Ever since I had visited an Italian restaurant a few years ago, I had become a fan of pasta in white sauce. And later when I tried other varieties of pasta in red sauce, I was not so impressed. May be my choice was bad; but pasta in white creamy sauce was something I was drooling for. Sometime ago, when I ordered the newly introduced pasta in WS in Dominos, Dee hesitatingly tasted it first, and then later, I had to literally stop him from finishing it off, and demand my share! And finally, when leaving from there, he dropped in to their kitchen and complimented the cook for the wonderful pasta!
Whew! He too had fallen for it..... Now of course I had to learn how to prepare it myself, seeing him like it so much. The plain Bambino Macaroni that I had bought was just lying in the kitchen shelf for a few weeks. And one fine day, I decided to give it a try and browsed through some sites and as always, finally came up with my modifications and set out to prepare it.
He too got into the kitchen to help me with my new venture. He asked me at least 3 times if I am sure that I can make the white sauce myself, or should he see if it can be bought! Yeah, he hadn’t guessed how simple it was to make the white sauce. And as we started preparing, even in laws were curious and peeped into the kitchen often ;)
It was ready in just a few minutes, and when served, of course, Dee who knew about it, started licking his plate even before it was served for others. In laws too loved it, and believe me or not, both MIL and FIL asked for a second helping! After finishing it off with second helpings for everyone, when I settled down with my plate, I realized how good it was, indeed! It was very close to the taste at Dominos!
The next time I prepared it at mom’s place too, it was the same story. Even my grandma became a fan of it, and the maid, who praised it for more than 3-4 times, finally told my mom, “Akka, you too learn how to make this, from your daughter, and prepare it often!”
| Pasta in White Sauce |
Preparation time : 10 min
Cooking time : 15 min
Serves : 5-6
Ingredients:
Macaroni Pasta - 200 gms, I used elbows
Capsicums - 1, cut into thin pieces
Onions - 1 medium sized, chopped (optional - I omitted)
Carrot - 2 medium sized, chopped into thin pieces
French beans - 10-12, slit and chopped into thin pieces
Green chilies - 1, slit (optional)
Garlic - 6-8 flakes
Olive oil - 3 tsp (or any other oil)
Butter - 3 tsp
Milk - 350 ml
All purpose flour - 1 Tbsp
Mixed Italian herbs/ Oregano / Thyme - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 ½ tsp, adjust acc to taste
Salt - ½ tsp or as per taste
Ginger Garlic paste - ½ tsp
Grated cheese - 1 Tbsp
Method:
• Cook pasta for 5 minutes or till cooked, in 4-5 glasses of boiling water, adding ¼ tsp of salt and a few drops of olive oil
• Drain the water completely and wash the pasta with plenty of running cold water, keep aside for draining
• Heat 1 Tsp of oil in a pan and sauté the cut vegetables with green chilly and garlic, till they are cooked but slightly crunchy
• In another pan, add butter and flour and sauté well till the flour starts to turn brown and butter starts separating out of flour
• Let it cool for 5-10 minutes
• Add half of the milk and mix the flour thoroughly, not letting lumps to form. If there are any lumps, lend it in a blender or with hand
• Bring this to gentle boil. The white sauce starts thickening.
• When boiling, add the sautéed vegetables, dried herbs, pepper powder and salt and continue stirring. Add remaining milk and water to adjust consistency to be thinner than what you require
• After a couple of minutes of boiling, add pasta and mix gently, not to break the pastas
• Mix in shredded cheese and mix well
• If the pasta appears to be too thick, add a little more boiled milk
• Garnish with more dried herbs, and serve hot.
Tips n Tricks:
• Do not overcook the vegetable, let it be slightly crispy
• I used Bambino macaroni (elbows) first time. Next time I replaced it will MTR, but found the latter too delicate. Most of the elbows were broken when cooked. My choice is bambino
Variations:
• Onion, garlic and ginger garlic paste can be omitted - in fact, I had not used it in my version |
P.S. - This dish is participating in the event
'Pasta Party' hosted by Jyoti of
http://panchpakwan.blogspot.com/
BTW, the payasa turned out to be quite good. And in spite of Dee being averse to payasas, he did have this and said it was good :) 
Hoping to learn a loadful of Udupi & Mangalorean recipes from fellow bloggers....