YUM FOOD BLOG

Here’s a Sunday lunch idea for you.

There’s just something special when you mix cucumber yogurt (taztsiki) and salmon. The strong, distinctive flavors of the salmon coupled with the light, fresh & tangy taste of the cucumber yogurt - amazing.

This recipe is great for a lazy weekend lunch, and it only takes 15 minutes to prepare.

What you need (serves 4)

• 600 grams of salmon steak
• Fresh Turkish bread
• 1 cup of natural, unsweetened yogurt
• Juice from a quarter of lemon
• Half a cucumber
• Fresh basil & mint leafs

What do do

• Cut the salmon into strips, pan fry them in a tiny bit of olive oil on medium heat, 2-3 minutes per side. Season well.
• Finely dice the cucumber, basil and mint. Mix it in with the natural, unsweetened yogurt with a dash of olive oil and lemon juice. Season.
• Warm the Turkish bread up in an oven or pan. Butter or lightly drizzle olive oil if desired.
• Assemble bread, salmon and cucumber yogurt.

Pour yourself a glass of chardonnay. Enjoy!

Posted by Darren Wood

I’m not much of a baker. I find it a chore making sure everything is weighed and measured. However due to a glut of over-ripe bananas I was forced to do something drastic… That’s right kids - I baked!

As with almost everything I do these days the first thing I did was to google “banana bread”. The first result seemed to be perfectly simple so I decided to go hard with it (with my own additions). I chose to make mini loaves so I have to alter the cooking time. You could easily make these muffin sized and probably use the same cooking time.

What you need

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas
• 1/2 cup of chopped almonds

What do do

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease your mini loaf pan/muffin tray.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda and salt.
3. In another bowl cream the brown sugar and butter (NOTE: I don’t have an electric mixer so I opted for the far more manly by-hand-solution). Stir in the beaten eggs and mashed banana until well blended.
4. Stir banana mixture and almonds into flour mixture. Don’t over mix this - you don’t want to develop the gluten. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan.
5. Bake in the preheated over for about 40 mins until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
6. Cut/break bits off and apply butter
7. Eat & enjoy!