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salad

Heaven is a South African Kitchen

July 11, 2013 by Eva Louise 4 Comments

***This is the third and final post from my trip to South Africa. The previous posts are here and here***

Heaven on a plate

Heaven on a plate

On our final morning at the whimsical Miner’s compound, something amazing happened – I met the Miner’s wife, Jackie, who had been in the city during our drunken escapades the day before. We bumped into her at the back door of her kitchen in our efforts to say goodbye to our host and friends. She was directing a platoon of housemaids, with a voice so sensational  it was like the Cheshire Cat or an Afrikaans Miranda Priestly were yelling orders from behind a buzzing fan.  She had fiery red hair in a coif that Marge Simpson’s sisters might request at the hair salon and gorgeous bright eyes that will keep her looking youthful even when she turns 100. Just amazing.

“Come, come, come. You must have something to eat!” She said in same breath as her introduction.

Instead of staging our departure,  Stingray and I let Jackie take us  hostage (rather willingly) onto the back porch to enjoy a decadent breakfast of fruit salad, fresh yogurt, charcuterie and her homemade preserves (umm…is this real?!). We ended up staying so late that it was already time to enjoy lunch which we did, at the very same table.

I was gorged, spoiled and feeling rather useless so Jackie was gracious enough to let me cook with her in her amazing kitchen. She and I whipped up a Tuscan-style tuna salad with cannellini beans, fried eggplant with cilantro, a simple salad with a vino cotto vinaigrette, and a caprese salad with olive oil so rich it looked like gasoline.

table 2

As I chopped, (she and I in matching aprons) she told me the story of her gorgeous Chinese linens, her fruit trees, herbs and spices from her travels to the Middle East, and the painting class she’ll take in France later in the Summer.   So intimated by her amazingness, I interrupted her a few times to ask,  “How do you want this chopped? What else should I add to this? Am I doing this right?” “Dahling, everything you’re doing is just perfect, simply perfect.  Add whatever you’d like!” My only thought was: Eva, burn your passport so you can live with Jackie forever!…Do it, burn it now!

Once I finished shaking up my vinaigrette and the meal was almost ready, I started to chop a littler slower in attempts savor this moment with her.  When I go to Heaven, I know that the cafeteria will look just like Jackie’s gorgeous kitchen.

Tuscan-style Tuna Salad

tuna salad

Ingredients

  • 1 can of good  albacore
  • 1 can of canellini beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 shallot or small red onion, diced
  • 1-2  garlic cloves, grated
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 cup chopped cilantro
  • Olive oil
  • S and P to taste

Toss all ingredients together, in a beautiful bowl, except for tuna.  Add tuna and incorporate gently to try to keep it from breaking up too much.  Taste, adjust flavors accordingly.

Fried Eggplant with Cilantro

2 salads

  • 1 large eggplant
  • 1 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1-2 garlic cloves
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • Pepper to taste
  • maldon salt

Chop eggplant into 2 inch “pegs” and fry in olive oil until crispy and tender.  In the meantime, mix the lemon juice, grated garlic and pepper in a large bowl. Once the eggplant is done,  put directly in bowl with lemon juice mixture.  The olive oil absorbed in the eggplant will naturally balance out the acid.  Sprinkle maldon salt or another large-grained salt right before serving.

Caprese salad (everybody knows this one, right?)

Tomatoes, mozzarella and basil with high quality olive oil (lemon juice or balsamic were not added to the version pictured)

Green Salad with Vino Cotto Vinaigrette

green salad

  • 1/2 cup walnut oil
  • 1 pinch sugar
  • 1-2 T vino cotto (Italian sweet wine syrup)
  • 1 heaping T dijon mustard
  • 1/2 clove garlic, pressed or grated (optional)
  • S and P to taste

Shake all ingredients in a jar. Too sweet add more dijon, too thick add more oil. I served this with arugula and butter lettuce, some red onion left over from the other salads, a ripe avocado and some paprika for color.

Spiced, Wine-Poached Pears with Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

In case I wasn’t already in food ecstasy at the end of our lunch, Jackie brought out some of her spiced, wine-poached pears and homemade vanilla ice cream and served it drizzled with grappa. It’s a miracle I didn’t implode into stardust after that.

Spiced, wine-poached pears with homemade ice cream

Spiced, wine-poached pears with homemade ice cream

lemons

A  diptych of her lemon tree…why not?

Filed Under: Life & Travel Tagged With: Africa, cooking, entertaining, food, lunch, recipes, salad, seafood, South Africa, summer, travel, vegetables, vegetarian, wine

Moped Dinner Party in Switzerland

May 17, 2013 by Eva Louise Leave a Comment

le menuSometimes when I’m alone, eating bread rolls with packets of mayo drinking mini-bar wine  in my hotel bed watching Russian music videos, I think to myself  “business trips kind of suck.” But then I remind myself that most nights my life is fabulous and that I rule. Evidence of this is the incredible dinner party I had with some girlfriends and their beaus recently while on a business trip to Geneva.

Normally working late into the night, I committed to leaving the office  in time to hop on my friend, Cristina’s Moped and head to France to do some dinner party grocery shopping.  Holding tightly to her waist (apparently NOT necessary  which she made very clear to me), with the spring breeze blowing through my 2-piece suit, and our helmets bonking against one another with every windy turn, I knew this was exactly the 2-wheeled escape I needed.

Dinner Party

Eva’s Spring salad: rocket, shaved zucchini, cucumbers, chives, mozzarella with a lemon vinaigrette

My European friends are by default better cooks than I (because they are Europeans) , so I gladly took a step back on this meal and just offered to make a simple salad (above) while the girls  made seared duck breast with an apricot jam, mustard and soy sauce glaze, sauteed asparagus and roasted potatoes. Thank you, ladies for a truly decadent dinner escape!

Seared duck breast with roasted potatoes and asparagus

Seared duck breast with roasted potatoes and asparagus

I was excited so I made them do a group "haut cinq" with me (fake french for high five)

I was so excited by the success of the meal that I made them do a group “haut cinq” with me (my fake french for “high five”)

Filed Under: Life & Travel Tagged With: cooking, duck, food, France, friends, geneva, love, meat, recipe, salad, Switzerland, travel, vegetables

Lemon-Tahini Dressed Kale with Pine Nuts and Cranberries

April 28, 2013 by Eva Louise 1 Comment

kaleThese days I’m addicted to kale and totally over my normal vinaigrette go-tos: homemade apple cider and balsamic vinaigrette, so I tried my hand at a lemon-tahini dressing.  I always feed bad for that lonely can of tahini that sits in my fridge after I’ve gotten the urge to make humus–the only reason I can normally think to use sesame paste. With this new addition, that sad old can is put to good use with this kale salad tossed with toasted pine nuts and cranberries.

Lemon-Tahini Dressing

  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 heaping tablespoon tahini
  • 3 tablespoons of water
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of paprika
  • crushed garlic clove

Filed Under: Sides Tagged With: cooking, dressing, food, fruit, nuts, recipe, salad, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian

Lovers and Friends: Beets and Goat Cheese

April 9, 2013 by Eva Louise 1 Comment

beetsBeets are fun to cook, I’ve decided. They gush a bloody red; they’re firm enough after they’re cooked that you can really play with them to create a beautiful presentation. Here, I made super easy gold and red beet stacks with creamy chive goat cheese and toasted pine nuts. The sweetness of the beets, the tang of the goat cheese and the bite from the chives are a dangerous trifecta of delicious. I’ll likely make these again soon, but in mini skewered versions for a cocktail party. Will report back after successful completion.

Gold and Red Beet Stacks with Chive Goat Cheese and Pine Nuts

  • 3 red beets
  • 2 large gold beets
  • 1 large log goat cheese, coldish room temperature
  • 1/4 cup of heavy cream
  • 1 bunch chives, finely chopped
  • some toasted pine nuts

1) Chop the tips off of the beets and boil whole until tender, about 20 minutes. A knife should easily go through them when ready. Place beets in bowl of ice water. Cool completely and peel. I’m not sure the proper way to peel a beet, but I ran my nail under the beet skin and it came off pretty easily, almost like peeling a boiled egg. Don’t do this if you’re a hand model before a photo shoot. Slice into 1/4 inch slices and set aside.

2) In a small bowl mix goat cheese and heavy cream, pouring small amounts of cream at a time to avoid it from splashing around. Fold in most of the chives, leaving some for garnish. It feels like you’re adding a lot, but chives have mild flavor. Add salt and pepper and taste.

3) In a small pan, toast 1 handful of pine nuts on medium heat until golden brown. Shake the pan frequently to avoid burning. Takes about 2-3 minutes.

4)  On a pretty plate, create the beet “stacks” by alternating 1 slice of beet and 1 dollop of cheese mixture, about three times. Get creative and make something pretty.

5) Garnish with chives and pine nuts and serve either as is, or with arugula, spinach or another tasty leafy green tossed with lemon juice and olive oil.

Filed Under: Sides Tagged With: appetizer, cheese, food, recipe, salad, spring

Flipping the Script: Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Pears and Stilton

December 28, 2012 by Eva Louise 3 Comments

morefood

Fine Cooking Magazine – to me, the mother of all cooking magazines. Filled with consistently delicious recipes (minus this culinary abomination. Starfruit + chicken? *dry heave*), many with an exciting but not obnoxious level of difficulty, it really is my main source of inspiration. In addition to receiving the hard copy  in the mail, I also signed up for the “Make it Tonight” emails, offering  instant inspiration for dinner that night. I highly recommend it.

Last week this Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Pears and Stilton recipe popped into my inbox, so I decided to add it to my Christmas Eve Dinner plans. It’s a simple winter salad over a bed of escarole with vinaigrette. I flipped the script and made it more substantial by putting the roasted butternut squash, prosciutto (recipes calls for bacon) and Stilton (blue cheese) into puff pastry.  I baked it at 400 for about 25 minutes and served it with the escarole and pears and it was honestly slammin’. While I bow down to the mouth-watering Fine Cooking Magazine, I think I might have outdone them on this one.

Filed Under: Sides Tagged With: cheese, Fine Cooking, food, fruit, magazine, pear, salad, starter

Team Supremo and Tagliatelle Tartufo

December 8, 2012 by Eva Louise Leave a Comment

milanosupremoTeam Supremo* has gone international with a weekend trip to Italy to celebrate Marina’s birthday! We were ambitious and woke up early today for a 3-hour bus tour of the gorgeous city of Milano with a final stop to view Da Vinci’s Last Supper. Famished and freezing our little brioches off, this was a great segway into lunch. We stopped in a precious little, well…Italian restaurant. After a champagne toast, we shared a caprese salad, tagliatelle con tartufo nero, and a nice bottle of chianti (OK, fine…we also had an insanely rich ricotta and artichoke crepe). One cannolo and two macchiatos later it was time for shopping and a nap. Can we fast forward to dinner? I can’t wait.

*the unfortunate nickname Marina and I gave ourselves 5 years ago in college.

Filed Under: Life & Travel Tagged With: art, food, friends, Italy, Milan, pasta, salad, tourism, travel, truffles, wine

Dinner with Basil: Homemade Pesto + Caprese Salad

August 11, 2012 by Eva Louise Leave a Comment

Green Gold

Red, White and Green

Earlier this week, Ray and I had a special guest for dinner, basil! This beautiful broad-leafed herb is definitely in season with the bundles  so big, I could barely tell it apart from heads of lettuce in the produce section. When I get a bouquet of basil this large, there’s really only two things I want to make, homemade pesto and a caprese salad. And that’s what I did: Seared Scallops with Pesto Rigatoni with a Caprese Salad drizzled with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette. I think I’d like to have basil over dinner more often!

no images were found

For the Pesto: I never follow recipes, so in my Cuisinart I just blended pine nuts (they have pre-packaged 1/4 cup bags in the baking aisle at the store), whatever Parmesan I had in my fridge and garlic. I then added the basil leaves and the juice of one lemon.  Word on the street is to keep the Cuisinart running while you add the olive oil through the top feeder until the mixture is smooth. At the last minute I added zest of 1/2 lemon and I’m pretty sure that took the pesto to a whole other level of amazing both in flavor and color.  For perfect single-servings down the road,  scoop any extra pesto into an ice cube tray and cover with plastic wrap making sure it’s flush with the pesto and place in freezer.  For the rule followers,  Ina Garten has a great recipe for pesto.

Filed Under: Dinner, Sides Tagged With: herbs, pasta, pesto, salad, scallops, seafood, vegetables

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Welcome

I’m Eva Louise and welcome to Mind in the Butter! This is my food bloggy, showcasing my favorite dishes and recipes often inspired by and cooked for my loved ones. My goal with this blog is to eventually document every single dish I make so when I’m old and stale, I will be able to remember and celebrate memories from my favorite place…the kitchen!

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