Tag Archives: limes

Rosemary gimlet

19 Aug

Rosemary gimlet

Cutting back an unruly rosemary bush that was over-reaching itself in the garden has left me with an abundance of fresh rosemary. Besides incorporating it into our last few meals, I made a bottle of rosemary syrup to drizzle over apple-based desserts, and use to glaze my next rosemary loaf cake.

I then got the idea of making a rosemary-based cocktail… An internet search turned up this rosemary gimlet on David Lebowitz’s website.

Having tried it his way, I decided that I prefer mine with a higher proportion of lime juice and rosemary syrup to gin. That way you can have two…;-) Continue reading →

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Chicken tortilla soup

28 Apr

Chicken tortilla soup

There are so many versions of chicken tortilla soup – some light and lime-fragrant with bits of chicken and tiny squares of tortilla like some sort of Mexican miso soup.

Others so packed with meat and beans and peppers and tortilla strips that you could do the perform a Mexican hat dance on the surface. Continue reading →

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Margarita brownies

6 Mar

Margarita brownies

A few weeks ago, I made a batch of chilli chocolate brownies to serve after a Mexican meal. While they were tasty (it’s hard to find a brownie I don’t like), the chilli flavour didn’t feel quite right at that point in the evening.

That sparked the idea of making margarita brownies (it’s also hard to find a margarita I don’t like…) Continue reading →

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Peach-basil sorbet

12 Jul

Peach-basil sorbet

Peaches and basil both say “summer” to me – and in this peach-basil sorbet they can say it together…

I made this sorbet with those little flat white peaches that have been appearing in the shops the last few years. The lovely rosy colour was a pleasant surprise – the result of leaving the skins on the peaches when I puréed them. Continue reading →

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Red cabbage, carrot and herb salad

5 Feb

Red cabbage and herb salad

This quick cabbage and carrot salad is a pared-back, vegetarian take on goi ga (Vietnamese chicken salad). It’s a nice accompaniment to a piece of simply grilled fish or chicken.

Continue reading →

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Indonesian squash and spinach soup

20 Jan

Indonesian squash and spinach soup2

Spicy, creamy with coconut milk, and the most gorgeous deep yellow colour, this Indonesian squash and spinach soup is loved by the whole family. Plus, we have prawn crackers with it (served in individual bowls to avoid disputes over who’s had too many).

The original recipe comes from the Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant cookbook.

Continue reading →

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The Scarlett O’Hara

24 Dec

Scarlett O'Hara

The twelve cocktails of Christmas
#5: The Scarlett O’Hara

Cranberry juice is the reason the Scarlett O’Hara makes my Christmas cocktail list – plus it’s very tasty. It’s also a good way to use up any Southern Comfort you may have lurking at the back of your drinks cabinet.

Continue reading →

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Lime meringue pie

26 Sep

Key lime pie

I seriously over-estimated the quantity of limes needed to make 30 litres of sayonara baby for my birthday bash. As a result, limes have been featuring pretty large in our meals recently. Vietnamese chicken salad, salmon phyllo parcels, caipirinhas of course, and still a towering heap of limes dominates the fruit bowl…

…which inspired me to make a lime meringue pie. After reviewing a number of lime pie recipes, I opted to include some lemon juice to ensure the filling was tart enough to balance the sweetness of the meringue and biscuity base. Four more limes down, fourteen to go… Continue reading →

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Warm chicken and runner bean salad

22 Sep

Warm chicken and runner bean salad

I was given a wonderful bag of produce from my friend Rachel’s allotment for my birthday last week. Courgettes, tomatillos, piquillo peppers, nasturtium flowers, electric daisies (which make your mouth tingle in a slightly alarming fashion), squash, French and runner beans –  a generous sampling of their bountiful harvest.

Whenever I find myself with runner beans, this salad is the first thing I make. I love the vibrant colours and contrasting tastes and textures – crunchy croutons, tender chicken, just crisp beans, juicy tomatoes – high summer eating at its finest. Continue reading →

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Sayonara baby

18 Sep

Sayonara baby

At the end of July, we decided to throw a party for my birthday in September. So we sent out a raft of invitations… and then pretty much forgot about it until last weekend when it struck us, “Ay caramba! We’ve got several dozen people turning up next Saturday!”

We had the first requirement for a successful party – lots of people – sorted. Which left the second requirement… a killer cocktail. Get lots of people drinking cocktails at the same time and a great evening is pretty much guaranteed. Continue reading →

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Lime and Thai basil sorbet

31 Aug

Lime and Thai basil sorbet

I found this recipe for basil-lime sorbet in a magazine I was leafing through in the doctor’s waiting room. I thought it sounded interesting, and jotted it down. The first time I tried it, I didn’t much like it, but decided to try it again with Thai basil.

What a transformation… The liquorice-cinnamony Thai basil combines beautifully with the sweet lime syrup to produce a palate cleansing, mouth tingling, refreshing sorbet. I often serve it with strawberries, but blueberries also work really well. Continue reading →

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Margarita

2 Aug

Margarita

Once I’d decided to make nachos, knocking up a batch of margaritas was a no-brainer. For the first round, I followed the family recipe in Fern’s Food – 3 parts tequila, 2 parts Triple Sec, and 1 part Roses lime cordial. Drinkable, but too sweet for my palate – and didn’t quite tick the margarita box either.

For the second round, I went 2:1 tequila to Triple Sec and replaced the lime cordial with freshly squeezed lime juice… and it was just right. Salud! Continue reading →

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Salmon phyllo parcels

26 Jul

Salmon phyllo parcels

This is a lovely way to prepare salmon. The fish steams in its pastry wrapping, and is soft and full of flavour, contrasting beautifully with the crispy phyllo.

The recipe comes from Delia Smith’s Summer Collection. The biggest change I have made to the recipe is the name. Delia calls them “Thai salmon filo parcels”, but I don’t see how adding lime juice and coriander makes something “Thai”. And I prefer “phyllo” to “filo” (which always makes me think of Filofaxes…) Continue reading →

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Goi ga (Vietnamese chicken salad)

18 Jul

goi ga

Goi ga – Vietnamese chicken and cabbage salad – features pretty regularly around here, especially in the summer. Both girls eat it happily, as long as I don’t make it too hot. Learning from experience, I now add about half the chilli when I prepare the salad, and keep the rest aside for Adam and I to add at the table.

I grow Vietnamese coriander (also called Vietnamese mint) in the summer, so added a few leaves with the regular mint. The dressing is closely based on Nigella Lawson’s recipe in Nigella Bites. Continue reading →

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Caipirinha

13 Jul

caipirinha

And with this caipirinha recipe, we bring 2014’s World Cup food project to an end. The whole family has enjoyed the variety it has introduced to our family meals – without it, we may never have shared a communal bowl of pounded yam for our lunch, or discovered the amazing deliciousness of those peanut-coated Nigerian suya or Colombian barras de limón.

That’s why we’ve decided that we are going to continue trying new recipes from around the world. Not at the same pace as the last month – more like once or twice a week. I’ll post them here for anyone that’s interested, and maybe by the time World Cup 2018 rolls around, we’ll have eaten something from every country that has competed in the qualifying rounds… Continue reading →

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Lime-lemon bars (barras de limón)

28 Jun

Lime-lemon bars (barras di limón)

This Colombian recipe was dead simple to make – in fact, Lyra did most of it. I found it on the My Colombian Recipes website. Continue reading →

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Ceviche

25 Jun

ceviche

I decided to make ceviche our Ecuador World Cup dinner. I always thought ceviche was Peruvian, but it seems there are versions from around central and South America. Added corn nuts to my usual recipe to give it an Ecuadorian twist. Continue reading →

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