I spent 10 days in Israel and now consider myself an expert on Israeli salad. As one does.
But David Lebovitz had some pretty good ideas about it too.
I mean, how could you not with a name like Lebovitz.
Israeli Salad (from David Lebovitz)
You'll need
1 ripe tomato
1 cucumber
1 carrot- peeled
2-3 tbsp red onion- chopped
1 small beet- peeled
arugula
1/4 c parsley or cilantro- chopped*
2/3 c mixed nuts and seeds (walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds etc...)- chopped
1/3 c feta or goat cheese- crumbled
2-3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and pepper
* If you want to get crazy, try mint, chives, tarragon... every country claims this salad as their own.
-Chop all the vegetables into tiny tiny cubes. Slice the arugula.
-Toast the nuts in a skillet (no oil), over medium heat and shake the pan frequently so they don't burn. Stop when they are a little brown and you can smell them.
-Mix all of the vegetables, nuts, cheese, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
-Serve pretty quickly, no one likes old salad.
Spotify has changed my life again by introducing me to LP
It's common knowledge that I'm a sucker for whistling.
I also broke tradition and didn't make a pumpkin pie.
Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Candied Walnuts (Hannah's own creation)
Bread Pudding
1 loaf of Raisin Bread from Wild Oven (or another loaf that's not as awesome)- cut into 1 inch cubes, sort of stale.
1 c heavy cream
1/2 c whole milk
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
pinch of ground cloves
2 TBSP bourbon (optional) (but not really)
Candied Walnuts (see below)
-Preheat oven to 350. Put the rack in the middle.
-Melt butter in an 8 in pan while the oven is preheating. Once it's melted, take out the pan and toss the bread in the butter, take out a handful of cubes.
-Whisk all the rest of the ingredients (except the walnuts). Pour over the bread cubes, sprinkle with the candied walnuts and the left over bread cubes (to make it crunchy)
-Bake until the custard is set, about 25-30 mins.
-Try to convince everyone that it's better than pumpkin pie.
Candied Walnuts
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 c raw walnut halves
1/8 tsp sea salt
-Toast the walnuts (350 oven for about 5 mins).
-Put the sugar in a medium sized sauce pan with a thick bottom. Cook the sugar on medium high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until all the sugar has melted and turned an amber color (this will take much longer than you think it should. You didn't mess it up, I promise).
-Once the sugar is ready, throw in the walnuts and toss until covered. Pour out onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. WORK QUICKLY! Use 2 forks to separate the walnuts from each other, sprinkle with salt and let cool.
Did I tell you that I saw ANDREW BIRD at Riverside Chapel!
'Cause I did.
I also discovered a few blog posts he did for the NYT back in 2008 and fell in love for the 8th time.
This is the winter of hard pickin', soul wrenchin', vocal cord blastin' bluegrass/blues/country and I have to pay tribute to the song that started it all.
It all started back in the Allen Marine summers and I haven't gotten sick of it yet. I actually just sang this today to a kid I'm nannying.
Plus, Old Crow Medicine Show, Mumford and Sons (ugh) and Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zero's were all in a film called "Big Easy Express" where they rode the rails between San Francisco and New Orleans, playing concerts along the way. Hipster is now taking us back to the 1890s and I couldn't be more stoked.
Happy Holiday's KDP fans (Mom, did I send you a card?)
I'm having a war on Christmas this year.
I'm working a lot and taking latkes (and drinking driedel) to an Orphan Christmas Party and avoiding all work parties like the plague. I believe that this is an acceptable response to not going home or being with family this year.
I'll see a movie (let's be honest, I'm seeing Les Miz ("The Mopes" in English), eat some Chinese food and sleep until January 2nd.
Only someone who either loved or eternally hated Christmas could do what Sufjan Steven's has done with his SECOND epic 5 volume Christmas box set.
And it is a fine line between love and hate. A very very fine line.
My latest cooking devotion has been to this book, An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler, who believes that the ends of meals inspire and feed the next one and that we don't make mistakes in the kitchen, we create an experiment. The book is about cooking with grace, trust and economically. Below are some of the pictures I've taken while following this principal.
The basic premise is that you should be using everything when cooking- the ends of bread, the rinds of cheese, the stems of kale and in a mixture of life advice and recipes, Tamar Adler seeks a world where people pay attention to what they eat, why they are eating and how their food is prepared.
I did this for like a week.
It was a good week though, a very full fridge week.
The idea is that you buy all of your greens and fruit at the farmers market and cook it the day of, so that you have things to play with throughout the week that are already prepared. You spend a few hours slaving over a hot stove and in return, can take beet sandwiches to work! It's a fantastic idea and I wish I had more time to do this.
I came away from that week with stem/core pesto, roasted beets, the best omelet I've ever made, bean soup stock, roasted pine nuts, an appreciation for red wine vinegar and more awareness around how to love and care for the food we use to fuel ourselves.
Plus, An Everlasting Meal has entire chapters devoted to how to treat your eggs (the ones from chickens), how to boil water, how to set a table, ideas for sauces, vinegars and the trust that you'll be okay, no matter what you do.
Also, I made Hot Sauce!
Take 1 lb of stemmed fresh chilies and 2 Tbsp kosher salt.
Mix in a food processor until it's a puree.
Put in a glass jar and let ferment for about 12 hours at room temp. Make sure that the top of the jar isn't tightly screwed on.
Add in 1 1/2 c distilled white vinegar, loosely screw on the top.
Let sit for at least 1 day and at most 2 weeks. Try it along the way to see if it's to your liking.
Put the mixture in the food processor and blend until smooth.
Strain it through a sieve and store in the fridge for up to 4 months.
Well Spotify, you've done it again. You know more about the music that I'll like than I do. I'm continually in debt to your musical algorithm that introduces me to artists like Justin Townes Earle
The son of Steve Earle, he's embraced the soul in bluegrass and putting blues back in country music. Wrapped up in the sound are heartfelt and wrenching stories. I crave to hear him live,at a dive bar, preferably with a dance partner.
Only goal for the new year is to do just that.
Maybe the holidays away from Juneau makes me just a tad homesick (if you couldn't tell...), but I've been devouring bluegrass/Americana/blues music like it's my job. There are no problems with this, it's perfect Sunday listening.
Plus he kind of sounds like Elvis (if he "kicked a gospel choir in the butt" in this one and that makes me all a-twitter.
I'm cooking things in parchment paper.
It's the classier version of hobo packets, which can be found here. Tomato Basil Sauce with Polenta (from Bon Appetit)
-Preheat oven to 425. Brush a baking sheet with oil and put polenta rounds on it.
- Chop half of the tomatoes in a food processor. Cut the remaining tomatoes in half. Combine all the tomatoes in a bowl with 4 tbsp oil, garlic, shallot, salt, pepper and basil. Toss.
- Use 3 big sheets of parchment paper (don't use foil, it doesn't like tomatoes). Spoon the tomato mix onto the parchment paper (all 3 should be layered) and fold the parchment over the mix, crimp the edges to form a sealed packet.
- Throw the packets in the oven on a baking sheet. Throw the polenta in too, turn the rounds once until they are lightly brown and the tomatoes are saucy, 25-30 mins. (It's possible to cook both of these on a grill too). Spoon the tomato sauce over the polenta.
Gourmet hobo packs are well accompanied with the new Avett Brothers album, "The Carpenter", which officially drops on September 11th (it's on NPR first listen).
If you ever feel the urge the ditch everything and ride the rails (moving up by bucket list), you'll be eating a lot of hobo packets and singing the blues that are on this album.
This one isn't really a "sit in a hammock, drink pbr and cry" CD. Avett Bros are breaking out of their genre!
I'm sensing a trend in my posts. I blog about how much I miss a various meat product and then I try to recreate that with vegetables, tofu, seitan or tempeh. And also ignore the needling comments about how eating meat again would make everything much easier.
Usually these experiments fail, but this "chicken" salad is a winner!
It should be noted though, the only reason why I like chicken and egg salad is because of the mayo, and this has that!
Winner Winner "chikin" dinner!
Tofu Salad (From The Moosewood)
1 cake firm tofu
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp Braggs Amino's
1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp white miso
3 tbsp tahini
1/3 c mayo
2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
1 1/2 c carrots- peeled and grated
1 1/2c red bell pepper- dices
1 1/2 c celery- diced
1/3 c green onion- chopped
1 tbsp fresh dill
salt and pepper to taste
- Crumble the tofu (it helps if it's been frozen and then thawed). Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Cook the tofu, stirring constantly, until dry, about 5 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce and lemon juice and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
Someone got Instagram...
-Whisk the miso, tahini, mayo and mustard in a bowl. Add carrots, bell peppers, celery, scallions, herbs and tofu. Let sit and get juicy for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
-Try not to eat it all at once, it's supposed to last for a weeks worth of meals.
Right before my Spotify (now it's just like Pandora..epic fail) trial ran out, I listened to Citizen Cope's newest album, One Lovely Day
I vividly remember my first (and only) Citizen Cope concert. It was at WWU, everyone was embracing the dreadlocks and expressing themselves through the hippy bump and grind. I couldn't dance (still can't), wasn't brave enough to dread my hair and remember being appalled and scandalized that people were smoking INSIDE!
I wasn't much fun in college.
So his new album shows that he has aged into the urban folk category. It's pure, updated Americana, a mesh of RnB, acoustic, blues and folk. It's a little slower, more laid back and more complex sounding than his earlier stuff. One Lovely Day now solidly rockets Citizen Cope into into the DSSJ category (ask Val what that means).
It's a good summer album, it's perfect for grilling on a deck, rocking the day drunk and experimenting with your own hippy bump and grind. I may not have gotten better at dancing, but I've learned the art of not giving a damn.
A nutritionist recently told me that it was easy to make your own garden burgers, soy links, vege sausages etc... and I believed her.
Never going back.
Chipotle Black Bean and Millet Burgers
1 c millet
2 cans black beans
1 c frozen corn
1 red onion
4 garlic cloves
4 dried Serrano chilies- Put them in hot water for 15 mins, then de-seed
4 Tbsp chopped cilantro
2 eggs
-Cook the millet. (bring 3 c of water to boil, add millet and let simmer for 30 mins. Fluff with fork).
-In a food processor, combine red onion and garlic. Process until chopped.
-Put 2 Tbsp olive oil in a pan. Saute onions, garlic and corn for about 5 mins.
-Put black beans, cilantro, chilies in the food processor. Process until smooth.
-In a large bowl, mix onion stuff, black bean stuff and millet.
-Make patties with your hands (if you don't know what a hamburger patty looks like...I can't help you).
-To Freeze- put parchment paper on a baking sheet. Put the patties on it. Freeze until they're solid, then you can put the millet hockey pucks in a bag and cook later.
-To cook- fry up in a pan, broil at high, grill (if you have one).
Here's my only issue.
The draw of pre-made vegetable sausages etc... is just that. They are pre-made by someone else. I don't have the time to swear off convenience foods. But I'm going to pretend I do for a little while.
I fear this "make all my own food" experiment may begin to go too far. Too far and too tasty.
ALSO,
I feel the need to name my food processor. I'll make dinner for whoever comes up with the best one. All I've got right now is Ralph or Otis.
ALABAMA SHAKES!!!
Totally my jams. Completely and utterly.
They've got major soul, major grit, major sound, but with a raw, homemade quality.
Listen to this album, they are going to be huge from now on, meaning they won't ever be this un-produced again.
Their album "Boys and Girls" (released in April) inspires "Dirty Dancing" esque moves in my kitchen. It's like Swayze is back from the grave.
They're simple, delicious and so organic you can still taste the dirt.
The only downside is the cost, at $1.30 per bar or over 20 bucks for a box of 15, these once were a special, "I've been a good girl", "I went to the gym today (yesterday, last week, will go tomorrow etc)" treat.
But no longer!
I figured that with so few ingredients, they would be pretty easy to make.
Year 2 means a new leaf with the KDP experiments! They work!
I also had some awesome cookie cutters, of the ninja and Alaskan animals variety.
So now my afternoon snack is made even better by being in the shape of a whale.
Almond Cookie- makes 6 ninja's
1/2 c pitted whole dates
1/2 c pitted whole prunes
1/2 c almonds
1 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp coconut oil
dash of sea salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
Cuckoo for Coconut- makes 6 whales
1/2 c pitted whole dates
1/2 c pitted whole prunes
1/2 c almonds
1 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp coconut oil
dash of sea salt
1/4 c dried coconut
Pumpkin Pie- makes 6 squirrels
1/2 c pitted whole dates
1/2 c pitted whole prunes
1/2 c almonds
1/3 c pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
dash of sea salt
-Place the dates and prunes in the food processor, blend until it's a paste and put in a bowl.
-Add the nuts and seeds to the processor and blend until finely chopped (stop before it's a flour). Dump in the bowl
-Add the nuts, sea salt, coconut oil and spices to bowl, Knead the nuts into the paste
-Transfer to a surface covered with plastic wrap. Shape into bars (I used cookie cutters, you can also roll into a ball, if you aren't as awesome as I am). Wrap individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to eat (Let set for 20 mins in the fridge before eating).
Be warned, the process does make a mess.
That's a porcupine. It's an Alaska thing.
The flavor options are endless. Here are some of the other Lara flavors, but you can really throw whatever you want in there. Just get some dried fruit, spices, nuts, nut butter, chocolate chips and go to town.
Apple Pie
Banana Bread
Blueberry Muffin
Carrot Cake
Cherry Pie
Pecan Pie
Tropical Fruit Tart
Peanut Butter Cookie
Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie
Ginger Snap
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Lemon Bar
Coconut Cream Pie
Cashew Cookie
Get your kitchen dance on to this:
Carolina Chocolate Drops new album, Leaving Eden came out in February.
I'm still listening to it everyday.
Now granted, the sounds of the CCD's are completely and utterly my jams, but there is a raw, unprocessed, jam session quality to this CD that is really lovely. It really takes me back to being at the Alaskan Folk Fest, a Juneau relic that I missed and pinned for this year.
They are experimenting more and more with meshing their old time, black string band sound with beat boxing. It's interesting and gives them an update, I just fear that this gimmick will become too over used.
Check them out, they are definitely on the cusp of the bringing back the Americana Roots movement, with a modern spin.
