Wednesday 18 May 2011

Recipe of the day

Dried poppy heads - Gouache

Lime & Poppy seed Dressing

Poppy seeds are the tiny, dried, kidney-shaped seed of the
annual opium poppy - Papaver somniferum.

Poppy seeds are used to garnish breads and rolls, ground in sauces and pastry fillings, and added to vegetables and salad dressings. Turkish cuisine uses toasted poppy seeds, while Indian and Turkish spice blends rely on crushed poppy seeds for flavour and texture.
It takes about 900,000 of them to equal a pound.

Poppy seed is produced in various countries including the Netherlands, Australia, Romania and Turkey. The Dutch variety, noted for its uniform slate-blue colour, is recognized as the best quality seed and comprises most imports into the United States.

Poppy seed has been cultivated for more than 3,000 years. The tiny poppy seed actually comes from the plant that produces opium. The botanical name for the poppy flower means ‘sleep-bearing’ but the seed does not have this effect. Poppy seed was used as a condiment as early as the first century A.D.

Ingredients
1/2 cup lime juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp white onion
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp poppy seeds


Method
Add all the ingredients to a blender, except the poppy seeds, and blend until the onions are pureed. Then add the poppy seeds and blend just once or twice to mix them in.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. Just give it a quick shake before you use it to mix it all back together.


Serving suggestions
Add dressing to fresh, baby spinach and avocado for a delicious, summer sidesalad !!!

Lime and poppy seed dressing

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