Monday, September 18, 2006

My Latest Kitchen Acquisition and Pasta with Ricotta & Mushrooms

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This kitchen tool is my latest kitchen acquisition. It helps you drain water from the pan after you cook 'Pasta'. What you do is that you hold it at the upper rim of the pan as though it were the lid. The *wings* on its two sides help you hold it with the handle grips of the pan. You hold the pan and the perforated *lid* on the sink, as away from you as possible, and then drain the water. Which also means that you do not have to use a colander for that job. The pasta can stay in the same pan in which it was cooked. Isn't it handy?

Since it is so good, I put it to use immediately as well as frequently and made a few dishes with pasta, which will feature here in the next few weeks. Today is the lucky(!) day for

Spinach Tagliatelle with Ricotta & Mushrooms
(I found the original recipe in German here.)

Serves 2-3.

Ingredients:

250g. Ricotta Cheese
300g. Tagliatelle (I used the ones with spinach. You could use plain noodles too.)
200g. mushrooms, sliced thin
4-5 fat cloves of garlic, chopped fine
2 tbsp olive oil
Parsley or any other herb (I didn't use any.)
1 tbsp tomato paste (optional; not in the original recipe)
about 1/4 cup milk (I used white wine instead. Hic.)

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Take approx. 3 litres of water in a pan and put it to boil. Add a little salt to it. (I often add a vegetable stock cube instead; that gives the pasta some more taste of its own.) Once the water starts boiling, add the pasta and cook on high heat. The time taken to cook the pasta 'al dente' is normally written on the pack.
2. In the meanwhile, heat oil in a pan. Sauté the chopped garlic and sliced mushrooms in it.
3. Stir the Ricotta cheese with the milk/wine to make it smooth and slightly thinner. Pour it over the mushrooms. Add the tomato paste, if you like. I add it to give the sauce a nice tang.
4. Add salt and pepper to it and cook on very low heat. If using any herb, add it now.
5. By now the Tagliatelle should be cooked. Drain the water from it. (This is where my new baby comes in handy. :))
6. Serve the cooked Tagliatelle onto individual plates. Pour the creamy Ricotta sauce over it. Sprinkle some more pepper over it, if you like.

Serve with a salad on the side.

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Green Tagliatelle with Ricotta & Mushrooms

(By the way, I bought the tool and also took the photographs in this post before I got my new camera. So, the pictures aren't as great as I'd love them to be. Clicking them all over again could have been an option, but I am too lazy for that. :( )

And no, this post isn't being sent to any event. Isn't that strange?

Tags: , , , , ,

27 comments:

Shilpa said...

Do you have a habit of buying each and every new gadget that you come across??? I thought I am the only one to have this *disease* :).
Now if my husband curse me for searching this here, I am going to say your name ;).
I have not experimented much on pasta. You are giving that extra *push* :).

Anonymous said...

Oh WOW!! Mamma Mia.... this one looks absolutely delicious. I recommend that before gorging on this dish it would really be ideal to serve some great red wine. My recommendations - Anselmann or Grenache Grand Sued.
-AnontheOriginal

FH said...

Actually in US we have the whole pan with perforated lid which locks itself to drain pasta!! I have two of those but your's looks stylish though!! Use well and enjoy cooking!! Neat recipe Btw!
Thanks!!

Anonymous said...

hey vishali..
tagliatelle with ricotta and mushrooms looks yummmmyyy...enjoy cooking with ur new equipments ...

Anonymous said...

vishali...i think u got confused with my name while posting a comment on my blog..jaysree sounds like a good name but i stick with maneka.i forgive u since this is the first time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!he.he.

Menu Today said...

Hi Vaishali,
After seeing your pasta post I want to make. Thank u so much for sharing this Recipe.
Your latest kitchen gadget looks nice.

Anonymous said...

Good morning, Vaishali --

The sauce looks wonderful and I really love the spinach noodles! Still using old-fashioned colander here, though :)

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Great recipe Vaish. Think you've got that Italian flow after visiting Sicily. Love the ricotta mushroom sauce. I can imagine it very well with a Kartoffel Auflauf!!! Now let's see sow many of your readers know what that is LOL!
**I am still sad about that news!! :-((((***

FH said...

Hey Meeta!

Kartoffel-Auflauf??!!

Cook vegs and sausages , make roux, pour on on and bake with Cheeeeese :D :D

HA HA , got you quickly
or did I?!! :D

Shammi said...

Oh Vaish... 1/4 cup wine and you go "hic"? :) How are we EVER gonna keep you awake at parties? :)

Vaishali said...

Oh yes, Shilpa, I too have that *disease*. And go on, tell your husband that I am the reason behind your next purchase. I am not scared of anybody, especially husbands. ;-)

Original Anon, thank you so much for the wine suggestions. I am off to the supermarket now...

Asha, I'd love to see what kind of pans those are coz I've never been to the US. Maybe you could blog about them?

Monisha, this new tool of mine already looks older than it does in the photograph. :)

Maneka, I too want you to stick to your name; it is nice. :) Thanks for forgiving me. :)

Go ahead, MT, make that pasta and don't forget to let me know. :)

Thanks for wishing me a good morning, Linda. I did have a nice one. :)

Meeta, Kartoffelauflauf? Mmmmmmm... Btw, Asha seems to know what it is. Let's see how many more do. :)

Asha, are you quick or are you quick!?! :)

Maybe with 'Red Bull', Shammi? Hahahahaha.....

Krithika said...

White wine instead of milk ??Wow !! You sure know how to add your personal touch :-) Looks yum !

Anonymous said...

Nice recipe. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Where in the world did you find that gadget?!! Sounds cool.
Pasta with ricota looks soooooooo yummy.

Anupama said...

Wow Vaishali, You are really going continental with a gadget like that. Nice recipe too.

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