Masala Macaroni with Cheese and Tomato

How cool is that , a masala macaroni loaded with desi flavors and completed with a glass of ,well couple of glasses of Red,Red wine. That mes amis was also so desi...from the vineyards of Grovers in Nasik, Maharashtra.Frankly, I don't understand the concept of a glass of red wine. Its best enjoyed by the bottle. Desi I am, I don't really appreciate the taste of too much wine,"keep it simple babe...lets do vodka"!Fruit to me is meant to be eaten,not made into alcohol.

Unfortunately mum did not get the idea of the wine, and with Sanskriti around...we were on almost a no wine now diet. So the only sipping we did ,was what was poured out in the glasses for the pictures.
For parents, I don't think children will ever cross the "drinkable" age of 18.
Any thing that keeps you young is good, and then there is always clandestine!LOLZZ!

This meal was a filling ,OK, not so healthy,meal. Loads  of tomatoes -lycopene is good, and tons of cheese...the only thing not so healthy about this is the pasta..whole wheat is not so easily available in Ranchi. But the saving grace, semolina is easily digested by the body, so if you do not use too much pepper or spice ,this is something any little baby can also eat.

for the

Masala Macaroni with Cheese and Tomato...

you need

400 gms/4 cups (approx) elbow macaroni/penne pasta
240 mils/1 cup milk
2 tsp butter
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion diced
3-4 garlic cloves finely chopped
2 tbsp flour
2 cups cooked and strained tomato puree
100 gms or more cheddar cheese
a few pinches freshly grated  nutmeg
fresh /dried herbs to taste-I used garlic chives and basil
salt ,pepper,red chili flakes to taste

The tomato puree,was made fresh. I boiled actually pressure cooked about 1 kilo of fresh tomatoes and then strained them through a strainer to remove all seeds and skins.

Fresh from the backyard ,these are tomatoes and garlic scapes. That is the reason why all my cooking has an overdose of garlic and tomatoes....waste not!And I've been feeding all around me tomatoes...

Heat the olive oil in the pan and to that add the chopped onions and the chopped garlic and saute till it turns pink. The aim is not to make a subzi...we are still continental here.

To this add the tomato puree and cook till the puree thickens a bit and a bit of oil floats on the surface.Season the sauce with salt, pepper and red chili flakes. Also pop in the dried herbs.

Cook till the sauce is thick,you may want to sweeten it with a wee bit of honey,but the tang of the tomatoes will be balanced by the cheese sauce.So no worries...

That's the butter ,OK,I could have used more...but remember the battle of the bulge??

To which I added the flour and cooked it lightly to make a roux,on a slow flame...we don't want burnt offerings here.

That's the roux cooking.

To which you need to add the milk. Standard Bechamel, minus the eggs,and of course with lesser butter. More is always merrier, but we have calorie constraints here.Grate the nutmeg fresh for maximum flavour.

Boil the pasta till al dente. A bite...just a tad undercooked.

To this sauce add the cheese,about three quarters of it.Most of it will melt ASAP!

Now mix the Bechamel and the pasta to the red sauce.

Pour into a buttered dish,Add the fresh herbs in and on the pasta.The remaining cheese gets used here. Oven should be at 200C/400F and if you intend using a combo microwave, I used grill+micro at 70% power for 10 minutes. The oven should take about 20-25 minutes for the cheese to melt.

Enjoy this warm with even more butter and cheese if you will and the whole bottle of red wine. Make this kid friendly recipe Adult.

Baby food ,because Sanskriti munched on a much buttered bowl of this pasta, she too was interested in the bottle of red wine, but mum still dishes out dirty looks.
This is a slimmer version of friend Kanchan Bhartari's Red and White pasta, which all the kids and adults alike love around here.
Cheers to good friends and neighbours.

So what are you baking today???