Archive for the ‘Condiments’ Category

Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette

Posted 9 Jan, 2011 in Condiments [ 3 Comments ]

I’ve been a bit lazy over the last week and I’ve been buying my lunch every day. Lucky for me, there is a cool salad bar near my work where you can make your own salad with a selection of greens, veggies, and dressing. My favorite dressing from there is the basil and olive oil dressing.

This recipe for Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette is a take on Jamie Oliver’s recipe. It’s not quite the same as the dressing from the salad bar as it contains balsamic vinegar. The balsamic vinegar gives it a nice tang while the fresh basil adds a different layer of flavor.

So in my lunch box for tomorrow is a salad made of red capsicum, grated carrots, red onion, avocado, baby spinach leaves, leftover roast beef, and of course the Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette.

To save time, I always make two salads at a time so that I don’t have to make lunch the next day. If you layer the salad in the lunch container with the meat and vegetables at the bottom and the spinach greens on the top, the salad will stay fresh for 2 days. I take the avocado and the dressing separately and add them to the salad just before eating. I also got a cheap piece of roast beef from the butcher and slow roasted it this morning in the dutch oven to use as salad meat for the week.

A little bit of planning will save me $50 this week which is what I would have spent buying my lunch.

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Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/2 clove garlic
1 cup basil
6 tbs olive oil
3 tbs balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

  1. Process all ingredients in a food processor or blender.
  2. Store in a glass jar in the fridge.

Makes 1/3 cup.

Breakfast Antipasto with Caramelized Red Onion Jam

Posted 13 Jun, 2010 in Breakfast, Condiments, Recipes [ 1 Comment ]

I had a very productive Sunday morning. I woke up, hit the gym for 30 minutes of light cardio on the bike and finished off with 10 minutes of hard out sprinting on the treadmill. I like to finish my workouts with a sprint as I get the benefit of the high from the endorphins in a short amount of time. Coming from a former gym junkie, I’m really enjoying the Primal way of working out as it means I spend less time at the gym. Brilliant.

I came back from the gym famished and wanted something other than eggs for breakfast. This Breakfast Antipasto took a little bit longer to prepare as I had to make the Caramelized Red Onion Jam. But it was definitely worth the wait.

For the bread, I used some leftovers that I had using this recipe from Elana’s Pantry. This is the best recipe that I found for a low-carb bread as it keeps well and tastes awesome. I like to halve the recipe to make a mini loaf which makes little slices of bread that I can toast and use as a substitute for crackers. It kind of reminds me of Melba toasts.

Once the onions finished cooking, I set up my Breakfast Antipasto with a small bowl of olives, slices of toasted low-carb bread, thick slices of aged smoked cheddar cheese and of course the Caramelized Red Onions. It was exactly what I felt like having for a late Sunday morning breakfast.

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Caramelized Red Onion Jam

Recipe inspired from Dish magazine

2 tbs olive oil
2 large red onions sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 tbs raw honey
2 tbs balsamic vinegar

  1. Heat olive oil in a saucepan with a lid over medium heat.
  2. Add in mustard seeds and garlic and saute until the mustard seeds are fragrant.
  3. Add in the onions, raw honey, and balsamic vinegar.
  4. Lower heat and cook with the lid on for about 30 minutes until the onions are glossy and soft.

Makes about 3/4 cup.


Garlic Butter

Posted 2 Jun, 2010 in Condiments, Recipes [ No Comments ]

The cheapest way to buy meat is in bulk. So this weekend, I went out and bought a whole rump from my local butcher. I get the butcher to slice the whole rump into steaks. I then wrap each steak up individually with plastic wrap and then stack them neatly inside my freezer. Once frozen, I can move them around depending on the amount of room available in my freezer.

Needless to say, I will be having a lot of rump steaks for dinner. My favorite way to have steak used to be with a side of ketchup. Now I like it quite plain with a bit of salt and pepper and a smidgen of garlic butter. Garlic butter is a cinch to make if you have a food processor. All you need is garlic and butter.

I like to roast my garlic whole with the skin on in the oven for about 30 minutes at about 170°C. When finished, you just have to squeeze the skin and the roasted stinking garlic slips right out. The above photo is my lunch from a few days ago when I was home sick from work.  I know it’s a bit extravagant to have steak and butter for lunch at home by myself, but it was totally worth it.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays.

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Garlic Butter

8 cloves of roasted garlic (or more if you want)
1/2 cup salted butter (softened)

  1. Mix all ingredients in a food processor and puree until softly whipped.
  2. Store inside the fridge.
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