Tangy Gourmet Potatoes

My brother came up with this recipe. We tried it out on beans and broccoli but both of those veggies couldn't hold the marinade too well. We had a bag of potatoes (fingerlings + baby reds + purple potatoes) lying around and well, best thing to do: grill 'em up in the oven.

I didn't measure ANYTHING, here's an estimate

Ingredients

Potatoes
Fresh lime juice - 1 tbspn
extra virgin olive oil - 2 tbspn
italian seasoning (spices like oregano, rosemary, thyme, etc.) - 1 tspn
garlic powder with herbs - 1 tspn
Salt - 1/2 tspn (to taste)
Cumin Powder - 1/2 tspn

Method

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Mix everything but the potatoes.
3. Coat the potatoes with marinade and bake in oven for about 30-40 minutes.

Enjoy with other grilled veggies or as is.

Tuscany Lamb Chop Skillet (from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

Summer makes me crave Italian food. Warm breezes, tan skin, blue skies and clay pots bursting with basil—it’s not hard to imagine that I’m in Tuscany right now. This recipe has incredible flavor, even though it uses canned beans and canned tomatoes that any genuine Italian woman would shun. Oh well, I’m English and we can’t cook worth beans. Cannellini beans, that is… --AnglophileLV

Ingredients:
Lamb Chops
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped or torn into small pieces
Olive oil
1 can Italian Stewed Tomatoes
1 can cannellini beans

1. Coat lamb chops with the chopped rosemary and cook in a skillet with the olive oil and garlic until done. When done, put on a plate and cover to keep warm.
2. Drain the cannellini and add to the skillet with the whole undrained can of Italian stewed tomatoes. Add a little more rosemary and heat thoroughly.
3. Plate the tomato and bean mix and top with lamb chops. Garnish with fresh rosemary.

Cacik-Turkish Yogurt and Spinach Dip

This is kind of like Indian raita, and kind of like Greek tzatziki, but if I had to choose between the three, I like this one best. I could eat this all day - actually, that's exactly what I've been doing. --AnglophileLV

Turkish Yogurt and Spinach Dip, aka Cacik

Serves 4

1/2 bag baby spinach
1 fat clove garlic, minced fine
1 pinch salt and pepper to taste
1/2 lemon juiced
1 Tb. chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 Tb. chopped mint
1 Tb olive oil
1 cup Greek style yogurt

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, add the spinach and blanch for 10-20 seconds. Fish out the spinach with a spatula and transfer to the ice water. Cool, drain, and squeeze dry like a sponge. Chop coarsely.

2. Mince the garlic and combine with a pinch of salt. Combine with lemon juice and olive oil, and let stand for 10 minutes. Stir in the yogurt.

3. Combine the chopped spinach, dill, parsley and mint. Stir in the yogurt and garlic mixture. Add fresh ground pepper to taste, and more salt if desired. Serve with crackers, pita chips, or crudites.

*Additional note: this recipe can also include cucumbers, cabbage and beets mixed in.

Balsamic Vinaigrette - Desi Style

Finally a recipe. It's been a long time. In my defense, I've been traveling around parts of India I've never been to and it's been a blast for all of my senses. I'm really tempted to dedicate a post just to my memories and travels in the past couple of months. In time, I think I will.

Now back to food. A couple of my friends here are slowly getting into salads now. It makes me really happy! Fortunately we get some of the ingredients to make some decent vinaigrettes and I'm going to describe the dressing I've been using here for the past few months. Since I'm in India and us Indians can't be buggered [hello british slang] to measure things, this will be a free flow recipe. It's sort of a rap recipe (improvised with no measurements) but with the basics being the same.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
Balsamic Vinegar -1/2 cup
Olive Oil -1/2-3/4 cup
Garlic - finely chopped - 6-10 cloves
Italian spices - dried. Anything and everything seems to be alright (mainly: oregano, rosemary, thyme, basil, marjoram, etc.) Pinches of everything! Remember a little of dried spices goes a long way.
English Mustard - VERY VERY little. I should be using Dijon Mustard, but I couldn't get my hands on it.
Pepper - 1/2 tsp or lesser
Salt (can omit this)

In a jar (which you can close and mix) place the finely chopped garlic, add pinches of the spices you have on hand, pepper, balsamic vinegar, and mustard. to this add the olive oil and mix. Shake the jar/bottle for about a minute. Taste it to ensure the flavours are balanced.

Usually it keeps well for about a month or more (i've used it up within a month) and gets better with time.

Salad:
Ice berg lettuce, Green-leaf lettuce, tomato cubes, onion slices, black olives, slivers of carrots, cubes of cucumbers, slices of capsicum/green bell pepper.

I've also added ripe papaya and apples when available.

For those addicted to non-vegetarianism: Marinate a chicken breast with the salad dressing for about 15 minutes. Then grill it. Once cooked, chop it into cubes and toss along with the veggies.