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Side dishes

Butter Garlic Mushrooms

My hunger pangs bring out the best of me in the kitchen. Abhisek doesn’t like mushrooms at all, but I love them. That leaves me with only a few opportunities to experiment with mushrooms. He won’t let me pick them from the grocery store unless I promise using them only in pasta or pizza. But, I generally use that as an excuse to sneak in the whole pack. So, I had them on the shelf waiting for me to experiment with them instead of throwing them into yet another pasta. And, then there were evening snack requests from my always hungry stomach. The result? Well, no prize for guessing, a yummy side dish that you will never stop making. It is super yummy and super easy.

Pan con Tomate

It’s almost a month when we went to Spain for a short vacation. I am still in awe of the beautiful architecture, Casa Batlo, La Pedraro, Sagrada Familia, etc. On the other hand the rustic feel of the southern Spain. The Andalusian region is my favorite, for its rustic and charming. The old European and Mediterranean mix makes it quite a special place. The best place of our trip was Ronda, a Pueblo Blanco (aka White Village). It is a small town built on a gorge with a fertile terrain all around. Calm and serene, beautiful and rustic. Not only the town itself, but the train ride to Ronda and the bus ride on the way back to Seville is something I will cherish for life. Have a look at the picture and you will know why it is so special.

Fetolivas – Feta wrapped olives

This is a toast to my love for olives and cheese.

I like olives and I absolutely love cheese. Anything that has cheese attracts me. Any recipe that mentions cheese is more interesting for me to try. All my friends are well aware of how to make me gain weight 😛

Enough of the cheese music, now lets get onto what I did with cheese 🙂 I saw this pin on pinterest, which had the best of two worlds – cheese and olives. And, I decided right away that I am going to try this one for sure. I had that image printed on my mind.

Finally, today when I stopped by the cheese aisle to pick some hard cheese, I picked cream cheese too. Then, I moved further and saw the kalamata olives. Till date, I tried usual black and green olives, but not the Kalamata variety. Wanted to taste the difference, so off they went in my shopping cart.

And, then started the magic. It literally is a magic finger food. It is creamy, salty, bright, and yummy. I don’t know what to call these, so I named them as Fetolivas – Feta wrapped olives.

Cheese and garlic pull apart rolls

Long long ago, when I didn’t even know how to use the oven, I saw this beautiful pull apart bread on the Internet. The bread had everything l like, garlic, cheese(s), and herbs. With the Itlaian cuisine fanaticism, I thought there and then that one day I will make this.

So, the day came and I tried my hands at this beauty. Unfortunately, I don’t have a proper bread loaf till now (I am not a regular baker), so I decided to use my cake tin. So, instead of a pull apart bread, I made pull apart rolls. And, they turned out amazingly good. I think these rolls are my best bake till date. And, yes I served it with spaghetti made in bechamel sauce. Another treat to my tongue. 🙂

Baked Paprika Italiano

Sometimes you have limited ingredients and you crave for something delicious, something different. This is one side dish that I can serve n number of times to all my guests. And, I am sure it will be a super hit like it was when I served it at dinner hosted for some special friends. They were flattered with the twist in the taste.