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Pastrami Sandwich
Lemon Green Beans
Here's a quick, fairly healthy but totally irresistible side dish for you, Lemon Green Beans, though the name doesn't really cover the load. I found this recipe about two years ago, in an ancient Italian cook book, one I took with from home when moving into my 1st apartment. The original recipe only had the lemon, garlic and oil in it. Suffice to say I tweaked it like crazy!
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Garden Puree Bruschetta
Picture this: 6:15am, after a humid night with too little sleep, I summoned the kid back to bed and kindly asked him not to bug me again until the bunny in his clock was wide awake and hyperly hopping around. ‘Hyperly’, is that even a word?
Anyway, I was unable to sleep again when he decided this would be the perfect time to play dinosaur, matching sounds, arm flapping and all---he’s into Pteranodons, go figure. Turned on the tv and was flipping through some channels when I ended up on the Food Network. Now that happens a lot these days. It’s broadcasted day and night, it's entertaining and some of the food they cook is amazing.
I stumbled upon my favorite chef, Tyler Florence, who was making a mouth-watering Bruschetta recipe that had me drooling all over my pillow, even at this ungodly hour of the day. The puree was a combination of some of the freshest garden vegetables with creamy ricotta, spread on top of a crunchy bruschetta. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mind me borrowing his recipe to spread the love!
It turned out to be every bit as drool-worthy as I imagined it to be on that early morning in July.
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Corn with a Twist
Corn with an African twist, to be precise. This is an old Kenyan recipe that came from one of my ancient ethnic cook books and---like my Kenyan curried cabbage---this corn recipe is curried as well, making it fragrant and delicious. But then again, curry powder has a way of making anything it touches highly irresistible to me. The flavors are mellow yet exotic and they completely seep into the corn. It’s a really easy recipe that takes a plain ear of corn and turns it into African delicacy.
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Herbed Potato Salad
I’ve been on a major potato salad kick lately, especially with the warmer weather upon us. They just go so well with so many things.
As much as I like my regular potato salad or even my beloved country potato salad, sometimes I just want something a little lighter and a tad less fattening than a salad with a cup of mayonnaise in it, but every bit as flavorful. In fact, I even dare to say that this herbed potato salad is more flavorful and powerful. The flavors are far more pure, intense and the herbs add a freshness to the potatoes that you just can’t get with mayonnaise.
This fresh and lightly acidic potato salad goes extremely well with any type of grilled meat or chicken, so it makes a perfect addition to your BBQ. Throw in a big, crispy green salad or the Moroccan Tomato Salad I posted last Monday, and you have one seriously amazing meal.
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Moroccan Tomato Salad
I’ve got another one for the list: Moroccan tomato salad.
Remember the Mezgaldi I did some time ago? Oh come on, you have to! They’re about as good as onions can get. I still owe my Moroccan neighbor big time for that recipe.
This time you won’t have to use your oven but the result is every bit as flavorful as those incredible onions. At a different level, though. This slightly pretentious tomato salad is the perfect company for your barbecue meat! It’s fresh, flavorful and real easy to make. It was a big hit at our house last weekend!
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Curried Lentil Soup
Once in a while I have to give one of my old (tried and true) recipes a new twist to see what I can come up with. It’s one of my favorite pastimes, which I realize is totally pathetic. Is that something you do too, or do you stick with recipes as you know them? I’m just always messing with them, with varying results.
This time I took my basic lentil soup recipe---one that I think even my grandmother made---and revved it up with a touch of curry and cumin and turned it into a hearty soup that could easily pass for a stew. I absolutely love how it turned out: thick, fragrant and very satisfying. I’m using chicken broth but you can easily replace that with just water and salt turning this into a vegetarian/vegan recipe in the blink of an eye.
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