Tag Archives: carrots

Mar16

From-scratch Baked Falafel Salad with Honey Tahini dressing

Posted on March 16, 2015 by athaidek

It’s sppprrriinnngggtiimmmeee peoples!! How do you all feel about having a birthday party for spring? As many of you may know, I have a die-hard obsession with Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers movies (the Parent Trap featuring Lindsay Lohan and Lindsay Loan and You’ve Got Mail being at the tippy-top of the list). In Nora Ephron’s top success (if you ask me) You’ve Got Mail, Meg Ryan famously says that Fall “makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.”

Now what would you say about Spring to your mysterious email-pal? I know my friend Molly would say she’d send somebody a package of freshly cut green grass, as she claims the green lawns of UVA made her commit to going to school there. I might say I’d like to take a music box and capture the sound of birds in the morning or the sound of the whistle from soccer practice. What about the last class before spring break? How about the smell of dew hitting your nose as you walk out the door, the fresh scent of lilies, or eating warm ham biscuits with mustard on Easter? Going to Mellow Mushroom after soccer practice, and walking through the gardens at UVA. I love it! In addition to loving spring, I also love a good revival of an old fashion trend to bring back when the weather gets warm. One year it was overalls. This year, I’m feelin the comeback of platform flip flops. Thoughts?

And in true spring fashion, I’ve got a green-colored dish for you all. It just so happens that it’s the day before St. Patty’s as well. This year, I went to Savannah for St Patty’s and brought some Guinness cupcakes with me!! Are you an enthusiastic baker who jumps at the chance to make holiday-themed baked goods?? If so, come hang with me.

On to falafel. Fa-la-la-la-fel. One of my absolute FAVORITE foods, and also one that I haven’t ever mastered. Falafel is essentially a fried ball of chickpeas and herbs (but in this case baked.) Alas!!! A baked falafel recipe worth sharing from Cookie and Kate, a favorite blog in my home. There’s this place that sells delicious falafel by my office called Ameer’s. Every time I go, I try to craft a falafel salad which ends with me ordering side salad and falafel appetizer. Awkward meal, no more. I had heard that to make a homemade version of falafel, it is essential to use dried chickpeas. Well I don’t know if I mastered how to cook dried chickpeas, but I did get a good consistency.

Cookie and Kate says to soak the chickpeas for a long period of time, but I think you are also supposed to cook them once they soften. Mine were a little bit dry but all it did was make the falafel more firm.

Baked Falafel, adapted slightly from cookie+kate

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked in water at least 8 hours
⅓ cup chopped onion (she says red I only had white)
1 cup fresh parsley leaves
3 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Sesame seeds, for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prep two wide skillets with 2 tablespoons olive oil while the oven heats.

2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine soaked and drained chickpeas, onion, parsley, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Puree until smooth, 30 seconds-1 minute.

3. Before you start forming the falafel patties, make sure you’ve oiled the pans because otherwise you’re going to have a mess. Scoop out roughly two tablespoons of the mixture and roll into a ball first. Then flatten the ball lightly into a patty about 2 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick.

4. Place each patty into one of your oiled skillets and drop a few sesame seeds on each.

5. Bake falafel on the middle rack of your oven for 13 minutes on one side. While the first side is cooking, prep your dressing.

6. QUICK DRESSING: Whisk about 2 tablespoons tahini, 1/2 tsp honey, 1 TBS water, a dash of cumin, salt and pepp, 1-2 tsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar together.

7. Flip your falafel and bake for another 13-15 minutes. I found that for the flip I needed some more oil to get a crispy crust. In reality, this recipe may need more oil all around because I never got them to be super crispy.

8. Remove falafel from the oven. Sprinkle lightly with sesame seeds. Serve on a bed of lettuce, with chopped cucumber, carrot, tomato if you have it and some toasted walnuts. Drizzle dressing over top or use as a dipping sauce. Enjoy!!

Nov22

Lena Kaligaris-Bombolito, otherwise known as Greek-Italian Pasta.

Posted on November 22, 2013 by athaidek

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The odd title of today’s post references a few things. First of all, yes, the name Lena Kaligaris sounds familiar because it is none other than Alexis Bledel’s character in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the movie. Meek and Greek, Lena is a beautiful Greek-American teen who ventures to Greece one summer. The Bombolito part just sounded really Italian to me. Hence, Greek-Italian food, leading to the most delicious lamb bolognese!!!!!

Okay secondly, I wanted to reference a multicultural name similar to an establishment in California I remembered from last summer. There was this place called Shanghai Kelly’s which apparently has nothing to do with two cultures but a wildly fierce Irishman. Here’s an interesting story I just found… I thought it sounded cool so I tried to recreate the name 🙂

Please make this lamb bolognese for your guests. Adrianna says this feeds four, and I must say this feeds four people of moderate hunger. I would double the recipe if you were having hungrier friends around. I’m working on prep these days so I’m not making such a mess in the kitchen, and I think it’s working out well. The first thing is, chop up your carrots and onions first. Most of the bolognese recipes I have made before include celery, so I added a stalk and a half of celery and the mire poix was solid. Plus it just looks pretty right? I had no shallots on hand so used 1/2 of a very large onion.

I often freeze tomato paste if I dont use a can. This causes a tiny problem for measuring, but the good thing is, you can add less or more as you cook depending on how thick you like sauces.

What do you mean you don’t eat no meat? Oh, es okay, I make lamb.

Oct17

Raw beet and carrot ginger shallot salad

Posted on October 17, 2013 by athaidek

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What do you do with a ton of beets in a pinch?!??! Well you HAVE to make a version of this salad.

I got on a Mark Bittman kick last week, reading his favorite recipes over and over again, sort of methodically hoping that the more I read, the more of his skills I’d gain. I used his recipe for raw beet salad as the inspiration for this last-minute salad. It was so last-minute that I ate it all straight from the bowl. I have to be honest here and say I’m not sure it’d be worth making if I didn’t have the food processor with a grater attachment. Because hello, beets are SOOO messy. But if you happen to be wearing a large rubber raincoat, Red Lobster bib, or elbow-high gloves, it might be less messy for you.

Here’s my rendition taking from some advice from Mark. So, beets apparently are so sweet that they require a ton of acid. Well, I went a little overboard but it’s ok!!! There’s always room to tweak that. (tweaking, t-w-e-a-k-i-n-g tweaking…Tom Hanks, You’ve Got Mail).

1. Grate 1 beet and 1 carrot

2. Mince 1 in chunk of ginger (peeled) and 1 shallot

3. Whisk together minced ginger, juice of a lime, some shakes of sherry vinegar, a few squeezes of honey, dijon, some SESAME OIL and olive oil- KEY INGREDIENT HERE

3. Pour dressing over beets and carrots

4. Chop up some cilantro and throw in the mix to your liking

5. Chop up some salty peanuts, almonds, or whatever nuts you have on hand. I’d even add chopped ramen if I had any 🙂

Ok so at this point, mine was a little too acidic, so the way I mellowed it out was by adding some guacamole. But really, chop up an avocado if you have one – I think that’s the key addition.

A few nights before, I went to this restaurant with friends where they have these spicy marcona almonds with manchego cheese and chocolate. Holy cow, amazing appetizer. So you realllyyy need to go to that restaurant and use the leftover almonds in the salad, that was key here.

beetsonbeetsonbeeeets!!!

Oct11

Good Morning, Lord Muffins – King Arthur Flour inspired

Posted on October 11, 2013 by athaidek

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I’ve had this recipe for Morning Glory muffins on my pinterest page for sweets for zee lonnnggest time. The crack of dawn this morning seemed appropriate to whip it out. I don’t really remember my dreams, but I swear I must constantly dream about food bc I JUMP out of bed sometimes to make things. Or I can’t fall asleep until I’ve made them. This week has been a King Arthur Flour week for me. I am SO in love with the recipe page on their website, 100% because of the reviews.

I have so much trust for those recipes and am really into their white-wheat flour lately, it’s great for those medium-grainy recipes. One night I couldn’t fall asleep without having milk and cookies, so I burst out these guys way past my bedtime. So worth it, they were so soft and delicious…brought them to work and got some validation.

So, what’s with the title? In my head, I keep saying “good morning lord” muffins instead of “morning glory.” There was this teacher at my high school who started every prayer with “Good morning, Lord” and if you ask anyone from our school who says that phrase, I promise they would recognize it. This one goes out to you, Mr. Lorys, for fully engraving the phrase Good morning Lord in my memory forever. I WILL NOW always make this recipe because ITS SO GOOD.

And you know I often get mad because my muffins never get really muffiny, they look like cupcakes sometimes, but these look like big-ole regular muffins. Without further adue, here’s the recipe for Morning Glory aka Good Morning Lord muffins. I followed most of the recipe, using sweetened coconut and walnuts like the recipe suggests. However, I mixed up some walnuts with pecans bc that’s what I had on hand. Also, I used half brown sugar half splenda and followed some people’s recommendations, cutting the sugar by about 1/4 of a cup.