4th Anniversary, 400th Post, Winner Announcement & Quick Farfalle-Basil Pasta to celebrate

Hi All!!

It seems ages that I posted something here, I have been too busy lately..travelling, guests, health issues and many more things but today no reason, no excuse could keep me away from my blog baby. Yes!! My blog turns 4today and it also happens to be my 400th post here. Yippee, Hurray!!!

I must thank my family, friends, readers and blogger friends for being so supportive, for being there to see me grow, to praise me for my creativity and critically analyze me to improve further. Nothing of this was possible without YOU so a big THANK YOU!!! I hope to see your continued support here. I love reading your feedback so please keep giving me that.

I wanted to post an elaborate and a more creative dish here but pardon me friends, I’m just not able to bear the heat  and I simply dread long hours in the kitchen. I’m more into one pot or quick meals and my one BIG savior these days is Pasta which can be cooked in few minutes and you have ample choice to work on the flavors and play around with the veggies. The only thing I ensure is that I use Durum Wheat or Wheat Pasta, so that’s it’s good for my health too.

The pasta I’m posting today has no big recipe and has simple basic flavors and can be cooked on any lazy day without thinking too much..It’s a complete stress free recipe and that’s how I cook these days, which is no tension cooking . Also, I’m hoping that my face book fan page reaches 2000likes today so please head there and join me where I post kitchen tips everyday.

Farfalle With Basil

Preparation Time:15mins

Cooking Time:5mins

Serves:2

Difficulty Level:Easy

Ingredients

2cups Farfalle pasta ( cooked al dente)

1medium onion, cubed

6-7garlic pods, chopped finely

1/4 of green and red bell pepper, cubed

1small tomato cubed

1tsp oregano

9-10basil leaves

1tsp crushed black pepper/ paprika/ cayenne pepper

salt to taste

olive oil + butter mix, about 3tbsp

Method

Boil about a cup of pasta in about 8-10cups of water with a teaspoon oil and a table spoon salt.

Simultaneously, chop the veggies while the pasta gets cooked.

In a pan take butter and olive oil and once hot add the garlic and let it brown lightly.

Add the onions and sauté. Add the seasonings.

Tip in the pasta and toss on high flame for a few seconds. Add the remaining veggies and cook for 1-2minutes on medium before serving.

Add the basil leaves just before the final tossing on flame.

Serve hot garnished with more basil leaves.

Tips:

Add sufficient salt to the boiling pasta and always add the pasta once the water starts boiling, never add pasta to cold water.

Try to boil the pasta while the veggies/ sauce gets cooked. Always add hot pasta to the sauce. If the pasta is already cooked before adding it to the sauce, dip it in boiling water for 5secs and then add to the sauce.

Now comes the winner of last month’s ‘Only’ Cooking With Legumes event which was hosted by Nalini. Out of the 24 entries sent in Indian category

The random picker has chosen 11, which is Anu’s Masoor Patli Dal. Congrats Anu, please mail me within 48hrs to cookingoodfood@gmail.com to claim your win.