Mmmmmm Candied Pecan and Apple Salad

Jamie, Jamie, Jamie...He just keeps blowing my mind. This recipe is from Jamie's America and it's absolutely wonderful. The candying didn't quite work for me, I think it was the type of sugar that I used. It just didn't meld with the butter but it was still delicious. I added a couple of pieces of French bread, Brie, and cucumber. Yum.

"Olive oil

2 tbsp butter

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

scant 1 cup pecans

2 red or green apples

2 heads Belgian endive, leaves removed, washed and spun

a couple of handfuls of mixed leaves, such as arugula and radichio, washed and spun dry

For the dressing:

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lightly rub a sheet pan with some olive oil and put to one side. Put a large saucepan on a low heat and add your butter and sugar. Leave on a gentle simmer for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally to stop it catching, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the mixture starts to darken. Gently stir in your pecans until they're well coated in caramel syrup. Be careful not to splash yourself, and don't be tempted to have a taste because hot caramel can burn quite badly. Once coated tip the nuts onto the oiled pan and use the back of a spoon to separate them out into one layer. Leave them to cool so the caramel can harden on the nuts.

Meanwhile make your dressing. Put your orange zest and juice, Dijon, and white wine vinegar into a large salad bowl and add a good lug of extra virgin olive oil. Whisk them, then have a taste - you want to get a nice balance between the sharpness of the vinegar and the smoothness of the oil, so add a little more oil if needed, then season carefully with salt and pepper.

Core, quarter and thinly slice your apples and add to the bowl with all your leaves. Break the cooled pecans apart, add half of them to the bowl, and use your hands to delicately toss and dress everything. Serve on one big platter, or divide up between plates, and finish crumbling over the rest of your beautiful caramel pecans."

Enjoy!

Sibina

Why you should get the Jamie Oliver App for iPhone

This is the Pappardelle with mixed mushrooms and mozzarella recipe from the Jamie Oliver App for iPhone. I have made numerous recipes from this App and they're fast and healthy and most importantly tasty!

I also made his warm lentil salad with bacon and crispy croutons. Here's the recipes for both:

Pappardelle

9 oz. Pappardelle

9 oz mixed mushrooms

1/2 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 lemon

1 garlic clove

1 1/2 oz Parmesan cheese

1/2 x 5 oz ball mozzarella cheese

2 tbsp creme fraiche (I used whole fat sour cream)

extra virgin olive oil

olive oil

sea salt

black pepper

Boil water in a large pot. Brush dirt off of the mushrooms with a pastry brush and cut them into even-sized pieces. Add the pappardelle to the pot and cook according to the package instructions. Meanwhile, pick the parsley leaves and put to one side. Peel and finely chop the stalks. Peel and finely slice the garlic. Add a lug of olive oil and the butter to a frying pan on medium heat. Throw the parsley stalks, garlic, and mushrooms. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to the pan, then cook for 4-6 minutes, stirring occasionally until golden and softened. Meanwhile, finely grate the Parmesan and tear the mozzarella into rough chunks. Finely grate the zest of a lemon, then roughly chop the parsley leaves.

When the pasta is cooked, scoop out a cupful of the water for later, then drain in a colander, add to the pan with mushrooms. Throw in most of the Parmesan and most of the grated parsley leaves, stir well. Add 2 tbsp of creme fraiche along with mozzarella, lemon zest and a splash of the reserved water. Turn up the heat so everything bubbles and then remove from the heat. Squeeze a couple of drops from the lemon and toss gently. Add more water if necessary.

Serves 2.

Warm Lentil Salad

4 garlic cloves

1 large bunch fresh thyme

2 x 14 oz cans puy lentils

9 oz mixed salad leaves

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

16 slices thick cmoked streaky bacon

1 loaf ciabatta (or any nice white loaf)

extra virgin olive oil

olive oil

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

ut a medium saucepan on a medium heat and add a good splash of olive oil. Peel and slice the garlic cloves. Pick the thyme leaves.

Add the garlic and thyme to the saucepan, cooking for a few minutes until soft but not colored. Drain and rinse lentils and add them to the pan. Cook for 2 min until warmed through.

Meanwhile, wash the salad leaves then spin dry and place in large bowl.

Once lentils are warm add the red wine vinegar and salt and pepper. Put a lid on and remove from heat.

To make your salad dressing, add 8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, the balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt to a clean jam jar. Give it a good shake with a lid on.

Cut bacon into 1/2 inch thick slices and put in a pan on medium heat with some olive oil. Cook until golden and crispy (3-4 minutes). Remove from pan with a slotted spoon to a papertowel. Keep warm.

Tear the ciabatta roughly into chunks and fry in the bacon fat until golden and crunchy. Set aside with the bacon, keep warm.

Pour the warm lentils over the salad.

Pour the dressing into the pan and allow to bubble for a bit. Then add to the bowl of salad, top with bacon and croutons.

Enjoy!

Sibina

Mmmm mmmm savoury sweet goodness.

You can find this recipe at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Egg-Fettuccine-with-Figs-Rosemary-and-Pancetta-105408

Amazing, in short. I love all the textures and flavours, they really blend together. The toasted bread crumbs, crunchy pancetta, melting cheese, beautiful figs and soft noodles are just the beginning. The lemon, chicken broth, parsley, and wine as well as garlic and onion are divine. It has so many beautiful layers of flavour. I even didn't mind the rosemary.

I've been discovering recently that rosemary actually is becoming revolting to me. I'm not sure where this started but I associate it with Christmas. Take that and run Freudians. It just makes the gorge rise in the back of my throat and I am beginning to avoid all dishes containing rosemary. This was not too bad because I didn't add too much and it sort of harmonized but I usually find it overpowering.

It's fig season so you need to go get yourself some figs and create! Start with this one.

Sibina

Another reason to love Jaime Oliver.

This is such an amazing salad from Jaime's American inspired cookbook. It's a candied bacon green salad. It is so amazingly good that my man said it beats pizza. And nothing beats pizza. I was astounded.

It has fresh fruit and bacon candied in orange juice and sugar. I chose to put in golden delicious apples and bartlett pears.

The croutons are fried after the bacon is cooked in the bacon fat. Yum, yum.

The dressing is olive oil, vinegar, yogurt, mustard, and salt and pepper. All in all the flavour was amazing!

Sibina

Simple Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins

I tried this lovely recipe from the joy of baking website http://www.joyofbaking.com/muffins/ButtermilkBerryMuffins.html.

As per usual I made my changes. Upgraded the Buttermilk to 1 cup and brought the oil down a bit. I used sunflower oil, it added a nice subtle nutty flavour to the muffins. I also cut the sugar down to 1/2 cup. They turned out really moist and super tasty.

Sibina

A little burnt, just like my shoulders.

Well, since yesterday the crust wasn't quite done I added a bit of time...and burnt it. Oh well. Scraped it off a bit like my grandpa used to and carried on.

This pizza also has pesto as a sauce. Other topping include grilled corn, asparagus, and sundried tomatoes packed in oil. The cheese was sliced of brie and let me tell you the flavour combination was outstanding. Minus the burnt flavour of course!

Sibina

Pizza on the grill!

Made a gorgeous pizza on the grill yesterday. I suggest you grab a copy of Pizza on the Grill from your local bookstore. Amazing. Anyway the gist of it is that you heat your grill on high for 10 minutes and then turn it to medium. Toss your dough (oiled on both sides) on for 3 minutes or until there are some lovely grill marks on it. It may take a bit longer. Then flip 'er over, top with your ingredient and grill for 7-10 minutes on indirect heat. Et Voila!

I grilled eggplant, red pepper, red onion, cherry tomatoes, and mushrooms. Topped the dough with some pesto then the veg followed by feta and romano. Yum, yum, yum. I've never had pizza this good.

Sibina