BLUEBERRY MELON SALSA (p. 142)
I’m a bit of a purist with fruit, but I had some blueberries that were a tad tart and a perfect canary melon. My mint plant was looking sad, so I did not use a full cup of mint for the syrup but it was still nice. The syrup and lime made this better than its components.
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BEAN SALAD - p. 163
I deviated a bit here. The idea is in the “Ten More Ways to Use Berbere” spread, and the instruction is simply to mix a couple teaspoons of berbere seasoning into your vinaigrette of choice, and use to dress a salad of black or kidney beans, scallions, peppers, celery, and parsley. I used butterbeans instead of the given options, and subbed diced sweet onion for the scallions. I also added a ton of sungold and grape tomatoes, because between my CSA and my garden, I have them coming out my ears. I can’t have a tomato-less meal at this point (I’m not complaining). Then there is the berbere. Unlike the harissa, the author gives a recipe for berbere spice mix, on p. 160 as part of the recipe for fiery berbere shrimp. That recipe makes a ton, so my first though was to halve or even quarter it. But then I recalled the popular berbere mix from Bryant Terry’s Vegetable Kingdom (those of you on Chowhound for Bryant Terry month as COTM might remember it), so I took a look at that. Then I also thought about the harissa blend I made from Mourad, so I looked there too. I ended up making a hybrid of the Terry and Mourad recipes. The Mourad recipe calls for ajwain, which I feel is essential, so I added it to the Terry recipe, and also added some citric acid which Mourad uses. I also included some Aleppo pepper in the chile mix, per Mourad. Otherwise followed Terry. Adding the citric acid to the spice mix is a game changer, because instead of having to mix the spices into a dressing with lemon juice or vinegar, you can just toss the spices and olive oil with the salad ingredients, and you’ve already got the tang there. It’s also ideal for roasting, because you don’t have to add moisture. I used the same berber mix on the roast potatoes I served alongside the salad. I also minced some preserved lemon to go in the salad, so there was some additional tang and complexity from that, although it wasn’t really needed.
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When is your Vegan Cookbook coming out?!?
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I also still make Bryant Terry’s berbere blend from Vegetable Kingdom, and just yesterday I made his Green Rice. It is fantastic. I intended to make the Turmeric-Pickled Cauliflower from Flavors of the Sun yesterday, but I decided to roast my head of cauliflower instead because it’s a great accompaniment to the green rice.
Here’s an outline of that rice for anyone who wants to try it:
Make “cashew cream” by soaking some raw cashews and blending them with a little water the next day until smooth.
Soak 1 cup of rice for a while or overnight. Drain well.
Blend up 1 c kale, 1 c spinach, 2 T of the cashew cream, 1 1/2 c liquid, 1 t salt, and 1/2 cup green pepper (I often use poblanos or Anaheims, sometimes roasted first).
Toast the drained rice in some oil. Add some minced garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add the green blend. Bring the rice to a boil and then reduce to low. Cover and cook for 12-15 minutes, then remove from heat. Allow to sit with lid on for some time before fluffing.
The cashew cream added wonderful body and richness to this rice. It’s a regular at our house; it goes with some many things.
I won’t be able to cook from Flavors of the Sun again until near the end of the month, but for now the Everyday Swiss Chard is closest to a “forever” recipe. I’ve enjoyed the leftovers for several days.
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I just got the book, maestra. And I have a cocktail party I’m hosting this weekend. Do you think this will be good made as a batch? Will people love this?
A little humor from the store itself - I stopped by couple of days ago:
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I picked up some delicious prepared jumbo lima beans from their deli, and went looking for a similar recipe in the book but sadly no luck.
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Also picked up rose and orange blossom water for another HO, and a few other bits and bobs, but it was mostly picking up things and then putting them back because I have something similar in stock already. Temptation island!
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Those beans are beautiful! I would love to just knock around in the store looking at whatever. Would probably buy a lot of stuff I don’t need.
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Folks, it’s time to start nominating for September. The thread is here:
Random bits from the book–these don’t really need a full report, just some bullet points!
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beets roasted with pomegranate molasses. Just wanted to try something different, but to me, sweet beets don’t need this–I prefer to take them in a less-sweet direction.
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zaatar roasted potatoes – a delicious use!
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made the salmon kebabs with nigella again, got a good pic this time!
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LAYERED BULGUR, FENNEL, AND MINT SALAD WITH PINE NUTS (p. 118)
Stop what you are doing and make this. Even if you were always meh on tabouli, as I was. This calls for coarse bulgur that you soak in an olive oil and lemon juice mixture containing Aleppo pepper, sumac, garlic–mine did take the full 48 hours to soften. I plan to try with a fine bulgur to compare.
You also top with scallions, mint, parsley, dill, and cucumbers. I was out of dill but it was still great. I did find that the mint discolored so would add that later next time or use dried mint.
Before serving, you top with thinly sliced fennel and toasted pine nuts.
I only got to eat this once as I was going out of town, and husband ate of the rest and raved. I can’t wait to make it again and try all kids of other combos with bulgur. This is also perfect if you are in the heat wave and don’t want to have to heat anything (except the nuts). I typically prefer my fennel cooked also, but this may have converted me.
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ZESTY CALAMARI SKEWERS (p. 167)
This is like the next best thing to being in the Mediterranean. We have cracked the calamari code–on a charcoal grill, these were easy and delicious. The marinade contains mint, parsley, cumin, and Urfa pepper. Ate too quickly to bother with any arugula!
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SLOW-ROASTED HARISSA SALMON (p. 193)
This one was a bit of a miss for me, but it was probably due to the spice mixture I used. I had some harissa spices set aside–my version is cumin, coriander, and caraway. Where I went wrong is adding some paprika. I thought the color would be nice, and I wanted to beef it up without adding more heat. I just did not love the flavor of the paprika (paprikas confuse me)–it was Spanish sweet smoked.
I also used a spicy liquid harissa as called for. I am not sure the double harissa is really needed. Lesson being, make sure you love your harissa blend before putting it on expensive fish!
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Glad to know that fennel dish is good. It’s been on my radar from the get-go, but I still haven’t gotten to it.
Good to hear! I thought this sounded really good.
Voting for September is here:
BOLD AND SPICY HUMMUS - p. 156
This was a departure from my usual hummus. It uses less tahini than I would normally use, has no garlic, and includes the add-ins of fresh dill, red pepper flakes, and cayenne. I cooked my chickpeas in the Instant Pot. Measured out the amount called for, although I might have been just a tad shy of the full amount. You are supposed to include three tablespoons of cooking liquid. I found this wasn’t enough. I ended up using twice that amount, and the hummus was still thicker than what I usually like. The dill, pepper flakes, and cayenne are stirred in at the end. The flavor was vibrant lemon, and there was a definite kick from the chile. Didn’t miss the garlic at all, and I was even OK with the scant amount of tahini. Mr. MM particularly liked this hummus. The one thing I would change is to add even more chickpea liquid to get this a bit looser in texture. Served with a riff on the fennel salad from p. 118, homemade flatbread with za’atar, and pattypan squash pickles.
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LAYERED BULGUR, FENNEL, AND MINT SALAD WITH PINE NUTS - p. 118
I can’t have bulgur, so had to adapt this recipe. I used quinoa instead, and I went ahead and cooked it, so I didn’t have the softening process that Valadelphi describes above. Because of this, I reduced the lemon juice and olive oil in the recipe by half. I kept all the other quantities in the dressing the same. Because I didn’t need to soften bulgur, I also skipped the layering and resting, and just tossed everything together. Even with the reduction in the amount of dressing, my version of the salad was a bit overdressed. It seemed to go from underdressed to over very quickly. I would reduce the dressing to 1/3 of the original next time (once again keeping seasonings at full amount). It was still a good salad, and I’d happily repeat. For pic see my report on the bold and spicy hummus from p. 156.
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September COTM announcement:
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