New Recipe notThursday

[sabotabby]

Owing to zingerella's work schedule, New Vegetarian Recipe Night has been temporarily moved to Sundays.

Last night's theme was Fresh Vegetables We Had Lying Around the House.

The Menu
Couscous*-stuffed Tomatoes - zingerella
Gomen - sabotabby
Entertainment - mycrazyhair, neeqdrazil
Ice cream - Ice Cream Parlour of Romantic Angst





Couscous*-stuffed Tomatoes
Adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Surprise!

You need
• Tomatoes. If you can't get them fresh from a farm stand or your garden, pretty well any nice, round, plump tomatoes will do. The recipe called for four. I used eight.

• Fresh parsley—about a tablespoon, if you're making four tomatoes

• Cooked couscous—about a cup, cooked. If you're making the couscous specifically to stuff the tomatoes with, remember that a cup of uncooked couscous will yield about twice that, cooked. Otherwise, be prepared to have lots of stuffing.

• Garlic—2 cloves

• Toasted, chopped almonds or pine-nuts—about 1/2 cup. I used slivered almonds, toasted in the toaster oven, which is brilliant for this

• Basil—about the same quantity as the parsley

• Salt

• Pepper

• Parmesan or Romano cheese for sprinkling on top. I guess about a quarter to a half cup, but I don't rightly remember, because I just grated until it looked enough.

• A baking dish or casserole dish that will fit your tomatoes. If the dish is too big, the tomatoes will fall over and look silly.


Grease your casserole dish and set it aside. Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Slice the tops off of your tomatoes, and scoop out the pulpy insides. Do not discard the insides. Instead chop them into a liquidy, tomatoey, chunky pulp. Add them to your grains, and mix. Crush the garlic into the grains. Add the basil and parsley, and toasted nuts, and mix all this together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stuff the hollow tomatoes with this mix, and put them in the baking dish.

I had extra stuffing, so I arranged it around the tomatoes in the dish.

Grate your cheese over the top, and bake for 25 minutes.

Simple, pretty, and good! This is probably best in late summer/early fall, when tomatoes are available fresh. I found the garlic a bit sharp, and might sauté it in a little bit of butter and possibly white wine for a future iteration of this dish. For this iteration, I also added an off-recipe pearl onion, because I had bought a bunch from the farm stand where I purchased the tomatoes, and it seemed like a good idea at the time. This recipe's a keeper, I think. It'd be lovely with a nice dark green salad and some crusty bread.



Gomen

We had some collard greens growing on the roof that were about to go bad, so I Googled around for a gomen recipe. Here's the one I found:

What You Need:

• 1 bunch collard greens
• 1 medium onion, chopped (optional)
• a tablespoon or so of niter kebbeh
• salt and pepper to taste

WE INTERRUPT THIS RECIPE

"Wait!" you might cry, "Where do I find niter kebbeh in my podunk town?" Good question. I couldn't find any either. So I made my own. You're going to want to do that first, at least a few hours before you attempt the gomen.

Bonus: If you use soy margarine, you now have a vegan substitute for ghee.

Niter Kebbeh

This is the base flavor in most Ethiopian dishes. It is a vital ingredient and should not be skipped. Traditionally, it is a seasoned clarified butter or ghee. Make a pound of it at a time and keep it in a covered dish in the fridge. If made from margarine it will last practically indefinitely. All hail the mighty margarine. (If you are averse to using margarine, it will work in a mild vegetable oil like canola; use about 1 3/4 cups of oil).

What You Need:

• 1 pound soy margarine
• 4 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic, finely chopped or pressed
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, scraped and finely grated or minced
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 4 green cardamom pods, crushed
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 whole cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

What You Do:

1. Slowly melt the margarine in a medium-sized saucepan over low heat.
2. Add the other ingredients and simmer uncovered on the lowest heat for about 20-30 minutes. Do not let it brown.
3. Strain the mixture through a double layer of cheesecloth or other such concoction, discarding the spices.
4. Refrigerate until set.
5. Use as needed in Ethiopian recipes or spread sporadically on toast. [I don't know why you would want to put this on toast, sporadically or otherwise – S.]

We now return to our gomen. As I was saying...

What You Need:

• 1 bunch collard greens
• 1 medium onion, chopped (optional)
• a tablespoon or so of niter kebbeh
• salt and pepper to taste

What You Do:

1. Wash the greens well in a sinkful of water. Drain.
2. Cut the coarse part off of the ends of the stems (about 1/2-1 inch).
3. Chop the stems well and set aside.
4. Chop the leaves coarsely and set aside.
5. In a pot, heat up some niter kebbeh. Add the onion, chopped collard stems and some salt. Sauté until the onion turns clear and the chopped stem has softened.
6. Add the collard leaves and stir well. Cook until tender adding a small amount of water if necessary to help the greens steam. (You might cover for a little while, stir and cover again, until softened to your liking.)
7. Season with salt and pepper and arrange on injera with some other stews.

What I Actually Did:

"A tablespoon or so of niter kebbeh" is not nearly enough, and you're going to end up with flaming collard greens that don't taste like anything. I added a second tablespoon, then another, and then I ran back to my computer and looked for other gomen recipes. I found one that advised using 1/4 cup niter kebbeh, which is about what I used. Then I added four more cardamom pods, another clove of garlic, and another teaspoon of fresh ginger. Trust me, this is a good idea.



Conclusion: A little tough, a little bitter, but definitely workable.