Food for thought: Cooking at Paula's: Indian food, TJ's and fresh apricots

Dear friends in the blogosphere,

I'm so sorry for the long silence. A lot, namely summer, has been going on. A few weeks ago, one would have found me cooking at lovely Paula's. It was fun, especially when using the literally hundreds of apricots from the trees in the yard.

Menu 1:

Island Salad with Chicken

chicken breast, 1/2 pound
curry paste, 2 tablespoons
buttermilk or yogurt, 1/2 cup
sea salt, to taste

any of the following ingredients:
sliced mango--frozen mango, thawed, works great
fresh green beans, boiled
frozen green peas, thawed
red, orange and/or yellow bell pepper
fresh spinach, washed and patted dry
packaged salad greens
red onion
apricot dressing


A young light red wine

Why not try mango lassi?

This has got to be the easiest mango lassi ever!

I use mango juice concentrate in the latino section of the international aisle. It's about $2.50 and is delicious with sugar, lime, fresh mint or mint tea bag and water (but I digress).

OK, so, use 1/4 bottle of mango concentrate ( maybe 4 ounces?)
4 large teaspoons honey thinned out with 4 teaspoons warm water
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
ice cubes to fill up the glass
ground cardamom, optional, sprinkled on top

Menu 2:
Bleu-cheesed kafta with tomatoes and flatbread
Kafta is like a well-spiced, fancy shaped Middle Eastern meatball
1 pound Lean ground beef (90+%)
fresh chopped parsley (a small handful)
1 egg
2 oz. bleu cheese
ground sea salt, to taste
ground black pepper, to taste
minced fresh garlic, 2 cloves

base
1/2 cup oats
1 cup flour
1/4 cup brown or organic sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cups walnuts

filling
1 package cream cheese
6 oz. sour cream
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
handful dried cranberries
1 egg
1/4 cup packed brown sugar or 1/3 cup organic sugar

Menu 3

Starters:
guacamole
apricot salsa
good chips
Cuban-style black beans

Main meal:
grilled chicken

curry
butter-browned basmati rice

apricot chutney

cooling tomato raita
sour cream

India Pale Ale

Frozen Peach Margaritas
1/3 container frozen limeade
1/3 bag (5 oz.) frozen peaches
6 oz. tequila
2 1/2 cups ice
1 cup fruit juice

apricot-mango sorbet
1 pound fresh apricots, pitted and quartered
8 oz frozen mango chunks
1/2 cup honey, thinned out with 1/4 cup water
Puree in a food processor. Let freeze overnight or 6 hours. Thaw a little, if necessary, then process again.


Mini menus:
stone salad

Not really stones so much as stone fruits--Apricots and avocados

5 apricots
1 avocado
washed salad greens
1/8 red onion, 1/2 shallot or 1 spring onion
gorgonzola
walnuts

homemade dressing:
apricot preserves
red wine vinegar
fresh ground black pepper
Bragg's Amino Acids or tamari or soy sauce to taste
dash good extra virgin olive oil--more if not using avocado