Herb and Spinach Bulgur Pilavı

Herbed Bulgur Pilaf

There weren’t many dishes I ate that contained bulgur. Until recently, the only thing I could think to make was tabbouleh. Fair enough – tabbouleh is tasty!

Eating my way through Turkey, I realized that you could get bulgur in different sizes, in many stages between fine and coarse. The coarser bulgur was used much like rice, and bulgur pilaf was a common side for many dishes.

I bought a bag of coarse bulgur, ready to make some delicious pilaf… and it sat in the cupboard for almost a month. J finally dug in, and used some in a bread, and I decided I couldn’t let him show me up.

The basic bulgur pilaf is fairly plain, since it’s meant to be a side dish for more flavourful main items, like kebab and kofte. I used the recipe from the cookbook I bought in Turkey as a jumping off point, adding some spinach and lots of yummy herbs and spices. I also had to change the cooking instructions a little bit — this will vary depending on the coarseness of the bulgur you buy. There are many variations, and I’m not sure there’s a standard way that all brands differentiate between the varieties.

This is a great alternative to a rice side dish – it has a nice chewiness to it, and is fantastically tangy from the mix of tomato, fresh mint and sumac.

It’s also amazing as leftovers.

Continue reading Herb and Spinach Bulgur Pilavı

Spooky Treats

Green Slime dip and Maudite

It all started with the decision that I would make “Caramel Cod”.

Yes, I said Caramel Cod. If it doesn’t sound familiar to you, know that I didn’t come up with it on my own. I stole the idea from the Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror VIII“. What you may not realize – as I didn’t until I did a search – is that people haven’t been going crazy trying to make it. I am shocked. I have wanted to try a caramel cod since the first time I saw that episode.

Caramel Cod

OK, so I didn’t take a whole fish, put it on a stick and cover it in caramel. Instead, I tried to make something edible – and I think I succeeded! I cut the fish into chunks, coated it in breadcrumbs and cajun spices, seared the fish and then covered in freshly made caramel. It was a little bit sticky, sweet and spicy, and the fish was cooked perfectly.

I was pretty happy with myself, but I didn’t know it wouldn’t be a disaster, so it wasn’t the only thing I made.

Squeamish Squash Dip

We decided to have a ‘spread’ dinner, made up of veggies, dips, cheese, bread, and whatever else we feel like nibbling on. I made two special Hallowe’en-themed dips for the occasion.

The first is a Squeamish Squash dip, a blend of sweet squash and tingly spices. This is a great way to use up leftover squash, or even sweet potato.

Green Slime Dip

The second is a spoooky Green Slime Dip. What’s so spooky about it? Your breath after you eat it — it’s full of garlic and onion!! This dip was inspired by the memory of a dip that my friend Mess and I made for a Hallowe’en party we had in high school. We made all sorts of spooky treats — the Green Slime dip, an ice hand in punch, and lots more!

Maudite beer

You can’t have a spooky dinner without some spooky beer! We chose Maudite – the damned – made in Quebec by Unibroue.

According to the wikipedia page:

The label depicts the legend of the Chasse-galerie (the legend of the Flying Canoe). Legend has it that a group of Voyageurs struck a deal with the devil to fly home in their canoes, guided by Satan himself, to make it home in time for Christmas. One renounced the pledge mid-flight, and they all plummeted to the ground.

Yarrr. And that’s the story of the very first caramel cod – and other fun things.

All three recipes after the jump!

Continue reading Spooky Treats

Indian-Spiced Squash Soup

Indian-Spiced Squash Soup

Where were you when the weather bomb hit? I was waiting for the crazy to arrive, but it seems to have changed its flight plans.

I didn’t even know ‘weather bomb’ was a real term until I looked it up. What does one eat during an impending (but never arriving) weather bomb? Squash soup, of course!

Over the years, I’ve made a few different squash soups, with varying degrees of success. Some turned out bland, while others were waaay too spicy. Most of the time, I go for something curried – I started with Thai spices, and ventured into Indian.

Making Indian-Spiced Squash Soup

Along the way, I think I’ve developed a pretty good base for the soup – mostly squash, with some carrot to round out the flavour. Whether this is needed really depends on the squash you use… I add carrot all the time now, just because I like it. I also add Granny Smith apple to the blend, to give a hit of sweet and sour. Some of the recipes I found over the years called for sugar — by adding an apple or two, you can avoid that.

This time, I pulled some spices from my masala dabba and seared some paneer to give us something to chew on.

This is a nice toasty, warming soup that’s great on a cold and/or blustery day! Or Tuesday.

Recipe after the jump!

Continue reading Indian-Spiced Squash Soup

the Mélange: October 2010

theMelange-parsley

What?! – Yeah, I dropped the monthly mélange for a while – the whole summer, in fact! The last one I did was in April. It’s OK, though – it’s not like I’ve been slacking on posts, I just had more fun stuff to post about. Maybe time to bring this one back to life.

Better Make Some Room…
I’m going through another phase where I’m trying to clear out some of the things in my freezer, to make room for new stuff. After seeing the crazy old freezer burn choked food that managed to move to the new apartment with us, I decided to do my best to use frozen food while it’s still edible. In the last week or so, I’ve used up some spaghetti squash, peanut sauce, paneer and broth that I had frozen in the last year. Not bad!

I Made This!
As usual, the Daring Cooks’ Challenges have given me some new things to try making. This month, I made cabbage rolls, as well as something I can’t post about yet. J says that my squash soup (to be posted soon!) is one of the best things I’ve made this month.

Party in My Mouth
The latest addiction has been butter tarts and single malt Scotch. Seriously. I got some amazing pecan butter tarts from the farmer’s market at Nathan Phillips’ Square, and found that they paired PERFECTLY with the Scotch. I wasn’t much of a Scotch person until a few months ago, and only recently have I started to drink it on its own.

Monthly Spice
This month, I’ve been using the thyme and oregano from my garden. As Fall sinks in, I’m wanting more woody flavours, and herbs like thyme, rosemary, lavender and sage are perfect for this. I’ve started digging into the herbes de Provence again! Obsessed!

Mystery Ingredient
Granny Smith apples, baby!

Missing You…
No surprise, I’m missing summer and the flood of fruits and veggies. I miss the Wednesday lunch hours at the farmer’s market at Nathan Phillips Square, where I would pick out 7 ears of corn, pack tomatoes into containers I brought from home (so I don’t get squashed tomato juice all over my skirt again), buy a mixed basket of yummy fruit, try new things like the Elephant Heart Plum. Sniff. Until next year, my dear.

S

Purple Cabbage Rolls

Purple Cabbage Rolls - close

Every month, when the Daring Cooks’ Challenge entries are posted, I do my best to look at a number of the entries. I love to see the variation on the given theme, the creativity that people add to their interpretation, and of course I get inspiration!! This month was no exception.

One alternative to the challenge was to use a different leaf to wrap the rice – so there were quite a few people who chose to make cabbage rolls (either because they didn’t like grape leaves, couldn’t find grape leaves, or had mastered that recipe already and wanted a challenge). I realized that not only had I not attempted to make cabbage rolls before, but that I had never even EATEN cabbage rolls that weren’t based on the traditional Polish style that I was used to.

I had decided that some day, I would try to make cabbage rolls… eventually. That is, until I saw a post that used red cabbage. The colour was so compelling that I decided I would make some right away, and when I set eyes on a red cabbage at The Big Carrot, I decided to make some IMMEDIATELY. No joke. We were still deciding what to make for dinner the next night when I spotted it, turned to J and said “I could work on some cabbage rolls tonight and bake them up for dinner tomorrow”. Done.

Purple Cabbage Juice

One of the first things was to try and blanch the cabbage. Some recipes say to pull the leaves off first, some say to put the whole head in. I tried the first way — DISASTER!! The leaves ripped like mad. Blanching the whole thing was challenging, but a better option in the end.

The most hilarious part was the colour that came off of the cabbage. The boiling water turned a colour that bent from straight-up purple, to blue, to green as it poured. Of course, I managed to drip purple liquid all over the kitchen, and did my best to wipe it up immediately. I didn’t know if it would stain if I left it – reminded me of the days when my hair was purple, and I had to be careful not to get any of the coloured water on anything as it dripped from my head after a shower. Ahhh, memories.

Purple Hair

That done, I prepared the filling, which was mostly comprised of rice, rehydrated TVP (but you can use ground meat, if you like), and some herbs, mushroom and spinach.

One thing it should have contained – but didn’t – is egg. It was on my list, it was in my instructions…. but I forgot. Honestly, it could have used it. When you make vegetarian rolls, you don’t have the benefit of meat to help hold things together. An egg in the mix would have helped with that, but luckily it didn’t cause any disasters.

Purple Cabbage Rolls - assembly

Next. I set up to roll. I measured out a blob of filling, and basically used the same technique I used to roll the dolma – fold the bottom up tightly, tuck in the sides, continue to roll up and tuck in until you’re out of leaf. Since there was less leaf to work with than the dolma, I had to put them seam down on the tray. From there, I refrigerated the tray of rolls, with plans to assemble my baking dish the next morning.

I lined the bottom of the baking dish with a layer of thinly sliced tomato (to stop the rolls from sticking to the bottom, and to make a bit of a “sauce”), and a layer of thinly sliced leek. Next, I packed the cabbage rolls in pretty tightly, and studded them with halved garlic and button mushrooms. For the heck of it, I topped with sprigs of rosemary and covered with tin foil.

Purple Cabbage Rolls - assembled

I baked them covered for 40 minutes, uncovered for another 10. I found that it wasn’t quite enough. I upped the temperature, and turned it to broil. Better – but still not as cooked as I probably would have liked it. I think I should have baked them covered at a slightly higher temp for at least an hour, then uncovered for at least 20 minutes. Good to know for next time (I’ve made the changes to the recipe below).

I would also salt & pepper the mixture more than I did. You don’t want to season it as though you will be eating the filling on it’s own – it needs to have a stronger taste. That was mistake #3.

Overall, I think it was a great first attempt. I didn’t go too crazy with the ingredients – I did want them to taste something like a cabbage roll, after all. I learned a few things (don’t forget the egg! bake longer! season more!). We had a great meal, that made great leftovers.

Unfortunately, my pic of the actual baked dish kinda sucks. Oh well!

Purple Cabbage Rolls - baked

Full recipe after the jump!

Continue reading Purple Cabbage Rolls

Blog Love – October 2010

Blog Love banner - Kulfi

I haven’t made an official “Blog Love” post in a while now, but I have certainly shown some love for the blogs I frequent by participating in Blog Bites. Now to show the intended format of Blog Love, here are some fantastic posts on other blogs that have inspired me to try making something new!

I scan through quite a few blogs these days. Most of the posts are lovely, but some just jump out at you and make you click through so you can read the whole thing.

Here are some posts that did just that…

Kitchenbutterfly talks about things to do with vanilla, and even another post where we learn how to  make vanilla powder.

Speaking of powders you can make to make a great ingredient out of something that might have been wasted, Chocolate and Zucchini shows how to make Roasted Lemon Zest Powder. Yay! Now I know what to do with all of the rind I had dried… better than throwing chunks of it in stuff.

Kalyn’s Kitchen has a recipe for roasted butternut squash with gorgonzola that has some similar elements to the sweet potato dish I made this week, but a little more structured.

To continue with my obsession with Turkey, Forkspoonknife is making Turkish Pide, featuring Na’Na, Caramelised Onion and Olive

… and last, but not least, there seem to be people trying to crazy up pizza!! Evidenced by Grilled Poutine Pizza and Pizzas Benedict and Deep Dish Pizza Cupfakes that popped up in my Livejournal list today. I think this is part of some competition or challenge group. Better inspect further, as hilarity is ensuing.

Back to Basics: How to cook dried Chick Peas

Dried Chickpeas

Cooking chick peas (garbanzo beans) from dried is easier than I thought! The trick is in the soaking – you need to soak them for at least 24 hours before cooking. I actually soak them for 2 days, and have such great results that I keep doing it that way.

One thing to keep in mind is that they expand quite a bit – my first try was with 2 cups of dried chick peas, which yielded about 6 cups of cooked chick peas. Yikes! These days, I do 1 cup at a time.

  1. In a large bowl, add 4 cups of cool water to 1 cup of dried chick peas.
  2. Put the bowl in the fridge for at least 24 hours to soak, changing the water every day.
  3. Every once in a while, stir the chick peas around a bit.
  4. To cook, boil a large pot of water. Add the chick peas, and return to the boil. Lower the heat, and simmer for about 40 minutes – but test to get the perfect texture!

The “Back to Basics” series is a collection of simple instructions, to be used as a reference for preparing some of the ingredients in the pantry. Mostly, it’s just a way for me to keep track of some of this info because I never remember the simple stuff!

Pesto Eggs

Pesto Eggs

I had it in my head that we were going for brunch Saturday morning. Plans changed, but my heart was really set on some good brunchy eggs.

To be honest, I was set on some Eggs Benedict, but I wasn’t prepared to try making those for the first time on a whim. I am not a patient girl first thing in the morning. I needed something I could throw together fast, something that would satisfy my eggy craving.

I started cooking before I really knew what I was making.

I had eggs, a bit of fresh pesto left from dinner, some delicious tomatoes… and then I had an idea. I could fry up some eggs and dress them up a little. It was quick and easy, but it tasted fancy. On top of the fried eggs, I drizzled a sauce made up of the pesto thinned out with yogurt (real yogurt – none of that low fat stuff), lined up some grilled halved tomatoes topped with melted cheese, and topped each of the tomatoes with a wee bit of the pesto.

It was just what I needed! (Then we went for bennies the next day – Ha!)

🙂

Happy Long Weekend, to those of you who have one this weekend. Hope it is filled with delicious brunches!

Cheese with the Hair of an Angel : Turkish Food Log Pt. 2

Tressé - Angel Hair String Cheese

For the second installment of my Turkish Food Log, I’m exploring the world of cheeses, and finding a connection back home.

Turkey - Cappadocia - Caves

Beautiful range of cave dwellings in Cappadocia, Turkey. (I think this is in Pigeon’s Valley)

While we were in Turkey, we got to try many different kinds of cheeses – generally in styles a little different than “the usual” selection in Canada. In general, the cheeses tended to be saltier, with textures that varied from stretchy (like a Mozzarella) to soft and crumbly (like a soft Feta). There were even some cheeses that tasted a little bit bluey, like Gorgonzola.

Cappadocian Peddler - Pretty Cheesy

Pretty Cheesy – but not quite what I meant. (photo taken in Cappadocia, Turkey)

Turkish Cheeses - assorted

Various Turkish Cheeses (photo taken in Ankara, Turkey)

Breakfast was the best time to find a great assortment of cheeses, and the selection varied from place to place. Each location offered a variety of cheeses, and I was excited to try them all. Most of the time, they weren’t labelled – so I have no idea what kinds I tried for most of the trip. Luckily, there were signs at the buffet in Ankara, so I made sure to get some pics. Notice the English translation – mostly “Cow Cheese” and “Sheep Cheese”, whereas the Turkish offered the real names of the cheeses, so I was able to look some up when I got home.

Turkish Breakfast - Cappadocia

My breakfast in Cappadocia – fun cheeses, halva, olives, honey, muesli and yogurt. Soo good!

One of my favourite cheeses was Çeçil Peyniri – a very stringy, salty cheese that was dry on the outside. This was a strong and different cheese, and I ate as much of it as I could. At the time, I wrote that it tasted a little bit like Parmesan. We didn’t see it everywhere — I think I mostly ate it in the last half of the trip, in Cappodocia and Ankara.

Turkish Cheese - Çeçil peyniri

Çeçil peyniri (photo taken in Ankara, Turkey)

On my trip to Akram’s last week, I found that they carried lots of different Middle Eastern style cheeses, including one that reminded me of the Çeçil peyniri.

Tressé is a cheese made in the same style as an Armenian cheese, called Mshallaleh. It is also sometimes referred to as “Angel Hair Cheese”. It’s like a very salty and stringy Mozzarella, and the one I bought was spiked with Kalonji (Nigella) seeds. The Kalonji have an almost oniony taste to them, so it’s pretty interesting in the cheese.

It may not be a Turkish cheese, but it definitely has the spirit, and the taste reminded me of my trip. Yet another reminder that there’s so much food out there for me to explore…

I definitely need to go back to Akram’s to get more, and to try some of the other fun cheeses there.

Tressé - Angel Hair String Cheese (side)

Tressé