Pithari Taverna

Hi Everyone!

It's Meghna!! I went to Pithari Taverna about 2 months ago, and even though time has past, I'm still craving their food almost everyday.  Pithari Taverna is an authentic Greek Restaurant, its a place that you go for a casual meal.  The decor made me feel as if I was drinking wine on the streets of Athens.  For starters we ordered a Greek Salad.  This salad was not a Greek Salad that I'm accustomed too.  It didn't have any lettuce, instead it had olives, capers, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and feta cheese!  All the delicious components of the salad without the lettuce.  It was refreshing and left me wanting more. The waitress gave us bread and olive oil for the table.  The bread was a traditional Greek bread.  Flat, chewy, and soft.  It very much resembled pita bread. The olive oil was to die for, it was sweet, fruity, and it had olives in it which I thought was a nice touch.  For my entree I ordered the Veggie Pita Platter.  It was mouth-watering.  It came with bread, tzatziki sauce, salad, stuffed tomato, grape leaves, and a side of rice.  It was so yummy! The tzatziki was thick and creamy and absolutely addicting.   Normally, I'm not a fan of tomatoes, so when I say this stuffed tomato was delicious, it was delicious.  The grape leaves were different, they were warm.  Normally when I eat grape leaves they are cold and you can tell that they were made the night before.  These tasted fresh and you could really taste the fresh mint inside.  I thought it was a nice palate cleanser in between all the different components of my dish.  What I really liked about this restaurant, was that even though it had a lot of seafood and meat options, it also had a lot of vegetarian options.  I think next time I'm going to try the stuffed mushrooms.  My dinner date also commented that their gyro was one of the best gyros that he has ever eaten. Certainly a place for all to enjoy!  The best part, the portions are so big, you'll end up with leftovers for the next day.

Veggie Pita Platter

My mouth is now watering after writing this post, I think it's time for another visit to Pithari Taverna.

Pithari Taverna
http://www.thepithari.com/
28 Woodbridge Avenue
Highland Park, NJ 08904-3234


Till next time!

Happy Cooking!

Mango Rus

Hi Everyone!!


It's Meghna! It's summertime, which means that many of us tend to lean towards ice cream and other treat that will cool us down.  However, in my mind when I think of my summer, I don't think of ice cream.  I think of a dish my mom makes every single summer.  Mango Rus.  Summer is the perfect time for a mango.  They're sweet, refreshing, and cooling.  Rus is mango puree which many Indians eat with or after dinner.  It's simple too, since you only need 3 ingredients.

Ingredients:
12 ripe mangoes
water
Pinch of saffron

Cookware needed:
Blender
Knife
Strainer
2 big bowls
A ladle
An Apron....Mangoes tend to be messy

Directions:
1) Peel every mango.
2) Cut the mangoes.  Now this is probably the most tricky part of the recipe.  Mangoes have a huge seed directly in the middle of the fruit.  The best way to cut a mango is to cut around the seed.  I tend to just take my knife and go as deep as I can without cutting the seed.  You want every bit of mango.

Cut up mango

3) After you've removed all the meat from the seed, discard the seeds and put the mango pieces into a bowl.
4) Put mangoes into the blender, add a bit of water to get the mangoes going, and blend away.

Mangoes in the blender

5) Place the strainer over the empty bowl and pour the Rus into the strainer.  You have to strain the Rus to get rid of all the strings in the mango.  Use the ladle to help speed up the process.

Straining the Rus

6) After you've strained all the Rus, put just a pinch of saffron.  Saffrons really complements the mango, but don't use a lot.  You don't want the saffron overpowering the natural mango flavor.
7) Enjoy! The best part of this is the fact that you can freeze the Rus and take it out whenever you want a little treat!

Happy Cooking!!

Pav Bhaji

Hi Everyone!

I know it's been a VERY long time since I last posted, too long in fact.  Well this post acknowledges my Indian hertiage.  Pav Bhaji is one of my all-time favorite dishes.  Coming home from college I always requested my mom to make this for me upon my arrival.  It's spicy with layers and layers of flavor.  I ate this meal growing up almost every Friday night.  The dish  originated in Mumbai and it was made to be a quick lunch for workers.  It's a Mumbai speciality, in fact it's considered to be street food.  Walking the streets of Mumbai down Marine Drive you will find countless vendors all selling this item.  It's eaten with bread instead of the traditional roti or rice. You won't ever find it as good as the streets of Mumbai but I can promise you my Mom's, being the true Bombayian that she is, comes damn near close.  This recipe is not my original recipe, but my mother's, so thanks Mom!  With the right spices and the help of a food chopper, this meal can be made in 30 minutes.

Ingrediants:
3-4 small red onions
4 garlic cloves (one for every onion)
1/2 green bell pepper, seeds removed
1/4 of Chinese eggplant
1/4 of peas
2-3 boiled potatoes
4 ripe tomatoes

Spices:
Salt
1 teaspoon Garam Masala
2 Tablespoons Badshah (or any brand) Bombay Pav Bhaji Mix
2 teaspoons cumin-coriander powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 Teaspoon smoked paprika
1 Tablespoon Indian Red Pepper powder

Preparation:
1) Bring 2-3 Tablespoons of oil to heat in a large saucepan.
2) In the chopper, chop the onions, garlic, and bell pepper.  Sautee until cooked.
3) In a small saucepan, boil the peas until they become tender.
4) In a pressure cooker, or on the stove, boil the potatoes until cooked. 
5) In the chopper, chop the eggplant and add to the onion/garlic/bell pepper mixture.
6) In the chopper, grind the tomatoes.  It will look almost like a tomato soup.  Also, blend the peas.  (You can leave them whole, but in my family were not big pea people so my mom use to blend them so we wouldn't know it was in the dish)
7) Add the tomatoes and peas to the pan,  Cover and let it simmer for about 6-7 minutes.  You want to make sure all the vegetables are cooked thoroughly before adding the potatoes and spices.
8) Once the potatoes are cooked, removed the skin and smash the potatoes with a potato smasher.
9) Add the potatoes right away into the pan and mix thoroughly. 
10) Add the spices and mix, bring the Bhaji to a boil.  If it becomes too thick, add some water.
11) On a griddle butter some bread rolls and toast until golden brown.
12) Serve the Pav (bread) with the Bhaji, add some raw diced red onions, a squeeze of lemon and celentro on top for a garnish.  It will top off the dish.  Enjoy!

Unfortunately, this is NOT a picture my MY dish, but an image I downloaded from google image.  I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.  I ate it before my camera was found.  SORRY!!

Home spices starting from top left, salt, Badshah Pav Bhaji Mix, Paprika, homemade Garam Masala, Indian Red Pepper Powder, and Cumin-Coriander Powder

**Note**
For a milder taste, reduce the Badshah mix, red pepper powder and garam masala!

Stuffed Shells!!

Hi Everyone!!

It's Meghna!! So I am a complete sucker for any sort of baked pasta dish.  I just love the gooey melted cheese on top of bubbling pasta sauce, what could be any better?  Growing up I lived down the block from a pizzeria called Cugini's.  Cugini's was my place to go after school, for dinner, for a snack, pretty much whenever I got hungry and didn't want to cook.  When my mom wasn't home my sisters and I would order baked ziti from Cugini's for dinner and thus began my obsession with baked pasta.  Now I LOVE baked ziti and lasagna, but this recipe was a recipe that a neighbor of ours introduced to us when I was younger.  It's been a hit ever since.  You won't just eat 3 or 4 shells, you'll find yourself unintentionally devouring 5 or 6 shells in one sitting.

Stuffed Shells!!

Ingredients
- 2 bags of fresh baby spinach
- 1 chopped medium size onion
- 2 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 small container of ricotta cheese
- 1 box of jumbo shells
- Tomato sauce, either homemade or your favorite jar sauce
- grated mozzarella cheese to top it all off
- 2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon  red pepper flakes

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 F.
2) Bring a big pot of water to boil, add salt for flavor.  Cook the shells till they are a minute under al-dente.  Strain from water and immediately run under cold water to prevent further cooking.
3) On a skillet, bring 2 Tablespoons to heat, add the onions and garlic and red pepper flakes.  Slowly add the spinach in batches.  Cook and add more spinach till all the spinach is cooked. 
4) Add salt and freshly ground pepper to add taste.
5) Remove the skillet from heat and allow for the onions, garlic and spinach to cool.
6) Once the spinach is cooled, add the container of ricotta cheese, mix thoroughly and add a pinch of salt.
7) In a baking dish, add a single layer of tomato sauce to prevent sticking.
8) Stuff each shell individually with the spinach and ricotta cheese.  (The more the merrier =])
9) Cook the shells with tomato sauce, add enough because the shells will use a lot of the mositure from the sauce to cook more in the oven.
10) Bake covered for 30 minutes.
11) Remove from the oven, uncover and add mozzerella cheese on top.  Bake again for another 15 minutes.
12) Remove and let it stand for 5 minutes before digging in.

Enjoy!!!

The stuffing in the shells.

***TIP***
- If you want a lighter version of the meal, replace the ricotta cheese with cottage cheese.  I know it's not  a cheese that you would normally put in an Italian dish, but it was actually the way that I learned to make it.  I actually prefer cottage cheese instead of the ricotta, but when cooking for others I use the ricotta cheese to give it a creamier center.

Let me know what you think!

Happy Cooking!!

New Orleans

Hi Everyone!!

It's Meghna! I know I've been MIA for a while, I've been so swamped with classwork and presentation that for some reason I couldn't find time to blog.  But now I'm back. This post isn't a dish I made but rather, it's a post about this restaurant I fell in love with while I was in New Orleans.  I went to New Orleans a couple of weeks with two of my girlfriends for spring break.  Being vegetarian in the Big Easy was not easy.  Everything down there either had meat or seafood, even the simpliest such as rice and beans had meat in the beans.  But you certainly can't blame anyone for that.  Food is such a big aspect of New Orleans lifestyle.  I couldn't tell you the countless times I just saw a group of friends just lounging around eating a meal at 3pm on Wednesday afternoon.  Their culture revolves around good company, good music, and good food.  Which is certainly a motto that we should all live by.  The restarant that we went to was called The Green Goddess, located in New Orleans French Quarter.  This restaurant was actually recommended to us by a local that we made friends with on the first day that we were there.  He said and I quote, "The Green Goddess is an awesome restaurant and it's also vegetarian friendly."  Hearing this my ears perked up and I automatically made it my mission to make sure that we ate here at least once during our visit.  Boy, was I happy that we did.  The menu was quite extensive, with dishes that was prepared as soon as you ordered it.  It was a tiny place, it could only fit about 3 tables in the restaurant itself, but lucky for them they had a ton of outdoor sitting.  The food was all locally grown, with a drink menu that had alcohol from all over the world.  With their extensive dinner menu, they had a drink menu that could sure put any restaurant to shame.  The waiter was amazing, you can tell he studied the menu extensively and he also could pair any dish with the drink that would best compliment it. 

The alleyway where The Green Goddess was located.

 

 

 

 

 

Just a snapshot of some of the menu.

Some of the dessert menu.

 

I ordered the Sorcerer's Galette, it was an olive oil dough stuffed with a shallot reduction paired with greens and pears.  The pears complimented the shallots, the freshness cut the creaminess of the shallots and left every bite feeling crisp and clean.  It wasn't a heavy dish at all, light and delicious, just the type of meal you need for a late dinner.

Sorcerer's Galette

 

After an amazing meal it seemed only right to end the meal with dessert.  I think this was the BEST dessert I've ever had.  I'm a sucker for phyllo dough, so anything that has phyllo dough in it I'm mostly likely going to order.  We ordered the The Sultan's Nest, which was pistachio gelato topped with whipped cream and shredded phyllo dough.  It was topped with a saffron infused honey.  The pistachios had a salty bite to it which paired well with the sweetness of the honey.

The Sultan's Nest

This restaurant was definitely a place that you have to hit up if ever in the Big Easy, great atmosphere, great food, great drinks.

Happy Cooking!

I Love Pizza!

Hi All!!

It's Meghna!! It's been a while, but last night I made a 3-cheese mushroom pizza and it was delicious.  Complete blog worthy.   Spring break is rapidly approaching which means time to clean out the fridge.  All of the ingredients I already had on hand from previous blog post, so it was really easy to just throw this pizza together.

3-Cheese Mushroom Pizza

feeds 2-4 

Ingredients

- 1 prepared pizza crust

- 1/4 cup of tomato sauce

- 1/8 cup of thinly slice onions

- 4-5 sliced mushrooms

- 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese

- 1/4 cup of fontina cheese

- grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

- salt

- ground black pepper

- red pepper flakes

- Italian seasoning

- olive oil

Preparation

1) Preheat oven to 350 F

2) Prepare your pizza crust.  Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle salt, pepper, red pepper, and Italian seasoning.  Bake for about 10 minutes.

3) Remove the pizza crust.  Add the tomato sauce (check Family Dinner Post for recipe), layer onions on top of the sauce.  Add the mozzarella and fontina cheeses.  Top the cheeses with mushrooms and grate parmigiano reggiano right on top.  Drizzle some olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste.  

4) Bake again for 5-7 minutes or until the cheeses are melted and the mushrooms reduce in size.

5) Eat while hot!

3-Cheese Mushroom Pizza!!

 

 

 

Happy Cooking!!!

Lunch for One

Hi!!

It's Meghna!! So today I was absolutely starving and had a complete craving for hummus.  I had no hummus on hand but I did have chickpeas!! So I thought why not make some?  I made a paprika hummus, and with that I made a Mint Cucumber Sandwich.  It was amazing, definitely a sandwich that I will make again.  The hummus was super easy to make, it only took 5 minutes plus the time it took to prepare my sandwich. Great lunch and quick, which is ideal when your a college student.  

Hummus

Ingredients

- 1 15 ounce can of Garbanzo Beans (Chick Peas), washed throughly

- 2 peeled garlic cloves

- 2 Tablespoons water

- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

- 2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

- 1 teaspoon cumin

- 1 teaspoon paprika

Preparation

1) In a food processor, combine all the ingredients and pulse until smooth.  Remove into a bowl and season with salt and pepper for taste.  Enjoy with pita bread, pita chips or my sandwich which follows!!

Mint Cucumber Sandwich

Ingredients

- 1 Tablespoon hummus

- 1/2 Tablespoon fresh chopped mint

- 1 Tablespoon crumbled feta cheese

- 1/4 of a cucumber thinly sliced

- freshly ground black pepper for taste

- multi-grain baguette (enough for one person)

Preparation

1) Preheat the oven to 450 F.

2) Slice the baguette in half and place in the oven to get crunchy.  Meanwhile thinly slice your cucumbers and cut your mint.

3) After 3-4 minutes remove the bread from the oven and sprinkle the mint on one slice of baguette.  Cover the mint with the feta cheese and them place that slice in the oven.  Cook for another minute.

4) After 1 minute remove the bread from the oven.  On the other slice of baguette spread the hummus and place the cucumber slices onto of the hummus.  Sprinkle the sandwich with some black pepper.  Close it.  Take a big bite!!

The sandwich.

The final product.

Try out the sandwich! Let me know if you love it as much as I do!

Happy Cooking!!