New flavor combos

I forgot to mention that last year I was served a curry cheesecake that is STILL fresh in my memory. It started me on a quest to play w/ savory flavors in some desserts.

It never occurred to me before but i have found that the flavors of curry and sharp cheddar or gruyere- work well together. In my recipe for Curry Hand Pies, I added grated cheddar on top of the curried lentil filling. You can't really discern the cheddar but it adds a dimension and texture that i really like. In another dish, i make a hot open face sandwich with seeded rye bread or pumpernickel, on which sits a base of sliced raw marinated mushrooms and these are topped by a thick curry sauce and grated gruyere. It goes under the broiler til melty and bubbly. Amazing.

Another very surprising dish is a taco filling made with peanut butter, tomato paste, cumin.... Maybe they use that combo in some African stews but, really, would you ever think that peanuts and tomato paste would be delicious together?!(It's from a 70's cookbook called Recipes for a Small Planet.)

Blue cheese with walnuts & honey.......

PazzoNico, I did mean it as a joke! So glad you took it that way! :-) By the way, would love to make the pear, cuke and jalapeno coulis w black sesame seeds. What measurements or process would you recommend? Thanks.

Pegeen: Hey! lmao. point taken..;)

I made a chopped salad of apples, carrots, peppers, raisins with a mayo, lemon juice, agave and like cumin, s n p, paprika and hot pepper flake vinaigrette and THEN i put fennel seeds in it. And you know what it was unexpected but a really nice addition :D

'Sattu! Scordare le regule!

Had some leftover cauliflower cores and stems from work, so I made tortellini filling.
Roasted them off with some carraway, star anise and cumin, a shallot and a head of garlic. Once they caramelized and softened, I processed them with a touch of cream and bound them with breadcrumbs, pecorino, and a couple yolks. Made a carraway infused dough to make the tortellini. Served them with a brown butter lemon sauce. Pretty good stuff. Very different.

Also, I recently made a pear, cucumber and jalapeno coulis (finished with a bunch of toasted black sesame seeds). Very refreshing with just a bit of background heat and some texture from the sesame seeds. Visually, it looked pretty cool, too.

I made quinoa for breakfast one morning with blueberries, curry, cottage cheese, coconut milk and pecans turned out great.

I love listening to people who are way smarter than me on these things. Recently I tasted a salame di capra (locally made) which is made with goat but with pork fat added as goat is particularly lean. In the curing process they use a chard extract from France rather than nitrites.

I made a sweet corn polenta with preserved lemon peel in it and it was awesome.

If you like spicy add Tobasco sauce to hummus. Very tasty!

Well, it might sound strange to most, but it's actually a pretty classic pairing: Gorgonzola (or blue cheese) and berry jam. I once had it in a burger and it is A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

Sweet potatoes with fresh squeezed lime - completely magic!

I recently made a sauce with sauteed apples and mushrooms, and was really pleased with the pairing... Served it first with polenta and then with grilled pork chops.
http://www.threelittlehalves.com/2013/09/growing-up-in-time-of-apples-creamy.html