Friday, June 25, 2010

Grilled Vegetable Salad with Goat cheese

We bought a grill recently, and decided to grill something on a Sunday evening. We did not have any chicken or paneer to marinate, and grill. I came up with the idea of grilling vegetables, mixing them with balsamic vinaigrette and adding goat cheese and pine nuts to it! DELISHH!! Its one of the healthiest and best salads I have ever had!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

10-12 lettuce leaves
3-4 green onion sprigs
1 zuchinni cut into 1/2 inch slices(slanted)
1 red bell pepper  cut in half(for grilling)
1 red onion chopped into big rough pieces
8 asparagus sprigs with the ends cut
olive oil to coat the veggies
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette(recipe on blog)
4 tablespoons goat cheese
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts


Method:

Coat all the vegetables lightly with olive oil. Grill the vegetables and keep turning them until you see them charred. At this point remove the vegetables. Let it cool down. Lettuce leaves, red bell pepper should be cut into thin strips. Asparagus should be cut into 11/2 inch pieces, same with the spring onions. Put all the grilled veggies in a bowl. Add the vinaigrette and pine nuts and toss it to coat well.

Add salt and pepper if required. Plate the salads into 2 plates(that is the qty). Sprinkle with crumbled goat cheese.

EAT your heart away! ;)

Strawberry Scones

Scones are delicious for breakfast with tea or coffee! And I wanted something homemade one Saturday morning, so I decided to make strawberry scones. I had dried strawberries at home, so used those to make these wonderful scones! Recipe is perfect, another Ina recipe! :)


Ingredients:

4 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream
3/4 cup small-diced dried strawberries
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash


Method:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.


In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine 4 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in the cold butter at the lowest speed and mix until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and quickly add them to the flour and butter mixture. Combine until just blended. Toss the strawberries with 1 tablespoon of flour, add them to the dough, and mix quickly. The dough may be a bit sticky.

Dump the dough out onto a well-floured surface and be sure it is well combined. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see lumps of butter in the dough. Cut into squares with a 4-inch plain or fluted cutter, and then cut them in half diagonally to make triangles. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush the tops with egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the outsides are crisp and the insides are fully baked.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Homemade Strawberry Jam

Summer is here, and its strawberry season! I got a big box of strawberries from the farmers market, and I had to try and make homemade Strawberry Jam! It turned out realllyy good:) I have it every morning with toast and am loving it! :)

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar

1 large lemon, zested and juiced
1 1/2 pints fresh strawberries, hulled and halved


Method:

Combine the sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over very low heat for 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Add the strawberries and continue to cook over very low heat for 20 minutes, until the strawberries release some of their juices and the mixture boils slowly. Cook until a small amount of the juice gels on a very cold plate. (I keep one in the freezer.) Pour carefully into 2 pint canning jars and either seal or keep refrigerated.

Properly-handled sterilized equipment will keep canned foods in good condition for years. Sterilizing jars is the first step of preserving foods.




Sterilizing Tips:
Jars should be made from glass and free of any chips or cracks. Preserving or canning jars are topped with a glass, plastic, or metal lid, which has a rubber seal. Two piece lids are best for canning, as they vacuum seal when processed.

To sterilize jars, before filling with jams, pickles, or preserves, wash jars and lids with hot, soapy water. Rinse well and arrange jars and lids open sides up, without touching, on a tray. Leave in a preheated 175 degree F oven for 25 minutes. Or, boil the jars and lids in a large saucepan, covered with water, for 15 minutes.

Use tongs when handling the hot sterilized jars, to move them from either boiling water or the oven. Be sure the tongs are sterilized too, by dipping the ends in boiling water for a few minutes.

As a rule, hot preserves go into hot jars and cold preserves go into cold jars. All items used in the process of making jams, jellies, and preserves must be clean. This includes any towels used, and especially your hands.

After the jars are sterilized, you can preserve the food.

Tomato Feta Pasta Salad

Summer is here! Time for pasta salads, orzo salads, and more salads :) I made this yesterday since it was a hot summer night, and it turned out really good! It tasted even better the next day after the pasta marinates over night.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1/2 pound fusilli (spirals) pasta

Kosher salt
Good olive oil
1 pound ripe tomatoes, medium-diced
3/4 cup good black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and diced
1 pound good feta cheese, medium-diced
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped
1/2 red onion finely chopped

For the dressing:
5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1 garlic clove, diced
1 teaspoon capers, drained
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 cup packed basil, chopped


Method:

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together. Boil for 12 minutes, or according to the directions on the package. Drain well and allow to cool. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, feta and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.


For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, salt and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.

Pour the dressing over the pasta, sprinkle with the Parmesan and parsley, and toss well.