P for Pasta

Who doesn’t love pasta? We needn’t always go out to a fine dining restaurant (or order in nowadays) because here I come with a delicious but easy cook version. This recipe is one of those simply made dishes which can be whipped up on a weekday and voila delicious meal ready!

Amo Il Cibo Italiano

Continuing my love for Italian cuisine, here’s a dish which is, I think, quite close to the original version and not an indigenous version of the same. It’s not at all complicated – of course, I am not making the actual pasta from scratch – and can be done in about 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

Pasta – penne, 125gms.

Sweet corn – ½ cup

French Beans – 100 gms., chopped

Garlic – 4/5 cloves, chopped

Onion – 1, medium, chopped

Capsicum – ½, medium, chopped

Flour – 1 tbsp.

Milk – 3 cups

Salt – to taste

Pepper – 1 tsp.

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp.

Oregano powder – 2 tsp.

Thyme powder – 1 tsp.

Cheese – 1 cup, grated

Butter – as required

Oil – 2 tsp.

Method:

1. Boil the pasta in a pan of water with a pinch of salt. Pasta should be al dente. Drain them in a colander once done. and drizzle some olive oil over them to keep from sticking together.
2. Boil the chopped sweet corn and french beans (and any other veggies you may want to add like carrot, broccoli, mushroom etc.) with a pinch of salt in a saucepan till they are about ¾ cooked. Drain them once done.
3. Now, onto the main part of the dish (in my opinion) – the white sauce!
   1. Heat 2 tsp. oil in a frying pan. Add chopped garlic and sauté till you get the nice fried garlic smell.
   1. Add the chopped onions and capsicum till they are translucent.
   1. Then add a knob of butter (~1tbsp.). Once the butter melts, add the flour and keep mixing so that it doesn’t form lumps.
   1. Now add in the milk and keep sauteing to avoid lumps.
   1. Once the sauce starts to thicken, add in salt, pepper and red chilli powder, thyme and oregano and mix.
   1. Add ¾ cup cheese and mix.
4. Add the boiled veggies and the pasta and mix well.
5. Garnish with red chilli flakes, oregano and remaining cheese.
6. Serve hot with some chilled wine.

This is a dish I make often which takes the boring out of any normal day. Alfredo pasta, some wine, some Netflix and ahh, a fantasy meal!

This post was written for Blogchatter A2Z challenge; Day 16 – Letter “P”.