When The Salad made the Day...

Baking and cooking everyday can really lead you to excessive Gorging. And I can vouch for that. So as to compensate M and I decided to get a Salad happening... Not so exciting you say... ;) Was outstanding I say.

Well the addition of the Grilled Feta to the greens did the trick.

To make a complete meal out of the salad addition of protein is a must and that's all I did. Well a salad is usually just three components: the greens, the dressings and the oomph... So...

Greens:

I prefer using two third Iceberg: coz that's the one that tastes the crunchiest and the freshest and the rest is a lil bit of Lollo rosso and Frisee... for the subtle bitterness and color.

Dressing

3 tbsp Olive oil

1 tbsp Lemon Juice

Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper to taste

Mint Leaves 10-12 lvs

Feta 1 tsp

Tip all of these into an empty jar. Screw it on and shake it up till combined... As easy as it gets.

OOMPH....

Well with this salad Feta was the choice.

Marination : olive oil and chili flakes

Cut the Feta into rectangular slices 2 inches thick an brush the marinade on both sides.

Heat a non stick frying pan well and place the marinated Feta at convenient distances. Flip after a minute very carefully and heat the other side for a minute too. A beautiful grilled exter

ior and gooey creamy center awaits.

Toss the greens with the dressing and place the grilled Feta on top right before serving.

Awesome was the call...

Semi Freddo... Sophisticated rich and Blissful..

The last restaurant I visited had this extraordinary dessert. And I went there thrice in the last 5 days just to satisfy my sweet tooth.

The I realized why not make it myself. The world is getting a lil expensive you know...

So its called Semi Freddo. Literally meaning Half Cold. Well I guess that's because its half way on route to making an Ice cream. Not frozen like an ice cream, so u can actually taste it rather than just have that frozen tongue. Not as stiff as a mousse that u can cut and eat it. More like a softee I would say.

Its creamy, smooth, rich and just melts in the mouth. Well one dollop in that restaurant was an enough inspiration for me to make some....

Ingredients

2 Eggs

115 gm Powdered Sugar

1 Vanilla Bean

100 gm White Chocolate

230 gm Double Cream

• Separate the egg yolks and the white. Make sure at the bowl in which u take out the whites in has no moisture else it will not whip up.
• Whisk together the yolks, sugar and the vanilla bean extract.
• Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler with 1 tbsp cream add at it to the above mixture.
• Whisk up rest of the Double cream separately and whisk the two mixtures together.
• Beat the egg whites till they achieve a hard peak ( beat it up such that when the bowl is upturned the whisked egg white doesnt fall) and fold it into the previous mixture.
• Divide this into 6 martini glasses or goblets or whiskey glasses as I did.
• Keep in the refrigerator overnight and serve dusted with cocoa.

Creamy smooth Indulgence. So Worth the immense amount of whisking and cleaning up.

Mmmmmmmmm.....

Cheesy Roasted Pimento Pie

Okay... Now that this is a food blog, a little technicality wont hurt anyone... So lets introduce the simplest of the techniques. Making of the Short Crust Pastry. Well this is the easiest to bake, and variants are innumerable.

As this blog develops and you read on, all will realise that i'm a crazy cheese indulgent. The other day my shopping cart had 6 varieties of cheese- cheddar, feta, parmesan, processed, smoked and ricotta. And the cashier gave me a very stunned stare. As if I care. :-)

This is like my most loved recipe, its like comfort food and just one slice of this pie is like the ultimate happiness guaranteed... Sloth would be the sin.

Ingredients ( Serves 6 )

For the Short Crust Pastry

125 gms Flour
55 gms cold Cubed Unsalted Butter
3-4 tbsp chilled Water
Salt to taste

For the Stuffing

3 tsp Olive oil
2 cloves garlic sliced
1 tbsp granular sugar
1 tsp red chilli powder
3 medium sized Bell peppers
1 large onion
3 large tomatoes
50 gms tomato puree
10-15 Fresh basil lvs
200 gms Matured cheddar Cheese
Salt and Freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

Method

Short Crust Pastry

» Seive the flour into a bowl. Rub the cubed butter and flour together using just your fingers so as to get a mixture resembling bread crumbs.

»Add the salt and water and bring the entire mixture together to form a dough. But donot knead it, only bring it together.
»Wrap it up in a cling film and place in the fridge to chill for half an hour.
»After the rest, roll the dough 1" thick and line a 10" pie dish. Fill it up with beans, brush the edges with egg wash and bake in a 180 degree celsius preheated oven till slightly golden brown.

For the Stuffing

» Remove the seeds of the peppers and cut into 4 peices. Toss in a lil olive oil, salt and chilli flakes.

» Roast in a 180 degree celsius oven till charred.
»In a shallow pan, add the sugar to the oil and heat on low flame. Once the sugar caramelizes and turns slightly red add the garlic and the onions and saute till translucent. Add the salt and chilli powder.
»Add the fine chopped tomatoes and saute till the oil seperates out. Now add the tomato puree and saute till the raw taste of the tomatoes is no longer present.
»Chop up the roasted peppers and add to this mixture.
»Add half the amount of cheese and the basil lvs. The cheese would help to bind the mixture together. Allow to cool.

» Once cooled add this mixture into the blind baked pie. Top it up with the remaining grated cheese and bake in the same oven temperature till the cheese turns golden brown and the edges brown well.
» Slice into 6 wedges and serve warm.

Served best with a dollop if Sour Cream. Having more than one slice would just be pure indulgence.

Repeats guaranteed.