Some late night inspiration to lip-smacking lamb cutlets with cucumber salad

I sat down for dinner at 11 the other day to a meager meal of rice and yellow lentils, and an incompleteness weighed down on me. What was it? Then with the corner of my eye I spotted the shy glass jar hidden behind the cutlery holder at the far end of the table, the jar of spicy lime pickle. As I bathed (okay that's an exaggeration) my humble dinner with its contents and took a bite, I could taste salvation. The pungency of the mustard oil came together beautifully with the acidity of the lime, and my! I'm sorry but I can't talk anymore, I'm salivating already.
There is nothing I can think of that this pickle can't transport to culinary heaven, but just for heck's sake I've landed on lamb cutlets. Served with pita bread and this amazing cucumber salad (the recipe for which I have shamelessly plagiarized from someone somewhere but nobody cares because it is so darn good), I reckon this could be one of the best entrees for an al fresco lunch.

Lime pickle lamb cutlets with cucumber pomegranate pistachio yogurt salad

Blend together (lime pickle + salt + mustard + honey) to make marinade. Rub lamb cutlets with it and grill until just blushing inside. Smash cucumbers with a rolling pin and dress in (yogurt + salt + pepper + pomegranate molasses). Scatter over (toasted pistachios + pomegranate seeds + mint). 

Adios!

Humble beginnings and mushroom spaghetti with a crunchy Asian twist

As introductory posts go, I'm about to let you know how the idea for creating this blog was conceived.
There I was sitting in front of my laptop on a Tuesday as lazy as any other, grazing over a recipe for rare beef and horseradish in choux pastry, when it struck me. Don't ask me how or why. If I couldn't actually make all the food I'd always wanted to, then wouldn't writing a blog about it ease some of the pain? And I decided. I'd launch my crazy concoctions into the world wide web, no matter how un-achievable they were for me at the moment, in the hope that it somehow would be a source of fulfillment for me.
So in case you were wondering, the underlying mantra to my (ahem, virtual) cooking is: I cook what I want to eat. Beautiful produce and world cuisine are two things I get my inspiration from. And I absolutely love contrasting tastes and textures. The first recipe I'd like to share draws heavily on each of these elements. It is more of an idea than a recipe though. Combining fresh Asian flavors with the Italian rustic breadcrumb topping seemed obvious, especially when served with some seriously slurpalicious spaghetti.

Spaghetti with Asian mushrooms and pangritata

Chop finely (garlic + ginger + cilantro stalks + red chillies + lime zest). Heat peanut oil in pan. Add aromatics, season and sauté. Add in torn (enoki + shitake) mushrooms and stir fry for a while. Cook (spaghetti ) in boiling salted water. Blitz stale ciabatta to make crumbs, add to pan. Toss until crisp. Add in pasta and season. Scatter picked cilantro leaves. Squeeze half a lime.

Until next time. :)