Simple and Delicious!

I've been super busy lately, but still wanting to cook and eat well, so I have been revisiting a lot of my tried and true quick and simple faves. Here are a few of them:

Sweet Potatoes with Lime & Cilantro

I got the idea for this from one of Alice Waters' books (Vegetables) but changed it up a bit to make it my own...

Preheat oven to 350º. Take a whole sweet potato or yam and clean it thoroughly, trimming the ends as necessary. Pat dry and then rub with a small amount of olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt. Wrap in foil and place on a coolie sheet in the oven. Bake until tender, about an hour. Split open the skin and season with lime juice, a touch of olive oil and fresh cilantro.

This is a combination you might not think to try, but it is amazing!


Fennel Salad

Quick, fresh and easy! This salad is great with grilled meat or fish for a quick, satisfying dish.

Clean and thinly slice a fennel bulb, discarding the tops, but reserving about a tablespoon of the fine fronds. Drizzle with good olive oil and the juice of a quarter to half a lemon (depending on your taste) and the reserved fronds. Season with salt and pepper and serve.


Roasted Beets

Try this while beets are still in season.

Preheat oven to 400º. Clean beets thoroughly and remove tops. Place them in a baking dish with enough water to coat the dish. Cover very tightly with foil and bake for until tender, about 1 hour or until a knife can easily pierce the beets. Uncover adn allow to cool before removing skins. Then slice and toss with champagne or white wine vinegar and allow to sit for about a half hour before serving. This allows the beets to absorb the vinegar and the flavors to intensify.

Delicious on a salad with goat cheese! I have a recipe for warm goat cheese salad from Ina Garten where goat cheese medallions are coated in bread crumbs and pan fried to perfection. I'll have to share my take on that in another post. I add duck confit and beets and it is a fantastic taste combination!