The pictures definitely look better!
1 Like
I wouldn’t normally make a dish from a COTM twice in a month, but I really wanted to give this another try cooking covered for part of/most of the cooking time. The briam recipe reported later only increased my interest in giving this another go. So this time I covered the baking dish with foil (well-oiled on the food-facing side), and roasted for 40 minutes, then removed the foil and let it go for another 15. I was afraid the meat patties wouldn’t brown with so little uncovered time, but they did. Not as much as in the first iteration, but plenty, and they were juicier. The potatoes were softer and less dry, more as described in the headnote. There still wasn’t quite a “sauce” made in the baking dish, but it was a softer dish, and we preferred this version.
9 Likes
FASOLADA (Traditional Greek White Bean Stew) - p. 116
This is a very simple stew/soup, with the main ingredient being time/patience. White beans are soaked overnight (I added some salt to mine, not called for in the recipe). When ready to cook, the beans are drained and added to a pot with water to cover by 2", bay leaves, whole onions, a head of garlic, some canned tomatoes, and salt. I was making a 1/2 recipe of this, but still used the whole head of garlic. My one onion was cut in half. I used two fresh bay leaves from the yard. I did break up the tomatoes a bit before adding, as I didn’t want to have to break them up later and smush the beans in the process. This is all brought to a boil then reduced to a simmer. Celery is added, and it cooks for 30 min. Then carrots go in, and another 30 min goes on the clock. After this, you remove the onion and head of garlic, check seasonings, and the doneness of the beans. Olive oil is stirred in. The stew is garnished with parsley, red chile flakes, if desired (I did desire), and ground black pepper.
This is greater than the sum of its parts. A tasty and comforting soup. There was a part of me that wanted to add a squeeze of lemon to my bowl. I didn’t this time. Next time maybe I will.
10 Likes
GREEK FRENCH FRIES - p. 172
I deep-fried these, in a quart of olive oil. This was one of those recipes where I was skeptical, but the only way to find out if I was wrong about it was to try it out. I normally do fries at home with the cold start method, or sometimes with a steam-and-fry method or a double-fry method. This recipe just has you fry the potatoes once, with no pre-cook. The recipe doesn’t give a specific temperature either, just a very vague way of telling if the oil is hot. Recipes like this make me wonder if the author has actually done it this way. It might be telling that the baked variation is much more specific.
So the fries look pretty damn good in the picture. But they weren’t my best fries by any measure. Just off on texture and not as crisp as they should have been. This might be the rare case where the baked version is better. But I make fries on the regular, and these will not replace my other deep-frying methods.
6 Likes
I don’t own the cookbook but her recipe contained within it, Butterscotch Pudding With Maple Whipped Cream, is avail online. Has anyone tried it?
Looks great! I’m eager to try this one.
Glad to have these notes!
I haven’t tried it! That sounds delicious.
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.
7 Likes
40 minutes for the potatoes?
Beautiful. Longing for the day that I find local fresh eggplant in the farmers market…
1 Like
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.
1 Like
Me too. These were just supermarket eggplant.
Voting for April is here:
1 Like
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.
17 Likes
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.
8 Likes
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. 
3 Likes
Announcement thread for April 2022 is here:
2 Likes
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.
1 Like
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.
