Well, I will admit that as bloggers go, I have hardly been ideal.
My plan of using this blog as a release, a means to muse about those things that I deeply care about, namely eating and recalling experiences that revolve around the table, got set aside as life became complicated and less then ideal during the past few months. While stress used to always increase my appetite, since my 2os I've found that it leads to the exact opposite: no desire to eat or willingness to cook, and worst of all a diminished sense of taste. But things are on the upswing, and I plan on eating, cooking and writing more regularly.
Today was one of those days where I promised myself that if I finished certain dreaded tasks, I would prepare a nice lunch and take the time to write. As I've successfully been fighting a cold (which dare not become swine flu) I also figured the healthier, the better. Breakfast had already consisted of some raspberries, a handful of walnuts and a banana, after the requisite coffee in bed and mellow Lou Reed to ease into the day. Having worked a few solid hours, I peeked in the fridge and came up with the following. It involved minimum time and effort, but was rather tasty.
My lunch consisted of a mixed green salad with a cilantro/lime/garlic dressing made a few days before, half an avocado with just squeeze of lime juice and salt, a mini faux-salad caprese with some fresh mozzarella, sliced tomato, and healthy swig of extra virgin olive oil, and a small portion of roasted portobello mushrooms with balsamic vinegar. All accompanied by a small glass of a Oregon pinot noir.
Having just written all of that, it does sound like quite a bit, but in fact, it looked like this:
It was also quite light and very easy to make. Most of the lunch considered of cutting and assemblage, but the two recipes I wanted to share were for the dressing and the mushrooms.
Cilantro/Lime/Garlic dressing:
finely mince a small bunch of fresh, preferably organic, cilantro
finely mince a clove of garlic
add the juice of one lime and a roughly equal amount of olive oil to the mixture
add salt and crushed red pepper to taste
whisk or emulsify, taste and add up a teaspoon of sugar if the lime is too tart.
I ended up emulsifying the mixture in a blender, but I imagine that whisking could work just as well. In that case the cilantro and garlic would really have to be very finely chopped.
The dressing was great on a salad, kept well in the fridge, and would also work as a marinade for fish or chicken.
Easy roasted mushrooms with balsamic vinegar:
clean several baby portobello mushrooms
place with the body down on an aluminum covered tray and put in a pre-heated oven at 450F.
allow mushrooms to roast for about 15-20 minutes.
remove the mushrooms and put into a bowl, taking care to preserve the juices from the mushrooms on the tray.
let cool a little bit and then slice the mushrooms in half, add a splash of balsamic vinegar and salt to taste.
Ideally, I wanted to use pomegranate molasses instead of the vinegar, a dish I had eaten at a Persian restaurant in Chicago and dreamed of replicating. Alas we were all out, but la prochaine fois. . .
