Penne Gamberetto Messicano - Prawn Penne Mexicano

When it comes to Italian food or pasta, a common perception is that it would be bland and tasteless. However Americans have adopted pasta to suit the local tastes combined with the "texmex" cuisine to create a fusion. Here's a prawn penne pasta with loads of Mexican inspired vegetables i.e., capsicums and mushrooms. This version is fairly simple and also uses or rather re-uses vessels to strengthen the taste. Without further ado - here it comes.


Ingredients:

1. Penne Pasta (or any other type that you may prefer)
2. Prawns
3. Garlic - finely chopped or minced
4. Capsicums (Red and Green for colour)
5. Sun Dried tomatoes
6. Mushrooms
7. Flour (Maida) - 2 table spoons
8. Cream
9. Milk
10. Parmesan cheese (for garnish)
11. Parsley (for garnish)
12. Butter
13. Olive Oil
14. Cayenne pepper powder

The Method

1. Boil a large pot with water and salt. 
2. Cook the pasta for about 6 - 8 minutes until it is not too hard (and not too soft either)
3. While the pasta is boiling you can chop the vegetables and keep it ready.
4. In a large work melt about 100 gms of butter and add garlic and saute for a few minutes.
5. Add the prawns and saute until they are half cooked.
6. Add the vegetables and saute for few minutes.
7. Remove the contents and keep aside.
8. In the same pan melt about 50 gms of butter along with olive oil.
9. Add a cup of milk, 2 table spoons of cream and let it boil.
10. Add the flour and stir it well without letting it lump up.
11. Add salt and cayenne pepper to taste
12. Add some water to get to a saucy consistency - should be able to pour with a spatula but should not be too thin either.
13. Add the pasta and mix it well
14. Add the sauteed prawns and vegetables and mix it well.
15. Serve hot with a garnish of grated parmesan cheese and finely chopped parsley leaves.

Fajita Quesadilla

When it comes to Tex-Mex food, one of our most favourite has been Fajitas and Quesadilla (yes pronounced "kesa diya" and not "dilla"). Fajitas are technically lean strips of meat served with strips of carmelized onions and capsicums. Fajitas are normally served with soft tacos which we have to fill with a variety of condiments.  Quesadilla is folded corn tortilla filled with cheese any stuffing of your choice. For the sake of veggie (but not vegan) friends here's a version that you may enjoy with a combination of Fajita and Quesadilla.

Ingredients

1) Tortilla Base - make sure you have a big enough size to be able to fill and fold.

2) Onions - Sliced in strips

3) Capsicum -  Sliced in strips (Bell Pepper if you are from the Yankee world)

4) Mushrooms - Sliced - just to make it veggie. Can be replaced by thin strips of any meat.

5) Cheese - I used Mozzarella and a Mexican Cheddar that we recently got from Muswellbrook. You can use any combination of cheese. Of course adding Mozzarella gives the ooey gooey effect that might work well with kids.

6) Jalapeno - Mexican chilli pepper for the extra kick.

7) You can use an optional Fajita seasoning if you can get one in your parts of the world.

Method

1) Saute the veggies on a grill or tava until the onions are carmelized and the veggies are charred slightly to get the smoky taste. You can use oil but very sparingly. Essentially you need some grilled veggies - not a sabzi.

2) Place the veggies on one half of the tortilla base and top it up with the cheese. If you are going to be grating cheese it's better if you do it at this stage. Pre-grated cheese becomes a little messier while spreading it at this time.The amount you want to fill could be a little bit of trial and error. 

Fajita Quesadilla 

3) Place the stuffed tortilla in a grill / sandwich press or a tawa. The easy part with the sandwich press is you don't have to flip it over. If you use a tawa or a grill flip it over after a few minutes. One alternate is to wrap this with aluminium foil so that it stays put as you flip it over.

Kids Version - Cheese only

Adios Amigos!!

Happy Cooking

C