I'd like to start off by saying good bye to a special friend...we've been through a lot together but in the end he just couldn't keep up. RIP Magic Bullet.... That's right my friends, the magic bullet bit the bullet :(
I guess I should have expected it and it was partially my fault for "maybe" over using it, but hey, when the infomercial says you can use it for anything and everything, well damn it, you should be able to!!! Like I really expected it to die on me over grinding almonds. Which leads me to my next topic.... what is up with all these gimmicks and gadgets that "supposedly" simplify your life in the kitchen? There's the Nuwave Oven Pro, Slap Chop, Robo stir, Chef basket, and my all time personal favorite... the Xpress, Redi Set Go. Now I've never tasted food that has been cooked with these express cooking systems and honestly, I don't think I want to. There's just something not to comforting in a system that cuts your cooking time down by half.
Why all the rush? What ever happened to taking your time to cook? I get it, I understand that in today's society we're always on the rush. "I work all day, the kids have soccer practice, cheering etc etc, by the time I get home, I have to do homework with the kids, who has time to cook?" ..MAKE TIME!!!!!! There are meals that use 3-4 ingredients and only need maybe 30-40 minutes cooking time IF THAT!! You can prep most things the night before and when you get home the next day, throw it in the oven, the pot, the grill or whatever cooking method is called for. For me, part of the fun in cooking comes from the rush you get running around getting the things you need, trying to multi task 3-4 different things at the same time.
OK, enough with the rambling.... so I know I should have written this entry last week, but I'm not going to make excuses for myself. So, because I 've been a bit behind, I figured last week that instead of making one appetizer dish, I would make two and was I ever sooo glad I did. The dishes that were up this time around both come from the Mediterranean region of the Middle East. I first made charred artichokes with a lemon oil dip. Nothing about this recipe seemed hard, in fact, the hardest thing about it was when I was taking out the fuzzy part from around the heart of the artichoke, trying not to get the fuzz all over. Other than that, this was fairly simple.... the recipe called for:
2 whole artichokes, quartered and cleaned out of the fuzz. When finished, immerse them in acified water (1 tblsp of either vinegar or lemon juice) and put them to the side till ready to use. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, then take the quartered artichokes, 12 cloves of garlic, sprinkle some salt (I used coarse ground sea salt) and add 3 tblsp of olive oil. Toss them well till they are all coated and place them in a roasting pan, and then in the oven. Roast them for 40 minutes, remembering to stir them once or twice till the artichokes are temder and charred. In the meantime, take one lemon and slice off to long strips of the peel, making sure to scrape off any remaining pith you may have on it. Once done, place the rind in a pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 5 minutes. You then remove the rind, drop it in cold water to "refresh" it and then chop it roughly. Put to the side till ready to use.
After 40 minutes, remove your charred artichokes and arrange them on a serving dish and let them cook for about 5 minutes. While the artichokes are cooling, you can begin to make the dip. Take the 12 cloves of garlic you roasted and using the back of a fork, carefully scrape out the garlic, add it to a small bowl and mash to a puree. Then, add lemon rind you chopped earlier and the juice of 1 lemon. Using your fork to wisk it together, with 3 tblsp of olive oil. Serve warm with the dipping oil and enjoy!!!!
I love artichokes, but I normally have had them either raw or when my mother would make them fricasse with peas and potatoes. I have to say, even though I made a slight error (I coated the artichokes with the entire 6 tblsp of olive oil, instead of just using 3 tblsp) but it still came out delicious. Even though I hate salt, or should I say excessive use of salt, the artichokes came out nice. You may be charring them, but you don't have a charred taste to them and the lemon oil gives them a nice citrus taste. Definitely something that you can have on a nice warm night with a bottle of wine. Coincidentally, I gave some to my mother and she said that the best part of the dish was the dipping oil. She liked it so much that she actually finished the dip off with some bread.
As I said before, I made 2 dishes that night. While roasting the artichokes, I started to broil the eggplants for the baba ganoush. Again, this is another faitly simple dish to make and does not take much time. For this recipe you need 2 small egplants, broiled for about 20 minutes or until the skin becomes blistered and black. Remember to turn them often. While you are broiling your eggplants, you can start preparing the rest of the ingredients. In a food processor grind almonds till you have 1/4 cup. Once ground up, add 1 crushed garlic clove, 1/4 cup tahini paste, 1 tblsp fresh cut minth and 1/2 tsp cumin. By this time, the eggplants should be ready. Takem them out of the oven, peel the skin off and roughky chop the flesh. Place them in a colander and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. (I know this part is hard to do without burning yourself, so I used a nice sized mixing bowl to squeeze out what I could while the eggplant was still in the colander. BELIEVE ME THIS WORKS AND HELPS OUT ALOT). Then you add the eggplants to the mixture of almonds, tahini and cumin in the food processor and start to blend them together. As you are doing this, add the the juice of 1/2 a lemon and 2 tblsp of olive oli. Then end product should be a smooth paste like substance. Scoop out into a bowl and scatter another tblsp of fresh cut int leaves and drizzle olive oil over it. Enjoy with some wonderful Lebanese flat bread.
In a matter of 40 - 45 minutes I made to wonderfully refreshing dishes and again, the ingredients were minimal but taste was extraordinary. See, no matter how busy your day is, there is always time to cook.
Next up, and this will be done tonight, Hummus bi tahina..... who doesn't love hummus??????
I guess I should have expected it and it was partially my fault for "maybe" over using it, but hey, when the infomercial says you can use it for anything and everything, well damn it, you should be able to!!! Like I really expected it to die on me over grinding almonds. Which leads me to my next topic.... what is up with all these gimmicks and gadgets that "supposedly" simplify your life in the kitchen? There's the Nuwave Oven Pro, Slap Chop, Robo stir, Chef basket, and my all time personal favorite... the Xpress, Redi Set Go. Now I've never tasted food that has been cooked with these express cooking systems and honestly, I don't think I want to. There's just something not to comforting in a system that cuts your cooking time down by half.
Why all the rush? What ever happened to taking your time to cook? I get it, I understand that in today's society we're always on the rush. "I work all day, the kids have soccer practice, cheering etc etc, by the time I get home, I have to do homework with the kids, who has time to cook?" ..MAKE TIME!!!!!! There are meals that use 3-4 ingredients and only need maybe 30-40 minutes cooking time IF THAT!! You can prep most things the night before and when you get home the next day, throw it in the oven, the pot, the grill or whatever cooking method is called for. For me, part of the fun in cooking comes from the rush you get running around getting the things you need, trying to multi task 3-4 different things at the same time.
OK, enough with the rambling.... so I know I should have written this entry last week, but I'm not going to make excuses for myself. So, because I 've been a bit behind, I figured last week that instead of making one appetizer dish, I would make two and was I ever sooo glad I did. The dishes that were up this time around both come from the Mediterranean region of the Middle East. I first made charred artichokes with a lemon oil dip. Nothing about this recipe seemed hard, in fact, the hardest thing about it was when I was taking out the fuzzy part from around the heart of the artichoke, trying not to get the fuzz all over. Other than that, this was fairly simple.... the recipe called for:
2 whole artichokes, quartered and cleaned out of the fuzz. When finished, immerse them in acified water (1 tblsp of either vinegar or lemon juice) and put them to the side till ready to use. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, then take the quartered artichokes, 12 cloves of garlic, sprinkle some salt (I used coarse ground sea salt) and add 3 tblsp of olive oil. Toss them well till they are all coated and place them in a roasting pan, and then in the oven. Roast them for 40 minutes, remembering to stir them once or twice till the artichokes are temder and charred. In the meantime, take one lemon and slice off to long strips of the peel, making sure to scrape off any remaining pith you may have on it. Once done, place the rind in a pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 5 minutes. You then remove the rind, drop it in cold water to "refresh" it and then chop it roughly. Put to the side till ready to use.
After 40 minutes, remove your charred artichokes and arrange them on a serving dish and let them cook for about 5 minutes. While the artichokes are cooling, you can begin to make the dip. Take the 12 cloves of garlic you roasted and using the back of a fork, carefully scrape out the garlic, add it to a small bowl and mash to a puree. Then, add lemon rind you chopped earlier and the juice of 1 lemon. Using your fork to wisk it together, with 3 tblsp of olive oil. Serve warm with the dipping oil and enjoy!!!!
I love artichokes, but I normally have had them either raw or when my mother would make them fricasse with peas and potatoes. I have to say, even though I made a slight error (I coated the artichokes with the entire 6 tblsp of olive oil, instead of just using 3 tblsp) but it still came out delicious. Even though I hate salt, or should I say excessive use of salt, the artichokes came out nice. You may be charring them, but you don't have a charred taste to them and the lemon oil gives them a nice citrus taste. Definitely something that you can have on a nice warm night with a bottle of wine. Coincidentally, I gave some to my mother and she said that the best part of the dish was the dipping oil. She liked it so much that she actually finished the dip off with some bread.
As I said before, I made 2 dishes that night. While roasting the artichokes, I started to broil the eggplants for the baba ganoush. Again, this is another faitly simple dish to make and does not take much time. For this recipe you need 2 small egplants, broiled for about 20 minutes or until the skin becomes blistered and black. Remember to turn them often. While you are broiling your eggplants, you can start preparing the rest of the ingredients. In a food processor grind almonds till you have 1/4 cup. Once ground up, add 1 crushed garlic clove, 1/4 cup tahini paste, 1 tblsp fresh cut minth and 1/2 tsp cumin. By this time, the eggplants should be ready. Takem them out of the oven, peel the skin off and roughky chop the flesh. Place them in a colander and squeeze out as much liquid as you can. (I know this part is hard to do without burning yourself, so I used a nice sized mixing bowl to squeeze out what I could while the eggplant was still in the colander. BELIEVE ME THIS WORKS AND HELPS OUT ALOT). Then you add the eggplants to the mixture of almonds, tahini and cumin in the food processor and start to blend them together. As you are doing this, add the the juice of 1/2 a lemon and 2 tblsp of olive oli. Then end product should be a smooth paste like substance. Scoop out into a bowl and scatter another tblsp of fresh cut int leaves and drizzle olive oil over it. Enjoy with some wonderful Lebanese flat bread.
In a matter of 40 - 45 minutes I made to wonderfully refreshing dishes and again, the ingredients were minimal but taste was extraordinary. See, no matter how busy your day is, there is always time to cook.
Next up, and this will be done tonight, Hummus bi tahina..... who doesn't love hummus??????
