Dec 18, 2011
Day 70/240: Leftovers
There's lots left from yesterday's feast so I'm having leftovers. Hummus sandwiches with shredded zucchini and zkhuk (I do love typing that) for the first course with a bit of baba ghanoush and tabouleh to follow. Life is good.
Day 69/240: A feast
Saturday, December 17th
I have been put in the position of having to worry that my blog title sounds a little whiny.
My brother and SIL came to visit and they brought food. In times past they have occasionally brought hams or cold-cuts for these daylong visits, so imagine my delight when they told me that they were bringing vegetarian dolmades (rice-stuffed grape leaves).
I decided that I would provide some dishes that were similar culturally and geographically. Since I already had the excess from the jars of red and green zkhuk that I'd made as a present for them, I was already partway there. I cooked a pot of chickpeas for hummus last night. This morning I started soaking the bulghur in stock for a tabbouleh salad. I made a quick trip to the store for some flat leaf parsley, lemons, good olives and pita. By the time my guests arrived, I had the makings of a pretty good middle-eastern feast.
Imagine my surprise when they started hauling out containers of baba ghanoush, another eggplant dip, more hummus, some salads, a block of halvah and something I'd never seen called "metch" (it turned out to be a delicious cooked tomato and bulghur combination which looks easy to make).. They also had tzatziki and baklava (but I won't hold that against them since they did so spectacularly well on everything else). We ended up with a dining table groaning under the weight of a fantastic 95% vegetarian meal.
I was deeply touched. Even my relentlessly omnivorous wife and son were joyfully filling their plates over and over.
In the middle of our meal there was a knock at the door. Outside was one of the neighborhood kids. He and his siblings and friends were making the rounds of our cul-de-sac with a large insulated jug in a red wagon. They were hawking hot chocolate door-to-door! I was tickled by their industry but didn't think that cocoa went with the meal in progress so I thanked them kindly and refused.
When I returned to the table I had to suffer my wife's disbelief and horror at my callousness. By the look on her face you might have thought that I had killed the tyke's puppy. Eventually the discussion of my curmudgeonly ways faded out and the rest of the meal continued pleasantly.
After dinner, we moved to the living room, lit a fire, poured some wine, and chatted before exchanging gifts. I guess that, with the previous evidence of thoughtfulness, I shouldn't have been surprised that one of the gifts I received was a cookbook, "The Artful Vegan".
I have been put in the position of having to worry that my blog title sounds a little whiny.
My brother and SIL came to visit and they brought food. In times past they have occasionally brought hams or cold-cuts for these daylong visits, so imagine my delight when they told me that they were bringing vegetarian dolmades (rice-stuffed grape leaves).
I decided that I would provide some dishes that were similar culturally and geographically. Since I already had the excess from the jars of red and green zkhuk that I'd made as a present for them, I was already partway there. I cooked a pot of chickpeas for hummus last night. This morning I started soaking the bulghur in stock for a tabbouleh salad. I made a quick trip to the store for some flat leaf parsley, lemons, good olives and pita. By the time my guests arrived, I had the makings of a pretty good middle-eastern feast.
Imagine my surprise when they started hauling out containers of baba ghanoush, another eggplant dip, more hummus, some salads, a block of halvah and something I'd never seen called "metch" (it turned out to be a delicious cooked tomato and bulghur combination which looks easy to make).. They also had tzatziki and baklava (but I won't hold that against them since they did so spectacularly well on everything else). We ended up with a dining table groaning under the weight of a fantastic 95% vegetarian meal.
I was deeply touched. Even my relentlessly omnivorous wife and son were joyfully filling their plates over and over.
In the middle of our meal there was a knock at the door. Outside was one of the neighborhood kids. He and his siblings and friends were making the rounds of our cul-de-sac with a large insulated jug in a red wagon. They were hawking hot chocolate door-to-door! I was tickled by their industry but didn't think that cocoa went with the meal in progress so I thanked them kindly and refused.
When I returned to the table I had to suffer my wife's disbelief and horror at my callousness. By the look on her face you might have thought that I had killed the tyke's puppy. Eventually the discussion of my curmudgeonly ways faded out and the rest of the meal continued pleasantly.
After dinner, we moved to the living room, lit a fire, poured some wine, and chatted before exchanging gifts. I guess that, with the previous evidence of thoughtfulness, I shouldn't have been surprised that one of the gifts I received was a cookbook, "The Artful Vegan".
Day 68/240: Another round
Because I already had the makings, I had another meal of vegetable rolls tonight. Didn't photo them but had enough problems with handling the wrappers, that I looked up a "how-to" and will do it better the next time (sometime this week), at which point I will take pictures.
They turn out very pretty.
It's interesting that some restaurants treat them as appetizers. I find them quite filling.
They turn out very pretty.
It's interesting that some restaurants treat them as appetizers. I find them quite filling.
Dec 15, 2011
Day 67/240: Vegetable Rolls
I decided to try something new tonight, not new to eat, but new to make.
So I made some Vietnamese vegetable rolls. It ended up being much easier than I thought, and now I have ideas for extending the roll up concept to other cultural foods.
The rolls tonight were simply lettuce leaves and julienne-cut carrot, red bell pepper, cilantro, and celery wrapped in a rice paper round and dipped into a sauce made of peanut, Hoisin and chili sauce. I liked it so much, that I may have it for lunch tomorrow. If I do, I'll pull out the camera and document it.
So I made some Vietnamese vegetable rolls. It ended up being much easier than I thought, and now I have ideas for extending the roll up concept to other cultural foods.
The rolls tonight were simply lettuce leaves and julienne-cut carrot, red bell pepper, cilantro, and celery wrapped in a rice paper round and dipped into a sauce made of peanut, Hoisin and chili sauce. I liked it so much, that I may have it for lunch tomorrow. If I do, I'll pull out the camera and document it.
Dec 14, 2011
Zkhuk Yarok - Step-by-step
Yes, I know I changed the spelling. It's listed as an alternative and I like all the Zs and Ks.
I listed the ingredient amounts in an earlier post so I'm just going to take you through the process.
First you wash your cilantro to make sure that it is clear of sand or whatever other growing medium they used. Let it drip-dry in a colander.
I listed the ingredient amounts in an earlier post so I'm just going to take you through the process.
First you wash your cilantro to make sure that it is clear of sand or whatever other growing medium they used. Let it drip-dry in a colander.
Then, if like me you're crazy enough to only have pods, you have to decorticate the cardamom (take the seeds out).
Take the cardamom seed, cumin seed, and coriander seed and dry roast them in a skillet.
When they are nice and toasty, put them into a suribachi or mortar and grind them to a powder.
After I grind the spices, I put the powder through a wire strainer to remove the hull of the coriander. (Anything that doesn't get through the sieve goes into the stock pot.) Ad some ground cloves and a two-finger pinch of salt to the other spices.
Peel an entire bulb's worth of garlic cloves.
Smash them with the side of the cleaver and mince them coarsely.
Cut off the stems of about 6 fresh green chilis (I used jalapenos) and slice them in half. long ways.
Clean out the pith but leave some of the seeds. Toss everything that you just prepared into the food processor and turn it on. Drizzle olive oil into it until it seems to have the right consistency.
This makes enough to fill one of my standard small storage containers (empty 1 pound Teddy Peanut Butter glass jar.
I've designed a label for it, and my wife is going to illuminate it. when it's done I'll post a picture of the finished product.
Day 66/240: Making a gift
We're having visitors on Saturday and, since they are being kind enough to bring vegetarian fare with them, I have decided to make them a nice jar of Skhug Yarok to take home with them. I think that I will try to do a photo shoot of the preparation later today.
The problem with doing that is that I end up washing my hands a lot in between steps so I don't get the camera all food-encrusted. Sometimes I think I should invent a camera I can wear on a head band and use voice commands for the shutter. (I know ... I'm sure that one already exists. That was just a bit of blatantly rhetorical pathos.)
Speaking of photos ... it's a shame that, in order to make the food show up nicely, I've had to restrict myself to the white plates and bowls. One of these days I need to make something that I can display on some of our fancier plates.
My wife used to work for Droll Designs and created some of their patterns, so we have a stack of DD plates in the cupboard. Unfortunately their colors are so bright that the food can some times get a little lost on them.
If you're interested, here are a few of the patterns she created:
The problem with doing that is that I end up washing my hands a lot in between steps so I don't get the camera all food-encrusted. Sometimes I think I should invent a camera I can wear on a head band and use voice commands for the shutter. (I know ... I'm sure that one already exists. That was just a bit of blatantly rhetorical pathos.)
Speaking of photos ... it's a shame that, in order to make the food show up nicely, I've had to restrict myself to the white plates and bowls. One of these days I need to make something that I can display on some of our fancier plates.
My wife used to work for Droll Designs and created some of their patterns, so we have a stack of DD plates in the cupboard. Unfortunately their colors are so bright that the food can some times get a little lost on them.
If you're interested, here are a few of the patterns she created:
Amelia
Seder Plate Set
Birthday Bunny
Day 65/240: Roast Baby Bellas with Brussels Sprouts
No need to repeat the instructions. The modification this time was that, after cleaning and halving the sprouts, I tossed them in a mixture of olive oil and mango chutney and left them to marinate for a while.
They were very tasty but, for some reason, this time they left me gassy.
They were very tasty but, for some reason, this time they left me gassy.
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