Moorish Salad

In Trinidad when something tastes good, we say that it is moorish because you want more of it.  Chef Jamie Oliver may have been thinking along the lines of a Middle Eastern influenced salad but I find the Trini meaning to be very applicable as well. 

Moorish Salad

(slight adaptation of Jamie Oliver's Moorish Crunch Salad)

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

4 apples, sliced thinly 

juice of  1 lime or  1/2 lemon

1 large carrot, matchstick slices

4 radishes, sliced thinly

1 handful fresh parsley and

or 1 handful fresh mint

1/4 cup raisins

salt ( to taste)

freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons tahini paste

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Use a large frying pan. Heat the sesame seeds in the frying pan on medium high heat. Shake the pan and turn the seeds with a spoon occasionally. Remove from the heat when the seeds darken and are fragrant. Set aside to cool. 

Quarter your apples, remove the cores and thinly slice. Put the apple slices to soak in a bowl of water with a squeeze of lime. I do this to keep the apples from turning brown quickly. Slice carrot into very thin sticks. Slice your radishes thinly. Rough chop the parsley and or the mint.

Drain the water from the apples and combine in a large bowl with the carrots, radishes, raisins, parsley and or the mint. Toss the salad with the sesame seeds. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper to taste. Serve with a spoonful of tahini paste at the side or on top.

Sizzling Chicken Fajita Salad

I am doing all kinds of happy dances today over this recipe.  As much as I love looking at pretty pictures of food, when it comes time to roll up my sleeves and get down to cooking dinner, I want stuff that's REAL. That means I shouldn't have to make a run to the store for specialty ingredients, nor should I have to enroll in cooking school to learn a complicated cooking technique. Flights of cooking fancy are all well and good but sometimes despite the drool worthy photo, the recipe itself may not be practical. 

Exhibit A: How many of you thought I was crazy to make this?

Or what about this?

Oh my word, I can't even believe myself on that last one!

I am amazed that no one left a comment that said, "Lady you are CRAZY!"

Bless your hearts. I am grateful that you are such kind readers

In my defense I only take leave of my senses like that when I am on vacation and have oodles of time on my hands. The rest of the time, I am pretty much like any other working mom looking for food that I can bring to the table quick step.

As soon as I saw this chicken fajita recipe over at realmomkitchen I knew it would be crazy not to try it.

All you do is season chicken, cut up vegetables, toss everything in the oven and done.

In an effort to eat a little healthier I am trying to turn some of my favourite meals into salads.

Pizza salad anyone? See how that works?

This chicken fajita recipe easily adapts and becomes a salad.

Tried it. Liked it. Now go do it!

Chicken Fajita Salad
Servings 4

1 pound boneless chicken thighs, cut into strips
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 or 2 tsp chili powder (optional)
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp salt
I large yellow or purple onion
1 large green bell pepper (seeded and sliced)
2 large red bell peppers(seeded and sliced)
4 tortillas
4 ounces such as shredded pepper jack cheese
4 ounces sour cream
5 cups lettuce (shredded)

METHOD
Season chicken with oil, chili, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, salt and garlic. Place in a greased 13' X 19' casserole dish and let marinate in the fridge for 30 mins.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F

Chop the peppers and onions. Add this to the chicken just before it is ready for the oven. Stir and turn over the vegetables with the chicken to coat with spice mixture.

Place the casserole dish in oven and. Bake uncovered for 30 - 35 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. During the last few minutes of cooking warm tortillas and cut into triangles to serve alongside the salad. Serve on a bed of lettuce with a dollop of sour cream.

COOKS TIP: My children don't like the heat of the chili powder so I omit it and sprinkle pepper flakes over my own serving.

Omelette with Greens and Pommerac

This morning I made this super simple breakfast. It may not seem like much but for me it is quite the deal since breakfast is a meal I usually skip. Now that I am on a spiritual rejuvenation of sorts, i.e. vacation, I find myself wanting to rejuvenate my physical self as well. As such, I am making it my goal to improve on how I start my days. 

Luckily this is not going to be too hard to do since a couple of the fruit trees in my yard are bearing heavily. Right now our pommerac tree is making a spectacular showing. Without a doubt this fruit is set to be a regular feature at my table over the next month. 

Red Pepper Omelette

(serves 4)

8 eggs 

1/8 cup onions (chopped)

1/8 cup red bell peppers

1/8 cup Parmesan cheese ( or any cheese of your choice, grated)

salt to taste

1 tsp oil

watercress

pommerac (sliced)

choi sum flowers

METHOD:

Crack the eggs into a small bow. Whisk with a fork. Add chopped onion and red bell pepper. Season with salt and whisk a bit more.

Heat oil on medium heat in a frying pan. Once the oil is hot pour in the egg mixture, tilting the pan to spread the egg mixture in a circle to cover the base of the pan. 

As the omelette sets use a heatproof plastic spatula to gently lift the edges. At this point depending the type of frying pan you are using you may have to lower your heat. I have a ceramic coated frying pan that cooks best on low heat. Raise or lower heat according to the kind of pan you are cooking with. Occasionally you can tilt the pan so that the liquid runs off the top and cooks. Cook until the base is set and light golden and the top is almost set. The top should remain slightly liquid. Once folded over the residual heat will finish cooking it.

Sprinkle your cheese over the top and using your heatproof spatula fold the omelette in half. cook for a couple seconds more then transfer to a large plate and cut into four pieces. Serve with watercress, pommerac and choi sum flowers.

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