Hello everybody! March is already half gone, so we'd better hurry and publish the announcement for the new Fresh Produce of the Month (FPOM) event! However, before doing so, let me direct you to Simona's blog, where the wonderful roundup for the last FPOM is held. Last version was centered on 'Citrus fruits -- all but lemon and oranges'. Give a look at the delicious recipes she has collected.
For this next event, we switch back to vegetables, and before it's too late, we'll catch the ending part of the season of.. fennel! You can choose any part of the fennel you want to showcase in your recipe -- everything is valid, from the bulb to the leaves to the seed! It is a very common plant here, and it grows so well that you could almost consider it a weed. However, it is not that widely used as it would deserve to be. So, give it a try!
If you are inspired to participate (and I hope you are), here are the simple rules:
1. Publish a post on your blog with a recipe involving fennel. Add a link to the announcement (either this one or the one on Simona's blog) and mention that it's an entry for the Fresh Produce of the Month event. Feel free to place the logo on your post.
2. Send me an email with a link to your post, your blog homepage and your name at chemcookitATgmailDOTcom. Specify 'Fresh Produce of the Month: Fennel' as subject. A photo is optional, though helpful.
3. If you don't have a blog just send me an email with your recipe and, if you have a picture of the food you made, that's great: I will add it to the roundup as well.
The deadline for entry submission is April 15th, 2009. I will post the roundup soon after.
Note: If you don't receive an answer to your email or a comment on your post within two days of sending me the email, please contact me again: sometimes email messages get lost in cyberspace.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
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Fresh Produce of the Month |
Sunday, March 01, 2009
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Qualche esempio tratto dalle mie cene del mese... |
The second and last post of the month that just ended is meant to show you some pictures of the food that Matt prepared for me in the past evenings. I take pictures of almost every dish he makes, with the idea of posting a recipe for it at some point, and I never have time to do it. So here is a collection of a few pictures, just to show you the terrible life I have to deal with.
Thai green curry with eggplants and chicken. The green curry is made with a mix of galan-galan, shallots, green chillies, coriander seeds, shrimp paste, lemongrass, and fish oil.. a true delight. He made a lot of it, and froze some for later use. Good idea.
This is ground pork cooked with a lot of Sichuan pepper corns, served with baby bok choi. Did you ever try Sichuan pepper corns? They don't taste anything like pepper: instead, they have a lemony flavor and they make your tongue numb if you chew on them. They are used in the '5-spice' Chinese mix. 
This was an Indian-style lamb curry, with tomatoes and red bell peppers, inspired by what we had the night before at an Indian restaurant. It came out amazingly well, not sure which dish would win in the comparison with the restaurant food.
Last for this small series are the dumplings that he prepared one evening -- and for once I can say that I did at least help make the dough.. They look as good as they tasted. :)
I have a lot more pictures, but I'm hoping to have time to post at least some of the recipes for the other dishes. If you're wondering if I have completely stopped cooking, the answer is for now, almost yes! I think at some point the Chef will allow me to make something.. we'll see :) -- for now, I just prepare presentations for job interviews. Not as tasty, but hopefully, they look good. :)
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"Limata" in stile vietnamita |
Hello dear readers! As predicted, my life is super hectic again, and still will be for a few more weeks. So, I'm going to have only two posts for this month (mmm -- I just realized it's past midnight, and it's already March! Oh well :)). So, the first post is my entry to the 'Fresh Produce of the Month' event! This month the event is hosted again by my dear friend Simona at Briciole.
The theme was citrus fruits, all but lemon and orange. This month we prepared two very good drinks involving citrus fruits, but unfortunately I have a nice picture of only one of them: a Vietnamese-style limeade!
Limata in stile vietnamita / Limeade Vietnamese style
This is a very easy drink to make, and it doesn't differ much from a regular limeade, except for the fact that it doesn't contain much sugar, and instead, it has some salt in it. It's very refreshing and a good thirst-quencher. However, I'm going to transcribe here Matt's version of the recipe, since he's the one who prepared it.
Squeeze a fresh lime, add a pinch of sugar and a of scosh of salt, shake it for 20 seconds in a Martini shaker with some ice. Prepare a second Martini shaker by rubbing lime peel in its interior, and pour the limeade in it. Shake. Finally, pour some whiskey in a third Martini shaker, burn off the whiskey, and shake the limeade in it for 13 more seconds. Pour the drink in an appropriate glass, add a piece of cilantro, and serve.
I hope you enjoyed this recipe. :) I am going to post the recipe for the second drink in the next few days. It's a lime-lemoncello flavored with habanero. A true delight, but I'm afraid this will be after the deadline for the FPOM.. we'll see if Simona will give me an allowance for it. :)
