Purely Pedestrian: Barilla

This is an easy and quick pasta recipe since the sauce comes from bottle - the Barilla Zucchini and Aubergine sauce. Normally, I prefer making the pasta sauce ground up but this time I had this bottle from a gift pack and decided to give it a try.

Ingredients

Farfalle pasta - 1 cup
Onion - 1/2
Tomato - 1
Garlic - 3
Olives - 1 tbsp
Barilla Zucchini and Aubergine Sauce - 3 tbsp
Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
Water - 4 cups
Salt as per taste
Cheese - 2 tbsp

Heat the water in a pot and when it starts boiling add salt to the water and then add the farfalle. Cook the farfalle till it is al dente (that is when the pasta sticks to the tooth when bitten) for the authentic Italian experience. I like my pasta cooked so it doesn't stick to the teeth which takes a couple of minutes more of cooking. Reserve about half a cup of this water and drain off the rest. Keep the pasta in a colander to drain off.

As much as possible, cook the pasta and the sauce simultaneously so that the pasta can be mixed with the sauce when still hot.

Chop the onions, tomatoes and garlic. Heat a pan, add olive oil and when it is hot add the garlic. Sauté the garlic for a minute and add the onions and sauté till the onions are translucent. Add the chopped tomatoes and continue sautéing. Add the Barilla Zucchini and Aubergine Sauce and the pasta and mix well. Take off the heat and add the grated cheese to the pasta. Use parmesan cheese and if it is not available use the processed cheese available widely in the stores.

Yesterday, I attended the Chef's Table hosted by Pizza Hut with their partner Barilla at the Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj. Chef Arjyo Banerjee from Pizza Hut and Chef Luca Ciano from Barilla, together, led an interactive, live cook out session for a group of food enthusiasts and connoisseurs. It was a lively session with lots of conversation, discussion and tastings and we literally spent the time, seeing, breathing and tasting pastas.

The Chefs had planned a Menu of the Day, including Beverages, Appetizers, Pizzas (of course!), Pastas (the high note of the day) and Dessert. The invitees were welcomed with some nice coolers and the session started with Chef Arjyo preparing the Red O White pasta, fusilli tossed in a creamy and tangy sauce with baby corns and zucchini. During all this, the Appetizers - Assorted Veg and Non-Veg Platters were served at the table during this time and the participants were welcome to go up close and see the cooking session in progress. Chef Luca's warm Prawn and Pasta Salad with lemon and oregano followed this. The prawns was marinated in olive oil and seasonings and then tossed in warm spaghetti and although the prawns were not directly cooked it seemed so and had firmed up by the time the dish was served. Next, was a Lasagna Bolognese from Chef Arjyo and lastly, Chef Luca prepared a Penne Rigate with Sicilian Vegetable Caponata. This dish was a visual treat with aubergine peel juliennes, dusted with corn flour and fried and used to top off the penne.

After each cooking session by the Chef's, we were served a portion of their creations and then followed a healthy discussion on herbs, sauce - meat pairings, food presentation, plating, unique touches and several tips from the Chefs'. I will be sharing the tips in another post separately. Through all the work that the chefs put in, we invitees were plied with beverages, appetizers and traditional hand tossed pizza, all of which were yum.

The session was enlivened with the Chefs relating personal incidents like - Chef Arjyo relating how as a student he discarded the stalks of celery and retained the leaves like we do in the case of Coriander. And yes, some of the jokes were on us as well. Every time, we participants were asked if we treated our pastas in what Chef Luca called a criminal manner, my hand shot up. If we had a contest on who botched the Pasta Best, I would win, with, most probably, an eye-opening, personal cooking tutorial from the Chef himself and the Chef's Bag of goodies!!!

The evening ended on a sweet note with Warm Chocolate trio and an open forum where we could address our questions to the Chefs and Sunay Bhasin, the Director Marketing, Pizza Hut Dine In India.
The good news is that some of the dishes we tasted in there, will be introduced in the regular menu of Pizza Hut soon.
(Images from the event)