Friday, March 7, 2008

Hay Hay Hay

Another fantastic Donna Hay recipe was cooked at our house last night. I am in love with her recipes - so simple and so good!

Thursdays are our late night to eat so I am always looking for something simple to cook, that is not a left over, from a frozen box or can; something fresh, easy and delicious. The Asparagus and Mint Pasta was just perfect.

This dish SCREAMS Spring and Easter. A light cream sauce made of minced garlic, lemon juice, asparagus, mint and sweet peas (okay they were frozen, but I imagine fresh ones would be pretty fantastic as well). I was afraid that the sauce may be a bit heavy with all the cream that is added; but, it was exceptionally light, very refreshing with the Meyer lemon and mint undertones. We use whole wheat pasta which is not as pretty, but I like to think it is "healthier" as well it added a nutty flavor which blended very well with the sauce and salty pancetta chips that garnished the dish.

This is a great dish to add to your Spring menus - flavorful and easy, dinner in under 30 minutes!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Coconut and Basil Chicken ....

Donna Hay style!

I was not going to blog about this as we were having a pretty crappy evening last night and I have come down with this nasty cold, again; but, I just looked at the photos that L. took and I just had to tell you all about it! Not only is this dish incredibly easy to make but it is so tasty.

Just imagine it ..... Lightly seared chicken breast which have been seasoned with only salt and pepper, then you rip them to shreds while making this ultra creamy broth of ginger, lemongrass, garlic, coconut milk and fish stock (I used chicken stock, fish stock freaks me out!!!). When everything is cooked (only takes a mere 30 minutes) you ladle the broth over the shredded chicken and top with diced spicy peppers, Thai basil and Kaffir Lime leaves (I can not find them in the bay area) but we used zested lime instead. Oh my .. just thinking about it makes me hungry all over again! I served some simple brown rice along side it, just in case we needed a filler, but you really don't, the dish is plenty!

Here is the recipe ... more Donna Hay on the menu for tonight!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Lemon Pork

The past few days have been very busy and have left us very little time in the kitchen. When I read Tartelette's post about her fruit salad with Blood Orange Syrup, I knew exactly what we had to do! So our day started with us having our friends, the M.'s over for breakfast - MEM gave me a waffle iron for breakfast and I was anxious to break it in! Perfect way to start our day ... good friends, homemade waffles with Blood Orange Syrup and lots of coffee!

The past couple of months, I have been visually inspired by Donna Hay. We own a couple books and I have recently discovered her magazines - a must have if you love to cook! Unfortunately, I do not cook from them that often, mainly because I just forget. This week we have declared it Donna Hay week at our home.

What I love about her recipes are that they are simple and use very fresh ingredients. Tonight we decided to go with a Lemon Pork dish. I did adapt it a little. I used eggplant instead of tomatoes, did not have lemon thyme so I zested Meyer lemon on the top. The dish came out beautifully. Bursting with flavor - the milkiness of the pork, saltiness of the pancetta, a bite of garlic, the savoriness of the thyme and the zing of lemon created a wonderful marriage of flavor. The taste was very fresh, clean and likable!