Wednesday 31 March 2010

Sesame pork salad

An Asian inspired Tuesday dinner.

First some shredded salad, then mix mayo, soy sauce (we used sesame soy), grated ginger, toasted sesame seeds, bean sprouts, carrots, salad onions, honey and chili flakes. The recipe said pork chops but we used another cut, it's getting cubed anyway! The pork was fried in a pan, but I'm sure a BBQ would have been just as good. The meat was seasoned with salt, pepper and some garlic. The whole chi bang was sprinkled with more salad onion and toasted sesame seeds.
To go with it all we had toasted tortilla breads but they felt more like pita pockets... so basically something thin and soft but not as thin as "normal" tortilla breads used for say enchiladas.

Tuesday 30 March 2010

Taco salad

Yummy Monday night dinner!
Layer black beans, avocado, salsa, salad, black olives, barbecued steak (cut in strips), sour cream dressing (salt, black pepper, ground cumin, paprika, chili, oregano and garlic), crushed tortilla chips and a wee bit of shredded cheese.
Sorry, no picture, but it looked amazing and tasted even better! :)

Friday 26 March 2010

Guacamole, tzatziki, garlic dip and salsa

Dips are soooo useful :) carrots, cucumber, tortilla chips and a nice G&T...

Guacamole, I'm sure there's hundreds of recipes for guacamole, but we make ours with avocado, sour cream, lime, pepper, chili, clove of garlic and salt.

Tzatziki is fab with BBQed skewers and pita chips. Mix grated cucumber with salt and squeeze out all the water. It needs a good squeeze! Mix with natural yogurt, crushed garlic, salt, pepper, lemon and a wee dash of olive oil.

Not had garlic dip for a while but anyone who's into garlic should try! Creme fraiche, crushed garlic cloves to taste, salt, pepper, a little bit of mayo and cayenne (more if you like it spicy). Just beware of the garlic hangover!

Nothing beats homemade salsa! Chopped red onion, tomatoes and mango mixed with a little salt, pepper, chili sauce (or ketchup spiced with chili powder), red wine vinegar and oil. Yes, mango is perfect in this!

So go on, have a dip weekend!

Potato salad

Potato salad with barbecued meat is a summer staple in Sweden!
We usually make our own. Boiled potatoes, sour cream, wee bit of mayo, red onion or shallots, diced red pepper, maybe some cubed cheese and spices (herbs, chili and paprika or just pepper). Oh, poppy seeds are a nice addition too.

Monday 22 March 2010

Seafood angel hair pasta

This might seem a bit excessive on a Sunday night, but it is three of my friends birthdays next week so a time as good as any to celebrate :)
So, mussels, shrimp, scallops, onion, tomatoes, garlic, chili and white wine all got put into a sauce and they were served with angel hair pasta. Angel hair pasta sounds a lot fancier than it is really... super thin spaghetti, I'm sure any other pasta would've worked fine! In fact any seafood would've been fine.I fried the shrimp and scallops separate cause I like a bit of browning on them.
It only took about 25 min to cook so super easy, just the way we like it!
xx

Sunday 21 March 2010

Steak and baked potato

Who doesn't like BBQ:s??? We love to have a barbecue, what's not to like, no dishes and it's quick!
We made our own marinade the other day and marinated a couple of steaks for 24 hours in the fridge.
Marinade; olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, parsley, chili flakes and black pepper.
BBQ to whatever redness, I prefer medium-rare and then have it with a baked potato, sour cream, a wee pinch of grated cheese and a barbecued corn cob.
Summer on a plate.... in March!

Asparagus and orange salad

First of all, no picture... I'll promise to get better taking pictures of the food!
Anyhow, asparagus and orange salad maybe doesn't sound very good but it is! Go ahead, try it!
Salad; salad leaves (whatever you fancy, it said watercress but I find that a bit bitter...), boiled until tender asparagus spears, orange segments, crumbled goats cheese and red onion.
Dressing; balsamic vinegar, orange juice, salt, pepper and poppy seeds.
Yummy!

New idea, new blog

Hi,

Yes, so it's changed from beads and all things shiny to food! Maybe once in a while there'll be a little post about a bracelet or necklace but really, there's not enough hours in the day anymore to make these thing. Surprisingly more time during my PhD than after.... :)
What I do do however is cook, well, me and my darling husband, and apparently it's very difficult to think of dinner ideas, so here we go, hopefully a massive collection of dinner ideas!
We're currently into barbecues and recipes by Jane Price, mainly cause we bought some cookbooks by her. But really, the main feature is to get inspired and look at pictures of nice food. You can always improvise!

So.... enjoy, I hope you find some ideas useful! and really, I'll only post stuff I liked, better tried and tested than not right?

Cheerio

C xx