If you love tomatoes, this pasta has a wonderfully intense tomato flavor from a red vodka sauce, fresh heirloom cherry tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes.  I added roasted eggplant and zucchini to the dish and finished it off with burrata, basil and parmesan.  You can use any short pasta that you like and serve with grilled chicken if you need a protein, a nice green salad and some crusty bread.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1 lb curly short pasta of choice
• 1 medium eggplant, 1/2 inc dice
• 2 zucchini, 1/2 inch dice
• 2 pints heirloom cherry tomatoes, or red is fine
• 1/2 cup julienned sun dried tomatoes,(drained if using oil brined)
• 1 4 oz ball of burrata
• 1 bunch basil, julienned, plus more for garnish
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan, plus more for serving
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, approximately
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 teaspoons greek seasoning
• kosher salt and…

While traditional red sauce is great, this pasta relies on the slightly more intense flavor of sun dried tomatoes for its flavor base. It also has some wine, stock and cream to round it out. At my local market, Central Market, I can buy some very tender sun dried tomatoes that are a perfect texture and not marinated in oil. I prefer these tomatoes to the jarred variety. For the sausage, I like to use a sweet Italian sausage and add some fennel seeds to highlight the flavors. Fresh basil at the end adds a nice pop of color and bright flavor to finish the dish.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 16 oz paccheeri (or any large tubular pasta)
• 1 lb sweet (mild) Italian sausage, casings removed
• 2 medium shallots, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 11/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup cream

This recipe is a change from the traditional meatball recipe. The meatballs and sauce are great with pasta, but taste great over rice as well. The chicken meatballs are a little on the wet side when you roll them, but this helps to keep them a bit more tender during the cooking process. I bake the meatballs which is a bit healthier than frying, but you could fry them as well if you desire. Serve with plenty of extra parmesan cheese for an enjoyable family dinner.

Makes about 24 hearty meatballs, serves 4-6

Ingredients:

for meatballs:

• 2 lbs ground chicken
• 3 slices cooked, chopped bacon
• 1/4 cup finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan, plus more for serving
• 2 large eggs, gently beat
• 4 minced scallions
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1/4 cup finely chopped basil
• 1 thick slice Italian bread (crusts removed), soaked in milk
• kosher salt and…

Ingredients:

• 8 ears of corn
• 1 Parmesan rind (about 4 ounces; optional)
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 bay…

Soya Tikki is a popular Indian snack item relished almost all over the country. This mouth-watering snack is rich in protein and fibre. It is easy to cook and can be prepared at home.  Soya Tikki can also be purchased from various food stores.

Ingredients of Soya Tikki

• Soya paneer, half kg
• Soya flour, 100 gm
• Potatoes, four to five
• onion (finely chopped), one or two
• Ginger (grated), two tsp
• Peas (shelled), half cup
• Coriander leaves (finely chopped), half cup
• Green chillies (finely chopped), two tsp
• Red chilli powder, one tsp
• Cumin seed powder, two tbsp
• Coriander (dhania) powder, two tsp
• Cloves (ground), one tsp
• Salt to taste
• Cooking oil, as required

Read more :Soya Tikki, Indian Snack

I thought that I didn’t like custard tarts. It turns out that I was just unfortunate enough to have never tried these absolutely divine creations. A rich, cinnamon and vanilla egg custard encased in shatteringly crisp, flaky pastry turns out to be just thing to make you feel better after a stressful day… or anytime to be honest.

Pastéis de nata were born of convenience. Catholic monks at the Jerónimos Monastery used egg whites to starch clothes and, as you may imagine, they got through a lot of them. To avoid wasting the yolks, the monks baked them into cakes and pastries. In an attempt to earn some money to prevent their monastery being closed the monks joined with the local sugar refinery to sell small custard tarts. The monastery still closed (in 1843) and the recipe was sold to the owner of the sugar refinery who opened the Fábrica…

The classic chocolate chip cookies to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Total time: 40 minutes

Serving: 25-30 cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 cup               softened butter

1 cup               white sugar

1 cup               brown sugar

2                      eggs

2 tsp                vanilla extract

1 tsp                baking soda

½ tsp               salt

3 cup               flour

1 cup               Choco chips

1 cup               cut chocolate bar, it will look like thick flakes

1 cup               Hazelnut, or any kind of nuts you like.

DIRECTION

• Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
• In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, salt, and baking soda.
• In another large bowl, use a hand-mixer combine butter, white sugar, and brown sugar.
• Add in eggs and vanilla extract.
• Slowly add in the mixed flour. Combine well.
• Lastly, throw in the choco chips, chocolate flakes, and hazelnut/other nuts.
• Make a small ball of cookie dough on…

When I bought some early season plums at the store, I was a bit disappointed with their flavor. As cooking, or baking, intensifies the flavor of unripe fruit, my solution was to use them in a cake. The fact that fruit cakes are my favorite, only added to the motivation.
This time I decided to top the cake with the fruit, but also to add some of it to the batter itself. To make things even more interesting, I spiced the cut fruit with a hefty amount of cinnamon, and flavored it with maple syrup, which compensated a bit for their somewhat bland flavor. I also added some almond meal to the batter, which gave the cake a nice crumbly texture, and scattered slivered almonds on top, for some crispy texture and nutty flavor.
The cake came out very tasty, moist and fragrant, with a nice balance of mild sweetness…

Grilling kale may sound like the most obnoxious hipster unnecessary culinary way to ruin a perfectly wonderful vegetable…but let the grill masters hate, it steals the show.

Ingredients: (serves 4 adults as a side dish)

• 2 bunches of Lacinto Kale
• Olive oil
• 1/4 cup Plain greek yogurt
• 1 lemon
• 2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
• Salt/pepper

Preparation:

To make the dressing, mix 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt (any amount of fat content in the yogurt is fine, but make sure it’s greek yogurt otherwise the texture will be weird), the juice from 1 lemon (roughly 3-4 tablespoons), 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly and set aside.

[Note: these are the base ingredients for any super delicious yogurt-based salad dressing. When I’m making this dressing for other salads with  more delicate greens, I’ll often add 1-3 tablespoons…