Sunday with Marlena Spieler

I have heard a lot of folks mention that they do not like beetroot and always wonder why? I love beetroot salads, beetroot halwa and beetroot steamed and seasoned with mustard seeds and a tiny bit of coconut. This recipe is a lot different from what I am used to and was surprised at how delicious it tastes with simple ingredients that you will most definitely have at home. We used pomegranate flavored balsamic vinegar for this salad.

Beetroot – 4

Balsamic Vinegar – ½ tsp

Olive oil – ½ tsp

Mint Leaves – 3 T, cut thinly

Salt & pepper to taste

• Cut the beetroot in half and steam for about 20 minutes.
• Peel and cut into small dice.
• In a small bowl, whisk  balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper
• Pour the dressing over the beetroot and mix it well.
• Garnish with mint leaves and serve chilled.

If you want add a kick to this, you can finish with a dash of harissa. Mel has a recipe for harissa. Eileen also  has an awesome salad.

Spring is around the corner and we have started having spring themed salads in the house. Tonight the theme was Asian- so an Asian inspired salad dressing drizzled over organic spring greens, sliced mushrooms, clementines and almonds. I was so good, I wrote down the recipe as I measured diligently. This is a go to salad on a weekday when you come home hungry and you have a box of salad greens in the refrigerator.

Salad Dressing

Sesame Oil – 1/2 cup

Juice of 1 clementine

Ginger – 1/2 tsp, minced

Soy sauce – 1 T

Chilli garlic sauce – 1 T

Peanut Butter – 3 T

Sherry Wine Vinegar- 1 T

Honey – 1 tsp

Sesame seeds – 1 tsp, toasted

• Whisk all of the ingredients in a bowl or pulse a couple of times in a blender
• Taste and check for seasonings and adjust to suit your taste
• Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

If you don’t like sesame oil, use vegetable oil and add just a tablespoon of sesame oil for flavor.

We added orange segments, chopped almonds, a few dried cranberries (just because it was staring at me in the pantry, crying to be used) to our greens along with thinly sliced mushrooms. Add shredded chicken too if you like.  This took exactly 10 minutes to put together.

Variations:

• Reduce the amount of oil and increase the peanut butter a little bit for an Asian inspired vegetable dip.
• Marinate your meats in it and grill, basting with the sauce

Sunday with Marlena Spieler

You ask how in the world does Candied lemon peel get incorporated in this recipe? Read on . This  journey of cooking through Marlena’s cookbook is a truly a world tour. We travel through different countries and our kitchen now smells of foods from all over the globe.

The recipe called for a teaspoon and sugar and rind of one lemon. What does one do when we don’t have fresh lemons in house? So the candied lemon peel came in handy. This salad has just the right balance with a pinch of heat.

Diced Tomatoes – 14 oz

Onion – 2 T, finely chopped

Green Chilly – 2 ( add less if you want it less hot)

Garlic – 1 T, finely chopped

Carmelina Cannelini Beans – 2, 14 oz cans.

Olive oil – 3 T

Lemon juice – 1 T

Cider Vinegar – 1 T

Candied lemon peel – 1 T, finely chopped

Salt & pepper to taste

Parsley for garnish

• In a  large bowl, whisk the olive oil, lemon juice and cider vinegar with salt and pepper.
• Add rest of the ingredients and fold it well, so that the dressing is well incorporated.
• Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Variations:

• We used Meyer lemon infused olive oil which gave it a really lemon flavor.
• Omit the onions in the recipe, if you are not a big fan of raw onions.
• Add basil instead of parsley for a different flavor.

While we are @ The Fancy Food show, Carmelina had a stall and we got to taste their beans and was surprised that it tasted so fresh. The  nutritional label answered the question – a mere 1.5% sodium and 45% dietary fiber. This brand is available @ Whole Foods.

What a difference in taste, try it and you wont be disappointed.

And take a peel @ Eileen and Mel’s blog for sure.

Sundays with Marlena Spieler

This was a relaxing weekend for us. We spent time with friends and family and today we get to relax and start the week ahead. We did not cook much at home, but definitely ate a lot of food. We wanted something light today and this recipe came in handy. Our nephew who does not like eggplant liked this salad a lot over toasted baguette, WINNING recipe

The first time I had this kind of a salad was when my friend, Cyndi made this for July 4th block party. R & I both loved it and as always, I asked for her the recipe. She gave it to me, I made it a couple of times and then lost the recipe. This is what I came up with . And yes, I know this recipe calls for curry powder, but who claimed this recipe was Indian??:) wink wink

Curried Chicken Salad

Oil – 1 T

Onion – 1 cup, Sliced

1 rotisserie chicken, skin removed and meat chopped or shredded & chilled

Celery- 1 cup, chopped

Grapes – 1 cup (mix green and purple)

Mango- 1 cut in small cubes

Ginger- 1 tsp, grated

Dressing

1 1/2 cups plain Greek Yogurt

Mango Chutney- 1 tsp

Curry paste/powder- 2 tsp (add more or less per your taste)

Salt & pepper – to taste

Garnish

Slivered Almonds- ½ cup

Roasted Sunflower seeds- ¼ cup

• Heat a sauté pan with oil and cook the onions until they turn golden brown.
• Set it aside in a bowl and let it cool.
• In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for the dressing and whisk well.
• Add the onions and the rest of the ingredients and stir gently.
• Garnish with almonds and sunflower seeds and serve chilled or at room temperature.

When I am not really in the mood to do anything big, snacks like these come in handy. This is very healthy as it has absolutely no oil. Throw in all the ingredients below for a nice evening snack or any time of the day!

Garbanzo beans – 1 cup (dry)
Red Onion – 1/2 cup diced
Tomatoes – 1 finely chopped
Carrots grated – 1/4 cup
Juice of 1/2 a lime or however sour you like it
Green chilly – 1 chopped
Cilantro for garnish
Salt & pepper to taste

If you have raw mango, chop a few pieces and throw that in too.