Fusilli all' Arrabbiata

This pasta dish was made to lift up Manasi dampened spirits. There have been 7 snow days and 6 delayed openings and there is nothing much one can do when the driving conditions are completely unfavorable.So basically there has been very little or no action in my ,"senior at high school" girl's life lately. I knew a simple pasta dish and some brownies or muffins were exactly the treats she would look forward to :)

Boy !!! That worked more than I had imagined.She loved this pasta dish and could not stop raving about all the flavors,and she did well at pointing out most. I was impressed with her knowledge of identifying different flavors despite the fact that she is a complete novice when it comes to cooking.

This is Mark Bittman's recipe and the recipe calls for penne rigate pasta,but I have made this with fusilli and elbow,remember it was snowing and I could not drive and this is all I had in the pantry. The taste was definitely all I had imagined and more. I was a little apprehensive about mixing bent tubes with fusilli but trust me-This dish looked and matched up to the original recipe in the picture:)

Notes: Penne is specifically used for the all' arrabbiata sauce,as the ridges on the penne pasta hold this sauce well .

Ingredients:
Garlic Cloves: 3 medium cloves divided
Olive Oil: 3 tbsp divided
Tomato Paste: 2 tbsp
Tomato's: 28 ounce can whole tomato's in juice,chopped
Bay leaf: 1
parsley: 1 tbsp chopped fresh or dried
basil: 1 tbsp chopped fresh or dried
Red pepper: crushed 1/2 tsp
White wine: 1/4 cup
salt: 1tsp or to taste
Pasta: 1 pound ,cooked according to package directions.
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese( optional)

Method:

1.Take a pan and heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat and add 1 chopped garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
2.Add tomato paste to this and cook for 2 minutes,stirring in between. Add tomato's in juice and the bay leaf; simmer uncovered,for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile take the remaining 2 garlic cloves,slice these thinly.Take a small skillet and put this over medium heat.Add thinly sliced garlic and cook for 30 seconds or until just beginning to turn pale golden.
4.Add 1 tbsp parsley and 1 tbsp chopped basil and crushed red pepper,cook for 30 seconds.Add wine and cook for 30 seconds.Stir in the tomato mixture;add salt and simmer for 4-5 minutes.
5.Toss sauce with hot pasta in a large serving bowl. Drizzle with remaining 1 tbsp oil.Serve with Parmesan and garnish with parsley and basil if desired.

Manasi enjoyed pasta with a glass of milk and I had the  bottle of white wine already open as I had used 1/4 cup for the sauce. So we had a perfect pasta meal with a glass of sauvignon blanc :) and I served it on the plate and ate it by the fire place :)

Ciabatta Bread & Sundried Tomato & basil,Mozarella Sandwich

Manasi and myself ,we enjoy  eating ciabatta with olive oil and some freshly grated parmesan . I buy this italian bread from Trader Joe's and I think there ciabatta is particularly fantsatic .I buy this bread very often and everytime I buy it I give it a serious thought of baking it in my oven some day.

 The last  tiny piece of Ciabatta from Trader Joe's was lying on the kitchen island and I still had plenty of fresh mozzarella & sun dried tomato and fresh basil  I had bought to make ciabatta sandwiches for Manasi. So I set out to make this very versatile Italian ,"slipper bread". The shape of the bread justifies its name.It quite resembles a slipper,with its characteristic long & flat shape. I looked up on the net and found one recipe which had been reviewed and had solid feedback :) I followed the instructions to the T as I knew this artisan bread needs to have the perfect crackly crust and a moist crumb. Trust me-The bread looked great,tasted so perfect that between Manasi & me we finished of more than half of it  while it was still warm ,with just olive oil. The crust and the crumb soaked the oil so well-it tasted exquisitely divine . I later used the remaining ciabatta to make Manasi a tomato mozzarella sandwich.

Here's the recipe for Ciabatta bread:

Ingredients For Sponge:
Active Dry Yeast: 1/8 tsp
water: 2 tbsp (105-115 f )
 room temprature water: 1/3 cup
Bread flour: 1/3 cup

For Bread:
Active Dry Yeast: 1/2 tsp
Warm Milk: 2 tbsp (102-115 f )
Room temprature water: 2/3
Olive Oil: 1 tbsp
Bread Flour: 2 cups
Salt: 1 1/2 tsp

Method to Make the Sponge:
Stir together warm water and yeast.
Let this stand till frothy/creamy
Transfer this mixture to another bowl and to this add 1/3 cup room tempartaure water and flour.
Stir this for 4 minutes.Make sure you stir this for 4 minutes,it will come together.
Now cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it for half a day minimum 12 hours or upto 1 day at cool room temprature.

Method for the Bread:
Mix the milk and yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes until creamy or frothy. Now in a food processor blend milk with sponge,water,oil & flour and run the processor till moistined. Run the food processor for a couple minutes more,add salt and run the food processor for couple minutes again.
Please Note: The original recipe called for beating this in an electric mixre with dough hook but I kneaded the dough in the food processor and it turned out just fine. You can also knead by hand. Just follow the time needed to beat/knead or process.

Scrape dough and cover with plastic wrap until doubled 1 1/2 hours.

Baking The Ciabatta Bread:
Dough will be sticky and full of bubbles. Cut two pieces of parchement paper approximately 10 inches by 6. Place on baking sheet and flour well.
Turn dough out on a well floured surface and cut in two halves.
Transfer each half to paper and shape into irregular oval shape about 7 inches.
Dip fingers in flour and dimple loaves.
Dust tops with flour.
Cover with dampened kitchen towel and let it rise double in size for roughly 1 1/2 hours or  more untill doubled in size.
Heat the pizza stone in the lowest rack at 425 d farhaneight 45 minutes before you are ready to bake the bread.
Transfer 1 loaf along with the parchment paper on the pizza stone and bake for 20 minutes or till the top is  pale golden .
remove this and keep it on the rack to cool and repeat the same with another roll.

Recipe for Ciabatta Sandwich:

Ingredinets:
Fresh mozzarella : Cut thin rounds
Sun dried Tomato: chopped into small pieces.
basil: 5-7 leaves chopped.
Pesto: 2 tbsp
Ciabatta loaf:  2 pieces.

Take 2 pieces of ciabatta loaf and spread pesto on both sides. Arrange mozzarella rounds,and spread chopped sun dried tomato along with chopped basil leaves on one loaf. Press the othet half on top of this and heat this on  a griddle and press it tight with  a plate or keep something heavy on the plate.. Do this on both sides till the sandwich is flat and slightly crisp & brown on both sides. Please make this in a panini maker if you have one.

 Notes:  Please follow the  exact instructions for the sponge .
You can add a slice of cheddar cheese and a fresh tomato slice too along with other things.