Showing posts with label cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cheese. Show all posts

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Salads galore!



It’s summer and we are finally having nice temperature. I know I haven’t blogged in a while. It isn’t that I have not cooked; it is simply that nothing was quite worth of blogging about. I made very simple dished and repeated many of what has already been posted. I also ate in restaurant too much.

Anyhow, summer is great for salads and here are few pleasers. The Lemon pepper scallops on a bed of heirloom tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and goat cheese is particularly incredible.

The first one is my friend’s favourite summer salad, it’s rather simple, I thought it wouldn’t be enjoyable but lo and behold, I quite enjoyed the tangy lemon taste.

Neeley-Bee’s simple salad

- Spinach
- Cherry tomatoes
- Cucumber
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Coarse salt and pepper
- Hardboiled egg




Put the spinach in a bow, add cucumber, and add tomatoes, drizzle with the juice. Sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper. Add the egg. Enjoy.

Summer fruity-nutty salad with scallops

- Butter lettuce
- 1-2 green onions
- Strawberries
- ½ avocado
- 1 small container of mandarins, drained
- A big handful of walnuts
- Your favourite dressing (Mine is a creamy Walla-Walla dressing that I get from my husband each time he goes on bike race in the Washington state)
- Few scallop



First step is simple, put the lettuce and the chopped green onions in a bowl, add the vinaigrette and mix. Top with the chopped strawberries, avocado and add the mandarins. Cook the scallops the way you like them. For a summer salad like this one, I love grilled scallops as it cook in not fat and kind of counter balance my creamy dressing.

The Best:

Lemon-Pepper scallops on a bed of yellow and orange heirlooms tomatoes with crumbled goat cheese and balsamic drizzle.



Believe me, this is divine!

- 1 yellow tomato (I prefer to use the organic heirloom as the taste is sooo good)
- 1 orange tomato (again, organic... I think pink tomatoes would do well too)
- Quality balsamic vinegar
- Fleur de sel (I use fleur de Camargue)
- Few fresh string of chives
- 2 big teaspoon of goat cheese crumbles. (You may want to add more, it’s so yummy!)
- 3 big and fresh scallops
- Juice of ½ lime
- pepper



I’ll start with the scallops as few people do not know that they have to be patted dry before cooking. Anyhow, I pan fried them in butter and olive oil. Few second before putting on a plate to wait to be “placed on the salad”, I drizzled the lime juice on them and peppered them.
The salad is very simple; slice each tomato, put on a plate alternating colors. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle the goat cheese around. Place the three scallops in the middle; add the chives in the middle. Sprinkle with the fleur de sel. Eat. It is delicious!

Friday, July 3, 2009

My husband birthday dinner

I know, I know, I haven’t post much lately… I have reasons though, I went in Vacation where I did not touch my blackberry at all and did not touch the computer too. No, I wasn’t in vacation for a month; I just spend as much time as possible with my husband before July. He is gone East for the Canadian Nationals (he’s a cyclist) and then he’s gone to Kingston, Ontario for the remaining of his army course (AOC). Basically, I will get to spent half an evening with him on July 9th and won’t see him until the 28-29, so it’s long and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with him before.

Here is what I made for his birthday. Pretty simple, but quite tasty!

Starter: Grilled Halloumi cheese on lettuce with lemon drizzle.




So simple, cut the cheese into portions, lightly dust flour on them, pan fry in a little bit of olive oil. Put on the top of some thinly sliced lettuce, add some red and green onions and drizzle lemon juice over. Very yummy!

Main: honey glazed pork loin with grilled zucchinis

Zucchinis: slice in a half lengthwise, score, add a little bit of butter and grill on the BBQ.



Pork loins



Ingredients

• Pork loin
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 liquid honey
• 2 tablespoon chili sauce
• 2 garlic cloves

Method

Mix all the ingredients together. Put meat on BBQ, brush with the mixture several time through the cooking. Enjoy!

Dessert: light dark chocolate mousse martini with fruits.



Ingredients

• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 2 teaspoons powdered gelatine
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1/3 cup caster sugar

Method

1. Combine water and gelatine in a jug. Whisk with a fork until gelatine has completely dissolved. Stir in 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until meringue is thick and glossy. With mixer on high speed, add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Slowly pour gelatine mixture into egg mixture (make sure mixtures are both at the same temperature before you combine them), beating constantly until well combined. Spoon mixture into 6 serving cups. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set and chilled. Dust with remaining 2 teaspoons cocoa. Serve.