Thai red curry noodle soup..

What to cook? is a more difficult question for me than who landed  a rover on Mars, specially for weekday dinner. Someday you do not feel like picking up the knife, pots and pans and to cook. Eating out may be a solution, but I avoid that on weekdays as much as possible and try my best to prepare something fresh and healthy for my kid.

To do this, I usually plan ahead. During weekend, I plan for the weekdays meal, and it really helps. I buy things accordingly on  the weekend and stick to my plan. Yes, at times I  do slip,  may be due to health issues or just lack of energy. But mostly I  try to follow my laid out plan.

Basil pesto...

Today I'm posting a very basic recipe, recipe for a pesto. The word pesto means something made by crushing or pounding. To many pesto is synonymous to basil pesto, but it can be any herb or ingredient.The most common known recipe for basil pesto involves Italian basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, olive oil and salt. But thousands variations are there. Like I have used walnuts instead of pine nuts, the simple reason being pine nuts are very expensive and also difficult to find where I live. One can replace basil with spinach or coriander or some other green fresh herb. So basically it is a combination of green herb, nuts, olive oil, salt and cheese. Pesto is generally used as sauce for pasta. It can also be used as spread for sandwich, or as pizza sauce or as dip. I do love to have a spoonful of freshly made pesto, just like that.

Traditionally morter and pastle is used to make pesto. I have used a food processor to do the same. The basil I have used is homegrown. It is very easy to grow basil in Indian climate.

Things needed to make Basil Walnut Pesto:

• Basil: 4 cups
• Walnut: 1/2 cup
• Garlic: 2-3 cloves
• Parmesan cheese: 1/2 cup
• Extra virgin olive oil: 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup
• Salt to taste

Steps of making Basil Walnut Pesto:

1. In a food processor add walnut, garlic, cheese and salt, using the pulse mode finely chop all the ingredients. Gradually add the basil and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Blend until a smooth paste is formed.

2. With the blender running add the olive oil. Blend well so the olive oil emulsifies well with the paste. Add less olive oil if you are going to use the pesto for sandwich spread. Add more olive oil if you are going to use it as paste sauce.

3. Taste the pesto, add salt or cheese accordingly.

4. Pesto turns dark and takes a brown color if exposed to air. So immediately transfer to a sterilized glass jar, pour olive oil to cover the top. Close the jar and store in refrigerator for 7-8 days. Pesto can be frozen and store for months. I prefer to make fresh pesto as needed.

If you like to get regular updates from me go to my Facebook page and click on the Like button. You can also follow my blog on NetworkBlogs. Thank you..!!!

Thai basil fried rice...

I love one pot meals. A balanced dish with lean meat and carbohydrates with a simple crunchy salad perfectly suits my mid-week dinner plan. Last Wednesday I prepared fried rice, but not the usual one. It was Thai style fried rice. (Here you can check my better than take out fried rice recipe.)

When it comes to Thai food, first thing comes to our mind is the explosion of flavour from lemongrass, kaffir lime, thai basil, holy basil, and the strong sharp smell of fish sauce and of course the heat from fresh red chilies.

Pizza margherita with no cook pizza sauce

I always find it really difficult to click  food photographs while two pairs of eyes are following me and silently asking when the food will be served. It is the one of the reason I avoid clicking my food during dinner time apart from the fact that I am much more comfortable shooting in day light.

Usually I cook and click when nobody is at home, I keep myself busy with my ingredients, camera, light and of course cooking. It's easy when I bake a cake or stir up a curry, those can be served later. But when it comes to food like pizza, which needs to go directly to the plate from the oven, I feel hesitant whether to click first or to serve. And the fun part is if I don't click before I serve the food, both the man and the little one will give me a curious look. And often I have been asked why didn't you click what you cooked?

This time things worked for me and my new personal pizza pan set saved me from my click or serve dilemma. I found these great 7 inch personal pizza pans from Home Goods. It's a good place to collect props for your food photography. Sometimes you get lucky and find something very useful like a set of four 7 inch personal pizza pans I got. Two of the pizza went straight to plate and two for my camera, end of the day a happy me.

So, it was the basic of all pizza, the margherita pizza for our dinner, and that too with a no cook pizza sauce. A quick easy one but loaded with flavors and "yammmy" as my little one says.

Things needed to make Pizza Margherita:

• A recipe for pizza dough  click here.
• No cook pizza sauce (recipe follows)
• Tomato slices
• Fresh mozzarella
• Fresh basil leaves
• Olive oil

Things needed to make no cook pizza sauce:

(adapted from finecooking.com and thekitchn.com)

• Tomato: 600 gm
• Garlic: 2 cloves
• Fresh basil: 1 tbsp
• Olive oil: 2 tbsp
• Honey: 1 tbsp
• Chili flakes: 1-2 tsp (optional)
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper powder for seasoning

Steps of making no cook pizza sauce:

1. Use fully ripe tomatoes or canned tomatoes for best result. If using whole tomatoes, dice the tomatoes and discard the seeds. Chop fresh basil.

2. Put all the ingredients for sauce in a blender and blend to a smooth paste, do not add any extra water. Check seasoning and adjust accordingly. I added a teaspoon of chili flakes to spice up the sauce, it is optional.

Assembling the Pizza:

1. Preheat oven to 475 F.

2. After punching down the dough, divide the dough into two equal halves. If you are using a 14 inch round pizza pan then work with one half. You can keep the other half for future use. Wrap the dough with cling film and store in refrigerator, for 2-3 days. Or you can divide the dough into 4 parts, as I did, for 4 personal 7 inch pizzas.

3. Dust the pizza pan (you can also use baking sheet) with flour or cornmeal, spread the dough on the pan evenly. Brush dough with olive oil. Cover the dough with a cling wrap and let it rise for 30 min at room temperature.

4. After 30 min the dough will rise again, spread the tomato sauce, arrange sliced tomato and fresh mozzarella and basil. As tomato releases water, after slicing the tomato shake off all the seeds and excess juice.

5. Cook the pizza in the middle rack for 15-20 min (if using a 14 inch pan), or for 10-12 min (if using a 7 inch pan) in the preheated oven. When the cheese bubbles up and few brown spots appear the pizza is done. Garnish with some fresh basil and serve hot.

If you like to get regular updates from me go to my Facebook page and click on the Like button. You can also follow my blog on NetworkBlogs. Thank you..!!!