Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Extra Herby Gremolata

Gremolata is usually made with just three main ingredients: flat-leaf parsley, fresh garlic, and lemon zest. This extra herby gremolata includes basil as well! 

Food Lust People Love: Gremolata is usually made with just three main ingredients: flat-leaf parsley, fresh garlic, and lemon zest. This extra herby gremolata includes basil as well!

I love this stuff! It adds so much pep and flavor to anything it’s added to. This small batch extra herby gremolata is perfect spooned on top of pan-fried fish and chicken breasts. Or as an accompaniment to grilled beef and lamb.

If you’ve got fresh herbs growing in your garden, feel free to add more kinds and/or different herbs altogether. I give you permission to still call it gremolata because, truly, who cares as long as it tastes great! You might recall I shared one last year made with fresh asparagus. So good! 

This time around I actually tossed this with some hot boiled new potatoes for a whole new side dish. I just checked back through my photos in case I had a photo of that but, sadly, no. Trust me, it was good. 

Extra Herby Gremolata

Any very tender stems can be left on the herbs, otherwise, use only the leaves. As mentioned above, mix and match your favorite herbs. 

Ingredients
1/2 lemon (for zest and juice)
1 clove garlic
Small bunch basil leaves, about 1/8 cup, tightly packed, or 10g
Small bunch parsley, about 1/8 cup, tightly packed, or 10g
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Few good grinds black pepper

Method
Rinse the leaves well with cool water and use a salad spinner to dry them well.


Peel, crush then mince the garlic.  


Finely mince the herbs. 


Grate the lemon zest into a small bowl. 


Add the minced garlic and herbs to the lemon zest along with the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir well. 


Set aside for about 30-45 minutes to give the flavors time to blend. If not using till much later, refrigerate until ready to use. This can easily be made a day ahead. 

Food Lust People Love: Gremolata is usually made with just three main ingredients: flat-leaf parsley, fresh garlic, and lemon zest. This extra herby gremolata includes basil as well!

Enjoy! 


Welcome to the 7th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2025, brought to you by the letter G. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the G recipes below:





Pin this Extra Herby Gremolata!

Food Lust People Love: Gremolata is usually made with just three main ingredients: flat-leaf parsley, fresh garlic, and lemon zest. This extra herby gremolata includes basil as well!

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Sunday, March 23, 2025

Easy Lamb Curry

This easy lamb curry has a rich gravy and is full of flavor. Using a store-bought curry paste instead of a long list of spices makes it so easy! 

Food Lust People Love: This easy lamb curry has a rich gravy and is full of flavor. Using a store-bought curry paste instead of a long list of spices makes it so easy!

My spice cupboard is full of all the spices I need to cook a full blown, made from scratch curry but sometimes I’m just too lazy to toast and grind them. That’s when a store-bought curry paste comes in handy. 

And in that same spirit of laziness, this post doesn’t have my typical process photos, just one of the well-seared lamb and onions! But truly, I don’t think they are necessary. This really lives up to its name, easy lamb curry.

Easy Lamb Curry

I am a fan of stock cubes so if you don’t have chicken broth or lamb stock, by all means use a cube here to make some. Depending on the saltiness of your broth or stock, you may not need any salt added at the end. 

Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon. olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 lb or 450g cubed boneless lamb
¼ cup or 60g hot or mild Indian curry paste (such as Patak's)
1 cup or 240ml chicken broth or lamb stock
1 can (14.5 oz or 411g) chopped tomatoes and juice
6 small to medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup or 120g frozen peas, thawed 235g/2
Fine sea salt, to taste

To serve: cooked rice
Optional: chutney (homemade or store-bought)
To garnish: cilantro leaves

Method
Melt the butter with the oil in a large pan and sauté the onion until it is translucent. Remove from the pan.

Add the lamb and fry till seared on all sides. Transfer to the plate and mix with the onions.


Add curry paste to the pan and stir for one minute.

Add the broth/stock and tomatoes, bring to a boil. 

Return the lamb and onion to the pan, reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. 

Add cubed potatoes and simmer, covered, until the lamb and potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. 

Stir in the thawed peas and cook until heated through, about five minutes. Taste for salt and add some if necessary. 

Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve with cooked rice and chutney on the side for those who would like a dollop.

Food Lust People Love: This easy lamb curry has a rich gravy and is full of flavor. Using a store-bought curry paste instead of a long list of spices makes it so easy!

Enjoy!

It's Sunday FunDay and I am hosting! I chose lamb as our theme/ingredient since it's spring. Check out the links below.

 
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.



Pin this Easy Lamb Curry!

Food Lust People Love: This easy lamb curry has a rich gravy and is full of flavor. Using a store-bought curry paste instead of a long list of spices makes it so easy!
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Sunday, March 16, 2025

Pan-fried Cod with Colcannon Sauce

This pan-fried cod with colcannon sauce is the perfect meal to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The creamy sauce is super rich, perfect with the tender cod.

Food Lust People Love: This pan-fried cod with colcannon sauce is the perfect meal to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The creamy sauce is super rich, perfect with the tender cod.

I came across a version of this recipe on the (formerly BBC) Good Food website while searching for Irish recipes to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. They were serving the colcannon sauce with steamed back bacon cut in thick steaks, something I cannot get here in Houston.

But that sauce immediately struck me as something that would be delightful spooned over cooked cod which is a rather bland white fish and could use a little bump in flavor. It was a great decision! 

Pan-fried Cod with Colcannon Sauce

Ideally, use the darker green outer leaves of the cabbage for color and contrast. Sadly, mine were rather pale. This is going to make more sauce than you need for the four servings of cod. Leftovers can be warmed gently over a low heat. 

Ingredients
For the colcannon sauce:
1/4 cup or 56g butter
3-4 cabbages leaves (mine weighed 4 oz or 115g whole)
2-3 green onions, plus extra for garnish
1 potato (my russet weighed 8.5 oz or 240g after peeling)
1/3 cup or 80ml white wine
1 cup or 240ml heavy cream
Fine sea salt
Ground white pepper

For the cod:
1 lb or 450g cod loin 
Fine sea salt
Ground white pepper
1 tablespoon butter

Optional for garnish:
Crispy bacon bits

Method
Cut the hard spines out of your cabbage leaves then roll them up tightly. With a sharp knife, slice them as thinly as possible. Then cut the spirals a couple of times across to shorten the strands. 


Peel and dice your potato. Slice the green onions.


Season the cod with the sea salt and white pepper and cut it into four reasonably even pieces. Set aside.


Melt half the butter in a pan and add the cabbage, potato and green onions. 


Cook over a medium low heat for 10 mins, covered, stirring often.

Pour in the white wine and cook till the white wine has all but evaporated and the potatoes start breaking down. 


You can speed this process along with a potato masher or fork. 


Add the cream and cook for just a few minutes until it is warmed through and starts to thicken. 


Season to taste with salt and pepper then remove from the heat. 


Stir the rest of the butter into the sauce and keep it warm until ready to serve.


To cook the cod, heat the butter in the pan until it just about starts browning, then put the cod in. 


Cook on one side until browned, then turn gently and cook the other side. Depending on the thickness of your cod, this could take from just a couple of minutes to as many as seven minutes. 


As you can see, one of my pieces from the end of the loin was much thinner than the others. I took it out first then left the rest until just cooked through. If you have an instant read thermometer, you are looking for an internal temperature of 145°F or 63°C.

Plate up the cod with a generous helping of colcannon sauce on top then garnish with green onions and some crispy bacon bits, if desired.

Food Lust People Love: This pan-fried cod with colcannon sauce is the perfect meal to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The creamy sauce is super rich, perfect with the tender cod.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes for your St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Many thanks to our host, Camilla of Culinary Cam. Check out the links below. 


 
We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.



Pin this Pan-fried Cod with Colcannon Sauce!

Food Lust People Love: This pan-fried cod with colcannon sauce is the perfect meal to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The creamy sauce is super rich, perfect with the tender cod.

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