Blueberry Smoothie

Au Potato Gratin

A few weeks ago one of my friends threw an impromptu dinner. The lavish spread was so wonderful and fantastic. One of the dishes was Potatoes Au Gratin. Its a french dish, very fattening but I loved it and so, my friend being the ever gracious she is sent me the menu. Here is the recipe.

Potatoes au gratin recipe is finished under the broiler.
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
3 cups diced cooked potatoes
6 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
salt and pepper
1 cup soft bread crumbs

Preparation:
Potatoes au gratin recipe.Place potatoes in a shallow, broiler-proof baking dish. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt 6 tablespoons butter. Remove 3 tablespoons of butter to a cup or bowl; set aside. To the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter in the saucepan, add flour. Stir to blend well; gradually stir in milk. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, until sauce is thick and smooth. Add cheese and continue stirring until cheese is melted. Pour sauce over potatoes in baking dish; mix gently. Place bread crumbs in a bowl; drizzle with remaining 3 tablespoons melted butter; toss to coat. Sprinkle buttered bread crumbs evenly over potatoes. Bake potatoes au gratin at 400° for about 15 minutes to heat through, then broil until golden brown. Recipe for potatoes au gratin serves 4.

Aam er chatney (chutney)

I love my trips to Whole Foods Market. Its almost as fun as going to the mall. The whole adrenaline that makes us happy when we buy something cute for ourselves all the while feeling guilty that its over priced but you still do it because this is better that any place other. So, that's what I mean.
We bought, plums, peaches, assortment of black, blue and red berries, and some of the not so exotic fruits like bananas and mangoes. Why? because they are organic taste better and remind me of the India I will see in a few weeks time.

I picked a raw mango and one ripe one. With the raw one I made Chutney the Bengali way it came out so well that now I am reminded everyday that we need to go back to WFM to buy one raw mango and I dread going just right now because it may just not stop at that one thing.




So here is the quick recipe:

Ingredients
One raw mango
dry red chillies
pepper crushed
paanch phoron
garam masala
salt
sugar
lime juice

wash the raw mango and cut it into long thin pieces. I use the seed as well since I like the fibrous seed all dipped in the chutney. Anyways, so. Heat a little bit of oil in a wok and put the dry red chillis, paanch phoron in it. when this starts spluttering add the mango. pour water in it ans let it boil. when the whole thing comes to a boil add the sugar, this will give the chutney a glaze. Now add the pepper and extra chili powder and lime juice if you want. Keep tasting it without burning your tongue. lower the flame and let this simmer for sometime add extra water if you think that the mango has not reached the desired softness. Then let this thicken.

PS: The chutney tastes better day 2 and 3. So I make a lot at one go which continues for at least 4-5days.