Archive for July, 2008
I fear I am far more excited than I should be about pickled beets. Particularly on the eve of the August long weekend, when in yesteryears I might be excited over, I don’t know, a houseboating weekend or trip or concert or something. I am excited over beets. I am such a dull person.
But I’ve been wanting to make pickles for decades, and never really got around to buying one of those massive bags of wee lumpy cucumbers. Then one day I admitted to myself that I wasn’t a huge pickle fan, and a friend introduced me to the Saucy Ladies’ spiced pickled beets, and I was instantly hooked. I bought a preserves book off the clearance table of the hotel gift shop in Edmonton (while W tore through all the Indy merchandise) because it had a simple spiced pickled beet recipe in it, and I swore I’d make them and not waste $5. And I did! And now I can go and make them whenever I feel like it, because I know it’s really no big deal. I made pickled beets. Or put them up, or whatever terminology is proper for this kind of earth-shattering achievement. Actually, I shouldn’t pat myself on the back until I taste them; I think they need at least a few days now to pickle.
Dinner was out – again – it seems my restaurant trips come in waves. But we had tickets to the opening night of the Cirque du Soleil production of Corteo, and figured since we already landed a babysitter and were going to bother cleaning ourselves up a bit (it’s rare these days to get me out of PJ pants and flip flops) we might as well take advantage and go out to a real restaurant together, like real live grown-ups. So we had samosas and the requisite butter chicken (not as earth-shattering as I’ve heard – the gaudy blue Taj on McLeod Trail is better) and Lamb Goa Curry and naan; I thought this time I’d spare you photos of food I don’t have the recipes for anyway.
It doesn’t matter anyway, because you’ll be busy pickling beets.
Simple Spiced Pickled Beets
(adapted from Put a Lid on It!)
I don’t use measurements here because really you can pickle as many beets as you like, and the brine is made from equal parts white vinegar and sugar. Whole spices are put in each jar, so those numbers will depend on the jars you use.
Small beets, as many as you want to pickle (the recipe suggests 10-12)
white vinegar (the recipe suggests 2 cups)
white sugar (the recipe suggests 2 cups)
coarse pickling salt
whole allspice berries
cinnamon sticks
whole cloves
Boil the whole beets in a large pot of water for half an hour or roast them wrapped in foil for a little longer, or until they are tender. Let them cool, then peel them.
Keep them whole or slice them or cut them into chunks into your clean, hot jars (I just run them through the dishwasher to disinfect them and get them good and hot). Put a cinnamon stick (or half one, if they are long), a couple allspice berries and a few cloves into each jar. Sprinkle each with 1/2 tsp. of pickling salt.
On the stovetop, heat equal parts white vinegar and sugar and bring to a simmer to dissolve the sugar completely and get it nice and hot. Pour over the beets, leaving about 1/2″ headspace between the beets and liquid and the top of the jar. Seal.
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July 31 2008 | eating out and preserves | 3 Comments »
Fava beans: I’m not a fan.
I love the look of them; I’d put them out like my mom puts out Bosc pears at Christmas, like a little bouquet of beans, if I didn’t have to eat them. I’m always tempted by the robust, pregnant-looking pods at the market, probably because they remind me a little bit of Jamie Oliver, and today I gave in. (I should have known that they are too similar to Lima beans – one of my least favourite foods after black licorice, which I don’t even like other people eating.) I did a quick google for ideas and one of the first recipes that came up called for boiling the beans and then sautéing them with purple onion, which I had a wedge of in the fridge, and sprinkling with fresh mint, which is currently taking over my yard. Perfect.
I had a feeling I wouldn’t like it, but I was hopeful. I so wanted to. In the end I ate some of W’s spaghetti (so did Mike) with the onions picked out of the fava beans (also known as broad beans), which themselves landed in the compost bin.
At least now I know.
So afterward, I made passion fruit sherbet. Makes me sound like a hero, right? Not really; it required absolutely no skill beyond scraping the frozen goods off the paddle into a bowl while attempting to maneuver past my mouth.
I’ve had this package of passion fruit puree from More than Mangos sitting on my counter for at least a month – another pouch of mango puree was turned into juice a few weeks ago when there were extra kids around, but we’re really not juice drinkers around here (even W won’t touch it. I know.) So it occurred to me that it would make a really easy sorbet. As I dumped it into the ice cream machine (with 1/2 cup of sugar – that stuff is tart) I thought I’d one-up myself and pour a cup of half and half in as well to turn it from sorbet into sherbet, which differs in that it’s made with milk ingredients. The whole process took about fifteen seconds of actual work – I didn’t even combine the ingredients before pouring them in – just let the machine do it all. I then made up for what I didn’t eat at dinner with dessert.
All in all an odd dinner, but it ended well.
July 30 2008 | dessert and sweet stuff and veg and vegetarian | 7 Comments »
Sue came to town today, which meant, obviously, that we needed to go out and eat. I think that’s the only way to have a productive meeting without distraction – in boardroom A.
Everything I’ve had at Aida’s has been fantastic, but the only absolute must have is the muhammara – a Syrian roasted red pepper and walnut dip that I still have been unable to recreate in my own kitchen. I ask for their recipe, nicely, as do others, but they (understandably) turn me down. The other option is to be told and then taken out back and shot. I’m thinking about it.
Here’s the one I used to make; I admit I’ve been pouty about it and haven’t bothered for a few years, opting instead to use it as an excuse to visit Aida’s. Sue suggested there might be a dribble of melted butter in their version – worth a try! Tangy-sour pomegranate molasses is easy to find these days at Mediterranean markets as well as in gourmet shops. There’s also a muhammara recipe that looks worth a try at Chocolate & Zucchini.
Muhammara
1 cup walnuts, toasted and finely chopped
3 roasted red peppers
1-2 small hot red peppers, roasted along with the bell peppers, or a pinch of dried red pepper flakes
2-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp. pomegranate molasses
1/4 tsp. cumin
1/4 cup olive oil (or half oil, half melted butter?)
In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the walnuts, roasted peppers, hot peppers, garlic, pomegranate molasses and cumin until well blended and smooth.
With the motor running, slowly pour the olive oil through the feed tube until the mixture is smooth and creamy. If it’s too thick, add a few spoonfuls of water. To serve, spread the muhammara in a bowl, top with a walnut half and drizzle with a little extra olive oil if you like. Serve with fresh pitas or pita chips.
Makes about 1 1/2 cups.
The shredded lemon chicken was drizzled with creamy tahini sauce and served with a fattoush salad (romaine lettuce, tomatoes and toasted pita with an oregano-spiked vinaigrette) and baba ghanouj – another one of my favourite dips. Sadly this is again not Aida’s, but it’s all I can offer:
Baba Ghanouj
Be warned – you will have garlic breath.
2 medium eggplants
1/4 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. salt, or to taste
a drizzle of olive oil (optional)
Preheat oven to 475F. Place whole eggplants on a baking dish and roast, turning once or twice, for 45 minutes to an hour, until skin is charred and eggplant is soft. Set aside until they are cool enough to handle.
Scoop the flesh out of the eggplant and roughly mash with a fork. Stir in tahini, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Leave it coarse or whiz it in the food processor until as smooth as you like. If necessary, thin with a little olive oil, extra lemon juice or water.
Transfer to a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Serve with pita chips, veggies or grilled bread. Serves 8.
Per serving: 74 calories, 3.8 g total fat (0.5 g saturated fat, 1.4 g monounsaturated fat, 1.7 g polyunsaturated fat), 2.5 g protein, 9.4 g carbohydrate, 0 mg cholesterol, 0.7 g fiber. 42% calories from fat.
We had to share a grilled (medjool and feta) cheese, just because Sue had never tried one. (This is what I bring home for Mike anytime I go to Aida’s without him.) It’s made with salty, stringy cheese I’m stuck on the name of (I assumed medjool might refer to the cheese as well, since I’ve never detected dates in it - in Arabic medjool means ‘unknown’, so it would apply in this case) and feta. They throw in some finely chopped tomato and Kalamata olives, and I think some bits of green onion, but I’m really only in it for the cheese. It’s all grilled until melty in a crispy pita. This is my usual – muhammara and grilled cheese with a side of roasted lemon potatoes and fattoush. Yum.
July 29 2008 | appetizers and eating out | 8 Comments »
I can’t honestly believe it’s already day 210.
I went for a late lunch out this afternoon, and thus was filled right up for dinner. Unfortunately W and M still needed to eat, but I picked up an Afghan flat bread that resembled a pizza crust at a Mediterranean market for $2, and it turned into an instant pizza.
I almost didn’t want to cover up the fancy poke-holes in it.
Honestly, the grill is the best place to cook a pizza. Closing it creates an oven environment, and the high direct heat is ideal for creating a crispy crust whether it’s fresh, frozen or just already baked, as was the case tonight. I only wish my first introduction had been with raw dough; I think most people fear trying it this way because they can’t believe the dough won’t fuse instantly to the grill. Trust me, it won’t. You just slap a rolled-out circle or oval of dough straight on the grill, flip it with tongs after giving it a few minutes to turn golden, then spread/scatter toppings on top, close the grill for a few minutes to allow the cheese to melt (because of course there’s cheese, right?) and voilà.
Tonight I set the grill on medium, since the dough was already cooked, spread on some tomato sauce on with a spoon, sliced up a chunk of red pepper and wedge of purple onion (which W picked off anyway) and grated some part-skim mozzarella. Almost as easy as frozen pizza.
July 28 2008 | on the grill | 4 Comments »
OK everyone, listen up. If you are at all a shrimp lover, or run with shrimp lovers, you will want to take particular note of this. This is food of the best kind – it requires about 5 minutes, is brain-numbingly good, doesn’t heat up the house, is perfect for company, and is really more an idea than a recipe per se.
Tonight the dinnertime decision-making process went something like this: we rolled in from Edmonton at about 5, and since there was little in the fridge and neither of us felt like cooking, Mike had the pizza menu in his hand. Then I noticed a lone avocado in the fruit bowl – it had been rock hard when we left on Friday, but was now perfectly ripe. I told Mike to put down the phone and make guacamole - his one (and only, unless you count Kraft Dinner) specialty. There were still some corn tortillas in the depths of the freezer, so I pulled those out, chipped a few off and cooked in them in a little canola oil in a skillet.
But wait, here’s the good part. I was pondering how to turn this into an actual meal, rather than another snack, and thought I’d quickly sauté a few shrimp from the freezer to round it out a bit. (Frozen shrimp thaw almost instantly in a bowl of warm water.) I figured I’d do them in a little oil with a sprinkle of chili powder in an attempt to stay with the Mexican theme. That reminded me of a Mark Bittman quickie I had read about that involved sautéeing shrimp in butter with garlic and chili powder, then finishing it with beer. That reminded me of the unbelievably awesome barbecue shrimp in spicy, buttery sauce that we used to eat at Memphis Blues in Vancouver. Which in turn reminded me of the fact that they just released a cookbook, and that said book was upstairs on my shelf.
And yes, the shrimp recipe was in there! I thought it would be more complex, but it’s nothing more than shrimp sautéed in butter and a sprinkle of their spice rub – the same blend they use on ribs and other meat. Brilliant. There was even a recipe for their rub, but I didn’t have garlic powder, onion powder or Lawry’s Seasoning Salt, so I quickly made up a batch of the stuff I usually use on ribs. (Chili powder, paprika, brown sugar, cumin, oregano – doubling the brown sugar, since there seems to be an awfully lot of sugar in their rub.) But really, any spice rub would do. Then this is all it takes: you throw in a generous pat of butter, cut it with olive or canola oil if you like, into a hot pan, and when the foam subsides, throw in your shrimp (as many as you want to make) and a generous spoonful of the rub. (I threw in a crushed clove of garlic too, since my rub was garlic-free.) Toss them about in the pan for a couple minutes, just until they turn opaque – don’t overcook them, or they will curl up tight and end up tough – and pour out into a serving dish. That’s it.
I have never so badly wanted a warm pan of corn bread - to mop up the buttery, spicy, shrimpy sauce. That’s how they serve it at Memphis Blues – with a thick yellow wedge. Crusty bread would suit as well – anything that keeps you from pawing at the buttery sludge with your fingers and licking it off like a kitten. I am so making this again. Maybe for my birthday. Some things are so worth an hour on the elliptical trainer.
Memphis Blues All-Purpose Dry Rub
1 cup dried parsley
1 cup sugar
1 cup Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
2 Tbsp. ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. garlic powder
3 Tbsp. onion powder
3 Tbsp. oregano
3 Tbsp. sweet paprika
1 Tbsp. mustard powder
1 Tbsp. celery salt
a pinch of cayenne pepper
Mix all; store in an airtight container for up to 6 months. Use on pork, chicken, turkey or fish. (Or shrimp!)
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July 27 2008 | appetizers and seafood and vegetarian | 4 Comments »
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