A Bowl of Spring : Quinoa, Strawberry, Arugula, Goatcheese, and Roasted Chicken Salad.

      Spring has eventually come -okay, it's pretty rainy out there but it's officially spring, which means that summer is coming next and that is great news. I've put on weight these months because of all the exams I have -cross the fingers for me please ! To help me lose the pounds I've gained eating chocolate/cakes/French fries (what a student diet, isn't it ?!), I've decided to prepare more salads and to add more grains and greens in my meals. That's the reason why today I'm posting ... a salad ! To be more acute, this is a salad made with leftovers so that's a great recipe about "how to use your leftovers". I used the roasted chicken leftovers and the quinoa I'd made the day before. I added a few other ingredients, made a quick and simple vinaigrette and the result turned out to be pretty tasty and handy -it's the kind of salad I love to make for my lunch box if there's a fridge where I go to store it. Hope you'll like it too. And I promise it's absolutely not the sort of salad that makes you feel hungry in the following hour.

Ingredients:

For 2 servings

- 100g cold quinoa

- chicken leftovers 

- 2 handfuls arugula

- some fresh diced strawberries (about 6-8 is good)

- some diced fresh goat cheese

For the vinaigrette

- 2 tb olive oil

- 1 tb balsamic vinegar

- 2 tp honey

- half a red onion, chopped

- pepper

Instructions:

1) Mix all the ingredients together for the salad

2) Do the same for the vinaigrette. Pour on the salad. Enjoy.

Enjoy,

B.

Fresh Lebanese Taboulé.

Last Sunday, I saw a documentary on Lebanese food and it made me want to try a home made taboulé. I often eat taboulé but it's far from being the original recipe - the sauce is canned and too oily most of the time. So I've tried the original recipe and I was very surprise by the flavors of this salad; in fact, it's as if I discovered taboulé for the first time today. No need to tell you I won't buy taboulé anymore.

I served it as a side with ground paprika and cumin marinated chicken brochettes - okay, not that Lebanese, but next time I'll try to make hummus and falafels, promise !

Ingredients:

- 250g boulghour

- 2 lemons

- 20cl warm water

- 4-5 firm tomatoes

- 4 spring onions

- half a bunch of mint

- half a bunch of flat-leaved parsley (in the original recipe, the taboulé is greener because the whole bunches are required)

- pepper and olive oil for seasoning

Directions:

1) In a bowl, put the boulghour and pour the water and lemon juice;

2) Dice the onions and the tomatoes; chop the herbs; add them to the boulghour and mix;

3) Fridge the taboulé for at least 4 hours - a whole day is better though;

4) Season if you want and pour some olive oil before serving.

Enjoy,

By B.

Mediterranean savory Cannelés.

Last Saturday, my father came back from the shopping with a GREAT gift for the foodie I am : a silicone canneles pan. I must confess, though I live in France - and is a French pastry -, I've never tasted any cannelé ... There are always lots of cannelés in every (good) pastry shop window but I've always found them too caramelized - yes okay, another confession: I don't like caramel -. However, I've always loved the shape of this cake so why not find an alternative and making savory cannelés instead?
As Kama said previously, it's pretty gray outside these days -well, actually the kind of weather that engenders bad mood and makes you wanna stay underneath a warm and cozy blanket watching series all day long ... see?
So I've decided to fight against it and invented a Mediterranean recipe: dried black olives, dried tomatoes, basil, and goat cheese!

As I said beneath, it was the first time I've made canneles and I wasn't really sure about the recipe so after an hour of research, I found one that sounded not too complicated nor buttery.
But when I opened the fridge, I realized I didn't have any milk .... and canneles require half a liter of milk ... No problem, I took my parents' soy milk and it worked. I don't like to drink soy milk because of its taste but I often use it to cook or bake (pancakes for ex.) because it's doesn't have any taste when cooked and it's far less fat than cow milk ... Plus, it's healthy so why hesitate?
Anyway, canneles take 45min to be done. After 30min, I checked them and I was a bit afraid since they had overflowed from the pans but they shrinked when they cooled down. And they turned out to be pretty good, very cheesy and moist, perfect as appetizers or sides of a salad.
Next time, I'll try the original cannele recipe with Rum for sure!

Have one ...


Or several.

Ingredients:

for 8 regular cannelés

- 1/2 l soy milk

- 1 egg + 1 yolk
- 100g all-purpose flour
- salt & pepper
- dried black olives
- dried tomatoes
- goat cheese (for these ingredients, I cannot really tell you the quantity needed; as I cheese lover, I put plenty of goat cheese in my canneles but do as you like; and you can also replace goat cheese by feta)
- 3 basil leaves

Directions:

Preheat the oven at 240°C/ 450-500°F (it mist be very hot otherwise the preparation will stick to the pans)
1) Put the milk and the butter in a saucepan and let them boil; don't forget to add the basil leaves so that they will brew in the milk; when it begins to boil, stir and remove from heat;
2) Meanwhile, whisk the egg and the yolk in a bowl and incorporate the flour;

3) Remove the basil leaves and pour the milk in the bowl little by little while continuing whisking;
4) Dice the olives, the tomatoes and the cheese and add them to the preparation;

5) Butter the pans and fill them to the brim;
6) Bake for 45min;
7) Let them cool down in their pans;
8) Serve warm or cold, with (or without) a salad.

By B.

Salmon and Mango Salad

For Christmas' Eve, I wanted a fresh & light salad combining an exotic fruit and seafood as I know they usually match together pretty well. I thought it would be an original way to eat seafood on a traditional day. Raw salmon immediately came to my mind since I'm a huge sushiholic. Besides, mango is undoubtedly one of my favorite fruits because of my origins; indeed, my mother is from Thailand and there has always been Thai food in our kitchen, including delicious sweet mangoes. I definitely love the color of this fruit; it just reminds me of summer, holidays, and of my house located in a small tropical & typical village of Northern Thailand ; plus, it adds that "special touch" to a dish that catches your attention immediately.

So now if we go back to my salad, I wanted to dress it nicely so I made a kind of "three-layer salad" with mango, mache salad and then salmon on top. As for the vinaigrette, I just used my new favorite oil: roasted pistachio oil; and I mixed it with some pomegranate molasses - another original touch for this celebrating day!

It tasted very good; my family loved it and found that the freshness of this salad was a good thing in the middle of a rather substantial meal (it was substantial indeed since we had the biggest turkey ever the following day ... we never had so many leftovers!); and the different flavors matched together perfectly .

If you don't like eating raw fish, you can replace it by scallops or grilled prawns, that works too.

Ingredients:
for two people
- two raw salmon slices
- one mango (not too ripe otherwise it would be too sweet)
- mache salad
- lime
- pepper
- one tbspoon of roasted pistachio oil
- one tbspoon of pomegranate molasses

Directions:
1) Dice the raw salmon slices, marinate them with some lime juice and pepper, and put them into the fridge for about an hour
2) Likewise, dice the mango
3) Mix the pistachio oil with the pomegranate molasses
4) Dressing: put the mango dices in a round-shape; put the mache salad on it and then add the salmon on top; pour the vinaigrette on it; serve immediately. Enjoy.






By Bbl.

Sweet jalapenos, goat cheese and onion marmelade.

Ingredients:

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow red pepper

1 portion of goat cheese ( "chèvre frais")

1 tbsp onion marmelade (you can get the recipe here)

2 tbsp olive oil

- 1 tbsp honey

- Salt and pepper

- a few salad leaves

Directions:

We'll start with the jalapenos (the only part that "needs to be cooked"). First put the jalapenos in a preheated 410° oven for 20 minutes so that you can take the skin off later. When this is done cut them into small cubes while your olive oil is heating. Put your jalapenos in the skillet, add salt and pepper and 1 tbsp honey, keep tossing over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Put a few salad leaves in a dish and add the hot jalapenos (that'll make the goat cheese melt), the goat cheese and 1 tbsp onion marmelade on top.

By K.