Tuesday 28 September 2010

September 2007 - Mixed Pea, Mint & Feta Salad

When I posted last I was sure that I would have no problem getting through all the posts for this month with ease and wouldn't, again, be doing my last post at the last minute. Then after a weekend of not feeling well here I am still with several issues to go and doing a new post late before heading off to bed so that I get through all of them. 

Issue # 64 was a relatively clean slate for me as it was one of the issues that I discovered I was missing when packing to move. I managed to obtain this issue on Ebay. The first two that I was missing popped up quickly but this one eluded me for several months. Clearly, I ended up getting it, thankfully these magazines are not big ticket items. LOL 

The Feta, tomato & broad bean tarts on the front cover look really good, lovely spring fare. However, this really needed fresh broad beans. I have grown them in the past but I didn't have a garden this winter so no fresh broad beans for me and I have never seen them in the green grocers or supermarket. I just didn't think that the frozen ones would taste as nice. 

I also considered making Ramy Megalaa's Dukkah-coated baked barramundi. It looked really nice and very easy. However nice barra is hard to come by here and I never seem to get the timing right so that I get to the fish truck while it is here on Thursdays. I am sure that you could use some other fish. Some time when I get a chance I will make it. Although I seem to say that about a lot of fish dishes. They all look so good, and I usually enjoy the ones that I make but I am hesitant to make fish meals regularly. 

I had planned on making Rick Stein's Imam Bayildi (eggplants stuffed with fried onions, tomato, chilli and parsley). I have made Imam Bayildi before, although not Rick's recipe. I used this one from Give Recipe. It is a super recipe and I just love the flavours. Rick's recipe has more onion, more garlic, chilli - fresh and powder, as well as harissa and lemon juice. I really wanted to try his version however I couldn't find any nice eggplants to make this at the time. I bought a nice one a couple of days ago so am planning to make this on Wednesday. Too late for this post though. 

Ultimately my decision was made when I was looking for something to serve with sumac & pomegranate molasses rack of lamb. I marinaded a rack of lamb in garlic olive oil and rubbed with sumac and poured over a couple of tablespoons of pomegranate molasses. I then roasted it in the oven for about 30 minutes. It was very nice. I served it with some herbed couscous and Valli Little's Mixed pea, mint & feta salad. It was the perfect match for the lamb and the couscous. I even spent an outrageous sum of money on the marinated Persian feta in the recipe. It was worth every cent, it was so good and I will definitely purchase again when needed. I only used about half of the mint called for as I thought that it would overpower the dish and I think that it would have but I guess that it is a personal thing. I think that next time I would add some parsley and/or basil as well. This is a really easy and delicious side dish. 

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