I always like fruits in savory dishes…back in Brazil during festive time like Christmas and New Year we always have turkey or ham with fruits, therefore serving savory dishes with fruits always remind me of my childhood.

Strawberries are everywhere…and they are at its freshest season. After making all kind of drinks with strawberries and eating it fresh or topped with condensed milk, I decide to make this simple and easy strawberry salsa, and served with a simple flour coated hake and scallops. It was divide…so refreshing and so summery.

Ingredients:

Strawberry Salsa

8oz fresh strawberry clean, hulled and cut in small pieces
2 tablespoons sweet onion, finely chopped
¼ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh lemon juice to taste
Jalapeno to taste, (optional, if you like it spicy, I did not add…this time)

Seafood

1 hake, filet
4 scallops, large

¼ cup all-purpose flour
Salt and pepper to taste
1 ½ tablespoon olive oil

Method:

Strawberry Salsa

Mix all the ingredients in a medium bowl and chill for 1 hour before serving.

Seafood

In a deep plate, mix the flour with fresh ground pepper and salt. Coat the fish and or scallop with the flour mix.

In a fry pan add the olive oil and pan fry the fish filet and the scallops. Make sure that you have both sides of the fish filet browned and fully cooked. Sear the scallops both side to your likeness.

Remove from the heat and top with the fresh strawberry salsa.

Serve immediately.

If you enjoyed this simple recipe of strawberry salsa you might want to check on Strawberry Frozen Yogurt or Soft Cheesecake with Strawberry Sauce.

Did you know that 1 cup of strawberries contains all the vitamin C that you need for the day? Moreover, strawberries contain a combination of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory nutrients, therefore many research support the benefit of strawberry in regards to prevention of cardiovascular disease, regulating blood sugar in type 2 diabetes and prevention of certain cancers.

Thank you for stopping by Simple Recipes [dot] Me and have a great week!

Playing with “molecular gastronomy” again…this time I used agar-agar, which is a vegetarian version of gelatin.

Apparently this can be done using gelatin if you have difficulty in finding agar-agar. I have the feeling that if gelatin is used the texture might be more chewy…something that I will try to make in the future since I love chewy texture.

I must admit that I was reluctant to use agar-agar, because the image of bacteria growing in petri dishes always come to my mind when talking about agar-agar, all this due to years and years of working in microbiology lab…I literally had to block these images from my mind when I started to make this honey caviars.

This recipe is much easier than the Spherical Yogurt, most of the ingredients are commonly found in the kitchen, with the exception of the agar-agar which can be substituted with gelatin.

These little honey caviar or pearls can be used with anything that you want to serve with honey, like cheese, yogurt, cake and the list goes on and on. Not only that they look very “cute”.

Before I go on to the recipe, I just received over the weekend the new issue of Desserts Magazine, and the current issue is available free to non-members, so if you would like to browse the magazine please check the link here…

One more thing before I share the recipe, this method is called “Gelification” and is based on a recipe featured in Cookistry.

Ingredients:

1g of agar-agar
3 tablespoons of water
6 tablespoons of honey
¾ to 1 cup of canola oil or any other unflavorful cooking oil
Water and ice

Method:

Place the vegetable oil in the refrigerator.

Mix the agar-agar with the water and place in low heat. Slowly add the honey, stirring constantly until the agar-agar is totally dissolved. It might take a while and needs boiling. You will know when there are no more particles in the liquid.

Let the agar-agar/honey mixture cool until start to thicken a little. If you leave it too long a big gel will form.

In the meantime, remove the oil from the refrigerator and place in an ice bath, so the oil is kept icy cold.

Using a dropper drawn the agar-agar/honey mixture and drip in the cold oil. As soon as the droplets of honey fall into the oil you will see little pearls forming and slowly falling to the bottom of the oil bowl. Let the caviars sit for a while in the oil so they turn firm.

Gently with a slotted spoon or small strainer scoop the caviars out of the oil and rinse in cold water to remove the oil. Drain well and the honey caviars are ready for you to add to anything you wish.

I served the honey caviars with plain yogurt…so good!

If you enjoy this “molecular recipe”, you might want to check on the Spherical Yogurt.

Did you know that gelatin is made from collagen from animal bones and skin while agar-agar is made from seaweed? Agar-agar is very popular in Asian cuisine and are sold as powder or translucent strands.

Thank you for stopping by Simple Recipes [dot] Me and have a great week!

This is a very simple and easy recipe for veggie pie inspired by a very popular recipe in Brazil, and of course if you prefer you can always add shredded chicken or any kind of meat of your preference.

I made this pie because we were going to a potluck party and the host requested a vegetarian dish, so I adapted the recipe that I made a while ago, and substituted the shredded chicken and vegetables for only vegetables. Believe me, still very tasty and everyone liked it.

One more thing, this is a great veggie pie or cake (whichever way you want to call it) is very practical to take to a potluck party because it can be served cold or room temperature…or to take to work for lunch, and can easily warmed in the microwave.

Ingredients:

Pie/Cake Batter

2 cups milk
¾ cup canola oil or any vegetable oil
3 eggs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup corn starch
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¾ tablespoon salt

Vegetable Filling

5 tomatoes, seeds removed
2 green bell peppers, sliced
1 large onion, sliced
2 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Pie/Cake Batter

Mix all the ingredients in the mixer and set aside.

Vegetable Filling

Sauteé the onion, tomatoes and bell peppers in the olive oil. Add vinegar, salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes until the vegetables are soft not overdone.

Assembly

Preheat oven at 350F

Prepare a 9x13in oven safe dish or one 9×9 and one loaf pan by covering with parchment paper.
Spread half of the batter on the prepared pan and layer the filling on the batter.

Finish by covering the vegetable filling with the other half of the batter.

Bake the pie/cake in the preheated oven for approximately 50 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, let it cool down before cutting the pie/cake.

Serve warm or cold.

If you enjoy this recipe you might want to check the one the Easy Blender Chicken Pie.

Thank you for stopping by Simple Recipes [dot] Me and have a great week!