Odd combination of ingredients? (restaurant, coffee, favorite cake, Chocolate)

[SeaOfGrass]

What are some of your recipes that seem to have an odd combination of ingredients but taste really good together?

For example, I make a salad from Nigella Lawson's Food Network show, and it has watermelon, red onion, feta cheese, black olives, lime juice, mint, etc. It sounded kind of strange to me, but I really like it. She calls it "the taste of Tel Aviv sunshine," so maybe it wouldn't sound so strange to certain parts of the world.

Does anyone have any recipes like that?

[spiderbear]

Minus the black olives, that's a fairly traditional salad..it's really yummy.

Olive oil and lemon cake with honey has always seemed a bit odd to me, but I love it.

[SeaOfGrass]

Originally Posted by spiderbear

Minus the black olives, that's a fairly traditional salad..it's really yummy.

Olive oil and lemon cake with honey has always seemed a bit odd to me, but I love it.

Hmm. I'd never had anything like it.

Yes, that cake sounds good, but I've never had it. And I'm getting quite the addiction to lemony-tasting dishes, savory or sweet.

[toosie]

One of my favorite cakes is lemon cake with chocolate icing.

For savory dishes, there are three that I make that have a combo of savory/spicy/sweet...

One includes onions, diced tomatoes, cayenne, ripe banana, and coconut. Another includes hot italian sausage, black beans, and sweet potato. The third includes blackberry jam, curry powder, and grated horseradish.

Oh, and my sister was at a new restaurant recently where she had a fabulous spin on a shortbread cookie. It was cornmeal shortbread with sage. She said it was buttery, delicious, melt in your mouth good.

[TKramar]

the cranberry sauce and chili sauce added together to make the red sauce for smokies seems odd, but very simple. I made barbecue pork with apricot preserves, pineapple juice, and brown sugar--among other things.

[SeaOfGrass]

Wow, all of those sound amazing.

[MICoastieMom]

Originally Posted by TKramar

the cranberry sauce and chili sauce added together to make the red sauce for smokies seems odd, but very simple. I made barbecue pork with apricot preserves, pineapple juice, and brown sugar--among other things.

When I am caught off-guard for a marinade for pork, I mix equal parts of apricot (or peach) preserves and Russian dressing. Equal parts of Italian dressing and orange marmalde are pretty tasty on chicken, too.

[Mooseketeer]

I love Strawberries with Balsamic Vinegar and Black pepper. I was dubious the first time I had it but it really, really works. Pineapple with black pepper is lovely too.

I also had chocolate cake made made with mayonnaise once which sounded disgusting but was actually really delicious and very moist and you could not taste the mayonnaise at all which was a bonus !

[Emma77]

1 tblsp cumin
1 tbsp oregano
1tblsp ground coffee

rub on chicken or pork...grill...serve with tomatillo salsa

[debey]

pepperoni, in macaroni salad, here!