It’s time for a sweet bite again! This one is as healthy as it gets, more of a power-snack than a sweet, actually. Brain-Food, if you will, which is closely related to how I came up with this one in the first place. During the nightmarish depths of exam-prep hell I could really feel myself burning through any and all sugar reserves in my body. Not wanting to resort to unhealthy or useless types of sugar-boosts, I dug up a dried-fruit-and-lots-of-seeds truffle recipe I had picked out – and forgotten about – months before.
Category: Nahdala’s Midweek Special
Avocado-Cucumber Gazpacho, Two Ways
Several of the food-related reasons for me to love a good heatwave every once in a while are provided by the unending variety of cold soups, just asking to serve as a refreshing, speed-of-light-quick-fix tummy-filler when it’s too hot for anything else. A few weeks ago I was trying to figure out a way to skip the traditional baguette/chiabatta/toast deal and replace it with something on the healthier side of things without loosing the filling-factor of the soup – after all, I was trying to make dinner, rather than serving a bowl of… well, juice. After a couple of moments, twiddling my mental thumbs, pondering all kinds of gazpachos, juices and green smoothies, it hit me. Avocados! Oh, oh! River crabs go well with avocados! And grapefruit! Apples? <insert visual of mental sock-drawers being turned over here>.
Thai Style Salad & Chicken Satay Skewers
I never know whether to laugh or to cry when I read or hear about some airhead chef trying to sell Thai cuisine as the quickest way to prepare food known to humankind. That’s true… to some extent. After you’ve finished chopping, grinding, cleaning, slicing and all that jazz… yes, after all that, everything’s a quick-fix. Must be nice to have hordes of kitchen underlings to do the prep work for you…
Hazelnut-Crusted Turkey & Passionfruit-Leek Salad
As I was trying to get some sort of order into my personal collection of recipes, marking the ones I wanted to use for specific months or seasons for the blog I realized I might be running into some minor snags down the road, during the summer stretches in particular. The last couple of summers quite literally left us standing out in the rain until halfway through, then came crashing in with record temperatures without even as much as a „How do you do?“, causing havoc left, right and center for 2-3 weeks, just to poof out of existence with temperature drops from 40°C to 12°C in a matter of 1-2 days.
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White Chocolate & Blueberry Cheesecake
I had long given up on the whole idea of baking or creating anything cake-related in my kitchen when I stumbled upon a whole new world of sweets about 5 years ago. For someone like me, not all that fond of sugary, sticky, carby, calory dense, cake-related treats, the discovery of the no-bake cheesecake was the light at the end of the tunnel. Channeling my obsession with fresh fruit and berries into experimenting around with these cakes to come up with new combinations and make them as delicious, healthy and low-cal as possible still keeps me rotating around my kitchen from time to time.
Asparagus & Strawberry Salad
Like I mentioned in my Tyrian Edition of the Asparagus Season Celebration, I absolutely love asparagus. While I was growing up, the „usual“ way to serve them was pretty simple. A pile of white asparagus spears, a stack of crêpes or some potatoes, a selection of smoked or cured hams and a bowl of Sauce Hollandaise or Vinaigrette, with a side of fresh strawberries – what grows together, goes together, right?
Heart of Gold
„42!“ some of you might think at the mention of a „Heart of Gold“. And yes, you’re correct. For those of you who might jump to the conclusion that I’m loosing it, here’s a perfectly sane explanation.
The starship Heart of Gold is the hottest commodity in the universe, powered by a prototype of the faster-than-the-speed-of-light Infinite Improbability Drive, thanks to which the ship „passes through every conceivable point in every conceivable universe almost simultaneously”. The core of the Infinite Improbability Drive, which was invented „following research into finite improbability, which was often used to break the ice at parties by making all the molecules in the hostess’ undergarments leap one foot simultaneously to the left, in accordance with the theory of indeterminacy“ turns out to be the Golden Ball of Prosperity, hence the name „Heart of Gold“. Oh, and 42 is the „ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything“, by the way.
Ostrich, Cape Gooseberry & Peach Chutney and Sweet Potato Fries
I’m always on the lookout for new ingredients to play around with, having an extra eye out for lean and healthy meats. Quite some time ago, ostrich was being marketing’ed all over the place every time the words “health”, “shape” and “alternative for chicken” popped up. Ironically you couldn’t get a hold of the stuff anywhere outside of a ponzy restaurant. Up until about 2 or 3 years ago, after which it became much more common, ostrich steaks sometimes appeared as a highly overpriced rarity during BBQ season, ready marinated and prepped for convenient use. I really, really don’t like approaching a new ingredient if it’s already been messed with, especially if it’s doused in „marinades“ or „sauces“ of questionable origin and flavor that usually come with a ton of don’t-worry-about-its in them, so I ignored these birds for a while.
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Fig Chocolates
These little balls of happyness are one of my favorite types of chocolates for several reasons. They are really quick to make, they’re actually healthy and they don’t involve too much chocolate. I came up with these a couple of years back, after the christmas holidays. Hubby is a chocoholic, if there’s chocolate in the house, it’s as good as gone already.
Carpaccio California Roll
Like I mentioned last week, I really enjoy a nice piece of saltwater fish from time to time. In some cases, tuna and salmon for example, I prefer the fish to be raw. What better way to treat oneself when the mood hits, than with a batch of delicious sushi… We have an extraordinary sushi bar nearby, but sadly all the grade-A ingredients and craftsmanship of the resident sushi master are kind of lost on hubby – despite his announcements to try this-and-that next time, his mistrust of water creatures makes him order the teriyaki chicken roll every time. So sometimes I get busy rolling myself to suit both of our tastes without the limitations of a restaurant’s menu. The only thing I can’t get my hands on is sashimi-grade tuna for myself… Oh well.
Nahdala's Kitchen 