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savoury stuffed apples with rice pine nuts and currants

~ aplotzi ~ Leave a comment

I adore sweet and savoury flavours together and this recipe from The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking nails this perfectly. I have tweaked it a bit because the first time I cooked them the cooking apples burst and so I had to start again even though they tasted amazing, so I went with Braeburn apples instead. I have also added more pine nuts and currants as I thought the recipe needed it and replaced the sugar with maple syrup as it’s low GI and used basmati rice. They are perfect as a side to a roast instead of stuffing or cold with a salad.

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spanish orange glazed squid

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I have a oldish Spanish cookbook with fantastic recipes in it that are great as tapas. I’m working my way through it pretending I’m in Barcelona. This recipe from that book has the sweetness of oranges which work really well with squid and the smokiness of the smoked paprika giving it a real Spanish vibe. I’ve tweaked it slightly and replaced the sugar with maple syrup so it’s low glycemic. You can eat it as tapas with other small plates or combine it with pasta as I did. I bought my black pasta from my Italian deli but it works equally well with plain old standard spaghetti or Linguine. It’s perfect for a dinner party or a date night. My friend Timna says it’s up there with my crab Linguine as one of the best things she’s ever tasted.

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the perfect roasted fries

~ aplotzi ~ 2 Comments

It’s the simple things that are the best and I love fries as much as the next person. No carb free living for me, and I don’t care if I have a muffin top, life’s too short to be eating just ‘clean food’. Food should be delicious, beautiful and sensual and a bit of what you fancy. I eat mostly healthy food which is unprocessed with lots of vegetables, fish and of course cake. I don’t have a microwave and am still mistaken for someone at least fifteen years younger so I must be doing something right.

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roasted cauliflower with creamy tahini dressing

~ aplotzi ~ 4 Comments

This trad Lebanese cauliflower salad, which Ralph made recently, is so delicious that I had to get the recipe from him and put it on the blog. It’s got the great combo of flavours from the sweetness of the pomegranate seeds popping in your mouth, to the tangy sesame nutty dressing. It’s crunchy and creamy and totally dairy free and vegan. You will also love it if you love roasted cauliflower. If only all healthy eating was this divine.

Recipe 
Serves 2-3 as a side.
 

Ingredients:

1 cauliflower
1/4 cup of Tahini
Juice of 2 lemons
A handful pomegranate seeds
A handful of roasted pine nuts
2 tablespoons of olive oil
A sprig of chopped parsley
A few tablespoons of water
Salt and Pepper

truffle fries with fried eggs

~ aplotzi ~ 4 Comments

Sometimes it’s the simplest things that are the best things and like most people I have loved egg and chips ever since my foodie sister took me to a greasy spoon when we were teenagers. At home we were used to eating European food and this was the best kind of British food and a revelation on every level, and something my mum would never have cooked us, so it felt rather exotic. It’s still up there in my memory as one of the best meals I ever had in a restaurant. However, I thought I’d ramp up the flavours a notch and create a newer version using olive oil, truffle oil, parsley and Burford eggs. You can use coconut oil, and there is a taste free version now in health food stores. I’m just eating this now having photographed it for this post, and all I’m thinking is it’s so delicious I can’t wait for Ralph to try it, and it is a perfect date night dinner.

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