Roasted Butternut Squash

Feb is the month of anniversary and Valentine's day celebrations and gives me an excuse to cook special stuff. I have been planning to re-create this roasted butternut squash dish we had a while ago while on holiday in Maui at this restaurant called 'Penne Pasta' . It is half a butternut squash loaded with butter, sage and slivered almonds and oven roasted till it is soft and delicious. Mine turned out to be close to it except I could not get myself to add as much butter. This dish holds very romantic memories of the good time we had in Maui. Incidentally, if you look at the cavity in the squash, its a heart shape:)

Ingredients:

1. Butternut squash - 1/2 sliced down the middle
2. Butter - 1.5 tbsps
3. Salt
4. Fresh black pepper - 1/2 tsp
5. Red chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp
6. Fresh sage - 4/5 leaves, chopped into ribbons
7. Slivered almonds - 1/2 cup

Directions:

1. Smother the butternut squash with 1 tbsp melted butter, salt, pepper and stick it in the over at 350 F. I had to bake it for almost 45 mins to get it soft but the bake time might vary depending on the oven. Use a fork to check the done-ness frequently after 30 mins have elapsed.
2. Toast the slivered almonds either in a pan or an oven until golden brown.
3. Take 1/4 tbsp of butter and sautee the chopped sage leave for 5 mins.
4. Top the bakes butternut squash with chilli flakes, toasted slivered almonds, sage leaves and the remaining butter while its still hot and enjoy.

Note: You may use parsley to flavor instead of sage if you are averse to its smell.

We re-did another dining experience by celebrating Valentine's day at Tigelleria which we discovered on our anniversary 2 years ago. We ordered a pear stuffed ravioli with walnut sauce, a cheese platter, a very pretentious salad and pesto fusili pasta. The dessert was pistaschio pannacotta which was served with a heart shaped spoon. A very satisfactory meal indeed!

2011 - The first thing I tasted, a very chocolaty brownie and a TamBhram soul food

Happy new year all! What was the first thing you ate/drank in 2011. I started mine with champagne at 12:00AM and a very well done mocha in the morning. We had an excellent brunch at Hobbee's with my hubby gobbling down a poached egg on english muffin with country hash browns and me devouring the usual scrambled tofu and rye toast. A very satisfactory start to the year indeed.

I also made these yummy chocolate brownies (baked in a muffin pan to get the crisp edge on each one) from this recipe. The only modification I made was to reduce the sugar a little. We had this for dessert with vanilla ice cream and it was a chocolate lover's delight.

Next up is a dish which is tam-bhram soul food. In combination with rasam and rice, this makes a protein rich healthy meal if made the low fat way.

Ingredients:

1. Chana dal - 1 cup
2. Toor dal - 1 cup
3. Dried red chillies - 7/8
4. Hing - 1/4 tsp
5. Haldi - 1/4 tsp
6. Beans - 2 cups, chopped into 1/2 inch size
7. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
8. Oil - 1 tsp
9. Curry leaves - 5/6
10. Salt
11. Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Directions -

1. Soak the chana dal and toor dal for 2-3 hours
2. Grind the chana dal and toor dal with half the red chillies, salt and hing with very little water.
3. Cook the beans and the ground dal mixture for 2 whistles in the cooker. The dal mixture can also be steamed in idly pans or cooked in the microwave for a few minutes.
4. Heat oil and add mustard seeds, haldi, curry leaves. One the mustard seeds break open, add the beans.
5. Break the cooked dal mixture into small pieces and add to the beans.
6. Add salt and saute until the beans and dal come together and are well cooked.
7. Top with lemon juice and enjoy with rasam and rice for an authentic Tamilian meal:)

Rosemary Potatoes

The rosemary plant in my garden is overflowing from the pot and I simply had to put it to good use. What better than to bake the classic combination of rosemary and potatoes! My kitchen was smelling like heaven when I popped them out of the oven. This makes an excellent side dish to go with any Italian salad or pasta.


Ingredients:

1. Red skinned potatoes - 2, washed and cut into any desired french-fry-like shape
2. Rosemary - 1/2 cup finely chopped
3. Salt
4. Coarsely crushed black pepper - 1/2 tsp
5. Olive oil - 1 tbsp

Directions:

1. Toss the potatoes with the rosemary, salt, pepper and olive oil.
   
2. Spread thinly on a baking sheet and bake at 400F for 20 minutes
3. Turn the oven to broil and broil on each side for 5-7 minutes or until the potatoes turn brown.
4. Let it cool for 5 mins and you are done!
   

Pear/Apple Crumble/Crisp

This is a rather easy dessert that I make very frequently when I don't have the patience to make an elaborate dessert. It also provides a good way to use up apples or pears that you have lying around ready to spoil. When paired with vanilla bean ice cream (note, vanilla bean and not just vanilla), it proves to be a super elegant dessert.

Ingredients:

1. Pears/Apples - 3 semi ripe, sliced lengthwise
2. Cinnamon powder - 1/4th tsp
3. Brown sugar - 1 tsp
4. Lemon zest - 1/4th tsp
5. Apple crisp mix - you can get this in the store and usually it is a mix of oats, flour, sugar and some spices
6. Instant oats - 1 cup
7. Butter - 1 stick

Directions:

1. Add the cinnamon, brown sugar, zest to the sliced pears and give them a quick toss to mix together.
2. Place in a buttered and floured baking dish.
3. Mix the oats, apple crisp mix, melted butter and add to the top of the dish as shown in the picture.
4. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until the top turns brown.
5. Serve hot with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

Recipe for the crisp/crumble topping: Mix together 1 cup of all purpose flour, 1 cup of instant oats, 1/3rd cup brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 stick of melted butter and use this as a topping.

Baked Cabbage Palak Kofta

I tried this recipe based on some recipes I found online. I made my own changes and customizations as usual. The most interesting one was that to make the gravy thicker and healthier, instead of cream I pureed cooked toor dal and added it to the gravy. It turned out to be yummy and I was happy that I used very little oil.

Kofta:

Ingredients:

1. Half a medium sized cabbage chopped finely
2. 2 cups spinach roughly chopped
3. Ajwain - 1/2 tsp
4. Corriander - 1 cup chopped
5. Jeera dhania powder - 1 tsp
6. Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
7. Haldi - 1/4 tsp
8. Hing - 1/4 tsp
9. Garam Masala or goda masala - 1/2 tsp
10. Lemon juice - 1/2 lemon
11. Salt
12. Ginger paste - 1 tsp
13. Garlic paste - 1 tsp
14. Green chilli paste - 1 tsp
15. Besan - 2 cups
16. Rice flour - 4 tbsps
    
17. Water
    
18. Oil to spray on pan and top

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients above and add just enough water to bring everything together into a dough like consistency. It should not be of a batter consistency.
2. Roll into kofta balls.
   
3. Spray oil on a pan and on the koftas and bake at 450 for 20 mins and then broil to brown the outside.

Gravy: This is the usual onions and tomatoes gravy with a cup of ground cooked toor dal to thicken it instead of cream.

Dal Baati

I tried my hand at this Rajasthani recipe after having heard so much about it. I think I had tried it ata Rajasthani restaurant once very long ago and it was yummy. I wouldn't say it is very healthy if made the way traditional recipes suggest. My version is slightly healthier. I totally gave in to my dark side by making this healthy version and then topping it with ghee before devouring it. :D . It was delicious and nutritious and I can see how it can be a comfort food to Rajasthanis. Yummy dish and I will definitely make to again. I will repost with better pictures soon once I download from my camera.

Ingredients:

For Dal:

1. Toor dal - 1 cup
2. Chana dal - 1/3 cup
3. Yellow moong dal - 3/4 cup
4. Urad dal - 2 tbsps
5. Whole moong dal - 2 tbsps
6. Turmeric - 1 tsp
7. Green chilli paste - 1 tsp
8. Cloves - 3
9. Bay leaf - 1
   
10. Ghee 1 tsp
11. Jeera - 2 tsps
12. Dhania-jeera powder - 1 tsp
13. Red chillie powder - 1 tsp
14. Ginger paste - 1 tsp
15. Garam masala - 1/4th tsp
16. Hing - 1/2 tsp
    
17. Curry leaves - 5/6
18. Salt
19. Lemon - 1
20. Corriander - 1 cup chopped
    

For Bati:

1. Wheat flour - 1 cup
2. Besan - 1/2 cup
3. Yogurt - 1 cup
4. Salt - 1/2 tsp
   
5. Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Ajwain - 1/2 tsp
7. Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
8. Vegetable oil - 1 tsp
   

Directions:

1. For the bati, mix the ingredients except oil and add enough water to make a soft consistency dough. Let the dough rest for an hour.
   
2. Roll into balls and flatten.
3. Place on baking sheet and bake at 350 for 15 mins.
4. Brush oil on top and broil a little till you see a slight brown color.
5. For the dal, pressure cook all the dals with a little turmeric and salt.
6. Heat ghee in the pan and add haldi, hing, jeera, cloves, bay leaf, chilli paste, ginger paste, red chilli powder, jeera-dhania powder, garam masala one by one and sautee until u can see a blended masala and smell all the aromas.
7. Add the cooked dal and salt to the paste and some water and bring to a boil.
8. To serve, pour the hot dal into a bowl, add the bakes bati whole or broken into two and garnish with lemon juice and corriander.
   

Chocolate Cake With Raspberry Filling and Chocolate Ganache Icing

This cake I made for my darling hubby's birthday who is slowly getting converted to a choc-a-holic...Well good for me and it only works in my favor to push him over the edge on this one into chocolate bliss, being a chocolate lover myself. Many thanks to Nupur of OneHotStove for this recipe. I followed it closely except I had to add 1/2 a cup less of water and all her other directions were perfect:) This chocolate cake recipe is definitely a keeper and I hope to make it many many more times.
I kep some of the raspberry filling aside before it thickened , it use it as a side sauce for the cake and its tarness matched the chocolate perfectly. Fresh raspberries only make the deal sweeter:)

Almond Cake With Strawberry Filling and Almond Flavored Whipped Icing

I made this cake for my friend Vindhya's birthday following my yearly ritual. The cake layer could have definitely been software and more moist and I am on the look out for the perfect sponge cake recipe that I can hack at for birthday cake. For this cake, I pretty much used the standard vanialla cake recipe and added almond essence to the cake as well as the whipped cream. The filling was fresh strawberries. Hopefully I will find the recipe I am looking for soon:) For decoration, I topped the cake with slivered almonds and strawberries.

Homemade Pizza Base

I used this recipe from my friend Vinitha's blog to make the pizza base and was delighted with how easy it was:) . One half of the pizza I topped with onions, capsicum, mozzarella cheese and mariana sauce and the other half was pesto, cherry tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheeses and I obviously liked the pesto half better. I am definitely going to make more of the homemade base going forward and do away with the frozen crust I use.

Baked Broccoli

This picture may not look as appealing but it sure tasted good. I read some recipe online a while back but cannot remember where. So I may fail to link to the right blog/website but the credit certainly goes to whoever blogged about this first. It is very simple and the result is very flavorful. I did make some changes like adding crushed red pepper which made it yummier and I will take the credit for that;)

Ingredients:

1. Small Broccoli florets (about 2 inches each) - 15/20
2. Salt
3. Freshly crushed black pepper - 1 tsp
   
4. Olive oil - 3 tsps
5. Crushed red pepper - 1 tsp
6. Lemon zest - 1 tsp
7. Dried oregano - 1/4th tsp
8. Italian bread crumbs - 1/2 cup
9. Parsesan cheese (I use regiano) - 1/2 cup
   

Directions:

1. Add 2 tsps of olive oil, salt, pepper, oragano and crushed red pepper to the broccoli florets and mix well. Lay it out on a baking sheet and bake for 15 mins at 350 degrees.
2. Once you see the broccoli crisping on the outside but still having the crunch remove it from the oven.
3. Mix in lemon zest with the baked broccoli and top with mizture of bread crumbs, parmesan cheese and olive oil.
4. Broil for 2 minutes until the cheese melts and bred crumbs become brown.

Enjoy this as a side dish or just by itself. It is really tasty :)

Pineapple cake

This cake was inspired by the Indian style pineapple pastries. It came pretty close to that and I was very happy with the outcome. It was light and yummy. I made this for my sister's birthday. I would have liked to use a proper sponge cake recipe for the cake layers but could not find a good reliable one and since I have never tried it before, I decided not to take a chance with a birthday cake. But I will try it some other time. I was also inspired by a video on youtube and even used the combing technique that he recommends. For the basic cake layers I doubled the recipe here and skipped the nuts in it to bake two 8 inch round cakes. If you have pineapple essence, add 1 tsp for each layer of the cake batter. I did not have it and had to skip and it didn't make much difference. This recipe is relatively easy and hassle free.

Ingredients:

1. Canned pineapple - 1 can
2. Whipped cream- 4 cups
3. Powdered sugar - 2 tsps
4. Sugar syrup - 1 cup (not very thick)
5. Maraschino cherries - 7/8 to decorate

Directions:

1. Drain the pineapples and save some for topping and chop the rest into fine pieces. Save the drained liquid and mix it with the sugar syrup.
2. Place one layer of cake on the cake stand. Slice it into half across if the layer is too thick. Sprinkle the cake with the syrup and pineapple preservative liquid mixture until it is moist. It takes about 3-4 tbsps.
3. Drop a blob of the whipped cream in the middle and spread evenly with a spatula or butter knife.
4. Layer with the crushed pineapples and place the next layer of cake on top. Conitnue this till the topmost layer and for that skip the crushed pineapple.
5. Spread the whipped cream evenly on the top and sides of the cake. Now take a small piece of cardboard and cut one side like the teeth of a comb and used that to finish the sides. Use something smoother to finish the top.
6. Take the remaining whipped cream in a ziploc bag and cut a piece in the corner to use as an icing bag. Or if you have a proper icicing bag, go with that. Decorate with the pineapple chunks and cherries as desired.
   

I would recommend making this cake a day in advance so that all the goodness soaks in to make it taste even better:).

Directions for whipped cream: Take 2 cups of heavy whipping cream in a mixer bowl and to it add 2 tsps of powdered sugar (more if you want it sweeter). Gradually increase whipping speed from 2 to 8 and stop when stiff peaks start forming. A little before that add 1 tsp of vanilla essence. Its as simple as that!!

Vegetable Cheese Toast

This recipe was inspired by Nupur's (of One Hot Stove) Cheese Toast Recipe. I came home after an evening of shopping and had to think of something quick to finish the bread that was going to expire in two days and without too many ingredients and I thought of this. I changed the way the veggies were made although the basic idea is the same as Nupur's recipe. It is a really quick and easy snack or meal when you have bread on your hand and some frozen veggies.


Ingredients:

1. Potatoes - 2 small cut into small cubes
2. Frozen or fresh mixed vegetables
3. Kitchen king masala - 1 tsp
4. Garam masala - 1/2 tsps
5. Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
6. Curry leaves - 5
7. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
8. Jeera - 1/2 tsp
9. Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
10. Salt
11. Oil - 1 tsp
12. Whole wheat bread slices - 8
13. Mozzarella or any low fat cheese - 1 cup grated
14. Red chilli flakes
15. Dried oregano
    
16. Tomato ketchup
    

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add jeera, mustard, turmeric, curry leaves and let the mustard seeds sputter.
2. Add the potato cubes and let them turn a little brown at the edges.
3. Now add the frozen vegetables, kitchen king masala, chilliw powder, garam masala, salt and about a half cup of water and steam it all until it is well blended and well done.
4. Toast slices of bread until well done. Apply a layer of ketchup and then a layer of the cooked veggies.
   
5. Top with some cheese and red chilli flakes and oregano and broil it until the cheese melts. Serve hot with ketchup or any chutney and enjoy!

Black Forest Cake

I made this black forest cake for my hubby's birthday . I use Nupur's recipes as posted here . Nupur thank you so much for this awesome recipe. It worked wonderfully and brought back memories of the cakes in India.






I must say this cake tasted mind blowing two days after it was baked. So the next time I will make this way in advance of the event. I did not make any modifications to the recipe except using a little less sugar and a little less of the instant espresso powder. I did feel like my cake layers came out a little hard and that is probably because I did not drizzle enough syrup. But after two days of soaking who cares!!! The taste is just out of this world!!!

In case you are wondering why the cake has the chocolate shavings only on the side, the origical plan was to ice "Happy Birthday" but the brilliant person that I am, I bought the red icing tube but not the front piping attachment for it!! So hubby had to make do with colorful candles on the top!!:)

Coconut cake with coconut cream cheese icing

This was my second attempt at a "real" cake with icing and I chose my dear friend Vindhya's birthday for this because my first attempt was a simple cake with whipped cream icing for her birthday last year. That was when I first got my stand mixer and I am in love with it ever since. I chose a coconut cake with coconut cream cheese icing because she is not a big fan of chocolate. A lot of things wen wrong with this one - the cakes had an uneven surface that I did not bother sawing off, the icing technique left much to be desired which meant that I had to cover it up with coconut flakes and that did not leave me any open space to ice "Happy Birthday" :( but the cake did taste ok and I hope she liked it:). Thankfully the candles made it look a little festive and the end product was passable.




I used this recipe for the cake and this one for the icing. The modification I made were -

1. I added coconut milk to the cake instead of regular milk to give it a coconut flavor and did not blend in the fresh coconut.
2. I also added 1tsp of coconut extract to the cake batter.
3. I added only one cup of sugar to the cake batter and and two cups of powdered sugar to the icing instead of the amounts prescribed.
4. The icing was made with low fat cream cheese instead of regular cream cheeses.
   

My next attempt will be the black forest cake using Nupur's (One Hot Stove) recipe for my hubby's birthday this weekend. I have my fingers crossed and I hope it turns out well.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Penne

This is a yummy dish inspired by Nupur's (of One Hot Stove) lovely recipe of Roasted Squash-Onion Lasagna




I made the following modifications -

1. Instead of lasagna sheets I used a whole wheat penne. This is purely because I did not have lasagna sheets on hand when I made it but the whole wheat penne went really well with the butternut squash and the bechamel and gave it an earthy flavour and good bite.
   
2. I rubbed some dry italian herbs like thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano on the butternut squash and onion before roasting.
3. Before baking I topped the whole thing with a mixture of grated Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs instead of just the Parmesan cheese.
4. While making the bechamel sauce, I added some chopped garlic to the butter before the flour to give a garlicky flavor to the sauce.
5. I also shallow fried some sage leaves in olive oil and added it to the mixture before baking.

Thanks Nupur for this lovely recipe! i really enjoyed making it and eating it:)

Cinnamon Sticks

Oh yum!!! That is all I can say after having just munched on these delectable cinnamon sticks. They can beat any cinnabon chain at their own game. A very easy and crowd pleasing recipe:) I cannot remember what I read recently that inspired this recipe but I do remember looking up several blogs. Sadly I do not remember which ones and I cannot give credit to a single one. But thanks to whosoever's blog inspired this!!!:)

Ingredients:

1. Puff pastry sheets
2. Sugar 3-4 teaspoons
3. 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
4. A dollop of butter - melted

Directions:

1. Cut the pastry sheet into 3 inch X 1 inch strips. Pull each strip a bit and twist along the length of it.
2. Mix the sugar and cinnamon powder
   
3. Brush with melted butter on both sides and sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar on both sides.
4. Pre-heat oven to 350 F and bake the sticks for about 25 mins until they are well done. Allow it to cool just a but and enjoy them warm!
   

Basic Vanilla and Nut Cake

This Christmas, I decided to bring out my stand mixer and bake a simple cake like my mom used to for all our birthdays. I must say the result was very yummy and we all loved it but it still couldn't beat my mother's cake:). This post goes to all moms who take the effort to make their kid's bdays special by baking for them.....


Ingredients:

1. 1 stick of butter
2. 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
3. 1 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
4. 2 spoons vanilla essence
5. 2 large eggs
6. 1/2 cup milk
7. 3/4th cup sugar - you can use 1 cup if you like it sweeter
8. nuts of your choice - I use cashews and almonds
   

Directions:

1. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
2. Add eggs one by one and continue beating until you form a smooth fluffy mixture
3. Beat the milk into the mixture along with the vanilla essence
4. Sift the flour and baking powder together. This step is very important to keep the cake mixture free of lumps.
5. Slowly beat the flour into the eggs, butter and milk mixture until the batter is smooth and well mixed. Add nuts and fold in. Save some to top off the cake.
   
6. Grease and flour an 8 inch round pan and fill it up with the batter. Top with remaining nuts.
   
7. Pre-heat oven to 350 and bake for 20-30mins or until the cake is well browned on the sides. Allow it to cool and enjoy!!! :)
   

Paneer Pizza

Credit/Thanks: I must give the credit for this recipe to a friend/cousin Kanaka who made this for our potluck and got me hooked to the idea of desi style pizza. I remember having paneer pizza in India but hadn't really tasted it in US until she made it for us. So, thanks Kanaka!


Ingredients:

• Store bought pizza base ( I used Boboli brand)
  
• Marinara sauce
• Paneer (about 15 small cubes)
• Red onions (diced small)
• Capsicum - red, green, yellow - whatever you have on hand (diced small)
• Cilantr0 - finely chopped
• Lemon -1/2
• Garam masala - 1/4th teaspoon
• Tandoori masala - 1/4th teaspoon
• Chilli powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Haldi - 1 pinch
• Mustard seeds and jeera seeds for tadka
• 1 table spoon oil - vegetable or olive

Directions:

Heat the oil in a pan and do the tadka. Add 3/4th the onions and paneer and saute.
Add all the masala and marinara or any pizza base sauce and some water to get the right consistency.
Spread on the pizza base evenly and sprinkle the bell peppers and cheese on top
Preheat oven to 350 and bake for about 20min (15min if you don't like it too crisp)
Once out, sprinkle the chopped corriander and lemon juice and enjoy!!

Baked Ravioli

This recipe was a by product of my need to finish up a huge packet of frozen spincach ravioli from Costco. The first time I made it with a tomato basil base but the use of pesto for this dish, like any other, improves it phenomenally. Now my hubby loves this so much that I always make excess and it also recently won the title of "Best Veggie Dish" and "Best Comfort Food" in my office potluck. So here goes.....




Ingredients:

• Frozen or fresh spinach ravioli or any ravioli of your choice - 20/25 ravioli pieces
  
• Cherry tomatoes - 15-20
• Bell peppers julienne cut- all colors and any number you like
• Sun dried tomatoes
• Olives (chopped)
  
• Pine nuts - handful
• Pesto Sauce - 1 cup (I user Trader's Joe's pesto but you could make your own)
• Basil leaves julienne cut- 5/6 (optional)
• Mozarella cheese grated - 1 cup
  
• Parmesan cheese grated - 1 cup
• Sale to taste
• Crushed red pepper
• Crushed black pepper
• Olive oil
• Whole Garlic
  

Directions:

• Heat water with some salt and boil the ravioli until al-dente (not too soft and still has some bite left to it)
• In a pan, heat some olive oil and toast the pinenuts and garlic until brown
• Saute the bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, olives and sun dried tomatoes until semi cooked
• Add the pesto sauce, crushed black and red pepper and some salt to taste to the cooked veggies
  
• In a baking pan, layer the bottom with the ravioli. Top it with a layer of the veggies with pesto and a light layer of mozarella chese , parmesan cheese and basil leaves
  
• Add another layer of ravioli and veggies
• Top with mozarella first and then parmesan. When broiled the parmesan will harden up on the top giving a crispy crust.
• Stick the baking pan in the oven preheated at 350F for 15-20 mins or until you see a golden brown crust on top
• Serve with fresh grated parmesan cheese and chopped basil on top.

French Onion Soup & Spicy Asparagus

French Onion Soup

I was inspired to try this recipe after having an amazing bowl of french onion soup at a French/Italian restaurant called "The Vans on the Hill". Its a cozy little place on top of a small hill with a great view. So I did a little research online (specifically the recipe on this blog- http://foodieshope.blogspot.com/ - helped me a lot) and mixed and matched a couple of recipes to come up with this -

Ingredients:

1) One medium sized white onion (thinly sliced into 1 inch pieces)
2) A bunch of green(spring) onions (finely chopped)
3) An inch wide cube of butter (You could use margarine if you like)
4) A tea spoon of all purpose flour
5) Salt & pepper to season
6) Vegetable broth
7) Fresh thyme
8) Crushed garlic
9) A mini french baguette of any bread of your choice
10) Grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1) In a pan, melt the butter and saute the white onions until golden brown. For extra flavor saute until the edges are a little burnt.
2) Set some chopped green onions aside for garnishing. Add the rest of the green onions, crushed garlic and thyme and saute for 2 minutes.
3) Add the all purpose flour and let it brown for a minute.
4) Pour in the vegetable broth and season with salt and pepper.
5) While the soup comes to a simmer, cut the french baguette into slices big enough to cover the bowl that you will be serving the soup in. Place these under the browler until the edges are golden brown. Top them with the grated cheese and shove them under the broiler again until the cheese melts.
6) Dish out the bubbling soup into a bowl and top it with the slice of bread so that it is half soaked. Sprinkle the green onions set aside and enjoy!!!!

Note: If you want to spice this up a bit you could add some red chilli flakes or flavour it with a couple of drops of soy sauce.

Spicy Asparagus

This recipe was inspired by a couple of shows on food network and I have seen Rachael and Giada make amazing variations of Asparagus. This is my own version:)

Ingredients:

1) 10-15 stalks of asparagus
2) 5-10 cloves of garlic
3) Olive oil
4) Sale and pepper
5) Red chili flakes

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Break the bottoms off the asparagus stalks. A great trick suggestion by a cook on the food network is to bend the asparagus until the unwanted part splits away from the tender part.
2) Spread out the asparagus on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil (to make clean up easier)
3) Spray or brush olive oil to coat the asparagus and sprinkle salt, pepper, red chili flakes and finely chopped garlic on top of the asparagus.
4) Bake the asparagus for 10 minutes and flip over the asparagus stalks and bake again for 10 minutes. Serve hot and enjoy!

Note: You may season with some lemon juice before serving to get a citrus tang to the asparagus:)