers in a sweet and sour sauce usually served as an Antipasto.

In my quest for a simple Caponata recipe I came across this recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi. I loved the use of Harissa paste- the ‘Ottolenghi  treatment’ as the recipe says- in the traditional Caponata recipe. I had some Harissa seasoning which my brother had gifted me some time back. Also the addition of raisins was quite interesting. I did not have capers neither did I have red-wine vinegar. I skipped the capers and substituted the red-wine vinegar with white-wine vinegar. I also substituted the canned tomatoes with fresh blanched tomatoes.

The loved the array of colors that the vegetables brought to the Caponata. I love eggplants in most of its form but here the humble eggplant/ aubergine was transformed into a flavorful salad with just a few ingredients. The fresh celery leant a refreshing flavor to the Caponata and the harissa added the much desired tang. The raisins were a welcome ‘sweet’ addition to the already ‘tart-spicy’ caponata.

I also added some fresh Basil leaves, which for a change are in abundance right now. I served this delicious Caponata on Bite sized- Chilly rusks.

As recommended in the original recipe, it also makes a great sauce for pasta or couscous. It’s also delicious with cheese: try spreading it over rustic bread and topping with mature vegetarian pecorino, much like the English cheese and pickle sandwich.

I could not save the Caponata to be savored the next day but you might want to make an extra batch since it tastes better the next day!

Here’s the recipe:

Adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi ‘s Caponata recipe

Ingredients:

2 slender Eggplants/ Aubergines diced

2-3 tender celery stalks cut on an angle into slices

1 small red pepper diced

1 onion diced

~ 3 small tomatoes blanched, peeled and chopped

Few green olives sliced

3 tbsp chopped parsley

~ 2 tbsp Fresh Basil leaves chopped

2 tbsp Harissa Seasoning

1 ½ tbsp white wine vinegar

Handful of Raisins

½ tsp sugar

1 tsp Lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Red Chili flakes as required (optional)

2 tbsp Olive oil+2 tbsp sunflower oil

Method:

Heat both oils in a heavy-bottom pan or a non stick pan.

Add the diced aubergines and fry for 5-6 minutes till golden brown, stirring occasionally.

Use a slotted spoon to transfer the aubergine to a colander and sprinkle with a bit of salt.

After a few minutes, transfer to soak on a paper towel.

Add the celery to the hot oil, fry for three minutes, add the pepper and cook for two minutes. Transfer to the colander, then to a paper towel.

Sauté the onion and harissa seasoning in the oil (add a little more to the pan, if needed) for seven minutes, until soft and golden.

Drain off any excess oil from the pan, add the tomatoes and vinegar, stir and bring to a simmer. Add the fried vegetables, olives and sugar, and season.

 If the mix is too dry, add a few tablespoons of water. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat taste and adjust the seasoning.

Add the raisins.

Leave to come to room temperature, add the lemon juice and parsley,basil leaves and Red chilli flakes(if using)

Serve with sliced baguettesor garlic bread or some spicy rusks as I did.

Thanks Alessio for introducing me to the delicious Sicilian favorite, I am going to try several other versions in several different ways from now on.

Do Check out the various versions of the Caponata on the other Velveteer’s blogs:

 Aparna’s Eggplant and Fig Caponata

Asha’s Sicilian Caponata over Zatared lavash

Sarah’s Caponata- A Sicilian Relish

Veena’s Sicilian Caponata

Ken’s Caponata jam

                                      

Lebanese Smoked Vegetable Sandwich

Past week we have been gorging on Mediterranean food. Made whole wheat Pita bread using Sanjeevkapoor’s recipe. They turned out quite good with ~ 80% puffing rate! Stuffed it with Falafel from the recipe here and topped it with Nupur’s Tahini sauce.

This was just a prelude to the party that we had to host. For the party I made some Pita bread stuffed with smoked vegetables (Lebanese smoked vegetable sandwich) and topped with a yoghurt-mustard dip both recipes from Nita Mehta’s mini cookbook ‘Low cal snacks’. This was a huge hit with the guests. I smoked the veggies on a charcoal fired grill.

The other items on the menu were Green Chana kebabs adapted from Ranjit Rai’s Tandoor-The great Indian Barbecue served with a spicy mint chutney, grilled white onions, skewered cheese and fruits (without grilling) glazed with ginger-brown sugar syrup and some delectable eggless dark Chocolate- Orange Mousse from Aparna’s recipe.

Thank you all the lovely recipe owners for making my party a hit! 🙂

Here’s the recipe for the Lebanese Smoked vegetable sandwiches adapted from Nita Mehta’s book:

Smoked veggies of your choice chopped (I used Red, Yellow bell pepper, mushrooms) ;all smoked directly on a charcoal fired grill.

Tomatoes smoked, skin removed and chopped (remove the seeds and the pulp)

Paneer (Indian cottage cheese) smoked/grilled and cubed (use the soft variety, I used Amul paneer)

Fresh oregano chopped

Fresh parsley chopped

Freshly ground black pepper

Chilli flakes (the original recipe did not suggest this but I added it to make the sandwiches spicier)

Salt to taste

Pita bread cut into quarter

Toss the smoked chopped vegetables and paneer cubes together. Add the chopped parsley, oregano, black pepper, chilli flakes and salt. Mix well.

Cut the Pita bread into quarters and stuff the smoked veggie mix. Top it with the youghurt mustard dip and serve immediately.

For the Yoghurt mustard dip:

Youghurt/curd

Mustard paste

Salt

Black pepper

I also added 1-2 tsps of some leftover Tahini paste

Whisk  all the ingredients together and serve with the smoked veggie-pita sandwiches.

Vegetable Tagine with Harisa

This is a warm up to the 7-day recipe marathon initiated by Nupur, at One Hot Stove. Just making sure I haven’t forgotten writing posts!  Nupur has provided the much needed push for My Foodcourt and hope to reach the finish line, even though I shall be travelling.

Harisa Seasoning was not a very familiar spice to me till recently. My dear brother picked up some free samples for this from a trade fair in Berlin last month. Some Google research and I was tempted to use it immediately; Hit the bulls eye with this recipe for Vegetable Tagine with Harisa. Loved this recipe since I had all the ingredients that were required (a very rare coincidence!).

All the veggies used for this Tagine are in season now. I did not have the traditional ‘Tagine pot’ but slow cooked it on the stove top for the flavours to mingle and the result was a scrumptious spicy-sweet and tangy stew. Traditionally served with couscous, I served this with rice. As usual I tweaked the recipe a little bit to suit our taste.

Here’s the recipe:

Vegetable Tagine with Harisa

2 onions, sliced

½ tsp ginger-garlic paste

1 tsp sugar

3 tsp Harisa seasoning

a pinch of saffron (optional)

1 tsp cumin seeds (roasted and crushed)

1 cinnamon stick

1 bay leaf

250ml vegetable stock or water

3 ripe tomatoes, skinned and chopped

2 large carrots, cut into chunks

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 red pepper, seeded and cubed

1 yellow pepper, seeded and cubed

2 brinjals, cubed

400g chickpeas soaked overnight and cooked

1 tsp dry red chilli powder or pepper (optional)

Salt

2 tsp Oil

Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Heat the oil and fry the onion, ginger-garlic and sugar over a low heat until onions begin to caramelise.

Add harissa powder and spices and cook until fragrant.

Add the veggies, season with salt, Cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Garnish with chopped fresh parsley.

Serve hot with couscous or rice.

Mexican Paneer Wraps

A couple of days back we went to the local McDonald’s outlet and had their Paneer Salsa Wrap. Over the weekend I tried making my own Mexican Paneer Wraps at home (I can’t use the name ‘Paneer Salsa Wrap’ it seems to be their trademark!) According to family and friends the rolls were much better than the original J(I dedicate my success to lotso’ hard work and love I put into my cooking J) I have no idea how they make at Mc’s but I made them with the available ingredients and to suit our taste.

I was very impressed and encouraged by Sailu’s recent posts on Mexican recipes.  I used her recipe for the Tomato Salsa as well as Sour Cream. Thanks Sailu. You will find very simple and easy recipes on her lovely blog here.

Paneer (cottage cheese) slices and some veggies along with the Tomato Salsa and Sour cream are wrapped in a tortilla to make these delicious wraps.

 

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 Mexican Paneer wraps recipe :To Make ~6-7 wraps      __________________________________________________

For the Flour Tortilla 

1 cup Wheat Flour

1 cup Maida (All purpose flour)

2 tsp oil

For the Paneer slices 

Paneer block about 250 gms

 3 – 4 tbsp cornflour

2-3 tsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)

salt as per taste

oil for deep frying

For the veggie filling 

1 1/2 cups chopped mixed vegetables (onions, carrots, beans, cauliflower, sweetcorn kernels)or veggies of your choice

Dried parsley

Red chilli flakes

1tsp olive oil

Salt to taste

For the topping 

Shredded cabbage –Red/Purple variety

Grated Cheese

Tomato Salsa

Sour Cream

Preparation 

 Sieve and mix the wheat flour and maida, add oil, salt as required and knead into soft pliable dough. Keep aside for ½ an hour. Meanwhile, mix cornflour, salt, Worcestershire sauce and make a slurry using water.Cut paneer into slices lengthwise and about ½ a cm in thickness.Dip these slices in the cornflour slurry and deep fry in oil till golden brown. Heat Olive oil add the onions and sauté till translucent. Add the other veggies and cook for few minutes. Keep them crunchy do not overcook them. Add salt, dried parsely and chilli flakes and mix nicely. 

To make the wraps 

Make small lemon sized balls from the dough. Roll out each ball into thin round Chapatis/Rotis ~7” in diameter.Heat a griddle/tava and lightly roast the tortilla on both sides for about a minute or so. The tortillas should not become brown, just roast for a few seconds.  Place each warm tortilla on a flat surface. Put the Salsa over it and spread evenly. Add some veggie filling and spread it too. Place the Paneer  slice at the centre. Top it with the shredded cabbage, sour cream and grated cheese. Sprinkle red chilli flakes and dried parsley and roll the tortilla firmly. Use some milk if required to seal the edges. Seal the bottom on one side of the tortilla to give it a pocket like shape( Its easier to eat that way) Grill the Paneer Salsa Rolls in the oven for ~ 10 minutes from all sides. Serve hot