Winter Spaghetti with
Cauliflower, Green Beans, Capsicum, Tomatoes n Parmesan
After a gap of the whole month of February and 20 days of March
here I come back, in fact I never have been away, I used to come n look around but I could
never posted somehow. To tell you I was
away from my home in a different city for a new project which is not related to
food, so there were long journeys across India
and some of it took as long as 32 hours! I missed all of you so much,
even though we are not directly connected, somehow we are connected mentally
for the love of food n life and I missed all of that of being with you while I
was not here.
Spaghetti
is close to my heart, not that it has always been. In fact when I first started
eating it I quite disliked it, I found it hard n chewy, around that time I was
a fan of noodles which are relatively softer , I loved stir-fried noodles that
time, I still do. When I started cooking spaghetti initially my disappointment stayed
for a couple of trials, the flavors I was putting into it were not attracting
me but as I went on cooking it, I was slowly getting there. There is this time
period when I realized I’m cooking it right and I began to like it, that was
time when the love developed and the spaghetti opened itself to me. It is like
the spiral of the spaghetti was a puzzle and when you finally solve it you get
to the real flavors where you can only love it. So here is the truth be told: I
Love Spaghetti.
This recipe that I cooked
just before my journey begun is in fact a true winter recipe, because
not just it was made in the winter, it was made with cauliflower, green beans,
capsicum which comes in abundance in the winter in my place. When I finally
bite into it, I said ‘Ah! Man’ my mind just sang a song, the flavors of the
cauliflower, green beans, onions, Parmesan all coming together, the texture of
the veggies, the depth of flavors, it was a little heaven for me. This is what
good food does to you, it can make you happy n smiling at toughest times, it
can make you friends with complete strangers, it can make you feel at home when
you are thousands of miles away, in a long tiring tough journey it can make you
feel everything is going to be all right.
So now I will present you the recipe straight away! Cook it
and discover it!
For The Recipe:
Spaghetti – 150 gm
Cauliflower florets -2/3
medium florets, cut into 1 inch sized thin sizes
Green Beans – 50 gm,
chopped diagonally into 2 inch sizes
Onion – Half a medium
onion, sliced into half moons
Green Capsicum – Half a
medium capsicum, cut into thin slices of 2 inch lengths
Tomato – 1 and half of a
medium tomato, chopped
Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
chopped
Garlic – 1 clove, chopped
+ 1 small clove or ½ a small clove made into a paste
Parmesan cheese -2 tbsp grated
Freshly crushed black
pepper-1/2 tsp
Red Chili Powder- a pinch
or ¼ tsp
Vegetable oil/olive oil -2
tbsp
Butter – a small blob
Salt to taste
Pink rock salt/Kala Namak
– a pinch
Sugar – a pinch
1. Let’s begin by making the spaghetti, heat 5/6
cups of water in a large bowl, add good amount of salt in it until you can
taste the water has got enough salty, when the water comes to a vigorous boil
put the spaghetti in and cook it for the amount of time mentioned in the packet
or the way you like. When the spaghetti is done, take the spaghetti out n keep
some of the water of the spaghetti.
2. While the spaghetti is
getting ready, let’s prepare the beans, take a pan and add a blob of butter and
3 tbsp of water in it and add the beans, put the pan on a low heat, cover it.
Give it 7/10 minutes, check in between and toss the beans around; when the
water dries up add some more water. Take the beans out with any remaining water
into a bowl after 7/10 minutes.
3. In the same pan heat
the olive oil/vegetable oil. Once the oil is moderately hot add the sliced
cauliflower, they will begin to sizzle, keep the heat on medium flame, the cauliflower
should start to get slight brown all over, stir them in between. Because we
have cut the cauliflower quite thinly it won’t much time to get cooked, once
they are slightly brown add the chopped garlic to the oil, give them 2 minutes,
then add the onions n give them a mix. Give them 2 minutes, after that add the
capsicum slices n give them 5-7 minutes, stir in between. As the cauliflower
gets more brown and the onions softens, so will the capsicum it is time to add
the chopped tomatoes. Add a tiny pinch of sugar n mix, put the flame to high
now and add salt, add half of the fresh coriander leaves, a pinch of black
pepper and give everything a good stir. Keep the flame high for 1 minute, then
reduce it a low flame and give the whole thing about 7-9 minutes. Stir in
between and soon the tomatoes will lose their form and become like a sauce, add
the pinch of pink rock salt/kala namak, red chili powder n mix, taste n adjust the salt. At the
end of 7/9 minutes when the tomatoes have softened add the prepared beans, then
the spaghetti and the 1 tbsp or 2 of the spaghetti water, mix well, when the
water dries up a little bit add the small amount of garlic paste that you
prepared from a tiny garlic n mix well, add the Parmesan, the remaining black
pepper n toss. And hey! Our spaghetti is
done! Sprinkle the remaining fresh coriander leaves.
4. Serve the spaghetti in plates;
sprinkle some Parmesan over it if you like more n fresh coriander leaves. Now
tell me it is looking amazing right? I know, I know. Now dig in
Bon Appétit.
