Impromptu New Recipe Night

[sabotabby]

Recipes to come as I get 'em!



The Menu
Rainbow chard: captainmushroom
Udon noodles: corbet
Moroccan tagine: sabotabby
Chocolate cookies: zingerella
Fruits: courtly




These are from captainmushroom's very own garden. Recipe here.


Apparently corbet made this by stepping on it. Recipe here.


I got the recipe here. I had to change some things, though.

طاجين مغربي نباتي - Vegetarian Moroccan Tagine

1 eggplant, diced
2 zucchini, sliced [I like eggplant more than zucchini, plus the eggplant at the fruit stand only came in one size—extra large—so I went with one ginormous eggplant and one zucchini.]
3 tbs olive oil [I ended up using a lot more.]
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced [Nah, that's not enough garlic. I used five cloves.]
½ lb new potatoes, quartered [What are new potatoes? I just used the regular sort.]
1 tbs cumin
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbs hot sauce
1 tbs chili powder
2 cups mushrooms, chopped
2½ cups tomato puree
1 tbs tomato paste
1 cup water
1/3 cup dried apricots, halved [If I do this again, I'll add more. I don't think there were enough apricots.]
1 15-oz can chickpeas
¼ tsp salt

1. Toss eggplant and zucchini in 1½ tbs olive oil. Broil slowly until lightly browned (approx. 20 minutes). [I got confused here because I've never broiled anything other than in the toaster oven, and obviously this wasn't going to fit. Also, I'd already diced it. So I ended up just tossing it in olive oil and baking it in the oven. Close enough.]

2. Heat 1½ more tbs olive oil in a pan and cook onion and garlic until soft. Add potatoes and sauté for 5 minutes.

3. Add spices and mushrooms; cook for 3 more minutes.

4. Pour in tomato purée, tomato paste, and a cup of water. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.

5. Add eggplant, zucchini, chili powder, apricots, chickpeas, and salt; simmer for 15 more minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Add more water if tagine becomes too dry. [It took a lot longer.]

6. Garnish with cilantro. Makes 9 servings. Serving size=1 cup. [Oops, the cilantro went to seed. But we now have fresh coriander seeds—awesome!]


You can't tell from this picture, but guess what? The cookies are perfectly shaped to make ice-cream sandwiches! Recipe here.


See?


Yum!


You don't need a recipe for fruit.






Unexpected dinosaur head!


Stuck kitty is stuck.


Seriously, you guys. Let me out of here.


Monorail Cat encounters an obstacle.

Comments

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

Oh, that looks so good.

(And bah at the evil cilantro soap gene :/ )

[sabotabby]

It was really good. I think corbet won this round but everyone's was excellent.

What is the cilantro soap gene?

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

Well, nobody really knows if it's genetic for sure, but to some people, including me and Fin but not Alex, cilantro-- the leaves, not the seeds-- tastes of soap. This rather puts a damper on eating food from quite a lot of the world, though the flavour's masked in a lot of them (and quite often I just put up with it anyway). I want to like cilantro, it sounds lovely from what non-soap people say!

[sabotabby]

Oh, that's awful! I've only known one person who hated cilantro, but that was because he'd worked on a cilantro farm and had a bad reaction to the smell.

Anyway, the tagine works fine without it if you're okay with coriander.

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

I have this too! = Boo, since I love Thai and Mexican food

[sabotabby]

That is so wrong. I love cilantro and I would hate to be deprived of it.

(Then again, I love Mexican food and I have some sort of an allergic reaction most of the time I eat avocados. That blows.)

[captainmushroom.livejournal.com]

I'm inclined to agree, though your stew was really good. I'd have had seconds, but I have to be careful with quantities of spicy dishes. Oh, and those decadent chocolate cookies... the pictures do not begin to do them justice, with their huge chunks of melty, dark chocolate... Yum!

[jvmatucha.livejournal.com]

Why, it's just not an impromptu recipe night without an unexpected dinosaur head!

Beh! I wish I had more time to cook. Looks deelish!

[sabotabby]

I didn't bring the dinosaur head home. I almost did, but I didn't think it would match what we're going for in the new place. I'm sure someone took it, though.

I wish I had more time to cook. But it's good doing the potlucks because we always wind up with leftovers.

[ironed_orchid]

Yum yum yum yum yum

[sabotabby]

It was very yum.

[corbet.livejournal.com]

My recipe is more of a link. *g* These are the noodles I made. (For anyone tempted to try the recipe, I'll just note that I made a half batch, and that was plenty to serve five people as a side dish. Also, my dough needed almost double the amount of water listed.)

I made the noodles ahead of time yesterday and tossed them with a little sesame oil to keep them from sticking together. To turn them into something other than plain ol' noodles I just threw them into a day-of stir fry of beet greens, 'frenched' yellow and green beans, garlic, and purple green onions, all topped with sesame seeds. The sauce contained minced ginger, tamari sauce, vegetarian 'oyster' sauce, hot sauce, and sesame oil.

[sabotabby]

Awesome! I shall link.

[captainmushroom.livejournal.com]

The secret ingredient is love... and toe jam. Love and toe jam.

(I thought the noodles were superb and will certainly be making use of the recipe)

[neeuqdrazil.livejournal.com]

That looks lovely! I'm sad that I missed it!

[sabotabby]

We missed you!

[neeuqdrazil.livejournal.com]

I had a lovely afternoon and evening of conversations with friends who I don't get to see nearly often enough, so it was worth it, but I ended up having Burger King at midnight for dinner. Not nearly as tasty as the photos of the food here!

[deth-nell.livejournal.com]

Marinetti (did I mention I am a big fan of him?) must be the love child of my cat who I had for 15 years, and my new cat. White on the face and chest like Bob, ear tufts and cheek tufts like Magnus. One of these days I'll get some pictures up.

[sabotabby]

Yes, please do!

I actually found Marinetti's internet twin once, another Maine Coon cross named Dragon.

[lizw.livejournal.com]

The rainbow chard looks delicious! What's in it besides chard?

[sabotabby]

No clue. Yumminess?

[lizw.livejournal.com]

*grin*

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

(if you didn't see it, captainmushroom responded below)

[lizw.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[corbet.livejournal.com]

BTW, that tagine was soooooo good I think I'm gonna make it for dinner tomorrow! I was wondering what to do with all my zucchini. :)

[sabotabby]

Any recipe that uses up excess zucchini at this time of year is a good thing.

[lokilokust.livejournal.com]

i so almost bought a tagine, earlier, but i fear that if i buy one it will swiftly become my only cooking tool!

[sabotabby]

You should get a tagine. I don't have one and don't really know how to cook with one, but it makes you automatically more of an awesome foodie if you can figure it out.

[captainmushroom.livejournal.com]

Okay, it's not much of a recipe, but here's how to make the chard.

1. Stop at a farmer's market in early spring and get some rainbow chard seedlings.
2. Put them in the ground and watch them grow, knowing full well that some bird, raccoon or insect will get them the night before you decide to harvest.
3. Rejoice that they didn't. Pick the chard. Then wash it thoroughly in cold water.
4. Cut 2 leeks and the chard stalks into 1/4 inch pieces and begin to sautee them in some olive oil (or butter) over medium-high heat until tender (about 5 minutes)
5. Roll the leaves and slice into 1/4 to 1/2 inch sections, then add them to the pot and stir. The leaves will reduce in volume quickly, and will be done in about 3 minutes.

There's a recipe at Epicurious, but I've misplaced the link and really, do you need a recipe to sautee chard with a few leeks? Makes for a simple, pretty veg dish.

[lizw.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this! I was wondering what was in there besides the chard, but I don't think I'd have guessed leeks. I will definitely give that a try.

[corbet.livejournal.com]

Btw, made the tagine last week, and it was a big hit. =) Sooooo tasty!

[sabotabby]

Yay! I love it.