Posted by Monica Puri Bangia | Under Appetizers/Snacks, Salad, Sides, Vegetarian
Thursday Jul 23, 2009
I made this salad last year- and really enjoyed it. When I first heard of it, I thought, “what a strange combination”- but when I tasted it, I thought it was fabulous.
Last month, a friend was hosting a good bye party for a mutual friend and she had the meal catered from a local place in Maplewood. The meal consisted of a variety of tapas style dishes including a watermelon salad. It was good but I thought the one I had made last year was better- yes I am very modest… A friend who was there as well commented on the watermelon salad and wanted to make it and asked me to post a recipe- well, here it is Nancy!
I have seen plenty of recipes for this kind of salad. They all start with the watermelon and tomatoes, there is some kind of a vinaigrette, fresh herbs and some cheese. I went with the vinegar and cheese of my choice. I made an easy and delicious vinaigrette with balsamic vinegar- I think the rest of the vinegars in my pantry feel quite ignored- I end up using balsamic for mostly everything. I had feta cheese in the fridge- it is one of my favorites. I thought the saltiness would go really well with the sweet and cold watermelon. My favorite kind of tomatoes are grape- I use them for everything including pasta sauces- so that is what went in this salad. In terms of the fresh herbs, somehow oregano kept coming to mind.. I love feta and oregano together but it can be a very strong combination (both the ingredients are quite loud)- so I decide to tone everything down with mint. Mint brought a great freshness and balance to the salad.
Overall- a big success. I grilled chicken sausages as the main course and cooked up peppers and onions to go along. Will post the recipe on Monday. We ate the soft yummy peppers and onions with the delicious sausages. It was an easy and fast meal to make – best of all, it was delicious…
Click here for the recipe… »
Posted by Monica Puri Bangia | Under Italian Cuisine, breakfast
Wednesday Jul 22, 2009
I love cooking this dish for breakfast- the problem is that most of the time I forget to make it. Usually on the weekends, my husband makes pancakes for my daughter and I make scrambled eggs. The other day, I came down to make coffee and breakfast- I saw part of a leftover baguette sitting on the kitchen island. This particular dish came to mind right away. I had eggs and parmesan cheese in the fridge- so I decided to whip it up. One of the reasons I like making it so much is because it is so easy and fast. It’s a great way to use up left over bread. I love the idea of cooking an egg right in the middle of the bread. I added a couple of fresh garlic cloves and cooked them slowly in the same pan for the flavor to emanate through the bread slices. I made two for my husband and one for me. He likes his yolks cooked all the way- I on the other hand, like my yolks nice and soft. I topped the toasted, crispy egg filled slices with grated parmesan cheese.
Besides eating them, the best part is cutting into the yummy slices- the gooey egg paired with the crispy parmesan crusted bread is heaven. The subtle garlic flavor is amazing as well. The only downside about this is that you want to eat a bunch of them- they are surprisingly light.
I ate mine with a perfectly brewed cup of coffee and my husband had his with a big cup of masala chai- it was a great way to start the weekend…
Click here for the recipe… »
Posted by Monica Puri Bangia | Under Italian Cuisine, Poultry, Sides
Tuesday Jul 21, 2009
While I was thinking up the fresh homemade raviolis- I was also trying to figure out what to serve for a vegetable. I had a bunch of broccoli rabe in the fridge- my absolute favorite vegetable. I love it- I think it’s the earthy bitter taste that I adore. I decided to cook it my favorite way- with chicken sausage- and what do you know, I had those in the freezer! Perfect side dish for the ravioli dish since it did not have any meat or vegetables. I am always looking to cook this green in different ways- I recently made Indian lentils with chopped broccoli rabe- it was delicious! I loved combining two of my favorite cuisines- Indian and Italian. I also made a broccoli rabe and spinach pesto- I had this dish at our favorite local pizzeria and HAD to make it at home- really yum! I will be posting the recipe soon on the blog.
I feel my daughter is beginning to enjoy the slightly bitter taste of broccoli rabe- which makes me really happy. I remember when I first gave it to her a few years ago- she was not happy to eat it at all. Now, she will eat it with the sausage which I think makes it more delectable.
She had no problem eating this side dish at all- I am sure the yummy raviolis had something to do with it! The combination was great- the creamy raviolis with the light tomato sauce went really well with the earthy broccoli rabe and savory chicken sausage. The yummy Merlot complimented both the dishes really well and made us extremely happy!!
Click here for the recipe… »
Posted by Monica Puri Bangia | Under Entrées, Italian Cuisine, Vegetarian, pasta
Monday Jul 20, 2009
I discovered wonton skins a couple of months ago. I of course have been watching chefs on food television using them to make home made raviolis for a while now. I have always thought, “what a great idea- and so easy”, but for whatever reason, I have never done it myself. I made dumplings at home for the first time- a huge hit with Sia- she loved them. Actually, I was packing lunch for camp last week and she saw the store bought dumplings being cooked and asked me if I could make the homemade ones- what better compliment can I get!!
After the dumpling success I was very excited to make homemade raviolis. A few days ago I took the leftover wonton skins out of the freezer and went to the store to buy fresh ricotta cheese. I love being able to buy the fresh variety- the already packaged ones are absolutely fine- but you can’t beat the fresh kind.
Around the same time, I was watching ‘Live with Regis and Kelly‘ and Regis was talking about eating a ravioli dish with sage. Well, I thought- “I have sage in my herb garden”. That is how this recipe came about. I mixed a few different fresh herbs in the ricotta mixture including the sage. I added an egg to bind the mixture and lots of parmigiano reggiano cheese- you really can’t go wrong with any of these ingredients. I served the raviolis in a light tomato sauce- will be talking about it this Wednesday in ‘The Local‘.
The raviolis were absolutely delicious!- I am not exaggerating- the filling was soft and creamy; the wonton skins were perfect used as pasta. For the first time, we ran out of the main entree- everyone gobbled it up and wanted more. Sia gave it a thumbs up!! The adults washed the raviolis down with a yummy merlot- it was a great dinner…
Click here for the recipe… »
Posted by Monica Puri Bangia | Under Appetizers/Snacks, Entrées, Seafood/Fish, Southwestern
Sunday Jul 19, 2009
The weather has been very kind to us lately- I guess we deserve it after the spring we have had. We decided to keep my daughter home from camp one day and visit a lake. Everyone was responsible for packing their own food, snacks and fruit, etc. I thought of cherries and nectarines for fruit; gogurts and fruit leather for snacks- but was having trouble deciding on the lunch part.
My daughter has been into quesadillas lately- which is good since she doesn’t like to eat sandwiches. So- quesadillas came to mind- cheese for her but what about me?? The left over shrimps from the shrimp rolls came to mind.. hmm.. I thought of chopping those up with the grated Mexican cheese blend- perfect- but what about veggies?? I thought of packing a salad but the idea of lettuce on a warm day wilting away didn’t seem very appealing. I instead thought of adding a bit of arugula right into the quesadilla.
Now, ideally I like to dip my quesadilla into something spicy- like a tomato salsa or guacamole. I didn’t have any made and I was too lazy to go buy some and pack tiny containers- too complicated. I used my favorite hot sauce instead- the sriracha sauce. I love using this particular one, it has great flavor with the heat. It has a bit of garlic and sugar paired with the tang and saltiness- perfection in my book! The combination was yum- the quesadilla tasted great room temperature- the shrimp gave it nice substance while the greens gave it a nice crunch- yup they were still a bit crunchy. The hot sauce put it over the top- it was delicious! I devoured the entire quesadilla in less than a minute and wished I had made another one. We ate sweet and juicy nectarines and thoroughly enjoyed the day.
A great picnic or pool item to pack along- no reason to have the not so healthy and not so tasty food you tend to get at those places.
Click here for the recipe… »
