My Beautiful Food

  

There are some meals that one can never forget- just as one never forgets the farmer’s market where one tasted fresh strawberries for the first time.. I can  still remember the colors of the ripe strawberries, feel their freshness, smell the ripeness, hear the tearing crunch with every bite, and taste the  tangy flesh

The meal which is described here is not the product of an overactive imagination but one which was cooked in actuality in my own kitchen.   Take a look at the menu!

The Entrée:

•  Strawberry and red currant sorbet with a squeeze of lemon juice.
•       Calamari served with sweet chili dip and salad garnish
•       Breaded Mushrooms served with garlic mayonnaise and salad garnish
•       Jacket Potatoes and Baguettes 
• Soup: Cream Of mushroom soup. This cream of mushroom soup hasn’t lost one jot of its butter-laden, mixed herbs kissed suavity. “Soup” is too prosaic a term for the pungent, earthy silkiness in every bowlful.  
  
  
  Main Meal
  
  
•  Spaghetti and cheese balls...the spaghetti cooked to a perfect al dente so that it is still firm yet soft when you bite into it. The sauce is a perfect blend of spices that marry so well you feel an explosion of flavors in your mouth. Topped by a  sprinkling of parmesan cheese that adds that extra little kick that makes you want to keep eating.
•  The pork tenderloin with pears and shallots I proudly concocted at my stovetop the previous evening.
• Plump shrimp, sauteed with chili flakes and served with a salad of oyster mushrooms, cucumber and corn, turned out to be everything I wanted it to be: fresh, vibrant and crunchy, with just enough spicy zing to perk everyone up.
•  Zucchini pancakes: mint and zucchini are such a lovely pair, such a springy pair of lovebirds that I substituted the one for the other with spectacular results. Piping hot, they were savory and sweet, full of yielding pockets of salty-soft feta and bright with mint and scallions, while the cool yogurt sauce balanced each mouthful. Very, very good. The flavors were richer yet lighter, too; the pancake firmer and easier to eat. Totally transcendent, really.

• Baked Stuffed Fresh Tomatoes Here's a perfectly delicious way to enjoy your biggest, juiciest, sun-kissed garden beauties as a main course; just toss a simple green salad to join them . Also scrumptious for lunch the next day, heated up in the microwave.

Dessert

• Chocolate molasses muffins These diabetic-friendly gluten-free molasses muffins satisfy your sweet cravings without the fat and sugar that gluten-free muffins typical contain. I used stevia and molasses instead of sugar and egg whites and unsweetened applesauce instead of whole eggs, to maintain flavor and texture. Topped them with saucy and silky sugar-free icing to add additional sweetness.

• Homemade ice cream with burnt toffee a la   Roald Dahl   at his grandmother's house .

• Lemon Souffle: It is a bit soft when I pull it from the oven. I love the tenderness of soft souffle, it collapses quickly but it melts in your mouth.  

Just one lingering  regret. Ah!  If only I could have served the meal in the beautiful Borosil dishes temptingly displayed  in glossy advertisements – it would have been the perfect icing on the proverbial cake.

This post is my entry for the 'Beautiful Food' contest held by Indiblogger and BOROSIL.http://www.myborosil.com/