Awen's Post Holi Paella + Middle Eastern Aubergine Salad

POST HOLI PAELLA
Redondo/Arborio Rice
Rainbow-coloured cauliflower
Artichokes
Frozen pea
Rocket+Spinach leftovers (mine were almost expired)
Veggie broth
Lemon juice
Salt
Rosemary+black cardadamom (these were cheating, real, Levante-style paella has no flavouring ingredients or spices, but after earning a reputation for my vegan paella in my Madrilenian years, I decided I can cheat)

Stir-fry the cauliflower and artichokes. Stir-fry the rice for a minute or until the grain is white (that isn't the traditional way, in Levante they don't stir-fry the rice--they just add it later on to the boiling broth, but I'm Veneto-Brazilian and as I said, because of I passed the paella test in Spain, I am entitled to cheat). Pour water to cover stir-fry, add broth, juice, the leaves and the pea. Add the rest to taste. Bring to a boil, then simmer until rice has soaked almost all of the liquid. Serve with oven-roasted onion rings.

MIDDLE EASTERN AUBERGINE SALAD
(my own invention inspired by something Arpad ordered at the Kebap place next to the gay sauna in Budapest last weekend)

Yellow peas from the can, or chickpea
Diced aubergines
Salt
Olive oil (Don't overdo! Aubergines absorb a lot of oil, they won't get greasy).

Dressing:
1/2 cup HONEST Tahini
2/3 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 clove of garlic, chopped
Cilantro leaves, fresh and in abundance

Mix aubergines with salt and oil. Roast them in the oven at 175C/350F (I had the oven fan on) until aubergine is soft and golden-brown. Leave outside the window so the Beast from the East cools it down (but bring it back in before it freezes!). Mix the dressing ingredients. Mix them together with the yellow peas, and store. Pour the dressing over the base the next day, preferably just before eating.

Madeline's real Alecha

Eritrean alecha (based on an original recipe from Eritta)

Ingredients
...
* 2-3 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 cup red or white onion, chopped (optional: 1 1/2 cup chopped cabbage)
* 2 cups yellow or red split peas
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
* 5 cups water
* 4 pods cardomom (crush)
* 5 grains whole black pepper (crush)
* Salt to taste

Procedure

1. Pour oil into a large pot and place over medium heat.
2. Add onion, stirring often, (add optional cabbage half-way through) until golden brown.
3. Add all other ingredients.
4. Cook over medium heat until the veges are tender. Adjust pepper, salt, and other spices to taste. Check that it does not run out of water or burn, stir occasionally and add more water if needed. Consistency should be thick but not dry.
5. Serve with Injera, (‘Injera’ is special fermented pancake but you can also prepare your own unsweetened pancake without egg and served with drizzle of lemon)

Sergio's Napoletan Pizza

All Together !!

Last week, we organized not a pizza workshop, but a Neapolitan pizza workshop. If you don't know, the secret of a good pizza , try to remember, is the simplicity of a well leavened dough, well prepared and well cooked: whatever you put above is sparing quantity and good quality.

The ingredients for a good mix are as follows:

- 1 l. water
- 2 kg of flour
- 20 g of fresh yeast (7 of the dry)
- 50 g of salt

The quantities may be increased or decreased according to need, as well as the yeast is reduced if the ambient temperature is above 23-25C( like in summer).

A mixture obtained according to the recipe would produce 3.070 kg of pasta ready enough to prepare 4 pans from oven to a suitable home.

To make the dough, either carry two containers in which in each one you pour half of the flour . Divide as well the water in two containers where you will dissolve in one the salt and the yeast in the other. Pour the saline solution in a container of flour and the yeast solution in the other one. Stir separately until the two mixtures are substantial, then combine the two mixtures and continue to stir until the dough will be smooth, velvety and moist correctly.

Pizza with Pistacchio Pesto

At this point the dough can be cut to form little portion with the weight desired depending on the thickness of pizza that you want to have after cooking. Before the leavening, you can put the dough in the fridge at 2-6C to proceed to the maturation of the dough, according to the fridge temperature, there are respectively 24 to 6-8 hours. For the leavening, it is important to make the little portion of dough rest for about 3 hours at constant temperature (23 ° C). If the dough has been in the fridge to mature for a quick rise, after removing from refrigerator, stir it a bit before to start the leavening phase.

Pizza with Fresh Egg

Now start the artistic part, which is stretching the pizza and coat it with your favorites ingredients.... Here, the leavened dough must be stretched out with finger pressure to obtain a homogeneous layer that reaches the sides of the container, which of course, should be lightly oiled before laying the dough.

Sweet Pizza (Nutella - Raspberries marmelade)

The last operation (baking) is the most important as it allows, if properly executed, enhances the entire products quality.

In the home oven, the baking temperature will be around 250 ° C for a period ranging between 12-15 minutes.

Moreover, it is important that the cooking should happen in two different times:

- Bake for about 8-10 minutes just the dough with tomato over, if red, or just coated with oil, if white.

- Remove the pan from the oven, make the stuffing according to the recipe you want to achieve, then put the pan in the oven to finish cooking the pasta and ingredients with the remaining time.

If you want to taste the perfume and fragrance in all its intensity, the pizza must be consumed fresh from the oven.

Now enjoy the results.... the lucky persons to enjoy this event were Awen, Melanie, Alex, Giuliana, Antonello (our nearly neapolitan advisor), Kike and Demetrio (which did a wonderful sicilian pistacchio pesto... which is the base for a pizza typical from Catania).

Björn's Europride'09 chocolate cookies

Björn brought this to the Couchsurfing float Jonas organised for Europride'09 in Zürich. It was really good, and I've been waiting for this recipe for many months. It was a pretty nice birthday gift when Björn translated it and sent me on a message. :)

Naomi's Chocolate Macaroons

200g ground almonds
200g sugar
160g chocolate powder

Mix in bowl.

3 egg whites

Whisk until stiff and add to bowl. Mix everything with a fork until the dough looks moist.

Make walnut-sized dollops on non-stick griddle. Dough should be sufficient for two griddles of 30 dollops each.

Bake for *exactly* 13 minutes in pre-heated oven at *exactly* 170 degrees Celsius. Dollops will assume cookie shape and should still be very soft when taken out of the oven.

Enjoy!

Madeline's Cuban-style Black Beans

FRIJOLES NEGROS (BLACK BEANS), ESTILO CUBANO

1 can of cooked black beans (400ml? 10oz?)
2 Tbs. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled, finely chopped
1/2 onion, peeled and finely chopped
¼ C. sweet green pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1/3 tsp. vegetable bouillon cube or powder
1 pinch ground pepper
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1 pinch dried oregano, crushed
1/2 tbsp. sugar
1 bay leaves
1 1/2 tbsp. cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt (optional, to taste)

1. In a skillet, heat olive oil and gently sauté garlic, onions, and chili peppers for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (If you are lazy to chop things like me, I blended the onions, garlic and pepper into a paste and sautéd this, You have to stir more often and watch out so it does not burn or dry out. More oil may be needed)

2. Add the can of cooked black beans (with juices) and mash together (just a bit) with the rest of the ingredients in skillet. Add the pepper, oregano, cumin, sugar, bouillon, and bay leaves (and salt at the end if needed, after tasting). Add ¼ cup water to keep the sauce from evaporating.

3. Cover and simmer 8 minutes on low heat. Add Vinegar, cover, and cook over low heat for another 2 minutes. Uncover and cook until sauce thickens as desired; add more
water if required. Serve with hot cooked brown or white rice, fried plantains, and sliced avocado, garnished with a slice of lemon. ☺

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Posting this at Awen's request. (Hi, all!)

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash, quartered and seeded
2 medium (large? I don't know, about tennis ball sized) onions, peeled and quartered
1 large or 2 small apple(s), cored, peeled and diced
1 medium head garlic, minced
6 C vegetable broth
1 t. brown sugar
1 bay leaf
1.5 T curry powder or more. I'm a big fan of curry, so I think I put in 2.5 T or something like that
1/2 t. dried oregano
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger (N.B. this is necessary in my house: my sister is allergic to ginger, so there isn't any in our curry. Yours probably has some already.)
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
A touch of chili or cayenne pepper powder. Juuust enough to give it a little extra kick. I'd say a scant 1/4 t.
1 C plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 350F. Put squash and onions on to baking sheet. Brush squash with olive oil so it doesn't dry out.

Roast in oven. Keep an eye on it while it's in here. The onions will be tender and ready to come out long before the squash, and they'll start to scorch. When they go soft and start turning brown, pull them out with tongs and put them aside.

When the squash is tender (I think it took me 50 minutes or so), pull it out of the oven and let it cool. Once it has, peel it and cut into 1.5-2 inch chunks. Don't worry about chopping it up finely or precisely; it's going to get cooked until it falls apart and then run through the blender. Chop the onion up into smaller pieces.

At this point, I threw a bit of olive oil into the bottom of my stock pot and cooked the onions a little more. I like my onions sweeter and more caramelized than a lot of people, so that's totally optional.

Put squash, onions, apple, garlic, broth, brown sugar and all the spices into the stock pot. Bring it all to a boil and then let it simmer until everything falls apart when you poke it with a fork. Make sure the salt, pepper and other seasonings are to your taste and adjust as needed. Then let it simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaf. Once you're there, you can do this one of two ways: you can turn the heat all the way down and blend it to smithereens with an immersion blender or you can take it all off the heat, let it cool and run it through a blender/food processor, in batches if necessary, until it's all smoothed out. If you've used an immersion blender, take the pot off the heat. Either way, stir in the yogurt until everything is blended together.

If you're eating right away, heat it back up and serve hot. Most of mine was divided into single serving portions and frozen. It reheats wonderfully.

Quick Mediterranean Sandwich -- Open Face

This sandwich is so quick and easy to make that it regularly saves me from hunger in a time crunch between work and class or swim practice and a bike ride!

Ingredients:
A very generous slice of a hearty, crusty bread, like Sun Dried Tomato Basil or Rosemary-Olive Oil.
1 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
Olives of your choice, sliced
2 slices of thick-sliced Mozzarella and/or Provolone cheese
Fresh spinach leaves
Fresh basil leaves
A very ripe, sweet tomato (home grown strongly recommended), sliced

1. Rub oil on the bread and spray, sprinkle or brush with the vinegar.
2. Arrange the rest of the ingredients in whatever order suits you. I find things stay on the open slice in the order listed above.
3. Eat!

Grilled option: Add all ingredients except vinegar and greens and toast or grill. Top grilled sandwich with the basil and spinach and a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar.

Not-so-Med-option: substitute Muenster for one of the cheeses for a delicious variation.

(photo to come!)

Bernardo's Fashion Apple Pie

This is Bernardo's take on a very traditional recipe. Since he's a model, he's called it Fashion Apple Pie, and he describes it as "cheap and chic". He's Uruguayan, so he told me to credit this recipe as originally from Uruguay.

Ingredients:

Topping:
5 or 6 green apples
3/4 cup white sugar
1,5 spoon cinnamon
Allspice/Jamaica pepper (optional, not used when Bernardo made it for us)

Dough:
~400g white flour
1/2 cup white sugar
A little bit of salt
~100g butter
1 or 2 eggs (we used 2)
2 teaspoons baking powder
Vanilla extract to taste (we used 2 teaspoons)

Olive oil or margarine to spread on cookie sheet/baking tray.



1. Peel the apples, cut each of them vertically in eight, cut off the cores, and then slice the eighth parts horizontally, very thin. The thinner the better, since thinner slices cook better in the oven. If you want to make it more visually appealing, and have patience to maybe double your workload, you can slice the eighths vertically and then arrange them on top of the dough.


2. Mix the sugar and the cinnamon in a cup, pour the mix over the apple and mix well.

3. Mix all other ingredients, and then mash it with hands, until homogenic and consistent.

4. If sticks in your hand, add more flour. If it's too dry and is "breaking", add a little bit of milk. Milk will also help it rise more and give it a softer texture.

5. The dough shouldn't be sticky, nor make your hands too dirty.


6. Lay the dough on a table top. Roll something cylindric over it to help spread it, until it's more or less the size of the cookie sheet/baking tray you're going to use.


7. Spread oil or margarine on the sheet/tray, and with your fingertips help the dough to cover the whole of the sheet's bottom (fixing and adjusting with the help of a knife where/if needed). There must be no holes or gaps.


8. Pour the apple+sugar+cinnamon mix over the dough. Spread well with the back of a spoon.


9. Sprinkle it with cinammon.


10. Bake for 15 minutes on medium-low heat, whatever medium-low heat is in your oven or thermometer scale. Apples should be tender, and dough should be well-cooked and be easy to dish out.

David's Gnocchi with Salsa Alla Norma

Homemade gnocchi takes a long time to prepare, but just a little bit can feed anybody very hungry. We were four people at David's place for dinner last night, and it's amazing at how full we felt after a few spoonfuls of gnocchi with this delicious sauce.

Ingredients:
~4 well-boiled potatoes
1/2 kg of wheat flour (but try to have more around, just in case)
Salt
1 egg (optional)


1. Peel potatoes with your fingers (it'll be easy if they're well cooked and cooled under running water).

2. Cut them in thick slices, and then mash well with a fork. Lay the mash on a bowl with some flour.

3. Add more flour on top, and then mix with hands until homogenic. Cover your hands on flour, so that the mix doesn't stick to your fingers so much.

4. If you wish, you may add a stirred egg. David says it makes the gnocchi taste better, but it also makes it more difficult to make homogenic and to succeed on the boiling part.

If you add the egg, mix again (always with hands), until homogenic.



5. Spread flour over a clean table, cover your hands in flour again, and roll the potato dough into "fingers".


6. With a fork, chop the fingers in pieces of more of less 1,5cm.


7. we've reached the artistic part.: to give the shape of a real gnocco, press each piece with the back of a fork...


8. ... and roll it up with your thumb to separate from fork, making a cilinder-like figure.


9. Boil the gnocchi on some water with oil.


10. When a gnocco floats up, remove it from boiling water and let it sit on a dish. Continue, one by one.


11. Serve warm with sauce, spices, freshly-grated Parmiggiano cheese and candlelight. ;)





Salsa Alla Norma: Traditional Sicilian vegan sauce. David explained to me the two meanings of the sauce's name. First, normal Sicilian food is comprised mostly of cultivated vegetables and fish; second, it's "to the norm" because when you prepare this sauce, you can never fail.




Ingredients:
1 eggplant, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic (but I'd have added two, myself), chopped
4 carrots
1 small can of peas
0,5 kg of thick tomato juice
Olive Oil
Salt, black pepper, assorted spices to taste.

Stir-fry vegetables (except for the peas, which came already cooked in the can) on olive oil, until all is tender. If you want a strong onion flavour, you can let the onion turn golden-brown, if not, stir-fry it only until tender and translucid. Add spices and tomato juice when veggies are soft and well-cooked. Cover, and let cook on low fire for some twenty or thirty minutes.




Side dish: Bruschette



Ingredients:
1 chopped tomato
Chopped Mozzarella
Oregano
Basil
Flavoured toasts (we had garlic with parsley flavour)
Olive Oil

Mix tomato, mozzarella and the spices. Spread the mix over the toasts, then pour some olive oil just before serving. You may add salt, too (to taste).

David's Tiramisù

David told us that this popular Italian dessert was invented in Veneto by a whorehouse owner. The name derives from the Italian words for "throw yourself on top", and was marketed as an aphrodisiac, and considered an energetic meal due to the addition of coffee, cocoa, sugar and dairy among the main ingredients.



Ingredients:
4 eggs
500g (2x 250g) cream cheese without salt. David used a traditional Italian brand.
Some sobaos (traditional Spanish cake)
Some bizcocho soletilla (traditional Spanish cookies)
~4 tablespoons Sugar
~3 cups of coffee
~1 cup of milk
Rum
Cocoa or chocolate powder


1. Stir eggs and mix cream cheese in until homogenic.


2. Lay the sobaos on the bottom of the pan to cover it.


3. Pour rum over the sobaos.


4. Pour warm coffee, too.


5. Mash and spread the wet sobaos to cover bottom of pan entirely.


6. Pour half of the cheese/egg mix over the sobaos to form the 1st layer.


7. Spread to cover.


8. Soak the bizcocho soletilla one by one in cofee and milk.


9. Lay them on the pan as another layer.


10. Pour the remaining coffee/milk mix on top of the bizcocho.


11. Pour and spread the second half of the egg/cheese mix.


12. Fridge for 24 hours, then sprinkle cocoa powder or chocolate powder on top of it just before serving.