Texas Tijuana Taco Pasta

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Each Thursday my husband refuses to take lunch to office and my daughter finds every excuse to go to dad’s office. All for “Texas Tijuana Taco Penne” which is served by the restaurant “Pasta Ya Gotcha” at their café. That is generally followed by him vigorously running at the gym to get rid of the 750 calls accumulated in one meal.

So one Thursday I relented to his repeated requests and drove down to his office to try it out. It helped that the chefs made it live and I could observe how they cooked. The taste was out of the world and I finally understood the lure of Thursday café lunch which so much enticed the rest of my family. So after careful analysis and couple of attempts I think I got it albeit in a more healthier form :)

Ingredients

1. 1 cup store bought dry pasta of your choice
2. 1 cup ground chicken (coarse keema)
3. 1tsp. minced garlic
4. 2 cups whole milk
5. 1/2 cup heavy cream
6. 1/2 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese
7. 1tsp. all purpose flour
8. 2tsp. butter
9. 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
10. 1/2 cup chopped green onions
11. 3tbsp. readymade taco seasonings (amazon link)
12. Salt to taste

procedure

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain the water and keep it ready.

In frying pan melt butter and add ground chicken to it. Fry on medium heat for about 5 minutes and remove them.

Heat rest of the butter and add minced garlic to it. Don’t forget to reduce the heat to low else it will turn brown.

Add one teaspoon flour to it and fry on medium heat for few seconds. Now pour milk and cream to it.Mix well so that it doesn’t have any lump inside. Bring them to a boil while stirring continuously.

While the sauce is boiling add half of the cheese and cooked ground chicken to it and allow it to simmer till it thickens. Season the sauce with salt, pepper and taco spices. You can make the sauce in advance and keep it refrigerated. In that case you have to warm up the sauce just before.

Take the cooked pasta on a pasta bowl and pour ladleful of sauce over it. Top it up with grated cheese and green onions.

You can dump the drained pasta in the sauce  and mix it well. Garnish with cheese and green onions.

Pasta with Garlic and Olive Oil

This is by far my favorite pasta. I had it while on a trip to the Bavarian village of Leavenworth in Washington state. We were there in December of 2012 to enjoy the heavy snowfall up in the cascade mountains.

Just after having this great pasta at an Italian restaurant in Leavenworth we started heading back towards Seattle. This is when things started going South. Due to heavy snowfall trees started falling down all around us in Stevens Pass. Falling trees while driving in 0 visibility at 60 mph is not a pleasant experience. However, we managed to get through the pass and just after that US2 closed for over 2 weeks, the longest in 30 years. Thankfully we didn’t get stuck in Leavenworth. However, looking back it wouldn’t been such a bad thing as I could’ve had the pasta every day :).

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb. spaghetti
• 6 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
• 8 tbsp. + 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. red chili flakes
• 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley (I used the dried one)
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper powder
• 6-8 mushroom thinly sliced
• 100 gms chicken breast cut into cubes
• Few leaves of baby spinach
• Salt to taste

Procedure

Cook spaghetti according to the package direction. Lightly drain spaghetti, don’t shake it dry in the colander, as you need to retain a little of the cooking water.

Take olive oil in a pan and add garlic slices to that cold oil. Put the heat on to medium and as soon as it starts bubbling immediately lower the heat. Keep sautéing for another five minutes. It helps infusing the garlic flavor in olive oil without turning it much brown. Add chili flakes to it and mix well. Turn the heat off.

In another pan take 2tbsp. olive oil and add chicken cubes to it. sprinkle salt and black pepper powder. Cook it on low heat till the meat is tender. Add mushroom slices and baby spinach leaves to it and sauté everything together for another two minutes. Transfer this content to the garlic flavored olive oil and give them a nice mix. Return this pan to the heat, add boiled spaghetti and parsley and toss to coat. This garlic flavored oil should coat each strands of spaghetti.

Taste for seasoning and serve. 

Molto Bene Penne

My husband’s office café has a chef exhibition area where different kinds of food are made each day. One of those days is the pasta day. In case I am in the vicinity I drop by those days to have lunch together. I love the Molto Bene Penne which in Italian means “very good penne”. Based on the taste I tried re-creating it at home and this comes pretty close.

Ingredients

• 1 cup penne pasta cooked according to the package direction
• 1/2 cup chicken keema (minced meat)
• 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. chopped red onion
• 4 small tomatoes cut into halves
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 2 tbsp. chopped green onion
• 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp. chili flakes
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. crushed fennel seeds (mouri/sauf )
• 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese 
• 2 tbsp. butter
• Salt

Procedure

Heat butter in a pan and let it melt. Add crushed fennel seeds and minced garlic. Sauté on low heat till you get a nice aroma. Add chopped onion and fry till it turns translucent. Add minced meat to it and fry on medium heat till its cooked. Add peas, tomato halves and fry lightly along with it. Turn off the heat.

In another pan melt 1 tbsp. butter and add 2 tbsp. flour. Sauté on low heat for about a minute. Pour milk and cream and mix them well. Let it simmer for about 5 – 8 minutes till it has reduced by about quarter and starts to thicken. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to keep the sauce from sticking.

Stir in 1/2 cup parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper powder.

Add the meat mixture to this sauce and mix well. Keep aside.

How to serve

Transfer boiled penne in a serving bowl and pour 2 – 3 ladleful of sauce over it. Garnish with chopped green onions, cilantro and chili flakes.

Pasta Salad with Shrimp and Vegetables

This super easy one pot meal is perfect for days when you don’t feel like spending too much time in the kitchen. This particular recipe involves very little cooking and is my default take away lunch for a day picnic and potlucks when I can’t think of anything extraordinary creative.

Ingredients

1. 8oz. penne pasta
2. 2 medium red onion thinly sliced
3. 2medium carrot diced
4. 1/2 cup button mushroom thickly sliced
5. 1 medium broccoli cut into small florets
6. 1/2lb. shrimp meat
7. 2tbsp. finely chopped garlic
8. 1tsp. roughly chopped parsley (You can use basil or oregano instead)
9. Black pepper powder to taste
10. Salt
11. 1tbsp. butter
12. 2tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Procedure

Cook the pasta as per package directions. Don’t overcook because you want your pasta to hold their shape. Once cooked drain water and rinse in cold water to immediately stop the cooking process. Transfer the pasta into a big mixing bowl.

Melt butter in a pan and add chopped garlic to it. Allow it to become light brown before you add all chopped vegetables and shrimp to it. Sauté the vegetables on high heat for about 2 minutes.Remove and bring them to the room temperature.

Add sautéed vegetables and shrimp to the mixing bowl. Add all the seasoning ( Salt, pepper powder ) and olive oil. Toss well with a spatula to coat evenly.

Your one pot meal is ready to be served.

Prawn pasta with mushroom sauce

In my birthday my husband took us to an Italian restaurant. We had some very nice prawn pasta there. The pasta had a ton of cheese and other forms of grease in it. Our daughter loved it so much that she keeps on asking us to go back. As an healthier alternative I made this lighter version of the same pasta. Tastes as good but is better for you :)

Ingredients

1. Half packet bow tie pasta
2. 10 - 15 medium sized prawns ( peeled and deveined )
3. 1/2 cup grated cheese (I used mozzarella which I had,  parmesan or romano works best)
4. 1 tbsp. oil
5. For Sauce
1. 1 cup finely chopped fresh mushrooms
2. 1 tbsp butter
3. 1 tbsp all purpose flour
4. 1 medium sized onion finely chopped
5. 2 cloves garlic minced
6. 2 cups of milk
7. Salt
8. Pepper

Process

Wash prawns and pat them dry. Smear with  little salt and keep for about 15 mins.

Heat oil in a frying pan and shallow fry the prawns over medium heat till they are cooked. Remove and keep them aside.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile in a large skillet melt butter over medium heat. Add chopped garlic and onion and sauté for a while. Add mushroom and cook for about 5 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Sprinkle flour over it and fry on medium heat for 30 secs. Add milk and heat almost to boiling while stirring continuously to  avoid the formation of lumps. Milk will start thickening and reach a sauce like consistency by this time. Season with salt and pepper. Add prawns and heat through; toss with hot pasta and cheese.

Transfer the contents in a baking dish. Sprinkle some grated cheese over it. I kept some fried prawns for garnishing which I arranged over it. Bake in a preheat oven for 10 mins at 350F.