Penne Pasta with fresh tomato, Zuccini and Basil Sauce

Italian cuisine is loved by all in our house and  I make ( or try!!!) Italian pasta with different sauces at home often. Last week, we were loaded with lots of fresh homegrown tomatoes, zucchinis, fresh basil given by our kind neighbour. So, I decided to make a tasty,creamy pasta sauce with these fresh homegrowns. The pasta was delicious with the side of  toasted fresh Jalapeno Olive Oil Bread.  Fresh basil leaves garnishing enhances the taste of the pasta dish definitely.

We could not resist extra servings to our plate and finally the kadai was empty..An excellent Italian dinner at home.!!!(Of course with very less cost).

Ingredients

Penne Pasta - 3 Cups

Fresh Tomatoes -  3 Big ones or 4 or 5 Medium Ones

Fresh Zucchini - 1 Medium

Fresh Basil Leaves Shredded - 1 cup

Garlic Pods - 3

Olive Oil - 3 tbsp

Black Pepper Powder - 2 tsp

Italian Seasoning Powder - 1 teaspoon

Oregano Seasoning Powder - 1\2 teaspoon

Salt - To Taste

Kraft Shredded Cheese ( Italian ) -  2 tbsp

Parmesan Cheese - To Taste

Method

• Cook the Penne Pasta in a big vessel with little Olive Oil and some salt. Mean time, cut the tomato, zucchini and basil leaves and keep them ready. Cut the Garlic Pods into small pieces and keep it ready.
• Keep all the ingredients that are required for making this pasta closer before starting the process.
• Drain the pasta after its cooked and keep it ready.
• In the kadai, add 2 tbsp of Olive Oil first. When its heated up, add the shredded garlic pieces into it. Fry them for a minute and then add tomatoes to it.
• After few minutes, add the zucchini pieces to it and add little bit of salt and close the kadai with the lid. Let them cook on a medium flame for few minutes.
• Then, add black pepper powder and the seasoning powders to the kadai and mix them well.
• Add half a cup of fresh basil leaves ( shredded ) into the kadai and mix it well.
• Add the cooked Penne Pasta into the mixture now. Add required amount of salt to the kadai and mix them well.
• Add 1 tbsp of Olive Oil now and let everything cook on a medium flame for a minute or more.
• Switch off the flame. Now add the Italian shredded cheese into the pasta and stir it. You can add more black pepper to the pasta if you want it to be more spicy.
• Now garnish the Penne Pasta with some shredded fresh basil leaves and serve the pasta into a pasta plate.
• Add a dash of Parmesan Cheese on top of the pasta and serve with a side of some toasted speciality bread.

Variations

I used the Kraft Shredded Cheese Italian Variety for making this pasta. You can use any other good cheese variety of your choice.

You can adjust the spice level with the black pepper powder to your taste.

You can add more Italian cheese if you like a rich creamy pasta.

Tips

Add the cheese after you switch off the flame and just before serving the pasta. Melted Cheese makes the pasta dish creamy just before serving.

Don't forget to garnish the pasta with fresh basil leaves at the end.

Don't over cook the zucchini pieces and also the penne pasta.

Green Cutlet - Spinach Potato Cutlet

Really got bored with the regular spinach pappu or Palak Paneer , wanted to try out something different with the Spinach..Spinach with some potatoes, peas, yellow corn powder and with some spices, the appetizer was made with less effort and time. We can even substitute this Cutlet as Spinach pattie in burger and could even be used in the preparation of Cutlet chat or a pattie in our regular Ragada Patties.

Ingredients

Potatoes Boiled - 6 or 7 Medium Sized

Frozen Peas or cooked peas - 1 Handful

Spinach finely chopped - 2 cups

Yellow Corn Flour - 2 tbsp

Salt - To Taste

Jeera Powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp

Green Chilli Paste - 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp ( optional )

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1 Pinch

Oil - To Shallow fry the Cutlets

Method

• Cook the Potatoes, Peas and mash them and keep it ready.
• Cut the Spinach leaves and keep it ready too...
• In the kadai on medium heat, add 2 tsp of oil first. Then, add the spinach leaves and fry them till they get soggy and half cooked. Then, add all the powders and fry them for few seconds.
• Finally add the mashed potatoes, peas and the yellow corn flour. Add required amount of salt and a pinch of sugar and mix them thoroughly.
• Fry them for a minute and switch off the flame.
• After it gets cooled, take a ball size of the mix from the kadai. With little oil in hand, make a small flat pattie. Similarly make other patties too with the kadai mix and keep it ready.
• In a non stick pan or dosa pan, add little oil and shallow fry them at one shot with very less oil. Turn them both sides and fry every pattie / cutlet uniformly.
• Keep the fried cutlets on a plate and serve with a side of Tomato Ketchup.

Tips

Don't mash the potatoes and peas too much. Leave few small potato pieces so that the cutlet tastes good.

Variations

You can customize the spice level according to your taste..I prefer this to be milder as i made it for my kids.