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Intrepid Gourmet
Rabbit roast with herbs
No fresh ingredient comes so easily to hand as a bunch of herbs from a pot on the windowsill or a plot in the garden: young leaves fragrant on a sunny morning grabbed as the impulse takes you, ready to explode like a flavour bomb in the dish of your choice.
There’s a thrill for the senses in picking and preparing them: the vivid green of the spring shoots, the aroma as they are separated from the stems that intensifies as you chop them, pound them, stir them in or fry them. The mouth-filling sensation when you just can’t wait, and you take a bite straight off the stem.
Five nourishing Soups
Is there any food more appealing during the long days of winter than a hot bowl of soup? Eating soup is not only a delicious way to warm up, but it can be a healthy food choice, too.
Doug Cook, a registered dietitian and nutrition consultant at Wellness Nutrition in Toronto offers some advice on which soup to choose for your health goals.
Cooking in the Clouds
Rummaging through the shelf of dust covered (I clean my own office) cookery books, I came across one which deserves a more prominent position than it has, being how well it has served me in the past. The garish paper back cover has not faded, neither has the sturdy black plastic, spiral binding and the well thumbed pages are still clinging on. Really, I should be ashamed for not turning to it more often but the present day speed and variations on any given recipe offered by the Web has dismissed even my coffee table editions to the back shelves.
Mushroom and White Bean Couscous
Middle Eastern cuisine is a refined art. It is influenced by dozens of cultures, and its spicy dishes reflect the fact that the Middle East was either the source or the way station for spices that came to Europe from all over Asia. Lamb, rice and various legumes (especially lentils and chickpeas) are staples of main course dishes. Many dishes use burghul (cracked wheat or smead) in salads and chopped meat combinations. Middle East foods include lots of salads made from both fresh vegetables in season, and cooked or pickled vegetables, and fruit in quantities.
Lasagna al Forno
Pasta is the most prestigious member of the rich and varied Italian culinary family. From time unknown, this simple dough of water and powdered wheat has been appeasing the taste buds of Italy. And today, pasta has found its way to the global palate in various forms. However, the origins of pasts remain entangled in its luscious strings.
Many food connoisseurs trace the origin of pasta in the pages of Greek mythology. It is believed that the Greek word " laganon " indicated a wide and flat sheet of pasta dough cut into stripes.
Potato and Cauliflower Curry
It’s about time for another tasty Indian recipe and potato and cauliflower curry is one of my favourite vegetarian meals. You will find it easy to prepare and it is based on a Punjabi style curry. This recipe is adapted from The Madhur Jaffrey Ultimate Curry Bible in order to make it healthier, and my girlfriend is attempting to lose weight. The curry can be served with breads – not for my partner though - or rice and with a nice yoghurt raita and pickles.
Parsley - the vitamin pill
Parsley - the vitamin pill that comes in the shape of a leaf
Here's an easy way to add vitamins and minerals to your body -- add parsley. Once you learn that including this superfood in your diet is like taking a vitamin pill, you'll be happy to make the effort.
It is possible that parsley gets its latin name from 'petros', meaning rock, as parsley was used to dissolve kidney and gallstones.
Scallops with Garlic, Tomatoes, Basil, and Thyme
I generally dislike recipes that make you refer back to several others, but bear with me on this one, it's worth it. I can't remember a wintertime visit to my favourite French restaurant when I didn't order a sample their gigantic, sizzling portions coquilles Saint-Jacques. I have to confess, I've altered their recipe a bit, adding the thyme and the basil, and cooking the garlic a bit longer. When garlic is cooked a long while in oil, I find it's much more digestible. At home I serve this with a crisp white wine, say a Riesling.
Orange-larded leg of lamb
Until 1871, Italy had been a group of loosely connected city-states. Each state had its own culture, dialect and cuisine. It then became politically unified, but remained still culturally fragmented. Mandatory education was introduced in 1879 and two years later appeared La Scienza in Cucina e I'arte di mangiar bene— The Science of Cooking and the Art of Eating Well.
Campari & Vermouth: a review
Instead of my usual comments on food, cooking and recommended recipes, this week I thought you might enjoy some indispensible edification on a couple of my favourite aperitifs’- Campari and vermouth. Are they 1970s throwbacks or cutting-edge tipples? Let's allow Susy Atkins to decide.
'Make mine a vermouth' is not something you hear often in 2010. I do remember great-aunties sipping pink Cinzanos in the 1970s, and have a recollection of trying sweet vermouth and tonic in the 1980s myself. In short, on the rocks, but not rocking.
Yet there remains a dark corner of every wine aisle where bottles of advocaat, cherry liqueur and, yes, vermouth still lurk.