Harissa me, salsa you

07 Thursday Nov 2013

Posted by Zoli in Middle Eastern, Sauces, spices, tex mex, vegan, Vegetarian

Tags

awesome sauces, eggplant recipes, fresh chilies, Gabrielle Hamilton, harissa, roasted tomato salsa, vegan sauce

Time for some creative thinking.
Tons of garlic, moldy tomatoes, one aging white eggplant, fresh chili peppers that won’t last forever, about three sprigs of green parsley hiding beneath a few yellowing ones… the list goes on. There are two kinds of cooking: 1) go out and buy ingredients for whatever strikes your fancy, or 2) start with what you have already in your fridge. In these conscientious times, we pride ourselves on efforts to not waste food, to not throw it away. So moldy tomatoes and aging white eggplant it is.
But first (and this will make sense in the end), harissa time.
My stab at Madhur Joffrey’s harissa was an epic fail. Hey, you know, when using a recipe that calls for a cup (a CUP) of dried fiery red chilies, DESEEDED, you deseed them, right? Well, yes, you probably should deseed them. I didn’t. And I’ve now invented New Jersey’s own Satan Hellfire sauce. I may market this soon. To be used with caution. About two drops per pizza slice.
I then watched a few youtube videos in arabic (I think) that called for harissa with a ton of fresh red chilies, boiled and then deseeded. But I didn’t have any fresh red chilies. I also didn’t have birds eye chilies as I’d made that incredibly useful (not) Satan Hellfire sauce with a whole cupful of them. But I DID have fresh jalapenos, poblanos and habaneros.
Presenting to you, green harissa.

Ingredients
2 poblanos
1 jalapeno
1 habanero
8 cloves garlic
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1/2 tsp coriander seeds, toasted and ground
1/2 tsp caraway seeds, toasted and ground
Plenty of salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil

1) Boil the fresh chilies whole for a few minutes, then drain and cool.
2) Deseed the chilies and blend with the rest of the ingredients until you have a thick sauce.
3) Season with salt and pepper to taste

I’ve now gone through two garlic cloves. But I have some left, due to husband’s shopping adventures (the amount of ginger root he brought home is another story). This is about half of the garlic I have left:

It’s like they’re begging me to plant them

So I figure, I’ll make some salsa. That should take out a whole head at least. Also this is a great way to get through some tomatoes that are on their last legs. Don’t chuck them. Roast them.

Easy roasted salsa
4 ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 small white or red onion, cut into chunks
about 6-8 cloves, or 1 head of garlic, divided, skins on
1 fresh jalapeno
fresh cilantro or parsley
squeeze of lime
salt and pepper
olive oil

1) Dress the tomatoes, onion, garlic and jalapeno with olive oil and salt and pepper
2) Roast in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, until veggies are fairly soft. Make sure the garlic is not burned or over cooked. If it is brown and dry, it’s been cooked too long
3) Put all the ingredients in a blender and blitz. The garlic should squeeze easily out of it’s skin.

We’re having tacos tonight, with the leftover lentils I didn’t use from Monday’s lasagna, and both this salsa and green harissa will be served with the tacos. The green harissa has a distinctive tex mex flavor to it with the jalapeno, garlic and cumin. It’s wonderful in cheese quesadillas with chard. It can be added to finished soups for an amazing burst of fresh chili and garlic flavor. I’m going to try it as a seasoning for roasted vegetables and as a dip for tostones (fried green plantain).

To tide me over until dinner, I ate the salsa as a dip for my lunchtime snack of fried eggplant. One of my favorite recipes. What amazes me, a salt lover, is that they need no seasoning whatsoever. They are filling and meaty and delicious. They’d be great in a vegetarian open-faced sandwich with tomato sauce and mozzarella, or even on top of a green salad. They come from the fantastic cooking memoir Blood, Bones and Butter by the owner of Prune, Gabrielle Hamilton.

Fried eggplant (melanzane)
1 large purple or white eggplant (purple is better)
1/2 to 3/4 cup homemade bread crumbs
4 eggs, beaten
olive oil
large frying pan

1) Keep your old stale bread. When it is rock hard, blitz it into fine breadcrumbs and store in an airtight container. I used to do this so I include myself in this judgment but buying breadcrumbs is a dumb thing to do.

2) Wash and slice the eggplant. No need to salt it.
3) Heat up plenty of olive oil for shallow frying (more olive oil than if you were sauteeing).
4) Dip the eggplant slices into the breadcrumbs and then the beaten egg mixture and place gently in the hot oil. It’s counterintuitive but this is how Gabrielle Hamilton describes her Italian mother in law doing it. I have tried both and she’s right! They are yummier this way.
5) Fry on a med-high heat until golden brown on both sides.
6) Drain on paper towel. Eggplant can absorb a lot of oil so press down to squeeze out a little more oil. These are even better after sitting for a while. Serve warm or cold.
I ate about five right away with some salsa.

Lentil lasagna

04 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by Zoli in italian, kids, pasta, pasta sauce, tomato sauce, Vegetarian

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Tags

bolognese, lentil lasagna, puy lentils, tomato sauce, vegetarian dinner

Not for the faint of heart!
Lasagna is labor intensive, veggie or not. But it can be done in stages in order to fit into a busy week. I made the bolognese sauce and the bechamel sauce on Sunday, so tonight after work I only had to assemble the layers and scoot it into the oven. The plusses of such a time-consuming meal? Hmmm, I don’t know why but Americans really love their lasagna. Something about the yummy gloopiness of it. So that’s a plus. Also it’s a way to get some sneaky veggies in there. And it’s one of those hearty meals that we seem to need some days. It will feed a crowd of hungry people on a cold evening. Not every October night is salad night. Oh and, um, this is just as good if not better than any meat lasagna out there. I love you puy lentil. Sorry green lentil…

Ingredients for 4-6 people
1 1/2 cups of cooked lentils (puy, black or lentil verites)
1 can of tomatoes, chopped with their juice, or 200g of homemade tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 large onion or 1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 celery, chopped finely
1 carrot, chopped finely
1/2 red pepper, chopped finely
1 fresh ripe tomato, chopped
about 6 mushrooms, chopped finely
1-3 sundried tomatoes, soaked and chopped finely (not the antipasti kind in olive oil)
1 tsp dried basil or 3-4 fresh basil leaves, chopped
salt and pepper
9 lasagna noodles, no pre-cooking necessary is recommended*
2 1/2 cups of shredded cheese (a mix of white cheddar and mozzarella is good)
Breadcrumbs for sprinkling on top (optional)
fresh grated parmesan for sprinkling on top (optional)
*This can be done with normal lasagna noodles that you don’t precook but you will need a bit extra sauce and longer cooking time.

for the bechamel
2 cups milk
3 tbs (or a bit less than 1/4 cup) of butter
1/4 cup white flour
handful of white cheddar or sharp white cheddar
1/4 tsp fresh nutmeg
salt and pepper

Lentil bolognese
1) Cook the lentils according to directions. They don’t take long and can cook while you prep the veggies. Drain and set aside.
2) In a big pot, heat up olive oil and gently fry all chopped veggies until soft. Stir a little and turn down heat if they are browning. Around 15 minutes. The sun-dried tomatoes makes this a RICH sauce. Depending on how strong they are, start with one first.
3) Add in the lentils, homemade tomato sauce or can of chopped tomatoes, seasoning and the 1/2 cup of water if needed. The sauce should be a little soupy.
4) Simmer gently for a few minutes and adjust seasoning if needed. This should be packed with flavor, as the noodles will absorb much of the sauce. Turn off the heat.

For the bechamel sauce
1) Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.
2) Add in the flour a little at a time and whisk over the heat. The texture of the roux should be like wet sand.
3) Allow to cook gently for a couple minutes to take out the taste of flour and then add in the milk.
4) Cook on a low heat, whisking every so often so the flour-butter roux incorporates into the milk and thickens it. Don’t let the milk boil.
5) When the sauce has begun to thicken, turn the heat down very low and season with plenty of salt and pepper and fresh grated nutmeg (1/4 tsp).
6) Add in the handful of cheddar, whisk to melt and taste the sauce. Adjust if necessary. This is not meant to be a super cheesy sauce as more cheese will be layered over it, come assembly time.

Assemble the lasagna
1) Preheat the oven to 375
2) Ladle some tomato sauce into a large baking tray and place down three lasagna sheets next to each other, not quite touching
3) Spoon about 3 heaping tbs of lentil tomato sauce on each lasagna sheet and spread
4) Next spoon about 1 1/2 or 2 tbs of bechamel sauce on each lasagna noodle
5) Sprinkle evenly with cheese
6) Repeat with two more layers
7) Add a little extra cheese to the top and then sprinkle with a little more basil, shredded parmesan, olive oil, breadcrumbs and salt and pepper
8) Cook in the oven for about 30-40 min or until golden and bubbly on top. Or cover with tin foil and then uncover for the last few minutes and brown the cheese on top under the broiler.