Panfusine

As you know, Pav bhaji can never be made in small quantities. I have a 5 qt cast iron braising pan exclusively for the dish and the vegetable still overflows while cooking, because I don't think Le Creuset makes a larger braiser. But it seldom goes waste at home. the leftovers are scooped up with toast the next day or eaten straight up cold as is. (All ye who love day old cold pizza, you know what I mean!) These were the leftovers from making a  calabaza squash Pav bhaji . The puff pastry is store bought from Wegmans, just prep the pastry as per the package directions and spoon the warmed up pav bhaji into the cups prior to serving. Top with bits of pickled onion and cilantro. Street food never looked so chic!

Still keep pinching myself at the amazement of how time literally & figuratively flies...It seems just yesterday that I nervously typed out my first blog post , meekly introducing myself & my ridiculously lofty ambitions of what I wanted to do. About two years later, I'm still at it, a testament to how powerfully passionate food can be. (Disclaimer: I started writing this post way before it hit me that it was Oscar night.. & no, I promise, No sappy 'You love me, you reeeally love me a la Sally Field!) The 100th post seems to be a great time to pause, and thank everyone who have been supporting me. Can't stop thinking about my parents of course, My dad, who was a foodie 50 years before it became the 'in' thing, He'd often recall how he would be ridiculed as a 'theethipatteri' (derogatory term for someone who appreciated flavors & tastes) by the standard band  of extended family relatives.. So take that, you old fogies, I'm SO pr...

My initial idea was to call this post 'Eating your mistakes' but it turned out to be such a delicious deviation of intended results, I just did not have the heart to tag it as such. It started out with the intention of making a beloved bengali dessert the 'Sandesh'. My memory cells are pretty much swamped by gustatory inputs about classics like 'Rosgolla' & Cham Cham, that I do not have many memories about the third in the triumverate of Bengali sweets. So I turned to a classic bengali food blog, The Bong Moms cookbook and sure enough, came across this elegant recipe for bhappa sandesh . Scrolling down the list of ingredients, mentally 'checking' off the ones I had on hand...Ricotta, condensed milk (check & check... YAAY I was on a roll here) & I flew off to try this out, entirely forgetting the remaining list of ingredients which I did not have on hand, or a serious look at the simple technique described. That was the end of the Sandes...