Lentils

One of the dishes that first caught my eye when I flipped through Meatless is an intriguing twist on a very familiar dish: Lentil and Cashew Hummus (pg 19). In this version, chickpeas are replaced with lentils, and tahini is replaced with cashew butter. Cashew butter is fricken delicious, if you've never tried it. Find it. Eat it. Send me presents to thank me. Apart from the two key elements, everything else is the same as normal hummus: lemon juice, garlic, a splash of hot sauce, salt, and olive oil.

Maybe I expected too much from the cashew butter. I thought this would be sweeter and a bit more luscious. Honestly, if no one told me that it wasn't normal hummus, I would assume it was just a bland rendition of the chickpeas and tahini classic. It's not bad, but it seems like a waste of good cashew butter.

That said, CHARLIE LIKES IT. Whaaaaaat?? Kid won't eat normal hummus. Guess he's down with bland, as long as it comes on a pita chip.

Conclusion: Liked it well enough, but I prefer normal hummus. I guess I'll call this one a "Just Okay," since I'll never make it again.

Dinner tonight was Lentil and Sweet Potato Stew (pg 121). I added ground beef, because I knew this wouldn't fill Matt up, as written. Unfortunately, I wasn't working with the greatest sweet potatoes. They're not a local product, so I had to buy mine at the Commissary, which has terrible produce. God knows how old these were. I could tell as soon as I sliced them, and they were ringed with pale bands, that they wouldn't be the tastiest sweet potatoes ever. Once the stew was finished, my suspicions were confirmed. The sweet potatoes had no sweet potato flavor. I assume that greatly detracted from this recipe.

The stew is a good starting point. The only spice is one bay leaf and 1.5 teaspoons of curry powder. It needs more...something. I don't know what. I would make this again and play with it. Preferably with fresher sweet potatoes. And LOTS more spice.

Conclusion: Like it, with reservations. I really think good sweet potatoes would make a huge difference.

Because I Feel Like It

September is right around the corner, bringing with it the promise of Fall and cool temps and exhausting holiday fun. I'll likely moan about cooking/baking overload by mid-December (though I won't be done until after my son's birthday party in January), but for the moment, I'm excited about the whole season. Charlie is almost 4 (!!!), and I think this will be the year he'll finally be involved in Halloween and Santa and helping me bake cookies, etc. Yeee!

Anyway. I've made no secret that I love Nigella. I'm adding a long-term project to my roster. Feast: Food to Celebrate Life provides recipes for official and unofficial holidays throughout the year, and for that reason, lends itself as a project for a longer period of time.

She makes me grin.

Nigella, I can't stay away.

I am SO making hot cross buns this Easter.

Jerusalem Addendum: Saffron Chicken & Herb Salad

Jerusalem didn't work for me as a book I wanted to cook out of all in one shot, so I don't feel that I necessarily gave it a fair shake. I figure that I may as well write a brief post about it when I sporadically make a dinner here and there, in the interest of giving my complete impression.

Saffron Chicken & Herb Salad (pg 188) is unlike any other salad I've ever had. To start, you simmer a sectioned orange, skin on, with water, honey, white wine vinegar, and saffron for an hour, then puree it until it's a runny paste. Toss with chicken (I took a shortcut and just used a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket), fennel, basil, mint, and red chile. I also mixed in arugula, because it needed bulking up. It was supposed to include a bunch of cilantro, too, but I couldn't get my hands on any.

This salad tasted very orangey and sweet, with a nice soft heat from the red chile. The directions say to add lemon juice, if necessary. I think I should have added a bit, just to cut the sweetness. Next time, since there will be a next time.

Thank you for not sucking.

Conclusion: Liked it. Relatively easy, unique, and flavorful. I'm certain Matt will still be hungry after he eats it, though. It's not as bulky as one might like. The recipe says this would serve 6. I can't imagine how.

Sorry, Ricotta

Herbed Ricotta Souffle (pg 180 of Meatless) sounded like a suitably jazzy way to use up the remainder of my ricotta, but it didn't turn out as nicely as I'd hoped. The texture was weird. Kind of spongey, and it tasted way too salty. Matt said that if he were blindfolded, he'd have guessed that he was eating weisswurst (or however you spell that German white sausage.) That doesn't speak well for a souffle, does it? It didn't taste bad, but I wouldn't go out of my way to buy the ingredients to make this. If I had a heap of leftover ricotta, I'd make this again rather than allowing the cheese to go to waste. It needs more herbs and less salt, though.

My souffle dish was too big. Woops.

Conclusion: Just okay.

Last week, I also made Zucchini and Feta Chopped Salad (pg 319). It's impossible to come by fresh dill around here (and my efforts to grow it failed miserably), but I don't think that dill would have saved this recipe. It's basically just raw cubed zucchini mixed up with crumbled feta, some lemon, and olive oil. It tasted like raw zucchini and feta. Boring.

Conclusion: Just okay. Doubt I'd ever make it again. Something as a simple as grilling the zucchini would have made this more delicious.

Cheese, Glorious Cheese

I compulsively bought fresh ricotta at the salumeria when I was in town this weekend, even though I had no real plan for it. The ricotta here is sweet and creamy and a totally different product from Polly-o or, God forbid, Sargento (why is it always sour, with the consistency of clay??), back in the states. I was so fed up with the state of available ricotta when we were stationed in Texas that I started making my own. It was better than Sargento, but nowhere near as good as what they sell here in Italy. The kind I made still turned out kind of gritty, and it smelled like the vinegar I used to separate the milk. It didn't taste like vinegar, but it did smell of it. Point is, I'm fully aware that these three years will be my Golden Age of Ricotta, and it will never be this good again. So now I'm trying to find recipes that will use my little block of splendor, because it would be a sin against all that is good in the world to allow this cheese to spoil in my fridge (it doesn't have a long shelf life.)

I threw together No-Bake Lasagna with Ricotta and Tomatoes (pg 289) for dinner last night. As an added bonus, this used up a box of no-boil lasagne noodles that's been in my cabinet since last Christmas. If you've ever wondered if you can boil no-boil lasagna noodles, the answer is yes. They would have stuck together if I hadn't immediately moved them from the water to the sauce, but otherwise they were fine.

Lasagne is sacred food in my house. We had it once a year, at Christmas, and my Dad would spend the whole day and evening on Christmas Eve stirring that pot of sauce, skimming sausage and meatball grease off the top, periodically bellowing, "Never again, Margaret! Never again!" Every year. Now that he's gone, lasagne has become my Christmas ritual.

I didn't expect this free-form version of lasagne to compete with the real deal, but I hadn't quite realized how firmly I believe that lasagne is more than its individual components. Lasagne is lasagne because of the layers, the denseness, and the merging of cheese with sauce with meat, not because you happen to use a noodle that defines itself as lasagne. I think of this more as a pasta dish, and not as lasagne. It's not lasagne. It is, however, delicious.

The sauce is quick and easy, and I'd happily eat a big bowl of pasta with just the sauce if I had no cheese. Brown thin-sliced garlic in oil. Throw in a heap of halved cherry tomatoes. After they're soft, add stock and simmer. I totally overlooked the fact that the tomatoes were supposed to go in in two separate batches, presumably so that some would mush and some would remain firm. I dumped all of mine in at once. No harm done. Add pasta and basil to the sauce, plate, dollop with ricotta and shaved Romano cheese. I also added mozzarella, because what's a lasagne without mozzarella? Lesser, that's what.

Conclusion: Liked it. The sauce was really sweet and delicious. If you have garlic and some tomatoes, you can make this. No real shock, but Charlie DID eat his noodles and the cheese after carefully picking off each and every bit of basil. No tomatoes, but that also was not a surprise. He did pluck a raw tomato out of my fruit basket and eat it, unprompted, the other day. He only ate the one, but he didn't spit it out (or if he did, I haven't found it yet) or lick my leg to scrape the skin off of his tongue, so that gives me hope for the future.

Furthering my quest to use my ricotta, I had Fresh Ricotta with Lemon, Basil, and Honey Bruschetta (pg 63) for breakfast today. This is as easy as it comes. Mix lemon zest with ricotta. Smear on toast. Top with basil and a honey drizzle. I used whole wheat bread, because I didn't have anything more bruschetta-ey, but that's okay.

Mmmm...maybe you'll be my lunch, too.

Basil and honey is a delicious flavor combo. Who knew? The ricotta and lemon provided a very subtle background flavor. All in all, this was tasty and satisfying. I can't imagine eating it as a "starter for a larger meal," as Martha indicates. It screamed, "Breakfast!" to me. Or, it could also pass as an afternoon snack.

Conclusion: Liked it.

An Italian Plate of Joy

I tramped through my orchard, across a field, down a little road, and onto the main drag of my little town here to go buy some produce at my favorite fruit and vegetable guy, who unfortunately, is in a location with little parking (to this American. Italians pull right up onto the sidewalk and triple park in the road. I can't bring myself to do it.) If I want to shop from him, I need to hike it. He's my favorite because he always smiles when he sees me, and seems pleasantly amused by my butchery of his language. He also doesn't complain if I pay with a larger bill. I mean like a 20. I've had other fruit stands turn me away when I try to pay with a 20, or even a 10. He's never given me attitude. Also, when I say, "Come si dice.....?" and point, he tells me what things are called. Not to mention that his fruit is always delicious. I've never felt like he's trying to pull one over on me. It's worth the hike.

While I was at it, I stopped off at the salumeria and picked up prosciutto, fresh ricotta, and two balls of mozzarella di bufala. When I got back to my house, I found a pile of honey-sweet white figs that one of my neighbors (aka The Fruit Fairy) had left on my patio table for us.

I flipped through Meatless and saw that I'd be able to throw Zucchini "Pasta" with Tomatoes and Walnuts (pg 32) together without any trouble. Halve cherry tomatoes, and let them marinate for twenty minutes in olive oil, sliced garlic, chopped walnuts, and torn basil. (As a side note, Italians, and, apparently, Martha Stewart, are adamant that you must never take a knife to your basil, because you will bruise it. I'm unconvinced that it makes a difference, taste-wise, yet I find myself only tearing basil these days. If the Italians do it, that's a good enough reason for me).

After twenty minutes, mix in long skinny strips of zucchini. The picture in the book shows the zucchini looking like spaghetti. I must not have gone thin enough for that. Mine weren't bendy. Regardless, this salad was delicious. I was afraid the raw garlic would be too aggressive, but after it soaked with the rest of the ingredients, the flavor was evenly disbursed, and I never thought "Wow, that was a mouthful of raw garlic."

I should eat like this every day.

This lunch made me extremely happy. The only thing missing was a cold glass of Prosecco.

Conclusion: Loved it. The simple preparation made each ingredient taste even more like itself, if that makes sense.

Tangy

The Chilled Avocado Soup (pg 109) from Meatless suffers from the very description which initially interested me in the recipe: that it is "tangy with buttermilk." All you do to make this cold soup is whir avocado, walnuts, buttermilk, red onion, dill, vinegar, and salt in a blender. I just bought myself a new blender, so my desire to give it a go also attracted me to this soup.

Whatever else, I like the color.

It tastes like dip. If this was touted as a veggie dip, I might like it. As a soup, it's unbearable after a few spoonfuls. It has the thick texture and a buttermilk tang of ranch dip.

Conclusion: Dislike, as soup. I may dip some carrots in it with lunch tomorrow and see if that improves matters.

The other night I made Broiled Zucchini with Yogurt Sauce (pg 327) to go with the Indian Spiced Lamb Chops from Nigella Kitchen. I only mention its accompaniment because those lamb chops were awesome, and you should go make them. Anyway, this one was pretty straightforward. We often grill zucchini on the BBQ during the summer, and did so here instead of broiling. The yogurt sauce was spiced with coriander, ground mustard, and lemon juice, and it complemented the lamb nicely. It was a good little alteration on a standard recipe, and I can see myself making this one again.

Not a looker, but it tasted pretty good.

Conclusion: Liked it.