Please pass the peas

Diana Henry’s Uzbeki Carrots

November 18, 2015 Leave a Comment

I like carrots just fine.

They are readily available, inexpensive and versatile, well-suited to everything from roasting, to pickling, to scooping up hummus.

But they are not, generally speaking, all that interesting.

So when I saw Heidi Swanson describe this Uzbeki carrot recipe as exactly that on her website, 101 Cookbooks, I immediately began to pay attention.

The recipe originally comes from Diana Henry’s book, “A Change of Appetite,” and just like Heidi said, it is among the most interesting things I’ve ever seen anyone do with carrots. Somehow, the carrots, tomatoes, spices, herbs, dried fruit and honey all come together, turning one of the most mundane root vegetables into something truly intriguing.

I don’t really know anything about Uzbeki cuisine or even what about it is about this recipe that earns it the moniker, but if it is all as complex and nuanced as these carrots then I definitely want to learn more….

Make-ahead Dinner Rolls

November 12, 2015 Leave a Comment

A while back, I decided to try my hand at making our sandwich bread.

I checked out books from the library and poured over recipes online. I bought yeast and vital wheat gluten and refreshed my stash of bread flour, which I typically use only for cookie making.

Then I set to work, making popular, tried-and-true recipes with the idea that we could slash our grocery budget and enjoy freshly-baked, whole grain bread several times a week.

Well, it didn’t really work.

The bread was OK, but no more than OK. It was never fresh and ready quite when we needed it, so we were always eating bread that was at least day old. And even the recipes designed for busy cooks seemed a little fiddly or required somewhat obscure ingredients. In the end, the return on investment just wasn’t there.

After a few weeks, I ran out of steam and went back to good old Pepperidge Farms.

Maybe making sandwich bread just isn’t my thing.

But these dinner rolls! They are amazing….

Crispy Baked Falafel

October 31, 2015 Leave a Comment

We don’t eat a whole lot of packaged, processed foods around here. I mean, we’re not puritanical about it, but for the most part, I tend to feel that homemade food is tastier, more economical and healthier. Plus, I just like to cook.

At least, most of the time.

But the other night I really, really did not feel like cooking at all, so I rooted around in the pantry until I found a box of falafel mix hiding behind all the jars of dried beans and grains. I have no idea when (or why) I acquired this just-add-water boxed meal, but it saved dinner that night.

It also got me thinking about how much better a homemade version would be….

Egg Salad with Capers

October 23, 2015 Leave a Comment

Our chickens started laying last week. Well, one of them did.

We read that they would start laying when they hit around 20 weeks of age, which was two months ago. So we’ve been eagerly anticipating the first eggs for weeks and were definitely excited to discover the first one, which was no bigger than a robin’s egg and deposited right on the ground.

Altogether, we’ve had maybe nine or 10 pretty brown eggs so far from Calpurnia, the biggest and friendliest bird in our small flock. After the first one, her eggs became more normal-sized and she started using the nesting boxes like a good hen.

We’ve since used up all of our farmers market eggs and all of our eggs are coming straight from the backyard. It’s really nice for E. to be able to go outside, check the nesting box and carry in a fresh egg, cupped in his little palms. Unfortunately, he’s still allergic to eggs, so he can’t eat them yet. Fingers crossed that he’ll grow out of that soon.

Anyway, I thought I’d celebrate here with something equal parts eggy and showy, like a soufflé or ouefs a la neige or an autumnal take on pavlova.

But once I got into the kitchen I decided that a soufflé could wait, because what I really wanted was far more pedestrian: good, old-fashioned egg salad.

You probably don’t need a recipe for egg salad, but I’m giving you one anyway, just in case.

The key to a great egg salad is, of course, perfectly cooked eggs. I don’t think there’s a single right way to hard cook an egg, plenty of different methods will get the job done just fine. Apparently steaming eggs is a thing now too — it supposedly makes them easier to peel (so does using older eggs).

Maybe I’ll try steaming my eggs one of these days but, for now, I’m hard boiling my eggs the same way I have for years: place eggs in a pan with enough water to cover them by at least 1 inch and bring to a boil. As soon as the water boils, turn off the heat and let the eggs sit in the hot water for 14-15 minutes, then drain and cover with ice water to stop the cooking and make the eggs cool enough to peel. Easy peasy.

If your hard boiled eggs have a nasty gray-green ring around the yolk, it just means you cooked them a little too long.

I don’t typically measure anything when I make egg salad and you don’t really need to either, just consider these general guidelines.

So, for today, egg salad, with thanks to Calpurnia for supplying the eggs.

Egg Salad with Capers

Yield: enough for about four sandwiches

A basic egg salad, gussied up just a little with grainy mustard and the briny pop of capers.

5-6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and roughly chopped
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon (or more!) capers, drained
salt and pepper, to taste

Combine the eggs, mayo, mustard and capers in a medium-sized bowl and mash everything together with a fork. I like for my egg salad to have easily discernible bites of egg, so I don't mash it much, but that's really a personal preference.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. You might find you don't need any additional salt, especially with the capers, so make sure to taste as you go. Serve, preferably with lettuce and sandwiched between a couple slices of seedy, wholegrain bread.

http://pleasepassthepeas.com/egg-salad-with-capers/

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