LEMON LOVE AND OLIVE OIL - March 2022 Cookbook of the Month

[pistachiopeas]

ROASTED EGGPLANT WITH TAHINI AND PINE NUTS, p. 166

You’ve probably made or eaten something like this before. Usually, I like to serve this type of eggplant dish with a yogurt sauce, rather than tahini, but I loved this rendition.

You roasted about 1.5 pounds of eggplant with 1 chopped clove of garlic, salt and pepper, and lots of olive oil in a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes. Using more (maybe much more) olive oil than you think is needed is the key here. I paid attention to that instruction and it made a world of difference, as my eggplant was perfectly golden. Honestly, I could have eaten it just liked that, without any sauce. That said, the simply tahini sauce – tahini mixed with the juice of a lemon, some water, and a big pinch of salt, took the dish to an even richer place, even if my sauce didn’t quite reach “the consistency of whipped cream.” While the eggplant is cooking, you also slowly toast some pine nuts drizzled with olive oil over low heat until they are golden brown.

To put together you spread the sauce on a platter, top with the eggplant, sprinkle with the pine nuts and some parsley (or cilantro). I loved this and the leftovers were great eaten cold for lunch today.

[tcamp (Tamara)]

40 minutes for the potatoes?

[tcamp (Tamara)]

Beautiful. Longing for the day that I find local fresh eggplant in the farmers market…

[pistachiopeas]

Do you mean in the sheet pan dish? It struck me as a long time as well, but it was fine! The potatoes were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

[pistachiopeas]

Me too. These were just supermarket eggplant.

[MelMM (Mel)]

Voting for April is here:

April 2022 Cookbook of the Month - Voting

Thanks to everyone who participated in the nominations for the April COTM. We had a very healthy nomination process, and I appreciate each and every one of you. Our nominees for April will be SIMPLE THAI FOOD (8 nominations), LAND OF FISH AND RICE (7 nominations), and MAMUSHKA (7 nominations). Here is how the voting will work (and CHers, please pay attention): I will create a comment on this topic for each nominee. To vote, click the “like” button at the lower right (the knife & fork symbol). …

[pistachiopeas]

SUPER LEMONY OLIVE OIL CAKE (A SPIN ON THE CLASSIC), p. 201
My kids were looking through the cookbook and insisted I bake this cake. Since Nowruz was coming up and I wanted to contribute something to the meal my mother was making, I decided it would be this cake. That turned out to be a very wise decision, as this was loved by everyone at the celebration.

To begin, you preheat the oven to 350. Lightly oil a springform pan, cover with parchment, and oil again. Whisk 3 eggs, 1.5 cups olive oil, and 1 1/4 cups sugar until smooth. To this you whisk in 1 1/4 cups milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and the zest and juice of 2 lemons. In a different bowl, whisk 2 cups of AP flour, a 1/2 teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda, and 1 tsp of kosher salt. Make a well in the dry ingredients and slowly pour in the wet ingredients while whisking. Whisk until mostly smooth. Sprinkle the top with 1 tbsp granulated sugar and then bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. For me this took about 62 minutes. I checked at 50, 55, and 62. Let cool completely. Before serving, dust with powdered sugar and additional lemon zest. Oddly, the author says “if you have it” for the lemon zest. Since I read the recipe before proceeding, I simply zested part of another lemon for the decoration.

Anyway, when I tasted the raw batter I had my doubts, as it was redolent of olive oil but not much else. When I cut into the cake, I had further doubts about the spongey look. The weird thing is that while the sponge looked very wet, it didn’t taste that way at all. The cake was perfectly lemony, the olive oil mellowed out, and the texture was like a lighter pound cake. I think this recipe is worth the price of the book. I see myself making it again and again.

Midway through lifting a forkful to his mouth (and maybe with some of a previous forkful still in his mouth), my 4-year-old said “this is a good recipe, Mommy.” Swoon.

ETA: My cake did split/crack on the top a bit.

[pistachiopeas]

BLACK-EYED PEAS WITH CELERY, LEMON, AND PARSLEY, p. 123

I made this for my lunches this week. I departed from the recipe by first soaking my black-eyed peas (1 pound) for 5-6 hours (MS doesn’t call for soaking), and then cooking them in a pressure cooker for 30 minutes, whereas MS calls for them to be cooked for 1.5 hours on the stovetop. For this preparation (a salad), they would have benefited from a shorter cooking time, as they were a touch too soft and creamy. Once they’re cooked, you mix them with six finely diced stalks of celery, 1-2 bunches of finely chopped parsley (I used one very small bunch), the zest & juice of 2-4 lemons (I used 2), and 1/2 cup of olive oil, along with some salt and pepper. Per MS’s instructions, I let the salad sit for an hour (at room temp) and tasted for seasoning again. It did indeed need a bit more salt. This is tasty but not extraordinary.

[greedygirl (Lesley)]

I’m really enjoying the reports this month. Unfortunately the book is very expensive in the U.K. ($50) and not available on kindle, unusually. Will keep a eye out for an affordable copy though.

[MelMM (Mel)]

Announcement thread for April 2022 is here:

April 2022 Cookbook of the Month - Announcement

Our April 2022 Cookbook of the Month (COTM) will be SIMPLE THAI FOOD: CLASSIC RECIPES FROM THE THAI HOME KITCHEN, by Leela Punyaratabandhu. Use this thread to discuss your preparations to cook from the book. A reporting thread will be posted on April 1. Remember, there is still over a week left in March, so there is still plenty of time to join us in cooking from Lemon, Love & Olive Oil.

[Phoenikia]

Since I have hundreds of Cookbooks already, and I’m not planning to buy any more right now, since I have a dozen or more that I’ve bought in the past 5 years that I haven’t cracked, I’m planning to participate by using the recipes from the Cookbook of the Month that I find online.

[Olunia]

I have many cookbooks to cook through as well. I will try to participate in your COTM thread next month. But my heart is really in Supporting Ukraine right now.

[pistachiopeas]

CYPRIOT BULGUR WITH TOASTED PASTA AND TOMATO, p. 141

This is comfort in a bowl and a super quick weeknight dish. First step, melt 2 tbsp butter in 2 tbsp olive oil. Um, I just realized I forgot the olive oil? And it turned out fine…Cook 1 small finely diced yellow onion for 3 minutes or until softened. Season with salt and pepper. Then add 100 g of angel hair pasta (broken up into small pieces) and cook until golden. Then add 150 g of bulgur, and mix with the pasta. Add 3/4 cup tomato puree (I used Mutti passata), and 2 cups of water or chicken broth (latter for me). Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover with a lid slightly ajar for 5-8 minutes or until liquid absorbs (I went for the max time). Then MS says to remove from heat and drape a kitchen towel over the pot to absorb the steam. That sounded strange to me, so I did it the way it’s done in Iranian kitchens: I wrapped the towel around the lid, tied it over the top, and put the lid firmly back on the pot (like so). Leave for 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Super delicious! The author suggests serving this with Cypriot sausage and fried Halloumi. I served it with some meatballs I already had in the freezer and the kale/feta salad from this book. But if I weren’t serving my kids, I would be happy with this and a salad. Or just the bulgur/pasta dish with a fried egg.

[pistachiopeas]

CUCUMBER SALAD WITH TOASTED SESAME SEEDS, DILL, AND PARSLEY, p. 54

Sorry for the bad photo. I forgot about taking a photo until the end of the meal. I was surprised to not enjoy this as much as I thought I would. We love cucumbers and eat them almost every day, and I thought this would be a huge hit but it was just fine. Toss cucumbers (I used Persian) with finely chopped parsley, dill, and toasted sesame seeds. Drizzle with olive oil and some red wine vinegar, add salt and pepper. Let the salad chill for up to 2 hours and then season it again. I didn’t have much time to chill it, so perhaps that was the missing magic.

[Phoenikia]

These types of cucumber salads do get even better over time. I make a Hungarian cucumber salad that can last for a week, and it’s better on Day 2 than Day 1

[pistachiopeas]

Thanks for confirming my suspicion!

[pistachiopeas]

KALE SALAD WITH FETA, DILL, AND TOASTED SEEDS, p. 48

I had my doubts about kale with dill, but needn’t have because this was a truly refreshing take on kale salad. I think the key is MS’s direction to chop the kale into bite-size pieces and, of course, massaging the kale (which I don’t always do for the kale salads in my regular rotation) elevates the salad. Toasting the sesame and pumpkin seeds is also important. I thought the amount of lemon juice here (from 1 lemon) was perfect for 2 heads of lacinato kale (this variety is sold in smaller bunches in my city). The amount of feta gave me pause (100 grams) but I decided to trust her and use the full amount, and distributed through the salad it works well! I’m so excited to eat the leftovers for lunch!

[riley]

I know this is not the appropriate category, but I thought everyone should know (if they don’t already) that KATZ is going out of business.

[pistachiopeas]

BIFTEKIA (OVEN MEATBALLS WITH LEMON AND OREGANO), p. 104

The process has been described. I followed @MelMM’s experiment with covering the dish for some of the cooking time and it worked well. I used a 3.5 quart braising pan. I covered it with the lid for 30 minutes and then took off the cover for an additionally 20 minutes. The meatballs were nicely browned and I had LOTS of liquid left. You can’t see it in this picture, but even after spooning some of the lemony liquid on the portions I was serving, I’d guess I had almost a full cup of liquid left over.

I loved the softness of the meat and potatoes, and the flavors of oregano and lemon. This was easy, delicious, and will definitely be repeated. I served it with tzatziki and the Georgian-inspired Greek salad in the book.

[pistachiopeas]

GEORGIAN-INSPIRED GREEK SALAD WITH HERBS , p. 57

I agree that this is very refreshing. I love the herbs - I used all the suggested ones (mint, cilantro, basil), except my basil is a Persian variety that tastes somewhat like a mix of Genovese and Thai. I didn’t have any olives but otherwise followed the recipe. My photo shows the salad assembled, but before you are to break up the feta into pieces and distribute it throughout the salad before tossing everything. I can’t wait to try this with good tomatoes in the summer.