Pasta in Creamy Marsala Sauce

This is my absolute favourite pasta recipe from Maggiano-Little Italy, an American-Italian restaurant here in Houston. I ate this particular dish only once and at the same time studied all the ingredients with each morsel in my mouth. Next thing I did was tried it at home and viola!! it came out good!!!!!!! The best part was that the chef himself presented me this dish at the restaurant and came back for feedback. And my feedback was "I want to kiss your hands".



Ingredients:

8 ounces of Rigatoni, Fussilli or Bow shaped Pasta

2 ounces butter

1/2 cup Marsala Wine

2 garlic heads finely chopped

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 tbspn extra virgin olive oil

1 large white onion sliced finely

1 portion cooked skinless chicken breast (cut into bite-size pieces)

1 cup button mushrooms

1 tspn fresh ground black pepper



Method:

Chop up the onions. Put them in a large wok with a couple tablespoons olive oil. Cook on high for a few minutes until the onions are hot and starting to become translucent, then turn down the heat to medium low. As the rest of the steps progress, you'll need to remember to stir the onions every 8 minutes to keep them from burning. The onions will take a long time to reach the desired golden-brown color.

At this point of time heat lots of water with salt to taste for boiling the pasta. Quarter the button mushrooms from top to bottom. Each mushroom piece should have part of the head and part of the stem. When the onions are approaching done (not the rich brown of fully caramelized onions, but getting there) add the mushrooms to the cooking onions. Stir everything together and cook until the mushrooms are looking sautéed. With the onions and mushrooms in the pan, turn the heat up to high and add the wine. Scrape the bottom of the pan to make sure the sugars from the onions are released and integrated into the liquid. Add the chicken and garlic. Let it cook over medium heat. Monitor the pasta as it cooks. When it's just reaching the perfect al dente, turn off the heat and stir in the heavy cream and grated Parmesan cheese. Cut up the butter into pieces and stir them into the sauce. Add freshly cracked black pepper to taste and serve. Done!

Anu......I love u for this chicken!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup.....!!!!!! thats the name of this dish!!!!! It is so simple, instant and fun to make that I am totally bonkers for this chicken introduced to me by my friend Anu. You will know once you eat this juicy, tender, full of flavor pieces of meat in vibrant and spicy sauce. So without wasting any time here it is.......

Ingredients:
250 gms chicken thigh meat
1 tbspn ginger-garlic paste
1 tbspn yogurt
2 tspn tandoori chicken masala powder
1 tspn sambar masala powder
1 tspn kashmiri chilli powder
1 tspn garam masala powder
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
1 tspn kasoori methi (crushed)
1 tspn saunf/fennel seeds
lots of curry leaves
2-3 tbspn oil for shallow frying
salt to taste

Method:
Clean, wash and cut the chicken thigh meat into bite-size pieces. Pat dry with kitchen towel. Add salt and turmeric powder and mix well. Now add all the ingredients except the curry leaves and fennel seeds. Mix well. Let it stand for 20-30 minutes. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan/skillet until it shimmers on the surface. Add fennel seeds and curry leaves sufficient to cook one batch of marinated chicken. Do not let the curry leaves burn. Keep the flame on medium burner. Now add one batch of the marinated chicken. Let it be for 5 minutes as it is. Now turn the pieces to cook on the other side and cook for another 5 minutes. The masala should stick to the meat and browned a bit by now. Increase the flame. Now you can play with skillet by tossing and turning the meat around. By now the meat should have been cooked. Be carefull not to over cook as the meat will turn hard and rubbery. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and repeat the procedure for the remaining chicken. Serve with cilantro sprigs and lemon wedges. Done!

Bharwan Karela (Stuffed Bitter Gourd)

I have been making this particular dish since I was in high school. I had read it in some recipe book and tried it out. It was an instant hit!! Even people who detest karela liked it. So here it is....

Ingredients:

4-5 medium sized whole karela

1 medium onion chopped

1 tbspn besan (chick-pea flour)

1 tsp saunf (fennel seeds)

2 tsp amchur powder (dry mango powder)

1 tsp paprika/red chilli powder

1 tsp corriander seeds powder

1 tsp cumin powder

a pinch of turmeric

oil for shallow frying

salt to taste

Method:

Wash and trim the ends of the karela (bitter gourd). Make a slit in the middle of each for stuffing. Take a pressure cooker or a saucepan with lid and boil the karela's with salt and turmeric until just tender. Let it cool. For the stuffing, heat 1 tbspn of oil in a pan. Add fennel seeds. When the seeds starts to change colour add in the chopped onions. Fry till the onions are soft. Now reduce the flame to low and add all the powdered masala's. Fry for a minute. Now add the besan and salt to taste. Keep on stirring until it resembles a coarse mixture. Finally add the amchur powder and turn the heat off. Let the mixture cool.

Once the karela's are cooled down remove the seeds with the help of a spoon. Fill in the stuffing in the slits and secure/tie it with the help of thread/string to prevent filling from spilling out. Shallow fry the karela's in hot oil till they change colour. Done!!