Minestrone soup

                               Me and my husband are great fan of soups. Where ever we go, we used to order soup along with an appetizer. I have tasted soups in indian and chinese restaurants but first time in my life i tasted a different soup in an Italian restaurant ,Olive garden. The soup is bit thick and has lots of ingredients in it. Taste it different . I love the salad and soup they serve in Olive garden.  Single bowl along with toasted bread ,fills the stomach. So far, i love the soup,breadstick, bruschetta and salad,they serve in Olive garden. On my next visit, i will taste this soup without fail.

Ingredients:

Onion - 1 small

Garlic - 2 cloves

Carrot - 1

Beans - 7 nos

Cauliflower - 1/2 cup

Cabbage - 1/2 cup

Kidney bean - 1/4 cup

Channa - 1/4 cup

Spinach - 1 cup

Diced tomato - 1/2 cup

Tomato puree - 1 cup

Vegetable stock - 1 cup

Macaroni pasta - 1/2 cup

Crushed pepper - 4 tbsp

Oregano - 2 tbsp

Cheese - 5 tbsp

Salt - as per taste

* I don't have macaroni pasta in stock,so i added normal egg pasta while preparing this dish.

Recipe:

* Chop onion and garlic into very fine pieces.

* Chop all the vegetables into medium size pieces.

* Soak kidney bean and channa for 7 hours.

* Chop spinach in strips.

1.Cook  kidney bean and channa in a cooker for 3 whistle.

2. Take water in a pan and bring to boil.Add all the vegetables and half cook it.Keep the water and use it as vegetable stock.

3.Cook pasta and strain water and transfer to a bowl.

4. In a large pan, heat up olive oil in medium heat. Once it hot,add onion and finely chopped garlic. Fry till they are translucent. Add half cooked vegetables and stir. Now add tomato puree,dices tomato,vegetable stock and add crushed pepper,oregano and salt. Cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes. Once it starts to boil,add cooked kidney bean,channa,spinach. Cover and cook for 5 more minutes. Check the consistency, add water according to it.Cook for 2 more minutes and switch off the flame.

5. While serving, take a soup bowl. Add cooked pasta first and pour soup on top. Finally garnish with shredded cheese or crumbled cheese.

                      Serve with toasted french loaf bread.

Note :

* Add any type of vegetables like zuccini, broccoli, celery .

* While serving for my kid,i just added a small spoon of tomato sauce to make sweeter.

* My son love garlic bread,so i made garlic bread using french loaf and had it with soup. It gave a different taste than normal bread.

* This soup along with toasted bread will fill the stomach. 

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Macarons / meringue cookies

                        Macaron is a sweet meringue based cookie made of egg white,sugar and any flavor. When i was studying in collage ,one of my relative brought me a pack of white cookie like one. When i tasted first, it just melts in my mouth. I like the taste and texture. Recently my neighbor friend karthiga remind me back this cookie.When i searched online,i came to know it has only few ingredients. But i found difficult to get the texture and color after trying few times.Finally i got the texture and taste.It take times to bake but after tasting it, we feel all is worth.Today is halloween,kids likes to get a treat from everyone. I prepared this cookie as a treat for my son.

Taste: I can get the flavor of vanilla essence and cashew taste in it.It melts in our mouth.
Texture: It has brittle texture.It is not as hard like normal cookie.

Ingredients:
Egg - 2
Sugar - 1/4 cup(Fine powdered)
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp
Lemon juice or cream of tartar - 1/2 tsp
Broken cashew nut - 5 tbsp

Recipe:
*Chop cashew into very fine pieces.
* Extract egg white separately  from yoke and transfer it to a small bowl.

1. Pre-heat conventional oven to 200 degree F.
2. Take a baking plate and line it with parchment paper or aluminium foil and keep it in oven while pre-heating.
3..In  a big bowl,add the egg whites.Using hand mixer or electric mixer,mix the egg white in low-medium speed.Mix till the egg white turns foamy. Now add lemon juice or cream of tartar into it and mix again ,till small spike appears.Now slowly add sugar one spoon at a time,mix till stable spikes appears.(When you take mixer from egg white, spikes should appear ).Finally add vanilla extract and finely chopped cashew nuts and mix for 1 more minute.Finally check the texture using hand. The mix should be like a cream without solid sugar bit in it. (Cashew nut pieces can be there)
4.Transfer the mix into pastry bag (with 1/2 inch tip) and seal it .
5.Remove the baking tray from oven and slowly make desired shape using the mix on the tray.Once done,keep the tray in oven.
6.Bake for 1 1/2 hours in 200 degree F.
7.After 1 1/2 hr,slightly open the oven door and leave it like that for 3 to 4 hrs to dry the cookie.
8.After 4 hrs , slowly remove the cookie and transfer it to a plate to serve.

Note:
* We can use any artificial flavor while making this cookie.
* We can also add finely chopped almond too.
* We can add some food coloring to make it more attractive.
* Take time while preparing this cookie, don't hurry while mixing.It took 20 minutes for mixing.
* Keep the egg in room temperature ( out from fridge alteast 30 minutes before)
* If we don't get fine sugar,we can grind it in mixie to very fine powder.
* Use pure vanilla extract than imitation one.

Problem we face while preparing this cookie:
* If we add yellow yoke even mall bit, the taste will differ and texture differ.
* If the sugar is not fine, the cookie wont be smooth textured one.
* Take time to mix the egg white. It should get the spikes when finish mixing.
* Keep the cookie in pre-heat oven,else the cookie will loose its shape.
* Don't increase the temperature in between while baking , it will make the cookie to bake fast and it turn brown color fast.
* By leaving the cookie in switched off oven,makes the cookie to be crispy for long.

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Panna cotta

                  Panna cotta is one of the famous italian dessert which mean cooked cream . It is usually prepared with cream,milk and gelatin and served with toppings like fruits,chocolate,caramel and berries. It is like jello type but cream and milk are added to it to enrich the flavor. I haven't tasted this recipe in any restaurant but i have seen this dish prepared by Gordon ramsay in a cookery show. Being an indian, i just to try a dessert out of box from indian sweets. I like to try pudding,souffle,pie. My first step was to try panna cotta. It is simple recipe  and need very few ingredients.

Ingredients:

Heavy cream - 1/2cup
Half and half - 1 cup or milk - 1 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tbsp
Gelatin powder - 1 packet(Unflavored)
Cold water - 3 tbsp
Sugar - 3 tbsp

Topping :
Mango juice - 1/2 cup(any juice)
Corn starch - 1 tbsp
Strawberry - 2

Recipe:
1.Take cold water in a small bowl and mix gelatin .Set aside for 5 minutes.
2.Take a thick bottom pan. Add half and half ,heavy cream and sugar. Switch on the flame and cook it ,in slow-medium flame. Cook the cream till you can see small bubbles around the corner.(Don't boil it). Remove it from flame and add gelatin and vanilla extract.Mix well till the gelatin dissolves and  mix well with cream.
3.Now pour the cream mix in a glass bowl or in any ramekin. Cover it with plastic wrap and keep it in refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours .
4.Meanwhile, take mango juice in a pan and cook it in slow flame. Mix corn starch and water together and pour it to mango juice.Stir it well till the juice thickens up.Switch off the flame and cool it down.
5.After 4 hours, take the ramekins and place on warm water( so that the panna cotta will slide to a plate easily). Take out from warm water and slowly slide a knife around the inner edges of  ramekin . Now slowly place a plate on it and turn it upside down,so that the panna cotta from ramekins will slide to the plate.
6.Now slice  strawberry or any fruit of your preference and place it on top of panna cotta and drizzle the mango juice on top. Serve it as a chill.

Note:
* We can use of any fruit as topping.
* We can also prepare any fruit juice jello and pour it as one layer for panna cotta.
* We can also add any juice to cream mix for added flavor and color instead of vanilla extract.
*  Heavy cream and half and half will be available in any store and it will be placed near to milk and dairy product section.
* The texture will be like soft halwa like texture and taste like creamy vanilla flavored jello.
*  We can have panna cotta and fruit alone but my husband said the mango puree gives rich taste to panna cotta.
* Kids who like jello ,will definitely like it.

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