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

Andes Peppermint Snowball Cookies

It’s one of my favorite times of the month, it’s Secret Recipe Club time!  This month I was assigned a blog that I have been following F.O.R.E.V.E.R., Katrina’s Baking and the Boys!  Katrina bakes copious amounts of crazy delicious treats for her four boys and husband and everything, and I do mean everything, is delicious looking, drool worthy in fact.  Since Katrina is a baker, I just had to bake and let me tell you, choosing a recipe was beyond difficult because…like I said, everything is drool worthy so I wanted it all.  When I saw her recipes for Andes Peppermint Crunch Shortbread Cookies and Peppermint Snowball Cookies, I knew I had found my recipe.  Katrina made two different, but similar, cookies, both using a shortbread cookie recipe, like a Mexican wedding cookie.  I adore Mexican wedding cookies as they’re so buttery, tender and delicious and I also love mint so I knew this would be a winner.  In both of Katrina’s versions she stirred in Andes Peppermint Crunch Chips but it was how she finished the cookies that differed.  One version she topped the cookie with some of the melted peppermint candy and in the second “snowball” version. she rolled the cookies in powdered sugar.  Katrina stated that she liked the snowball cookies a little more but preferred the stronger mint flavor of the drizzle.  She suggested for a more minty flavor in the snowball cookies, to up the amount of chips so I listened to her and did just that.  Though I actually had both versions of Andes Baking Chips in the house, I chose to use the dark chocolate Andes Crème De Menthe Baking Chips in my cookies.  Also, because I was upping the amount of chips in the cookies, thus upping the sweetness, I changed Katrina’s cookie base somewhat, completely eliminating the sugar. 

The cookies were flakey, buttery, chocolate, minty two bite deliciousness and for us, leaving out the sugar in the cookie base made for a perfect amount of sweetness and balance.  Check out Katrina’s versions or make mine, all three versions make a perfect holiday or anytime cookie.      

Andes Peppermint Snowball Cookies (adapted from here)

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 10-oz. bag Andes baking chips
• Confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 375F.

Using a stand mixer cream together the butter, vanilla & salt until fluffy.  Blend in the flour until fully incorporated.  Stir in the Andes baking chips.  Using a small cookie scoop portion out the cookie batter (you can also roll the batter into walnut sized balls) and place onto a Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheets, placing cookies 1-inch apart.   Bake for 12-15 minutes.  Allow the cookies to cool for a couple of minutes and then remove to a wire rack, placing the cookies close together.  While the cookies are still warm, dust with confectioners sugar. 

Enjoy!

My previous Secret Recipe Club Recipe Posts: 

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

Creamy Mints

Due to everyone being so busy with the holidays, it was decided that the Secret Recipe Club would take December off.  Each month I love participating, posting and seeing what everyone else makes, so I really missed it but with our trip to Savanna for Maisie’s state meet, then two weeks in Aruba, immediately followed by Christmas and then New Years…well it was a good thing.  Now though it’s great to be back again and I’m excited to post and see what everyone else made this month.  We received our January assignment very early, right before Thanksgiving in fact, and I couldn’t wait to check out my assigned blog, Kate’s Kitchen Trial & Errors,  

I loved browsing through Kate’s blog and non-food related, seeing some pictures of her cutle-patootie baby Winn.  On the food-side, so many of Kate’s recipes called to me and I love that her husband, like me, adores all things lemon so she has a lot of lemony recipes on her blog, all of which I wanted to make.  I mean, check out her lemon shortbread cookies or even more enticing, lemon curd shortbread sandwich cookies…YUM!  Of course with the cold weather her Creamy tomato soup, apple chicken chili, holiday shortbread cookies, and Indian butter chicken all sounded wonderful too.  Then, as my Mom was here when I got my assignment, I almost made Chai biscotti for her as she adores both biscotti and chai so putting them together would’ve make her happy,  Then I thought, Creamy white hot chocolate for my white chocolate loving husband, or how about her creamy corn with cilantro… but I was afraid that I’d eat the entire bowl myself like I can do when I make my, very similar, Creamed Corn with Cheese & Cilantro.  You can see why it was such a tough decision for this month.  In the end I opted for her creamy mints recipe, because they’re a perfect little treat and I made them just in time for the holidays…not that they lasted that long because we couldn’t stop eating them…each-and-every-time we walked by them we had to grab one or two.  I will be making these again and again…and I’m thinking lemon next time!

Just a drop of gel food coloring added at the end gave me a nice variegated minty look.

Kate rolled her mints in superfine sugar but I chose to omit that step and I think that they still look delicious.

Creamy Mints (adapted from here) 

• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) reduced fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• food coloring (optional) -  i used green gel and added it at the end so that it didn’t mix in fully allowing the streaky color variations
• 4 to 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar 

Using a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until soft and fluffy, about two minutes. Add the mint and food coloring, if using, and mix until blended. Add the confectioners sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until it forms a stiff mixture.  Using about 1/2 teaspoon of the mixture. roll into balls and then using the tines of a fork press a pattern into each mint.  Allow the mints to dry for a few hours and then store in the refrigerator.

Makes 6 dozen mints.

Enjoy!

My previous Secret Recipe Club Recipe Posts:

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

Thin Mint Irish Coffee

I love being a part of The Secret Recipe Club because it motivates me to cook and try new recipes and also it forces me to get them posted which is my major downfall.  Because of the club I have found some wonderful new cooking blogs and made some great new recipes including Home Style Chicken Curry, Holy Guacamole, Cilantro Lime Chicken, Nutella Crêpes and Welsh Cakes. 

Each month we are assigned another participating blogger and secretly from their blog we make any recipe of our choice, as written or with any changes we need or desire.  We are informed of the time and date to publish and then at that assigned time, all the participating bloggers go live with their posts and we get to see who cooked from our blog and what they decided to make.  The Secret Recipe Club has grown from just a handful of bloggers all in a once a month posting group to where it is now, with four groups of approximately 75 bloggers each.  I am part of group ‘A’ and this month my posting date was on the tenth and I published a wonderful recipe for Levain Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies.   

Sometimes bloggers sign up for the month and assignments are made but things happen and for one reason or another they can’t complete their assignment so as not to have a blogger left out and not have someone cooking from their blog, reinforcements are brought in and that is why I am doing a second Secret Recipe Club posting this month.  About a week ago, Amanda, the brain behind this group contacted me and asked if I could fill in and cook from a blog where the original assignee had to back out.  I of course jumped on the opportunity especially when I saw which blog I would get to cook from, Rhonda’s The Kitchen Witch. 

Rhonda seems like a very cool lady who knows who she is, speaks her mind and doesn’t pull any punches.  She’s funny and witty and I love reading her posts.  Her tastes in food span the globe as do her travels and her pictures of it all, well they’re just gorgeous.  Our food tastes are very similar and a few of her recipes are virtually the same as the ones I make.  Rhonda makes grilled pizzas very much like my Blacksmith Pizzas, her Tiramisu and Hummus are almost identical to my recipes as is her Lemon Curd.  We both make Jalapeno Poppers but she has a very unique way of stuffing them which I’ll have to try the next time I make them.  Rhonda also makes one of Eammon’s favorite appetizers which I’ll only make for him once a year as she has the dish nailed when she calls it Heart Attack on a Stick.

I was first drawn to Rhonda’s blog a few months ago when she posted a recipe for Roasted Butter Chicken which just looks beyond delicious and sounds super easy to make.  Right away when I found out that I was going to be cooking from her blog I knew, just KNEW that I was going to make that chicken for this post…but then I looked at some of the other recipes I had bookmarked from her blog and I was torn.  I adore asparagus and she has two recipes, Grilled Asparagus Wrapped in Boursin and Prosciutto and Grilled Asparagus Gruyere Tart which I know I would love.  I’ve also been eyeing her Chili Rubbed Pork Steak with Cilantro Lime Butter and Grilled Pineapple and if you read my blog at all you know that cilantro, lime and chili are favorite flavors here in the Cook Lisa Cook home.  Sometime around the holidays I’m planning on making Rhonda’s Brown Sugar and Smoked Sea Salt Brussels Sprouts as Eammon loves Brussels Sprouts and I’m always on the search for new and delicious ways to prepare them.  Then, how cute and delicious looking are her Mini Pizzatizers and how perfect they would be for not only a party but to put in Maisie’s lunch or for a snack at gymnastics practice.   

In the end and after debating over which recipe to make I finally decided on Rhonda’s Thin Mint Irish Coffee.  It had turned cold and rainy here in Georgia and what better than a wonderful hot drink laced with booze to warm ourselves on a cold and wet night.  Plus does Eammon and that Irish face look like he’d ever say no to a good Irish Coffee?  Eammon declared the coffee gorgeous, perfect and brilliant so needless to say it was a hit, such a big hit that we’ve enjoyed a drink or two a few nights already and I’ll be making it again and again.

My cup runneth over!

Thin Mint Irish Coffee (Adapted from here)
For one drink

1/2 oz. Kahlua Mocha
1/2 oz. Crème de Menthe
1 oz. Irish Whiskey
1/2 cup strong coffee (I used Fresh Market’s Wake Me Up Before You Cocoa)
3 oz. whipping cream
1 tsp. Crème de Cacao
1 tsp. sugar
1 Thin Mint cookie, chopped for garnish plus a few for snacking
Green decorating sugar sprinkles

Mix Kahlua Mocha, Crème de Menthe, Irish Whiskey and coffee in an 8 oz. mug.  In a cold bowl whip together the whipping cream, Crème de Cacao and sugar until soft peaks form.  Top the coffee with the whipped cream and garnish with the cookie crumbs and sprinkles.

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!!

Mint Lassi

Thursday night I attended a Indian cooking class and though everything made and served was delicious (and those recipes will be coming) one real standout for the evening was the mint lassi which was served at the beginning of the class.  In the past I’ve only made and tried mango lassi which is sweet and creamy like drinking a fruit smoothie so nothing oh-too adventurous, unless you consider the addition of cardamom adventurous.  So last night when I was handed a glass of mint lassi I honestly was a bit hesitant as I didn’t quite know what to expect.  Then I thought about it, mint ~ love it and drink mint tea all.the.time, yogurt ~ eat it almost everyday, cardamom ~ nothing new there and some sugar ~ well I do have a sweet tooth.  So I knew that I liked all the individual ingredients and honestly I’ll try almost anything once, so I gave it a try and am I glad that I did because mint lassi rocks!!  I enjoyed the drink so much Thursday night that first thing the next morning I went out to the weed patch garden and picked fresh mint so that I could enjoy my new found treat again.  We weren’t given a recipe or amounts but were told that the drink can be made as minty, sweet or creamy as one desires.  But I’m thinking that no matter how it’s made, this mint lassi is refreshing and light and a perfect drink for a hot summer afternoon.

Mint Lassi

2 cups loosely packed fresh mint leaves
1 cup plain yogurt (I used fat-free)
2 cups ice cubes
seeds from 4 green cardamom pods, pods discarded
4 TBS. Whey Low Gold (brown sugar, agave or sweetener of your choice)

mint leaves for garnish

Put everything but the garnish mint leaves in a bender and process to a slushy consistency.  Pour in glasses and garnish with fresh mint leaves.  Serves 4.

Enjoy