Minestrone soup - a deliciously hodge podge Sunday brunch

I not only love to bake bread but also enjoy eating different kinds of bread. The crustier and hardier they are, I like them better. It is no wonder I am always willing and ready to try out new places as long as there is a promise of good bread. It was on one such expeditions that I went to "Olive Garden", a popular chain of Italian food in North America and on BH's recommendation tried the unlimited soup and salad lunch there. But I mostly ended up filling myself with the soft, warm bread they serve at the beginning of every meal.

Olive Garden has been a regular joint for us as family as we can all satisfy our veg and non-veg preferences. Over time, I dug my spoon into the piping hot minestrone soup and fell in love with the various flavors in that super delicious vegetarian soup. Until I tasted minestrone soup, my view of soup was limited to the 'Tomato soup' from India which is creamy, tangy but doesn't have any floating vegetables. The minestrone knocked out all my notions about soup and opened up my eyes to the world of soupy possibilities. Minestrone has been a favorite for many years now and is part of my order whenever we go to Olive Garden along with their Eggplant Parmigiana.

I am not much of a pasta person, nor is cheese my favorite. Don't judge me :-), that is who I am. I order eggplant parmigiana, as soon as the plate comes, slide out the hot cheesy layer off the top of the eggplants and eat the crispy baked eggplants with black pepper sprinkled on top of them. Why order the dish when I don't eat half of it, you may ask and also when I take out the best part of the dish according to DD. I do not mean any disrespect to the recipe or the chef but I just don't enjoy the gooey cheese on top :-). I love the fresh salad though with the grated cheese on top that they invariably offer to every guest and that I politely decline every single time.

I had it on my list of things to do for a long time to make the minestrone soup at home. I collected a few recipes but every time I thought of making it, something wouldn't align such as it was the hot summer and not soup weather, or I didn't have something in the refrigerator/pantry that I deemed necessary for a good minestrone and etc.., so it kept getting pushed and finally today made it. DD says she doesn't mind having a lunch such as this every day for the rest of her life which I take as a compliment. So here I am with some pictures and a recipe for minestrone soup. A totally vegetarian and full of veggie goodness and flavors of fresh and dried herbs, this soup makes a very filling lunch. Pair it with some bread and you have an Italian lunch in your own kitchen.

Here is what happened to the bread, I have a wonderful pizza dough recipe (source: Peter Reinhart) that I have been using for a while now - will post the recipe sometime and I also use the same dough for making bread sticks, they turn as soft and delicious as the warm breads served in Olive Garden. I made a big batch of the pizza dough earlier this week and was planning to keep aside half of it for the bread sticks but since both BH & DD loved the texture of the pizza, they ended up making it twice in the week and the dough got over which put a small dent in my plans of an Italian brunch for the weekend. But like I said, stars were aligned perfectly this time for my minestrone soup and so when I was strolling in the food market here yesterday, I found some freshly baked French baguettes being filled into the basket, picked one up and came home. A slight change of plans, no Olive Garden style bread sticks but I made some fragrant bruschetta by slicing the baguette and it was a wonderful side for the extremely delicious minestrone soup.

Minestrone is a very versatile soup, it is almost like throw in any vegetables you have and still tastes good recipe. I used Giada's recipe from here, eliminating all non-vegetarian ingredients and making some changes to suit my personal palate. So mine is a completely vegetarian soup and tastes just like the one you get in Olive Garden. Try it out yourself and let me know how you liked it.

Here is why I call it hodge podge brunch, though it was Italian in every intent and theme, I used French baguette to make the bruschetta, made a very Indian, non-cheesy version of crispy eggplant and a fresh veggie salad that was dressed with a dressing from nowhere :-). I also had a bunch of fresh, organic fingerling potatoes that I par boiled and sauteed in olive oil and coated with chutney pudi and garnished with fresh cilantro :-).

What do you need to make Minestrone soup?
Makes 4-5 servings
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion/shallots
2-3 medium sized carrots
1 medium zucchini
2 celery sticks
2 cups (tightly packed) greens such as chard, spinach or Kale
2 cloves of garlic
1 medium sized potato
2 big tomatoes
1.5 cup cooked canellini beans (Italian white kidney beans)
1/2 cup cooked pasta (typically shells are used)
4-6 basil leaves
1 sprig of fresh Rosemary
A small piece (about 1/2 Oz) of good quality Parmesan cheese
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1/2 Tsp freshly ground black pepper

How do you make Minestrone soup? 

• Wash, peel and chop carrots into bite sized cubes. 
• Wash, remove hard ends and chop celery into bite sized pieces. 
• Peel, crush and chop garlic. 
• Roughly chop the greens. 
• Par boil tomatoes for 3-4 minutes and once cool, remove the skin and chop into chunks. Reserve the water for use in soup. 
• Puree 1/2 cup of cooked beans with 1/4-1/2 cup of water into a smooth paste. 
• Wash and chop zucchini and potato (i use the skin) into bite sized chunks.
• Heat a sturdy pan or soup pot with olive oil. 
• Add the chopped onions and saute for 3-4 minutes until it softens. 
• Add chopped carrots and celery, saute for 5-6 minutes until they turn just soft. 
• Add chopped garlic, zucchini, potatoes, cooked beans and tomatoes. 
• Add salt, pepper and 3-5 cups of water, piece of cheese and pureed beans. 
• Simmer for 1.5-2 hours. Slower you cook, better the soup tastes. 
• When you reach the last half hour of cooking, add the chopped greens and let it wilt. 
• Add cooked pasta about 10 minutes before you switch off along with chopped basil leaves. 
• Switch off, cover and let stand for 10-15 minutes. 
• Serve piping hot soup with a side of bread and garnished with extra grated cheese on top. 

Notes: 

• I used canned beans which are pre cooked and salted. I wash them a couple of times under running water and drain before adding to the soup. 
• Usually shell or bow pastas are used in Minestrone, you can skip this totally without affecting the taste. If using cook pasta following package instructions and add it towards the last 10 minutes or so before switching off the soup. 
• You can use any greens mentioned above but the cooking time for chard or kale might be a little longer than spinach, so use your judgement. 
• Adding Parmesan cheese is optional but gives a really authentic and rich taste to the soup. 
• I like the slightly acidic taste of celery in soups and add them to most of my soups. 

Whole wheat (75%) focaccia - every bite is an explosion of fragrant herbs

Winter is at its peak, most of midwest and north eastern USA has been in the grips of frigid temperatures and icy cold conditions for most of this month. It seems like the weather has turned into one unending white blizzard, I really hope it lets out a little bit and bring in some warm weather for all. We in Pacific Northwest have been really lucky with the weather, while it is not warm, it is not too cold either, nothing you cant manage. I actually took a long 2 hour walk this Sunday as the sun was shining happily in the afternoon, though the temperature was about 45F, I warmed up pretty easily with a brisk walk and a long coat on :-). But what makes me really warm all over is the sight of the 4-5 jasmine flowers, 1-2 hibiscus flowers and a pop of colorful chrysanthemum that light up the inside of our home even in these cold months. The plants in the pots have taken really well to the tube lights hanging on top of the table though it doesn't have any aesthetic appeal. Fresh green leaves are sprouting every few days and blooms show up quite often making the plants fuller and larger. Cold weather is made totally bearable when I look at the tenacity of these small plants..

While the glowing sun and bright flowers fill the heart, I also crave for something warm and comfy in my plate especially for dinners. What is better than the aroma of fresh bread baking in your oven? It is the aroma of herb infused focaccia baking in the oven :-). If you are a regular reader on my blog, you have seen me grow from a very shaky, totally unsure baker to a somewhat confident and ready to experiment baker in the last 2+ years. While I have loved baked goods and baking all my life (or atleast as long as I can remember), I donned my baker's apron recently, mainly after I started blogging. With the enticement of delicious baked goods all around me in the blogosphere and my unending enthusiasm to reproduce those delicacies in my own kitchen, I have no dearth for new recipes to try out. But what makes this recipe here special is that I did some trial and error and hit on a perfect proportion of flour and yeast and everything else needed to make a moist and very aromatic focaccia. While this recipe is not created out of thin air as I had a lot of help from multiple sources on the internet, the details below are definitely something that came out of my kitchen.

Normally I don't post recipes that are very similar, I would rather put them all together and note the variations underneath :-), works perfectly for that lazy brain of mine. I already have a focaccia recipe on this blog so why did I write a new post? Well, for one this recipe here has lot more wheat flour and is definitely healthier than the other one and secondly, I used a home made herb infused olive oil to make this super moist and super fragrant bread. And then there is the definite advantage of a more evolved baker and her tips :-). We had a cousin and family over for dinner last evening and although they know I am crazy about cooking, didn't believe that the deliciously moist focaccia was home made :-). This is pillowy goodness at its best. When fresh out of oven, the bread has a crisp, crunchy outer layer and soft, bouncy inside and as it cools down, the bread becomes soft all over. Perfect to slice open and make a sandwich or lip smacking to just dip in oil and enjoy.

I started with a 60%-40% whole wheat and bread flour the first time and advanced to 75% whole wheat flour the last time I made it. I am confident that a 100% whole wheat focaccia is in the pipeline with this recipe, I just need adjust the liquids a little bit. My family simply loves this and if the request for increased number slices in the snack box is any indicator, the bread has found some fans in DD's school and looks like there is quite a bit of demand on that front.

Another reason why I am on a baking spree now a days is that I have got a new kneading assistant. This new assistant of mine gets to work without any complaints or sour face (unlike BH who would find very believable excuses to be busy until the baking aroma wafted through the air and out of the kitchen). It is bright red in color and sits beautifully in the corner on my counter top and the best part is I don't end up with any sticky surfaces or multiple bowls to clean afterwards. Yep, I am talking about my new stand mixer, I got it for a bargain at Costco during the Holiday season and I am in love with this gadget - one of the sensible purchases I have made in the recent past. I have been devising excuses to put it to work every so often on the pretext of baking :-)

What do you need to make herby focaccia?
3 cups whole wheat flour (I used Bob's Red mill flour)
1 cup bread flour
1/2 cup warm water
3/4 cup (+1 Tblsp if needed) warm milk
1 Tblsp active dry yeast
1 Tblsp sugar
1.5 Tblsp salt
1/2 cup herb infused olive oil - divided use
Toppings (this is what I normally use, look in Notes below for other ideas): 
Grated cheese
caramelized onion
thinly chopped garlic
Sliced tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes
pickled jalapeno
herbs (rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme etc)
couple pinches of coarse salt

How do you make herby focaccia? 

• Add 1/2 Tblsp sugar to the yeast and mix in warm water. 
• Keep aside for 4-5 minutes for it to ferment and prove that it is alive. 

• Measure dry flours in a wide bowl, add remaining sugar and salt followed by the fermented yeast. Mix it together.
• Add the remaining water, herb infused olive oil(reserve 1.5-2 Tblsp for later use), and mix well. At this point the dough is just wet. 
• Start adding the warm milk to make a soft dough. I used 3/4 cup of milk, it depends on the flour quality. 
• Once the flour comes together into a single mass, take it on to a flat surface and knead it for 8-10 minutes until it is soft & pliant. I used my latest addition to the kitchen, a red colored stand mixer to do the heavy lifting and it did a beautiful job :-). 
• Take the dough into a bowl and cover it with an oiled cling wrap and let it rest for an hour to 90 minutes until it doubles in size. 
• Punch down the dough, stretch it on an oiled cookie sheet and poke dimples all over. 

• Sprinkle the reserved olive oil, and top it with chopped herbs.
• Cover and let it rise for another 30-45 minutes.
• Add caramelized onion and grated cheese on top. 
• Bake for 25-30 minutes at a 400F pre heated oven until the top is golden brown and a tooth pick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. 
• Take out from the oven, slide the baked focaccia onto a cutting board, let it cool for a couple of minutes, cut them into wedges, squares or rectangles and serve it with some more herb infused olive oil on the side as a dip.  

How do you make herb infused olive oil? 

• Take 1 cup of olive oil in a sauce pan, add 2-3 cloves of garlic (peeled and slightly crushed), 1/2 Tsp dried oregano, 1/2 Tsp Thyme, 1/4 Tsp black pepper crushed and a pinch of salt. I used all dry herbs this times given the unavailability of fresh ones. You can replace fresh herbs in season and also use a single kind of herb (basil or rosemary) to 'aromatize' your olive oil. 
• Let it come to a gentle boil on low heat. Switch off and let it cool completely. 

• Strain the oil using a sieve and use it in focaccia or as a dip for any freshly baked bread. 
• This oil keeps well at room temperature, stored in dry & airtight containers. Keep them in unlit corners of your kitchen. 
• You can store them in the refrigerator but will crystallize because of the temperatures, you can microwave or heat on stove top lightly before using. 

Notes: 

• If you are making this for a kids party and want to make it cheesy, add grated cheese to the dough to the last few kneads and knead it well into the dough. 
• You can skip milk totally and use only water, I like the softness and the hint of sweetness milk gives especially when you use whole wheat flour.
• I made focaccia with caramelized onion last evening, but any topping of choice can be used, some suggestions are pickled jalapeno, sliced tomatoes, grated cheese. 
• If you love an intense garlic flavor in your focaccia, peel and slice a couple of cloves of garlic thinly and push them into the dimples when you sprinkle oil before the second rise. 
• Rosemary is a very popular choice of herb in focaccia world, if you dont get it easily or do not like the aroma, use any other herb you prefer. I have used dried fenugreek or kasoori methi and mint which works beautifully too. 

Biscotti - here comes an egg free version loaded with nuts

Long before India became independent from the colonial rule, Rabindranath Tagore wrote this beautiful poem visualizing a new, awakened India. It was later translated to English by himself and included in his Nobel prize winning collection Geetanjali. I remember reciting this on many occasions during my school years and every time it was a surreal experience. Now after so many years, making home in two countries and loving them both with my heart, Independence day holds a special significance. While the generation of our elders that took part in India's independence struggle is slowly vanishing, while we still have a lot more to do before the dream becomes a reality,  I wanted to share this beautiful piece with all of my readers.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

Happy 67th Indian Independence Day!

Those of you familiar with my blog already know that I am part of a group called Baking Partners started by Swathi. We bake savories or sweets every month and post it on the 15th. We usually get a couple of related recipes to choose from and the challenge is flexible to accommodate egg free, gluten free, high altitude revisions to the original recipes. While I chose to break free from my egg aversion for the last 2 challenges, this time I wanted to try it without eggs. Of the 4 recipes Swathi sent us, the family voted for the Italian Biscotti.

Biscotti (biscotus in singular form) have an Italian origin meaning 'twice baked bread' referring to the baking process. Fresh baked bread is allowed to cool very slightly before being cut into oblongs and baked for a second time until they are crunchy and hard. These stay well on journeys thus making them popular during travel and war!

If you have never had Biscotti before, imagine a much less dryer version of the tea time favorites - Rusks. Biscotti are not overly sweet and are traditionally served with a drink such as orange juice so it can be dunked in the juice if preferred. Good biscotti hold shape and do not crumble, elegantly sweet and is a party in the mouth as you can mix & match flavors you like. I chose to do a simple biscotti flavored with orange tangerine rind and loaded with walnuts, the end result was a crisp, sweet treat that had walnuts popping in every bite with a burst of citrus flavor.

So far I have tried 2 different egg replacements in my baking experiments, you can use flax meal soaked in water to replace the eggs in cakes or use fruit sauces in cookies. These work really well and you just need to be cognizant of which one works where and the amount for the replacement. I had book marked a few of those recommendations and tried apple sauce in my biscotti today. I also reduced the butter from the original recipe and upped canola oil slightly. Biscotti were delicious, perfectly crunchy without being hard and disappeared just like hot cakes :-) since I made the first batch yesterday.

What do you need to make Walnut Biscotti?
1.5 cups All purpose flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Tblsp butter (at room temperature)
6 Tblsp unsweetened apple sauce
1 Tblsp grated rind of orange/tangerine (replace with lemon rind if you prefer)
3/4 Tsp baking powder
1 cup walnuts
2 Tblsp canola oil (or any other non flavored oil)

How do you make Walnut Biscotti? 

• Preheat the oven to 325F, spread the walnuts on a cookie sheet and bake them for 5-7 minutes or until they are toasted crisp. 
• Remove the walnuts from the oven, let cool slightly and chop then into small bits. 
• Bring sugar and butter in a large bowl and beat them with a fork until smooth. 
• Mix oil, apple sauce and the orange rind into the bowl. 

• Sift flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix everything together to make a soft dough. 
• Prepare a cookie sheet by spreading a layer of parchment paper on it. 
• Dust your hands slightly with AP flour and divide the dough into 2 pieces and shape them into logs. 
• Place the logs on the parchment paper leaving a couple of inches between them. 

• Bake for 28-30 minutes and take out the cookie sheet. 
• Let the baked logs cool for a couple of minutes before slicing them with a sharp knife. 

• Place the cut biscotti back on the parchment paper with one of the cut sides down, put it back in the oven for 8 minutes, flip them over and continue to bake for another 6-8 minutes or until you see the biscotti developing a golden hue all over. 

• Remove from the oven, let cool (pop a few in the mouth as you wait, they taste delicious when warm) completely before storing them in air tight container. 
• I cannot tell you how long they will stay fresh as my biscotti are all gone :-)

Notes: 

• Original recipe asks you to wait for 10 minutes between the bakes but I found it easier to cut through the softer (and hotter) logs and did it after letting it sit for a couple of minutes. 
• Original recipe asked to add a Tblsp of crushed coriander seeds, I didn't do it as DD doesn't like coriander seeds flavor especially when she gets a piece in the mouth. 
• I added tangerine rind since that is what I had on my counter top and the flavor was immensely pleasant. You can experiment with other citrus fruits you like. 

• Reducing the butter from its 4 Tblsp to 1 Tblsp really didn't matter at all and I have started to think if all that 8 Tblsp would have made it way too buttery for our tastes. I am sure the apple sauce helped provide the required texture and the little bit of butter brought in the required flavor  - a win-win for all. 
• A couple of popular Biscotti variations are almonds, hazelnuts, chocolate, pair them with a good vanilla or almond extract. I am thinking cardamom will lend a wonderful aroma to biscotti too.
• When you take out the biscotti after the second bake, they do not have to be very crunchy as they turn harder on cooling.

Penne Arrabiata - a fuming, enraged pasta sauce, just kidding..

We don't eat out a lot as a family, it is a culture induced from BH's consulting days. He would be so bored of eating out regularly when he traveled on work that he would be craving for some home cooked meal and I loved to experiment, cook and feed, so it worked both ways. Whenever we go out, we try different cuisines almost avoiding Indian food in restaurants as they don't always measure up to our expectation of good Indian food. Then again, non Indian fare is a different ball game. Anything from American to Mexican to Italian to Thai to Chinese to Mediterranean with vegetarian choices is a welcome change. 

But things are changing as I started to cook recipes from World cuisines at home regularly especially since I started blogging. Sometimes we sit in the restaurant and the conversation gets centered around how I can recreate the recipe at home or how I can make it a tad bit healthier, spicier or anything else to make it personalized to our tastes. Case in point, we went to a Chinese resturant in town recently that all of BH's collegues were raving about and had a pretty decent Schezwan rice and an ok sort of vegetable masala noodles. DD who ordered the noodles for her main course said, 'Amma you make a much better Indo-Chinese noodles'. The narcissistic me always feels exhilarated by such praises but it also made me think if I was inculcating a habit in my daughter of not enjoying food else where outside of home. See, I worry about the time when she goes off to college in a few years and has to survive on the tight string student budget and find good things to eat in the college cafeteria? But then she turns around and tells me that her L mama made the best eerulli(onion) gojju when she visited him recently or digs enthusiastically into her Burrito roll from Chipotle or bites with glee into her Olive Garden bread while slurping her delicious Minestrone soup, I know my passion for cooking has not raised a snobbish child. I feel assured it is just a child with good taste in food who will find good eats to survive on when the time comes. All is not lost, no long term damage done and the my world is a happy place so I can get back to my cooking and blogging without upsetting the semblance of life :-).

Here is a confession, I am not a fan of pasta. Before you gasp and give me the 'weirdo, where did you come from?' look (it has happened before whenever I tell people that I don't like pasta very much), let me just state that it is a personal quirk. Everybody is entitled to one or more and I have mine too but I do not portray my eating habits on my family or insist that they follow it. So I cook all kinds of pasta & noodles dishes since both BH & DD love it. 

Arrabiata is a a very popular pasta sauce from Italy, the word means 'angry' because of the heat generated from the red chilies and the vibrant color of the sauce itself. Yep, it doesn't make the person eating it angry :-). Ok, enough of PJs. Infact the sauce is extremely delicious (according to the reliable tasters/testers at home) and a tad bit spicier than regular sauces. It gets its flavor from 2 key ingredients - garlic and basil and of course juicy tomatoes. I strongly recommend using fresh basil versus dried version as the flavor component can drastically vary. 

What do you need for making Penne Arrabiata? 
Makes 2 servings
3 cups dry penne - I used a whole grain Penne
7-8 cups water to cook pasta
For the Arrabiata sauce: 
2 large tomatoes or 4 cups chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tblsp tomato paste or tomato ketchup
4-5 twigs of fresh basil (about 20 leaves picked)
1-2 twigs fresh Thyme (optional but highly recommended)
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped or 1/2 Tsp garlic powder (up or down based on your preference)
1.5 Tblsp crushed chili flakes (I used the kind you sprinkle on pizzas)
3/4 Tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
3/4 Tsp brown sugar
2 Tblsp finely chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tblsp olive oil

How do you make Penne Arrabiata? 

• Wash, remove stems and chop tomatoes into bite size pieces. Take them to the blender and puree, a few small pieces of tomato is good as it makes the sauce chunky. 
• Heat a heavy bottom skillet on medium heat, add olive oil and finely chopped garlic (or garlic powder) and roast it for 2-3 minutes taking care not to burn it. The idea is to infuse the oil with the garlic flavor.
• Add chopped onions and continue to fry stirring frequently until onion turns soft and light brown. Do not crisp the onions. 

• Add the tomato puree and the rest of the ingredients listed except for cilantro, mix well and let it come to a boil on medium heat. 
• Lower the heat and let the sauce simmer and thicken for another 35-40 minutes by which time your kitchen will be smelling like a pasta lover's paradise. 

• Cook pasta per package instructions until al dente, drain the water. Add a couple of drops of olive oil and 1 Tblsp chopped cilantro, mix well to coat evenly and keep aside until ready to use. 

• The sauce reduces and turns a brighter red. Switch off. 

• Add the cilantro coated pasta to the sauce and give it a mix. Serve hot garnished with remaining cilantro.

Notes: 

• I used fresh tomatoes as they are in season and I like them fresh. You can use canned tomatoes instead. Be sure to drain the preserving liquid.
• Arrabiata traditionally has tiny bits of tomatoes, it is a matter of texture, I prefer to puree the tomatoes as my family likes it this way. The chopped onions still bring out the same chunky texture and we don't miss anything. 

• Feel free to up the amount of chili flakes used in the recipe if you can tolerate the heat, after all it is an Arrabiata sauce :-), DD says, the amount I put is perfect so I stick to these measurements. 
• Use fresh basil only in this recipe, dried herbs do not do justice here. 
• The longer you let the sauce simmer, the herbs have a better chance to work their magic. 20 minutes is a minimum and do not hurry the process. 

• It is important to not burn the garlic or crisp the onions in this recipe as it spoils the sauce. Manage the heat on your stove. 
• You can make this sauce in bulk and store it in the refrigerator in a clean, dry jar for a couple of weeks. 
• Although Arrabiata is tradiationally served on Penne in Italy, no one stops you from enjoying this delicious sauce with any other choice of pasta :-).

New York Style pizza - a veggie supremo served at home

Blogging, I have learnt makes you look at food in ways you probably won't realize possible. For one, there is the excitement of blogging about it when it turns out delicious and you also become lot more open to trying new things you probably wouldn't have done otherwise. When I started blogging about a year and 5 months back (Gosh, has it been that long already??), honestly I was not this adventurous in my cooking. Cooking has always been a stress buster for me but it was limited to what I was familiar with. Given my own personal 'don't eat this, don't like this', I always stuck to the known and stayed safely away from the unknown. Baking, as I have mentioned umpteen times here on the blog is something I have eyed for a long time but only recently found the courage to deep dive into. For all purposes, I am still a novice in this area. Looking at all the yummy breads and cookies Baking Partner's were making these past few months, I gathered up some bravado to join the group and this is my very first challenge on the  group and I got lucky with a New York Style pizza recipe.

Pizza was an alien food in my childhood, see I grew up during the simple times of Iyengar bakery masala bread or a churmuri for snack. Pizzarias were not even heard of in my neighborhood in Mysore. Now every street corner has a Pizza Hut or a Pizza Corner or some other joint serving very Desi flavors of toppings on pizza in addition to the usual toppings you will see world over. Pizza is one of the things at the top of the list that every Indian will try when they cross the proverbial 7 seas :-), we also came armed with wisdom such as pepperoni is not pepper, pepper is another name for Shimla mirch and cheese burger is not a vegetarian burger etc generously provided by friends that were already conversant with how things worked. So we did try pizza at Pizza Hut (isn't that where every one goes?) and fell in love with the thick crust or the pan pizza and there was no looking back.

Then once when we were visiting the gambling city Las Vegas a few years back, we took the inlaws and the little girl to an Italian joint for dinner and ordered pizza. When the really thin, flappy pizzas came to the table, nobody relished it. Coming from the land of fluffy idlis and thick masala dosas we like to have that texture and meat in everything we eat and so our first experience with thin crust was a total disaster and year after year, pizza after pizza we stuck to our pan pizzas.

I have made Peter Reinhart's pizza a few times over the last 6 months and we are not new to home made pizza anymore. But when I saw this challenge about New York style pizza, I told family that atleast for the sake of pictures, I had to make a thin crust pizza. To define what constitutes a New York style pizza, I went to our omni-present, free source of gyan - Google and did what every one in  my situation would do, asked some questions (well, I typed them :-)) and was flooded with so much information overload that almost fried my brains. That was too cheesy (even for a pizza post), ok I will stop right here with my PJs. Here is a summary of what I learnt, thank me if you find it useful and truthful but feel free to blame the un-validated information on the free internet if any of it is useless or not true :-).

New York style pizza - by pizza standard this is a thin crust pie, the crust though thin is not crackly crisp. The slice when held up should bend down but not break or tear. I also read that there is a strong belief that the special minerals in NYC water is what makes this pizza special and hence a lot of restaurants get water from NYC to make the pizza dough!!!!!. I find that a great tasting pizza is made when you mix the dough, put it in the refrigerator for over 72 hours before baking the pie. I would however issue a warning here, do not tell your family you are planning to make pizzas when you mix the dough, you will be inundated with, "is it ready yet? has it not fermented enough" every few hours that it reminds you of the long past toddler days when the question used to be, "are we there yet? how much longer?" :-). Coming from both the teenager and the much older father, this can be a bit overwhelming.

The cold ferment or known otherwise as slow rise where the dough is pushed into the refrigerator soon after it is mixed in and allowed to very slowly ferment over 3-4 days develops a wonderful flavor for the pizza. And then there is the sauce, a pizza crust is after all a form of bread and the sauce is one of the layers that takes it closer to being pizza.

And then what is a pizza without toppings? The best part of a home baked pizza is each to his/her own can make a personal pizza with the toppings they relish. So, I prepare a bunch of toppings and keep them ready and we put as much and as many of those on our individual pizzas. In addition to the canned pineapple and grated cheese that DD loves, I also semi-char a few other vegetables such as  sliced onions, asparagus, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes (yes more tomatoes), zucchini.

“There's very little in my world that a foot massage and a thin-crust, everything-on-it pizza won't set right.” ~ G.A. McKevett

Needless to say, this was one hit pizza at home, I made it twice in the last 3 weeks and used different toppings each time, so rest assured, all the pictures on this post were taken in my kitchen albeit on different days. 

Recipe sources as suggested by Baking Partners
Pizza sauce - http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/new-york-style-pizza-sauce.html
Pizza crust - http://feelingfoodish.com/the-best-new-york-style-pizza-dough/

What do you need to make New York style pizza? 
Makes 2-14 inch pizzas
For the pizza dough
3 cups high protein flour (also called bread flour)
1/2 Tsp instant dry yeast/rapid rise yeast 
1+1/4 cup water (room temperature)
1+1/4 Tsp salt
1.5 Tsp olive oil

For the pizza sauce
4 large size ripe tomatoes (or you can use 1 can of whole peeled tomatoes as the original recipe says)
1 Tblsp olive oil
1 Tblsp butter
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 Tsp dried oragano
8-10 fresh basil leaves (or use 1 Tsp dried basil)
1/2 onion sliced thin
1 Tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1/4 Tsp sugar
1/2 Tsp red chili flakes (adjust to taste)
Other ingredients (quantities based on personal preference)
Flour to dust
Toppings of choice (suggested vegetarian toppings - egg plants, onions, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, asparagus)
Grated cheese (mozarella)

How do you make New York style pizza? (http://feelingfoodish.com/the-best-new-york-style-pizza-dough/)
Making the pizza dough

• Pour water into a big bowl.
• In a separate dish, sieve flour once, add salt and yeast and mix it well. 
• Pour the flour mixture into the bowl with water and mix it by hand and bring it together into a single mass. Sprinkle a Tsp or so water if the dough is very hard. 
• Once all the dry flour is mixed in, add the oil, take the dough ball onto a flat surface and knead it for 3-4 minutes. 
• Smear the sides of a big bowl with a couple of drops of olive oil, put the dough ball into and cover it tightly with a cling wrap. 
• Put the dough in the refrigerator and let it rise for the next 3-4 days (remember longer the better taste)

Making the sauce (http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/new-york-style-pizza-sauce.html)

• If you are using fresh tomatoes, make slits in the skin, put them in a bowl with water, microwave for 6-8 minutes or until the skin starts to fall apart. 
• Let cool and peel the skin off. take the tomatoes and pulse them in the blender. You can leave it a little chunky or grind it smoother depending on your personal preference. 
• If you are using the canned tomatoes, just open the can and pulse the tomatoes and keep it ready. 
• add minced garlic, oregano, chili flakes and salt and roast for a minute to two or until it is fragrant. 
• Heat a pan on medium heat, add the oil and butter, let the butter melt.
• Add the tomato, shredded basil leaves, sliced onions and sugar and let it come to a boil on medium heat. 
• Reduce the heat and let it bubble slowly stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens and reduces by half. By this time your kitchen will be smelling heavenly. 
• Switch off, let cool and refrigerate until ready to use. 

Assembling the pizza

• Take the pizza dough out of the refrigerator atleast 2-3 hours (depending on the climate) and let it come to room temperature. This will also increase the dough in size. 
• Gently press down the pizza and divide it into 2 balls (or 3 if you want smaller diameter pizza). 
• Pat the dough ball gently into a circle and roll it out into the size you prefer. 
• Preheat the oven to 500F with a pizza stone inside it, if you do not have a pizza stone, you can bake it on top of an inverted cookie sheet.
• Spread a layer of the sauce on the crust.
• Put toppings of choice and top it with grated cheese. 

• Transfer the pizza to the oven and bake for 7-8 minutes or until the crust turns golden brown. 

Notes: 

• It is important to pre heat the oven to the temperature. 
• Yeast in this recipe is strictly on a "as needed" basis, it is a small quantity that kicks off the fermentation but so small that it doesn't kill the sugars in the flour and render your pizza tasteless. If you are in a hurry, reduce the cold fermentation time by keeping it outside but never increase the amount of yeast used.
• Pizza is typically hand tossed but it takes some practice to get to that stage. I normally pat the pizza base into shape and use my rolling pin for a thin crust. 
• The sauce stays good up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator, so you can make it in larger quantities and use it multiple times. 
• I usually either saute my chopped vegetables in the cast iron pan on high heat with a drizzle of oil or roast them in the grill. Make sure, you don't actually cook the vegetables soft, they just need to lose the raw bite.  

This is part of Baking Partner's challenge recipe

Pesto pasta - Minty fresh pasta with nutty goodness

Is there anyone out there that doesn't like pasta? Confession here, I am not a fan of pasta, something about the texture of cooked pasta puts me off. The husband and daughter both love pasta in all its shapes and size which set me off on a hunt for a good home made pasta recipe.

Pesto is Italian for 'pound' or 'crush' and refers to the way this sauce was originally made by pounding the ingredients together. Typically pesto has the usual suspects, basil, garlic, pine nuts, cheese and olive oil. But there are also all kinds of innovative pesto sauces. I normally add a handful of nuts from my refrigerator in addition to the basil. I once saw a pesto recipe that had frozen green peas in it and have been religiously adding it as my family seems to like the taste. This makes the sauce a tad bit healthier too. I got a bag full of fresh green peas which I sat down and shelled patiently the other day and put them into the pesto. It seemed to work wonders if I can go by the smile on DD's face as she ate it. So then it became a norm to add either frozen peas or fresh ones if I could get my hands on them.

When something clicks and becomes a regular at home, I tend to go off and make modification (and tell my unsuspecting family they are improvisations) :-) which sometimes works and sometimes I get told sternly to stay away from that modification and stop killing a wonderful recipe :-). I had made pudina chutney (the regular South Indian chutney with coconut and mint) and the bowl was still on the kitchen counter when I started to put the ingredients for the pesto, so I just added a couple Tblsp of the chutney into the pesto and the reaction was, "Amma, this is the best pesto pasta you have made so far" immediately followed by a suspicious, "What did you do??" :-).

The coconut lover that I am, I would love to tell you all to go ahead and add some chutney into your pasta sauce to make it yummy but I won't. That would make some puritans cringe totally, coconut in a pasta sauce? So, not to break the order in the World, just go ahead and add a whole bunch of fresh mint leaves to make it minty and yummy. I have found that this recipe is a total comfort food in my daughter's age group and they love it every time it is made.

On another note, I got a stand mixer sometime back, it was one of those - "do I need it, do I want it" deliberations that had been going on with my inner self and finally I gave in during the last black Friday sale. To give myself some credit, I had a long unused gift card (so I didn't deny my family from any basic necessity) and the store had this stand mixer stacked outside with a huge sale board. So it was like destiny, I went and picked one up, came home and gave a long explanation of all the wonderful things I could make with that stand mixer including bread dough and how this machine would revolutionize my kitchen and make it a wonderfully efficient place. BH, the ever patient man, nodded very encouragingly (he does that when he sees a lost cause), I saw the lips curl ever so slightly as he probably thought about the other similar gadgets I have acquired previously. What I have found with this stand mixer is that it is a really powerful machine and does what it claims to do including the bread dough but I have a 7 cup mixer which I wrongly understood to be the amount of dry flour it can mix at a time. But the reality is I can only put about 2.5-3 cups dry flour and the remaining ingredients will fill the capacity.  So, you see it is too much of work, doing it in batches and cleaning up all the different attachments and so I have fallen back to my kneading by hand (good exercise and calms my nerves too). But I use this mixer every time I make pesto as it crushes frozen nuts like a bulldozer and produces a wonderfully textured sauce. So, it was not a bad buy after all :-)
Update on 9/24/14: I am revamping this post as an entry for Indus Ladies kid's lunch box event since the first thing DD mentioned when I asked her what her ideal lunch box recipe was this :-)

So here is a recipe for a minty, creamy pesto sauce to jazz up your pasta.

What do you need to make pesto? 
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup green peas (fresh or frozen)
1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves
1 Tsp dry basil (or a handful of fresh basil leaves)
1/2 Tsp dry oragano
1/2 Tsp dry thyme (optional but recommended)
2 cloves of fresh garlic (adjust quantity to your liking)
1/4 Tsp black crushed black pepper
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 cup grated cheese (suggestions: mozarella, parmigiono)
2 Tblsp olive oil

To make pasta:
2 cups of pasta (I normally use any of these types - penne, fusilli, bow tie)
1/2 Tsp salt
1 Tsp oil (I use saffola oil)
1 cup mixed vegetables (I use green beans, carrots, broccoli or cauliflower) - chopped into thin slices or small pieces.

How do you make pesto?

• Add all the ingredients under pesto except for cheese and olive oil into the bowl of your food processor or mixer and pulse it a few times until the nuts crumble down. 
• Add the cheese and stream the oilve oil little at a time to grind the pesto into a smooth chutney like consistency. 
• Taste and adjust any herbs or spices you like. 

How do you assemble pesto pasta? 

• Cook pasta per the package instructions. Drain the pasta and reserve the cooked water. 
• Heat 1 Tsp oil in a big pan, add the chopped vegetables and saute for 4-5 minutes on medium heat. The vegetables should be barely cooked and should not lose their crunch. 

• Add the cooked pasta into the pan, add the pesto and adjust the consistency using the reserved water. Switch off the stove and serve warm. 

Note: 

• If you are using a regular mixer, be kind on the motor and thaw the nuts to room temperature before running the mixer. Also use about 1/4-1/2 cup water if you need to help the grinding process. 
• The above quantity makes enough pesto for 2 cups of pasta, you can make pesto in larger quantities and refrigerate up to 3 days. 

• The above proportion is how my family likes it, you can increase/decrease any of the spices or herbs and cheese to make it perfect for your taste buds.
• The consistency of the final dish is an entirely personal choice, DD loves to slurp every bite with a little bit of sauce so I make it slightly liquidish. Adjust the amount of water you use.