01.21.10
Turkish Carrot Pilaf
I’ve been trying out new recipes recently – not due to a New Year’s resolution or anything like that (although i have made such resolutions in past years!), just to avoid boredom. The other day I decided to crack open my copy of The Complete Middle East Cookbook by Tess Mallos. This cookbook covers a variety of countires and cuisines, including a section on The Gulf States (e.g. Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman) and Yemen. Have you ever seen a cookbook with Yemeni food before? I haven’t! And if you need a recipe for brains, this is the book for you. I thought I saw one in every chapter, but on looking at the index I only see 6 – but really, do you need more than 6 ways to cook lamb brains? I certainly don’t!
Anyway, this week’s winner recipe was a Turkish carrot pilaf. I wasn’t expecting much when I picked it out, but I knew we had carrots that could be put to good use. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the end result – it’s quite tasty and rather rich! The peppercorns add a surprising punch and contrast with the carrots when they pop in your mouth. A good pilaf has a crunchy crust on the bottom – the center of mine got a bit burned (boo!) but the majority of it came out great. I heated up the leftovers tonight by filming a pan with oil, plopping in the leftover rice, then leaving it over low heat for about 10 minutes – resulting in a new crunchy crust, yum!
Türkistan Pilavi – Turkistan Carrot Pilaf
(The Complete Middle East Cookbook, p 124)
Serves: 5-6
Cooking time: 30 minutes2 cups long grain rice (I had jasmine rice on hand)
1/4 cup butter
2 cups coarsely grated carrots (about 4 medium) (I used the big holes on a box grater, but the food processor might be faster)
1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns (I used 1 tsp)
1 tsp sugar
3 1/2 cups chicken stock (I used water)
salt1. Wash rice until water runs clear. Drain well.
2. Heat butter in a heavy pan, add grated carrot and peppercorns and fry over medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring often. Sprinkle in sugar towards end of frying.
3. Add rice and fry for further 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Pour in stock and add salt to taste. Stir until boiling, then reduce heat to low. Cover with lid and cook over low heat for 25-30 minutes. Remove from heat and place a cloth or 2 paper towels under lid and leave covered for 10 minutes before serving.
01.18.10
So much for solidarity!
Someone ought to send these folks a dictionary (or at least a dictionary entry):
sol⋅i⋅dar⋅i⋅ty
–noun, plural -ties.
| 1. | union or fellowship arising from common responsibilities and interests, as between members of a group or between classes, peoples, etc.: to promote solidarity among union members. |
| 2. | community of feelings, purposes, etc. |
| 3. | community of responsibilities and interests. |
1840–50; < F solidarité, equiv. to solidaire solidary + -ité -ity
Synonyms: 1. unity, cooperation, community. 2. unanimity.
12.16.09
Removing Staples from Feet
If you ever need to remove a staple from your foot – say, maybe you got up to answer the phone and your sock-clad foot found one on the floor – don’t turn to google to find answers. You can find out how to remove carpet tackstrips and staples (a flat screwdriver or pair of pliers are handy – and don’t forget the thick leather gloves!) and how frozen staples can heal sore feet (highly advanced titanium alloy, bunions, radical new treatment!) and even how surgical staples are removed from feet (with a surgical staple remover, of course!) But if the staple is non-surgical, and it’s in your foot, and you just lent out your surgical staple remover, you’re on your own. (Should I soak my foot? But I’m wearing a sock. Maybe I should just yank on the sock? Maybe it started folding up, maybe that’s why it hurts so much to tug…)
So I’m here to remedy that shocking absence. Tip #1: have someone else do it. For some reason, they can just pull it straight out and it doesn’t hurt – when you try to do it yourself, it hurts like the dickens and you’ll probably end up sitting in the chair wondering why you (a) can’t get the stupid thing out, and (b) can’t find any tips online.
Do your part to help remedy this knowledge deficiency! If you link to me from your blog, that will increase the google ranking of this post, and the next person to suffer this fate might find speedy relief.
P.S. Dad, even though you don’t even know my blog exists, I wanted to say that you’re right, I should have been wearing slippers…
12.11.09
Bizchochitos
I’m going to a cookie exchange tonight, and I’ve prepared the Official State Cookie of New Mexico (really! you can read about them at wikipedia! and see the recipe at wikibooks!). You either gotta love or wonder deeply about a state that takes the time to recognize a state cookie. Then again, Michigan has a state soil. I doubt anybody here has a Christmas tradition of eating Kalkaska sand. But hey, what do I know – I didn’t grow up here!
Anyway, this also happens to be a Christmastime favorite at my house and at my sister’s. My mother got this recipe from Cocinas de Nuevo México, a cookbook she got from the Albuquerque gas or electric company in the late 60s or early 70s. I typically half the recipe (because it makes lots!), so those are the amounts I’ve provided here.
Bizcochitos
Ingredients:
1/2 pound (.25kg) butter/shortening (lard is traditional)
3/4 cups (75g) sugar
2 tsp. (10g) anise seed (crushed)
1 egg, beaten
3 cups (200g) flour
1.5 tsp. (15g) baking powder
1/2 tsp. (5g) salt
1/4 cup (65ml) brandy (I use orange juice)cinnamon sugar: mix 1/4 cup sugar + 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Instructions:
- Cream the shortening, sugar, and anise in a large mixing bowl. Add eggs and beat well.
- Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Alternately add flour and brandy/OJ to creamed mixture until a stiff dough has formed. Let dough set in refrigerator until easy to handle.
- When ready to proceed, preheat oven to 350° F (180° C).
- Knead dough slightly and pat or roll to a 1/4 to 1/2 inch (.5 to 1cm) thickness.
- Cut into desired shapes. (The cookbook we had says “fleur-de-lis is traditional” but triangles were traditional at our house! They’re also much quicker to produce. I like to use simple Christmas cookie cutters, like stars, bells, and trees.)
- Dust with (or dip in) cinnamon sugar.
- Bake in an oven preheated to 350°F (180°C) for 10 minutes or until golden brown.
12.08.09
Fruits and Veg
Here are two dishes that combine dried fruits with veggies, and use up common ingredients from my CSA share: kale with garlic and cranberries, persian-style carrots with apricots.
We gets lots and lots of kale in our share – and I’m not that great about using it up. I blanch and freeze some to use in soups, but I’ve been trying to find other uses. Around Thanksgiving (either linked from NPR or from Splendid Table) I found this recipe at Gourmet magazine, for Kale with Garlic and Cranberries. I’ve made it twice now, with two different kinds of kale (lacinato and curly). I liked it better with the lacinato – the curly had a less appealing mouth feel – maybe from the texture, or maybe I used less olive oil that time. To make it more of a Michigan dish (and to use what I had on hand!), i substituted dried cherries for the dried cranberries. Dried cherries tend to be sweeter, softer, and less waxy than dried cranberries (in my experience) so cranberries might make this more tart.
We also get lots of carrots in our share. I primarily use them in soups, but quite some time ago I’d marked a recipe in (wait for it…) Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian. I finally got around to trying it this fall, and really enjoyed it – so I made it again! The original recipe calls for apricots, but I didn’t have any on hand, so I used dried peaches instead. Here is my rendition:
Persian Style Carrots with Dried Peaches
1 Tab olive oil + 1 tab butter
1 smallish onion (3 oz), peeled, halved lengthwise, and then cut crosswise into 1/8 inch thick half rings
4 med carrots (10 oz), peeled and cut crosswise but at a slight diagonal into 1/4-inch-thick oval slices
6 dried peaches, cut into halves (or smaller)
1 Tab sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup plus 2 Tab vegetable stockPut the oil + butter in frying pan over med-high heat. When hot, put in onion, carrots, and dried fruit. Stir and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until all the ingredients just start to brown. Put in the sugar and salt and stir for 10 seconds. Put in the stock and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on med-high heat for about 4 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the carrots are tender.
The cookbook claims this serves 4, but it’s been more like 3 servings for us (that is, both adults eat a serving at dinner, and there’s a serving left over for someone’s lunch!).
My husband suggested one could cut the pieces smaller and use this like a chutney (he suggested pork) instead of a side dish. We haven’t done this yet, but I’m sure it would be tasty.
11.30.09
Persistence Pays Off
Update on a story I mentioned back in February: after taking her driving test almost 200 more times, Cha Sa-Soon finally passed in early November. That is, she passed the written test – I haven’t yet seen a news story about attempts at the road test!
10.30.09
Skater Chick
So that I’ll have a post for October (!!), I’m going to link to this picture of a girl skateboarding in Kabul! My 9yo is very much into skateboarding right now. Our town has hundreds of parks, but no skate park. So many Saturdays, we drive north about half an hour so he can skate indoors at a park set up by a church. They divide the day by age groups, so he’s with kids his age – but it’s mostly boys. Nevertheless, he thinks this photo is awesome.
09.14.09
Don’t tell my kids!
I need to make sure my kids don’t see this news item – I just convinced them that showers were better than baths because you weren’t soaking in the scunge that washes off your body!
08.19.09
Ancient Squid and Modern Zombies
Astonishing news from the world of science:
From the BBC: Ink found in Jurassic-era squid. Scientists found a squid ink sac in a Jurassic-era fossil, and were able to write with it! Inquiring minds want to know: will they be able to use the DNA to clone a squid? Jurassic Sea World, anyone?
And also from the BBC (because as long-time readers may have figured out, it’s my primary online news source): “If zombies actually existed, an attack by them would lead to the collapse of civilisation unless dealt with quickly and aggressively! That is the conclusion of a mathematical exercise carried out by researchers in Canada.” Good to know it was research done in Canada, because otherwise you’d have some (R) senator spouting off about it next time NSF funding comes under scrutiny.
I would suggest you go buy a zombie squid hat in honor of these two important findings, but it’s no longer available, so this illustration will have to suffice.






