Tag: pistachios
Pan Seared Scallops with Salsa Verde
This is a fantastic recipe to entertain with. I made it through the week as my daughter was complaining about missing scallops. I simply seared the scallops in a non-stick pan till golden brown. I also made a delicious sauce with basil, pistachios and capers. The sauce can be used with other meats as well as pasta…
Salsa Verde
- 1 cup fresh basil, leaves only
- ½ cup fresh mint, leaves only
- 1 garlic clove, smashed
- ¼ cup pistachios, toasted
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained and rinsed
- 2 anchovies
- Zest of one lemon
- Juice of half a lemon
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Process all the ingredients together in a food processor. Transfer to a bowl, cover and let sit for an hour or two before serving.
- 1 to 2 pounds scallops, cleaned
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Heat some oil to a frying pan on medium high heat. Sear the scallops on high heat for a couple minutes on each side- careful not to over cook. Serve the scallops with the salsa verde and sautéed green beans.
Cappadocia – Day 1
This trip to Turkey has been absolutely delightful. Not only is it a great place to visit as far as sights are concerned, it is also a great place for food.. the wine is yummy and very importantly, the people are very friendly and helpful.
Day five or day one in Cappadocia started with a yummy breakfast filled with coffee, cheeses, fruit and eggs. We got in our car and headed to an open air museum on Goreme consisting of amazing landscape filled with rocks and churches carved in. It was an amazing experience visiting this place. After a lot of walking, hiking and stopping for Turkish ice cream, we headed to the town of Goreme for some late lunch. We found a restaurant called Old Cappadocia Cafe. It was a great place to sit outside and enjoy the sun and good weather. We started with the most delicious Turkish lavash with some tomato spread and a yogurt and mint spread.
Tomato Spread
We proceeded to order lamb chops, small raviolis in a yogurt garlic sauce and some beef kebabs.
Lamb Chops
Ravioli with Yogurt and Garlic
With our stomachs full of good food and wine, we went for a long drive taking in all the beautiful landscape all around us. We stopped at a huge rug warehouse and bought some beautiful rah rah kilims. We then came back to our hotel and explored the town of Urgup, which was beautiful and quaint. We did some more shopping and realized just how friendly the people were!
It was time to have a snack consisting of some kebabs and lots of dessert. We proceeded to a dessert place and got a variety. We went back to our hotel, very happy and looking forward to our hot balloon ride tomorrow early morning!!!
Turkish Rice Pudding
Pistachio Baklava
Chestnut Pastry
Walnut Baklava & Cream Filled Baklava
Indian Sweet Rice with Brown Sugar
Diwali– Indian New Year is on Tuesday this week. For those who are not familiar with the holiday- there is just one thing you need to know- it a fabulous time to eat good food including something sweet.
Regardless of where you live in India or what tradition you follow, it is a day to eat sweets and spend time with your family and friends.
We usually get together with family and eat lots of delicious food. As I just mentioned, one of the traditions is to eat something sweet.
I had this sweet rice recipe which I thought would be perfect to eat on such an occasion. Actually it is ideal for breakfast with a steaming cup of coffee.
I grew up eating this delicious rice flavored with jaggery, cinnamon, cloves, cardamon and cumin seeds. It has an amazing nutty flavor. In this recipe I have used brown sugar instead- just to make it more accessible. I love eating this rice hot with a dollop of low fat tangy yogurt- it is delicious.
Try this one- it has an amazing flavor…
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Asparagus Pesto
I love anything with pesto- pasta, bread, rice, as a dip, on chicken or fish.. and the list goes on. Pesto can be made with a variety of different ingredients including different vegetables. I have made pestos in the past with zucchini, broccoli rabe, etc.. this one is made with asparagus. I wanted to do a vegetarian meal and had asparagus in the fridge. Instead of making a boring pasta with asparagus, I decided to make a pesto instead.
I blanched the vegetable and then made the pesto just like I would with basil or any other ingredient. Speaking of basil, I did use it as well. I also used pistachios instead of pine nuts- no good reason really except that I love the color pistachios bring and as well as the flavor. I served the pesto with whole wheat past and some homemade focaccia. I bought some pizza dough from our local pizzeria. I rolled out the dough and topped it rosemary, salt, olive oil and cherry tomatoes.
The meal was delicious and simple- the glass of wine was yummy with the asparagus pesto…
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Indian Style Spinach Polenta
I have to give full credit to my husband for coming up with this idea. While we were discussing what to make for dinner and came up with the fish curry- we were wondering what to serve it with.
My husband loves polenta and he suggested I make it with the fish- but I wasn’t sure since when I think of polenta- Italian cuisine comes to mind… but then I thought, I could make the polenta Indian style. Hmm- as I sat on the train, I began envisioning the polenta. I thought I would start with curry leaves and mustard seeds. Lemon rice came to mind and so I decided to add some nuts for texture. Instead of cooking the polenta with milk and broth, I decided to cook it with just broth and eliminate the cheese. I also wanted to add a vegetable to balance the dish- frozen spinach- perfect!!!
The result was amazing- why didn’t I think of this before??? Sky is the limit when it comes to what all I can add to the polenta. It was delicious with the fish curry- great combination. The spinach was delicious and so were the pistachios- and it was so quick to make.
Next time you are looking for a side dish- think polenta and let your imagination run wild….
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ cup pistachio nuts, chopped
- 5 to 6 curry leaves
- 1 tablespoon extra light olive oil
- 2½ cups chicken broth
- 1 cup frozen chopped spinach
- 1 cup fine one minute polenta
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Juice of half a lemon
Heat a medium pan with the olive oil. Add the mustard seeds, nuts and curry leaves. Saute for a minute on medium heat. Add the chicken broth and spinach. Bring to a boil and add salt and polenta. Whisk till thick and smooth. Taste for seasonings and add lemon juice. Serve with fish curry.
Zucchini Pesto with Thyme
This is a great sauce to make in the spring/summer. I love making different kinds of pestos to use with pastas, on top of fish or any meat, or even as a sauce for pizza. In fact I have made one in the past which I used in numerous dishes.
This one has fresh thyme paired with pistachios. It is a delicious sauce to simply mix with pasta. I served it with brown rice pasta with some simple chicken on the side. The great thing about this pesto is that kids will eat it.. they have no idea what is in there..
As my daughter was finishing her last bite, I asked her to guess the main ingredient in the pesto.. she had no idea and she was very surprised when I revealed it was zucchini…
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Pistachio Cardamom Gelato
This is the second flavor I have tried after discovering a gelato recipe made out of whole milk and corn starch. I thought of pistachios because it is my husband’s favorite and it was around his birthday. I decided to be a really nice wife and make him happy. When I started to think about the recipe, I felt it needed to be a little different than your typical pistachio gelato. Since whole milk was the main ingredient – I felt another ingredient needed to be added to off-set the lack of fat in this gelato. I thought of cardamom- I love the flavor, very flowery and delicate but exremely dominant. It makes me think of the Indian version of ice cream, kulfi. Kulfi is made out of whole milk that is cooked on a low heat for hours- it is essetially evaporated till the consistency is thick and custard like. It is then frozen in different molds. Typically it is flavored with cardamom, mango or saffron. I remember growing up eating mango kulfi that my Mom would make. It would be quite a production since it takes a while to cook and then freeze. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the frozen metal mold full of yummy frozen milk. When I was putting this particular frozen dessert together, the smell took me back. Adding the cardamom to the milk and pistachios made this concoction amazingly delicious.
After chilling the mixture over night and then adding it to the ice cream maker- we were all very curious to try the first bite- and , it was delicious- the creaminess of the pistachios came through and the cardamom was definitely the star. It definitely didn’t taste like it was made out of whole milk- extremely creamy- we didn’t miss the cream and the eggs at all.
Most importantly, my husband really enjoyed it. I took it to a get together and it was a big hit! I think the next one I make will be with hazelnuts- can’t wait!