As I have stated many times before, one of my favorite things to do is sit on nice, sunny terrasses, sharing a few glasses of wine on a sunny afternoon along with some seafood, in good company. Mexico city has plenty of these kind of places, and the weather is usually mild and sunny and all around perfect for it. But this year we had about two weeks of this… the rest has been intermittently rainy (and don’t get me wrong, I do love rainy weather, but nothing spoils a good carpaccio like having it flooded) and sparingly cold. So those sunny afternoons have been quite scarce… and so has been the time spent in the kitchen making ceviche or salads. But nevertheless, I’ll share with you this delicious recipe; an octopus and green tomato carpaccio, with a delicious avocado and spearmint purée. If you can’t have it outside, with a glass of rosé (as would be ideal) it’s still delicious, fresh, and light. A perfect hors d’oeuvre, or a good entrée. It’s an original dish, and the purple and green ingredients look striking together. And the best part, it takes about 15 minutes to have it ready! And you can keep it in the fridge if you make it ahead of time. Tempted? Read more for the recipe! Continue reading
Tag Archives: light
Going green – Creamy lettuce and basil soup
About a monday a month my mother decides she’s going to have a lifestyle change and become green and healthy, so she buys about 5 heads of lettuce, a case of eggs, yogurt, and nothing else. She then proceeds to eat the yogurt and stash the lettuce in the bottom most drawer of the fridge, along with her lifestyle change, which typically results in 4 1/2 heads of lettuce rotting and going to waste. Enter me, with a fresh bunch of basil, to reuse, reuse and recyle. Or actually, just use. (unless you count the extra space in the fridge as reducing) And by use I mean turning those green crunchy leaves into a delicious, light, creamy, peppery lettuce soup. The kind of soup that goes great before any meal and in any weather. And also the kind of soup you can make in about 15 minutes, and repeat the recipe with any kind of lettuce you have leftover, or even add spinach, or broccoli leaves, or kale, or any other green leafy stuff you have lying around which is nearing its expiration date. Because it’s green, easy and delicious! So if you also find yourself with tons of leaves in your fridge, why don’t you go and read more for the recipe?
Get your s!*#t together – Spearmint and cucumber ceviche
Here in my end of the world we had a practically nonexistent winter. Which means its february and its already a hundred million degrees outside. And that, in my opinion is weatherchannel code for wearing silky dresses, sitting on sunny terraces eating carpaccio and having rosé. Sounds heavenly, I know. And that is what I try to do with my time…when I’m not having emotional meltdowns/family fights/random bursts of craziness. Which is what happens post holidays in my world. (And yes, february is still post-holidays) But since the weather permits it, I can pull my old trick of making ceviche right and left, because as I once told you over here, there is nothing as therapeutic, calming, relaxing, forget-everything-else-ing, as grabbing your sharpest knives and just spending 20 minutes dicing away. There’s something about the clean cuts, the even tiny cubes, and the simplicity of ceviche that just makes everything feel in order, in its proper place, balanced out with all the flavors in the mix. And that is how I like my head to feel. So even though I missed winter, I’m glad I have an excuse to make so much of this summery, light, brilliant dish. On to the recipe? Read more. Continue reading
Très Français – French green bean salad with Boursin cheese
I know that I shouldn’t even dare show my face around here after having disappeared for so long… almost two months! But since my holidays post-christmas have been so utterly quiet I finally have the time to be back in the kitchen, cooking, taking pictures and posting. So to ease back into the petitedecadence-ing, I’ll start with a very simple recipe….but an incredibly delicious one! It’s also very french, since its main ingredient are french beans… also known as haricots vertes. (Actually, I have no idea why french beans are called so, I’ll have to look that up.) But I also used garlic and herbs (the classic) boursin. If you don’t know boursin cheese, or don’t have it available around you, you could use any other kind of gournay cheese, or you can make something similar right at home by simply adding finely minced garlic and a variety of fresh herbs to your favorite cream cheese, or even better, homemade cream cheese.
This salad is seriously easy to make and will go well with pretty much anything, from fish to meat to a main dish all by itself, if you’re feeling like a light meal. Serve it with a couple warm slices of rustic bread and a dry white wine, and you’ve got yourself a delicious entrée.
Read more for the recipe. Continue reading
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