Fusilli with eggplant, cherry tomatoes and basil pesto

This recipe is supposed to use trenette, another kind of short pasta, but I couldn't find that at Trader Joe's so I used what I really like, Fusilli, because I think it has more personality then penne and is easier to eat than linguine.

I made pesto at home for the first time, and it was pretty exciting (besides the technical difficulties with the blender...). The recipe called for two packed cups of basil leaves, and boy, did I pack those two cups! I was really uncertain after I was done making the pesto, because it looked so less for the one pound of pasta I was boiling. And so I added a little bit more oil, something I shouldn't do next time because the eggplant already has oil and the sauce thins out since you get to add some pasta water at the end (tip for you!) The addition of cherry tomatoes was my idea, and I thought they worked great because they cut through the creaminess of the pesto and eggplant. Plus they add such lovely color. The pesto is your truly basic pesto, with basil leaves, pine nuts (SO pricy btw, $8 for 8oz!), garlic, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese, and oh of course, EVOO. I think it's something I'd like to make again, even though using the packet of dry pesto powder is so much easier. The flavor you get from this is so much more fresh (obviously) and so I'd think its worth it.

Something that I think I'd want to do next time: roast the eggplant instead of cooking it on the stove. I think that roasting it would help cook it better without the eggplant having to absorb so much oil. It's something that I'd definitely want to try if I make this again!

Hope you guys enjoy the pictures :)

Pasta with a twist: Baked!!

So we've all heard of lasagnas being baked in ovens, and they're pastas, right? I never thought of actually baking short pasta (like penne, rigatoni, etc) before. A lot of the things I've been making are really simple to make, but the flavor you get in the end is just amazing.

This dish just takes time in the roasting and baking, and the rest is just about combining. Again, a little help from the store getting ready made sauces doesn't hurt! I used two types of sauces: a little bit of left over Ragu from the raviolis and a creamy marinara (I didn't even know they sold creamy marinara sauces in stores!!). I needed a whopping three cups of sauce for this, and I'm glad I didn't use any less because you don't want the pasta to be dry after it bakes. The recipe asked you to use all kinds of vegetables, but I omitted the summer squash because I wasn't sure if my family would like it. I used eggplant instead, and after roasting it, it was so creamy! Absolutely delicious. Another thing that I had to buy was herbs de provence. It's a mixture of herbs that both the Italians and French use. It was a little expensive, but I didn't want to compromise the taste of the roasted vegetables. The other vegetables were red bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, and I added a clove of garlic. I tossed these with salt, pepper, olive oil, and the herbs and popped them in the oven for a bit. Then after they were done roasting I mixed the pasta (which I boiled for about 6 minutes) and the sauces in, and put them in the glass baking dish and topped it with butter and some cheese and let it bake some more so the pasta could cook and all the flavors could mix).

The taste of this dish was different than any other I've ever made before. I usually make pasta with pesto, not marinara. But the creamy marinara was the really great addition, it wasn't too sweet, which is how some tomato sauces can taste. I used one pound of pasta- this turns into a lot because of all the vegetables! It's enough to serve 6 to 8 people I would say. So me and my family was snacking on this dish the day after I made it too!

Your pretty typical Mushroom and Spinach Ravioli

I love pasta. Ravioli is even better. It's like pasta with a surprise. But this dish. Oh man, you can forget the pasta. Think outside Italy. Maybe China? Yea, that's right. Egg roll wrappers. SAY WHAT?! I know, I never thought it was possible but Giada de Laurentis showed me how. Making these is a little time consuming if you decide to make the marinara sauce at home. I decided not to, because I didn't want to be in the kitchen all day long. So I picked up a jar of extra chunky mushroom Ragu from Safeway, some delicious mascarpone and parmesan cheese, frozen spinach, fresh mushrooms, and egg roll wrappers and watched Giada step by step make these wonderful raviolis. The tricky part is doing the stuffing. Making the stuffing is easy; just put it all into a food processor. I added a clove of garlic because I thought the stuffing could use more flavoring. When stuffing the ravioli, I had to make sure that it didn't leak out of the edges after I cut the egg roll wrappers. Something I wish I had: a ravioli cutter. I used a knife, but I wasnt able to get the pretty edges and I think the ravioli might have sealed better with a cutter. One thing I did love: painting the edges of the wrappers with egg wash! I bought inexpensive basting brushes from Safeway in the cooking gadgets aisle. I had always seen it being done on TV and decided it was time for me to do the same! So tips for the stuffing: dont over stuff, because the stuffing is delicious and I think that a little goes a long way. I had about four raviolis split open when I was cooking them in the water, so all the water got inside, and so I tossed those in the trash. I had tons of extra stuffing so I went ahead and made a lot of raviolis for my family. Make sure to use plenty of egg wash so that the second layer of egg wrapper sticks. After you cook the ravioli, try to dry off the excess water. I put it on a paper towel. But Giada plates the ravioli right after she takes it out of the water, which I thought was weird because there is still so much water around and in the crevices of the ravioli and so the marinara sauce thins out in your plate.

The ravioli looks impressive on a plate and looks like you've put in hours of work, but now you know it's only a matter of about an hour and some preserverance!

-Aparna

And the cooking begins...

So I started cooking as soon as my mom thought it was appropriate for me to learn how to make a proper Indian that I wouldn't deprive my husbands and kids of. I've always had a great affinity for food. When I was a child, I used to point at almost every thing in my sight and ask, "Is that for eating?" in Hindi. I usually get pretty sad if there isn't anything good to eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and I don't like it when people skimp on ingredients because they're watching their weight or whatever. That's why this blog is called Decadent Eatery, I guess!

So the first thing I want to share is chocolate ganache cupcakes I made. The recipe is from Ina Garten of Food Network. Now, Ina has a very unique way of cooking. In most shows, you see a neat counter from the beginning to end and nothing gets dirty. But in her show, the flour gets all over the counter, sauce might splatter a bit, and her hands get messy. Which is partly why I love her. But then you hear her voice, and it's all sophisticated and glossy sounding, and I think that is what rounds out her show.
So this is her recipe and it uses a whole lot of Hershey's chocolate syrup, but the cupcakes are divine. If you don't overmix (which is what I was so scared of, since Ina warned us in the recipe) the batter, the cupcakes turn out really really soft and almost fudgy, but not. As for the word "ganache," it sounded super fancy to my ears but its the most simple thing in the world. It's just melted chocolate in cream in a double boiler! What you get is a shiny melted chocolate that's perfect for dipping the cupcakes into. After a few hours, the chocolate ganache sets. These cupcakes are really chocolatey and you really have to like chocolate to eat them. They are perfect with a glass of milk to tone down the chocolate flavor, though. If you're going to make these, I would recommend that you have an electric mixer on hand because there is a lot of mixing. Also, having the butter at room temperature is a must. When I did this, the butter was almost at room temperature and I still had a little bit of trouble when I was beating the sugar in. Other than that, these are super easy and everyone will love them!

Cheers!
-Aparna

First Post :)

First off, major thanks to Avi for helping me pick a name; This blog is named by him! Second, thanks to Lea, Avi, and Sura for encouraging me to start a food blog. I hope I give you some amazing looks at the food I get the chance to make this summer and hopefully during the school year when I get time.

Let's Eat.
-Aparna