Pistachio Biscotti

This is a Weight Watcher's recipe. Looks like something that would be fun to make with the kids and it's vegetarian, for what that's worth, as it's a dessert!

110g/4oz plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

50g/1 3/4 oz low fat polyunsat'd margarine

zest 1/2 orange

75g/2 3/4 oz soft light brown sugar

50g/1 3/4 oz chopped pistachios

1 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tsp hot water (or real!)

1 egg white

*  Pre-heat oven to 180 degC/400F; line baking tray with non-stick banking parchment

* "Sift" (or not!) flour and baking powder into a large bowl; add margarine and rub in until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in orange zest, sugar and pistachios.

* Add dissolved coffee and egg white and knead to a soft dough, adding a little water if it is too dry.

* Shape the dough into a log 5 cm/2 in wide and 5 cm/2 in high. Place on baking tray and bake for 35 mins until golden and firm.

* Remove from the oven and cool for 15 mins. Then cut into 10 slices. Lay them side down on the baking tray and bake again for 10 mins until golden.

Alternatively, use chopped almonds instead of pistachios.

Sounds easy. Must try it.

Butterscotch Cream Cheese Dip

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened (lo-fat ok)

1/4 cup butterscotch ice cream topping

1 tablespoon packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl; mix with wooden spoon until smooth OR combine ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth. Chill. Serve with fresh fruit - Granny Smith apples cut into wedges are particularly delicious.

cook to impress! - 3 super easy recipes

Okay, the flan can be a bit of work if you really want it to be. But the others are definitely super easy and so compensate, thus the title is justified. These recipes really work the pure taste of good, simple ingredients - and they all look great. You can also use all three of these to make a healthy, light meal. Well, except for the dessert, depending on how much you eat ;)

First: zuppa di zucchini e salmone
Second: torta tricolore
Third: dessert piu facile del mondo ;)

Courgette soup
This has got to be the easiest soup in the world. But it is really tasty and again, with a teeny extra effort, you are sure to impress people with your extraordinary culinary creativity!

- 3 or 4 courgettes
(you can also use more courgettes and less water)
- vegetable bouillon cube
- spring onion or small leek (optional)
- salt and (white) pepper
- smoked salmon
- saté stokjes (sorry, don't know what these are called in English!)
- optional: light cooking cream

Sautee spring onion in a pan in olive oil until translucent. Chop courgette into course pieces, add to pan. Cover. After 10 mins or so, add bouillon cube and water (depending on how much soup you want, but don't add too much to allow for optimal courgette taste; I guess no more than about 1 liter (?)). Taste - if it is too bland add another vegetable bouillon cube. Add white pepper. Puree with staafmixer, add cooking cream if you want. Serve in bowls. Then, as a somewhat pretentious but fun finishing touch: 'thread' a strip of smoked salmon (approx 3 or 4 cm wide) on a saté stokje in a zigzag pattern. Lay one stokje diagonally on each bowl of soup. A tiny dollop of cream in the middle of the soup - and again: so simple, so tasty, and looks great!

Torta tricolore
I am not a big fan of pastry products so I transformed this quiche into a 'flan'. But you can also use filo dough or something to line it, and you can use 1 less egg (maybe). The taste and the color of this flan will definitely impress anyone, it looks really, really great, it's light and very tasty! Apart from the peppers (and even then, see my footnote...), it is super easy to make.

- 1 green pepper, 1 red pepper, 1 yellow pepper (paprika)
- 2 pieces of soft goat cheese
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup milk* (approx.)
- 1 cup light slagroom (or just do a bit more milk if you don't want to use this)
- Italian herbs or herbes de provence (of course)
- optional: lightly roasted pine nuts

• Roast and peel paprika's. Cut into very thin, narrow slices and mix colors.**
• Crumble goat cheese into a large mixing bowl, add milk, cream, herbs and eggs, and whip lightly with a fork.
  
• Pour into a greased baking dish. Drop the paprika slices onto flan to get a nice colorful mixed up pattern.
  
• Bake in pre-heated oven on about 180-200 degrees for about 25 mins until it is set (check frequently to make sure it doesn't color too brown as this will ruin the colorful effect - if it is coloring too brown cover with foil). Serve luke warm.
• You can also throw in some lightly roasted pine nuts but make sure not to burn them while roasting (I always, always do!)

Served with for instance a salad of blanched haricot verts, sundried tomatoes (optional: artichoke hearts and pine nuts if you haven't already used the latter in the quiche) and a light dressing of yoghurt-mayonnaise, walnut oil, olive oil, salt and pepper, this makes for a nice light dinner or elegant lunch.

* (literally 1 cup, not the American size because I have no idea how much that is. I kind of just add some milk etc. to get a nice consistency and amount.)
** now that I have kids, I skip this, because it's too much work! Either buy preroasted, or just sautee narrow slices in olive oil until soft. It really doesn't make that much difference.

source: Marielle (this is, of course, a variation of the original)

The easiest dessert in the world
This is a great summer dessert.

1. Buy profiterolles or 'soesjes' (or make them yourself. Yeah right!)
2. Buy strawberries, cherries, blueberries - whatever tasty fruit there is available
3. Put profiterolles on a nice dish
4. Add fruits to dish among the profiterolles, arrange them to look nice together
5. Sprinkle a bit of icing sugar over the top.

This is so tasty, and looks very gezellig. So tell me, is this not the easiest dessert in the world..?

Seared salmon with lemon-ginger glaze

Original recipe title: Seared Salmon With Orange Glaze

I used Meyer Lemon juice and zest instead of orange juice, added honey and sugar, and replaced the fresh ginger with a ball of ginger in syrup. Oh and rosé instead of white wine and mirrin instead of sherry, and one tangerine sliced instead of orange slices. Served with russet potatoes and arugula with Brown Derby Old-Fashioned French dressing.

Originally from Dr. Weil.com
Description
Not an ounce of flavor escapes this dish! The salmon is seared, trapping its rich flavor, briefly baked, and then drizzled with a thick, lightly fragranced orange ginger glaze-a balanced companion for a fish as flavorful as salmon. Salmon provides ample amounts of protein, B vitamins, vitamin A, and omega-3 oils.


Ingredients
Six 6-ounce salmon fillets
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
3 tablespoons sherry
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
2 slices orange


Instructions
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Sear the fish fillets in the sesame oil in a large, very hot skillet for 1 minute on each side. You should hear the fish sizzle. Remove fillets from the heat and transfer them to a glass baking dish or baking pan.

Drizzle the soy sauce and the wine over them and bake them for 10 minutes. Remove them from the oven.

Meanwhile, heat the orange juice, zest, sherry, and ginger, together in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until reduced by half. Add the orange slices, and stir once or twice, until the sauce becomes thick.

Remove from heat, drizzle the sauce over the fish, and serve.

Tips From Rosie's Kitchen:
Searing meat or fish is a way to lock in the juices by exposing it to very high temperature. The correct way to sear is in a hot skillet or on a grill, for a very short amount of time, then slowly finish cooking in the oven. Be careful not to get the skillet too hot too fast or the oil will burn. If you want to serve this dish for lunch, serve half of a fillet with a side of salad. Ono or opah works beautifully with this recipe as an alternative to salmon.

Tante Ellen's Gazpacho

I have only had Gazpacho twice, once before you were born and again at Elizabeth's birthday party. Not made it because Jon says he doesn't like it... but I think I'm going to make it anyway, now that I have the recipe. 

Also, Tante Ellen said she made it according to the recipe but felt something was missing so she looked in the dictionary and found the vinegar part which made it just right! so here it is...

"GAZPACHO

3 Cups V8 (or tomato juice with worcestershire sauce, not quite the same, imo)

1/4 C lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, peeled

5 ripe tomatoes, peeled

1 small onion in chunks

1 carrot, peeled and in chunks

1 cucumber, peeled and chopped (about 2/3 European cuke)

1 green pepper, de-seeded and quartered

1/4 C fresh parsley

1/4 C fresh basil or cilantro

1/4 olive oil

1 small jalapeno pepper (I used sambal instead)

1 tsp salt or to taste

1 tsp pepper (ditto)

and dash vinegar as per dictionary (we use white balsamic)

In food processor, combine 1 C tomato mixture, lemon juice, garlic, 1/3 of the carrot, onion, cucumber, green pepper, parsley and basil

repeat process using 1 C tomato mixture, olive oil, sambal, 1 tomato and 1/3 remaining vegetables.

repeat process using the last cup and the remaining vegetables. 

Mix 3 batches together, add salt and pepper - and vinegar - to taste.

Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving. Garnish with chopped cuke or tomato or croutons, or slivered basil or a drizzle of olive oil.

So there it is!"

Summer Pudding

Serves 4

Official recipe:

75 g/3 oz caster sugar

2 Tbsp water*

100 g/4 oz each of black currants, red currants, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, plums, pitted black cherries to 400g total **

6-8 large slices of white bread, crusts removed***

* OK. to start with, the amount of water and caster (fine but not icing) sugar is not going to be enough so double or triple it..

** I never use strawberries because I never read the recipe correctly, so just use whatever soft fruits are in season.

*** Buy a small loaf of white bread and get the baker to cut it lengthwise, if you can. The nicer the bread, the nicer the pudding.

Back to the official recipe (italics: my changes):

1. Place sugar and water in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring occasionally, until the sugar (or, indeed, Splenda) is dissolved.

2. Add black and red currants and cook over a low heat until tender. Then add other soft fruits and cook for a further 2 mins. Remove from heat and allow to cool thoroughly (or not!)

3. Turn the bowl over to measure a round of bread or two halves to make a lid. Cut bread into wedge-shaped pieces (parallelopipidums) to line base and sides of a greased (oh, that's where I always go wrong!) pudding basin (you mean a bowl?)

4. Now, here it tells you to pour the stewed fruit into the basin but my experience is that you're best pouring the juice equally over the bread first so that it is coloured because otherwise you get splodges of colour. Then add fruit.

5. Top with bread lid and cover with a saucer or small plate that will just fit inside the basin. Weight it down with a tin and chill in fridge overnight if possible.

6. To serve, run a knife around the edge of the pudding, cover the basin with an inverted serving plate (well, duh!) and invert to un-mould.

7. Serve immediately, with cream for those who like it.

How easy is that??!! Bon appétit!

Portobello steak sandwiches

I haven't made these myself but I had them at wine club the other evening and they were gorgeous. Tasted just like steak! 

My friend got the recipe from Epicurious, as usual! I don't think they're very slim-line but they are delicious.

PORTOBELLO "STEAK" SANDWICHES WITH GORGONZOLA BUTTER AND RED PEPPER VIAGRETTE

For marinade

5 Tbsp balsemic vinegar

6 large cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 C olive oil

1 1/2 lbs fresh Portobello mushrooms, stems trimmed flush to cap

For Gorgonzola butter

2 oz (1/4 C) Gorgonzola cheese, at room temperature

1 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

For red pepper vinaigrette

1 red bell pepper, roasted on direct fire and skin removed or 1/3 C bottled roasted red peppers, drained

1 Tbsp white wine vinegar

1 Tbsp water

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

four 1/2 inch-thick slices of crusty bread

Make marinade: 

Whisk together marinade ingredients, put half of mushroom caps and half of marinade in each of 2 large plastic bags (pressing out excess air), for 1-2 hrs Marinate at room temperature, turning over several times

Make Gorgonzola:

On a plate, mash Gorgonzola and butter together until blended welll

Make red pepper vinaigrette:

Blend vinaigrette ingredients with salt and pepper to taste until smooth and emulsified

Prepare grill. 

Grill one side of bread until golden (approx. 1 minute). Spread Gorgonzola butter on soft side.

Grill mushrooms 2-3 mins on each side until tender. Slice thin.

Arrange warm mushrooms on toasts and spoon vinaigrette over each open-faced sandwich. Garnish with thyme (or not!)