11 June 2009

Mediterranean Dinner

En français ici.
I know I've been a bit MIA. I've been overly tired lately and having trouble getting my work done, so I've had little time for blogging. My doctor thinks it's vitamin deficiency and has me stocking up, so hopefully that will help. In the meantime, if you'll forgive my terse entry, I thought I could regale you with a few pictures of the Mediterranean themed meal D. and I made for some friends last weekend.

We started with a simple but delicious cucumber salad. It was inspired by this recipe on the blog mes petites recettes faciles. (My recipe is below.)


The main dish was a tomato and lamb dish. The lamb was slow-cooked in the oven in water, olive oil and the juice of the fresh tomatoes. Towards the end of the cooking, I added rice directly to the casserole and it cooked, soaking up the juices. It certainly made for flavorful rice, but the dish as a whole seemed to be lacking something. The meat was tender, but the overall taste was a bit bland.


D. made the dessert: a ricotta cheese and honey tart, which was light and delicious, and I'll be asking for it again ASAP! Plus, look at it. It looks like a sunset. How can you resist?

Cucumber Salad with Feta and Pine Nuts

1 large cucumber
1 cup feta, cubed (I used marinated feta which comes in cubes)
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped
2 Tbsp Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp olive oil

Peel and seed the cucumber and cut into bite-sized chunks. In a large salad bowl, mix in the rest of the ingredients and adjust seasoning to taste. I divided it into individual portions and let sit a couple hours in the fridge for the flavors to blend. Serve garnished with mint leaves.

5 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

A wonderful dinner! I love Mediterranean food...

Cheers,

Rosa

Cicero Sings said...

Looks good. That tart did look quite yummy.

I do hope you get your system straightened around so that you are popping with energy real soon!

You know, I started taking kelp (1000 mg) a day and it perked me up some ... kind of boosts the thyroid.

Katie said...

recipe for yummy looking cake, please????

(unless i'm just missing it)

Hopie said...

Rosa - Me too! It has some of my favorite flavors :-)

Cicero - Thanks for your encouragement and good advice!

Katie - You're not missing anything, but since it's D's, I'll have to ask permission to post it :-)

Sam said...

I really like the little pots you served your salad in, are they Le Creuset?

I'd love the tart recipe too, if you can get it!