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

This looks super delicious. I plan to make it next week.

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Welcome to HO! I look forward to your COTM topics.

I love to cook but have been in a rut about coming up with new ideas. I think you and @pistachiopeas have already posted more in the 8 days of March than I have in the February What’s For Dinner/WFD thread. I am sure I’ll be glomming your dishes!

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This dish looks good. I’ve this book, I’ll flip through it.

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I don’t have this book but just popping on to say hi. :+1:

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UZBEK-STYLE RICE WITH LAMB (NOT), TOASTED ALMONDS, GOLDEN RAISINS, AND APRICOTS - p. 137

The rice dishes in this book look pretty unappealing in the photos. I’m saying that as someone who loves rice, eats it almost daily, and takes my rice cookery seriously. This dish, though, looked like it had potential, and would be easy enough to veganize. So for the non-vegan part, the lamb, I used a TVP “beef chunk,” which I rehydrated, squeezed dry, then marinated in soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and a tiny bit of a mix called “smoke signal” from Charity Morgan’s new book. This was later drained, and seasoned with salt, black pepper, and cumin per the recipe. For the rice, you heat a mix of butter and olive oil in a heavy pan. Diced onion goes in there, seasoned with some salt, and is cooked to soften. The seasoned “lamb” then goes in, and is cooked until it gets some color. Now for me, with what I was using, I needed a good sear on those soy nuggets for reasons of both color and flavor, and so I was doing more of a stir-fry at this point. I should mention that I also used a wider, more shallow pan than I normally would for rice, but still a very heavy pan (enameled cast iron) with a snug lid. Now you are supposed remove the lamb and onion from the pan, add more olive oil, and cook some grated carrots. To that you add golden raisins and diced dried apricots. I did not remove my “lamb” and onion from the pan, and instead just added the carrots etc., because my soy nuggets were not in any danger of overcooking, as real lamb would be. The rice goes in.
The author just rinses basmati rice a few times, and I’m more fussy with it. I rinse multiple times, soak, and then drain until the rice is completely dry again, and that is what I did here. Bay leaves go in, then water. I was making a 2/3 recipe of this, but I cut the water by more than 2/3, as I felt her water:rice ratio was too high. I also shortened the cooking time, but I did have a long rest time after cooking. Toasted almonds are tossed in at the end, and parsley is the garnish.

I did make quite a few changes/adjustments, but we liked the dish quite a bit. I would make it again with the same adjustments I have outlined here.

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SPANAKORIZO (SPINACH RICE WITH DILL AND GREEN ONION) - p. 177

It is telling that this dish is in the vegetable section and not the rice section of the book. This isn’t your standard pilaf with some greenery mixed in. It’s a lot of spinach in a wet rice dish. I was using baby spinach, and decided to forgo the blanching step that is the start of this recipe. I just chopped my spinach up and added it at the same time the author calls for the blanched spinach. If I were using a heartier green, I would absolutely blanch, but in this case, no regrets. You start the rice by sautéing scallions in olive oil with some salt. Dill goes in, then the rice, and finally the greens, water, and some more olive oil. The rice is covered and cooked, then some lemon juice is stirred in, and the dish is seasoned with salt and pepper. More olive oil on top to finish.

This is a soft, wet rice dish, and it is comforting and good. I think my total olive oil usage didn’t match what is in the picture (it wasn’t pooling up), but there aren’t any quantities given for the amount of oil. This was served along with the soutzoukakia (cumin meatballs in sauce).

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Really appreciative of all Mel’s work in bringing COTM to HO. The pictures look amazing here.

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Yes, agree that soaked basmati rice is way better. I like this dish, may want to try.

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The pictures DO look better, right? It’s not just my imagination?

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Fixed. Upped to 30.

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Definitely! They look glorious on this site. (Your rice with “lamb” dish is so pretty that it made me actually want to eat lamb, which I hate!)

Yes, pictures definitely look better. Thank you, Mel and PP, for your efforts to keep COTM alive and well. I hope to join you next months.

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I made these to go with the hot dogs and also baked them. We loved them!

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FRIED HALLOuMI WITH LEMON SLICES, OLIVE OIL AND CHILE FLAKES p 23.

I made this a week or so ago and we loved it! Lay lemon slices on a platter. Heat enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a skillet over medium high heat. Sear 1/4” slices of Halloumi and sear about a minute on each side then place on the lemon slices. Sprinkle with red Chile flakes and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with parsley (or mint) if desired.

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Nice to see you here, Herby!

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I am ecstatic to see names I have missed from COTMs of yore!!! Welcome, all of you, to Hungry Onion, so thrilled to have you here!!

I hope you will speak up with what you need - you have already seen that @hungryonion is very responsive. And yes, pictures definitely look better here.

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There is a lentil-fennel soup that is one of my favorites (*Deborah Madison’s lentil-fennel-chestnut from her soup book), so I figured I would like it. After MeIMM’s less then stellar review, I made sure to really caramelize the fennel well and add plenty of salt. We enjoyed it with the halloumi dish and some assorted leftovers, and with cherry tomatoes for lunch.
lentil

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ROASTED HALLOUMI WITH TOMATOES AND OREGANO (P. 20)
The other halloumi recipe in the book is my go-to method, and I prefer it, but I wanted to try this, and I would certainly eat it this way under any circumstances! You nestle the cheese slices with tomatoes and fresh herb (I used zaatar from my garden), drizzle with olive oil, and cook at 450 for about 20 minutes. I felt like I was not getting enough browning, so I turned on the broiler for the last couple minutes, obliterating my herbs. Still good, but nothing beats fried halloumi. A small cast iron skillet is great for this.
halloumi 2

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SHAVED FENNEL WITH BLISTERED GOLDEN RAISINS AND PISTACHIO DRESSING (p. 52)
Sometimes a cookbook can be worth it for just one recipe, and for this book it is blistered golden raisins, which also appear in a lentil recipe. I have pickled raisins in vinegar, but I have never fried them till puffy and seared, pretty genius. I used sultanas, not quite golden, which I cannot find unsulphured–I’m sure regular raisins would be fine.
Sliced fennel (next time I’ll use benriner) is tossed with those wonderful raisins, chopped pistachios, and parsley. The dressing is pistachios, lemon zest/juice, and olive oil.
This was fantastic, will go in regular rotation–and I have never liked raw fennel before.
I served it with the pomegranate salmon kebab from Zahav, pita, beets with tehina, and halloumi.

fennel

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Nice to see you here! That recipe is on my to-do list.