Tomato Salad with Garlic and Anchovy Dressing

Do you have something you don't eat, but don't know why? It's just one of those things then when offered, you automatically turn your nose up at and 'no thanks, I don't eat them' even though you've probably never tried it. I do. I have a few actually. Oysters. Sorry, but they just look like a pile of snot sitting in a shell. How appetizing. Mussels. Brains. And Anchovies.

When I decided to start this challenge I told myself that I would try new food. Probably not everything I cook I'll eat, but I'm hoping to be brave enough to try most of it. This is the first 'new' food thing I have cooked so I was a bit apprehensive.

It was an easy dish to make. It'd be even easier if I had've kept an eye on the oil and garlic cooking the first time, rather then burn it and have to start the dressing again. The ingredients are naturally contemplative of each other. Tomatoes, beans and basil. Oil, garlic, anchovy and sherry vinegar. I didn't have any sherry vinegar so I substituted with Balsamic. Yes, I know it has a different taste but I wasn't going to go out and buy a whole bottle for a few tablespoons. And trust me, balsamic worked. 

Cut up tomatoes and beans and set aside. Heat oil, garlic and anchovy in a pan and cook till the garlic is golden. Now, you know when you're watching a cooking show and the chef puts in anchovy and they always say 'they dissapear, you'll never know they're there, it's just for flavour.' Well, I never believed them. How could it dissapear? Seriously?

I looked. It dissapeared. So sue me.

I think the best part of this dish is what I learnt. Once the garlic is cooked, remove it from the heat and carefully pour in the vinegar. The pan and oil is still so hot that it starts cooking the sugars in the vinegar and the whole dressing becomes this lovely sweet, sticky, garlicy liquid that I could've savored for days. I mean, it was awesome. Once the dressing is ready, pour over the tomatoes and let marinate for half an hour. Add some basil, shavings of pecorino (again, I didn't have this and substituted for Parmesan) and voila! 

As with the last salad it's missing the 'you'll need a big chunk of bread to soak up the remainder of the dressing or you'll end up licking the plate clean' bit at the end of the recipe. Yes, I can see how it's healthy without it, but I think the bread would round it up nicely.

Seriously good food.

Caprese Salad

I love salad.

I don't think this is a new revelation for me, but I'm just confirming it. With all these salads. Yes, I love salad. I love being able to eat a whole plate laden with food and not feel like I need to undo a button somewhere. I love how easy and incredibly tasteful salads are. And I love learning new salads.

Caprese Salad. Four main ingredients. A simple, simple dressing. 

I'm in heavan.

Bake a beautiful vine-ripened tomato that's been lovingly wrapped in prosciutto and seasoned in the oven till the prosciutto is nice and crispy. 

Arrange the Bocconcini (in place of Buffalo Mozzarella that isn't available here) and Basil leaves on the plate.

Dress with Olive Oil, White Wine vinegar and good 'ol S&P.

Tease everyone on Facebook with your lunch.

  

Add the now cooked Tomato. 

Photograph. Then dive in. 

The only criticism I have with this recipe is that it fails to state at the end 'you'll need a great big piece of toasted sourdough to soak up all the juices left from the tomato. They'll taste awesome. You might lick the plate clean.'

Seriously. Plate-lickable. I think I just made a new food term....

Orange and Almond Fingers

The other afternoon I found that the kids and I had some time spare before the bath/dinner/bed routine and I've been craving sweets. I was lucky enough to have most of the ingredients (Hubby had to grab some eggs on his way home!) on hand so decided to make these and if they turned out, take them to Playgroup the next day.

For some reason I expected this recipe to have more of a biscuit texture but they're really cake-like. Which isn't a bad thing at all, just from the photos I thought they'd be a biscuit. The orange took quite a bit longer then 20 min boiling to become soft enough for me to put through the processor. I also substituted the flour for gluten free flour, but that doesn't make a difference to the end product.

I really enjoyed these fingers. They were great to cut up small and keep in the fridge for a sweet snack with a cuppa tea in the afternoon. In-fact, I had to quickly photograph them before I gobbled them all up!!

Greek Salad and Baked Haloumi

I love the warmer weather and the light salads it brings. A friend over for lunch so I decided to make Donna's Greek Salad and the Baked Haloumi wrapped in Vine Leaves (that I pinched from my last house before we moved!)

I loved the Greek salad but was a little concerned about how the Feta would go, as the recipe states for it to be fried.

It didn't fry. It just melted.

In hindsight, a lower heat for a longer time would probably work better. But, melted or not, it still tasted great. Especially teamed with the simple dressing, red wine vinegar and extra-virign olive oil.

 As I had the vine leaves hanging out in my fridge, I decided to make the Haloumi dish as well.

I love Haloumi. I love love love Hamoumi. Now, especially when it's been smothered in oil, garlic and oregano, wrapped in a vine leaf and baked. The richness of the garlic and oregano permeated the cheese and just made it heavenly. Yummmmm...



Go try it yourself. :)

Watch this Space!

Sssh! I know it's been a while!

If you aren't following my other blog, The Strands of Me, you might not know that in the past two months we've been holidaying to Melbourne, Moving House, Visiting Family and settling into a new town.

I was lucky enough to pull out my Donna Hay book last week and cook up two delicious dishes that I'll share with you real soon. In the next few days, in fact. So keep an eye out.

Hope you've been cooking up a storm while I've been busy! There will be a TON of new posts coming up here because I'm going to go on a cooking frenzy! Lots of Spring Salads and I can't wait to try them all out!

Watch this space!

Pumpkin Pies

This is the first recipe out of this book that I ever cooked, before it was even in this book! I made it straight from the Donna Hay magazine as I've always wanted to try it, so I thought the best way to try something is to make it.

It took me aaaaaages. I had barely worked with pastry before and was very fiddly with it, trying to finesse the edging and make it as smooth as possible. I like the instructions to 'place on a baking tray THEN pour in the pumpkin mixture' before baking. Best instructions ever, as I couldn't imagine trying to handle it when ready to be cooked. Just my luck I'd trip.

I loved the taste, the natural sweetness from the butternut pumpkin accentuated by the maple syrup. It's no wonder it's such a popular pie, in America. It should be more popular here. Just so I can eat more of it.

Excuse the dodgy photo, it was take quite a few years ago....

Also, I clearly remember taking some over to my family and them asking me, Do you eat it for dinner, or dessert? Maybe I should have told them it was a Pumpkin Tart or something a bit more sweet sounding. 

Apple and Date Strudel

Hubby informs me, after I'd started making this dessert, that he's never had strudel before. I'm pretty sure that's a crime somewhere. If not, it should be. My Dad loves strudel and I've had it countless times growing up. Usually the frozen ones from the supermarket, but honestly, there's nothing wrong with them. Nice and warm with some cold ice-cream, they hit the spot on a cold winters night.

Well guess what. It's been cold at night. So I made strudel.

One thing I love about cooking is the repetitiveness of tasks. Peel, core and chop 6 Apples. Ok. May take me some time with two rat-bags hanging off me, but I get it done. And buttering the filo pastry layers. Mundane, but I like to do it. I think next time I try this I'd like to use the recipe from the recent Masterchef series where Apple Strudel was made in a Masterclass. They included the pastry and all, and I think as someone learning how to cook, that's what I'd like to learn. Filo is a good and quick alternative, but when I have time (hahahaha!!!!) I'd like to learn more.

This recipe uses almond meal in lieu of breadcrumbs, to soak up the excess moisture from the apples during cooking. Hubby didn't like it all that much. I loved it. I love the soft bite of the apple mixed with the crunchy filo layers. It was topped with slivered almonds, but without something to bind them there, they all just fell off and were a bit useless.

No photo. It wasn't the prettiest of desserts and I was too busy eating it each night to take a snap. Sorry, you'll just have to go make one for yourself.