Potato Pancake: with Fresh Rosemary

My mom could never make too many latkas (potato pancakes). There was always a fight for the last one. So the first time Saeid made me Kookoo Sib Zamini (potato pancakes) and it turned out to potato pancakes I could not have been happier. While my mom likes to add carrots and Saeid adds onion; I love fresh rosemary.
Potato Pancakes: with Fresh Rosemary
serves 2 as a meal or 4 as a starter
1 med large potato (med in the USA large everywhere else)
1 Tbs flour
1 med egg
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp of salt
pepper, hot pepper to taste
Oil to fry (2-3 TBS)

Grate the potato. Ring out any extra water in the grated potato. Mix the flour and egg with the potato. Add in the rosemary, salt, pepper and hot pepper.

Pour a layer of oil in the bottom of a med frying pan. Bring to a med heat. Shape the potato mix into pancakes with hands. Each pancake should use about 1/4 cup of the mix. Fry. Each side should be golden brown. It takes about 3min a side. Drain on a paper towel. Eat while hot or reheat on a low heat in the oven. Note don't rush the pancakes, the inside will be raw and the outside black!!!
There are lots of ways to dress these up (with cream cheese and smoked salmon, applesauce or ketchup). But make sure you save one for me!!!!

Khoresh Baademjaan- Eggplant Stew

Simple to throw into a pot and forget about, Khoresh Baddemjaan (Eggplant Stew) has big flavors. Salt/sour and if youare my mother-in-law spicy. The eggplant melts in your mouth. Wow this is one tasty stew.
Khoresh Baademjaan (Eggplant Stew)
severs 4
1 chopped onion
1 tsp oil + more for frying eggplant
1 cup of stewing meat (lamb or beef)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 cup yellow split lentils
1 tsp tomato paste
1 dried lime (or lemon/lime juice)
salt, pepper, hot pepper
1 eggplant

In a pot over med heat brown the onion in the oil. Add the stewing meat and seal. Add the turmeric and yellow lentils. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Stir in the tomato paste, drop in the dried lime, salt, pepper and hot pepper if you like. Its a good idea to cut the lime in half. Put on the lowest heat and let stew 2 to 8 hours. Just make sure it doesn't dry out. Note if you do not have dried lime add 1 Tbs lime/lemon juice 5 min before severing.

Before severing peal and slice the eggplant from top to tail. Can get 8-10 slices from 1 med eggplant. Fry the eggplant in oil until golden on each side. Sometimes I salt and remove extra water from the eggplant before frying and sometimes I don't use oil when I fry the eggplant. Oil and salt are yummy, so its up to you!

Place the eggplant on top of the stew for the last 5 min.

Enjoy with rice.

Raspberry Pavlova

The weather has been all blue skys (with no plains) and sun. If this isn't Irish summer than I don't know what is. It may be a bit early for raspberries but I was in to mood, so I made a raspberry pavlova.
Raspberry Pavlova
severs 6
6 eggs whites
6 Tbs sugar
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 cup cream
1 Tbs powered sugar
bit of dark chocolate
Pre-heat oven to 300f or 150c. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Whip the egg whites (can add 1/8 tsp of cream of tarter if you have it). Slowly whip in the sugar one Tbs at a time. The egg whites will be glossy and stiff. Spoon the whites on to the baking paper and make one big circle. Bake for 50 min or until the top starts to brown. Turn the oven off but leave the pavlova in the oven until cooled (an hour).

Whip the cream with the powered sugar. Add a few crushed raspberries to the cream, mix and spread on top the cooled pavlova. Plop the rest of the raspberries on top and finish with shredded dark chocolate.

This recipe is really soft marshmallowy, not hard and crunchie.

Broccoli Salad- Made with Yogurt and Dates

Broccoli Salad can be found at just about any North American BBQ or potluck. The classic recipe being a mix of broccoli, raisins, red onion, mayo, sunflower seeds and bacos. While my mom never used bacos or bacon she stayed close to the classic recipe. I love yogurt and it is no surpise that I'm using the plain stuff in place of mayo. Saeid doesn't like raisins so I'm using dates, but so many other dried or fresh fruits work well in this recipe. Try using some pomegranates in the fall it works like a treat!
Broccoli Salad- Made with Yogurt and Dates
Makes about 4 cups
1 head of broccoli, washed and chopped (use the stem too)
1/4 of a red onion chopped
1 cup of dates chopped
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup of plain yogurt
2 tsp of fresh lemon juice
1 tsp cummin
salt, pepper, hot pepper

Mix the plain yogurt with the lemon juice and spices. Add the vegs, dates and half of the sunflower seeds and mix well. Top the remaining seeds.
This salad gets better with age. Fell free to add anything you like to it but try the plain yogurt.

Nettle Tea

The weather has been grand here and over the weekend we planted our vegetable garden. But there is one plant (which we did not plant) was ready for harvest.

I wore kitchen gloves to pick and wash the nettles. The young green leaves are the best.

Nettle Tea
makes 1 pot
1/2 cup fresh nettles
boiling water

I brewed my tea for about 3min and it had a light earth taste. Not bitter or gross at all. But I think next time I'm going to add a bit of mint.

Buckwheat Crepes with Shawn's Applesauce

I like to eat whole buckwheat raw or even sprouted. Unlike wheat or rice it is soft and easy to eat uncooked. But this morning I felt like having crepes so I popped some buckwheat into my food processor to make flour.
Crepes are so easy to make. There are tons of recipes out but 1 egg, 1 cup milk, and 1 cup flour always works for me.

Buckwheat Crepes with Shawn's Applesauce
Severs 2 (6 crepes)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup buckwheat flour
2 Tbs oil
4 small apples
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
2 Tbs plain yogurt (optional)

Buckwheat Crepes
Mix the egg and milk together. Add the buckwheat flour and stir well. In a non-stick pan on med heat add 1 tsp of oil and pour 1/6 of the batter. Tilt the pan to spread the batter. Flip when the bubbles have popped and the crepe is pulling away from the pan. Cook for 20-30 sec before removing. Repeat with the rest of that batter.

Shawn's Applesauce
Peal and chop the apples and put in a small pot. Cover with water. Add the cinnamon and cloves and bring to a boil. Cook for 10-15 min until most of the water is gone and the apples are falling apart. Remove the spices and mash.

Fill the Crepes with the applesauce and top with plain yogurt.

Adas Polow (Rice and Lentils): The Long Recipe

In my last post I gave my Cheater's Recipe for Adas Polow, which is great for busy days but the long recipe taste worlds nicer.
Saeid likes large brown lentils and I like small black/blue French lentils so I used both. Feel free to use any kind/mix of lentils you want. Note split red lentils work really well in the Cheater's Recipe because they cook so fast, but they cook too fast for the long recipe.
Adas Polow (Rice and Lentils): The Long Recipe
Serves 4
2 cups of basmati or long-grain rice
1 cup of lentils
1 Tbs + 1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of oil

1. Wash the rice, cover with water and add 1 Tbs of salt. Soak for 3 hours or more.

2. Wash the lentils and cover with 1 cup of water. Add 1 tsp of salt. Bring to a boil, cover and lower the heat. Cook for about 20 min or until the water is gone.

3. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the soaked rice (without the soaking water). (Cooking time of the rice changes with the amont of time the rice has soaked. The longer the soaking the shorter the cooking.) Stir the rice and water and let the water come back to a boil. When the each grain starts to dance in the boiling water its done. Or taste a few grains to see when its soft but still has some bite to it. Drain the rice. Note the cooking time should not be more the 3 min, mine is done around 1 min.

4. Add the oil to a rice maker or pot. Layer the rice and lentils. Place 1/3 of the cooked rice to the pot and add 1/2 of the lentils on top the rice. The finnal layer will be rice. Cover the lid with a clean cloth and steam the rice for 30 mim. If using a rice maker just use the normal rice setting. If using a pot use the lowest heat on the stovetop.
Saeid likes to top his Adas Polow with salty Irish butter. I'm all about Greek yogurt and raw spinach. Anyway you like it the fuffy rice and rice lentils make a lovely meal.