What's cooking?

[Robin Garr]

From the winter garden: Souffle-style fresh spinach and chard cakes made with free-range eggs, ricotta and Parmigiano, with Nord's Bakery dinner rolls. 

[Jenise]

Yeah, I'd at least peek.

From the winter garden: Souffle-style fresh spinach and chard cakes made with free-range eggs, ricotta and Parmigiano, with Nord's Bakery dinner rolls. 

What you've made here looks pretty much identical to the Persian dish, kookoo-ye sabzi. I suppose one would have to subtract the cheeses and add in some green herbs (parsley, mint, etc.) for aroma. Yours would probably win the deliciousness contest at least for my palate. But any Persian food lover would instantly recognize the food in the picture as Kookoo. And it's very appropriate because it's a New Year dish and the New Year is on March 20 this year, Tuesday.

[Robin Garr]

Colcannon for Paddy, but with an Indian spin for us: cabbage, potato and onion curry. 

[Robin Garr]

What you've made here looks pretty much identical to the Persian dish, kookoo-ye sabzi. I suppose one would have to subtract the cheeses and add in some green herbs (parsley, mint, etc.) for aroma. Yours would probably win the deliciousness contest at least for my palate. But any Persian food lover would instantly recognize the food in the picture as Kookoo. And it's very appropriate because it's a New Year dish and the New Year is on March 20 this year, Tuesday.

Good point, Frank! As you may recall, we have a number of Iranian restaurants around Louisville, and I enjoy the food quite a bit. I have had kookoo, too, but for some reason the kinship didn't strike me when I came up with this dish last night. (I built it I tuitively after drawing the basic principle from an Eating Well recipe called "Spinach and Parmesan cakes."

When I think of Sabzi (which I think means "herbs," maybe you know), I usually think of the appetizer dish with fresh bunches of herbs, feta and radishes with pita or lavash. Beats the heck out of chips and salsa.

Leek and Three Cheese Pizza. (Chevre, Fresh Mozzarella, and Mizithra.)

With a 1990 Ogier Côte-Rôtie. Didn't suck.

Hindi and Persian are related languages, and Sanskrit and Old Persian are also pretty close. The Aryans etc etc.

Sabzi in Persian, Farsi, is the color green. In Hindi it means vegetables, more or less.

There are lots of kinds of kookoo most of which don't look like what you've made. But kookoo-ye sabzi is so full of green stuff you can't even see that it has eggs in it.

Corned beef and cabbage for 8 people. Before, we had Champagne, Dubliner cheese and home made soda bread with oatmeal and buttermilk mixed in. After, we had a chocolate Irish whiskey cake, and an Irish oatmeal cream dessert with berries. Finished off with Amarula cream liqueur which is made from the fruits that get elephants (and other wildlife) drunk in southern Africa. The only thing Irish about that is that it is a refreshing change from Bailey's Irish Cream.

Tonight, it was Moroccan spiced pastitsio. Layers of penne, a meat sauce made with ground lamb, cinnamon, cumin, and ras el hanout. Topped with a rich bechamel flavored with cumin, cinnamon, and parmigiano. Rich and decadent, but really good.

Mike, that sounds excellent.

[Jenise]

Tonight, it was Moroccan spiced pastitsio. Layers of penne, a meat sauce made with ground lamb, cinnamon, cumin, and ras el hanout. Topped with a rich bechamel flavored with cumin, cinnamon, and parmigiano. Rich and decadent, but really good.

Never heard of the dish, but oh does it sound GOOD! Recipe?

Really? Pastitsio is commonly offered in Greek restaurants, side by side with moussaka. They are both pan-bakes and done similarly, just substitute elbows for eggplant.

But Mike can say more.

In May our local Greek Orthodox Church has a festival that lasts over a weekend. Tons of food, you can eat right at the church, but we usually do take-out. And Pastitsio is something we often pick up there. They also sell pots of Greek oregano and other stuff. The Moroccan variant sounds intriguing.

In May our local Greek Orthodox Church has a festival that lasts over a weekend. Tons of food, you can eat right at the church, but we usually do take-out. And Pastitsio is something we often pick up there. They also sell pots of Greek oregano and other stuff. The Moroccan variant sounds intriguing.

I also first had pastitsio at a local Greek festival. Ours is every Labor Day weekend and is always a lot of fun, with plenty of ouzo and Greek beer. The food is cooked up by the ladies of a couple of the Orthodox churches, with moussaka and pastitsio being the headliners. It's a tossup as to which I prefer, so I usually get an order of each with a predictably stretched belly as the result.

This Moroccan version is the first one I can remember making myself. I liked it as much as any I've had at the festival.

[Robin Garr]

Fresh asparagus, roasted at high heat with sesame oil, then dressed with Bluegrass soy sauce and white sesame seeds. 

Fresh asparagus, roasted at high heat with sesame oil, then dressed with Bluegrass soy sauce and white sesame seeds. 

Love asparagus done that way.

Tonight we had daal, followed by chana masala. I didn't get around to making naan, though.

[Robin Garr]

Tonight we had daal, followed by chana masala. I didn't get around to making naan, though.

Chana masala is supposed to be served with poori!

Tonight we had daal, followed by chana masala. I didn't get around to making naan, though.

Chana masala is supposed to be served with poori!

Trying to stay away from eating too many fried foods. Which is difficult because we have a deep fryer and a deep love of homemade onion rings, arancini, green chile cheese fries, egg rolls... well, you get the picture.

Jambalaya tonight: shrimp, chicken, and chorizo.

[Jenise]

I haven't cooked at home one night this week, other than the night we had tacos made from a Costco chicken I grabbed in Mt. Vernon because I was running so late getting home from Seattle. Tonight we're going to a friend's house. Tomorrow, though, we'll be doing cassoulet for guests. Can't wait.

Last night I made a sweet potato-onion tart. Mucked about with my usual pie dough recipe and created a pecan-wheat crust for it. Went quite well. Enjoyed with my Dad's dry Riesling.

[Robin Garr]

Dal Palak, Indian lentils and spinach.  With aromatic but only moderately fiery spice, it goes surprisingly well with Puzelat 2010 Touraine Pinot Noir.

As a pizza prelude tonight, we had a wonderful salad of leaf lettuce from our fabulous CSA and sautéed shredded brussels sprouts (also from the CSA).


Simple, yet perfect with homemade ciabatta and my Dad's Riesling.


Recipe here.

Wow, Robin and Cyn
That looks good enough to eat -- again and again! I've been baking bread for the past month from Hertzberg and Francois' Artisan Breads in 5 Minutes a Day. Here is what I did this morning.

Artisan Bread - The Dough.jpg

Artisan Bread - Two Loaves.jpg

Artisan Bread - End Product.jpg

Artisan Bread - End Product2.jpg