Lentil Salad

So far my plan of eating a few 'vegetarian' dishes a week is working well.  Today I cooked lentils from Yottam Ottolenghi's 'Plenty'.  Fantastic cook book. Since I love meat & fish will have to revisit his original cookbook soon.

I cut corners and purchased sun-dried tomatoes. Still not my favorite. Next time I might replace them with fresh heirloom tomatoes.

I love blue cheese, the stronger the better. Bought a small slice of Gorgonzola Picante and it's still mild for me.  Thought of getting Roquefort, but didn't want to overpower the dish.

My photo doesn't do the dish justice. Loved the Salad. Look forward to eating it again.

Peach and Parma Ham Salad

As soon as Chef Heston Blumenthal at Home cook book came up as available to pre order I ordered it. Still not brave enough to cook from his other books, but decided to cook a few things from this one.

Peach Salad is the first dish I'm making from his book. My photo looks nothing at all like the photo in the book.  I'm not an expert at plating up, nor do I have the plates/dishes at home.

I tried to drizzle reduced balsamic vinegar around the salad but it didn't work. Think I reduced the vinegar too much & I have to learn how to drizzle with the spoon.

Since it's summer in Australia this Salad was ideal choice. Peaches are fresh and plentiful. Parma ham came from my favorite butcher Victor Churchill.

Will be making this  Salad weekly, while the peaches are still in season. Might try it with a different variety next time. This week Donut peaches weren't available.

Lettuce Salad

Yottam Ottolenghi cookbook "Plenty" is fast becoming a favorite cookbook. Will have to cook a few things from the 1st and original cookbook in the coming weeks.

This delicious salad has almost all of my favorite ingredients. I did say almost since I've never been a huge fan of semi-dried tomatoes, nor sun-dried tomatoes. I know I can make them, but since I only needed a small quantity I decided to buy them.

My salad doesn't look as good as the one in the book, but it tasted delicious. Looks like I'll be eating it for a few days.

The lemons were a bit expensive and since I needed a few this week, I ended up buying limes.

I make similar salad, but never with 3 varieties of lettuce, always just one, usually butter or radicchio.

PS. This week I'm only making one dish instead of 2 like I planned. Will have to catch up next week.

Profiteroles

The baking bug bites me now and then, since baked goods aren't eaten in this house I don't bake. Few times a year when I do, I give it to my little neighbors. They don't eat many things home made. As their parents tend to buy cakes. When the girls want to bake it's out of the packet, just add water and egg.

The plan was to bake profiteroles and make custard, just like mum used to. I've made both many years ago. So long ago that I hoped that I've forgotten when. One thing I did remember was that I WASN'T under any circumstances allowed to open the oven door while profiteroles were baking.

When growing up I remember neighbors asking mum to make it for them or help them since theirs were always flat (they opened the oven door)


Think they are looking good just out of the oven if I may say so myself.

Turned them over to see if the bottom burnt, that was another small thing that I feared. Looks like my fears were unfounded.

Since I haven't made custard for a long time. I forgot to get cream. Followed the recipe to a T (sans cream), but it wouldn't set. Tasted delicious, but was runny. I had 2 choices, get cream & just whip it into custard, it didn't help and fill profiteroles or get ice cream.

I decided to whip remainder of the cream with sugar and filled in the profiteroles.

 

My little neighbors wanted to know if it was all for them. Their parents wanted to know if I made it by myself. Haven't heard if they liked them. They never tell me unless I ask.

Should have told them to put the remainder in the fridge, hope they worked it out.

Roasted Parsnips and Sweet potatoes with caper vinaigrette

It's summer and it's hot, but I'm baking vegetables for dinner. Since I'm not a huge fan of sweet potatoes I've substituted it with organic punkin.

The aroma at my place is making me hungry, have a feeling that it's making all my neighbors hungry as well. I love garlic, this recipe calls for 1 head of Garlic. As well as thyme and rosemary.

The recipe calls for the use of maple syrup, since I don't have any at home, used Tasmanian Organic Honey.

Marinated Buffalo Mozzarella and Tomato Salad

It's January again. Last year I promised to cook more and blog about it. Didn't cook enough new dishes, and if I did didn't feel like blogging as I was working on my dining out blog. So this year I will try to catch up on my cooking.

The Year so far started well, I cooked 2 new dishes on the 2nd January, and the old favorite Spaghetti Bolognese was made on the 3rd.

I love Buffalo Mozzarella, and since it's Summer in Sydney I purchased Heirloom  tomatoes, they are full of flavor. My favorites are the red/green ones.  This salad is beautiful, it contains Basil, one of my favorite herbs as well as Oregano. I drizzled Lemon Infused Olive Oil over the salad. 

Think this will be one of the favorite salads this summer. This Salad should be served with crusty white bread. For the month of January I've given up bread. Which will make dining out not much fun as most restaurants where I dine bake their own bread.

Roast Chicken with Saffron, Hazelnuts and Honey

I've been planning on baking chicken since I've bought this book, but due to a fairly warm summer switching the oven on wasn't on the cards.

Winter came around and it's by Australian standards has been a cold one, not to mention the coldest in over 60 years.

With surgery around the corner this was a perfect opportunity to bake this chicken, since I knew I will not be in the mood to cook huge meals.

It's a wonderful recipe, contains all my favorite ingredients. I used Leatherwood Honey, which I think is a bit too strong, but it's the only one I eat.