The Cookery - life’s ingredients

The tabouleh was easy to handle and tasted great in a lettuce wrap.  My children love this as finger food, too.  Here’s the recipe:

1 cup bulghur wheat (I like Alma extra fancy cracked wheat)

2 1/4 cups cold water

1 1/2 cups chopped parsley

4 chopped green onions

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

twist of freshly ground black pepper

2 tomatoes (I found two perfect tomatoes on the vine)

8 large rinsed lettuce leaves for wrapping (leave these whole)

Soak bulghur in cold water.  Mix olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper.  Chop remaining ingredients.  After 30-40 minutes, check bulghur.  If water is absorbed, fold in all ingredients and olive oil/lemon mixture.  Chill one hour.  Spoon on to lettuce leaves.  Musta’ ada!  Ready to serve. 

Call me sheltered in the small hometown of my childhood.  I tasted few foods from around the world until I turned 18.  One of my undergrad instructors first entertained the thought of Middle Eastern cuisine.  A Lebanese American, Dr. Shaheen sent me on a journey to discover this Lebanese salad:  Tabouleh.  After some searching, I finally found the bulgur wheat I needed–at a health food store–to prepare this salad.  (The friendly folks at our local grocery didn’t stock many specialty foods.)

For tabouleh, nothing will substitute for fresh parsley.  I’m off to stock up on a few ingredients.  If I come home successful, I’ll be tossing tabouleh tonight in the cookery. 

Fire up the eggplant and feast on this Middle Eastern stew.  A food loving gentleman introduced me to this modest dish and although it’s fantastic as is, he also recommends adding a little cubed lamb or beef to embellish for a special meal.  I’ve made it with all of the variations.  Excellent!

Hazi’s Stew

6 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 medium chopped onion

1 large green pepper, cut in thin strips

1 large or two medium eggplant, peeled and cubed

1 ½ cups chopped tomatoes

2 cups (cooked or canned) chick peas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained

½ teaspoon oregano

Salt, pepper to taste

Heat half of the olive oil in heavy pan.  Sauté onions until lightly browned.  Add remaining olive oil, eggplant and green pepper.  Add additional ingredients.  Stir thoroughly and cover.  Cook over low heat 20-30 minutes.  Break out the bread and enjoy.  This dish serves my family of four and two guests! 

Aromas of Middle Eastern cooking filled the Cookery last night.  I’m still cleaning up this morning (no paper or plastic) and returning the china and glassware (for our 15 tasters) to my storage shelves.

Others have teased me for years about my aversion to paper plates.  To accommodate the size of our group, I used a combination of china sets and I hope we saved a tree.  And doesn’t food taste its best on conventional plates?

Are you interested in exploring the tasting dishes?  I’ll be posting some of my Middle Eastern favorites and a few recipes later in the week.

After the kids peeled the carrots over the sink, Cookery Dad had to step in to fix the sink drain.  It seems as if a couple of enormous carrots accidentally slipped out of the hands of my helpers.  But the bulk of the carrots survived.  Here’s a recipe for one of our favorite carrot salads.

 6 medium carrots

2 TBS fresh Italian parsley

1/2 cup “Craisins” cranberries (keep in mind that these are processed and include sugar.)

2 TBS red wine vinegar

1 TBS balsamic vinegar

4 TBS Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Grate carrots.  Chop parsley.  Mix carrots, Craisins or (raisins), parsley, salt and pepper.  Mix vinegar and oil together and add to carrots.  Coat carrot mixture.  Ready to serve.       

Kids in the Cookery « Cookery content - life’s ingredients

Under close supervision, kids can learn a lot about food and nutrition in the cookery.  My kids love to help prepare carrots.  I’m not sure how we’ll use these carrots today, but I’ll share the end result here tomorrow.

The temperature’s hovering right around 18 degrees F.  Hot coffee is the choice beverage.  Carrot soup’s on the menu, too.   Soup + bread + cheese=dinner.  We’re warming up around this cookery!     

This morning I pulled duties as the cookery prep cook while my Cub Scout earned one more credit for planning, preparing and cleaning up breakfast.  On the menu:  waffles.  Out of the freezer? Hardly.  He mixed up the batter and made them in the family waffle maker.

My husband and I received a waffle maker as a gift when we announced our engagement.  The note on the card:  “We hope you enjoy this waffle maker, one of the best-kept secrets to a happy marriage!”  We got it.  So . . . thank you, friends, we’re still enjoying the waffles!  What’s your secret?

What’s on tonight’s menu?  This starter guarantees to warm up everyone around your table.  Try this!

One pound cleaned shrimp

Extra virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Four cloves fresh garlic

1 large sweet red pepper

1 tablespoon fresh flat parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper

½ teaspoon Kosher salt

Three small or two large plantains

Preheat oven to 375˚ F.  Peel and slice plantains.  Place slices on oiled baking sheet.  Sprinkle with Kosher salt.  Bake 20 minutes.  Turn the plantain slices over once during baking.  (Look for crispy results.)  

Dice garlic.  Chop shrimp and sweet red pepper into small pieces.  Cover bottom of sauté pan with olive oil.  Add cayenne pepper and garlic.  Stir and cook one minute.  Add shrimp and red pepper.  Sautè three to four minutes or until shrimp is fully cooked.  Add a dash of salt and pepper and parsley.  Mix and serve warm shrimp salsa with baked plantain chips.