The Substitute Pizza

You know when you're craving something that is literally brimming with hot mozzarella and the tangy, mouth watering flavours of tomatoes and garlic? Maybe something to go on top of that? Button mushrooms? Bacon? MORE CHEESE?

Who am I kidding? Of course you know what that's like. That being said, it's slightly ironic that for me, that particular urge to put on an extra three kilos arrives at the end of the month, when I have just about 200 rupees in my pocket for the following 2 to 3 days.

I wanted that pizza today and I was prepared to do absolutely anything, no matter how outlandish or ridiculous. Then I realised - My thoughts were beginning to sound borderline crazy (as they do now, as well).

I walked into my kitchen and without even checking if I had all the necessary ingredients to whip up a pizza at home, I pulled out some flour and kneaded it.

And that's when it began...

Substitution #1
It wasn't long before I realised that I had no yeast to make the base even remotely fluffy. But I'm more of a traditional crispy - thin crust girl anyway. I didn't see that as too big of a roadblock. So, I folded some baking soda into the dough.

Substitution #2
One cold, stormy night, my parent's brought home a shiny, new microwave. It was beautiful. The only ridiculously unfortunate glitch in the matter is that they threw out our oven. So, since anything that goes into a microwave comes out dry and undercooked, I decided to put the pizza base in on convection mode for an extra ten minutes while I prepared the sauce.

Substitution #3
I opened the fridge and Lo, and Behold! We were out of tomatoes. BUT the can of readymade tomato puree sitting in the chiller allowed me to start breathing again. The sauce - I ground some garlic in the blender, because I wanted more flavour and less chunk. I then dropped a big dollop of the garlic paste into a pan, with a teaspoonful of butter and some finely chopped onions. Then came the substitute for fresh tomatoes, salt, pepper, chilli and a little lemon juice.

ANNOYING BEEP 1. ANNOYING BEEP 2. ANNOYING BEEP 3. ANNOYING BEEP 4. - The base was done. Or well, relatively steady, anyway.

Substitution #4 
Out comes the pizza base, the sauce goes on and the cheese... Oh, wait. Where's the cheese? Right. We had some cold, dry, grated mozzarella. Enough to feed an army... of ants. So the cheese went on anyway. But the empty spaces were a bit unpleasant to look at and damn it, I wanted more cheese! So I sprinkled tons of parmesean AND tore up a slice (Okay, two) of Brittania sandwich slice cheese and chopped up some sausages which I proceeded to recklessly dump on my pizza.

Back in the microwave. It cooked at 250 degrees for about 15 minutes.

And honestly? It wasn't half bad.

Ravioli alla Grancevola

I should probably explain the title before I begin. I haven't picked up any colloquial (or otherwise) Italian since my last post. My train of thought was simply derailed as it approached the idea of a title that is even remotely creative, and so I titled this blog "Ravioli alla Grancevola" which is the dish I ordered the other day at Spaghetti Kitchen, Gurgaon.

This is what it literally translates to:

Crabmeat Ravioli

Here's something you ought to know about me. I love Ravioli when its cooked right. But this dish was the one thing on the menu that screamed my name because it was inclusive of 3 of my favourite cooking ingredients - Seafood (or in this case, only the crabmeat), white wine and lots of butter.

Long story short, the ravioli blew me away. It was cooked perfectly - not leathery, not flimsy. The meat was tender and sweet, definitely not overpowered by the flavours of the white wine, butter and bechamel sauce, which complimented each other very well.

I wasn't alone on this little trip that I made to Spaghetti Kitchen. I was with a bunch of people. Very hungry people. So naturally, this wasn't the only dish I tried. Unfortunately, taking pictures of other people's food is frowned upon, so I didn't get any photographs, but I will do my level best to describe my experience to you without them. 

Here are some of the dishes that were on the table that night: 

• A large Pepperoni pizza
• Penne Carbonara
• Mediterranean Seafood Hotpot
• Grilled Pork Chops in a Mustard onion Gravy
• Penne with Vodka

We started off with a complimentary basket of assorted breads, with a choice of butter, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. 

(Fun fact: The combination of olive oil and balsamic vinegar smells like feet.)

The pizza was good. Thin crust, as salty as pepperoni ought to make it. Heavy enough for you to feel like you've eaten something, but not so heavy that you feel guilty or sick, after. The second pasta on the table however, was loaded enough to sink a ship. The penne Carbonara was overly cheesy for what is traditionally an egg sauce based pasta, but it didn't taste too bad. I'll give it that much.

The Mediterranean Seafood Hotpot was a mixed seafood dish. I've always been partial to seafood, and the tang that came with the fish, calamari, crabmeat and prawns won me over completely. The pork chops were also done well. The juicy meat went very well with the gentle mustard onion gravy which I remember referring to as 'a lullaby for the tummy.'

The Penne with Vodka is actually a house specialty at Spaghetti Kitchen. Its cooked in a tomato cream sauce, flamed with vodka and then sprinkled with a generous amount of parmesan cheese. Absolutely wonderful is all I can say. The flavours were powerful. It was as though they were throwing a party in my mouth. The Spaghetti Kitchen House specialty made it through with flying colours.

Spaghetti Kitchen is more of a family restaurant than anything else, but it wouldn't be completely inappropriate for a first date. It has a very welcoming ambience and is well lit, which I like because well... Being able to see your food is always a good thing. This wasn't the first time I visited the place, so I know that the ambience and service is good and also quite consistent. I'm not saying its silk - slippers  - English - butlers - diamond - cutlery fancy, but its cheerful and comfortable, which is good enough for me. 

So, here's how I rate the place on a scale of 1 to 5:

- Food: 4

- Ambience - 3.5

- Service - 3

Spaghetti Kitchen has three outlets in Delhi and NCR and a few in Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chandigarh as well. If you're a fan of the Italian cuisine I would definitely recommend a visit.


Dinner Companionship: Family

That's all for now. If you're a foodie or you know anyone who is, feel free to follow this page or share it with your friends. Any form of feedback will also be appreciated. Hope you enjoyed reading.