Salmon with Asian sauce and rice

This is a dish that is literally prepared and served in 30 minutes. You can make this for a quick lunch or a weeknight entertaining dinner. This is healthy, super quick, delicious and low on utensil usage too!

Ingredients:
For Salmon:
Salmon fillet
Some oil
Salt and pepper

For Asian Sauce:
3-4 dashes of Fish Sauce
1/2 tbsp Oyster Sauce
6-7 tsp of  Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Peanut Butter
1/2 tbsp Maple Syrup
1/4 cup Sake (optional)
1/2 cup Vegetable Broth or Water
1 inch piece of Ginger
3-4 tsp Chinese Spicy Chilly Crisp Sauce

Leafy Vegetable Salad:
Two Scallions
Some coriander
Some Romaine Lettuce

Rice

Method:
1. Heat some oil on a non-stick pan. Once the oil is heated put the salmon fillet on the pan, skin side down.
Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the salmon and cover the pan with a lid.
Cook salmon on low-to-medium flame with the lid on for 15 minutes.

2. On the side, put some rice for cooking.


3. While the salmon is cooking, prepare the sauce in a bowl. Mix soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sake, vegetable broth, chilly crisps, peanut butter, grated ginger, salt and pepper.

4. Thinly slice two scallions. Chop coriander and some romaine lettuce. Mix these vegetables and keep on side.

5. After 15 minutes, remove the salmon from the pan and wrap in an aluminum foil. Seal this wrap with another aluminum foil to make a double insulation around the salmon. Set aside on a wooden chopping board for 10 minutes.


6. While salmon is resting, put the prepared sauce in the same pan with the salmon juices. Boil the sauce for 5-6 minutes or until it thickens.

7. In the end assemble the dish by placing some rice at the bottom of the plate, top with the flaked salmon and vegetable salad. Dress up the dish with the Asian sauce.

Entertain!

Or take a carry out for lunch!

Indian Masala Lamb Chops

Try these quick and easy succulent Lamb Chops with bold Indian Spices. It's easy to prepare, quick to cook and provides for elegant plating for weeknight parties.

Ingredients:
Lamb Chops
Turmeric
Red Chilly Powder
Black Pepper Powder
Coriander Powder
Dried Oregano
Minced Garlic
Minced Ginger
Groundnut oil
Salt
Greek Yogurt
Lime Pickle
Scallions
Fresh coriander
Cooked Basmati Rice

Method:
1. Mix all the ingredients in a ziplock bag to make a paste.
2. Marinate the lamb chops in the paste for  minimum of 15 minutes.
3. On a hot grill/pan, cook the lamb chops for 4-5 minutes each side.
4. To make the yogurt sauce, mix  Greek yogurt, lime pickle, scallions and fresh chopped coriander,
5. Serve with hot rice and yogurt sauce.

How to marinate lamb chops?? It's super easy...

Tarragon Chicken

Tarragon chicken - is it than intense, laborious French tarragon Chicken.. No! Does it have the same flavour?? Absolutely yes... In less than half the cooking and cleaning time it would take me otherwise, I came up with this classy dish for quick, weeknight entertainment and dinners.

Ingredients:
Chicken Breast
Fresh Tarragon
Dried Tarragon
Some Butter
Some regular oil
Salt
Black Pepper Powder
Some Vodka
Chicken or Vegetable Broth/Warm Water
An egg
Some plain white flour
Couple of cloves of minced garlic
Some cream
Some Dijon Mustard
Crushed red pepper(optional)

Method:
1. Cut the chicken breast in half and pound it into thin cutlets. This ensures cooking time speeds up.
2. In a deep dish, mix an egg with some salt, dried thyme, black pepper powder and crushed red pepper.
3. In another deep dish, mix some flour with salt and pepper.

4. Now dunk the chicken cutlet in the flour, then egg and then flour again, shown in the video.
5. Then shallow fry it in a pan, with some oil and butter - about 3-5 minutes each side.
6. After the chicken cutlets are cooked, use the same pan and add some minced garlic, fresh chopped tarragon, dried tarragon, pepper and salt. Saute for a few seconds.
7. Deglaze the pan with some chicken/vegetable broth or water. Add some dijon mustard and vodka to the pan. Let the mixture come to a bubble. Please refer to the video for the sauce technique.
8. Once the mixture has reduced to half, turn off the gas and add some cream.
9. Serve sliced chicken breast cutlets and spoon over the sauce in a big platter.

Dunking Chicken Cutlets in egg and flour

Tarragon Cream Sauce

Enjoy this classy dish with a side of salad and roasted veggies!

Farfalle with bean-green sauce

Like entertaining a group of health conscious friends or longing for a Tuscan vacation or cooking on a clock! This dish has endless reasons to be tried and tested. With a burst of natural flavors in your mouth and cooking time of only 20 min, this dish has never disappointed me. Perfect dish to get your protein while satiating your carbs craving!

Ingredients:
Bean-green sauce
2 cup canned Cannellini beans, drained and washed
3 cups kale/arugula/spinach(I use a ready to eat salad mixture for this dish)
1 medium tomato, chopped
Olive oil
4 tsp dried Garlic powder
1 and 1/2 cups Grated Pecorino-romano cheese
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Salt
Black pepper powder
Crushed red pepper flakes(optional)

Recommended Pasta
Farfalle pasta enough for 2

Method:
1. Start cooking pasta based on the package instructions.
2. In a pan, put olive oil, garlic powder, salt and peppers. Turn the gas on low and allow the flavors to warm.
3. Put the diced tomato in the warm oil and cook for a couple of minutes until tomatoes are tender.
4. Now add the greens and cook for a minute or two to wilt them.
5. Add the beans, walnuts and 1/2 cup grated cheese. Mix well. Add some cooking water from pasta to make the mixture more sauce like. Turn the gas off at this point if the pasta is not ready yet.
6. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and add 1 cup of grated cheese and some olive oil. Mix it well while still hot.
7. In the pasta bowl, layer the farfalle at the bottom. Ladle the bean and green sauce. Garnish with more grated cheese and chopped walnuts.

Happy entertaining!

Amber confetti in a forest

Some days when I am alone on a weekend, have nothing to do but relax and enjoy a beautiful afternoon, I feel like treating myself with something elegant yet keeping up to that new year resolution of eating healthy. To that, this amber confetti of mushrooms and almond-parsley sauce comes to my rescue. This is a quick and simple dish that makes me feel like a queen of lazy afternoon!

Ingredients:
Amber confetti:
3 cups quartered mushrooms
Olive oil
2 tsp dried Rosemary
2 tsp dried Garlic powder
2 tsp dried Thyme
Salt
Black pepper powder
Crushed red pepper flakes(optional)

Almond-parsley Sauce:
1/4 cup almonds
1 bunch of parsley
1/2 cup grated Pecorino-Romano
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Lime juice
Salt and Black pepper to taste

Method:
Amber confetti:
1. In a pan, put olive oil, garlic powder, rosemary, thyme, salt and peppers. Turn the gas on low and allow the flavors to warm.
2. Once the oil is warm, put the mushrooms in and cook while stirring until they are cooked through yet have a firm form.
Tip: Make sure you cook on low to medium heat so that the mushrooms don't dry out.

Sauce:
This is the forest part where amber meets greens.
1. In a food processor, put all the ingredients and mix together. Keep this sauce a bit chunky.
Tip: You prep and make the sauce while the mushrooms are cooking.

Serving suggestion:
Although the amber confetti itself is delicious to eat as such, I like it with small amount of rice and a couple of fingerling potatoes as they taste amazing with the almond-parsley sauce.

Have a good afternoon!

Rice with Shrimps and Arugula sauce

I know this sounds like a crazy combination but trust me - it works.
Rice, shrimps and arugula - a combination that is surprisingly delicious and very easy to make.

Ingredients:
2 cup cooked rice
10-15 shrimps
Chopped parsley to garnish


Arugula sauce:
3 cup arugula
1/4 cup roasted nut mixture(walnuts, almonds and cashews)
1/4 grated Parmesan cheese
1 medium size lemon juice
1 medium size lemon zest
1/4 cup olive oil
1 avocado
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. To make the sauce add all the sauce ingredients to the food processor and grind to a coarse paste.
2. In a pan cook the shrimps in olive oil.
3. In a serving platter add shrimps to the rice. Add a couple of table spoons of the sauce and reserve the remaining sauce in the fridge in an airtight container.
4. Mix and garnish with some parsley and grated cheese.

The reserved sauce can be used to dress pasta, cooked meat and veggies and also as a spread on toast for breakfast. It is a multipurpose sauce after all!! :)