Grapefruit and Pomegranate Salsa

 

On Sunday Perry and I decided we'd like some sort of fish for dinner.  We were thinking we'd like salmon but when we got to our favourite Asian market (they have the freshest fish and a wonderful selection) we saw a couple of pieces of eel for just over $2!  We did buy a salmon fillet, but decided to buy the eel to go along with it.  I had some mashed potatoes with kale (Per's Mom used to make them like that) leftover from the night before, so all I needed was a little something else to go with it.  I decided a fresh fruit salsa would do nicely.  So here's what I did...

 
 

I chopped about half of a small red onion

 

Picked out two lovely Thai bird chilies

 

Sliced them and added them to the onion in a medium-sized bowl

 

Tore off some fresh cilantro

 

Chopped the cilantro and added it to the bowl

 

Chopped up a California cocktail grapefruit

 

Added the grapefruit to the other ingredients

 

I love these pomegranate seeds from Costco

 

Added the pomegranate seeds to the bowl

 

Seasoned with Celtic sea salt and mixed it all together

 

Served the salsa in a bowl alongside the salmon, eel and potato/kale mixture

 

Lamb Chops with Dandelion Greens and Rosemary Roast Potatoes

I made this dish last weekend and completely forgot to write down what I'd done.  I just found these photos and decided to post them with as much info. as I can remember.  

Whenever I make roast potatoes, I like to parboil them until almost tender.  I find this gives them a better crust when roasted.  I then toss them in a little olive oil, spread them on a baking sheet and this time I sprinkled them with chopped fresh rosemary, freshly ground black pepper and Celtic sea salt.  I roasted them for about half an hour at 450F.

I made a balsamic syrup by reducing 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar with one minced garlic clove and 1 tsp. organic evaporated cane juice.  I reduced this mixture until it was syrupy but not too thick otherwise it's impossible to use once cooled.  I set the syrup aside.

I heated a cast iron skillet until very hot and then added some coconut oil.  Once the oil was hot, I seared the lamb chops (sprinkled with the same mixture as the potatoes).

Once they were nicely browned, I turned them over, did the same on the other side and then turned the heat under the pan down a little to cook them through.

Once the lamb chops were a nice medium rare, I set them aside to rest.  I washed, dried and chopped a big bunch of dandelion greens and threw them in with the balsamic glaze just until wilted.

I served the greens atop the lamb chops with the roasted potatoes on the side.  The balsamic glaze worked perfectly with the bitterness of the greens.  I will definitely do this again!

Healthy Cookies for the New Year

I've been eating way too much junk since the first week of December and I just can't seem to stop myself!  I figured if I can't make myself stop snacking, then I'd better make sure the snacks are at least a little bit healthy.  I searched for recipes for cookies made with agave nectar instead of refined sugar.  I found this recipe and they turned out really well.  I pretty much stuck to the recipe, other than using a little more salt (I love the salty/sweet combination).  I also used 50% cocoa choc. chips instead of grain-sweetened chips.

The cookie dough

These are the chips I used

Almost ready to go into the oven

I love this cookie dough scooper!

After flattening with a fork (the dough was pretty sticky)

All done!

 

Catching up

I've been remiss in posting on my blog lately.  My aim is to update much more often this year than last. 

First of all, we had a quiet New Year at home with Ashleigh and Kosta.  The four of us watched a movie and played a board game while Krestan hung out with a couple of friends who stayed overnight.  I took some pictures of our 'munchies' but they're not of the best quality.

The cheese tray Ashleigh put together

Belgian Endive with gorgonzola, walnuts and drizzled with honey (yum)

Tabouleh

Pita with 2 dips (artichoke/asiago and hummus)

Potato salad with caviar

Veggies

Chopped Challenge

Perry and I have been talking for a while now about doing a (just for fun) cooking challenge.  We finally decided to do it today because Perry's off work for the holidays and we're both relaxed and in a good mood :-)  We got our inspiration from one of our favourite cooking challenge shows Chopped  So, the way it worked was that Perry bought 4 secret ingredients for me to work with and I did the same thing for him.  We had one hour to plan, gather extra ingredients (anything in the pantry, fridge and freezer was fair game), cook and plate our dishes.

I figured that since Perry doesn't cook all that often (not his fault since he's out at work every day), that I would try to make it fairly easy on him.  Here are the ingredients I bought for him...

Nappa cabbage, beech mushrooms, Granny Smith apples and Sea scallops

Here are the ingredients that my darling hubby thought it would be fun to torture me with :-)

Rambutan

Fennel bulbs

Acorn squash

Quail

It actually worked out well and we both came up with fairly decent dishes.  Per made a cream sauce.  He'd never done this before and since there were no cookbooks/checking online allowed, he had to wing it.  Other than being a tiny bit too salty, I think he did admirably.  He told me he made a roux first (very impressive) and then added cream and when it turned out a bit too thick, he thinned it with milk.  He julienned the Granny Smith apples and was smart enough to put them into acidulated water so they didn't go brown.  He served the scallops on a Nappa cabbage leaf, with the apple and covered them with the sauce.  He made a whole wheat couscous with the beech mushrooms.  All in all, it was a lovely dish.

Per's scallop and couscous dish

I made a shaved fennel, red onion and rambutan salad with an orange and lime vinaigrette.  I stuffed the quail with israeli couscous, which I mixed with sautéed shallots, orange zest and fennel fronds.  I sautéed them first and then baked them.  I served these atop an acorn squash purée which I flavoured with massaman curry paste, coconut milk and fish sauce.  I made a sauce for the quail with sautéed onions, deglazed with fresh orange juice and reduced with some cream.

My quail dish

Per's cream sauce

Julienned apples in acidulated water

Per's couscous with beech mushrooms

Israeli couscous

Quail sautéing

Christmas Dinner 2009

The best turkey we've ever had!  I used this Recipe but raised the oven back up to 350F for 40 mins. of the last hour

Roast potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper

Mum's fabulous chestnut stuffing

An online friend's recipe for Scottish stuffing with oatmeal

Vegetarian haggis (not good at all...tasted like curry)

Tofurkey

Cranberry sauce I used this Recipe but used 2 canned chipotles instead of dried

Brussels sprouts still in the pot

Broccoli and cauliflower still in the pot

Cranberry Upside Down Cake (delicious) I found the Recipe here