Pomegranate Molasses Salad Dressing

I can’t believe that here in Georgia, summer is technically over as most of the children in public school return to classes today!!  Maisie has two weeks remaining to her summer break but she would happily return to school today as she loves school and her teacher.  In my mind it’s still summer as it’s Georgia and HOT outside!  With that being said, most meals are quick, cold or made on the grill.  Those three factors were a consideration this month when choosing a recipe for this Secret Recipe Club reveal.  This month I was assigned Sawsan’s blog, Chef in Disguise.  We were super excited when we perused Sawsan’s blog because she lives in the UAE and shares easy and authentic middle eastern, Levantine and arabic recipes and we adore middle eastern food.  We also knew that it would be a great opportunity to use some of our rarely-used pantry items in a new and different way.  Sawsan had quite a few recipes that caught our attention including her Kofta bi tahini which would have been made with sweet potatoes to better fit in with our diet; and then two totally off-diet and non-middle eastern treats, sfogliatelle, one of my favorite Italian treats and my all time absolute-favorite-cake-ever, Swedish prinsesstarta. But as I said, it’s hot here in Georgia and we’re trying to eat healthy so a new and interesting dressing on a salad topped with some sesame crusted seared Ahi tuna won the recipe contest.  We chose Sawsan’s Ponegranate molasses salad dressing because it sounded totally delicious AND we had all the ingredients in our pantry.  Big Win! 

I don’t know why the lemon and garlic were left out of this picture, but trust me, they made it into the dressing.  I love that we were able to use two of our rarely used ingredients in a new and delicious way.  We generally use pomegranate molasses when making Fesenjān and sumac combined with garlic powder, dusted onto poultry before roasting, makes for an easy and delicious way to make a bird. 

We followed Sawsan’s recipe for the dressing pretty closely, but since we have an abundance of mint growing in the garden, we used fresh instead of dried.  Also, Sawsan mentioned in her post that balsamic or apple cider vinegar could be used, each giving the dressing a different flavor profile.  We decided to split the difference and play off the sweet, sour and the tart notes of the dressing and used both types of vinegars.  Our decision to use both vinegars made for a totally delicious sweet, tart, complex and well balanced dressing.  I especially liked the mint component of the dressing, subtle and a wonderful addition.  We stored the extra dressing in a glass jar in the fridge and just gave it a shake each time we used it. 

Check out Sawsan’s blog for not only fabulous recipes and photos, but also for an interesting look at her culture, the country in which she lives and of course a few glimpses of her cute little kids.

Pomegranate molasses salad dressing (adapted from here)

• juice of one lemon (about 1/4 cup)
• 1/4 cup olive oil 
• 2 TBS. Vincotto 
• 2 TBS. apple cider vinegar  
• 4 TBS. pomegranate molasses
• 2 large cloves of garlic minced
• 2 large fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon sumac
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• half of a red onion finely chopped
• black pepper to taste

Add all the ingredients to the jar of a blender and process until well combined.  

Enjoy!!

My previous Secret Recipe Club Recipe Posts: 

Beef Keema  
Roasted Grape Tomato, Garlic & Poblano Ragu
Mexican Feast: Cream of Ancho Chile Soup, Roasted Poblano Burger with Chile de Arbol Guacamole & Pork Crusted Baked Poblano Fries 
Zesty Zucchini Skillet 
Garlic Seafood in Coconut Milk 
Lamb & Eggplant with Chiles
Fijian Ceviche
Carrot & Sweet Potato Pancakes   
Chicken Burgers with Spinach & Mushrooms 
Paradise Mango Curried Shrimp 
Laura Goodenough’s Apple Coffee Cake 
Loaded Potato Soup
Lemon Almond Biscotti 
Creamy Mints 
Thai Peanut Noodles with Chicken 
Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings 
Fried Green Tomatoes 
Chicken Satay Noodle Salad 
Double Chocolate Mousse Cake 
Candied Popcorn
Fruit, Nut & Poppy Seed Chicken Salad 
Broiled Sushi 
Health(ier) Peanut Brittle 
Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites 
Texas Chicken with Lime Butter 
Pork Belly Soup with Collard Greens 
Thin Mint Irish Coffee 
Levain Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies 
Welsh Cakes 
Nutella Crêpes 
Cilantro Lime Chicken 
Holy Guacamole 
and
Home Style Chicken Curry

An InLinkz Link-up

Pressure Cooker Balsamic Collard Greens

I totally admit that I have no earthly clue on how to make a big ol’ bowl of collards look beautiful in a picture, but what I do know is how to make them taste amazing!  This recipe takes five minutes of hands on work, 20 minutes in the pressure cooker and then you’ll be eating some of the most delicious collards you’ve ever tried.  Though I do love me some southern collards rich with bacon, ham hocks and butter, this recipe is much more diet friendly and so packed with delicious flavor, I don’t even for a moment miss those other ingredients.  I hope that you’ll give this recipe a try and trust me, you’ll be licking the bowl.

Pressure Cooker Balsamic Collard Greens

• 1 lb. fresh collard greens, washed & cut into 2-inch wide pieces (I used a bag of washed and cut ~ ready to go)
• 1/2 cup chicken stock, can use beef stock or vegetable stock
• 1 TBS. olive oil, or oil of your choice
• 1 1/2 TBS. tomato paste 
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 
• 1 TBS. Whey Low Gold or brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt 
• 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
• 1 cup medium diced sweet onion
• 6 large garlic cloves, minced

Add the stock, olive oil, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, Whey Low Gold, salt & pepper to the pressure cooker and stir to mix.  Stir in the onion and garlic.  Add the collard greens and seal the pressure cooker.  Over high heat bring to full pressure and then reduce temperature to low.  Cook for 20 minutes.  Remove the pressure cooker from the heat and either run it under cold water or release the steam via the valve.   Open and stir to coat all the collards with the sauce. 

Enjoy!

Texas Chicken with Lime Butter

Here we are, the first Monday of the month and it’s Secret Recipe Club time again…WOOHOO!!  I adore reveal day, not only posting the wonderful new recipe that I made but also checking out what all the other participants chose to make.  Each month the members of The Secret Recipe Club are assigned a blog from which they can make any recipe of their choosing.  It sounds easy enough but there are some amazing food bloggers in the group like my assignment this month, Si of A Bountiful Kitchen.  Si has a gorgeous blog and so many fabulous recipes that choosing just one was near impossible and though I’m only posting one recipe today, you will be seeing more of her recipes on my blog very soon. 

Si is from Bountiful, Utah and every time that I go out to Utah to visit friends in SLC the first place I ask to dine is at Cafe Rio because I absolutely adore their Sweet Pork Barbacoa Salad and though here in Georgia, Chipotle has a pretty similar version, it’s just not the absolutely delicious same.  So right off the top when I saw that Si had a recipe for Cafe Rio Style Sweet Pork Salad I knew that was what I wanted to make.  The only problem was, I was completely slammed for time between Maisie’s schedule, her Level 3 Gymnastics State Meet, Maisie and I being sick, my parents coming to visit, Thanksgiving, cooking for the Level 2 & 4 State Meet which Maisie’s gym hosted and some travel thrown in, well looking at my first choice recipe was just more than I was able to handle as it included not only making the Sweet Pork but Black Beans, Cilantro Rice, Pico de Gallo, Guacamole and Creamy Tomatillo Salad Dressing and if I was going to do it, I was going to do it right and do it all.  Yes I probably could have pulled it off but when I make it, I want to be able to really enjoy it so I’m saving those recipes for another day. 

What I did decide to make was Si’s Texas Grilled Chicken with Lime Butter because one can never have too many good chicken recipes, it was something that would be an easy weeknight dinner and I knew from the flavors that we would adore it and I was right as we loved, loved, loved this recipe and it was so quick and easy to prepare and get on the table.  I had originally planned to grill the chicken outside but the night I made it we were having tornado watches and warnings and it was raining like nobody’s business so I high temp baked the chicken and it came out perfectly, nice, juicy and delicious.  My only other little change to Si’s recipe was I cut the butter and upped the lime juice in the lime butter sauce.  I’m even betting that I could make the spice coating for the chicken, pop the chicken into it and then freeze it so that when I wanted to prepare it it would be an easy thaw, quickly make the butter lime sauce and dinner would be on the table.  Either way, this recipe will be prepared time and time again in our home as it was absolutely delish!!

Texas Chicken with Lime Butter (Adapted from here)

• 4-5 boneless and skinless chicken breast halves

Spice coating for chicken:

• 1 TBS ground cinnamon 
• 1 TBS dark chili powder 
• 1 TBS brown sugar
• 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder 
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar 

Lime Butter:

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• Juice of half a lime, not out of the bottle
• 1 Serrano chili, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced Vidalia onion 

In a large Ziploc bag combine all of the spice coating ingredients and smoosh to blend well.  Add the chicken to the spice mixture, squish it around to make sure all the pieces are covered with the spice coating and allow the chicken to marinate for a few hours or overnight.  Preheat oven to 450F.  Line a baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.  Lay the chicken breast pieces with what would have been the skin-side up, on the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes until cooked through.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. 

While the chicken is resting, in a small bowl combine the melted butter, lime juice, minced Serrano & onion. Drizzle the lime butter over the chicken pieces and garnish with fresh lime slices.

Enjoy!

My previous Secret Recipe Club Recipe Posts:
Pork Belly Soup with Collard Greens 
Thin Mint Irish Coffee 
Levain Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies 
Welsh Cakes 
Nutella Crêpes 
Cilantro Lime Chicken 
Holy Guacamole 
and
Home Style Chicken Curry

Grilled Chèvre & Fig Panini

I mentioned yesterday in my Fig & Watermelon Salad post that this time of year I look for ways to incorporate fresh delicious figs into my meals.  The season is so short so I try to enjoy them as often as possible.  To take advantage of the figs mixed with some of my favorite ingredients I made a wonderful Panini.

Fresh figs, chèvre and balsamic glaze on lightly buttered and perfectly grilled thinly sliced sourdough bread…well I was one happy girl

Nothing too complicated, I spread both slices of sourdough with chèvre, added slices of fresh figs and drizzled on some balsamic glaze.  I closed up the sandwich and lightly buttered the top.

Putting the buttered top of the sandwich down onto a pre-heated very hot grill pan.  As I don’t have a Panini press I used my Aga grill pan and to add some “press” I topped my sandwich with my crêpe pan. 

Once the first side was perfectly grilled I lightly buttered the uncooked top bread and then flipped the sandwich over, added my crêpe pan weight and grilled the second side.

I mentioned in a previous post that the combination of figs, chèvre and balsamic glaze was a gastronomic delight, well this is all that with a buttery crunch.  The Panini was quite rich and while I totally enjoyed it I found that half was plenty as a meal so it ended up two times the delight.  I hope that you’ll give this sandwich a try and if you do, please let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

Fig and Watermelon Salad

This time of year my neighbor’s tree is bursting with ripe, sweet, delicious figs so I’m always looking for ways to incorporate them into my meals.  Unfortunately neither Eammon nor Maisie care for the figs so “poor little me” is left to eat them all by myself.  What’s wonderful about not having to share the figs is that I don’t have to worry about what I combine them with and other people’s likes and dislikes.  In our house when comes to using figs it’s all about me and what I enjoy.

One of my favorite ways to enjoy figs is fresh from the tree topped with a bit of chèvre and drizzled with a balsamic syrup so when I saw a recipe for a Fig & Watermelon Salad on Lisa’s Authentic Suburban Gourmet I knew immediately that I would be making, eating and enjoying it…and ASAP.  Since I had already used up our first watermelon of the season from our garden making Watermelon Frosty drinks and Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho I patiently (yeah right as I checked the melons twice daily) waited for another melon to ripen.  Once it did I picked that 25 pound baby and while it was still warm from the sun, I sliced it open and made this salad.  I will say that I enjoyed the salad more when I made it the second day and the melon was chilled but I would eat it with warm melon again, any day, as this salad was off-the-charts wonderful.  

I changed the recipe very little from the original, not because I didn’t like anything but because I wanted to use what I had in the house.  So for this salad I used Vidalia instead of red onions and chèvre in lieu of Feta but I know that the salad would have been equally as good had I gone the other way.  Also just to up the fig factor instead of plain balsamic vinegar in the vinaigrette I used an orange & fig balsamic vinegar that I had picked up a ways back at World Market but had yet to use. 

I did question the addition of the mint but as I had it in the garden I went with it and it added great flavor to the salad.  With this salad I loved the contrast of the peppery arugula with the creaminess of the chèvre with the added sweetness of the melon & figs, just perfect.  The contrast in texture was wonderful too, the crisp watermelon & onion, the soft figs and cheese, well it’s just a wonderful salad all around.

Fig & Watermelon Salad (adapted from here)

6 cups arugula
12 figs, halved
2 cups one-inch watermelon cubes
1/2 medium Vidalia onion, sliced thin
1/2 cup chèvre, crumbled
6 mint leaves, chiffonade

Balsamic Dressing
2 TBS orange & fig balsamic vinegar, or my other favorite fig balsamic vinegar or regular balsamic vinegar
6 TBS olive oil
2 TBS Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

Add all the dressing ingredients to a small glass jar with lid and shake well until combined.

To assemble the salad, add all of the salad ingredients to a platter and drizzle on the dressing for a beautiful presentation. 

Enjoy!!