Lime Pickle Pursuits, Volume #1

We have too many limes... I never thought I'd live anywhere where we had too many limes.  And so what to do with too many limes.  In keeping with the current preoccupation in our household for Indian food, I have opted for lime pickles.  I am currently trialling two versions... one from the wonderful Kurma Dasa and the other I located on line.  Not sure why I chose this one, (Amazing Lime Pickle) might have been the large quantities of garlic and the images.

For the "Amazing Lime Pickle" recipe you slice your limes into 8 pieces, then put them with obscene quantities of chilli, garlic and salt.  Steam them for 15 minutes and then place them out in the sun for 2 days.
It fills my heart with joy when recipes ask for this... there's not much we have in abundance in Central Australia, but sunshine is one.

  At the moment, I've done 1.5 days.

Traditional Guacomole

Derived from the Latin American Timelife cookbook you can't go past this traditional guacomole recipe:

Ingredients

2 ripe avocado

1 lime

1 bunch coriander 

1 ripe tomato, skinned, seeded and chopped

1/2 Spanish onion

Chilli (optional)

Salt & Pepper

Beans and Cornbread, a family favourite.

I am now responsible for putting dinner on the table 4 nights a week (and working full-time), so I am becoming less of a purist in the home kitchen - given up home-made phyllo - but still trying to avoid cliched meals like tacos... So with avocado and limes in season, the family favourite is cornbread, traditional guacomole, Moosewood beans and creme fraiche.

Day #1 - Luang Prabang

I meandered the streets of Luang Prabang on my first day in Laos, eating when I felt hungry, eating what I felt like and defying my local GP by even eating street food.

The highlight was these pork sausages, below, which I had seen on Luke Nguyen's Might Mekong.  And they lived up to expectation.  

T

Luang Prabang, Day #1

My Sourdough Bread - A Neverending Story

For the past 12 months I have been perfecting my sourdough.... and I feel I have finally achieved a significant milestone with my family preferring my sourdough bread to anything they can buy... limited milestone considering the paltry choice we have in Alice Springs.

The photo above is of a wonderful potato bread, which is much more moist than the usual sourdough and has a grated potato through it... I add more potato than the recipe calls for..

I have learnt a lot from two books: the Bourke Street Bakery

Brown RIce & Salmon Salad

 

This is an old favourite, and one my Mum would make in the 1970's, great for summer and next time I'll try and take a more arty looking photo.  I have no idea where the original recipe came from or if perhaps, my Mum made it up... perhaps!  The original used tinned salmon, which I have replaced with fresh and the rest of the ingredients I have always guessed and it turns out fab.

Salad 

Ingredients

 A quantity of cooked, cooled brown rice.

1 piece of fresh salmon, steamed and cooled to room temperature, then flaked. (Can be replaced with red tinned salmon, but you'll need to take out any bones or skin and discard the water)

1 red capsicum, seeded and diced.

1 green capsicum, seeded and diced

1 tin of sweet corn, drained

4 shallots/spring onions, finely sliked

1/3 cup of almonds, cut lengthwise into quarters and roasted

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt & pepper

Method

Place all ingredients together in glass mixing bowl and lightly toss with your hands.

Serving Sauce/Dressing 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Greek yogurt or creme fraiche or sour cream

1-2 tablespoon bought mayonnaise

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

squeeze lemon juice

worcesthershire sauce

salt and pepper

Method

Mix all ingredients and adjust additional quantities to your taste.

To serve..

Serve the salad separately to the sauce, but add sauce to eat.  I have often thought that a fun way to serve this would be to create a ring mould of the salad and put the sauce in the middle.  Stay tuned, because I might just to that night time..