A Few Of My Favorite Things

A few things I love: butternut squash, chick peas, harissa, pomegranate, feta cheese, rice -- all in one dinner. First I oven roasted cubes of butternuts squash and chick peas (just drained form the can) in a mixture of harissa and olive oil with salt and pepper for about 35 minutes at 425º. Delicious. I served those over fluffy steamed rice toped with feta cheese and a quick relish of preserved lemons, pomegranate seeds, olive oil, and chopped mint. Vibrant flavors in a bowl.
"This is really yummy" James said. " I mean from the way it looked I wasn't really sure," he continued completely unnecessarily. "But it's really good."
Score!

A Little of This a Little Of That

Some days I just want mini-bites, a combo platter of tastes to pick up bite by bite. Tonight I looked through the fridge and came out with a semi Middle-Eastern semi North African platter. Harissa roasted cauliflower, za'atar (James loves this Middle Eastern spice blend) grilled chicken, tangy feta cheese with olive oil and chiles, piquant arugula salad and spicy hummus with chile roasted chickpeas.

Foiled By Technology

One small disadvantage of our new home is the not up to urban parr internet service. On a good day it's slow and on a bad day -- well you can wait quite a while for repairs. So, James' dinner has been a blog free secret for the last couple meals.

Tonight I am back with a real winner: spaghetti with squid, broccoli, and chckpeas. Simple and something slightly different. I started with hot olive oil in a pan and sautéed sliced garlic, crushed red peppers, 3 anchovy filets. I mashed the anchovies into the oil and tossed in the squid sliced into rings (or manageable tentacle pieces) for just a few seconds really until the squid picked up a little color. Then I added a drained can of chickpeas, chopped parsley and a splash of white wine and let the squid simmer until just cooked. meanwhile I was cooking the spaghetti along with the broccoli florets in boiling salted water. n a departure from my usual process I put the broccoli in the pot when I added the pasta so it would cook down and be extra soft. When I added the drained noodles and veg to the sauce the extra soft broccoli formed a light green sauce -- almost like a pesto -- that clung to the noodles deliciously.

Something Different With Cauliflower

Pizza, pasta, burgers, salad, stew. Snore.

I needed to shake up dinnertime a bit.

Chorizo (the dry Spanish style) is one of may favorite ways to add unexpected flavor to otherwise everyday meals. I use it the way Southern cooks use slab bacon. Not exactly as the star but instead as a crucial supporting player. Tonight I sliced up chorizo and sautéed it (well the oil was actually pretty deep) in olive oil along with thinly sliced red onions and a couple minced cloves of garlic. I cooked the mixture just until the half-moon slices of chorizo were starting to color and the oil was taking on a reddish hue. Then I mixed in one drained can of garbanzo beans, a bit of dried oregano and a pinch of crushed red peppers. I gave everything a good stir and then poured the contents of the pan (oil and all) over cauliflower I had broken into florets and spread out on a baking dish. I tossed the cauliflower in the oil so everything on the baking pan was nicely coated and popped the tray into the oven for 25 minutes at 350º.

Our dinner was a tasty, assertive combination of flavors -- not quite Spanish and not quite california -- just right over steamed balsamic rice dusted with sweet Spanish paprika.

More Beans With Eric and Shari

It was a cold, rainy night and we started with soup.

Simple zucchini soup.

I put several coarsely chopped zucchini and a few leeks I found in the drawer into a pot, seasoned with S&P and just about covered them with chicken broth. When the liquid came up to a boil I covered the pot and allowed the vegetables to simmer until tender, about 20 minutes. I puréed the mixture (holding back some of the liquid so I could adjust the thickness) along with a good handful of fresh basil and about 1/3 as much fresh mint. Soup course done.

For the main dish I tried two different types of veggie burgers -- attempt 3 of garbanzo bean falafel burgers (same recipe as before with a little oatmeal added to the food processor as a binder, much better) and, believe it or not, flavorful tofu burgers, adapted from a recipe I found online.

Into the food processor went one drained package firm tofu, about 8 ounces chopped mushrooms, a handful of lightly roasted cashews, a handful of shelled pumpkin seeds, 1 TB of soy sauce, 1 TB of mustard, 1 tsp of cumin, a pinch of cayenne, salt, and about 1/2 cup of oatmeal. I pulsed all that together to a chunky paste, formed burgers, and baked -- along with the garbanzo bean burgers, at 350º for about 15 minutes on a side.

As both a salad garnish and a side a chopped salad of red onion, cucumber, parsley, and homegrown tomatoes tossed in a tangy tahini dressing (tahini, water, lemon juice, garlic, and salt). Bean diet with friends.

Falafel Burgers

I keep trying to make a better bean burger. Chick peas are my favorite so I thought why not take a dish I already like -- falafel, and adapt it (i.e. bake not fry) for the everlasting bean diet. Into the food processor went 2 drained cans of garbanzo beans, 1 chopped onion, a handful of parsley leaves, a handful of cilantro, a pinch of cayenne, 1 tsp of ground cumin, 1/2 tsp of ground coriander and 4 cloves of garlic. I pulsed until the mixture came together and let the dough cool in the refrigerator until it was time to bake. Usually when I make bean burgers I use a bit of nuts or oatmeal as a binder (instead of the recipe's flour or breadcrumbs). This time I tried to make a nut and grain free burger. The flavor was just right but the texture not quite ideal. James didn't seem to notice when I piled his toasted flatbread with tahini sauce and a crisp salad dressed simply with lemon, olive oil and z'atar (lettuce below, cucumber and onion as a condiment on top).

Stay tuned for chickpea burger attempt number 3, coming soon.

Diet Friendly Veggie Stew

I can hardly call this cooking.

When I got home from the farmer's market today I set to chopping. Carrots, celery, onions, parsnips, turnips went into my big stew pot with fresh thyme, rosemary, garlic, bay leaves, chicken broth, tomato paste, a splash of white wine and a large can of chopped tomatoes. I brought that mixture up to a boil and simmered until the veggies were just tender. Next I stirred in a chopped head (small) of napa cabbage, cooked garbanzo beans, and frozen peas and simmered until the cabbage was cooked. For James I'll sprinkle on a bit of tangy cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. For me, a shower of chopped basil.

Ugh. The bean diet goes on.

Bean Diet Here I Come

The holidays are officially over. Our eating season lingered longer than usual this year. Instead of repenting our excesses and and feverishly setting ourselves to dietary resolutions, we put on a spread of cheese and oysters and ham and desserts for a couple hundred of our closest friends. The leftovers whisper a siren song as I pass through the kitchen. Today I decided to turn a deaf ear and join our friend Eric on "The Bean Diet" (Eat To Live). I doubt I'll ever button a size 2 again but maybe I can be just a bit smaller. So, February starts my new year's resolution. James kindly agrees to eat beans with me but I'll try to ind a way to spice up his plate with breads, or a drizzle of oil, or even the dreaded cheese -- all forbidden in Dr Fuhrman's guide. For dinner day one I mixed up something I am calling falafel burgers. Garbanzo beans, tahini sauce, cilantro, garlic, oatmeal (as a binder) and Z'atar (a middle Eastern spice blend James loves) combined in the food processor, refrigerated until they hold a shape, formed into patties and baked at 350º for 15 minutes on a side. For James I served these vegan burgers on toasted flatbread with a sesame olive oil dressing. So much for day one.

The Bean Diet

Our friend Eric has been following the Eat to Live program and doing really well. It's basically a nearly fat free, grain free, vegan diet. Having Eric and Shari to dinner last night was my "Top Chef" challenge of the week. And cooking beans it was no "quickfire."

I went for a Moroccan style stew to try and get as much spice and flavor as possible. I mixed chickpeas, butternut squash, chiles. cumin, saffron, onions, tomatoes, tomato paste and cinnamon in the crock pot and let it cook for hours. Even though I soaked the chickpeas they just weren't softening up. As it came closer to dinner I bailed on the slow cooker, actually fished the semi cooked squash out of the stew and poured the rest into a pot to bring to a rapid boil. Bean lesson of the day -- soaked or not, in the crockpot start beans (especially these fat free ones it seems) the night before. About 1/2 hour before dinner I stirred in some preserved lemon, chopped olives, and sliced zucchini to finish up our make-shift tagine.

For James I added a fennel spiked couscous, but the best dish of the night was my take on Dr. Fuhrman's diet friendly salad dressing -- 3 peeled oranges, 3 TB balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup raw cashews blended together over greens and steamed beets.

The bean diet might be in my future.

Shrimp With Chorizo And Garbanzo Beans

Simple and delicious this a classic Spanish flavor combination. I went ahead and followed a recipe I saw on Food and Wine's web site except that I used fresh chorizo -- that's what we had, instead of the dry cured Spanish style so I added a good pinch of Pimentón (Spanish roasted paprika) while I sautéed the bits if sausage (1 link removed from the casing) in olive oil over medium high heat. Next I tossed in 2 chopped scallions, 1 chopped clove of garlic, 1 cup of cooked chick peas, about 1/2 pound shelled shrimp, and 2 tsp of tomato paste. I gave that all a good stir for about 1 minute and then poured in 1/2 cup of white wine and cooked over low heat until the shrimp were just cooked through. I finished the dish with a pat of butter melted into the sauce and served with crusty bread and rice to soak up the sauce.

All James said was, "Mmmmmmmm."