Falafel!!!

Success #3 of today! Ok, the peanut sauce was last night. Sometime this week we cleaned out the cupboards since there were some pantry items that had been through a few moves, a bug scare, etc. It was time they left, since clearly they weren't being used. I figured the dried chickpeas would still be good though. I never had much success cooking them, but I knew that to make falafels you just had to soak them, so we decided to make falafels. To go with them I made tzatziki, and we served them with pita and tomato.

Falafels
from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

1 3/4 cup dried chickpeas
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 small onion, quartered
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 scant tsp cayenne, or to taste (I used a tsp, and it was fairly spicy, but a good match with the cooling tzatziki)
1 cup chopped parsley (we didn't use this much)
1 tsp salt (I'd cut it down a bit)
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Soak chickpeas for 24 hours, covered by 3-4 inches of water.
2. Drain the chickpeas and add them to a food processor, along with everything else.
3. Pulse until the consistency becomes even. The chickpeas will be slightly coarse, but it will be uniform. I had to add a couple of tablespoons of water to smooth the processing but don't add too much!
4. Taste and adjust seasoning.
5. Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat...the recipe suggests 2 inches in a deep pot. I'm not really comfortable deep frying, so I put a layer in a frying pan and flipped them half way. If you are deep frying, you can use tablespoons to drop the batter in (less than 5 minutes). I used a small ice cream scoop and then flattened them with a fork so they would cook all the way through.
6. Flip when golden brown and continue cooking until the other side matches!

Tzatziki

adapted from Julie Van Rosendaal's Grazing

1 cup plain yogurt (I used 2% because that's what I found at the store, she also recommends greek yogurt)

1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 English cucumber

Salt and pepper

1. Grate the cucumber and leave to drain in a strainer, or a colander lined with a few paper towels. I left it about 20 minutes and came and squished it every once and a while.
2. Combine drained cucumber with yogurt, garlic, and salt and pepper. I let it sit a bit so that the garlic would have a chance to meld with the other flavours.

Enjoy!!

Peanut Sauce

I completely forgot about my other success: peanut sauce. Now, I know there are a million and on varieties of this, but I will share with you the one we used.

The Stop Community Food Centre here in Toronto is a pretty amazing place. They provide a food bank and drop-in centre, pre-natal classes, after school and summer kids programs, access to information on all the various government programs and help people navigate them, they have a huge garden, and the list goes on. I volunteered with them last summer and in the fall the executive director, Nick Saul, was part of a panel discussion I attended. At the end, they sold copies of their new cookbook, Good Food For All, and I picked one up. My brother also lovingly gave one to me at Christmas! The book is organized by season, so that you can take advantage of what's fresh and either nice and light in the summer, or warm and comforting in the winter.

The recipe is called Spicy Peanut Noodles, but I think you can all figure out the noodle part of this. This makes a lot of sauce...the recipe calls for a pound of noodles, so keep that in mind. We made a whole batch, used about half, froze about half, and have some leftover, perhaps for dipping.

Peanut Sauce, by Joshna Maharaj
1 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tsp sambal oelek (we added more)
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large handful cilantro, chopped (I did not add this)
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tsbp honey or brown sugar
salt to taste

Her method has things added in stages, but I think if you just carefully whisk everything together until combined, you will be ok!

We served this with soba noodles, and I don't think that was a good match, maybe rice noodles would be better. It gummed up pretty quickly. This would be very tasty for dipping though, if you are ambitious maybe salad rolls, if not maybe chicken strips or something like that.

Enjoy!

Recipe Success

I have a number of food blogs I read regularly. One of them is Last Night's Dinner. She doesn't post recipes much anymore, but she does post delicious, inspiring photos. She also participates on a site called Food 52. I haven't quite figured it out, but it seems that people post recipes, sometimes for challenges, then others can vote for them, and they recently released a cookbook with the most popular. I think.

Anyway, I was looking through some of the recipes and came across one called One Pot Kale and Quinoa Pilaf. One pot? Excellent! Kale? Never tried it, but I like new things. Quinoa? Quite tasty in my books. The recipe sounded like a winner.

Today I went over to Fiesta Farms, an independent grocery store that has a focus on local and organic, but does have regular things and reasonable prices, and I picked up some kale. Now, I have this problem when I make things from recipes...I tend to skip lines or not think ahead...you will see where this is going.

The one-pot-ness off this meal is that you start the quinoa cooking, 10 minutes later you layer the kale on to  steam, then at the end you stir in tasty things and eat! The quinoa was cooking away, the kale was washed and ready to go when I decided to look down the ingredient list again. I had not picked up lemon, pine nuts or goat's cheese. Oops! The kale was cooked when I went looking for the lemon juice we keep in the fridge, except the fridge is so full, I couldn't find it at all. I decided that almonds would be an acceptable substitute for pine nuts, since that's all there was, so I sprinkled them on. I then went looking for feta, which I deemed an appropriate substitute for goat's cheese in this instance. Oh feta...we buy a big tub and then use it over a long period of time, using clean utensils every time...sadly, it appears its time had come. I have no idea when we bought it, so it's probably reasonable.

With no feta or lemon, I decided that I would rely on my fallback oil/salt/tart combo of sesame oil, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar. I don't think I got the proportions right, and it tasted a bit odd with the almonds, but it was a good lunch! I have more kale hanging out in the fridge, so hopefully next time I use it, I will have the recommended ingredients, or reasonable substitutions. I highly recommend the technique of cooking the quinoa then steaming the kale overtop.

One Pot Kale and Quinoa Pilaf
by Deena at Mostly Food Stuffs

2 cups salted water
1 cup quinoa
1 bunch kale, washed and chopped into 1" lengths
1 meyer lemon, zested and juiced (hopefully regular lemon will do for us Canadians)
2 scallions, minced
1 tbsp toasted walnut oil (olive oil will do)
3 tbsp toasted pine nuts (I think other nuts would be interesting too)
1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled (I think a tangy cheese would do)
S&P to taste

1. Bring the water to a boil in a covered pot. Add the quinoa, cover, and lower the heat until it is just enough to maintain a simmer. Let simmer for 10 minutes, then top with the kale and re-cover. Simmer another 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow to steam for 5 more minutes. 
2. While the quinoa is cooking, take a large serving bowl and combine half of the lemon juice (reserving the other half), all of the lemon zest, scallions, walnut oil (you can substitute olive oil if you desire), pine nuts, and goat cheese. 
3. Check the quinoa and kale when the cooking time has completed -- the water should have absorbed, and the quinoa will be tender but firm, and the kale tender and bright green. If the quinoa still has a hard white center, you can steam a bit longer (adding more water if needed). When the quinoa and kale are done, fluff the pilaf, and tip it into the waiting bowl with the remaining ingredients. As the hot quinoa hits the scallions and lemon it should smell lovely. Toss to combine, seasoning with salt and pepper, and the remaining lemon juice if needed.

As I demonstrated, as long as you have a balance of flavours, this dish works out well.

Of late...

After spending quite a bit of time watching the World Cup, MLS is kind of like watching children play. The ball spends so much time in the air, the players swarm around the ball, passes go to no one. I realise that some players in the World Cup play in the MLS, but their teammates do not quite equal them in skill. Hopefully as soccer becomes more prevalent in North America, the skills will improve and the games will be even better to watch. I love the quilted jackets the players wear on the bench at the World Cup. I know it's winter and it's cold, it's just funny to see them in shorts playing soccer, a summer/fall activity in my mind, and then sitting on the bench in down jackets.

This is the first official day of my vacation, since I never work on Fridays. It's been a house-keeping, soccer-watching kind of day. Laundry, dishes, sewing. I think tomorrow will be get out of the house day. I've been in a food funk lately, not knowing what to make, being tired of the same old things, not really having transitioned into summer cooking. Tomorrow I'll probably go shopping for ingredients from recipes. I don't often use recipes, but I think it's the only way I'll change things up. I think I also need to write down all the things we make on a regular basis, so when we need ideas we have a list of meals that we usually have ingredients for.

I should go finish what I started earlier...more later!

Fire Alarm

I was happily enjoying my afternoon, about to watch the second World Cup match of the day....when the alarm started. It's right outside our door. The cats freaked out and went in different directions...splendid. As long as I am physically capable of doing so, I take my cats with me when there are fire alarms (well, I should include Daley in this too, since he's usually here to carry one). I grabbed Creamsicle and finally got her in the fabric carrier that has a zip-top so you can just drop them in instead of shoving. That meant that Nessa had to go in a plastic one...eventually I got her in and locked the door.

It's really hard to focus on getting the right key in the lock when the alarm is going off a few feet above your head. I got it though, grabbed the kennels and started down the stairs. Near the second floor a woman was walking up the stairs, and she informed us that the elevator repair guys had done something and set it off, so no real emergency. By that time the cats were quite upset at me and the alarm was still going off, so I decided we'd go sit in the park until it stopped.



This is Nessa thinking about leaving. She tried it once, got over my leg, and then I put her back in. She was content to hang out after that.



This is Creamsicle watching the starlings that were having a party over by some trees. They don't see as many birds from this apartment.



And this is Nessa once she was happy enough to sniff the grass. If getting them in the kennels wasn't such a battle, it'd be nice to take them out more often. I think they enjoy seeing the outside and smelling the air.

The book we are reading this month in my book club, Bookworms, is In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. We chose it a couple of months ago as the first non-fiction book chosen. I've only been a member a few months, but it's been going about a year. Anyway, it's still a couple of weeks until the meeting, and although I can't go, I'm reading the book, and hopefully I'll be able to email my two cents. 

It's a little unsettling so far. I've seen the movie, I know people are going to die, and he's hinting at it more and more. The writing just draws you in as he paints the story of an essentially happy and loving family. Then he mentions that this is that last day such and such will happen, or how the next day people's reports of the day said it was same as any other. I know the turning point is coming soon, and I want to cover my eyes...but that would make it hard to read.

The real reason I'm telling you about the book, though, is it made me think about the new tag line of my blog. I was sitting trying to think of H words, and head, heart and hands came eventually and seemed appropriate. Then today I read that two of the children were members of the 4H Club. As a native Calgarian and recent resident of Alberta, I feel I should know what the Hs stand for, but until today I had forgotten. They stand for head, heart, hands, and health. I had considered health as an H word for my blog but I didn't like the sound of it. Perhaps I should add happiness...make my own 4 Hs. 

In other less serious feeling news, it is humid here. Thankfully, I caught the early bus this afternoon so got to enjoy air conditioning. The later bus has broken A/C right now...really not fun when it's beyond full of all the people who missed the early bus. 

In less than 3 months I will be taking my last 105 bus ride...buying my last $52/week bus pass...writing my last warehouse number on a CD with a grease marker....and I can't wait!!!!