Good Friday dinner: mackerel

As Husband is a semi-practising Catholic, even though he's not a fish fan, I remembered to pick up some mackerel and sea bass this week in anticipation of dinner on Good Friday. 

Rib eye steak

A few friends and colleagues have raved about the quality of fresh produce at Aldi and Lidl. While I don't usually shop there, mainly because they don't ever seem to stock most of my regular grocery items, I did pop in Aldi on my way back from the Beacon Hospital last. The Aldi out in Rockbrook is very neatly laid out and well stock. I had a look at their fresh meat section and was pleasantly surprised to find some quality cuts. I picked up a couple of Angus rib eye steaks (which I had never bought or cooked before) and Wicklow lamb rump steaks along with a few other items.

Grilled lamb loin chop

I had some celeriac left over from making the soup a week ago, so I chopped it into rough-shaped chunks, boiled it, and using a hand blender and mixing in some rosemary-infused extra virgin olive oil, made it into a purée.

Leek, celeriac & potato soup

Celeriac seems to be very 'in' with the contestants on MasterChef: The Professionals have  been using it left and right for the last two seasons. The stumpy vegetable has never appealed to me in the produce aisle, but last week, I decided to get one.

Green Earl Grey chocolate truffle cake

A good friend gave me a jar of fancy chocolate truffle sauce. I didn't really know what to do with it until I spotted the can of Fortnum & Mason Green Earl Grey tea leaves sitting in the press. The same friend also gave me an electric mixer a while ago after finding out that I'd been sticking to loaf cakes because I had to do everything by hand. So I decided to try my hands at making something other than a loaf. This green Earl Grey chocolate truffle cake is what I came up with. As per usual, the recipe is adapted from one using wheat flour, and I swapped regular Earl Grey (black tea) with Earl Grey Green (green tea).

Stir-fried beef mince in lettuce cups

As I'm trying to steer away from wheat and hence no more pasta, I had to come up with a new way of using my weekly mince, with which I used to make spaghetti bolognese. I came up with this light and tasty stir-fry dish.

Gingerbread loaf

Ginger is a versatile spice, wonderful in marinades, tea, and cakes. One of my favourite ways of using ginger is simply boiling thin slices of it in water and drink it with a squeeze of lemon and a drop of honey. I'm also partial to gingersnaps and gingerbread.

Banana pecan bread

I've been contemplating eliminating wheat from my diet for some time. For the past two years, I've been using wholegrain spelt flour mostly to make cakes, breads, sauce, etc. But then I learned from Dr William Davis, author of the (in)famous 'Wheat Belly' that spelt is still a form of wheat, and while not as harmful as modern wheat, it isn't necessarily good either. This hastened my resolve to seek better alternatives, such as almond meal and coconut flour. However, the former is rather dear and the latter difficult to find.

Soy-ginger salmon with spiced sweet potato mash

Tired of the usual pan-fried salmon with dill, parsley, or lemon butter, I went Asian this time with a ginger and soy sauce marinade.