A Potato Salad Recipe You Won’t Soon Forget!

While researching the eating habits of the characters of a yet to be satisfactorily outlined romance novel, I came across a food site aptly named Fine Dining Lovers. This beautifully structured site is an ode to, wait for it, fine dining! The recipes are straightforward, the anecdotes amusing, if not nostalgic and the images of the finished product are downright mouthwatering. Galleries, videos, blogs, tips and a section dedicated to cooking apps earns this site triple A’s in my book!

Many a menu on Fine Dining Lovers boast a rather intimidating list of ingredients, and it took a while to rev me up into attempting something. I’m proud to say I scaled and conquered the slippery slope of Peking Duck, but the recipe I’d like to share today, courtesy of Fine Dining Lovers, is simple, nutritious and quite filling.

Mediterranean Potato Salad with Olives and Feta

Ingredients

800g Irish potatoes

200g red tomatoes

150g Feta cheese

100g green and black olives

2 cloves of garlic

1 bunch of fresh basil

2 fresh green peppers

4 tbsp of vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Peel, wash and halve the potatoes, then boil until cooked. Set aside to cool.

Roughly chop the tomatoes and retain 6 tbsp of the oil.

Separate the basil from the stocks and dice.

Wash, halve, core and roughly dice the peppers. Peel the garlic, then chop finely.

Mix the vinegar with the tomato oil to create a dressing.

Mix the potatoes, olives, tomatoes, basil, peppers and garlic with the dressing and crumble the feta over the salad.

Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Great Bite?

Peking duck. The play of the plum sauce on the duck’s crispy skin merits no other word except divine!    

Purchase your copy of Love’s Pendulum here and here. Thanks!

Follow @RaychelLane

A Treat For All Seasons: Ice Cream Cake!

This past weekend, my siblings and I got together to celebrate my nephew’s birthday. It was a culmination of an exhausting week of debates involving decorations and a suitable guest list, never mind the fact that the birthday boy is only three… Anyway, the temperature-tapering argument that took the cake, was, well, the cake!

I strongly advocated for carrot cake, my absolute favorite, only because I’m convinced of its health benefits! Other varieties tossed into the ring were the basic fruitcake, the boring white cake, chocolate cake to please the children and a red velvet cake to add a touch of class.

To simmer tantrums, we compromised on a cake-tasting trip to our favorite bakery. For some reason, the mention of ice cream cake makes my teeth wince. All that sugar! To my, and our pleasant surprise, this delicious, melting piece of heaven immediately stole our hearts, dental health be damned. I can’t believe I waited this long to be a fan! I immediately solicited the good baker for a recipe and although he chose to withhold his secret ingredients, what he contributed continues to water my mouth. This is me, generously sharing a simple creation of the same. Try it. I definitely have no regrets!

Ingredients

A box of your favorite cake mix.

1 ltr. {1 quart or 1/2 a gallon} of your favorite ice cream flavor.

Frosting, topping or cold whip of your choice.

Directions

Follow the instructions on the cake mix box and bake the cake in a 9x13 silicone pan, separating the batter according to the number of layers you wish to have. Allow the cake to cool completely once done.

Place the first cake layer on a metal or marble tray, or any other, as long as the cake remains cool.

Use a spatula to spread the ice cream between each cake layer until you’re all out of layers.

Cover the cake with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 2 hours to set.

Remove, then paste the cake with the frosting of your choice.

Cover with plastic wrap again, then freeze for 3 hours {or more, it’s up to you} before serving.

Tips

Wrap the cake layers with foil while they cool to prevent them from drying out.

For the ice cream to be spreadable {if that’s even a word}, let it sit out for 30 minutes. If you’re impatient, microwave the tub for no more than 15 seconds.

Add crushed candy bars, nuts, cookies and even marshmallows to the ice cream before layering to enhance the yum factor!

To effortlessly cut the cake, either take it out of the freezer an hour before serving or use a heated knife.

Substitute the ice cream with sorbet or sherbet.

The role of the plastic wrap during freezing is to prevent the cake from absorbing other food scents present in the freezer.

Switch up the recipe by spreading a layer of ice cream on a pan and freezing it. Place these sheets of frozen ice cream between your cooled cake layers, sheath with topping, freeze again, then serve.

Great Bite?

Multiple glasses of water with cucumber slices to cleanse your system after indulging in the above, why else?

Purchase your copy of Love’s Pendulum here and here. Thanks!

Follow @RaychelLane