I loved this salmon recipe with Thai inspired flavors. It had a great little kick to it without being spicy hot. If you season the salmon with pepper, please be careful with it, because the seasoning mix does have a little heat to it already. This is another one of those recipes that greatly transfers to another meal the day after. I used the leftovers in a salad for a lunch and enjoyed it immensely. I hope you enjoy it! Till next time ~ Cheers! BAKED SALMON THAI STYLE
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After the muffins, pasta, casseroles, woks/stir fries, etc. here is one delicious way to enjoy it! It is a great snack, an appetizer, or even a light meal if you so choose. It does not require much skill, but the results are amazing. All you need are the washed zucchini, ground pepper (salt), dry cured ham - like Prosciutto or Jamón serrano, or a local variation if you have one - and cheese. I used a mixture of shredded mozzarella, cheddar, and parmesan and it worked well. I made sure there was an ample space for the ham and that it actually stayed in place. I grind some black pepper on the zucchini, adding salt was not necessary since both the ham and the cheese are salty. Last I put the cheese on top of the zucchini, and then into the oven for 45 minutes at 350F / 180C. If the around measurement to your zucchini is very large, I would cut it in half length wise and make two of the ham and cheese logs, just so that the flavors are evenly distributed to each bite of the delicious thing! I hope you enjoy the ham and cheese zucchini log, the cooling evenings, the football season, and the pumpkin spice everything...
Till next time ~ Cheers! When the movie Fried Green Tomatoes came out 1992 I was fascinated by its name and the thought of how that dish would actually taste, and why green tomatoes in the first place. For the young northern European ears and mind, it just sounded like something very exotic. Well, all these years have passed, and even though I went to college in the States, and lived there for several years, I never ate fried green tomatoes - before this summer! Oh, and I loved them, the taste, the texture, all of it!
We served them on the side of a well-marinated beef, and it was a lovely meal, indeed. The fact that the tomatoes came from the home garden made the meal even more special and tasty, in my opinion. I hope you are enjoying the last days of summer with some home-grown produce. Till next time ~ Cheers! FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
I swear, food never tastes as good as when the ingredients are straight from a garden and you prepare the meal with your friends then leisurely enjoy it on a hot summer evening while watching a sunset over the water... Last summer I enjoyed the harvest from my own little cherry tomato plant on my deep kitchen windowsill that was gifting me with eight harvests with the sweetest, sun riped tomatoes I have ever had. This summer I got the opportunity to visit friends who have a vegetable garden and the products were plentiful and so, so tasty! And as the temperature was going up to the point of being uncomfortable at times, to prepare ice cold Gazpacho using mostly just ingredients from the garden, that was a treat!
The Gazpacho Soup Recipe
I'm back! What a wonderful and inspirational vacation I had, I can't wait to share with you some of the new recipes I tried while vacationing and visiting friends! Such tasty food with great flavors, cooking with friends, and having a lovely time - what could beat that?! Nothing, in my book... Sometimes the ambiance is what makes the meal to stand out by intensifing the flavors, and puts you in the mood to relax and enjoy the treats about to be served for you. This meal, as you can see, was served at the perfect spot, on a beautiful summer evening, with dear friends around the table. What fun it was to prep for the cooking and then set to go with everyone around and having a great time. Usually, when I cook I am alone in the kitchen, in charge of the whole process from food prep to pictures and clean up, yet this time I had @focusbykenneth with his talent and camera for some of the pictures, and I am super thankful for him letting me share his pictures with you! Go check out his Instagram account for pictures around the world with inspiration to see #beautyintheworld For the meal itself, I made the Parmesan crusted deep fried Brussel sprouts that I have shared with you before. Just click here to get the recipe. With the Brussel sprouts, my friend grilled this amazing marinated salmon that was the perfect companion to the Brussel sprouts. I am so glad I can share this recipe with you today. For the desserts, we had a selection of Whole Food's petit fours. So fun to taste bites of all the different sweet flavors and succulent textures! It is so good to start the fourth year of Books & Spoons, and Spoons in particular, with such a fun, joy filled, warm memories of this unforgettable evening! Much more to come, so stay tuned through the seasons to come. Till next time ~ Cheers!
At the spring I found this lovely green soya bean pasta on a market I rarely visit, and now it has come to be a staple on my menu. It is rich in protein and fiber, and gluten free. I like it because of the taste and how filling it is. It looks great on a plate, and the portion sizes get much smaller because you feel full and satisfied sooner than with a regular pasta. I have used it just like a regular pasta, something that I use a lot of during the summer heat because it is fast and easy and does not heat up your kitchen. There are lots of different, good products out there to give us new inspiration and choices. Sometimes they just have to be found or made an effort to get them. Some of the products are actually worth it.
Brussels sprouts are a great source of vitamin C, and good with potassium and fiber. I enjoy them in many different forms and this side dish with spicy, hot Spanish salami, salchichon, in the oven with brussels sprouts tossed in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper still makes my mouth water, they were just that good. I served them with a herb crusted pork loin that was oven roasted on top of kale, shredded beetroot, and carrots. I tossed the kale mixture with olive oil and salt and pepper before setting them on the roasting pan. The kale mixture gave a robust and deeper flavor to the pork, creating a flavorful combination with the herb mix I rubbed into the pork. The herb mixture had dried thyme, sage, oregano, salt and pepper with just a hint of rosemary all mixed in olive oil. I set the brussels sprouts and the pork with kale mix into the oven next to each other, as they both require 30-40 minutes in 170C / 350F oven. A great meal with tasty zest and aroma. I hope you'll enjoy it! Till next time ~ Cheers! As requested at the Instagram, the rhubarb strawberry pie is here. There are as many recipes for this delight as there are bakers out there, but this one I like because it has a great balance of sweet from the dough and sour from the rhubarb. I hope you enjoy this and have a very happy, sunny, summer Sunday. And if you happen to celebrate a Father's Day today, have a sweet one! ~ Cheers!
The more I use barley instead of pasta or rice, the more I like it. I often cook it in a vegetable broth to add to its taste. It has impressive nutritional benefits - Half a cup of hulled barley contains:
They have been found to lower insulin resistance and blood cholesterol levels, thereby lowering the risk of obesity as well as providing an immunity boost. *Source: Medical News Today*
I hope you enjoy these meal ideas and inspiration.
Till next time ~ Cheers! Rhubarb is one of those foods that takes me immediately back in time to the younger years, in a different country, with my family. It grew in the garden of my parents' summer place and was a stable ingredient during the childhood summers. Many rhubarb pies and crisps have been eaten with vanilla sauce, but I think my favorite is still the strawberry rhubarb chilled soup. To have oatmeal cookies with rhubarb soup is a must for me. I also like the soup to be on a runny side, instead of the pudding consistency that some enjoy. I eat it as it is, I eat it with yogurt, with müesli, with ice cream, with panna cotta... I hope you enjoy it! Till next time ~ Cheers!
June has arrived with the sunny days and summer fun.
One of my favorite side dishes during the season is the Fresh Potato Salad. You can make as many different variations of it as you can imagine, and each time it is delicious and the colors on the plate just lovely!
This time I had a jalapeño salsa chicken breasts with it. The salsa was hot and went well with a salad on the side. An easy and fast mean to make and serve during the season. I baked the chicken in the oven, seasoned with salt and pepper and the salsa on the top.
The leftovers from the chicken were tasty the day after on the side of a green salad, eaten cold or heated up, your choice.
One of my favorite treats during the summer and grill season are the Brie and herbs filled pork file slices or chicken breasts. It does not take much, but the taste is so so good. You can either grill them carefully on a low burning heat so the bacon doesn't catch on fire, or you can bake them in the oven if you feel more comfortable with it or simply don't have the possibility to grill. I took the medium thick pork loin slice, it was about 2 cm thick or nearly an inch, and with a sharp-ended knife carefully opened it up like a pita bread. Not cutting all the way through, but creating a pocket. Into that pocket, I put a slice of Brie and thyme. Then closed the pocket and wrapped the whole thing neatly with bacon. I used two slices of bacon per one slice of pork loin. When either baking them or grilling them, make sure the meat is done all the way. To avoid burning the bacon in the process, lower temperatures are recommended.
Altogether, a fantastic meal time, sure to please the most. And when you cut open the pork, and the melted Brie and the herbs come visible, it is sure to whet the appetite even more.
I hope you enjoy it. Till next time ~ Cheers!
Oh, it is the season, and I love it! If you follow Books & Spoons on Instagram you might have gotten that idea already.
I'm a big fan of asparagus, to the point that my morning routine these days includes a smoothie that is made with asparagus, kale, and pineapple juice. I know, what, right?! But it is actually really good, and really good for you as well.
The thickness of the stem tells you the sex of the plant, with the thicker stems coming from the female plants. Asparagus is the only vegetable that has distinct male and female version. The thicker stalks can be woody, but it is really easy to snap the woody part away. Just take the stem in your hands and gently bend it, and the woody part will break off. If you peel the asparagus it will poach much faster, but the very thin male stems don't usually require peeling.
A classic way to serve asparagus is to wrap it in Parma ham and bake/grill them so that the ham is crispy, yet the asparagus still has a little crunch to it. In my oven, it was just about 20 minutes, but that old faithful is not the most efficient in the markets.
It can be served as an appetizer as it is, with the Parma ham around it. Or you can build a full meal out of it with a green salad and fruit served with it, like I did. It was a perfect meal on one of those rare, hot spring days up here north. With a smaller portion size, you can make that into a starter, too. The ham is salty, so I didn't add any more salt to the asparagus. Little freshly ground pepper on top of the salad and it should be just lovely. I hope you are enjoying the season. Till next time ~ Cheers! I am a big fan of mango as well as salmon, and to put them together with some kick in the sauce, generated a meal that I called dangerously delicious because one (read: me) ended up eating more than was planned. But if you are lucky enough to have leftovers from this meal, you can put them together, cold, for the next day's lunch, and have a delicious and tasty meal ready to eat as it is.
After putting salt and pepper on the salmon slices, I smother them with the hot mango salsa, tossed few red peppers on top of the salsa, and set in the oven with the potatoes. The goal with the size of the potatoes is that they are done at the same time as the fish, that took in my oven about 30 minutes. If you don't want to prepare the mango salsa yourself, most well-stocked grocery stores sell a ready made salsa. Just make sure it is not milk product based (sour cream), and the ingredients in it tolerate baking (no cucumbers in it, for example). If using a ready made salsa, this meal is easy to prepare in just minutes time before setting it in the oven for about 30 minutes. Like said, it was a delightful meal, with lots of flavors and appetizing colors. A great idea to prepare for your mom - if your country is celebrating Mother's Day this weekend! I hope you enjoy it. Till next time ~ Cheers!
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