Thursday, March 27, 2008

Down Under again ...

I was enticed to jump on the Donna Hay band wagon, again! Vanessa over at Vanessa Frida's Journal, enticed me! As well, I just had to make this Coconut and Basil chicken, again, as Diane and Todd over at white on Rice Couple sent us this fantastic care package, which had the missing ingredient from the recipe - Kaffir Lime leaves!

All I can say is ... these leaves made all the difference! I halved the recipe and put two leaves in, while I was yoga'ing all I could smell was lime. My stomach was a grumbling! I was simply amazed at what a difference this made. Bursting with flavor almost too much flavor - maybe just one leave next time. Sorry Honey, you missed a great dish tonight; but, I will definitely make it again for you!

French Onion Soup

I have been DYING to make French Onion soup - don't ask me why, because I do not know. Maybe it is the looming French Gourmet magazine on our counter ... not sure. L. was getting ready to leave town so I figured I would load him up on onions and garlic, not sure why I decided to do that either!

I have this recipe from Moosewood cookbook, that I use. I found it about 20 years ago and love how simple it is to make and how rich it tastes. I have tweaked it over the years ... I now slow cook the onions until they are caramelized and I add some garlic to it as well I do not make it vegetarian. I use a good rich beef stock - I love the richness of the beef stock and the color the soup turns.

To serve I toast slices of baguette, that have been drizzled with olive oil and rubbed with crushed garlic. The richness of the stock and onions really compliment the garlicky goodness of the toast!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Breakfast for Dinner

We did not make a big Easter breakfast, brunch or dinner, like we normally do. I did have a dinner planned; but, then after waking up, we decided to be low-key and just relax.

So for dinner last night, I made what I had intended for Sunday night - Eggs Benedict and roasted Tarragon Asparagus. I stole the idea from a post I saw on White on Rice Couple's blog - Sunday Breakfast. I also associate Easter and Spring with Roasted Asparagus and Eggs Benny and what the heck, breakfast for dinner is always something fun to do!

Definitely was a nice change!