We started off 2020 trying to eat a little more green. I don’t see us going completely vegan any time in the near future, but we would like to live just a little more plant based, if not only for the planet, then also for our general overall health and well-being. And if we lose a couple of pounds in the process, that’s okay too. We already like almost any vegetable, and generally keep to a fairly green diet, but it was an interesting challenge to make dishes that complete leave out meat, and where in fact you don’t really miss meat, even if you are an ardent carnivore. I…
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Pickled mini onions
Pickled mini onions are a perfect little side dish for roasts, cheese boards, lunch, patés, sandwiches… The list goes on and on. They are so easy to make, and first time I made them I felt really stupid for having paid a lot of money for similar pickled onions in the stores. I started making these as a garnish for a our extravagant veal tenderloin dish, but found they are wonderful in so many other ways. Make them one or a couple of days in advance or on the same day you want to use them, either way, they’ll be yummy little extras. They’ll easily keep for at least two…
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Coleslaw with a twist
This Indian coleslaw salad is inspired by my never ending attempts to lose weight. If I summed up all the weight I have lost and gained again it would be more than I weigh today, so I can’t say that I have been successful. My recent diet is all about not eating carbs, which is why some of our recipes are titled “low-carb”. My family loves butter chicken and we eat it at least once a month, but butter chicken goes with basmati rice and that is a no-no on my diet, so I had to substitute it with something. Here is where this Indian coleslaw salad comes into the…
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Fresh flower salad
Spring and summer are the perfect seasons to use edible flowers in your cooking. Not only do edible flowers beautify your salads, cakes and other dishes, they also add a very elegant fragrance both in smell and taste. This fresh flower salad looks and tastes amazing, and besides a bunch of edible flower petals, it has what I think are some of the best green produce available this time of year: fresh Brussels sprouts and garden snap peas. The salad is quite simple with no dressing added, just a drizzle of good quality olive oil and some freshly ground black pepper, but nothing more is really needed with these gorgeous…
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Rich and crunchy cauliflower side
I am always looking for new and delicious ways to use cauliflower, and this rich and crunchy cauliflower side is my new favorite. It’s perfect for summer BBQ, steak, fish, lamb, chicken, you name it. Moreover, it is very easy to make, and it’s a great alternative to potatoes if you want to skip the starch. If you like, you can easily skip the Pecorino or Parmesan, or experiment either with other cheeses, a bit of grated zucchini or a bit of lemon. Or, if pistachios are not your favorite, almonds work very well as a substitute. As I make this side quite often, I like to mix it up…
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Potatoes, tomatoes, Burrata!
The BBQ season is slowly catching up, and it’s the perfect time to experiment with tasty salads to go with a good piece of grilled meat or fish. Also, there’s an abundance of amazing spring, and even summer, veggies in the stores right now, and some of my personal favorites this time of year, are all the wonderful new potatoes that come out. This roasted potatoes, tomatoes and Burrata salad is a celebration of these new potatoes that are such a far cry from their drab and floury winter cousins. Not only do the potatoes taste so much better this time of year, so do tomatoes, so here we’ve decided…
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Cool carrots
The first spring carrots are starting to appear in the grocery stores, and why not take advantage of that and celebrate these tasty little spring beauties with this wonderful cool carrots salad? I find that carrots are extremely versatile. With their elegantly sweet nature, they offer such and abundance of great taste pairings. And they are a great match for fish, meat and veggie dishes alike, all the while without losing their own distinct character. Here, we’ve matched them up with some deliciously salty feta and black olives, and the fresh and fragrant mint simply just underscores that these are really cool carrots! I first came up with this recipe…
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Cauliflower feel good salad
I like to start my week with a good salad. After a weekend of giving in to my less healthy food cravings, it gives me such a nice good conscience. It has to be tasty though, as there is nothing more uninspiring and tiresome than a bland salad. This cauliflower feel good salad is packed with taste as well as healthy stuff. It has crispiness, softness, sweetness, bite and crunch all in one. Exactly what a good salad should have if you ask me. I probably make this salad once or twice a month. Not only because of its great taste, but because it is so easy to make, and…
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Gnocchi and greens
Gnocchi is but one of many magnificent wonders to have come out of Italian cooking. For some reason, though, it seems these gems always come in second after pasta, which is a pity because if cooked right, these delicately soft silky-smooth Italian potato dumplings can send you straight to heaven. Believe me, I’ve been there! And this warm gnocchi and greens salad is definitely a good way to gnocchi self-indulgence. Truly, I could easily eat Italian food every day. I really love pasta, and Italian cooking is very honest. It’s filled with fresh ingredients and what you see is what you get. The only downside is that if I…
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Warm winter comfort salad
For foodies like me the holiday season is truly a smorgasbord of culinary pleasures both to be cooked and to be enjoyed. So much so that while December is certainly a month when the foodlover in me revels in heavenly delight, it is also overwhelmingly easy to fill oneself with all the wonderful and sometimes fatty temptations that classic holiday cooking offers. This beetroot salad, however, is not only very tasty, it also counterbalances some of the very rich food you are, let’s face it, inevitably going to consume. Beets are an awesome and really very versatile, but often overlooked, veggie, and they are not only rich in fibre and…
