CrankyCakes

Well, no, that can’t be quite right.  How on earth could a lowly little bean puree be macho?  Why, when it’s made into Sweet Potato Hummus by Macheesmo, of course!

I had come across his post a couple of days ago, and because my turn for the August cohousing meal had arrived and I had planned to do a vaguely middle Eastern menu, I had to fit it in.

Then, as usual, I left my laptop at home when I went up to our common house to cook, so I was left to wing it.  I remembered it had tahini in it, I remembered it was spiced, and off we went.

Now that I see Macheesmo’s, I see that I went pretty far afield.  But it was awfully good, and you can now feel free to make one version or the other.

• 1 lb. dried chick peas, cooked and cooled (or 4 cans chick peas, drained and rinsed.  How do I know this is the equivalent?  Here’s how I know this is the equivalent.)
• 1 lb. tahini
• 2 sweet potatoes, baked at 400 for 1 hour, then cooled
• ~1/3 c. olive oil
• juice of 2 limes
• 1 T. smoked paprika
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped fine
• 1/2 t. ground coriander seed
• salt to taste

Put it all in a food processor and blend until very smooth.  You can even get your little one to join in the fun of scooping the beans in.  Not that he’ll try the finished product, no matter that he helped make it and adores hummus and loves sweet potatoes.  No, no, he’ll not eat the result because IT’S NOT WHITE!

Sir Z. blocking the noise of the food processor with his rice bag helmet. Awesome.

Leaves of Green Tea

The summer before last, my mother and I made plans for her to come for lunch one day.  I was searching through the cupboards for inspiration when I spied a bag of green tea.  A dear family friend had brought it back from China the winter before, not long before she was diagnosed with lung cancer.  She had died earlier that spring, and as I looked at the bag in my hand, I felt my eyes grow misty.  I had a napa cabbage from our CSA share in the fridge, and  remembered a recipe for Burmese Green Tea Salad from the excellent Hot & Spicy & Meatless 2, and I knew I wanted to make it in memory of Ann.

Ann was a lifelong family friend who I thought of like an aunt.   She was there through my childhood, and then visited us in Vermont when we moved here.  She and Mark would come and we would go for Sunday brunches and birding walks.  They were the first to show me the snow geese who visit near here on their way to and from breeding grounds each year.  They themselves were migratory friends, stopping here to listen and laugh about whatever was happening in our lives, greeting my children when they were born, bringing gifts and showing pictures of their own grandchildren.  She was a mom of two sons who I admired and looked to for advice as I began to raise my own.

I reflected on all this as I began gathering ingredients for the salad.  The preparation became a tribute, noble and important.  I pressed, marinated and baked tofu to give us some protein.   My mom came over, and we ate, talking about Ann, and trying to decide whether we liked the salad.  It was a little weird eating all that tannic tea, but we ate until it was gone.

Later that afternoon, the boys and I were invited to a playground for a birthday party.  It was around then that I realized I was feeling quite strange.  The kids noisily descending and climbing the slide seemed especially funny, and I couldn’t seem to stop talking to the other moms.  Not that I was inclined to try.  I thought, “Gosh, I seem kind of wired!”

I stopped and thought about what I had eaten and drank that day, I remembered the salad, and did some quick math.  I had doubled the recipe, since we were having it for lunch instead of an appetizer, so that we had each eaten about 1/3 of a cup of green tea, which was about, oh, 18 cups of caffeinated tea.  My mom and I both ended up awake until one that morning; I used the time to reflect on how none of us really gets to choose the legacy we leave behind, or how we’ll be remembered.  It may have been surreal, but I like to think Ann would have approved.

La Phet (Green Tea Salad)
Hot & Spicy & Meatless 2, as collected by Richard Sterling from Renatto Buhlman, executive chef of the Strand Hotel.

4 servings (but better make it more like 6 or 8, just in case)

• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1/4 c. peanut oil
• 1/3 c. loose green tea leaves
• 2 T. coarsely chopped peanuts
• 1 T. toasted sesame seeds
• 1/4 t. sugar
• 3/4 c. finely shredded napa cabbage or bok choy
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/4 t. cayenne powder

For garnish:

• Lime wedges
• Whole dried red chiles

Fry the garlic in 2 teaspoons of the oil until it starts to brown.

Combine the tea leaves and the remainder of the oil, and, using your fingers, knead the oil into the leaves until the oil is well distributed.  Let the mixture sit at least one hour or until the leaves soften.  If your tea is extremely dy, you may want to add a few drops of water.  Add the garlic, peanuts, sesame seeds, sugar, cabbage, lime juice, and cayenne and mix well.  Garnish with lime and chiles and serve.

I love when I walk through the community kitchen here at Burlington CoHousing and see someone wearing the brightly striped apron I brought up there when we moved in.  (Realizing I didn’t need to actually own three aprons.)  Or how my little rusty red wagon was missing yesterday when I came home because a neighbor had it up the path, clearing the dry grey sticks from the herb plants growing in our rock wall, letting the new green shoots of sage and thyme out into the light.

We live close together here, each with our own homes, but connected to each other.  At any given moment when I look out a window, I see Charles walking down the path with power tools or a wheelbarrow, heading for the barn.  Or members of the Garden Committee heading off to mark plots and build terraces.  Or Sharyl and Peter and their black and white dog Ocsy going for a walk in the woods.   Visitors, neighbors bringing their compost to the pile, young, old, fast and slow, all humming along together.

With all my busyness, I can’t do as much around here as I one day will.  But for now, I can share wagons and aprons, and when my turn comes, I can offer delicious food that any neighbor could enjoy.  Today’s dinner is my latest attempt to do that.

• Susan Feniger’s Kochi-Style Coconut Vegetable Curry

Feniger, of Too Hot Tamales fame, returned to India for a visit with a friend, and came home with wonderful recipes.  I’m sure this trip is one of the inspirations for her new restaurant, which I’d love to get myself to.

• Deborah Madison‘s Yellow Peas and Rice with Onion Relish
  Reprinted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
  4 – 6 servings

• 2/3 c. yellow split peas
• 1 2/3 c. basmati rice
• 3 T. ghee, or vegetable oil
• 1/2 t. cumin seeds
• 1/4 c. chopped cilantro
• 1/2 t. Garam Masala
• 1/2 t. turmeric
• 3 to 4 c. water
• Salt

Soak the peas and rice separately in enough water to cover amply – the peas for 3 hours and the rice for 1 hour.  Drain.

Heat the ghee or oil over medium-high heat in a heavy skillet or saucepan large enough to accommodate the rice and peas.  Add the cumin and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add the peas and rice and stir to coat with the ghee/oil, then add the cilantro, garam masala, turmeric, 3 cups water and 1 t. salt.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the peas and rice are soft and the liquid has been absorbed, 18 to 20 minutes.  If necessary, add more water in 1/2-c. increments.  Turn off the heat and let stand for 10 minutes to steam.

While peas and rice are cooking, make the onion relish:

• 1 white onion, quartered and very thinly sliced
• 1/2 t. salt
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 t. paprika
• 1/2 t. cayenne
• 2 T. chopped cilantro

Toss all ingredients together, and serve on the side with rice and peas.

Blueberry-Mango-Maple Sorbet

Yummy!  The thing to remember with frozen stuff is that sugar and fat are what keep your treats from freezing into solid blocks of ice – so when you start getting kooky and inventing your own flavors, make sure you’ve got sufficient fat (cream, coconut cream, tofu) and/or sugar (honey, maple, even – gasp! – corn syrup if you’re inclined).  If I hadn’t already been putting coconut in the main course, I would have used coconut cream in this.  But I wanted to keep it dairy and soy free, and I didn’t want to repeat a flavor, so I added a bit more maple than I otherwise might have.

• 2 14-oz. cans chopped mango
• 1 c. rice milk
• 1 lbs. frozen blueberries
• 1 1/2 c. maple syrup

Blend all together, in batches if necessary, until smooth, and then freeze in ice cream maker according to its instructions

So we were planning a fund raiser for the cohousing playground, and it turned into The Souper Supper, with a few of us mamas making soup and bread and brownies.  We wanted a nice assortment, so Kiley made a chunky tomato, and Ming made a Nepali sprouted bean soup (and dressed us all in beautiful, traditional Sherpa outfits).  And I made this one so we’d have something green without the expense or bother of salad for 60.

20 servings

• 8 lbs. baking potatoes, baked and peeled to whatever degree you prefer.
  4 10-oz. bags frozen spinach, thawed
• 8 c. vegetarian stock,plus optional extra
• 8 c. soy milk, plus optional extra
• 1/4 c. olive oil (not extra virgin)
• 4 large yellow onions, finely chopped
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 qt. soy creamer
• 1 t. nutmeg
• 2 T. dijon mustard
• 2 t. smoked paprika
• 1 t. powdered lemon peel
• salt to taste (I’d start with 1/2 t. per pot)

Puree potatoes and spinach in several batches in a food processor or blender with just a little soy milk, leaving just a little bit of chunky texture.  Have a large mixing bowl at the ready to hold each batch as it’s done.  Meanwhile, heat half the olive oil in each of two large (8 qt.) pots until rippling, then add onions and cook until translucent over medium-low heat; turn heat down to low and stir in chopped garlic and cook until fragrant.  Stir half of the potato-spinach mixture into each pot, and half the remaining soy milk and stock, stirring to combine well.  Stir half the soy mixture into each pot, and then half of the spices and seasonings.  Whisk, whisk, whisk until thoroughly combined.   Add more soy milk and/or stock until it’s the texture you like.  For me, I wanted it just liquid enough to be a definite soup and not milky green mashed potatoes.

Turn heat down to low, and taste for salt.  Serve at once, and for heaven’s sake, don’t leave the second pot on the burner while you go traipsing off with your friends and neighbors and burn it before you even get to try any.  But hopefully if this does happen, you too will have two other delicious soups to enjoy instead.

Just before New Year’s, Mark Bittman posted Pizzoccheri, a rustic pasta, cheese, cabbage and potato casserole in his column.  I’ve been ready to make it for one of our co-housing common meals since then, and at last had a chance to a couple of weeks ago.

I basically followed the recipe, and have just a couple of notes to share:

• Perhaps unsurprisingly, I couldn’t find buckwheat pasta, and so used whole wheat egg noodles, which seemed the closest to the right shape and texture.  Except for a gluten-free version for which I used a quinoa pasta.
• We shredded the napa cabbage too fine, and it probably would have been better coarser … but cooking for 35 sometimes necessitates going for the easiest prep (i.e. the Cuisinart instead of a chef’s knife to dismantle 5 heads of cabbage).
• After a long and funny discussion with the guy at the cheese counter at our downtown store, I decided to not skimp on the cheese.  $55 worth of Italian fontina later, I was having heart palpitations as I calculated the meal’s cost – but was pretty glad for having done so when I tasted the finished product.
• Because the dish was rich, rustic and expensive (what with the $55 worth of Fontina and all), I wanted to keep the rest of the meal simple.  We served a romaine salad with fennel, orange, and a lemon dressing on the side, and a mango gelatin (including a vegetarian one) with blood orange marmalade swirled into it for dessert.  Both worked well.
• The monkeyboys had a 50% acceptance rate on the pasta, 0% on the salad, and 100% on the gelatin.  Just wait until they find out where gelatin comes from …