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Kale Salad

I discovered this yummy salad just recently – kale salad with carrots, cranberries and walnuts bathed in olive oil and lemon. It’s a treat, quick and easy.

If you’re trying to eat more healthily and finding it difficult, this is the salad for you. Really good fresh kale requires a serious chomp, it will take you time to get through a bowl of kale salad which is ideal when cutting down on calories or just simply trying to eat a healthier diet.

This kale salad can be your appetizer, or you can drop some chicken or fish into the mix to make for a more hearty main meal. I’ve enjoyed it with canned tuna seasoned with lemon and coarse ground salt and pepper, and I made it with bacon for my friend, Nicholas, Creative Director, Spicegrove Creative, and altogether cool guy, he loved it! I don’t know who was more surprised, me or him.

If walnuts aren’t your thing, you can substitute with sliced almonds or splurge on some raw cashews, go nuts!

Kale Salad

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Rum Daisy

It’s the weekend, so how about a rum daisy?

There are many variations of the daisy cocktail, so I decided to create one of my own and add maple syrup to the mix. The history of the daisy dates back to the 1870s and it is said to have been a basic sour mix with brandy, grenadine or raspberry liqueur and topped with seltzer. The rum daisy and many variations came about soon after. Follow my lead and create one of your own.

Rum Daisy

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Meyer Lemon Cake

This meyer lemon cake should be delivered with a disclaimer. “Taste At Your Peril.”

If you are a lover of lemon cake, then I implore you to give this one a try. I must admit that baking isn’t really my forte. I’m a savory girl – steaks, slow cooked meats; soups, rib sticking fare, but lately I’ve felt the urge to create something sweet at least once a week. It’s a very odd feeling as I’m always excited about creating a meal, or a sexy cocktail, but I’ve never felt compelled to pull out the hand mixer my mother uses when she comes to visit and whip up something sweet. I guess the change is due to the constant scanning of food porn sites. There are so many great bakers out there doing fabulous things with flour, eggs, sugar and butter, so I guess I caught the bug. I stumbled upon a wonderfully appealing coconut and lemon cake a little while ago created by Laura of a girl & her home, a food and travel blog, and saved it on my Pinterest page for recreation.

You’ll see that my recipe is very different to Laura’s but her recipe was the inspiration. I have never met nor spoken with Laura, isn’t it odd how a stranger’s recipe can speak to you and compel you to recreate it? I hope I can affect people in that way.

This meyer lemon cake is easy and simple, aside from the ingredients all you’ll need is a 9 inch loaf pan and a mixer.  As I mentioned, I used a hand mixer and I think a mechanical mixer is needed to arrive at the right consistency.

Thankfully decorating the cake is easy peasy, heavy handed folk need not worry as a delicate touch isn’t required. The glaze consists of two ingredients and lemon peel strips for garnish are simple to achieve.  Check out the 2010 YouTube video from la cucina di terrESa for guidance on how to create them.

Meyer Lemon Cake Read More

Steak and Eggs

Steak and eggs, a self-indulgent brunch, which in my view should be preceded or followed by a brisk run, but a great meal nonetheless. I have only been eating steak and eggs for the past say, 5 years. Its not a meal that was offered that much in London. The English are more drawn to the regular bacon and eggs, but with baked beans. Yes, baked beans! Yum. I used to add butter to my baked beans and some slivers of yellow onion, but I digress. I promise to feature a typically British “brekkie” some time soon.

As I mentioned, steak and eggs isn’t a meal I was brought up on, but I do enjoy it once in a while, when its made well – a choice cut of steak being primary. For my recipe today I used antibiotic free local harvest Angus sirloin steak – a fabulous piece of meat, tender and juicy. There are many that would go for a piece of skirt steak when making steak and eggs, but I really feel sirloin melds way better with eggs than skirt. Its a slightly denser cut of meat but still has the ability to melt in your mouth, so long as you buy a decent cut of meat. I must have ketchup with my steak and eggs, but is never enough for me just on its own I have to have my chimichurri sauce made with fresh parsley and garlic. I slice a piece of meat, dip it in the chimichurri sauce, then dip it in the ketchup then load up the fork with eggs – ayyyy!

You may be wondering what the chips piled on top of my steak and eggs are. They’re taro chips very thinly sliced using a mandolin and fried in a deep fryer for only a minute. Taro is known for its health benefits such as lowering blood sugar and blood pressure, improving digestion and circulation, protecting the skin and boosting vision health and, is purported to combat certain cancers and can even be used to draw out carcinogenic toxins when made into a plaster. A pretty impressive root vegetable – right? I grew up on Taro, or as my mother would call it, dasheen. My mother used to boil it and then mash it up with some milk and a little butter and give it to me when I was a baby #myfirstmeal! I don’t have any recipes featuring taro right now, but I promise to rectify that. Taros deserve a recipe.

So back to my steak and eggs. Give it a try. Make it as a celebratory brunch, a date brunch with a worthy fellow or gal, or just because, you’ll love it.

Steak and Eggs

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Chicken Grapefruit and Avocado Salad

Spring has finally shown its face in NY so its time for a salad, chicken grapefruit and avocado salad. This season has brought some wonderful juicy grapefruit, I have been eating at least one a day for a few weeks now. But I’m getting bored of grapefruit segments as part of my breakfast so I tried my segments in a salad instead.

I love avocado – doesn’t everyone? I was surprised though how wonderfully avocado pairs with grapefruit, its fantastic, so I will be sure to make grapefruit and avocado appetizers during the summer months. If you need help with preparing the avocado, check out The Raw Chef, Russell James’ video for instruction.

I would describe this as a clean meal, raw ingredients topped with grilled organic chicken laced with a citrus vinaigrette. Heart healthy, nutritious and a boost to the immune system. What a joy, the tartness and juiciness of the grapefruit are the yin and yang of this salad. Serve as either an appetizer or a small plate. Perhaps the introduction to a diverse three course meal.

Chicken Grapefruit and Avocado

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Albacore Tuna Sashimi with Ponzu

If you offered me Albacore Tuna Sashimi with Ponzu 18 months ago, I would’ve screwed my face up and stormed out of sight.  But now I’m open to it, and many of its variations, so long as it is paired with avocado and plied with complementing flavors.  It’s confirmed, I’m a sashimi philistine!  Luckily, there are restaurants that provide for raw food philistines like me, by creating food less traditional and somewhat culturally diverse. One of my favs is Katana. A robata and sushi bar in West Hollywood, LA.  My dear friend Elisabeth Troy, singer/extraordinaire, introduced me to this restaurant. Great food, good wine and stellar a mbience and a very extensive sake list. But remember, I’m a philistine so the sake list was wasted on me. This wonderful eatery and bar, where the beautiful people eat, served up a plethora of exciting dishes, raw and cooked, and as I left the restaurant I experienced a yearning feeling, wondering when I would be able to return.  

I haven’t returned as yet, but I have recreated and adapted their sashimi many times. Which is today’s recipe.  You will need great quality fresh albacore tuna, at least one inch thick and a very sharp knife to cut your tuna into thin strips.

Alabacore Tuna SashimiRead More

Asian-Style Short Ribs

Don’t you love short ribs? They are so satisfying they make me smile.

When I’m out socializing I often order a side of short ribs with fries and marvel over the taste. I’m sorry, its been a while since I had some short ribs, so I’m all kinds of excited.

I’ve created Asian-style short ribs today, they have a real smoky taste, and I would say they are nurtured rather than just simply cooked. The ingredients are an important part of this recipe, but the way in which you plate your short ribs will be the big seller to the lucky folks invited to eat them. So pile them high and make them look interesting. 

Asian-Style Short Ribs

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Broiled Tilapia Tacos

It’s Tacos Tuesday – yay!

I really enjoy a good taco, so easy to make and such a delight on the tongue, and my broiled tilapia tacos are just that.

There are many variations of the fish taco and none disappoint. Today, I give you my healthiest option, broiled tilapia tacos topped with red cabbage and fennel. The tilapia is soaked in lime for 30 minutes to provide balance to the taste of the fish against the cabbage and fennel. A squeeze of lime over the top and a touch of sriracha, if you feel so inclined, melds all the flavors together.

I will continue to share my taco recipes with you and maybe make a habit of Taco Tuesday. Enjoy.

Broiled Tilapia Tacos

Broiled Tilapia Tacos Read More

Lamb Shank

Spring is upon us but sadly New York was blessed with more snow. I thought we had seen the last of the snow and was forging ahead to warmer weather, but alas no. So I’m back to cooking my comfort food specials with lashings of gravy and love. Lamb shank is a hearty piece of meat, true comfort food. My recipe has plenty of rosemary and garlic and is set on top of my simple mash.  A definite belt-tester! Try this recipe out when the weather delivers a miserable day, trust me it will serve as a nice pick me up.  

   Lamb Shank

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