Burning questions or recipe requests?
|
AKA: Taboulé
Who likes to cook when it’s 30 degrees outside (for all you ‘mericans, that’s 86 degrees Fahrenheit). I just want to sit in the backyard, watch the kid run around with the dog and drink fresh Mojitos. Mmmmmm…
But the mint reminded me of something a friend made for me a while back. Tabbouleh. Yes, the Mediterranean salad. Fresh, minty, cold, no cooking required! Bingo.
And so, the gathering of the ingredients for the requisite food porn shot, began.
Doesn’t that just look delicious? Refreshing? Summery? Yup, that’s what I thought too.
Tabbouleh Salad with Tofu and Chèvre
2 cups presoaked Bulgur (or you could also use cooked quinoa, couscous, wheat berries, etc.)
2-3 cups minced flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint
3 spring onions, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
3 tomatoes, diced
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 of a large English cucumber, diced
4 cups Romaine lettuce, roughly chopped
1. In medium sized mixing bowl, combine everything except cucumbers, romaine and oil. Toss and chill for 1 or more hours.
2. Remove from fridge, add oil, toss and serve on bed of Romaine with cucumbers sprinkled on top.
3. I served mine with some fresh Chèvre and pan fried tofu with a little garlic and salt and pepper.
We harvested our garden last night. Yeah…all of it.
There you go folks! When you have a 4 x 10 garden, you too can live off it’s bountiful production! Go forth and sow your own! For so that you may eat a meal like this one day:
One meal.
A whole season worth of weeding, watering, digging, planting, sowing, babying, etc., etc.
I’m thinking that next year we might try fertilizer!
Roasted Garden Fresh Vegetables
1 Large bunch carrots, peeled
1 bunch beets, peeled
beet tops, chopped
1 handful purple beans, trimmed,
2 large spring onions, chopped
2 sprigs fresh Thyme
1 handful fresh basil, chiffonaded
2 tsp. butter
salt and pepper to taste
1. Roast carrots and beets in oven in baking dish, covered for 45 minutes to one hour.
2. With about 10 minutes left in cooking time melt butter in pan on stovetop. Add greens, beans, onions and seasonings. Cook to desired doneness.
3. Add beets and carrots to pan and de glaze with a little white wine if desired.
4. Serve with what’s for dinner, I’m sure you cooked something else to go with it right? You weren’t just going to have vegetables for dinner. No, that would be silly…..
There’s nothing quite like having friends over for a BBQ. Because, stuff like this happens:
It’s just plain, old fashioned good times. Girls really do just want to have fun. A little wine doesn’t hurt either.
Well, last night was a great throwback to some Southern style BBQin’. We had a little meat, some Caesar salad, Cornbread muffins and Ree Drummond’s (of The Pioneer Woman) delicious “Crash Hot Potatoes“. I’ve just heard so much goodness about them, that I had to try them. Had to.
Now, since the Crash Hot Potatoes recipe can be found anywhere, go ahead and get that recipe from the link above. It’s perfect the way it is.
Also, the recipe for the Cornbread muffins was taken from the package, with a little bit of peppers thrown in and milk changed to buttermilk. I used Bob’s Red Mill Organic Whole Grain Cornmeal.
The other two recipes are original, so you should definitely try them out. They are delicious, believe me.
Mom’s Creamy Caesar Salad Vinaigrette
Yield: Enough dressing to dress one whole head of Romaine, about 3/4 -1 cup
2 egg yolks, coddled
2 Tbsp. Grainy Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 Tbsp. Anchovy paste or finely minced anchovy fillets
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
6 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp Red wine vinegar
juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 Tbsp. capers, crushed
3 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
1. To coddle your egg yolks, boil some water (enough to cover both eggs in a bowl). Pour boiling water over eggs and let stand 1-2 minutes. This will thicken and warm the yolks. (note: You may want to warm the eggs first in a little warm water, or take them out of the fridge in advance to warm them up. You don’t want them to crack when you add the boiling water.)
2. Whisk yolks in large bowl. Add Dijon, garlic, anchovy paste and Worcestershire sauce and whisk again.
3. Whisking as you go, slowly add oil to Dijon mix. You may not need to add the whole amount, but taste as you go. This dressing can be fairly strong, so it depends on how you like it.
4. Whisk in vinegar, lemon and capers. At this point, if dressing is not thick enough for you, keep whisking! Whisk like nobody’s business!!
5. Add Parmesan and refrigerate until needed.
Croutons
3 slices bread ( I used multigrain bread, because it’s what I had, but you can use anything really)
Extra virgin olive oil to drizzle
herbs of your choice (I used basil, oregano, rosemary and thyme)
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Cube bread and place in mixing bowl.
2. Drizzle with enough oil to wet a bit and add herbs and salt and pepper. Toss to coat.
3. Spread evenly over baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes at 350F.
4. Turn and bake another 3 or 4 minutes.
5. Remove and cool.
Now assemble your salad. Pour dressing, toss, add croutons and more Parmesan and toss again!
And now for the main attraction! Meat! I know, I know, didn’t I just say yesterday that meat isn’t big in our house? Well, I din’t say we didn’t eat it! My husband would wither away without meat once in a while. We cut out most meat for cost reasons and then we just stuck with it for the health benefits. But, when a friend brings three racks of baby back ribs over to my house, I ain’t complainin’!
BBQ Baby Back Ribs with Dry Spice Rub
6 Tbsp. Smoked paprika
1 Tbsp. Chili powder
1 Tbsp. Seasoning salt
1 Tbsp. Poultry seasoning
1 Tbsp. Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp. Onion Powder
1 Tbsp. Dry Mustard
1 Tsp. White pepper, ground
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. Cayenne pepper
1. Blend all together in bowl. Set aside.
2. If using baby back ribs, remove silver skin from back before beginning.
3. Rub spice mix all over ribs.
4. Preheat BBQ on high. When hot enough, turn one side down to low and turn other side completely off. Cook on side that is off for 1 1/2 hours. Flipping every so often.
5. When done, let sit for 5 minutes or so to let the juices permeate your meat. When they’re ready, serve ‘em up to your starving guests who’ve been smelling divine things for the past 2 hours.
For a long time I bought my almond milk in the store in a Tetra Pak. Then I thought, “Wait a sec, this has, like, one ingredient, maybe two. I must be able to make this myself.” and off I went to Google it and find a recipe. Well, there are a lot of ways of making almond milk. Soaking, no soaking, deskinning, leaving the skins on. I guess it’s personal preference. I prefer a fast approach. This turns into a beautifully frothy, delicious beverage. I use it in my cereal and in my sons smoothies.
At the end of the process you will be left with a lot of almond meal. Don’t worry, I will give you some ideas as to what to do with it.
Almond Milk
1 cup raw, skin on almonds (do not use roasted, it will go rancid)
4 cups cold, fresh water
Flavouring: Here’s where it gets personal. I use a little bit of vanilla and no sweetener. I’m sure a lot of you don’t like it that way, so add whatever you like to taste.
1. Place almonds in blender
2. Add water and flavourings, blend on high for about 3-4 minutes. (You might want to start by pulsing it a bit, just so your blender doesn’t blow water and almonds everywhere. That’s coming from experience)
3. When it’s all blended and frothy looking, you will now need to sieve out the almond meal. You could use cheesecloth for the whole process, but I found it a bit messy. I used a fine mesh sieve first, sieveing the liquid into the container. I then take the remainder of the almond meal and put that in a piece of cheesecloth and squeeze out the rest of the liquid. This will ensure a very dry crumb.
4. Refrigerate your almond milk and let’s deal with the meal, shall we?
5. Spread your almond meal on a cookie sheet and place in your oven with just the light bulb turned on. This will ensure that the almonds aren’t roasted, they just dry out. You could turn it on at a very low temperature, but I would stick with the light bulb method.
6. It takes about 6-8 hours to dry, so I usually do it over night. When it is dry enough, I run it through the blender again or pound it using a mortar and pestle to achieve a powdery consistency.
7. You now have almond meal or almond flour. You can try my almond cookies or thy this site.
|
Guilty Kitchen is featured in…
|
