July 2014

Shrimp and Avocado Salad with Cherry Tomatoes

By Ria / Greens, Salad, Seafood / 1 Comment / July 31, 2014

There is this funny story about how humans first started cooking their meat… how a barn got burned down along with the animals in it and the sad owner burned his finger when he poked a dead (and apparently perfectly cooked) animal… and put the finger in his mouth… and went yummm… but I have not heard a story about how we started eating shrimp. Only thing I can say is, whoever started the trend, he or she must have been a courageous soul! To look at one of those grumpy looking things with all spindly legs and stalk eyed stare and think… “umm… that must taste lovely!” would have taken a truly adventurous mind.

Whoever it was, I’m eternally grateful to that person. For, that indeed tastes lovely! In fact, shrimp is the favourite of a majority of pescetarians.

The name ‘shrimp’ is used to describe a wide variety of species, often synonymously with ‘prawn’, though technically prawns are the larger cousins of shrimp. These days more than half of the shrimp in the commercial market is farmed and rather than caught in the wild.

Shrimp figures prominently in many cuisines like Chinese, Italian and Mexican. And the ways in which it can be prepared are so numerous. Elaborate preparations with complex flavours or simple salads with a basic dressing… shrimp can be the starring presence in any of them!

Here I combined the shrimp with avocado in a salad – a winning combination any day – along with some sugar snap peas.

And cherry tomatoes to add some colour, zucchini for a bit of body, and scallions for a mild heat.

Crushed garlic, dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar and olive oil make up the simple dressing.

Mix together all ingredients except the olive oil and slowly add the olive oil last and mix thoroughly.

It is an easy salad to make… just gently mix together all the prepared ingredients.

You have to be careful though, not to get the avocado pieces mushed by too much mixing.

Last step, just pour the creamy dressing over the mixed salad.

Ready to serve! A hearty salad willing to step in for a lunch any day!

~Ria

Shrimp and Avocado Salad with Cherry Tomatoes

Author: Ria

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

12 -15 medium shrimp
1 medium avocado
½ lemon
1 cup sugar snap peas
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 small zucchini
1 bunch scallions
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare the shrimp leaving the tails on.
In a pan, cook the shrimp, covered, adding two tablespoons of water and a pinch of salt, for 4 to 5 minutes, till all water is evaporated. Keep aside.
Deseed the avocado and cut into bite size pieces. Squeeze the lemon over the avocado pieces to prevent discolouration.
Bring a pot of water to boil and add 1 teaspoon of salt. Add the sugar snap peas to the boiling water and cook for three minutes. Drain and place in iced water right away. When thoroughly chilled, drain and keep aside.
Cut the zucchini into bite size pieces. Place in a microwave safe dish with a pinch of salt, and sprinkle with a little water. Microwave for two minutes.
Slice the scallions into thin rounds.
Mix together the crushed garlic, mustard and balsamic vinegar. Slowly drizzle the olive oil and mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper.
In a large bowl, mix together shrimp, pieces of avocado and zucchini, peas and sliced scallions. Add salt and pepper as required.
Pour the dressing all over the mix and gently stir together.
Chill in the refrigerator for an hour.
Ready to serve!

Green Egg Sandwich

By Ria / Appetizer, Eggs / 4 Comments / July 28, 2014

Not exactly… I mean, the eggs are not green, but the sandwich is! A lovely green chutney is the secret behind this delicious sandwich which can be made in a jiffy.

When it comes to sandwiches, I totally agree with John Montague, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who is credited with its creation in the first place. The story goes that reluctant to get up from the card table – apparently, the man took his gambling seriously – he would ask his servants to hand him a piece of meat between two slices of bread so that his fingers would stay clean. Naturally, the other players at the card table started asking for the food item ‘same as sandwich’ which soon got abbreviated further and the dish named sandwich was born!

Here the role of the bread is just to hold the goodies inside (which function I get lettuce leaves to do as well, very often). And whatever interesting and tasty food that keeps its shape can be placed inside a sandwich. If you are not sure whether the filling will stay inside the bread, just toast it to keep it all together. 🙂

I have tried out a lot of combinations of fillings and flavourings for sandwiches, over time. One combination that has been a great hit with many of my friends is a variation of the traditional vegetable sandwich with green chutney. Just replace all the vegetable fillings with slices of boiled eggs, keeping the green chutney part intact. Viola, you have cut down the effort and time to less than half while ending up with a sandwich that is even more tasty!

So the other day, when I wanted some sandwiches to take on a day trip, that is what I decided to make. And it did come out pretty good, if I say so myself! 🙂

Making the chutney is the only task that takes a bit of time. Or rather getting the ingredients for the chutney together.

Once you have assembled the stuff, just grind them all together and you have the chutney ready.

Next comes the bread. Unless a recipe definitely calls for white bread, I go for whole wheat. Especially as that is the bread that I always have on stock. You should toast the bread slices for this sandwich as it adds to the flavour.

Butter both the bread slices, on one side of course, for a sandwich before applying the chutney. The barrier of fat is required to prevent the chutney from totally soaking into the bread and making it soggy.

After the butter, the chutney goes on. Rather thickly. Actually, how much chutney will depend on your preferences.

Then just layer the slices of the boiled egg over the chutney on one slice of bread. I used an egg slicer to do the slicing, but it can easily be done with a knife.

Place the second buttered and chutneyed bread slice over the egg and press down a bit. The chutney will hold it together well. There is no need to toast the sandwich as the bread has been toasted already.

As a quick lunch or snack to go, an ideal sandwich. Enjoy!

~Ria

Green Egg Sandwich

Author: Ria

Recipe type: Sandwich

Ingredients

1 big bunch of cilantro
2 tbsp scraped coconut
¼ white onion
½ inch piece ginger root
1 clove of garlic
1 green chilli
1 tsp tamarind paste (can be replaced with 1 tbsp lemon juice)
½ tsp sugar
Salt to taste
3 eggs
6 slices of whole wheat bread
Unsalted butter

Directions

Clean the cilantro and remove all hard stems.
Slice the onion into thin wedges.
Slice the ginger, garlic and green chillies.
Boil the eggs and shell them.
Grind together the cilantro, coconut, onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies, tamarind, sugar and salt together in a blender till smooth. If required, you can add a spoonful of water.
Transfer to a dish and keep aside.
Toast the bread slices.
Apply butter on one side each of all the bread slices.
Apply chutney on the buttered side of the bread slices.
Slice the boiled eggs and place the slices over the chutney.
Cover with the second slice of bread and press down a bit.
Sandwiches are ready!

Muffins to the Rescue of Bananas

By Ria / Desserts, Other sweet stuff / 2 Comments / July 24, 2014

Four bananas going south… cannot eat anymore as two already downed… don’t like to waste food either… what is a girl to do?

Make some banana muffins, of course! Especially when she is in need of some interesting breakfast stuff.

And that is how it started. But then, isn’t it too tame to go ahead and make some regular run of the mill muffins? Why not add some different stuff to make it a bit more interesting? That is the path I took. And the end result? Well worth the effort… a healthier, tastier set of muffins!

So I went around assembling the ingredients… the bananas are very sweet; so what is a fruit that is not so sweet? Dried plums! They do have a good texture too.

And now for some colour… what better than glazed cherries for colour? And some walnuts for crunch. Last item… a pinch of orange zest. Nothing invokes that sunny morning feeling like the flavour of oranges!

With the ingredients assembled, the rest was easy. As easy as beat’em, chop’em, blend’em… beat the liquid stuff, chop the fruits and nuts…

And blend everything together!

When the muffins came out of the oven, they were looking so good I felt it is a shame not to give them a topping… at least some of them.

So I made a quick topping with a bit of cream cheese and a dash of mascarpone. They are sufficiently sweet, so just a spoonful of honey to sweeten just the topping.

A sliver of glazed cherry to garnish, and you got a winner!

~Ria

Muffins to the Rescue of Bananas

Author: Ria

Recipe type: Breakfast

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp nutmeg powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs at room temperature
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
4 very ripe bananas
1 cup dried plums
½ cup glazed red cherries
¾ cup walnuts
1 tbsp orange zest

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degree fahrenheit.
Prepare muffin pans with paper liners. The quantity mentioned will get you 20 muffins; so you could either use two muffin pans, or bake them in two batches.
Mix the flour with baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg and salt. Keep aside.
Toast the walnuts in a hot pan for 3 minutes and let cool. Chop the walnuts into a rough chop, each walnut being cut into not more than two or three pieces.
Mash two of the bananas coarsely so that lumps remain.
Chop the dried plums and glazed cherries coarsely.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, using an electric beater.
Add the sugar and continue beating till the sugar is completely dissolved.
Add the remaining two bananas and beat them into the egg-sugar mixture.
Add the oil and vanilla extract and beat to mix thoroughly.
Using a spatula, mix the lumpily mashed bananas into the mix.
Now add the chopped ingredients – dried plums, glazed cherries, walnuts – and the orange zest, one by one, mixing well after each addition to form the batter.
Add half the flour mixture into the batter and gently blend in.
When all the flour is mixed in, add the remaining flour and continue blending till smooth. Do not beat the batter at this stage or over blend.
Using a large spoon, drop the batter into the prepared muffin pans till each cup is ¾ full.
Place the pan into the heated oven.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, till the muffins have risen well and the top is golden brown. At this stage, a skewer inserted into the center of a muffin will come out clean.
Remove from the oven and place individual muffins on a rack to cool.
If you would like to add a topping, mix together 3 tablespoons of cream cheese with 2 tablespoons of mascarpone cheese. Sweeten just enough with honey and spread on top of the muffins.

Oranges and Beets on Wild Rice – a Picturesque Salad

By Ria / Fruits, Grains, Greens, Salad / Leave a Comment / July 21, 2014

The most versatile among the food grains, rice is the staple food of over half the world’s population. It is the largest cultivated crop and provides more than one fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans.

Rice cultivation originated in the Pearl River Valley of Chine, close to 10,000 years ago. From there, it spread to countries in South and Southeast Asia like India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Legend has it that is was the soldiers of Alexander the Great that brought this grain to Europe. And when Europeans started the colonization of the American continent, rice reached there too.

There are many varieties of rice available today, each one suitable for particular ways of cooking. Like basmati for a pulav or arborio for a risotto. And if we start talking about the many many dishes that can be made out of rice, we will be here a long time. 🙂

However, when I consider rice dishes, a salad was the last thing that came to my mind. That is, until recently. Ever since I came upon this fantastic salad made out of wild rice, it has become one of my favourites. Of course, over the course of preparing it many times, I have tweaked it quite a bit to get it to a state of perfection.

Wild rice, by the way, is in no way related to the rice plant. It is the seeds of a semi-aquatic grass that grows in lakes and river bays, in waters two to four feet deep. These grain like seeds used to be gathered and consumed by the native American tribes. Wild rice farming is of rather recent origin.

Interesting to note, wild rice is Minnesota’s state grain. And within the state, the non-farmed wild rice can be harvested only in the traditional way, without the use of any machinery.

Wild rice is most appreciated for its rich nutty flavour, which works well even when combined with other rice varieties. For this particular salad, I used a mixture of wild rice, red and brown rice and some black Japonica rice.

The dressing is rather creamy, the main ingredient being cream cheese. Balancing the creaminess, is the spiciness of the whole grain mustard and red chilli flakes, the crushed garlic and orange zest adding to the flavours.

A bit of light cream is used to make the dressing easier to pour. But it should not be too liquidy either.

The best part of this salad is to build it up. Start with the endive leaves on a serving platter. They should be placed close enough, but not overlapping. The idea is to ensure that you can life each leaf individually with the stuff piled on top of it.

Now place the cooked rice, covering the lower half of the leaves.

Pour some of the dressing over the rice. And do resist the temptation to scoop it up already! (I’m speaking from experience!)

Next is the turn of the beets and oranges. Pile them up on top of the rice.

They do look pretty, don’t they?

More dressing on top; and a few chives snipped on top completes the salad.

This salad can be eaten as a lunch on its own or can be served before a hearty meat main course.

Light and refreshing, yet filling too!

~Ria

Oranges and Beets on Wild Rice – a Picturesque Salad

Author: Ria

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

1 cup wild rice or mix of rice including wild rice
2 medium beets
1 can (12 oz) orange segments
2 hearts of endive
3 tbsp cream cheese
3 tbsp light cream
1 ½ tsp whole grain mustard
1 ½ tsp orange zest
1 garlic clove
A pinch red chilli flakes
A few sprigs of chive
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cook the rice according to directions on the packet.
Skin the beets and cut them into ½ inch cubes.
In a pan of salted water, boil the beets until tender. Drain and keep aside.
Drain the can of oranges and keep aside.
Separate the endives into leaves.
Crush the garlic clove.
Mix the cream cheese with mustard, orange zest, crushed garlic, and chilli flakes.
When thoroughly mixed, add the cream a little at a time till the desired consistency is reached. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
In a serving platter, arrange the endive leaves in a single row, forming a border.
Place the rice on the leaves, covering their lower half.
Pour two table spoons of dressing over the rice.
Mix the beets and oranges gently, and add to the platter, on top of the rice.
Pour the remaining dressing over the top.
Garnish with snipped chives and get ready for compliments!

Zucchini and Peppers Salad with Pasta

By Ria / Greens, Pasta, Salad / 3 Comments / July 17, 2014

Remember those silly things that teenagers keep saying? Correction, that we all used to say as teenagers? ‘Life without you is like a night without a moon… like peanut butter without jelly…’ and so on. I got a new one… life without you is like a summer without Freon! Why this sudden focus on a chemical gas? My air conditioner is out of Freon and I’m feeling the impact of the summer heat inside the house! 🙂 It is not terribly terrible – yet – though enough to make me look for ways to minimize time in the kitchen. One solution will be to eat more salads. But the simple green salads only make me more hungry. I need salads with some heft in them… So here I was looking forward to devising some interesting salads!

When you think about salads of substance, the first that come to mind are pasta salads. Okay, actually one thinks of potato salad first, but I have written about it very recently; so let’s go with a pasta salad. Good thing about pasta salad is that you can add a lot of stuff into it to make it interesting. And I wanted them fresh.

So a saunter to the local farm market later, it was clear what was going into the salad. Green and orange peppers and zucchini… perfectly matches the colours of the pasta! And cherry tomatoes and onions are always in the refrigerator.

An easy way to add vegetables to a pasta dish, and keep them crispy. You boil the pasta as usual in salted water… and just two minutes before it will be ready, you turn up the heat to bring the water to a rolling boil.

Throw in the cut vegetables that need cooking and wait for exactly 1 minute. Pour the whole thing into a colander, followed by a handful of ice cubes.

Swirl together to ensure that the ice is moved around cooling things down quickly. The ice treatment helps the vegetables keep their colour and crispiness while being perfectly cooked.

And when all the water from the melting ice is drained off, you are ready to add the rest of the stuff.

A simple dressing of lemon juice, red wine vinegar and whole grain mustard, of course with some olive oil, finished the salad.

I was going to use the salad dressing maker to shake up the dressing. And then realized it would be much quicker to mix it all up with a whisk. Isn’t that often the way it is? You have this wonderful gizmo that will make it all sooo easy, but then you spend more time cleaning up the thing than you saved by using it! Then again, there are some tools in the kitchen that you cannot imagine doing without! It could be fun taking stock of the gadgets and gizmos in our kitchens! Look forward to something on those line here soon!

~Ria

Zucchini and Peppers Salad with Pasta

Author: Ria

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

1 cup pasta of your choice, whole wheat preferably
1 green zucchini
1 orange pepper
1 green pepper
½ onion
½ cup cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1tsp whole grain mustard
2 tbsp olive oil
Sprigs of basil, pinched into pieces
Bowl of ice cubes
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cut the zucchini and peppers into bite sized pieces.
Halve the cherry tomatoes.
Slice the onion thinly, crosswise.
Bring to boil a pot of water with salt.
Add the pasta to the boiling water, and cook reducing heat.
After 8 to 10 minutes, based on how well done you want the pasta to be, increase the heat and bring the water to a rolling boil again.
Add the zucchini and pepper pieces and continue to boil for exactly one minute.
Drain in a colander and immediately add the ice cubes to the colander, swirling the colander to ensure that the ice cools the pasta and vegetables quickly and uniformly.
Set aside to drain completely.
Mix together the red wine vinegar, mustard and lemon juice. Add the olive oil and mix thoroughly.
When the pasta and vegetables are completely drained, add the sliced onion and halved tomatoes. Add salt and pepper and mix together.
Transfer to a serving dish and pour the dressing over.
Garnish with basil leaves, and serve immediately, or cool in the refrigerator for later.

Easy Twice Baked Potatoes

By Ria / Potato, Sides / 1 Comment / July 14, 2014

Spuds, taters, tubers… whatever name you call them by, a potato is a potato is a potato. And to misquote Shakespeare, “a potato by any other name would taste as great”! (Actually, he said… “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, but I think he should have made Juliet speak about the potato rather than the rose! 🙂

Think about the innumerable ways in which potatoes can be cooked… you can roast, fry, or boil them… bake, stuff or sauté them… They gel well with any meat or fish… or they can stand on their own. They are good spiced up or plain; they can be the main dish or a side. And whatever you do with them, they taste sooo awesomely good!

Can you tell I’m a major fan of the potato? Yes, I love, love, love them! Not only for their great taste, but for their versatility and adaptability to whatever I want to do with them… I can trust the potato not only to rise to the occasion in any dish, but shine like the brilliant star it is!

All kidding aside, I do find the potato my go-to food in a hunger emergency. Also, many of my comfort foods are potato based. And the addition of a potato or two can improve most dishes, I do believe. What is more, I am sure that most of the world would agree with me on this. After all, potatoes are the world’s fourth largest food crop!

A baked potato is one of the most basic form of potato that you can think of. But a twice baked potato can be simple or complex, as you desire. And that is its charm too.

The principle is simple… you bake the potato…

Cut off the tops and scoop out the flesh, leaving a thick skin all around.

And use various stuff to flavour the scooped out flesh. Here you can let your imagination run wild, as most of the spices we commonly use will go well with potatoes.

Pile up everything back into the potato skin and place in the oven for the second round of baking.

When almost done, sprinkle some cheese on top and brown again.

All done! A few scallions for decoration is all the finishing touch needed.

This can be served as a meal when paired with a hearty salad, or can be a side to a meat dish.

Enjoy!

~Ria

Easy Twice Baked Potatoes

Author: Ria

Recipe type: Snack/ Lunch

Ingredients

2 large potato
1 tsp of vegetable oil
½ cup sour cream
¾ cup white cheddar cheese, separated
1 scallion
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degree farenheit.
Choose 2 large potatoes of same size.
Scrub and wash them thoroughly.
Dry the potatoes with a paper towel and prick them all over with a skewer.
Smear vegetable oil all over the potatoes.
Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Check doneness by inserting a skewer into the centre of a poatato
When done, take out of the oven and allow to cool.
Cut off the top on the long side.
Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh, leaving a thick wall all around.
Mix the scooped out poatato with ½ cup of sour cream and ½ cup of shredded cheddar cheese.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Fill the ixture in the potato skins.
Place in the oven and bake till the top starts to brown, about 15 minutes.
Sprikle the reamining ¼ cup of cheese over the top and return to the oven.
When the cheese starts to brown, take out from the oven and cool on a rack.
Sprinkle the top with thinly slices scallion.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

A Tabouli Salad with a Difference

By Ria / Grains, Greens, Salad / Leave a Comment / July 10, 2014

Tabouli is one of the dishes that is a definite hit or miss with me. (Is that statement an oxymoron?) I know that tabouli is a parsley-intense dish. Though not a major fan of parsley, I am okay with it… up to a limit. Sometimes the parsley in the tabouli sooo overwhelms everything else that it tastes of nothing else. In such cases, yeah, that polite one spoon is all that I can deal with.

TS-tabouli

But then, this friend of mine – she is from Turkey, where tabouli is a staple – made this amazing version, with cilantro instead of parsley. And boy, did it change everything! Never have I made a tabouli again with parsley. The main difference I feel, is in the texture. Cilantro has this delicate texture whereas parsley tends to be a bit coarse. Even when you manage to avoid even the tiniest stems and use only the leaves.

Another standard ingredient of tabouli is bulghar wheat or cracked wheat. The variety that gets cooked with just hot water poured over it. Recently, I tried using quinoa instead of the wheat. And, found it far superior.

Of course, you can spice up a tabouli too. And you can do that in many ways to suit your perfect tastes. A pinch of allspice powder or eastern eight spice will work very well. Or to keep it simple, teaspoon of pickled jalapenos would really add some heat too.
I start by chopping cilantro.

Then some tomatoes…

And finally chop some cucumber as well.

Plenty of lemon juice and here I used a pinch of eastern eight spice powder.

The quinoa is prepared the usual way (see recipe below for details).

Then you just keep adding the chopped stuff one by one. There is no particular order; I added tomatoes first…

Cilantro next…

And the chopped cucumbers last.

Generous squeeze of lemon, the spice powder and salt and pepper. And a squiggle of olive oil to top it all. Tabouli salad is ready to serve!

I like it served with a piece of buttered crusty warm bread. The salad tastes so refreshing, especially on a hot summer day!

~Ria

A Tabouli Salad with a Difference

Author: Ria

Recipe type: Salad

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves
1 large fleshy tomato
1 seedless cucumber
1 large lemon
1 tsp eastern eight spice powder
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Wash quinoa thoroughly, multiple times, till the water runs very clear. Drain and keep aside.
Boil 2 cups of water, adding a pinch of salt.
Add the drained quinoa to the boiling water.
Reduce heat and let cook simmering for 12 to 15 minutes.
Switch off the heat and allow to cool.
Finely chop the cilantro, tomato and cucumber.
When the cooked quinoa has cooled down, add the chopped ingredients one by one and gently mix together.
Squeeze the juice and add it to the quinoa, along with the spice powder.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add olive oil to the prepared quinoa, going twice around the bowl.
Mix together and allow to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving.

The Day of the Grill

By Ria / Beef, Desserts, Events, Poultry, Salad / 3 Comments / July 7, 2014

July 4^th… if you grill one day in the year, this will be that day! It has become so much a part of the tradition. The weather, the food, the whole atmosphere calls for it. And that is exactly what we did for our dinner on July 4^th.

The menu was quite simple. To start with, the basic of basics, grilled chicken. A simple marinade of sour cream and tandoori spice mix. Marinated in the fridge for two hours and straight to the grill. As simple as that.

The next item was a bit more complex. Spicy kababs! Cilantro and mint leaves, garlic and onion, and jalapenos, to add that requisite heat.

Mince all of them finely and add to the chopped meat. However, there is a secret ingredient that gels it all together and makes the meat hold together… baking soda! But you have to be very careful not to overdo it. Just ½ tsp will do for two pounds of chopped meat. Knead the soda well into the meat along with the minced spices. Form into kabab shapes, with or without a skewer, and lay on the grill. Not too much work, but awesome results.

What is a summer grill without a potato salad! But this potato salad has something special about it… it is made with grilled potatoes! Boil the potatoes till they are just about done, and then lay them on the grill.

They should get a nice char and good grill marks.

Mince some red onion. In a bowl, mix together mayonnaise, minced onions, and a spoon of madras curry powder, available in any Indian grocery.

Cut the grilled potatoes into bite size pieces and add to the mayo mix. Mix thoroughly and delicious potato salad is ready!

Something green… no dinner is complete without something green. Tender cucumbers cut into small pieces and dressed with sesame oil and mirin (available in Asian groceries) was the perfect accompaniment to the spicy meats.

Grilled sweet corn and rolls rounded up the food part. A fresh crisp white wine with a hint of fruit made it all come together excellently.

And dessert… we decided against a heavy baked item instead opting for a light fruit salad with ice cream. Especially as this was a dinner being enjoyed outside. Boy, did it look pretty!

Mangoes and strawberries cut into pieces, with a splash of lemon juice… and a sprinkling of brown sugar. Do not stir; just keep it in the refrigerator till time to serve. To serve, mix together gently and top with vanilla ice cream in individual dishes.

If you would like detailed instructions for making the items in this meal, including a shopping list for ingredients, do write to ria (at) pepperroute (dot) com.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

~Ria

Roasted Peach Cobbler

By Ria / Desserts, Other sweet stuff / 2 Comments / July 3, 2014

I could smell the peaches even before I entered the market stall. This was a local farmers’ market that was held one every week, during the warm weather months. What is great about it is that most of the stuff there has been picked the same morning. And it is so close to home that I make it habit to go there every week.

And the peaches were superb. Ripened on the tree, picked the same morning, bursting with fragrance and flavour. So I got a bunch of them. Would be perfect for a cobbler.

And peaches in a cobbler are at their best when they are roasted. Roasting brings out their sweetness makes them kind of soft. All you need to do is, toss the wedges of peaches with a bit of brown sugar and place them on a baking tray, under the broiler for 15 minutes. They become glazed and so glossy.

Isn’t the best part of a cobbler the crumbly top? And I decided to add a bit of interest to the crumb by adding some almond meal to the mix. It turned out a good idea indeed.

Roasted peaches in a baking dish with a splash of vanilla and lemon juice…

Top it with a generous amount of crumb mix and pop it in the oven.

And the most awesome peach cobbler will come out in about 20 minutes. Not really. Actually, you have to open the oven and take it out yourself. 🙂

Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

~Ria

Roasted Peach Cobbler

Author: Ria

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

8 peaches
¼ cup light brown sugar
½ cup all purpose flour
½ cup almond meal
½ cup granulated sugar
4 tbsp cold butter
½ tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees.
Cut the peaches into ½ inch wedges.
In a bowl, toss the fruit with the brown sugar.
Place in a single layer on a baking tray and place on the top rack of the oven.
Let it roast for 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool.
Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
In a bowl, mix together the flour, almond meal and granulated sugar.
Cut the cold butter into pieces and drop into the flour mix.
With your fingers, blend the butter into the mix till the whole thing resembles large crumbs.
Mix the roasted fruit with vanilla essence and lemon juice.
Evenly place in a pie pan or square baking dish.
Sprinkle the prepared crumb on top of the fruit.
Place in the middle rack of the pre-heated oven.
Bake for 20 minutes. Check whether the top is showing golden brown spots. If not, continue baking for another 5 minutes.
Serve with vanilla ice cream. A streak of peach nectar will be good too, strictly optional.

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