This salad is not unlike a lentil salad I made earlier this year, but the addition of toasted pine nuts and celery change the dimensions a bit. We enjoyed this with the chicken soup I just posted and last night's leftover cheesecake.
Adapted from: www.thecrosbykitchen.com
1 cup dry french lentils
1/3 cup chopped kalamata olives
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup baby heirloom tomatoes, sliced in quarters
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
3 T chopped fresh basil
2 T olive oil
3 T balsamic vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cup mozarella cheese cut into cubes
Cook lentils according to package instructions. Rinse and let cool. Combine all ingredients and serve immediately.
From: www.deelish.com
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 3 T olive oil
- 1/2 cup carrot or diced
- 1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into quarters
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 5 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/2 t dried marjoram
- 3 cups baby spinach, coarsely chopped
- 1, 15-oz cannellini beans, rinsed
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/3 cup lightly packed fresh basil leaves
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 3/4 cup croutons for garnish
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add carrot and chicken; cook, turning the chicken and stirring frequently, until the chicken begins to brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute more. Stir in broth and marjoram; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken pieces to a clean cutting board to cool. Add spinach and beans to the pot and bring to a gentle boil. Cook for 5 minutes to blend the flavours.
Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, Parmesan, and basil in a food processor (a mini processor works well). Process until a coarse paste forms, adding a little water and scraping down the sides as necessary.
Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. Stir the chicken and pesto into the pot. Season with pepper. Heat until hot. Garnish with croutons and serve.
Adapted from: www.coconutandlime.com
Crust:
1 1/2 cups of gingersnap crumbs (I crushed ginger cookies!)
6 T butter, melted and cooled slightly
The cheesecake:
4 eggs, at room temperature
4, 250g bars of cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups greek yoghurt, at room temperature
1 cup apple butter
1 cup sugar
1 t vanilla
Preheat oven to 250 degrees
For the crust-
Mix the crumbs and the butter until damp. Press firmly into the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. Set aside.
For the cheesecake-
In a large bowl, slowly cream together the apple butter, sugar, cream cheese and vanilla. Add the eggs and yoghurt, mix thoroughly. Pour into pan. Allow to sit 2 minutes, then tap the pan on the counter to encourage any air bubbles to come to the surface and burst. Bake 2 1/2 hours or until the surface is mostly set- the middle inch or so might still look even less set, almost jiggly. Remove to the counter and run a knife or thin spatula around the edge of the pan. Allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate 3-5 hours before serving.
Would you like a s'more's chocolate cup? Let me help you with this answer: yes you would! These chocolate cups are courtesy of Kerstin's Chocolates and appear to be a blend of marshmallow, chocolate cream and other delectable features.
We also found Vosges-brand bacon-chocolate bars at Kerstin's. My first taste of the bacon-chocolate bar was at one of Vosges' Las Vegas locations. The quality matched that of Kerstin's so we felt like we had found another treasure.
Voted best leftover lunch dish by Liv's belly, this dish came from one of the recipe cards in Martha Stewart's Living magazine. The marinade calls for low-sodium soy sauce, but that's like eating non-fat yoghurt: ridiculous. Soy sauce is salty, so if you find it a bit much, use less of it or cut back on your sodium with respect to other ingredients. As far as I'm concerned, low-sodium soy compromises on flavour and that's just not what Martha would have wanted...although she did edit this recipe. These chops were loins and quite low on the lard side, but the marinade also kept them tender. Yay food!
From: Martha Stewart Living Sept 2011
- 1/4 cup plus 2 T soy sauce
- 1/4 vegetable oil
- 3 T freshly grated ginger
- 3 T light-brown sugar
- 1 green onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 t pepper
- 4 bone-in pork chops
Whisk together soy sauce, 3 tablespoons of oil, ginger, sugar, chopped onion and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Arrange pork chops in a 9 X 13 inch baking dish. Reserve 3 tablespoons marinade and pour remainder over pork chops. Marinate, covered with plastic wrap, flipping chops halfway through for 45 minutes. Heat remaining tablespoon of oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove pork chops from marinade and sear for 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Flip chops and sear until just cooked through, 4 minutes more. Transfer chops to a board or platter. Let rest for 5 minutes. Add reserved 3 tablespoons marinade to skillet. Simmer over medium heat until thickened, about 30 seconds. Spoon sauce over chops. Garnish with thinly sliced scallion.
Green Rice
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup packed fresh mint
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 T vegetable oil
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- coarse salt
Puree water, cilantro, mint, onions and garlic in a blender until smooth. Heat oil in a small saucepan over high heat. Cook until slightly toasted, 1-2 minutes. Add herb puree and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and cook covered for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand covered for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork before serving.
Yes, that's what time it is folks. I've just loaded up on beer, snacks and some good conversation at my favorite stomping ground, Sugarbowl and felt the need to contribute a little to my neglected blog. Although, I've been a cooking machine on my free weekends, I ended up with little energy to write about it. Some catching up is necessary.
I made this soup when I had my bacon fat revelation (for those of you who weren't there, I used bacon fat in lieu of oil to saute a few items). Who would want to throw out bacon fat, when it's the perfect base for sautes, sauces, soups, etc.? This soup benefited from the flavour of the bacon grease and the basil added a little tanginess too. If you have fresh tomatoes, you know what to do: put away that can!
Winter Tomato Soup
Adapted from: http://johndlee.hubpages.com
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 1 26 oz can whole tomatoes
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1/4 cup fresh basil
- 3 T butter (or bacon fat if you're using bacon to top your soup)
- Bacon pieces for use as a topping (I LOVE being a vegetarian!)
- 1 cup yoghurt
- Salt and pepper to taste
Bring the tomatoes and stock to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes on low heat. Add the basil and blend using a hand mixer, or transfer to a blender and puree. Return to pot and add butter and yoghurt. Let simmer for 5 minutes to allow remaining ingredients to melt and stir well. Top with pieces of chopped bacon and basil leaves.
Tapas translates to finger food in English, and despite my wish to keep last weekend's appetizers Spanish in nature, I strayed a little in order to satisfy my curiosity. We ate tapenade and a chick pea spread on crostinis, chorizo-filled dates wrapped with smoked bacon, stuffed mushrooms and meatballs with Jagermeister and mint in them. Of course there is a lot of wine to be served with it. Below are a few of my favorites.
Chorizo-filled dates wrapped in bacon
Adapted from: http://www.epicurious.com
Ingredients
- Package of bacon
- 8 chorizo sausages
- 24 dates
Remove eight sausages from their casings and saute them in a frying pan, breaking them up into small pieces as they cook. Remove the pits from 24 large dates and fill with the sausage. Wrap the sausage-filled dates with uncooked bacon and secured with a toothpick. I used half a piece of bacon for each date. Bake for about 25 minutes in 350-degree oven.
Olive tapenade crostinis
Adapted from: http://www.marthastewart.com
Ingredients
- Baguette of french bread
- 1 cup olive tapenade (either green or black olives chopped to a paste the consistency of your choosing)
- 3 T dried currants
- 3 T fresh thyme, finely chopped
- 5 T chopped walnuts
- 5 oz soft goat cheese
Cut baguette into half-inch slices and brush olive oil on each side of each slice. Place on a cookie sheet and toast for 6 minutes each side, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool before using.
Place the olive tapenade, currants, thyme and walnuts into a food processor and blend to a paste. Spread a thin layer of goat cheese onto each slice of crostini. Add a few spoonfuls of the tapenade over the goat cheese. Serve with a few thyme leaves topped on each crostini.
