Posts Tagged ‘salty’
salted watermelon sorbet
To me, nothing says summer more than watermelon. Well, that and suffocating humidity, but thankfully this dish solves that woe.
Refreshing and sweet, I could eat watermelon with every meal during summertime, especially for dessert. And as much as I can happily eat a few slices of freshly sliced melon, this recipe for watermelon sorbet from Salty Sweets (seriously my favorite dessert book ever) came across my path and quickly shot to the top of my “to cook” queue. For those who have never done it, sprinkling salt on watermelon actually brings out the sweetness and of course adds a fabulous salty flavor, so don’t knock it til you try it!
Be sure to use fleur de sel or a flaky, light sea salt. You want something gentle and mild in flavor – no kosher or table salt here. It’ll dissolve best and also won’t leave a harsh aftertaste. If you’re not keen on the idea of salted sorbet, just omit it and try out the watermelon on its own. I’m sure it’s delicious.
kluski kapusta po (noodles with cabbage)
Ok, this dish did not start as kluski kapusta po at all. I had this recipe of ribs cooked in cabbage and kraut bookmarked for ages and realized I had all the ingredients except the actual ribs (which were on sale at my grocer) and cabbage, which is also cheap, so I went ahead and made it.
And sadly, I was glad I didn’t spend much money on the dish. It wasn’t bad per se, just good. Okay. Fine. The cabbage-kraut mixture was surprisingly mild (see: bland) and the ribs were nice and tender, but really fatty. The (small amount) of meat I did get off them was very tasty, but it’s one of those dishes where you have to eat a little bit of everything in one bite for the dish to work. The components on their own were just okay, but together pretty good. So an idea came to mind.
I decided to make an omnivore version of kluski kapusta po, a traditional Polish noodle-cabbage dish where onions and cabbage are cooked in butter and tossed with hot noodles. For my version, I shredded the pork, heated up the cabbage-kraut mixture, stirred in some sour cream, and then tossed the mixture with hot egg noodles. And it finally worked! So I thankfully don’t have to tag this a failure – more like a salvage. Victory is sweet! (and delicious!)
open-faced snapper sandwich
A quick post for a quick Friday dinner.
This can be thrown together in 20 minutes, tastes amazing, and could easily be multiplied to cater to dinner for two or a small crowd. All you do is make a quick warm potato salad, sauté some snapper fillets, and pile it high on some thick toasted bread. Inspired by my favorite dish Gordon Ramsay makes on his UK Kitchen Nightmares, he calls it an open-faced sandwich, I just call it delicious.
Warm potato salad.
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parmesan and black pepper popcorn
Happy Oscar Sunday!
Just a quick post before the festivities start. Here’s a special treat to make for the ceremony tonight, using items I always have in my fridge and pantry. Spicy-salty popcorn you’ll eat handful after handful of, and not even feel that guilty about since I go easy on the oil.
Enjoy the awards tonight – and go “Inglourious Basterds” and Kathryn Bigelow!
spinach artichoke dip
There’s nothing quite like being home and indulging in all those favorites you only eat once a year. (Well, for one week a year…)
We have quite a few culinary traditions in my family for the holidays, and this is probably the most indulgent of them, next to the insane amount of Usinger’s sausage and cheese we eat in the next 2 weeks. I affectionately call this dip “fat and fat and fat and fat with artichokes and spinach” because that’s honestly what it is. In theory, you could make this healthier by using low fat cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, etc, but really… what’s the point? Just embrace the fat here and dip carrots in it if you want to fool yourself into feeling okay about eating it.
The other great (lazy) thing about this recipe is it’s made in the microwave and comes together in about 15 minutes using things you can keep in your fridge and pantry all the time. We like to have this around to dip tortilla chips and Ritz crackers in, and since it makes so much, you can just keep setting it out whenever someone stops by, reheat it, and then put it back in the fridge until next time.
Fat and fat and fat and fat with artichokes and spinach…
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