Pear, Stilton & Honey Roasted Betroot

There is a farm shop up the road from our house which sells wonderful beetroot called ‘dirty beets’. I tried them roasted in this salad and they were great. The quantity below serves 3 people as a main or 5 as a side salad.

Ingredients

4 large ripe pears

8 beetroot trimmed, scrubbed and peeled

A portion of stilton cheese (I used blue)

Lots of fresh rocket

2 tbs. clear honey

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Dash of olive oil

For the dressing mix the following:

4 tbs. balsamic vinegar

2 tbs. good olive oil

2 tbs. very finely chopped fresh basil

1/4 tsp. sugar

Rock salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

To make

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Slice the prepared beetroot into quarter wedges and boil in a large pan of water for 20 minutes. Drain and add to a large roasting tin with a dash of olive oil. Drizzle the 2 tbsp of clear honey over the beetroots. Add a sprinkling of black pepper. Shake the dish to ensure the beetroot is coated. Roast for 20 minutes or until tender.

While the beetroot are boiling, peel the pears, slice into wedges and remove cores. Place in a small roasting tin and roast for approximately 10 minutes.

Leave to cool separately (otherwise the beetroot will colour the pears).

When you’re ready to eat, add the beetroot and pears to the rocket, crumble the stilton over and mix through the dressing.

Mediterranean Feast

For the past month or so, I have been consumed with our latest house project, the creation of a "master suite." Winston would argue that our contractor Andy is actually creating a new office and bath for him, but that's another post altogether. :) Now that Andy is 75% complete, I'm back to thinking about food, not tile, paint, or light fixtures.

This delicious meal was whipped up in the midst of the renovations. We were without air conditioning for about 2.5 weeks, so I used our grill as much as possible. Enjoy!

First on the list was this lovely Chickpea Salad.

1 can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
1 tomato-diced

1 handful of cilantro or parsley- ripped into small bits
olive oil and balsamic vinegar

2 cloves of garlic-diced

salt and pepper

Combine and let it sit on the counter while you are making the rest of the meal. It gets better over time.

Next, was a quick Tahini and Yogurt Dip.

Greek yogurt-plain

tahini- 2 tbs or so depending on your taste

salt and pepper

glug of olive oil

Combine and set in the frig until serving. Serve with pita

Next was the grilling! Most of you probably know that I refuse to eat beef (I'm weird like that), but I love lamb! Don't ask. ANYWAY, so next on the menu was grilling off the lamb sliders and red onion slices. The onion is self explanatory, but here's the scoop on the sliders.

1 lb ground lamb

3 cloves garlic- crushed

salt and pepper

sprinkle or two of breadcrumbs

1 tbs garam masala (Indian seasoning)

glug of olive oil

Combine and form into small patties. Grill on a medium flame until cooked. I like them pink in the middle. If you don't have access to a grill, just pull out a skillet and fry in a little oil. They're yummy that way too.

I also pulled together a simple green salad while the sliders were sizzling away on the grill. So, that's it! Throw it all on a plate and enjoy. Win and I certainly did!

Dirtball Back Porch Lunch

I’ve always been attracted to the concept of canned sardines—little oily fish in a can—and the fact they are good for you, cheap and accessible. But I’ve never found a way to eat them that was completely satisfying. They’re OK tasting but they ain’t a chicken taco.

Anyway, with nothing to eat in the house and Molly at Mahjong, I pulled a leftover can of Cento sardines from the icebox to give them another try. I enlisted mayonnaise, cracked black pepper, Cajun seasonings and Crystal to jazz things up. I put the mess on some water crackers (I would have used saltines, but Molly won't have them in the house). I discovered that the more Crystal I added to each bite the better the stuff tasted. Altogether—and with a beer, I would give it a B+ for an easy, tasty Riley lunch.

Peas and Parrano

When I was a child, I hated peas. If you wanted to set me off at the dinner table, all it took was a spoon full of peas. No way, no how.

Thankfully, I came to my senses. I think it had something to do with Molly's sinful pasta primavera. Here is a VERY loose interpretation of that dish. Enjoy! Pasta with Peas and Parrano

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Avocado

Pasta Ingredients:

pasta- cooked al dente

frozen peas- about 1.5 cups

2 cloves of garlic

olive oil- 2-3 glugs

2 tbs butter

2-3 tbs milk

lemon zest- 1/2 lemon

salt and pepper to taste

parrano cheese- it tastes similiar to parmesan

Salad Ingredients:

avocado- chopped

tomatoes- chopped ( I picked up the most beautiful heirloom tomatoes at Whole Foods, but use what you have.)

olive oil- 2 glugs or so

salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the pasta, drain and set aside. Crush garlic and throw it in a skillet with olive oil. Add peas. Cook on medium heat until peas are defrosted (maybe 2-3 minutes or so). Add milk, butter, s & p, and lemon zest. Stir for another minute. Add hot pasta and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes, until nicely combined. Add the cheese right before serving.

Serve with tomato salad and a glass of white wine.

Autumn Berry Loaf

A sign of summer’s end is definitely the ripening of the blackberries and raspberries and in Edinburgh now, there are berries abound! Often I cook them down to make a compote but I thought I’d try something different. I’ve amended a recipe for apple loaf to use up some of my plentiful berry harvest. The result is a moist berry loaf, quite tart in taste and perfect with a hot drink on a cool Autumnal afternoon.

Ingredients
225g blackberries and raspberries
250g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
175g butter
175g light muscovado or plain light brown sugar
2 rounded tbsp demerara sugar or dark brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
1 small apple (whole - not cored or peeled)
2 large eggs, beaten
The zest of 1 orange

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
2. With your fingers, rub together the flour, baking powder, butter and light brown sugar in a large bowl.
3. Measure out 5 level table spoons of this mixture place in a separate bowl. To that mix add the cinnamon and dark brown sugar. This is for the topping. Set aside for now.
4. Grate the apple down to the core. Mix it in with the beaten eggs and orange zest.
5. Lightly stir the egg/apple mix into the large bowl of rubbed mixture. Don’t over mix.
6. Gently fold in ¾ of the berries with a metal spoon.
7. Pour mixture into a silicon or greased loaf tin. Scatter the remaining berries over the mix. Sprinkle over the topping.
8. Place in oven. After 50 minutes check on loaf. If it is browning too much, place foil over it at this stage.
9. Return to oven and bake for a further 25-30minutes.
10. Remove from oven and allow cooling in the loaf tin for 30 minutes before turning out.

Cominghome White Beans

Molly and I got back to Pass Christian at 10:30 PM Tuesday after over three weeks in New Zealand and a rainy, bumpy 24 hour series of flights back. We were beat, hungry and we knew there was no food in the house. Not good.

BUT! Win and Heather had been back before us, dropped off the car and left one of Heather’s wonderful meals for us in the ice box: a restorative bowl full of Cominghome White Beans, salad, and fresh bread. And there was red wine. After a minute of so in the microwave we ere home again. And happy to be here.

Thanks Heather........for the thoughtfulness and best beans ever.

Here’s her instructions:

1 lbs White Beans, rinsed and soaked
1 smoked ham bone with lots of meat
4 bay leaves
Black pepper- to taste
1 large onion - chopped
2 stalks of celery - chopped
3 cloves of garlic - crushed
Hot sauce du jour - a few shakes
Water
Salt- ADD AT THE END

In large pot, sauté onion, celery, and garlic in olive oil. Once the
veggies are soft, add the rinsed beans, ham bone, seasonings and bay leaves.
Stir around for a minute of two. Then add the water. It should come up 1
inch over the beans. Cover and bring to a boil. Once there, reduce heat to
LOW and simmer for 2 hours. The beans will begin to break down after 2
hours. At that time, take a wooden spoon and press some of the softened
beans against the side of the pot. This will thicken the beans. Add salt
to taste. Continue to cook for another 30 minutes or so.
Serve with rice and a crunchy salad.

Mexi - Bowl

Tuesday night's meal was made on the fly. Win had a serious case of "boat fever", so he and Charlie headed out for a sail before dinner. So that meant it was "Dinner for One!" Normally, I would have pulled out the eggs and scrambled up a tasty supper, but in light of the recent salmonella outbreak, I'm so off eggs. Instead, I pulled an organic chicken breast out of the deep freeze and scoured the fridge for inspiration. Here is what I came up with.

Chicken Burrito Bowl with Mexican Rice and Corn

(This is not a great photo...everything looks a weird shade of yellow. Sorry!)

Grilled Chicken

1 chicken breast- cut into chunks, marinated in olive oil, Mexican oregano, lime juice, S & P.

1 small onion- diced
Cherry tomatoes- a handful or so, cut in 1/2.

Mexican Rice

1 glug of olive oil
2-3 pinches of cumin powder

2-3 pinches of chili powder

2 bay leaves

S & P

1 cup of rice...I used basmati

Saute the rice in the oil and seasonings for 2-3 minutes until it "pops and snaps" a bit. Then add 2 cups of water and 1 cup of frozen corn. When the rice has come to a boil, cover and cook on LOW for 20 minutes.

Guacamole

2 ripe avocados- mashed

1 clove of garlic and a bit of onion- grated with micro plane

Lime juice

S & P

Combine and set aside. Be sure to put the seed back in the guac...it keeps it from going brown.

While the rice is cooking and after you have finished the guacamole, cook the chicken. I just threw the onions and chicken in my oiled black iron skillet. When the chicken is 75% cooked, throw in the tomatoes. (If you throw them in in the beginning, they will disintegrate before the chicken is cooked.)

Remaining ingredients:

Greek yogurt (or sour cream), salsa of your choice and a bit of shredded lettuce.

Once the chicken and rice are cooked, pile everything in a bowl and enjoy!

Ole!

Heather