Melon Feta Cheese Tarts, a touching experience and Awards!!

I know this sounds weird but trust me on this, melon with feta cheese is one of the most delicious combinations i have ever tasted! Last weekend I had a dinner invitation by one of my very close colleague, she lives in germany and i have known her from past 3 yrs Over the period of time we became good friends and a day hasnt passed without speaking to her! This was the first time I visited her place and it was really touching experience. As I am a veggie with exception of eggs in bakes, they had prepared the whole meal completely vegetarian just for me! I was so touched! An electronic Raclette Grill or Raclette Maker was placed in the middle of the dinner table with a huge bowl of mini boiled potatoes on top of it. A variety of fresh and pickled veggies, pulses and fruits were spread across the table like sweet corns, zucchini, radish, baby corns, chickpeas, melon, bell peppers, cucumbers etc. Traditionally raclette cheese is melted over fire and is accompanied by boiled mashed potatoes. Meal is incomplete without a wine, we had Red wine, this is the first time I have had wine more than a tsp, though I am not fond of the taste but suprisingly it went very well with hot melted cheese! I think it just takes sometime for the our taste palletes to get adjusted to the taste of wine! After dinner we went for a walk, my colleague lives near Stein, its a small town near Lorrach. A beautiful and calm place with lots of greenery around. I saw many different types of flowers and fruit trees like cherries, figs, chestnuts etc. Can you imagine living in a place where you can pluck fresh fruits right from the trees? a place where every step you take you get the scents of roses and lavendars! This was like my dream town, small, serene and beautiful! After the long walk, tea and croissants were waiting for us! I loved the croissants filled with red currants and cherry jam and guess what they were eggless!! You definately cannot make out the difference, i couldnt resist my self and immediately requested for the recipe. As soon as i get it i am making them and posting it! I made these mini tartlets with musk melon, spring onions and crumbled feta cheese. Hot cheese with sweet melon tasted out of this world. I have used ready made puff pastry sheet and cut round circles using a glass, and baked them in muffin pans. You can also make these using tart pans. These mini tarts are off to BSI:Feta currently being hosted by Zoe.

Its been raining awards for me!! Ivy from Kopiaste..to Greek hospitality, Jyoti from Food Seasons, Chaklere from Chak Le Re and Vidya from Humming in the kitchen have passed "One Lovely Blog Award" to me, i really wish to thank you all for support and encouragement ! I love your blogs too! Passing this award to 5 or 10 or even 20 is not enough for me, so i would love to pass this on to all my blog pals! Keep rocking gals!

Ingredients: 1 pastry puff sheet thawed 100 gms feta cheese crumbled 2 spring onions finely chopped 1 cup musk melon finely chopped Pepper to taste Procedure:

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
• Grease muffin pans lightly, i used olive oil for greasing.
• Using a glass or cutter, cut round pieces from the pastry sheet and place them in the muffin pan, making small cups.
• Add in musk melons and spring onions. Top it up with crumbled feta cheese.
• Add some freshly grounded pepper and bake these for 30 to 35 mins until the pastry puffs are lightly browned.
• Serve them hot!

Broccoli Pulav

Last few days have been crazy, tight schedules, meetings and loads of work had kept me busy and away from blogging. This will go on for a while but i'll try and post few recipes weekly. Few days back I made this amazingly easy and delicious broccoli pulav. I wasnt familiar with Broccoli until few years back. For a common man in india broccoli is hardly used in their daily diets, even in a city like Bombay broccoli's are considered to be rich man's food as they are very expensive, although this scenario has changed over a period of time. As we all know broccoli is member of cabbage family and closely related to cauliflower. It was originated in Italy, "Broccolo" its italian name means "cabbage sprout". Did you know Broccoli fights against various cancers like ovarian cancer, blaader cancer and when teamed up with tomatoes it helps to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. It also helps to detoxification of body cells, helps in sun damaged skin and also makes bones stronger. You can find the detailed health benefits here. Broccoli by itself does not taste that good, personally i like my broccoli with spices. The recipe below serves two and I would suggest to use fresh broccoli florets.

Ingredients:

I big broccoli , chopped into small florets

1 cup rice washed and soaked for 30 mins

1 bunch of spring onions finely chopped

2 green chillies slit

1 tsp ghee

1 bay leaf

3 cardamon (elaichi) roughy crushed

1 small cinnamon stick

4-5 whole peppercorns

1/2 tsp pulav or biryani masala

1/2 tsp lime juice

1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

Salt to taste

2 cups warm water

Procedure:

• Heat a tsp of ghee in a vessel, add in chillies, peppercorns, cinnamon,bay leaf and cardamon seeds. Saute for few seconds.
• Now add in the chopped spring onions (keep little aside for garnishing) and broccoli florets and saute for few mins.
• Season with salt, sugar, pulav or biryani masala and mix well.
• Add in the soaked rice and water, cover and cook for 15 to 20 mins until rice is cooked.
• Drizzle some lime juice and garnish with spring onions.
• Serve hot with plain curd or any raita.

Moroccan Sesame Roasted Potatoes

I have been planning to try moroccan cuisine from the very day Lavi announced but for some or the other reasons i couldnt until last night. I had bookmarked many recipes from RecipeZaar where i found so many interesting morocaan dishes. Finally yesterday night I made these roasted potatoes in moroccan style. Who doesnt like potatoes? I adore them, I love having them roasted, baked, boiled or deep fried. Though i dont prefer them in my curries and gravies. I prefer potatoes mildy spiced with fresh herbs and sometimes with a dash of creamy white sauce!

The recipe I used is adapted from here, i have made few changes to suit my taste. Its simple and easy to make and tastes heavenly, if you are a potatoe lover, do try this, you will be amazed how simple spices can make you drool! I couldnt keep my hands off these at all, i digged in as soon as they came out of the oven.The combination of sesame and harissa paste gave wonderful aroma which filled my kitchen making my head spin!

These are off to Lavi's IAVW-Moroccan event started by Vaishali of HolyCow, sorry for the last minute entry dear! I am also sending these to Think Spice : Sesame guest hosted by Padmajha, mastermind of Sunita and finally to BSI:Potatoes which is currently being hosted at Chez What? Ingredients: 4 Big Potatoes chopped in big pieces 1 tbsp sesame seeds 1 tbsp harissa paste 1 tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp pepper powder or crushed peppers Salt to taste 1 tsp fresh lime juice Note: For Harissa paste i just followed Lavi's recipe which you can find here. Procedure:

• Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl except lime juice.
• Keep aside for 10 mins.
• Line the baking tray with foil paper, grease the foil using little olive oil.
• Spread the potatoes and bake them for 25 to 30 mins at 200 degree C.
• Turn the potatoes around and again bake them for 15 mins until lightly browned.
• Enjoy them hot along with any dip of your choice.