Wine Braised Herb Chicken with Roasted Grapes

It could not have been a more perfect day for our day tour on the river Saale. Gorgeous blue skies with a warming sun promised to make the trip unforgettable. Packing the kids into the car I picked up my friend at the Weimar train station and we headed to Camburg, where we met with Mario Brömel who was going to guide us along the river in canoes for an hour-ride to the vineyards of Weingut Zahn. We set off on the Saale through unspoilt nature, enjoying the tranquility of the nature around us. This route is one of the most picturesque river routes in Thuringia where the landscape is dotted with castles, vineyards and hills, and paddlers can make stops at the various points on their journey.

Breakfast of Champions - The Big Breakfast Post

 

Breakfast is for champions! And according to the trend it is sneaking its way into the other meals of day. We have a tendency to put an egg on everything and serve up “breakfast for lunch/dinner” – a trend that I follow myself, especially when the traditional eggs, bacon, grilled tomatoes and baked beans are concerned.

Rhubarb Mango Pistachio and Amaretti Crumbles

   

We pulled up on to the gravel path of the deserted gas station and as I stepped out of the car, stretching after the long ride, the pebbles crunched under my shoes. It was dark. The only light coming from an old, dusty lamp above illuminated a shanty looking shed with a bedraggled sign above it.  The moth bouncing off the lamp, wings fluttering in haste, caught my attention for a minute. 

Spanish Tortilla with Asparagus, Fennel and Cress

 

Friends come in all sizes, shapes and formats. Some come, others go and only a handful leave an impression in our lives, chiseled in our every sense, for the lifetime to come. Friendships, while some will remain cherished and nurtured, others will break away maybe not forgotten but outgrown or remembered in disdain.

Feel Good: Carrot and Red Lentil Soup with a Hint of Cumin

 

It’s been fairly quite around here, I know. I’ve been feeling rather low and a funny kind of flu seems to have taken hold of me. I say funny because it’s not a full blown flu – it seems it’s fighting inside of me. It wants to come out but I am fighting to banish it from taking control. This is taking away a lot of energy and I’ve been feeling a bit drained.

Roasted Cauliflower and Pearl Onions with Smoky Paprika and Coriander

  

It’s the time of year when my CSA box has begun to bring cauliflower, cabbage and co. to my doorstep each week. I admit I am the type of person who gets excited at the site of the milky white flower like vegetable or the sturdy variety of cabbage. I am well aware that my delight is not often shared by many people and me squealing with joy at the sight of cauliflower does raise an eyebrow or two.

Tomato Apricot Chunky Chutney

  

"You say tomaaahtoh, I say ... sauce!" "You say tomaaytoh, I say ... salad!" "You say tomato, I say ... chutney!" Then I'll say "STOP!" before you give me any more tomatoes!

I am seeing red right now - tomato red! My CSA box has been overflowing with lovely ripe tomatoes and my mother-in-law’s green house has been producing more tomatoes than she can harvest. Last weekend I found myself with something like 4 kilos of tomatoes

Quick & Easy: Root Vegetable Stir-Fry on Quinoa

Weeknights and it has to be quick and easy. While I love spending a luxurious long time in the kitchen, a glass of tasty Italian wine on the counter next to my mis-en-place, listening to tastier Eros Ramazzotti on the stereo, I will take time to cook a lavish meal, weeknights however is a dash against time. 

My dad always says "Meeta steals time to work for her!" I was never sure exactly what he meant by that until a few years ago when he tried explaining how I manage my pace to Tom. What he meant was that my one hour would be two hours for many others. I "steal" time to do several jobs or chores at once. Multi-tasking has a whole new dimension with me. 

So, for example today, a hectic work day but also with several private tasks to complete. It was one meeting after another, all over the university campus. In between I found myself with 20 - 30 minutes to kill. I used this time to my advantage. I did my grocery shopping at my organic store in the first 20 minute meeting-free block, the next 20 minutes block, made a doctor's appointment for Soeren, as class rep. for Soeren's class managed to arrange a day trip to the local fire station and brought back library books.

At home it's the same. While I am cutting veggies for dinner I will get Soeren to practice guitar or his reading. Or while I am tidying up I catch up on chit-chatting with friends on the phone and while I have a roast in the oven I do a bit of newspaper reading.

Are you exhausted yet? ;-)

Tom gave up long ago trying to keep up with my pace. I admit it's fast - but I have a problem. If I slow my pace I get edgy and irritated. Then I am not a nice person to be around. Am I exhausted at the end of the day? Not really. I was very hyperactive as a child. As an adult I found a way to channel the energy to my advantage.

On weeknights I will steal time and make a quick and easy dinner - full of flavor and nutrition. My preferred method of cooking - stir frying those lovely organic veggies I bought earlier in the day.

When the Chinese invented the stir-frying method they must have been thinking of all those busy working mums of the 20th/21st century!

Stir-frying is one of the easiest and quickest techniques of Chinese cooking. All it requires is cooking bite sized pieces of meat, fish or vegetables in a wok on a fairly high heat. As the pieces are small and the heat high it enables the food to be cooked quickly and fully. This short and intensive way to cook ensures that the full flavor and nutrients are retained in the food.

Although stir frying is typically an Asian way of cooking, I often use this method to cook a lot of my meals - be it Indian or Italian. I find it the healthiest - less oil, crispy flavor, perfect texture and full in nutrients.

This particular dish uses the simplicity of root vegetables, concentrating on the freshness of the flavor and texture. Many of you know that I believe in organic produce, but will never preach it to anyone. Here though I have to say the quality makes this dish. Try buying organically grown and fresh vegetables for this dish. You will notice the difference in the aroma and flavor straight away.

I chose to serve this with quinoa, cooked according to the instructions on the package, just using strong vegetable stock instead of plain water.  The result a powerful and intensive meal - veggie pure and full of incredible aroma.

 

Ingredients
Printable version of recipe here.

10 carrots, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
6-8 Icicle radishes, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
Bunch of green asparagus, cut into 2 to 3 cm pieces
Bunch of spring onions, cut into 2 to 3 cm pieces
Small bunch of coriander leaves, chopped
Small piece of ginger, finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
200 ml vegetable broth
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
Peanut oil
Soy sauce
250g cooked quinoa

Method

In a large wok heat the peanut oil on high heat. Once it is hot add the ginger and garlic and sit-fry for 1 minute until transparent.

Add the carrots, radishes and asparagus and stir fry for 5 minutes. Add a little dash of the broth and cover to gently steam until the vegetables just start to soften.

Mix the cornstarch in a separate cup or bowl, with a few tablespoons of broth until smooth.

Add the spring onions and stir fry for another minute. Now add the soy sauce and continue to sauté for another minute or two. Finally add the remaining broth and cornstarch mixture. Bring mixture to boil, stirring until sauce thickens.

Sprinkle with chopped coriander and serve with hot bowls of cooked quinoa.

Notes & Tips:

• When stir-frying it is advisable to prepare all your vegetables (and/or meat) before you start cooking. Cut your vegetables and meat and place in bowls.
• Make sure all your ingredients are ready and within reach. Stir frying is fast. Often there won't be time to mix the sauce or look for the salt while things are cooking.
• It's important to cut your vegetables approximately the same size - bit size. This will ensure that everything is cooked evenly and thoroughly.
• If you are making a stir fry with meat or chicken, stir-fry the meat first. Cook completely and remove from heat. Then cook your vegetables, adding the meat at the end.
• Each item has a different time. It is advisable to start with those that take the longest to cook through.
• Heat the pan/wok first. When it's hot then add the oil. Once the oil is hot it is time to start with ginger, garlic and onions. These need to be stir-fried just for a few seconds, until they become aromatic.
• The sauce or broth should be added towards the end of the cooking time. If you find that the vegetables still need a few minutes, cover and steam until done.

 

 

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Verdict

Not only does the wonderful rainbow of colors makes this dish look delightful, it is also the incredible aroma of ginger, garlic and lovely vegetables wafting in the kitchen that makes for hungry mouths sit eagerly at the dinner table. I personally find that quinoa offers a fantastic alternative to rice and pairs beautifully with the root vegetables. Perfect on any occasion, but a time saver on weeknights!

Don't forget to send me your authentic Italian creations by next week. The best creation could win a one year subscription to the La Cucina Italiana magazine! Details here.

You might like these Asian style dishes from WFLH:

	Asian Style Tilapia
	Chinese Vegetable Noodles
	Honey Teriyaki Salmon

 

Daily Tiffin Reading Tip:

•  Fruit Addicts Anonymous: how you can survive the seasons by Mike

 

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All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2008 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

How Do You Like Your Chicken?

 

The first question here should be - what kind of chicken am I looking for? Many of you know already know that I put a lot of care and effort in my cooking. My recipes are always prepared with care, thought and love. The best ingredients for a tasty dish. However, my food is not simply put together in the kitchen - I already start the "cooking" in my head when I write up my shopping list. I give a lot of thought to the types of products that make their way into my shopping cart.

I support organic products, CSA, free-range and my local Farmer's Market with a passion. That's my quality seal! I do it not because I am a food snob. I do it because I know it tastes better, it is healthier and I do it because, as a meat eater, I want to be sure that the dish I have prepared is not from an animal that has been tormented.

Note: Now before a few of you die-hard Vegetarians and Vegans start to crucify me with your usual comments (I've had them often enough on this blog), just remember it is my choice to eat meat. Please do not judge my character and my entire background (as it has happened previously) by this fact.

I am responsible for the meat I eat and because I have made the choice to eat meat, just like all of the other ingredients, I want to make sure it comes from a "good" source.

Chicken is the main meat source in our kitchen. A battery chicken or eggs from a battery hen will never make it's way into my kitchen, because it goes against all my beliefs. And I am willing to pay the extra cent. That is why I am supporting Kate's awareness event Let Them Eat Chicken. A little late but she kindly invited to join me in the after-dinner party.

Later this week check back for the wonderful recipe of this popular, creamy Indian chicken dish.

But I ask you how do you like your chicken?

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All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2008 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

Seduction: Strawberries, Cream and Cake

It's my last day here in Dubai. We'll be flying back to Germany tomorrow afternoon. As always it's with a bunch of mixed feelings. I am happy to be going back - to Tom, to my home, my life and at this time of year to experience the wonderful season of Spring. On the other hand I will be leaving behind my parents and brother and the fun, laughs and the carefree life I enjoy here.

I take leave of two things when I am in Dubai - my watch and my wallet. Time is not as much of an importance as it is back home. Soeren and I have have a rough routine here but we glide through it not worrying too much about the time. My wallet remains in the closet for most of my trip. As my brother's T-Shirt boldly states "My dad is an ATC!", it is, more often than not, the truth. I had to laugh when my brother put on the T-shirt, the funny thing was I kind of saw pride in my father's face. Funny huh? But that's what my parents are like - my mother and father take on most of the responsibilities with Soeren, preparing his breakfast, playing with him, bathing him. Leaving me with free time to relax - I managed to read two books in this time and of course had time to blog too.

What I do miss very much though is my kitchen and being able to cook. My parents have a cook, who is fantastic and prepares some really great tasting dishes. But for me cooking is a way of relaxing and letting any steam out and I do not feel whole when I have not cooked or baked for a while. I did get a chance to make my family the lovely Bulgur with Vegetables and Feta though and a lighter version of the Perfect Party Cake. I was also in the pastry kitchen at the hotel where my dad works, where I spent the morning with the pastry chef learning how to make a few exquisite desserts. I do plan to share them with you soon.

Today though I thought I'd show you what I did with some of the leftover cake I had from the Perfect Party Cake. I had quite a bit as I made mini-cakes and as the cake tasted so good there was no way I was going to throw any of it away. I hate throwing stuff away and this makes me a bit more creative, as I have to think up of recipes to make with them.

I decided to do a light interpretation on the trifle, where cake, fruit and custard are layered to give a fantastic dessert. Although strawberries are not 100% in season in Germany right now - I did find some lovely organic strawberries at my organic store. Back home, I macerated the strawberries in a bit of limoncello and soaked the cake in lemon syrup. The cream is a mixture of low-fat cream cheese and heavy whipping cream, giving a lighter more airy texture. The result was an exceptional dessert with lemony flavored cake and a slight sweetness from the fruit and limoncello, topped off creamy, smooth cream. Of course you can use any lemon flavored pound cake for this recipe. Whatever you use - I am sure you will enjoy each spoonful of this dessert.

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Reminder!

The Monthly Mingle gets fruity this month! My guest host Abby has chosen a spectacular theme for this month - Spring Fruit Sensations. So get out your colorful fruit creations and send them over to Abby.

Deadline: April 7th, 2008

Note: If you are interested in hosting the Monthly Mingle please drop me an email at blogmeeta@gmail.com. Check the Monthly Mingle Guest Host Calendar for more details. 

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Ingredients
Printable version of recipe here.

50g sugar + 2 tablespoons
60 ml fresh lemon juice, preferably from organic lemons
60 ml limoncello
350g cake or pound cake, cut into slices. I simply broke the leftover cake into pieces.
225g cream cheese, low-fat
240g heavy cream
700g strawberries - sliced
Handful of pistachios - chopped

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Method

Place the strawberries in a bowl and pour the limoncello over them. Allow to infuse for a few minutes.

In the meantime make the lemon syrup by placing the 50g sugar, lemon juice and 50g water in a saucepan and bringing the mixture to a bowl on medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Set aside and allow to cool completely.

Using an electric mixture, beat the cream cheese with the remaining sugar on high speed until light. Reduce the speed to medium and gradually add the heavy cream in a steady stream. Continue to beat the mixture until the mixture is light and airy. The mixture should look like very soft whipped cream.

Brush the cake pieces with the lemon syrup and divide among small serving bowls or arrange in one bowl. Spoon some of the cream over the cake, then add the strawberries, spoon some more of the cream and finally top off with more strawberries. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour or even overnight so that the flavors infuse with each other.

Just before serving add a dollop of cream and sprinkle with chopped pistachios.

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Verdict

I like to call these type of desserts "dive-in" desserts, because they make you want to dive straight in and eat your way out. It's a fantastic way to use up and leftovers you have lying around, but it is well worth the trouble to go out and buy the ingredients. You will be rewarded with creamy strawberries in soft gooey cake. Aromatic with the limoncello and crunchy with the pistachios. This is real seduction!

Mike over at Mike's Table, who lives in wonderful Florida decided to have us all join in on his Strawberry Seduction. I am looking forward to the roundup as I am sure there will be tons of great recipes, just in time for the strawberry season in Germany. This is my entry.

You might also enjoy these strawberry seductions:

	Strawberry Kisses
	Strawberry Yogurt Ice-cream
	Strawberry Mirror Cake

 

Photography Awards

I am also rather chuffed and pretty ecstatic right now, for two reasons.

 
The stunning Sabra from one of my favorite blogs Cookbook Catchall just informed me that I was awarded the host's award for my submission in March - Tropical Fruit Salad (02). Thank you! Please visit Sabra's blog to check out all the other DMBLGiT winners for March.

 

Each month, Margot of Coffee and Vanilla nominates 3 budding photographers from across the blog-e-sphere, then readers are supposed to vote for their favorite. This March I was nominated along with the superb Graeme from Blood Sugar and the lovely Gattina from Kitchen Unplugged. It certainly was tough competition. In the end I was able to bring this lovely badge home. However, this would not have been possible without my loyal readers and friends out there. I thank every single one of you who took a minute to vote for me. Thank you!

Important Note: For those of you who come on over to What's For Lunch, Honey? from Taste of India, there seems to be a little hitch there. For some reason TOI is not updating certain feeds and unfortunately my blog is also effected. Sailu is trying to fix the bug, in the meantime if you would like to keep yourself updated with the posts here, you can subscribe to WFLH using another service. Check my sidebar and select your favorite subscribing service.

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Technorati Tags: strawberry,trifle,cream cheese,limoncello,dessert,cake,food,recipe,photography,Nikon D70s

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All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2008 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

Colorful: Tropical Fruit Salad with a Hint of Mint

What I love about fresh fruit and vegetables is the lush palette of rich colors they come in. It's like a gorgeous kaleidoscope, each twist creating a gleaming new pattern and each pattern illuminates the gloomy in a whole new and exciting way.  

I have always been a sucker for colors and in my younger years could spend hours twisting, turning and shifting a kaleidoscope, finding perfect satisfaction in the multitude of patterns. Today, although I could still sit for hours twisting Soeren's kaleidoscope, I get my fix for colors at the Farmer's Markets. Seeing the colorful fruit, vegetables, breads, cheeses and flowers provides soothing comfort to extremely dull winter days.

And on such gloomy days, when the skies seem to only have shades of dull and drab grays, I go to the market. There I am greeted by cheerful yellows, bright oranges and ravishing reds. Walking down the rows of the several stalls, each turn I take brings a completely new set of colorful patterns. Fruit and vegetables in all shapes, sizes and colors piled up high all waiting to be picked.

I never can resist and I cannot remember that I have ever come back empty handed from the market. Even if my fridge is bursting full, my temptations of all I could make with the produce in front of me always takes on the upper hand.

This fruit salad adds a lovely vitamin kick to the day. Besides the fact that it looks beautiful with all it's lovely bright yellow, orange and pink tones, almost all the ingredients are organic. There are organic mangos, papayas, pink grapefruit and oranges, only the baby pineapple was not. I use the fresh juices of the grapefruit and oranges to provide my dressing adding a touch of lavender honey and chopped mint to give an explosive taste.

For me fruit salads should not be a mushy pulp of too many fruits. As the saying goes "Too many cooks spoil the broth", my saying goes "too many fruits spoils a good salad." I always pick 3-5 types of fruits for my fruit salad. This is more than enough and will offer a wonderful harmony of flavors. Adding too many types of fruit overkills the flavors of a fruit salad only confusing the taste-buds as to exactly what it is one is currently chewing on. I also like to set a theme when preparing a fruit salad. For this salad, I chose "tropical" as my theme and stuck to fruits that pair well with each other. The flavors of mangos, papayas and pineapples blend perfectly with each other and the tangy aroma of the citrus fruits complements the entire salad wonderfully. A touch of mint adds a refreshing note and the pistachios the crunch.

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Ingredients
Printable version of recipe here.

1 mango - chopped into cubes
2 papayas - chopped into cubes
1 baby pineapple - chopped into cubes
2 oranges - filleted - juice reserved
1 pink grapefruit - filleted - juice reserved
1 tablespoon honey - use a lightly flavored honey like lavender or eucalyptus
Few mint leaves - chopped
Handful of pistachios - chopped

Optional:
Low-fat crème fraiche

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Method

Put all the fruits into a large metal bowl. In a separate bowl pour in the reserved orange and grapefruit juice. Add the honey and whisk until incorporated.

Pour over the fruit and toss well. Sprinkle with the mint leaves and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so that the flavors and aromas can infuse with each other.

To serve, simply spoon into bowls or glasses and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. If using the crème fraiche add a small dollop on top. Serve chilled.

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Verdict

Always a pleasure and always enjoyed anytime of the day. I always make larger portions of this fruit salad as all of us really enjoy it. Soeren enjoys it best for breakfast sprinkled with granola and topped off with yogurt. Tom digs into it in between meal time as a healthy snack and as for me I cannot resist adding a scoop of pistachio ice cream for a special treat while watching Grey's Anatomy!

You might enjoy these fruity desserts too:

	Apricot Clafoutis
	Figs In Cherry Caramel
	Grilled Peach with Eucalyptus Honey Yogurt and Roasted Almonds
	Persimmon Honey Nut Yogurt Verrines

 

I am sending this over to Andrew at Spitoon Extra who is this month's host for Waiter There's Something In My .... Salad. Enjoy the extra vitamins Andrew!

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Reminder!

One pot + many ingredients = one-dish dinner! That's you challenge this month. I am looking for innovative and creative one-dish meals. These can be casseroles, cooked in a crockpot, in a pressure cooker or in a baking dish. Whatever you are using you need to stick to the one cooking dish. So, come on over to February's mingle with your favorite One-Dish Dinners.

You'll find all the necessary details to this month's Monthly Mingle here.

Deadline: March 10th, 2008

 

Don't forget to send me your links to your fresh, crispy, juicy winter produce. Eat Fresh is a seasonal event, which attempts to bring people to share their weekly fresh produce with each other. So, all you need to do is take a picture of your weekly fresh vegetables and fruit, post it on your blogs, send email to blogmeeta@gmail.com and you will get an invitation to join our growing Eat Fresh list.

Deadline: March 31st, 2008

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Technorati Tags: fruit,salad,papaya,pineapple,mango,orange,pink grapefruit,healthy,food,recipe,photography,Nikon D70s

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All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2008 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First

Eat Fresh - Wonderful Winter

Winter brings in wonderful fresh bounties of great, colorful and interesting vegetables in my CSA box or at my Farmer's Market. Root veggies are in right now. Parsnips, beetroot, turnips or pumpkins and sweet potatoes are all being used up in my kitchen to prepare some great meals.

Ever since I mentioned the quality seal in my recent About Me page, I have been receiving many emails asking me what exactly comes in my CSA box each week.


So, I thought I would do something special. I am sharing with you a typical week of certain types of fruit and vegetables I get from my local CSA organization.

I am lucky to have a fantastic local CSA organization that take special care in their products. They are very transparent and offer a wide range of not just vegetables, but also fruit, diary products, meats, breads and other items from local, regional and national farmers. They also have European organic farmers in their organization for fruit and vegetables that are not typically grown in Germany. Immersatt.de allows me to choose between several different types of boxes.

We get the usual "guess what's going to be in the CSA box" box, where one does not know what will be in the box until it arrives. Then we also can choose a box specially put together for pregnant or nursing women these boxes have specific vegetables that are nutritious, omitting produce that are not allowed during this time. Then finally we have the box that you put together yourself. This is what I go for each week. I have a few items that I get delivered each week, like eggs, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, pears and apples. Then I choose other produce that I require in the week depending on what I want to cook. This week, I additionally had beetroot, pumpkin and sweet potatoes all to make a few great dishes.

I figured if there were so many people interested in my fresh produce just think how cool it would be to see what others have in their weekly baskets. I am very nosy and wanted to know so, I decided to make an event of it!

Eat Fresh - Wonderful Winter

This will be a seasonal event and will take place 4 times a year - once for every season.

Here is what I want you to do: simply take a photograph of your weekly fresh produce. It could be your CSA box, your Farmer's market basket or even your grocery bag. Let us see what's in season in your part of the world. Imagine what lovely fruit and vegetables Cynthia would find at her Farmer's Market over in Barbados or Joey in the Philippines. So you see I am hoping to create a wide and diverse list of fresh produce from all over the world.

How you can enter this event: once you have written your post simply send me an email. I do not want anything in the email - no link to the post, no pictures NOTHING! All I want is your email address and in the subject of your email enter "EAT FRESH - Wonderful Winter". Once I have your email address, you will be invited to collaborate on a Google spreadsheet document I created for this event. When you receive the invitation, log into the document and fill in the fields as specified. It's pretty basic stuff and you all should have no trouble with it. Do not forget to save the document before you leave it. Please link back to this page and/or use the Eat Fresh logo you see here.

Send in your mails to: blogmeeta@gmail.com

That's it.

Updated: Deadline is now March 31st!

You will easily be able to keep tabs on the list by clicking Eat Fresh - Wonderful Winter. This will also be available for easy reference on the sidebar in the events section.

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Technorati Tags: Eat Fresh, produce, CSA, organic, fruit, vegetables, diary, seasonal, local, Farmer's Market, food

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All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2008 Meeta Khurana unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First