Recipe secrets Revealed

As promised, here are the Easter recipes we had this year. Great stuff to serve year round. Enjoy! (fyi, we also served duck with stuffing and cooked ham for the meat lovers in our family)

Herring po’Japonsku

this is a vegetable salad covered with hard boiled egg and wrapped with herring

This is a classic Polish dish to serve for Easter breakfast in our family, (it’s a good use for all those hard boiled eggs, lol.)

Salad: Sałatka Jarzynowa
4 large potatoes, boiled with their skin on and then peeled
2 red onions
6 eggs, hard boiled
3 large carrots, boiled
250 gram green peas, boiled or from can
200 gram dill cucumbers
350 ml mayonnaise
salt & pepper
paprika for seasoning on top

Dice potatoes, eggs, carrots and cucumbers. Finely dice the onions. Combine the diced ingredients in a bowl and add peas. Add mayonnaise and combine everything. Salt and pepper to taste.  Cover with cling film and keep in the fridge. May be prepared one day in advance for a better taste. The vegetable salad is first shaped to make domes on a large plate, 1/2 a hard boiled egg goes on top and all this is wrapped with a vinegar or oil herring, season with paprika on top.

Spring Salad



naturally sweet with mandarines and pumpkin seeds

bunch of spinach
1/2 radicchio
red onion, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, diced
can of mandarines
dried cranberries
pumpkin seeds
Dressing: Juice from the mandarines, olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette, sea salt & pepper. Toss and sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top.

Salmon on a bed of Spinach



great summer dish also as it's served cold

This is a simple and quick recipe that will IMPRESS.

spinach
1 onion thinly diced

large, fresh salmon fillet
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
fresh dill

On a large skillet, saute the onions until golden, add spinach and cover, turn off heat. Season with salt & pepper, let this stand for about 10 min covered. Rinsed and completely dried salmon season and toss on the fresh dill. Bake at 350C for about 15 min. To serve, lay the salmon on a large serving platter, place the spinach all around the fish, dress with lemons, and keep covered in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Baked Potatoes in Pastry Wrap



The best potatoes ever!

This is another easy and IMPRESSIVE dish that will have everyone going for seconds for these delicious potatoes.

12 potatoes (yukon gold), cooked with salt
butter
sea salt & pepper to taste
puff pastry, purchased frozen

Roll out the pastry, scoop the potatoes into the centre, fold around the pastry on the top, flip upside down. Bake at 325C for 15 min – or until golden.

Quinoa & Vegetable Casserole



great and easy Vegan recipe

This was a recipe that I prepared because I wanted a vegetarian/ vegan dish on the table. Oh by the way we all made something – my mom and sisters all split the workload.

1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup rice (unprocessed white)

1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 small eggplant
2 red peppers
vegetable oil for cooking
okra, I used 1 bag of frozen
fenugreek, I used 1/2 bag of frozen
oregano
sea salt & pepper

Cook the quinoa and rice in a large pot with a little sea salt. Check for cooking instructions of your rice to time it that they cook together. Drain or for stickier consistency, use less water and cover and continue cooking on low heat. In a large skillet, saute the onions, add the eggplant and red peppers. Cook for 5 minutes, add the frozen okra and fenugreek, season and cover to cook on low/medium heat. To compile the casserolle: layer the vegetables, top with quinoa and rice, sprinkle with bread crumbs. Cook for 15 min. If top is not brown on top, turn on the broiler for 5 minutes so you get a nice golden top.