White chocolate and chai-covered fig lollipops

This was a messy one! It needs a lot of rehearsing. Using this recipe by Kevin O’Leary​  as an inspiration:

http://www.keviniscooking.com/chocolate-sea-salt-fig-lollipops/.

Instead of dark chocolate I melted white chocolate in a bain marie, with some chai spices (ground cloves, cardamom and cinnamon), dipped the figs and took them straight to the freezer for about 20 minutes so the chocolate sets. I did add heavy cream to the bain marie, which I shouldn’t have, because in the end the coating didn’t harden enough… so next time – just the white chocolate chips with a little butter or coconut oil should be enough!

The chai spices work well with the figs, and the white chocolate was so sweet it compensated for the fact that the fresh figs were neutral in terms of sweetness.

By the way, Kevin O’Leary’s stuff is truly exceptional! His page deserves millions of followers.

https://plus.google.com/+KevinOLearyKevinIsCooking/posts

Salad for champions: Alpha Omega Kamut Salad

What is Kamut? It is a brand name for the “ancient” (Khorasan) wheat originating in Iran. My friend makes this salad for athletics team potlucks, and the kids attack it with appetite.

Summary ingredients: kamut, green pepper, red peperm red onion, green onion, green peas, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, carrots. The dressing – olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, garlic. Addictive stuff.

http://wvtf.org/post/happy-belly-delis-alpha-omega-salad#stream/0

Peach Tarts with Goat Cheese, Thyme & Honey

You need pretty much all that is listed in the title – some good puff pastry, peaches, goat cheese, thyme, honey, and a sprinkle of black pepper. The easiest dessert I have made lately 🙂

I skipped through the “cheesy” thoughts of the blog author (hey, she said they were cheesy herself!), and went straight through to the recipe. http://somethewiser.danoah.com/2014/07/peach-tarts-with-goat-cheese-honey.html

Picadillo de Pollo

Cuban Picadillo is made with ground beef, but there is no reason not to try it with chopped, shredded chicken.

Green olives, raisins, garlic, onions, chicken, cumin, oregano, tomato sauce and … dum, dum, dum a pinch or two of cinnamon. Eaten over rice.

Last night I thought this little chicken substitution was my brilliant idea — but others have tried it too, including Martha Stewart :(.

When you find jicama and lots of avocados at your local Farmers’ market – you put it all to good use!

The result — curried jicama hash with guacamole . I have had jicama slaw and even jicama latkes, but I have never had it a la hash browns. Pictured here – the hash is made with vegan sausage crumbs (also market fare, and locally made Kolkata sausage by Atlas Meat-Free Delicatessen – http://www.atlasmeatfreedeli.com/Atlas/Home.html), lots of curry, and green onions. It comes out sweet and spicy. The jicama is watery, so before you know it, there is lots of liquid in the pan. I added bread crumbs to dry it up a bit. Today I found that there are lots of jicama hash recipes out there, and one of them suggests that jicama is a good substitute for potatoes if you have diabetes.

And the guacamole – it has avocados, jalapenos, red onions, cilantro, lime and a glob of sour cream. The addition of sour cream certainly brings it to a higher class!

So there are foods you make “for looks,” and foods you make “for taste”.

This Rustic Caramelized Fennel, Asparagus, Lima bean and Fontina Tart is in the “for taste” category.

The original recipe pic from Food and Wine (http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/rustic-vegetable-tart)  has so much green in it, that I am starting to doubt whether these veggies were actually cooked?! Oh well. The tart dough with chives is a keeper. I will make it again for a caramelized onions and thyme tart version of this.

A distant cousin of rum balls, these Pina Colada balls are vegan, and quite coconut-ty. Based on the Indian coconut ladoos, they contain cashews, dried pineapple, dried papaya, coconut flakes, coconut milk, coconut oil, coconut sugar and coconut flour. The recipe for coconut ladoos is here:

http://www.veganricha.com/2014/10/fudgy-coconut-ladoo-vegan.html. I just substituted a cup of shredded coconut with a cup of ground tropical nut mix, the jaggery  – with coconut sugar (which is why they are brown in color), and added liquor.

Zucchini served “Mexican Street Corn” style

Roasted zucchini drizzled with crema, cotija cheese, chipotle pepper powder and cilantro (which for some reason is now hard to find in stores).

The recipe is from Kevin Lynch’s Closet Cooking collection: http://www.closetcooking.com/2015/07/mexican-street-corn-style-grilled.html

Flourless honey walnut tarts with rum raisin ice-cream

These cakes have 3 ingredients only – walnuts, eggs and honey. And they are screaming for ice-cream when they come out of the oven. As the recipe suggests – this is one of a few desserts that just can’t be that bad for you! Their looks are not spectacular but the taste is powerful. In the last pic you can see my experiment with a madeleine pan – I used the mix as if I was making madeleines. That may be the best shape for this batter so far, because any burnt edges just improve the taste.

http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2015/06/healthy-flourless-cake/

Found the recipe via Samantha Perry’s page – a wealth of recipe ideas.

Eggs “Thailandaise”

Experiment No.1 was making mini Thai loaves using this old (in blog years) recipe: http://afoodiefroggy.canalblog.com/archives/2008/04/03/8580302.html

Added baby corn, and green onions to the mix. They came out tasty but a tad dry. The mini loaves will make a good appetizer, just cut up in little bite-size pieces, by the way (as in the last pic).

Experiment No. 2 was the Thai-flavored Hollandaise sauce – this is just ordinary Hollaindaise sauce, however you make it, with cilantro paste and lime juice.

Put it together over the toasted mini Thai loaf slices ,with Canadian bacon, and add a side salad made with purple cabbage, grated carrots, cilantro (again!), and pepita seeds… and it’s a brunch!