My Personal Haven: FUN WITH FARFALLE

There is no sincere love than the love for food.

- George Bernard Shaw

Food is something

That melts your heart

Awakens your soul

Enlightens the mind

Tickles the inner spirit

Food is the most mysterious thing in the entire universe. What is so mysterious about it?

The taste a person brings to a recipe will never match equally to the taste that the other person brings! Isn't that so unique! Even more unique than the fingerprint!

The variety, the richness, the taste, the aroma, the flavour and the secret activation of salivation, once the smell reaches the tip of your nose. It creates anticipation; the anticipation for taste and satiety. Good food gives you joy; the joy of having had a good meal, the fullness it gives your heart.

Like an antidepressant drug trying to elevate the mood, good food uplifts your mood.

Food creates a mini 'life' within us. It gives you everything that the whole life will bring you, in just one meal. It doesn't matter whether your plates are filled with a three course meal or a single course meal; the only thing that matters is the food itself and a true spirited lover can understand what I mean.

If food is Heaven, cooking is Paradise.

Cooking gives you plentiful energy which penetrates the deepest parts of your soul and activates every nerve in your body and makes the spirit, an enhanced one. Cooking for others gives you, fulfillment on seeing them eating to their hearts content, resolve to do better on seeing them crunch their faces, satisfaction on time spent well. Cooking for yourselves gives you something even cchicks hard to put down in words.

Here, I have tried a pasta recipe with Farfalle pasta, chicken and mint. For seasoning I have used Thyme and Oregano. And for the cheesy part - I used Mozzarella.

The choices I have made was entirely out of my own likes and dislikes. I love chicken and mint combination and I like Mozzarella better than Parmesan.

So, let us go in depth into the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

DEL MONTE FARFALLE PASTA - 1 CUP

OLIVE OIL - 2 TEA SPOONS

TOMATO - 1

ONIONS CHOPPED- 1/2 CUP

GARLIC - 2 CLOVES

CHICKEN - 100 GMS

MOZARELLA CHEESE - REQUIRED QUANTITY

THYME - 1 TEASPOON

OREGANO - 1 TEASPOON

BLACK PEPPER - 1/2 TEASPOON

SALT - 1/2 TEASPOON

MINT LEAVES - 2-3 LEAVES

FARFALLE PASTA

OLIVE OIL

MOZARELLA CHEESE

TOMATO

GARLIC CLOVES

MINT LEAVES

BLACK PEPPER

CHICKEN PIECES

ONIONS

THYME (LT) OREGANO(RT)

Having seen the ingredients, I will tell you about the duration of time you will need to spend.

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Preparation time involves something like the following.

- Preparing the chbrown.

- Preparing the tomato puree

- Preparing the pasta

Let me explain one by one.

PREPARING THE CHICKEN.

Clean your chicken thoroughly. After cleaning twice, I added a pinch of turmeric to little amount of water and washed the chicken pieces with the turmeric water. It is not necessarily needed, but this will help in eliminating the raw smell that chicken carries with it.

The next step is to boil it. I have used 100 GMs of chicken and I added 1 and a 1/2 cups of water for boiling. I boiled it for 5

minutes. For chicken , it is enough if you boil it for 5-7 minutes. If you go beyond that, you will end up in eating a chicken that will taste like rubber in your mouth.

Having boilt it, I cut them into small pieces like in the pictures. After cutting them, I kept them aside and went on to part 2.

Boil the chicken with 1 and a 1/2 cups of water for 5-7 minutes in slow flame

PREPARATION OF TOMATO PUREE

It is as simple as it looks. I have used only one big ripe tomato. I peeled off the outer layer and added the cut pieces into a mixer. The fresh tomato puree was ready.

Make fresh tomato puree

PREPARATION OF PASTA

This is the major step involved in the preparation time. I took handful of pasta in a vessel and added two cups of water and boiled it till it turned into the right consistency. Consistency is important because it should neither be undercooked or overcooked. It should be 'all dente' or rather, 'just cooked'. I checked constantly for the consistency and when it turned out right, I switched off the gas.
Having cooked the pasta, I took them out from the vessel and placed them in a wide vessel. I added a few drops of olive oil over it and mixed it well. The oil will help them maintain the consistency and will also avoid the sticking.

boil the pasta with two cups of water for 15 minutes, check it frequently after 10 minutes for the consistency.

chop the onions into fine pieces

pasta is boiling

take the boiled chicken and cut into small pieces

pasta has boiled

take it out and sprinkle some olive oil over it

PREPARATION OF 'FUN WITH FARFALLE'

I took a vessel and added a few drops of olive oil. I let the oil heat for a few minutes. Then i added fonely chopped garlic cloves and cooked them for a minute. I then added the chopped onions and a pinch of salt along with it. I sauted them until the onions turned a little golden brown. I added the chopped mint leaves and cooked them for a minute. Then it was time to add the tomato delicacy. I added the tomato puree that had been kept ready. I mixed it well with the contents and let them cook for a while. I then added the chicken pieces and waited a while before adding Thyme and Oregano. The sauce was almost done and I added the scraped Mozzarella cheese. The amount of cheese is always according to the desire of the person who is cooking or eating. I have added it according to my taste. After the cheese had melt, I added the boiled pasta to the sauce and switched off the gas after two minutes. The aroma had filled the room and I transferred little of the contents to a plate. I garnished it with little cheese and chopped mint leaves on top of it. The cheese had melt and it was a wonderful sight to look at!

heat olive oil in a vessel