The Apple of my eye

What is the one thing that binds a person to existence? If you guessed “Life”, then you are wrong. Life is a generic term which we can safely leave to the one who created us. It is not ours to make nor is it ours to take and since we have no control over it, how can we expect it to be the means of our existence?

The only thing in this world which ties us down here is Love. Plain, simple, indisputable, unconditional love! Love shows up in each and every thing we do and in every step we take to move forward in our lives. I experienced the same when our ever expanding group of bloggers from Mumbai congregated at one chosen spot on a chosen date.

Saturday, 30th July 2011

Venue: Gostana

A popular little joint in the suburbs of Mumbai owned by ‘Apple’ a jaunty, lively, young lass who welcomed me warmly with eyes like limpid pools and a smile which could melt your heart. Yes, I speak about a charming young golden Labrador whose proud adopter Arpana Gvalani has let her take charge of the restaurant.

Infatuation apart, because I have taken an instant liking for Apple and hold her as the high point of the evening my opening paragraph was dedicated to her. I do still give due credit to Arpana for readily agreeing to host a bunch of food bloggers on a Saturday night when it was pretty obvious it would be a tough job controlling a case of Chef’s gone wild that too on the front porch of the restaurant in their open verandah. Rushina of A Perfect Bite, the one who got us all together in the first place had ensured that at the least twenty of us made it to the potluck with arrangements going back by about a fortnight.

The day arrived and it was gastronomes dream come true as each and every one of us had devotedly prepared our dishes with utmost love for food and a passion for cooking. This once in a blue moon opportunity was too hard to decline, considering each of us had met in the past to taste food cooked by professionals at commercial joints. The purest part about this potluck was that each of us bloggers had one ingredient common in each dish – “Love” and it’s quite true because without this one ingredient, I don’t think any of the dishes would have tasted as good. Be it the appetizers or the main course right through desserts the apple of our eye “cooking” played an important part in this event. The affection and dedication involved in meticulously preparing each dish was, by far, overwhelming and could be read like an open book on each of our faces when the individual dishes were coursed out.

I had decided to make an Italian dish. Since the theme was spices I decided to be a little adventurous and try and adopt my favorite spice in my dish. Mustard, being piquantly adaptable to many flavors, yet bordering on an acquired taste, I convinced myself to experiment a bit with this spice. Here’s my version of stuffed pasta in a creamy basil mustard sauce. The pasta, a recent discovery by the name of “schiaffoni” is a medium sized tube which is perfectly shaped for stuffing and using in to make amazing stuffed pasta dishes with the sauce of your liking. These pastas need to be cooked for exactly fifteen minutes in boiling water due to its tough dough concoction and come out perfectly al dente and refuse to soften up. I served this with a side of light smoky flavored grilled veggies to compliment the dish.

Triple Stuffed Schiaffoni with a Creamy Basil Mustard Sauce and Grilled Smoky Veggies

Ingredients:

• 250gms Schiaffoni

For the stuffing:

• Pimento Stuffed Olives (one for each schiaffoni tube)
• 2 large bunch Spinach (chiffonade)*
• 6 leaves Basil (chiffonade)*
• 1 cup Cottage Cheese / Ricotta (crumbled)
• 1 tablsp Garlic (grated)
• 1 small Onion (finely chopped)
• 1 tablsp Red chili flakes
• 1 tsp Yellow Mustard Sauce
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 tablsp Olive Oil

For the Creamy Basil Mustard Sauce:

• 2 tablsp Yellow Mustard Sauce
• ½ cup Basil Leaves (washed and stemmed)
• 8 cloves Garlic
• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 1 cup Milk
• ½ cup Butter
• ½ cup Parmesan Cheese (grated)
• 1 tablsp Cornflour
• 1 tablsp Cracked Pepper
• Salt to taste

For the Smoky Grilled Vegetables

• 2 cups Fresh Garden Vegetables (diced) – such as Bell Peppers, Zucchini, Pearl Onions, Baby Corn, Mushrooms, Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrots
• 1 tablsp Oregano
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 2 tablsp Chipotlé Tabasco
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Heat a large pot of water with a tablespoon of salt till boiling. Drop the schiaffoni’s in the boiling water and cook for fifteen minutes till al dente. Drain and toss with some olive oil and keep aside

Toss all the ingredients for the smoky grilled vegetables in a large pan and spoon evenly out onto your baking tray. Pop under the grill setting of your oven for about 20 minutes (tossing it once in between) and keep aside.

For the stuffing:

In a large pan, heat the olive oil and add the garlic with the onions. Stir till the onion and garlic turn a little brown and add all the seasonings. Toss in the cottage / ricotta cheese and toss for a minute (turning the flame down to a medium). Once thoroughly mixed add the basil and spinach strands. Toss well till the spinach softens and turns limp.

Take one olive and cover with the spinach cottage cheese mix, poke into the tubular opening of a schiaffoni, layer on the serving plate. Proceed with the same way till all the schiaffoni’s are used up.

For the Creamy Basil Mustard Sauce:

In a blender, add the mustard, basil leaves and the seasonings including the garlic. Blend on high till the mixture turns into paste. You may add a little milk to wet things up a bit. Once the paste is ready add the cream and ¼ cup butter into the blender and blend on high till you get a smooth paste (but not for too long as the cream thickens instantly).

In a pan, heat the balance ¼ cup of butter till it melts. Toss in the cornflour and mix around for about half a minute. Add the cream paste and milk and leave the mixture to boil stirring continuously. Leave the sauce to thicken till it coats the back of a spoon and your Creamy Basil Mustard Sauce is ready.

To Serve:

Layer the smoky grilled vegetables on the side of the stuffed pasta or atop it. Pour the heated sauce over the stuffed schiaffoni (if pre-made heat it up in the microwave till piping hot) and serve hot.

*Chiffonade – is a cooking technique wherein the leaves of a particular vegetable / herb are stacked together, rolled up and then sliced with a sharp knife to give you long uneven strands.

This sort of adulation is well deserved to all the bloggers who made it to this potluck; I have listed out below the dishes which were the “Apple of the Eye” of the creator of the dish, have a look – its definitely foodporn:

[All images courtesy Pranav, Rushina & Jyotika]

Till our next potluck !!! etched in our memories forever…