Tag Archives: extra virgin

Pomegranate and Persimmon Salad by Melissa

My friend Melissa over at Eyes Bigger Than My Stomach just did a most delicious looking salad that is based on Pomegranate and Persimmon. It looks absolutely splendid! I, myself, have been eying up the persimmon’s at the market, wondering what the hell to do with them if I did ever get them! Lone behold, Melissa to the rescue.

You can judge for yourself.

So, without further ado: the Melissa version of the Endive Salad with Persimmons or as I like to call it:

Persimmon & Pomegranate Salad with Chicken

1 box or bag of fresh Romaine hearts
seeds from 1 large pomegranate
2 ripe Fuyu persimmons
1/2 lb of feta, crumbled
1/2 tsp plus 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup of toasted pistachio nuts coarsely chopped
2 tbsp of snipped chives (reserve blossoms for garnish if you feel fancy!)
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp white wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to season
3-4 chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips – like for stir frying

You’ll find the complete recipe here!

Baby Greens and Flower Salad by Ciao Florentina

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Baby Greens & Flower Salad By Ciao Florentina
(Serves 2 )

1/2 lb mixed baby greens
10 edible flowers: marigolds, violas, nasturtium
1 red bell pepper -cut into thin sticks
1 1/2 c cubed pineapple or melon
1 lb chicken tenderloin
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp sea salt +more to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp sweet paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder

Salad Dressing:

1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
the juice from 1/2 lemon
the zest from 1 lemon
2 sprigs lemon thyme (leaves only)
2-3 tbs raw honey
1/2 tsp sea salt + more to taste
freshly cracked black pepper to taste

More recipies like this go see Ciao Florentina!

Pork Rust

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The Pork Rust is so named this way because the rusty look that roasting or frying the veges get.

What you’ll need to feed two healthy bellies:

2 steaks of pork
2 yams
1 red & 1 yellow pepper
2 slices of onion
3 cloves of garlic
4 large mushrooms
Half a cup of frozen peas and carrots
1 small chili pepper
2 slices of cucumber
2/3 cup of rice
Extra virgin olive oil
Teriyaki sauce

Spices:

Sesame seeds
Tarragon
Dill

I always start off when I have potatoes boiling enough water to boil the taters. Get the water boiling. Dice up the yams while your waiting for it to boil, for when it does, put the cubes in. I usually add dill to the rice and the potatoes.Then measure out 2/3 a cup of rice, and rinse it a few times, then match the rice with water (this is for jasmine or basmati, brown rice takes different quantities). Once you have it measured, bring the water to boil and then turn it down very low for 15 min.

Once these two are going, fry the pork, with about 1/2 a teaspoon of tarragon, and sesame seeds. I also put a dose of teriyaki sauce on it right now. Mix the spread around a bit so it is evenly spread across the whole pork, this gives it delicious flavor.

When the pork has just been put on, I’ll dice up the onions and garlic and put them in their own frying pan with some olive oil to get them cracking. After these have been frying for a few minutes I will add the rest of the diced veges to the fry.

When I flip the pork after about 5 min, just check the bottom you want to see a bit of brown if its on a fairly hot heat. Don’t crank the heat or you’ll just burn the pork and keep it raw on the inside.

Keep an eye on the rice, when its done if you timed it right, everything else will be done and you’ll have to only make a nice garnish to suit your style. I choose a diced cucumber with some sprinkled sesame seeds and tarragon with a bit of dill.

Does it look yummy? How did yours turn out?

Red Chicken Pasta Sauce

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Today’s dish is Red Chicken. Its a pasta dish that’s served with a homemade tomato paste sauce, and is oh so delicious. I will refrain from going through how to make the sauce, for you can find it here.

What you’ll need:

spaghetti (a moderate fist full usually is enough for 2)
chicken
1 in total peppers (red, orange, yellow)
4 medium mushrooms
onion
garlic
extra virgin olive oil
sesame seeds
poppy seeds
tarragon
ginger
ground coriander seed

I start right away before I take anything out to boil a pot of water for the spaghetti. Get this on for it will take as long or exactly the same amount of time as the chicken does.

The, start as usual with some olive oil in the pan, and turn on the burner to put the chopped up, bite sized chicken into the pan to fry.

When this has been started, add your spices. I use a lot of sesame seeds, tarragon, and poppy seeds. The others vary greatly depending on the mood. Ginger is good, not really necessary to be careful with.. Very good and distinct tastes to the dish.

I like to keep the chicken portion of this fairly ‘chicken-y’ tasting, for it keeps the taste different than the sauce that you’ll be adding later, so I try not to mix spices to much.

Stir this nicely and then get chopping!

I try and get the onions and garlic into the chicken as soon as possible. Adds flavor to the chicken I find.

When the chicken is nearly done, add the veges to fry for a little while. Personally, I enjoy having veges that are warm, and soft, but still hold their shape, so I find the perfect time to add them is right when almost all the pink in the chicken is gone.

After the chicken is done, Add the pasta sauce you’ve already made.

Stir this for a short time, just to get things nicely mixed, and then serve!

Enjoy!

Eggplant Mingus

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What is now to be known as Eggplant Mingus was made tonight, called so for its wide variety of foods in the dish.

What you need to feed two healthy boys:

1 yam
1 sweet potato
1/2 eggplant
Handful of asparagus
2 breasts or 4 thighs of boneless chicken (with bones you’ll need more)
3 big mushrooms
2 slices of onion
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Spices:

Paprika
Tarragon
Chili powder
Sea salt and pepper
Oregano
Sesame seeds

To start, I always get the water boiling for the potatoes. They should be washed and diced into your own style of chunks for boiling. When the water comes to a boil put them in.

The Eggplant should be chopped into ~1-2cm slices and put on a pan to let the eggplant sweat. After 5-10 min they’ll be sweating, wipe that off and lightly cover them with a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, oregano, and salt. Remember to save half for when you flip them in the pan. Once you’ve got the mixture on the eggplant, turn the pan on fairly high because to make sure you get them nicely browned. Watch them carefully though, cause they can burn quick.

Chop up the chicken and put it into the frying pan with about a half teaspoon of paprika, tarragon, chili powder, oregano and sesame seeds on the chicken, as well as a bit of olive oil to hopefully stop the chicken from sticking to the pan. Put this on med-high heat, and fry.

When the chicken is nearly done, I add the mushrooms chopped into cubes, and the diced onions to give it a interesting flavor. The eggplant should be flipped by this time, and working on its second side.

I would also at this point put in the asparagus. I just put mine in with the potatoes because I was running out of elements. They really don’t need to cook for long, ~ 3 min.

Take some time to add something pretty to the dish, I chopped up some cucumber into almost all the way through slices, and then sliced some thing leaves of red pepper to stuff in each slice. It adds some more veges to the mix, and bring a whole lot of color!

Don’t be afraid to put an extra dash of salt on the eggplant!

Look good? Tell me how yours went!

Enjoy!