Fresh Chickpea Falafel

Freshly made falafel is, in my opinion, one of the simple pleasures in life (kind of like a California super burrito).  I have made it a few times using a few different recipes and so far this is my favorite.  This particular recipe employs both fresh (green) chickpeas and dried, though if you don't have access to green chickpeas you can substitute in more dried ones, you just don't get the same bright color.  As an alternative, I have seen frozen chickpeas periodically at Costco and almost always at Whole Foods.


Fresh Chickpea Falafel
yield: 4 servings
1 1/4 c fresh chickpeas
2 c dried chickpeas, cooked and drained
6 T bulgur wheat
1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T ground cumin
1 T baking soda
1/4 c mixed mint, cilantro and parsley, chopped
salt to taste

In a food processor, pulse the onion, garlic and bulgur until finely chopped.  Add the remaining ingredients and process until the mixture comes together into a medium-smooth paste, scraping down the sides frequently.  Transfer to a container and refrigerate until ready to use.
Make the paste into patties about 2" in diameter and 1/2" thick.  Press the mixture firmly together so it will hold it's shape when you fry them.  To cook, heat a heavy skillet and add about 1/4" of oil (canola or other neutral oil).  When the oil begins to shimmer, add in the patties and cook until well browned on each side.  Drain on paper towels and serve immediately with pita, tzatziki, tomatoes and your favorite accompaniments.

Gig Harbor Wine & Food Festival 2011

Good times!  If you missed the Gig Harbor Wine & Food Festival this year, make sure to attend in 2012.  This year was the second time around for this event, and I think I can safely say that all of the attendees enjoyed themselves.  With thirty-something wineries, a couple of breweries, and at least fifteen different local food businesses to get tasty samples from, how could you go wrong?

On top of all of the food and (very generous) wine pours, there were all sorts of demonstrations and classes going on- culminating with an Iron Chef-style cook off between Chefs Kevin Gillespie (from Top Chef) and Thad Lyman (from our own Brix 25)!  I haven't heard yet which man won...

Bookmark the festival's website here and keep an eye out for next year's date!

Plenty

As you all know, I rarely plug or review cookbooks on this blog.  However, this book, new to my collection, is worth mention for a few key reasons.  Plenty, by Yotam Ottolenghi has great recipes with lots of creativity, heavily relying on spice blends and flavors that are still uncommon in most American homes.  I would say that this book has been my best buy over the last few years.  Usually, when I purchase a cookbook, I'm happy if there are five items I want to try.  In this book, I want to cook and eat every recipe.  And it doesn't hurt that the photography is beautiful!   

This is a vegetable book- it's not about being vegetarian, it's just vegetable based; and most dishes can stand on their own or go great next to a nice cut of meat.  So far every recipe I've tried has turned out beautifully, with (sometimes unexpected) synergistic flavors and nice balance between different components and textures. 

If you don't have a well stocked spice cabinet, it would be hard to get started with this book.  Most recipes have a few different spices as well as fresh herbs.  Once you have all the components on hand, you'll find the flavor combinations addictive.  I chose to share the recipe below since the ingredient list is pretty accessible.

Chickpea sauté with Greek yogurt

3/4 # swiss chard
5 T olive oil
4 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 1/2 c cooked chickpeas
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ lemon, juiced
1 T fresh mint, chopped
1 T fresh cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper
1/2 c Greek yogurt
1 T olive oil

Wash the chard, separate the stalks from the leaves, blanch the stalks for five minutes and the leaves for two, then chop both into ½cm dice.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy saucepan, add the carrots and caraway seeds, and sauté for five minutes. Add the chard and chickpeas, sauté for six minutes, then stir in the garlic, lemon juice, herbs, salt and pepper, remove from the heat and set aside to cool a little. Adjust the seasoning to taste.

To serve, mix the yogurt, tablespoon of oil and a pinch of salt. When the vegetables are warmish or even room temperature, pile them on plates and top with a tablespoon of the yogurt mix. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and some more oil.

Zucchini Pickle Recipe

Due to popular demand...! 
Here is the zucchini pickle recipe I used- alter the sugar to your taste, I always cut it back a little bit.

Pickled Zucchini
this should make enough for four quarts

2 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
1 cup water
3 c sugar
1/4 c salt
1/2 t turmeric powder

Prepare your quart canning jars as usual (clean, sterilize and hold hot), meanwhile, bring the above ingredients to a boil.

Into each jar, place:
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1/2 t each black peppercorns and coriander
a pinch of red pepper
2 allspice berries

Pack in zucchini slices until the jar is almost full to the threads.  Have ready a boiling water bath, then fill each with the boiling vinegar mixture, leaving 1/3-1/2" of headspace.  If you're paranoid like me, use a pH strip to test the acid content of the liquid- it should be below 4.6.  Top with your hot, sterile lids and rings, and process for 12-15 minutes. 

The Chicken Chronicles II: Officially Teenagers

When we started out on this little poultry adventure, I was sure it would be super exciting, drama filled, and labor intensive.  Not so much!  Since raising chickens has turned out to be really easy (just feed them and make sure to lock them up at night), I haven't had much to write about.

We did end up with one black rooster (we started out with for black australorps and four easter-egger/ameracaunas).  Initially, we weren't sure how we were going to determine which of the chicks were male, but it turned out to be really rather easy.  For a few weeks during their development, we were sure that we had at least three roosters.  But at about six weeks of age, this one just looked like a boy.  We put an ad on Craigslist, and a farmer came to collect him a few days later with a pickup truck full of goats, dogs, and full grown roosters...  He went to a good home.  The farmer was looking for a boy to keep her girls company.

So then we were down to seven chicks.  That wasn't good enough for my husband.  He had built this crazy chicken palace and seven is too weird a number anyway, so he went and procured three rhode island red ladies.  Ten is a much better number than seven.  You can see our chicken variety pack in the photo above. 

If you look closely, you'll see in the photo that one of the redheads is missing...  We had one hen who developed some sort of issue with her legs.  For about a week she couldn't/wouldn't bear weight on at least one of her legs.  We didn't know if she had some crazy disease or something, so we quarantined her for a few days and once she recovered, we reintroduced her back to the flock.  Aside from that, the only issue we've had is a bit of a protein deficiency due to too many treats (akin to feeding your kids nothing but candy and then wondering why they don't behave quite right...).  A few of the chickens started eating the feathers of the other birds- this was a bit disturbing since one would chase another pulling feathers out of it's back.  We fixed this by giving them lots of salmon trim (they love salmon) for a few days.  Now, everything is fine again.

Next time I write about chickens, hopefully it is because we have our first organic homegrown egg...  They are in their mid-teens now (in chicken years of course), and should start laying in the early fall.

Smokin' Hot (or cold) !

No, not the weather you silly goose!  While out for an afternoon stroll my husband and I came across a Little Chief Smoker for an awesome-just-couldn't-refuse price; we've been looking at getting a smoker for a while but just didn't want to shell out the $150 for the one I really wanted.  In the meantime, this one will certainly do!  It's an electric model with four racks and an insulating jacket, I think the only thing this model is missing is a thermostat, but I found an external monitor left over from some beer making, so I think I'm in business!

My first project is to smoke some salmon.  On our way home we found some exceptionally fresh whole Copper River sockeye for $5.99/#.  Crazy- it was cheaper than the regular sockeye...and I figured with the higher fat content, I simply couldn't go wrong.  Below you will find the standard CIA salmon cure with basic instructions on how to get started with smoking fish.  This cure is a little sweeter than I usually care for, but it is a great starting point.

Smoked Salmon Cure- for 3# salmon fillet, skin on

Combine:
8 oz salt
4 oz sugar
4 g onion powder
1.5 g ground cloves
1.5 g crushed bay leaves
1.5 g ground mace
1.5 g ground allspice

• Remove the pin bones and place the salmon skin side down in a pan with high sides.  Pack the cure ingredients onto the flesh of the salmon, putting a bit less as the fillet gets thin near the tail end.  Wrap loosely and cure the salmon under refrigeration for 12-24 hours.  Rinse off the cure with cool water and blot dry with paper towels.

• Lay flat on a rack and allow to air dry overnight in the refrigerator (I cheat by placing the fillet in a cool place and running a fan onto it).  This is an incredibly important step as it forms the pellicle- a tacky dry skin that develops on top of the cured item that not only protects as the item is being smoked, but helps to capture the smokey flavor.  

• After you have a sufficient pellicle formed (the fish should feel almost dry), for a tender lox-like texture, cold smoke the fish for 4-6 hours at 100F or less.  Smoked salmon, wrapped well, will keep for one week in the refrigerator. 

 Or, you can eat it right away, on a freshly baked bialy with capers, red onion, lemon, cream cheese and some leaves of parsley.  Yum!  The recipe for bialys will be another story for another day...

A Warm Welcome to Summer

For those of you who also live in the Northwest, I think you can agree, it's about time!  After trudging through the coldest spring ever (well, not really, but you know what I mean) this sunny day was more than appreciated, and it was fitting that it's the solstice.  As an ode to the coming season and the ripe pineapple I had on the counter, this is what I fixed for dinner:

I topped some white rice and black beans with prawns that had been tossed lightly with some olive oil, aleppo pepper, and curry powder, then grilled.  To give the meal a Caribbean twist, I made a simple salsa of diced pineapple, brunoise of sweet pepper, lime juice and cilantro.  Tasty!