Turkish With All The Trimmings

Non-tradition has become tradition for our Thanksgiving Day feast. Two years past, after getting chilly at the Thanksgiving Day Parade, we came upon a fantastic free feast at Occupy Wall Street, all generously donated by chefs of New York City restaurants. Volunteers demanded our attendance for the Thanksgiving meal-really, they pulled us in. The teens were a little unsure, but once they got a taste of the delicious fare, they were more than content. Last year we enjoyed the famed Lam Zhou Noodles of NYC's Chinatown. For $25, including tip, we had 4 heaping bowls of beef noodle soup with hand-pulled noodles and a big plate of pot stickers. This place isn't fancy, but it is high on an authentic atmosphere with seriously good Chinese eats!

This year we decided to stay local, celebrating with the theme Turkish with all The Trimmings. Most of our menu came from Claudia Roden's Arabesque cookbook, a collection of classic Turkish, Moroccan and Lebanese dishes. The meal was a communal effort and luckily, we had an opportunity for a kitchen dance break.

Everyone came close to filling up on the appetizers! We savored the goodness of dipping our crusty bread in Za'atar, Egyptian Dukkah, Italian and Dark Cherry Balsamic olive oils.

Dark Cherry Balsamic from Cosimano e Ferrari,

A favorite purveyor of flavored balsamic and

olive oil in my hometown of Rochester, NY

Dip your crusty bread here

Other appetizers included Blue's ever popular Calimari Salad, Hummus Plate, Baked Feta, 

Roasted Peppers and Eggplant & Toni's Minty Pea Dip. 

Calimari Salad

Show off your Feta Bake! : )

Toni's Highly Addicting Minty Pea Dip

from Whole Living

Let's not forget the Roasted Peppers & Eggplant w/ Garlic Sauce

Following a post-appetizer frenzy, we sat down to a meal of Seared Tuna w/ Lemon Sauce, Turkish Rice & Scallion Mashed Potatoes. For salads: Cucumber Salad, Beet Salad & a Leafy Greens Salad. 

As you can see, Dani thoroughly enjoyed Beet Salad preparation. 

Beet Salad with Garlic Yogurt Sauce 

We  can't get enough of Turkish Rice!

And the entree, Pan Seared Tuna with Lemon Sauce and Scallion Mashed Potatoes...

Dinner for 5 called for 5 desserts: Persian Love Cake, Brownies, Pecan Pie, 

Chocolaty Chocolate Brownies and Vanilla Ice Cream.

We will be enjoying dessert for days. 

We were happy. We gave thanks. And, we were grateful. 

Sam Loves "Slingapore" Noodles

Sam is back from College for Thanksgiving weekend so I made one of her favorites, what she calls "Slingapore" Noodles. Yes. She is never going to live it down. :) This is a fun dish to make as you will pretty quickly be able to pull together this dish with your eyes closed! We usually use a fresh yellow noodle. This time around, we used a fresh rice noodle from the refrigerator case and the results were excellent. Although we do most of our shopping at the co-op, we get some of our Asian specialties at Trans World Market in Hadley. We really love the owners and the store has quite a depth of selection for all foods Asian and Indian.

I highly recommend these White Rice Noodles.

Red peppers, lime, scallion and a mix of herbs brighten this dish. 

Dani helped with the preparation. A popular task is beating up the peanuts with a wooden meat tenderizer. Way to go, Dani!

The wok was full of noodles, but not for long! Sriracha is generously added to the noodles. With all of the Sriracha fracas in the air, I'll have to stock up quickly. 

Speaking of Sriracha, the creaters of The Oatmeal  comics shares excellent comics for Sriracha lovers and they have t-shirts too! 

Giant Bowls of Slingapore Noodles for All

Sam's selfie of taking a break from college eats to savor home cooking

A contented Sam relaxing with Alexander the Chocolate Faced Border Collie

Another Mediterranean Meal with Friends: Featuring Potato Lasagna

This past Sunday, we pulled together a Mediterranean meal to be enjoyed with these guys. And their parents and grandparents too! Their grandma, Jill, is an outstanding cook and has invited us for many lovely meals and introduced us to many tasty and traditional English dishes. One day, I hope to be as an extraordinary a cook as she is. The baking? I'm not even going to try. I'm already thinking about her Christmas Eve event of the season.

For appetizers we had crusty bread from The Hungry Ghost Bakery, Hummus with Vegetables, Marinated Eggplant with Mint & Capers, and Red & Yellow peppers with Capers. We also tried a new dish, Tomato, Feta and Red Pepper Cazuela.

The eggplant, patiently waiting to be cooked in oil and smothered in mint, garlic, salt & pepper... And of course, more olive oil!

And, voila, the final product, which we marinated overnight. I believe I can now say I have prepared this dozens of times for gatherings of friends and families. And, it is so well-loved, that our friend Elisabeth recently made this for her daughter Rebecca's wedding.

 The Marinated Eggplant is based on a recipe from the Silver Spoon Italian cookbook. I hugely recommend the Silver Spoon cookbook. It is a staple in our household and every recipe we have tried has been dependable and delicious!

We made a couple of Bill Bradley's recipes. Bill has created many fantastic Mediterranean recipes, which are now are on a constant rotation. We made a couple of fast & easy tapas on the stovetop-Olives & Rosemary as well as Red & Yellow Peppers with Capers. The Red and Yellow Peppers pops with color and was excellent as an appetizer and with our meal. Copious garlic included!

Alas, with all of the excitement, I was only able to get a kitchen prep shot of La Cazuela. It is particularly beautiful after the feta is baked and was delicious slathered on the crusty french batard. I'll be sure to get a picture in the future as we are sure to prepare this appetizer again. Enjoy this recipe from Splendid Table. I would love to hear what you think!

We also had a store bought hummus with vegetables, which we beautified with Spanish paprika, dukkah, parsley, pan-fried chick peas and olive oil. Dukkah is an Egyptian spice mix and there are many versions. You can use store bought and there are also many versions on-line. We used store bought dukkah that was a mix of almonds, sesame seeds, coriander, anise seeds and kosher salt. Dukkah is also excellent served with bread and olive oil.

The hummus was served with colorful carrots from a local farm and English cucumbers.

For the meal, we had a main dish entree of potato lasagna. Potato lasagna is prepared like Italian lasagna, with the substitution of par-broiled potato slices in the place of lasagna noodles. Our lasagna dish included a ricotta mix with parsley, spinach and lemon zest. We also adjusted the recipe to include sliced mushrooms. We used a delicately spiced fennel sauce that Donna created using local tomatoes from our farm share at Mountain View Farm CSA in Easthampton.

My niece Dani assisted with potato lasagna assembly.

Potato Lasagna, ready to go in the oven!

I learned of this dish when we were looking at Swedish cookbook for our friend Sarah's Swedish themed Christmas dinner. The word we heard is that this dish was developed as pasta was foreign to the Swedes.

The potato lasagna was served with an addicting stove top prepared Romanesco broccoli dish using this recipe from Saveur.

And, of course, we had a platter of green salad with our meal.

Needless to say, all tummies were full. Good times were had by all. The kiddos mostly focused on appetizers and yummy giant Twinkie cupcakes from Smithsonian Chowder House in Hatfield.

Mediterranean Melange

An uncluttered Sunday is a welcome respite and perfect for hours spent in the kitchen whipping up new and old favorites. This Sunday I mixed up a Mediterranean Melange in multiple courses. The results are mostly Greek cookery with a bit of Turkish flair. While the family still seems to have the patience, I plan on continuing on with all that is Mediterranean! 

I was a bit captivated with capturing all of the ingredients that went into this meal. Here are a few prep pics from today's efforts: 

Beginnings Of Turkish Rice 

 Soon to Be Sizzling Lemony Shrimp

All Of The Lentil Salad Stuff

Just The Basics For Cucumber Salad

 Handful of Yummy Olive Ingredients

When visiting friends Jane and Joan early in the spring we learned of the transcendence of the olive when baked.  aka: We ate them all! Since then, we have become  turned on to many variations of warmed olives, either simmered on the stove top or baked. Tonight we made a stove top recipe of Spicy Rosemary Olives. We used Alfonso's and a Tuscan Mix w/ Onions. I expect these to be on heavy rotation, most especially as an appetizer for guests. 

A small Greek-style cucumber salad is an expected component (more like a condiment) of any Mediterranean meal. We were drowning in scallions, so I rustled up a cucumber and scallion recipe that we especially enjoyed because of the addition of honey and lots of ground pepper, for a sweet taste and a little kick.

Lentil Salad w/ Feta is an old standby that we have been making for 10 years +.  The lentils are simmered in mellow spices, which works very well w/ the saltiness of the feta and the brightness of the cilantro. We always make plenty so that there will be leftovers for lunch.

Leftover steamed basmati rice made it easy to throw together the below Quick Turkish Rice in mere moments. This is a very simple dish to prepare. You warm olive oil in a frying pan and fry up cinnamon sticks and cumin seed. Add in toasted pine nuts and slivered almonds, a couple of cups of leftover rice and currants. Warm, serve and gobble down.

Our main course was another easily prepared Greek specialty, with only 7 ingredients. Sizzling Lemony Shrimp is simmered on the stove top with olive oil with butter to give it a richness that encourages dipping of fresh crusty bread. Everyone agreed that this recipe is a keeper.

I'll see you soon with more Mediterranean inspired adventures! 

Brussels Party!

We enjoy stopping by Golonka Farm throughout the summer growing season, and we always pay a visit on their last day, Halloween. The Golonka family operates a farm stand in Hatfield that is popular with locals, but also attracts customers from as far away as Connecticut and New York. I kid you not! We love this local family and we love their great prices. A few weeks earlier, the season for their famous, line-forming Silver Queen and Butter & Sugar corn wound down to a close, but there was plenty of other produce options to choose from. I went for the red and white potatoes, cucumbers, some butter lettuce and grabbed a big stalk of brussels sprouts. 

By the way, if you live in other areas of Western MA, you can learn where the closest brussels sprouts are near you by going to CISA's website and searching brussels sprouts. It's kind of like a personal brussels sprouts GPS. 

This stalk of brussels sprouts was hugely impressive, as you can see. 

                                                    Do you really expect me to eat this?  

Not only are they awesome and beautiful and delicious, they have great nutritive properties. They are a go to vegetable for Vitamin A, C & K as well as beta carotene, folic acid, iron, magnesium and fiber. They are also associated with reducing certain cancers and increasing male virility. 

As you might expect, brussels sprouts get their name from their popularity as a dish in Brussels. They may have also hailed from there, but their forebears were likely cultivated in Iran or Afghanistan. 

Brussel sprouts are often maligned because if you don't use the right cooking methods, they have a strong and unpleasant taste. Don't overcook them and they impart heavenly flavors when roasted. So, we roasted up the stalk of sprouts and intermingled them with some complementary flavors to create a side dish that will keep them asking for more brussels, please! 

Here are the roasted brussels. 

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Potatoes with Pancetta and Pinenuts

6 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 Medium Red Potatoes, cut into about 1 1/2 to 2 inch chunks

2 Medium White Potatoes

Stalk of Brussels Sprouts, sprouts removed, trimmed and larger sprouts cut into 1/2 

4 oz Pancetta

2 Tbsp Pine Nuts

2 oz Parmesan Cheese, Cut into Shards

Fig Balsamic Dressing

Rosemary

Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Add potatoes to a roasting pan and coat with about 3 Tbsp. olive oil. Roast 10 minutes, remove from oven, toss potatoes and return to oven to roast for an additional 10 minutes. Add brussels sprouts, rosemary, salt and pepper to taste and roast for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, toss the vegetables and roast an additional 5 minutes if needed.

 As you are roasting the vegetables, fry the pancetta in a pan with a small amount of olive oil. After the pancetta is beginning to crisp, add pinenuts and cook for a few minutes more. 

Remove brussels sprouts from oven and spoon onto a serving platter. Smother with the pancetta and pine nuts. Scatter parmesan cheese onto sprouts and drizzle with fig balsamic dressing. You can also garnish with lemon wedges and parsley if you like. 

Enjoy! 

Tip: I used Lucini Savory Fig Balsamico, which we purchased from our local co-op. You can find Lucini products in many grocery stores. 

Winding Down the CSA Season

                                                          Photo Courtesy of Donna Meller

We New Englanders have a solid reputation of holding the Fall transition dear. In fact, we might become a bit obsessed with embracing this season. We enjoy the fall changes, from the explosion of color into early November to the crisp weather that sends out a signal of the fireplace, the hearth and the making of a big pot of soup.

Some transitions are a bit more mournful, such as the winding down of the CSA season. For those not familiar, Community Sustained Agriculture (CSA's) is a brilliant system of local farmers providing shares of the season's bounty for an annual  membership fee. We count ourselves extraordinarily lucky to be in the fertile Connecticut Valley. Our local CSA springs forth with delectable fresh and local produce throughout much of the year. And, as our CSA season comes to a close, we know we can look forward to the Winter Farmer's Market in Northampton that will keep some of our favorite veggies in stock. Hoop houses to the rescue! But, we will greatly miss our visits to the Mountain View Farm CSA, especially the dedicated and friendly farm staff, Liz, Ben & Sherry. See you all next Spring!

                                     

Of course we took full advantage of the last of the harvest with a Sunday Fall Feast. The main dish was a comforting, but not too heavy, Mediterranean lamb stew with chickpeas that featured the tender, mild and slightly peppery Japanese mizuna (shui cai) greens we are so fond of. This recipe perfectly blended the delicate and mellow aromatic spices of a typical Mediterranean stew. A side of Moroccan harissa sauce added a little extra kick! And, I'm happy to say that the teen of the household gave a thumbs up to this dish as well. 

There was LOTS more mizuna to go around, which we added to mixed baby greens with a basic Greek dressing. Yes, this salad is about 4 servings of vegetables. 

This Mediterranean meal was served with Semolina Fennel Bread from Hungry Ghost Bread in Northampton. We liberally smeared the bread with Roasted Garlic with Rosemary, Capers and Olives. This garlic is addicting and I have been known to eat it anywhere, any way, regardless of the availability of appropriate utensils. 

Mediterranean Lamb Stew with Chickpeas and Greens

• 1 1/4 pounds lamb shoulder or stew meat, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 3 cloves fresh garlic 
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 15-ounce can drained chick peas
• 1/2 cup canned vegetable or chicken broth
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 10 ounces spinach or other greens

• Lemon wedges

Sprinkle lamb with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add lamb and sauté until brown, about 10 minutes. Add fresh garlic, onion and carrots and sauté until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add chickpeas, broth, tomato sauce, and lemon juice and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover pot and simmer gently until lamb is tender, about 1 hour.

Add greens to stew. Cover and cook until greens wilt, stirring often, about 6-8 minutes. Season stew with salt and pepper. Serve with lemon wedges.