An Evolving Taste for Cuisine

What’s your favorite recipe?

This seemingly a simple and a straightforward question What’s your favourite recipe?, actually covers a lifetime of my tastes evolving over time.

As is true for everyone, my first favourite meal in life was the Rajma – Chawal (Kidney Beans with Rice) prepared by mom. Though I still love it, however as I grew I also developed a fondness for many other dishes too. At a certain stage of growing up, it was the American Chopsuey which became a favourite.

A major change in my culinary journey happened about ten years back when I developed a liking for wines (which too was a healthy shift of taste from hard spirits like whiskey, rum etc).

Now in most parts of the planet and especially in the old world (Europe), wines have been traditionally seen as a part of the meal itself and it still is largely so.

And in any wine event like wine a dinner or a wine social, wines are normally served with paired food (like white wine with fish or a red wine with lamb etc). And so my wine passion introduced me to a whole new (an exciting) world of fine gastronomy, and it has been a constant culinary adventure for me since a decade now.

In each wine event, I discovered something new be it a Carbonara, Fettuccine, Risotto etc, and even different types of cheeses and truffles and dishes made with these. And as I devoured such dishes my tastes also kept evolving.

At home, we realised that the ingredients for most of such exquisite dishes are easily available in markets. So as a family we started experimenting by making these wine friendly dishes at home itself. With all credits to my better half, such home made food and wine meals soon became a source of joy and occasions for family bonding for us. My son’s interest in fine cuisine also helped.

Gruyere Cheese Spaghetti with Wine

So today I share the recipe of a dish which has become my favourite one, especially when paired with wine, and it’s called as the Gruyere Cheese Spaghetti.

Ingredients 1/2 tablespoon dried bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, 5 ounces spaghetti, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, 1 cup milk, 1/2 teaspoon herbs (Origano, thyme & chilli flakes), 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt, 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese, 1 cup chopped fresh mushroom.

Recipe – Boil water in a pan and put the Spaghetti in it. In a separate bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, olive oil, and a few pinches of black pepper. While the pasta boils, make the sauce. First, melt the butter in pan over medium heat. Once frothy, add the flour and stir to combine. Cook the paste for a minute and then slowly add the milk to the pan and stir. Now add cheese and stir until it is melted. Add the spinach and stir until it wilts into the sauce. Add the cooked spaghetti to the pan and stir to coat it in the sauce. Sprinkle the parmesan breadcrumbs over the top of the Spaghetti. (Recipe source – https://bit.ly/3eRRDkm)

A Word about Gruyere Cheese This story will not be complete without mentioning about its protagonist i.e. gruyere cheese. Gruyère is a hard yellow Swiss cheese that originated in Switzerland. It is sweet but also slightly salty, with a flavor that varies widely with age and is readily available in most of cheese shops and markets.

Hope you all try making it at home. It can paired a white wine like Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc with it. Cheers !!