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Recipe: coconut lime cilantro dressing

I am headed west today, where temperatures will near 90°F. Just the thought of it makes my skin prickle and my brow sweat! On my last shoot, Jeremy and I covered a lot of miles. We love a good road trip because it’s hours upon hours talking about all manner of topics – especially food. And I got to thinking as we drove through Somewhere in the Middle of Utah of a great noodle salad we used to get at Trader Joes when we lived in Southern California. It was a lovely cilantro and coconut dressing over noodles and a few (a VERY few) vegetables. I’ve never found a recipe for it and I had always intended to try making it myself. So that’s what I did when we got home from our road trip last month.

start with what we know: lime and cilantro

add some coconut milk and rice wine vinegar

This was a little feedback loop: blend a bunch of ingredients together, taste, adjust. Repeat. After blending up the main ingredients, I realized that lime juice doesn’t give the same bright fragrance as lime zest. It’s all about what suits your tastes.

pour in some coconut milk with the lime juice and cilantro

lime zest gives it a nice boost

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Recipe: white bean salad

I like the desert more when I’m not in it. Death Valley is a harsh place to love, at least for two people who prefer alpine environments. Whether I was walking through slot canyons, standing over badlands, or atop the eastern mountains that border the valley, my eyes always wandered west toward the Panamints where snow still lingers on the highest peaks just over 11,000 feet.

exploring canyons

it is an evaporitic basin

always a story in the rocks

west of the park

And just so you don’t feel totally neglected while we live it up in the dirt, here’s a quick and simple recipe for a white bean salad we served at a dinner a few weeks ago. I used canned beans once again because I haven’t gone and found myself a proper pressure cooker which is essential at my elevation (I spend a good deal of time researching the stuff I’m going to buy).

colorful and lovely ingredients

steeping the olive oil

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Recipe: warm lentil salad with sausage

Jeremy and I have been trying to wake up earlier in the mornings. We both get a lot done in the early hours when fewer people are awake to interrupt a good work flow. This requires getting to bed earlier. That would be the logical thing to do… except I am also very productive at night. What ends up happening (for me, anyway) is that I stay up working late and wake up early. Despite how much I loathe sleep, after a few days of this wacky schedule I become tired and irate and my head hurts.

I’m tired and irate and my head hurts.

Okay, I’m tired and my head hurts, but I am in rather good spirits. Apparently, I just registered for BlogHer Food 2010. I can’t WAIT to see what they will be serving for lunch! You will most certainly hear all about lunch and my wacky hijinx come October…

happily, i paused for a moment to shoot this lovely sight

Let’s get to the recipe – chop chop! I bought some French lentils about a year ago because they were so pretty. I had never cooked with French lentils before, but their beautiful mottled greens and browns and blacks shouted at me from the bulk section of Whole Foods, “Scoop us! Bag us! Take us home!”

dried du puy lentils or french lentils

thyme, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves

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