Elbow Pasta Tart | The Best Ever

After I made my first quiche the love for warm pies & tarts was unleashed. Especially since V as well as a neighbor couple who we are friends with loved the first attempt. I was egged [not encouraged ;)] on. My second attempt was this tart. Well let me tell you this recipe was born out of need to utilize the leftover pasta which was little and not enough to be enjoyed by 2 of us as a dish. So I decided to bake this as a tart.

Macaroni Pasta Tart

I tried working on things which had not gone well in my first quiche. One of them was getting the edges nice & curvy for my tart but as you can see I did a terrible job. 🙂 I also decided to try a new dough recipe & found one at Joy of Baking. As always her recipes are bang on. The dough easily came together. I skipped salt as I used salted butter. I also halved the recipe to suit my pan size. This time I blind-baked the pastry & made the pasta at night and quickly baked the tart for lunch.

Macaroni Pasta Tart

It was high butter to flour ratio so the crust was buttery, flaky & tasted absolute yum. The pasta was the best I’ve ever made. Younger V ate just the pasta as he is very fond of it. Older V ate more than half the tart all by himself. The neighbors drooled over the photos so much that I baked a pastry & gave them to make their own filling & enjoy the tart. The pasta tart was a big big hit & I recommend everyone to make it once!

Macaroni Pasta Tart

Shortcrust Pastry –

Recipe Source – Joy of Baking

Ingredients –

• 1 1/4 Cup – APF
• 100 gms – Butter, cold & cut into 1/2″ cubes (I used salted)
• 1/2 Tbsp – Granulated Sugar
• 2-3 Tbsp – Iced Water

Method –

1. Lightly grease the 6″ tart pan.
2. Combine flour, sugar & butter & bring together using your fingertips till it roughly resembles bread crumbs. I used potato masher. You can use a food processor. Do not handle the mixture too much.
3. Add about 2 Tbsps of water & bring together the mixture to form a dough. If necessary, add more water. Again do not handle the dough too much.
4. On your work surface, make the dough into a ball. Flatten it a little to form a 5″ disc using your palm. Cover in cling film & refrigerate for 30-60 mins.
5. Remove dough from refrigerator, lightly flour your work surface & rolling pin. Roll out a pastry about 3 ” bigger than your pan size. Keep rotating the pastry as you roll for evenness & to avoid sticking to the surface.
6. Once the desired size is achieved, then gently roll the pastry onto your rolling pin & place it onto the pan with an overhang. Gently press the pastry in the pan. Do not stretch the pastry as it will shrink while baking. Flute the edges of the pastry.
7. Chill the pastry covered in cling film and pre-heat the oven to 210 C.
8. Remove from refrigerator, use a fork & make some holes in the pastry to avoid ballooning of pastry. Now lightly grease one side of aluminum sheet & place the grease side down on the pastry. Fill the pan with rice or beans or pie-weights.
9. Bake in pre-heated oven for 15 mins. Remove the pastry from oven, remove the aluminum foil & rice.
10. Return it to the oven & bake at reduced temp. of 190 C for 10 mins. Allow it to cool.

Elbow Pasta Filling –

Ingredients –

• 1 1/2 Cup – Pasta, cooked Al dente
• 1 1/2 Cup – Spinach, washed, drained & chopped
• 4-5 – Tomatoes, medium sized, chopped
• 2 – Onions, medium sized, chopped
• 2 Tbsps – Olive Oil
• to taste – Salt, Red Chilli Flakes

Method –

1. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add onions & fry them for a few minutes.
2. Add tomatoes & spices. Allow the sauce to cook well for 10-15 minutes, till it breaks down.
3. In the meantime, blanch spinach by passing through boiling salted water. Drain well. If it is still wet, use paper towel to absorb any extra moisture.
4. Once the sauce is cooked, mix spinach & pasta. Adjust seasoning.

Assembling the Tart –

• Short Crust Pastry
• Pasta Filling
• 1 Cup – Grated Cheese

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C.
2. Spread half the cheese onto the base of the pastry.
3. Pour the filling into the prepared shortcrust pastry. Lightly press it down & top it with remaining cheese.
4. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven & allow it to cool on a wire rack for 15-20 minutes.
5. De-mould & serve warm.

Linking this to –

1. Christmas Event by Cook like a Bong
2. Merry Christmas Celebrations by Cook, Cook & Cook
3. Spot light: Healthy Baking by Recipe Junction
4. Bake Fest #14 by Cooks Joy

Creamy Spinach Pasta with Macaroni – Blog Hop 6

If you have read my first few posts (Focaccia, Spaghetti & Eggless Tiramisu), you would know that Italian is a favorite with both of us & invariably we end up having it on all our special occasions.  This time again for V’s bday, we circumvented to making Italian at home – we started with no Italian this time, to Italian again this time. Such is the love, what can we say!

I chose Creamy Spinach Pasta from Vidhya of Vidhya’s Goodeats for the special dinner. She is my blog hop partner this Wednesday. She has some very interesting & good recipes from World Cuisine on her blog. It was tough to decide what to make. V is partial towards pasta so I chose that & spinach I’ve never used in pasta before so it was going to be a novel experience. I didn’t change the recipe much except omitting eggs & garlic & using dry basil in place of fresh ones. I halved the recipe & used macaroni as I’d a packet at home.

Spinach Macaroni Pasta

Creamy Spinach Pasta with Macaroni

Recipe Source – adapted from Vidhya of Vidhya’s Goodeats

Ingredients –

• 1 packet (180 gms) – Macaroni Pasta
• 1 Tbsps – Olive Oil
• 1/4 Cup – Chopped Onion
• 1/2 Bunch – Chopped Spinach
• 1 small – Tomato, cubed
• 1/2 Tbsp – Dried Basil (use fresh is available)
• to taste – Salt
• to taste – Pepper
• 1/2 tsp – Chilli Flakes
• 1/2 Cup – Cream (I used Amul – 25%)
• 2 Tbsp – Freshly Grated Cheese

Method –

1. Cook pasta as per instructions on your package or check here.
2. Saute onions in olive oil till golden brown.
3. Stir in spinach, tomato, basil, chilli flakes, salt & pepper. Cook for another 5-8 mins, stirring occasionally.
4. Add cream & cheese. Allow the gravy to come to a boil.
5. On low flame, add pasta. Mix well. Cook for 4-5 mins till uniformly heated.
6. Serve hot with garlic toast.

Usually I make pasta in red sauce or white sauce, this is the first time I made using cream & spinach. It was a wonderful & fork licking dish. Pasta won hands down. Everyone loved the pasta & V also said that this is the best pasta I ever made. Thank you Vidhya for such a wonderful treat.

Sending Spinach Macaroni Pasta to Presto Pasta Nights, a weekly event hosted by Kirsten of Kirsten’s Kitchen to Yours. This event was initially started by Ruth of Once upon a Feast. I’ve been waiting for a chance to participate in this event as I love pasta & this was a great platform to come across awesome pastas. What a virtual treat!

Catch other Blog-Hoppers here to see what they have done for their blog hops. If you wish to join contact Radhika of Tickling Palates. Happy Hopping!!

Spaghetti in Arabiata Sauce – Super Red Hot!

As mentioned in Eggless Tiramisu post, my Anniversary Menu was Italian and this post is a continuation of that menu. Spaghetti in Arabiata sauce is both V & my favorite. We never give up a chance to hog on it.

Spaghetti in al’arabiata Sauce

 

So when I chanced upon DK’s recipe in Chefinyou for Penne all’arabiata, I couldn’t resist trying her version. But again as I’ve mentioned in my introduction, I can not stick to a recipe to the T, so I made some changes in it. Instead of Penne, I used Macaroni & Spaghetti as I had left overs from both in my pantry and I wanted to use them up. I divided the sauce in 2 portions & made macaroni & spaghetti in Arabiata Sauce. I also skipped garlic & parsley.

The verdict, this rocks baby! – straight from horse’s mouth 🙂

Spaghetti in Arabiata Sauce – Recipe for Sauce inspired from DK

• 1 cup – Macaroni
• 150 gms – Spaghetti
• 2 Tbsp – Olive Oil
• 1 1/2- Medium Onion, finely chopped
• 2 red chiles, seeded and sliced thinly (I used dried red chilli)
• 10 ripe tomatoes,finely chopped
• salt, pepper & dried oregano to garnish
• few parmesan shavings
• Water for boiling pasta
• salt & oil for boiling pasta

Method – Cooking Pasta

Recipe Source: Basic Food Preparation (my college text book)

Boiled Spaghetti

1. Heat water in a pan (big vessel). The water should be enough to completely cover the pasta when dipped. Add 1 tsp salt to it.
2. Add 1 tsp of olive oil to water to keep the pasts from sticking together.
3. Once the water starts boiling, slowly add pasta, so that boiling doesn’t stop. (I boiled both macaroni & spaghetti separately).
4. Boil & stir gently to keep the pieces from sticking to the pan & to each other.
5. Cook to the ‘al dente’ stage or a little short of it if it is to be held. To test, press a piece against the side of the pan with a fork. It should need quite a firm pressure to break the pasta.
6. Drain & rinse thoroughly with cold water until the rinsed water runs clear.
7. Coat lightly with oil or butter to prevent sticking.
8. To reheat pasta place in a strainer & submerge in hot water or saute in a little fat.

Method – Sauce

Sauce

1. Heat oil in a pan, fry the onions along with chillies. If you are using dry chillies, very lightly crush them & split them in the center as it allows the flavor to be released in the oil. I fry chillies first & quickly remove them once they start sputtering and keep aside using a small straining spoon as leaving them in the oil makes them black & unappealing.
2. Once onions are fried, add tomatoes and just a pinch of sugar. Sugar is added to neutralize the acid in tomato. Heat on high flame.
3. When tomatoes break down & start to ooze liquid, add whole chillies in them so they will release their flavor while cooking. Allow to cook on low flame for another 5-8 mins. Keep stirring in between if required. It should attain a saucy consistency. If thick, then add little of pasta water to get the right consistency.
4. Once done, divide the sauce in 2 parts – to one part, add macroni, salt, pepper & oregano and to the 2nd part add spaghetti, salt, pepper & oregano.
5. Garnish with parsley & parmesan. Serve hot with bread. I served with Stuffed Foccacia.

Macaroni in Arabiata Sauce

This super hot dish complimented our relationship and celebration. I would like to end the last dish made for anniversary with lyrics of Fairytale by Alexander Rybak–

Every day we started fighting, everyday we fell in love,
No one else could make me sadder, but no one else could lift me high above…

I Love You V!