Culinary experiments

I have over the last year or two developed a keen interest in occasionally indulging in experimenting in the kitchen. I love good food and dont like cooking that much and lesser still cleaning. Above all I Love hosting. so there it is. A whole bunch of contradictions. But I have managed to pull off a couple of pretty good (or so I was told.. :) yayaya.. so much for modesty) experiments. Its holiday season and so I thought I'll share a few of these to whoever might be inclined. Okay the real reason is also that I need to document these incase i want to patent them and I need to write it up and establish that I am the owner of these recipes. :). Well not quite. The pasta recipes are modified versions of Mr. pala's. I know he will faint if he sees what I did to his strict instructions. But then I had ot add my own touch/flavour/whatever. :)So here we go:

1. Bucatini Dolce Salato (Sweet and Sour Bucatini)
1 Red Onion
1 Jar of Trader Joes sundried tomatoes
4 spoons of ricotta romana(sweet ricotta)
3 Table spoons of ricotta salato(salty)
1 can diced tomatoes

1. Saute finely chopped onion in Olive oil.
2. Set water to boil. Add a few drops of vinegar. Blanch the sundried tomatoes. Cut fine and add to sautee. Add half a can of the diced tomatoes till you have a gravy-ish thing. The pasta is a dryish pasta. Add sugar to remove the khatta taste is you dont plan on using the sweet ricotta. Cook this thing very well.
3.Now add pasta in that water and cook.
4. In a separate bowl mix Ricottas and 1 tsp olive oil and ground black pepper.
5. Add saute to cooked pasta and toss in the pan. Add ricotta mix and serve as it melts into the hot pasta.

Oh the title suggests that you have to use Bucatini but Fetuccine works just as well. :-)

2.Pasta Al Pesto

1. Peel one big potato and cut into cubes.Put to boil. Just when its boiling and the potatoes are almost cooked add green beans (I used mushrooms) and add a pinch of salt and pasta such that the pasta doe snot overcook or undercook. You know what I mean don't you ?
2. In a separate bowl, Take the Trader Joes pesto sauce and mix it with the stachy boiing water.
3. Once pasta is cooked, Drain. Add the sauce. salt and pepper to taste. I also liberally use Oregano or the Italian Seasoning from Henrys. Very nice.
Ricotta is good for health. Or so I like to believe. So one spoon gets mixed in before serving.

Cheap and good wines that will go with the above are: Rosso Shiraz and Pknt Merlot. Both are available at Trader Joes. (What is not !! ??) I dont know if its suppsed to match this sorta food or not, but what the hell its all fusion cuisine anyways and it tastes damn good. :)