Chicken Livers Lebanese Style

This recipe comes from Dana who in turn got it from Sarah_nc, and it is a tasty, beautiful one. It necessitates:

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 1 small red onion (which I replaced with yellow, it was too hot to go shopping just for an onion), cut in quarters

- 1/2 lb chicken livers, cleaned

- 1/4 tsp allspice

- salt and pepper to taste

- juice from 1/2 lemon

- 3 cloves garlic, grated

- pinch of hot pepper (I replaced with hot paprika)

Leek and Tomatoes Rice Pilaf

Yes, I am finally back home and I missed all of you! I am sorry it took me so long to get back, but you know what is like to be on vacation and to take advantage of lazy days. But now that's all behind me and I'm back on track, including with some cooking (in spite of the scorching hot days). Now, precisely because of this heat wave, I have for you a very easy and fast recipe that tastes absolutely great - my daughter made sure we had leftovers for dinner, because, she said, it tasted so good! So, this is what we need for 4 servings:

- 2 lb leeks

- 1 cup rice

- 1 cup tomato puree

- 1 stick butter (can be replaced with olive oil)

- salt and pepper to taste

- 1 bunch parsley or dill (or a combination of both, depending on your taste, I used parsley)

Vacation!!!

My dear readers, I'm finally away on vacation and I promise I'll try to come back with some new recipes. Until then, I wish you all a great summer, not too hot... See you in two weeks or so!

Rosemary Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Strawberry-Prosecco Risotto

Tenderloin:

Rub the tenderloin with oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Cover with plastic wrap and let it marinate for an hour or two in the refrigerator.

Peach, Pecans and Cinnamon Cake

My daughter and I were invited to a barbeque upstate today, at one of my colleagues' country house. I knew it was an approximately 3 hours drive to get there, so I needed a cake that would travel well under any weather conditions. I decided to make this one:

This cake can be made with fresh ripe peaches or pears.

Lemon Meringue Pie

After I had sworn to myself that I won't set foot in the kitchen today, I received an e-mail from the class moms, a reminder to bring food for tomorrow morning's end of Junior schoolyear party in my daughter's classroom. So, with a heavy heart (because of the heat), I had to turn the oven on :)) and make some lemon meringue pie. Now, this is the first and the last time I'm ever going to use store-bought crust pie; I wanted a shortcut and it fell short, meaning that the crust cracked in several places and was not rolled out uniformly. No problem, lesson learned!!

 

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 4 egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 (9-inch) pre-baked pie shell 

Sole Almondine

This idea comes from Food Glorious Food, I've only twisted it a bit, maybe also because I had some more time to make dinner than she did.

For the fish:

• 1 cup blanched sliced almonds
• Kosher salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 cleaned sole fillets (6 ounces each)

for the sauce:

• 1 small shallot, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper