Food in Florence

Lunch With Jackson

Photos from my lunch with Jackson at our favourite Italian restaurant in Germany! Once again I can't remember the name - we plan on going again tomorrow so I'll try and remember to grab a card. Delicious as always, today we split a beet and rocket salad to start, then Jackson had their salmon lasagna and I had the gnocchi - mm mmm mmm! For dessert we shared the panna cotta which came with a black licorice syrup, mint leaves and blue berries along with two espressos - just perfect!

Que Pasa?

Oh Em Gee this veggie quesadilla with onion-cranberry salsa looks SO good I'm literally drooling at my desk. Can someone please whip this up for me now and deliver in time for my late afternoon snack? I'll love you forever...

Here's the recipe:

quesadillas with onion-cranberry salsa

Yield: 6 servings

Total Time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

Onion-Cranberry Salsa
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1 Tbs. sugar
3 Tbs. fresh lime juice (1 lime)
2 Tbs. orange juice
1 to 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar
1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
2 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 cup canned whole berry cranberry sauce

1 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 medium green bell pepper, cut into long strips
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup peeled winter squash (cut in 3/4-inch cubes), such as acorn or kabocha
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
4 flour tortillas
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Make salsa: In medium bowl, mix onion, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let stand 15 minutes. Add remaining salsa ingredients and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until using.

In medium skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add bell pepper, corn, squash and salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until squash is almost tender, about 7 minutes. Stir in cumin and chili powder. Cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

To assemble quesadillas, lightly coat large skillet with cooking spray. Place 1 tortilla in pan and heat about 30 seconds each side. Spread about one-third warm vegetable mixture over half the tortilla. Sprinkle with some cheese. Fold tortilla in half to enclose filling. Cook quesadilla until cheese is melted, about 1 minute each side. Slide quesadilla onto cutting board and cut into wedges. Repeat process to make remaining quesadillas. Serve with salsa on the side.

Recipe and image via Love & Olive Oil.

Sunday Snacks

Crabcakes and rocket salad with figs is a perfect Sunday afternoon snack.

This is quite a complicated recipe... put two store-bought crabcakes into the oven for 20 minutes, then serve with a side of salad and fresh figs! Easy, quick and delicious - not so complicated afterall.

Salad Nicoise in 1,2,3...

1. Add ingredients to salad bowl

2. Mix! Mix! Mix!

3.

Yum!!