KIDS LUNCH BOX - TORTELLINI WITH SUN-DRIED TOMATO PESTO, CAPRESE,CUCUMBER !

Lunch: Tortellini with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto, Caprese Salad, Cucumber !
 
Snack: Chocolate Biscotti, Longan, Olives !

Recipe for : SUN-DRIED TOMATO PESTO  AND PASTA
Tortellini is store bought, cook the pasta as per the package instruction and follow the same process given in the above link.  

Make one or two pesto in the weekend and always keep them handy in the refrigerator.  For example this pesto stays good for maximum 10 days in refrigerator and months in freezer.  Pesto can be used in many ways and makes life easier when you pack lunch for kids or adults.   I am yet to post my Basil pesto recipe, stay tuned will post very soon.  I am also posting lunch box recipes one by one so please bear with me :)  Do send me an email or drop in your comments if you have questions.

LUNCH BOX :

SNACK BOX:

 

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BISCOTTI - ITALIAN DELICACY FOR SWEET PUNCH

Hope everyone had wonderful weekend.  This time I am doing pretty late post for Sweet punch :(  Anyway here is an Italian Delicacy.  I used to make them for my Kid snack box for school and now its here for sweet punch this time..... Before proceeding with the recipe, I just wanted to let you know I have opened a Face book fan page for my space as I don't want to mix both personal page and the fan page.  I would love to have your likes for my page :) Here is the link for Facebook Fan page Dishesfrommykitchen, you can also scroll down this page and see the like button in the right hand side you can do it there as well.  Thanks for everyone who already liked it :)  

  

 

 

Here is the brief about Biscotti....

Biscotti more correctly known as biscotti di Prato (English: biscuits of Prato), also known as cantuccini, are a twice-baked cake originating in the Italian city of Prato. The cakes are large almond biscuits, made dry and crunchy through cutting the loaf of dough while still hot and fresh from baking in the oven."Biscotti" is the only traditional name, which in the Italian language is the plural form of biscotto. The word originates from the medieval Latin word biscoctus, meaning "twice-cooked/baked."

Most European countries have adopted their own version of biscotti: English - rusks, French - biscotte and croquets de Carcassonne, Germans - zwieback, Greeks - biskota and paxemadia, Jewish - Mandelbrot, and Russians - sukhariki.

Adapted from joyofbaking with slight changes of Fruit and nuts measurement with Exotic cardamom flavor !!!

Cranberry Raisins Almond Pistachio Biscotti

Ingredients:

Granulated white sugar - 2/3 cup (135 grams)
Eggs - 2 large
Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon pure (I used 1/4 tsp of powdered cardamom)
Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt- 1/4 teaspoon
All-purpose flour - 1 3/4 cups (245 grams)
Unsalted pistachios - 1/4 cup (30 grams) shelled,  coarsely chopped
Blanched almonds - 1/4 cup (30 grams) shelled, coarsely chopped
Dried cranberries- 1/4 cup (40 grams)
Raisins - 1/4 cup (40 grams) 

Method :

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2.In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the sugar and eggs on high speed until thick, pale, and fluffy (about 5 minutes).  (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.)  At this point beat in the vanilla extract or Cardamom powder.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to the egg mixture and beat until combined.  Fold in the chopped pistachios and cranberries.

3.Transfer the dough to your parchment lined baking sheet and form into a log, about 12 inches (30 cm) long and 3 1/2 inches (9 cm) wide.  You may have to dampen your hands to form the log as the dough is quite sticky. Bake for 25 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.
4.Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).  Transfer the log to a cutting board and cut into 3/4 inch (2 cm) slices, on the diagonal.  Place the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet.  Bake for about 10 minutes, turn slices over, and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Store in an airtight container. 

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PIZZA IN A CUP/THICK CRUST PIZZA

This time I am pretty late in posting the sweet punch challenge.  Pizza was this month's challenge.  As I have already posted the thin crust pizza, I wanted to make thick crust and pizza in a cup.  This pizza cups looks cute for parties and kids will surely love it. I have used the inverted muffin tray for making the Pizza cups and before rolling I have just sprinkle redchilli flakes, grated garlic and dried Italian Herbs. Hope you all will enjoy the virtual show here. Take a look at the thin crust Pizza which I have posted earlier. I have chosen to make Basil pesto pizza.  So if you want to know the BASIL PESTO HERE IS THE LINK and FOR MARINARA SAUCE HERE IS THE LINK.

 

    

PIZZA
 

Recipe source - Pioneer Women

FOR THE CRUST (MAKES TWO CRUSTS):

Ingredients :

1 teaspoon Active Dry Or Instant Yeast
4 cups All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
⅓ cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil

TO MAKE THE CRUST:


Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm (not lukewarm) water.


In a mixer, combine flour and salt. With the mixer running on low speed (with paddle attachment), drizzle in olive oil until combined with flour. Next, pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, and then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you need it. ***It’s best to make the dough at least 24 hours in advance, and 3 or 4 days is even better.

 

The topping I used for Thick crust Pesto Pizza: 

 

Black olives
Artichokes
Onion
Roasted Asparagus
Mushrooms

the above topping are my favorite one for pesto pizza.  You can choose you own topping as well.

For filling the Pizza cup I used the following

First apply your favorite sauce then fill with the following

Colored bell peppers
Capers
Lettuce
Tomato
Pickled Chilies
Mozzarella cheese

This is kind of salad Pizza , but if you want you can also bake it with other favorite ingredients like capsicum, onion, tomato , olives and bake it.

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AGLIO E OLIO ( WITH SEA BEAN, ASPARAGUS AND BROCCOLINI)

Aglio e Olio is served with spaghetti, the sauce is made by lightly sautéing minced or pressed garlic in olive oil, sometimes with the addition of dried red chilli flakes. Finely chopped parsley/Basil can be added as a garnish, along with Parmigiano-Reggiano.  Yes today I am posting Aglio e Olio with all my favorite veggies in the pasta Farfalline...

Sea bean

Broccolini

Asparagus 

 

Almost everyone will be familiar with last 2 veggies.  Seabean when I first tasted it I just fell in love with that and tried few things which were so so excellent.  Here is a brief about the above veggies.

Seabean

The sea bean, aptly named as a fresh crisp bean that looks like sea coral and has briny flavor.   Sea beans can be eaten raw, steamed, tossed into stir fries or used as a bed for sea food.  They are also known as pousse pied.

Broccolini

Broccolini is a green vegetable similar to broccoli but with smaller florets and longer, thin stalks. Although often misidentified as young broccoli, it is a cross between broccoli and kai-lan, Chinese broccoli. Broccolini is high in vitamin C but also contains vitamin A, calcium, folate and iron. And this is excellent vegetable for sautéing, steaming, boiling and stir frying.

Asparagus

Asparagus is low in calories and is very low in sodium. It is a good source of vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium and zinc, and a very good source of dietary fiber, protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, thiamin, riboflavin, rutin, niacin, folic acid, iron, phosphorus, potassium, copper, manganese and selenium.  Only young asparagus shoots are commonly eaten: once the buds start to open, the shoots quickly turn woody and become strongly flavored.

Ok coming to the recipe it’s so simple and easy.

First to prepare the veggies do the following procedure...

Sea bean - Just wash, drain and keep it aside.

Broccolini - separate like Broccoli floret, you can also use the stalks or reserve them for making soup or salad.  Wash the florets , add them in boiling water for a minute , remove and put them in the ice water to stop cooking in this way u get the vibrant green Veggie.

Asparagus - Similarly do this for asparagus. Then chop them to 1 inch pieces.

Keep all the veggies aside.

Aglio e Olio

Ingredients for sautéing:

Pasta - 1 cup any of your favorite shape cooked

Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Garlic - 3 or 4 very finely shredded

Shallots - 1 sliced (optional)

Red chilli flakes - 1/2 tbsp (you can also reduce this amount)

Basil or Parsley - 2 tbsp chopped finely

Parmigiano-Reggiano - as needed

Method:

1. Heat olive oil in the pan, before the oil is very hot add the garlic, followed by shallot slices and red chilli flakes.

2. once they are light brown add the broccolini, asparagus and the cooked pasta.

3. Now add the seabean, basil or parsely, salt (keep in mind the cheese and sea bean both has salt in it so add accordingly) give a high toss. Once sea bean is added you need not sauté for too long.

4.  Serve hot with shredded Parmigianino Reggiano.

 

 

Note:

The above is the recipe for basic Aglio e Olio recipe, you can add or minus the veggies of your choice.

Bon Appétit!!!!

You are most welcome to share any Seabean recipe in the comment section.

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CROSTATA - FRANGIPANE PLUM FILLING / DARING BAKER'S 2011 CHALLENGE

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well. 

Crostata an Italian baked dessert Tart. The base of a crostata is pasta frolla (or pastafrolla), sweet short crust pastry (or sweet tart dough) made of flour, sugar, butter and eggs.  Pasta frolla is versatile: it provides the base to make crostata with fruit preserves, pastry cream, fresh fruit, ricotta, and other ingredients, and, by itself, it makes very nice cookies. It is traditionally prepared by folding the edges of the dough over the top of the jam/marmalade filling, creating a more "rough" look, rather than a uniform, circular shape. The jams that are traditionally used as a filling are cherries, peaches, apricots, berries. The crostata can also be filled with pieces of fresh fruit and pastry cream,  but then it is called torta di frutta. A typical central Italian variety replaces jam with ricotta mixed with sugar, cocoa or pieces of chocolate and anisetta; this is called crostata di ricotta.

For filling its our own choice, So I made Frangipane Plum filling which is our favorite one. Since I had so much plum I combined with the frangipane(Almond cream), you can choose any of your favorite fruit like Peach, apple, pear etc. Frangipane is a filling made from or flavored like almond. This filling can be used in a variety of ways including cakes, tarts and other assorted pastries.  So here goes the challenge.

Pasta frolla

Ingredients:
 

     Superfine sugar - 1/2 c. minus 1 tablespoon or Powdered sugar - scant 3/4 cup
     Unbleached all-purpose flour - 1 and 3/4 cup
     Salt - a pinch
     Cold unsalted butter -   1 stick (8 tablespoons) cut into small pieces
     Grated zest of half a lemon (you could also use vanilla sugar as well)
     1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl

Making pasta frolla by hand:

   1. Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.
   2. Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.
   3. Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it (reserve about a teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing purposes later on – place in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use).
   4. Add the lemon zest to your flour/butter/egg mixture.
   5. Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.
   6. Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
   7. Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.
  
Making pasta frolla with a food processor:

   1. Put sugar, flour, salt, and lemon zest in the food processor and pulse a few times to mix.
   2. Add butter and pulse a few times, until the mixture has the consistency of coarse meal.
   3. Empty food processor's bowl onto your work surface
   4. See step 3 above and continue as explained in the following steps (minus the lemon zest, which you have already added).

 

 

Variation for Pasta frolla:

1. If you want, you can make the pasta frolla using a combination of all-purpose flour and whole-wheat pastry flour.

2.If you choose to try this variation, use 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour and 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour.

   Assembling and Baking :

   1. Heat the oven to 375ºF [190ºC/gas mark 5].
   2. Take the pasta frolla out of the fridge, unwrap it and cut away ¼ of the dough. Reserve this dough to make the lattice top of the crostata. Refrigerate this dough while you work on the tart base.
   3. To help roll the crostata dough, keep the dough on top of the plastic wrap that you had it wrapped in. This can help rolling the dough and can also help when transferring the dough to your pan. You can also use parchment paper for this. However, you can also roll the dough directly on a work surface if you prefer.
   4. Lightly dust the top of the dough and your work surface (if you’re rolling directly on a work surface) with flour. Keep some flour handy to dust the dough as you go along.
   5. If the dough is very firm, start by pressing the dough with the rolling pin from the middle to each end, moving the rolling pin by a pin's width each time; turn the dough 180 degrees and repeat; when it softens, start rolling.
   6. Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8th inch (3 mm) thick.
   7. If you used the plastic wrap or parchment paper as rolling surface, flip dough over the pan, centering it, and delicately press it all around so the corners are well covered. Peel away the plastic wrap.
   8. Trim the excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan. Press the remaining dough around the border into the sides of the pan making sure the border is an even thickness all the way around.
   9. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork in several places. 
10. Bake it in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool it until you prepare the filling.

Frangipane Plum Filling

Ingredients :

Butter - 3/4 stick butter( 6 tbsp)
Sugar - 1/3 + 2 tbsp
Egg - 1 and 1/2 egg
Almond powder - 1/2 cup
Flour - 1 and 1/2 table spoon
Almond essence - little or Vanilla essence - little
Plum - 6 quartered ( or any fruit of your choice Apple, pear, peach etc)

Method :

1. Beat the soften butter and sugar well.
2. Add the egg beat well.
3. Now add the Almond flour/powder and Apf.
4. Beat well and add the flavors.

Arranging  the Crostata :

1.  Pour the filling in the baked Pasta frolla.
2. Arrange the fruits and Bake them at at 180°C (356°F) preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.
3. To check whether it is baked or not , they should not be jiggly.

4. Brush it with Peach preserve and dust it with powdered sugar.

Serve with Whipped cream or Icecream !!!

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