Lemony Bulgur Salad with Shrimp and fresh Mint leaves

Bulgur is a quick-cooking form of whole wheat; it is usually soften with the boiling water. For this terrific main-course salad, I simply soften it in hot vegetable stock before tossing it with mint leaves and pre-cooked shrimp. This lemony flavour salad is a quick fix for any meal. Green colour and flavour of mint with a light pink colour of radish and shrimp makes it a perfect summer salad.
Serve :          1

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

Coarse bulgur:                       1 cup
Vegetable stock:                    2 cups
Lemon zest:                           1 teaspoon (finely grated)
Lemon juice:                          4 tablespoon
Extra-virgin olive oil:              2 tablespoon
Shrimp:                                 1 cup (deveined and cooked)
Mint leaves:                           1/2 cups
Radishes:                               4-5 (thinly sliced)
Pine nuts:                               2 tablespoon (dry roasted)
 Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:

1) In a bowl, add the bulgur with hot vegetable stock and cover it with a kitchen towel. Let stand until the grains are tender, about 15-20 minutes hours. Use a fork to make it fluffy.
2) In a large bowl, whisk the lemon zest with the lemon juice and olive oil. Add the bulgur, shrimp, fresh mint leaves, sliced radishes and pine nuts and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

3) This salad can be refrigerated for up to 1 day. Add the mint, radishes and pine nuts just before serving. Serve Cold.

BON APPETIT...

Salmon Green with Roasted Garlic Dressing

A happy salad is alway low in calorie and high on protein. Salmon green with roasted garlic dressing is a perfect summery, happy salad. This salmon salad  recipe has a roasted garlic-and-lemon dressing that is tossed with greens, Parmesan cheese, and topped with broiled salmon to make a light and colorful summery dish.

Serve:           1
Preparation time:          1 hour (including marinating)

Ingredients:

Salmon Fillets:              1 frozen, skinless
Olive oil:                      1 tablespoon
Garlic:                          3 cloves
Lemon juice:                1 tablespoon
Light soy Sauce:          1/4 tablespoon
Dijon-style mustard:     1/2 tablespoon
Water:                         1 tablespoon
Pepper:                        1/4 teaspoon
Fat free yoghurt:           1/4 cup
Nonstick spray for coating
Green salad leaf mix     1 big bowl
Red onion:                   1/4 cup (thinly sliced)
Parmesan cheese:         2 tablespoon (freshly grated)
Cherry tomatoes:          4-5 (halved)
Kalamata olives:           6-7 (pitted and halved)

Method:
1) Heat olive oil in a small pan over medium-low heat. Stir garlic in hot oil for 1 to 2 minutes or until garlic is lightly golden. Put garlic to a blender container and add lemon juice, soy sauce, mustard, water, and pepper. 2) Cover; blend until combined. Reserve 2 tablespoons of garlic mixture; set aside.
3) Add yogurt to remaining garlic mixture in blender. Cover and blend until smooth. Chill until serving time.
4) Thaw salmon, if frozen. Rinse salmon and pat dry using a kitchen tissue. Coat the reserved garlic mixture evenly over salmon. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
5) Spray the grill pan with non-stick coating. Place the salmon on it and grill 8 to 12 minutes or until salmon flakes easily when tested with a fork, turning once.
4) In a large bowl toss together green salad mix, onion, and Parmesan cheese. Place salmon fillet on the salad mix. Top with tomatoes and olives. Serve with chilled yogurt mixture.

BON APPETIT..

Chicken Waldorf Salad

Salad are said to be great for health. It can be a perfect mid day meal or a late evening dinner. In this recipe dried cherries, walnut, and rosemary enhance a simple chicken and apple salad. You can make it even more fabulous with smoked chicken from your local grocery store.

This salad was first created between 1893 and 1896 at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City. Other variations such as turkey, grapes, and dried fruit (e.g. dates or raisins) are sometimes added to give it a twist.  Another variation known as an "Emerald Salad" replaces celery with cauliflower. The salad also may include zest of oranges and lemons. A variation popularized in "Belfast's Lunches To Go" is made with peanuts. This variation is known as "Peadorf Salad".
(Source: Wikipedia)

Serve :     2
Preparation time:     30 minutes plus cooling

Ingredients:

Chicken Breast:               300 grams (Cooked, Shredded or cubed)
Green Apples:                 2 cups (coarsely chopped)
Dried Cherries:                1/3 cup
Walnut:                            1/3 cup (chopped)
Mayonnaise:                     2 tablespoon
Celery:                             2 tablespoon (chopped)
Sour cream/ yogurt:          3 tablespoon
Lemon Juice:                    1 tablespoon
Honey:                             1 tablespoon
Dried Rosemary:              1 teaspoon (crushed)

Lettuce leaves to serve

Method:

1) Combine chicken, apples, celery, cherries, and walnuts in a large bowl.
2) For dressing, stir together the mayonnaise, sour cream, rosemary, lemon juice, and honey in a small bowl. 3) Stir dressing into chicken mixture just until evenly coated.
4) Cover it and refrigerate, Serve on lettuce leaves.

BON APPETIT..

Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake

Chocolate & Cherry is definitely a match made in heaven so is this recipe. A quick, scrumptious, yummy "Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake". It is named so because u actually don't mix any of the ingredients and dump everything in a baking dish and after 30 minutes you get this beautiful gooey cake out. This rustic cake can be ideally made with a cherry pie filling and a chocolate cake mix. But I am making it here from scratch for all who doesn't have an access to these ready made mixes near them.

Serve :            2
Preparation time:     45 minutes


Ingredients:

For cherry pie filling:
Cherry:             2 cups (pitted)
Sugar:               1/2 cup
Corn starch:      1 tablespoon
Water:              1/4 cup

For cake mix:
All purpose flour:    1 cup
Butter:                    50 grams (cold cut in small pieces)
Cocoa powder:       1/4 cup
Baking powder:       1 teaspoon
Salt:                         1 pinch
Sugar:                      1/4 cup (fine granulated sugar, I am using Vanilla Sugar)
Vanilla essence:         1/2 teaspoon

To assemble:
Butter:                     1/2 cup (melted)

 Method:

1) For cherry pie filling heat a saucepan and add cherry, sugar, water at medium flame for 5-7 minutes until soft and cooked. Mix cornstarch with 2 tablespoon of cold water and mix it in the cooking cherry mixture. Let it cook for another couple of minute. Set aside.
2) Sieve together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add cold butter and mix it using a back of spoon or finger tip. It should resemble a fine bread crumb after mixing well. Add fine sugar and vanilla essence, mix well. Cake mix will look like a dry brown, crumb like of a powder.
3) Preheat the oven at 190 degree celsius. To assemble take a baking dish spread the cherry pie filling at the base top a thin layer or cake mix evenly.
4) Spread the melted butter over the cake mix using a spoon to make it wet.
5) Bake at 180 degree celsius about 30 minutes. The cherry will be bubbling from inside and cake topping will be hard to touch.

6) Let it cool for 10 minutes before you serve. Serve warm as it is or with a cold vanilla ice cream or cold whipped cream.

BON APPETIT..

Cherry Cobbler

You can never forget the name of this dish because of its uniqueness. Cobbler refers to a variety of dishes, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom, consisting of a fruit or savoury filling poured into a large baking dish and covered with a batter, biscuit, or pie crust before being baked. Some cobbler recipes, especially in the South, resemble a thick-crusted, deep-dish pie with both top and bottom crust.

The scone-topped cobbler predominates and is found in both sweet and savoury versions. Common sweet fillings include apple, blackberry and peach. Savoury versions, such as lamb, beef or mutton, consist of a casserole filling, sometimes with a simple ring of cobbles around the edge, rather than a complete layer, to aid cooking of the meat. Cheese or herb scones may also be used as a savoury topping.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Today's preparation is a yummy, juicy homespun cherry cobbler, where the base is of the soft cherry pie filling and the topping is a hard crusty biscuit. Enjoy this hot and bubbling cherry cobbler directly out from the oven.

Minimally adapted from Joy of baking

Serve:                  2

Preparation time:   45 minutes (including baking)

Ingredients:

Cherry:                300 grams (fresh or canned, about 1 cup after pitted)

Lime juice:           1 teaspoon

Sugar:                  2 tablespoon

Cornstarch:          1/2 tablespoon

Biscuit dough  

All purpose flour:    1/2 cup

Sugar:                     2 tablespoon

Butter:                    2 tablespoon (cold, unsalted, cut into pieces) 

Baking powder:      1/2 teaspoon

Salt:                       1 pinch

Vanilla extract:       1/2 teaspoon

Cream or milk:       1/4 cup (cold)

Method:

1) Cook pitted cherry, lime juice and sugar with 1/4 cup of water together. Let it cook till soft. Add cornstarch mixed with some cold water to the cooking cherries. Cook for another 1 minute at low heat.

Set aside.

2) Preheat the oven at 180 degree celsius. 

3) Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and mix into the flour mixture using your fingertips lightly. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.

4)  Add the cream to the flour mixture to make soft dough. Stir just until combined. Do not over mix. Knead dough gently on a lightly floured surface.

5) Roll the dough into a circle that is about 1/2 inch thick,cut the dough into rounds.

6) To assemble place the cherry filling at the bottom of the ramekin mould. Gently place the rounds biscuit on top of the fruit. Brush the tops of the biscuits with a little cream.

7) Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes or until the fruit is bubbly and the biscuits are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into a biscuit comes out clean.

8) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

9) You can relish it like this or serve with softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.  Refrigerate leftovers and reheat before serving.

BON APPETIT..

"Black Forest Trifle" & "White Forest Trifle"

I am falling in love with these small dessert served in glasses or small bowls, absolutely. They call it "Trifle". Multiple layers of fruit, cream, cakes, jellies soaked in juices that delights your senses with so many colors and texture. Full of flavor in each and every layer make it a stunning dessert for any occasion.

Trifle ('trifle') is a dessert from the English kitchen. It consists of several layers served in a glass bowl. The classic trifle is lower layer cake pieces then sprinkled with sherry; across them some fresh fruit, such as strawberries or peaches and finally a layer of custard or custard. However, there are many variations are possible: the cake can be replaced by the cookies or brownies, and instead of the custard pudding may also be covered with ice.  

Today I am making a black forest and white forest trifle , definitely inspired by my last week's trip to "The Black Forest" (German: Schwarzwald). It is a wooded mountain range located in the southwest corner of Germany in the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. And of course the market is flooded with the season's fresh cherries. All this was enough of a temptation to make this yummy trifle. I am going to share some amazing pictures from our trip which will justify the reason making this lovely dessert.

Serve:    4 (Makes 2 black forest and 2 white forest trifles)

Preparation time:  45 minutes.

Ingredients:

Basic chocolate sponge cake:               50 grams

Basic vanilla sponge cake:                    50 grams

Fresh or canned cherry:                        2 cups

Heavy cream:                                       200 grams

Vanilla essence:                                    1/4 teaspoon

Sugar:                                                  1/2 cup

Vanilla Sugar/ powdered sugar:            2 tablespoon

Balsamic vinegar:                                 1 tablespoon

White and brown milk chocolate to garnish

Method:

1) Cook the pitted cherry, sugar and balsamic vinegar in a saucepan for 5-7 minutes until soft and dark. Set aside to cool.

2) Whisk heavy cream to get a soft peak. Add vanilla sugar and vanilla essence and whisk again to mix.

3) Break both chocolate and vanilla sponge cake roughly using hands.

4) To set the trifle, take your favourite glass or bowl. Layer the chocolate and vanilla sponge cake separately in 2 glasses at bottom, top it up with the cherry and juices, put a layer of vanilla cream on the top. Repeat the layers. 

5) Put some shredded chocolate on the top, white chocolate for white forest trifle and brown chocolate for a black forest trifle.

6) Top it up with a fresh cherry and refrigerate it until served.

BON APPETIT..