“Here’s what I did for a quick pasta dinner. My ingredients etc are not strictly measured  and most are approximate amounts. So please bear with me, but then I’m not a FridayCook. Guess what you just became one. Anyways here goes.

Pasta Prep:

Put about a 100gms of Penne pasta (2 cups full – one cup each for the number of servings you require) in a saucepan full of water and boil it with a pinch of salt and a tea spoon of cooking oil. The oil will prevent the pasta from sticking.

Simmer it on low flame for about 15 mins till the pasta is al-dente ( The “just right” state when the pasta is neither too sticky or too hard). Just pick out one  bit of  pasta and bite into it  to find out if its reached that state yet . Then drain out the excess water and add some cool water to the pasta and drain it off in about 30 secs. This way the pasta doesn’t stick while you make the sauce.

The Sauce:

Take 3 tomatoes and halve it . Put in a container with boiling water and let it blanch for about 5 mins. Blanching involves boiling the tomatoes for 5 minutes and then plunging it in cold water.

In the meanwhile, since you don’t have much to do, why don’t you also chop about 5 cloves of garlic finely and similarly take about one medium sized onion and a medium sized capsicum and finely chop it. Now slit a long green chilly and keep aside along with the other chopped vegetables. You may also include a small amount of parsley. Wash and chop.

Now drain the tomatoes which have been blanched and grind it into a fine paste in the grinder.Keep it aside for use later.

Now, put some oil into a deep bottomed frying pan and add a small (mind it !! ) dollop of butter into it . Let it warm and then add the chopped garlic into it.Saute it well, till it turns slightly brown and add the chopped onions, chilly, parsley and capsicum to it. Stir it well and fry till onions turn golden brown. You might want to cover it for about a minute so that the capsicum cooks in the low heat as well. Now add the tomato puree and add some salt (about 2 tspns) and chilly powder (2 tspsns)- if you a fancy a little extra  spice in life!! Cook this sauce for about 2 mins so the water content reduces a bit . If you have oregano powder, add it at the end.

Now add the pasta which is lying aside - bored and carefully mix in the pasta to the sauce. Don’t stir too much or you might get a paste .. not pasta !! For garnishing .. you can grate some cheese at the top after you’ve served a generous amount of pasta onto your plate.

And you are ready to enjoy – a quick, delicious, piping hot Wika -Pasta !!!

- Wika-turned-fridaycook-for-the-day !!

Salut!