Things we've cooked...with recipes!

Another gem from Highgate cemetery:


Fall has arrived in London! So far it's much less magnificent than New England fall, but there are a few pretty red vines and some brilliant yellow trees.


While Laura and Mark are napping in the next room (!), I thought I would share some of the things we've been cooking over the past few months, because they were really tasty and you might want to cook them, too! Some of them didn't come from recipes, so I'll try to do my best to point you in the right direction :)


I'll start with a Rogers-Loss family favorite, which is shakshuka. Danny discovered shakshuka first in Israel, at the famous Dr. Shakshuka in Jaffa, and ever since then we try to make it as often as possible. Incidentally, this is also where the chef Yotam Ottolenghi got to know shakshuka when he was growing up. I'm pretty sure I've already linked to Ottolenghi's video of how to make shakshuka, but I'm going to post it again because it's just so good. Watch it here! Or if you'd just prefer to read it, you can do that here. It's filling enough for dinner, but since it's made with eggs, we also make it for brunch sometimes.


Now for something from a very different part of the globe, here is the really delicious tofu and bok choi stir fry (or as they call it here, pak choi). This recipe is super easy, and it confirmed for me that it is *always* better to marinate the tofu before cooking it, preferably with ginger and plenty of chilli. They say to serve it with rice, but I think I'm speaking for everyone when I say that noodles are better.

Hmm...lets see. If you have a garden and are still drowning in late-season zucchini (or courgette, as they say here. and in France), we really, really liked this recipe. Even if you aren't drowning in zucchini, we still liked this recipe :) Jamie Oliver is one of my heros - teaching people how to make delicious food, campaigning (and winning!) for healthier food in our schools...all good things. I'm especially pleased that our photo kinds sorta looks like the photo that goes with the recipe (except with worse lighting - stupid basement!)


Okay, now we're moving on from recipes I can easily link to, to recipes that I actually have to type out. First, Ottolenghi's cauliflower and cumin fritters (you'll notice that we've gotten a bit obsessed with this guy - gay Israeli with an Italian dad, trained at Le Cordon Bleu who states in his cookbook "If you don't like lemon or garlic...skip to the last page". What's not to love?). Seeing as they're just brown patties they don't photograph all that well, but just imagine the creamy, nutty taste of cauliflower, mixed with parsley and cumin and fried in oil, and you'll see why we were so eager to make them. Also on the plate is something I affectionately refer to as "vegetarian mush", which takes on many, many forms. In this case it consists of red lentils, some kind of winter squash, and samphire. We made it for Rosh Hashanah, but it would also be good for Hannukah alongside other fried goods. Sorry for the metric measurements, but this website seems to have good conversions.

Ingredients:
1 small cauliflower
120g plain flour
3 tbs chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 garlic clove (um, or 3)
2 shallots, finely chopped
4 free-range eggs
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
500ml sunflower oil for frying

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Trim the leaves off the cauliflower and snip into small florets. Add to the boiling water and simmer for 15 minutes or until they are very soft.

2. While the cauliflower is cooking, mix the flour parsley, garlic, shallots, eggs, and spices in a bowl and whisk together until smooth. Add the soft cauliflower and mix to break down the cauliflower into the batter.

3. Pour the oil into a wide pan to a depth of 1.5cm and heat until very hot. Carefully spoon in about 3tbs of the batter per fritter. Take care with the hot oil! Fry in small batches for about 3-4 minutes a side, until they are brown but not burnt. Enjoy the sound of the spattering oil!

4. Let each fritter try on a few paper towels, and serve with plain yogurt (to which you can feel free to add lemon and cilantro!), if you want.


Hungry for more fried cauliflower? I know, I know, who isn't? We've also tried this fried cauliflower with tahini sauce, which is amazing. Ottolenghi has brought tahini into our lives as something more than just an ingredient in hummus. It's another recipe that doesn't photograph well, but you can imagine. Fried food becomes healthy when you eat it with salad, right?



If fried food isn't your thing (but be honest...fried food is everyone's thing), this spinach polenta topped with tomatoes is a bit lighter but equally delicious meal that comes from a collection of Moosewood recipes we brought with us, courtesy of Danny's mom. The tomato topping doesn't call for red onion, but I added some and is was delicious, so I'll give it to you that way. This recipe makes a lot - I was eating it for breakfast for a few days!

Polenta Ingredients:
2 cups water
2 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1 cup polenta cornmeal
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
8 or more ounces fresh spinach (baby, or chopped large-leaf)

Topping:
4 large tomatoes or 8-10 plum tomatoes
1 large red onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbs balsamic vinegar

1. In a saucepan, bring the milk, water and salt to a boil. Add the cornmeal in a slow, steady stream while whisking. Simmer about 5 minutes, until the polenta is thick.

2. Meanwhile, dice the tomatoes and onions, and chop the garlic into small bits. In a saucepan on medium-high heat, heat the onions until they are soft, then add the garlic for a minute. Add the tomato and the rest of the topping ingredients and simmer for about 5 minutes.

3. When the polenta is thick, reduce the heat to low and stir in the cheese until melted and smooth. Fold in the spinach until just wilted. Serve the polenta hot topped with the tomato mix.



If you're looking for a really delicious side dish (or main dish, in our case), look no further than this simple but scrumptious grilled broccoli recipe, again from Ottolenghi.

Ingredients:
2 heads broccoli
115 ml olive oil
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 mild chillies, thinly sliced (or hot chillies, if you like!)
coarse sea salt and black pepper
optional: toasted flakes almonds or very think slices of lemon to garnish

1. Separate broccoli into florets. Fill a saucepan with water and bring to a boil (enough water to accommodate the broccoli easily). Thrown in the broccoli and blanch for 2 minutes only - don't be tempted to cook it any longer! Transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain and allow to dry completely. Once it is dry, mix with 45ml olive oil, salt and pepper.

2. Place a ridged griddle pan over high heat (or a pan in the broiler) and leave for 5 minutes, until it is very hot. Grill the broccoli, in several batches if necessary (the broccoli must not be cramped) until the have char marks.

3. While grilling the broccoli, place the rest of the oil in a small saucepan with the garlic and chillies. Cook over medium heat until the garlic just begins to turn brown - don't let it burn!

4. When all the broccoli is cooked, mix it with the chilli/garlic oil and toss. Season to taste and garnish as desired.



Okay, now on to the things that don't have recipes at all. First there is the cranberry bean stew, or at least that's what I'm calling it. In the US they are called cranberry beans, but here they call them Borlotti beans. Usually you buy them in cans but our farmers market sells them fresh, which is awesome because they are so beautiful! I think what I did here was 1) saute 2 medium onions in olive oil until they were soft, then 2) add about 3 large tomatoes, chopped. Once the tomatoes were soft I 3) added the beans and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, then let this cook for at least 30 minutes until the beans were soft and the onions were delightfully caramelized. This was really easy, and really, really delicious. The onions were so sweet it was practically dessert.

We rounded it out with some kind of scary-looking purple cauliflower and anemic looking corn. Apparently corn is meant to stay in the Americas, because this stuff is pretty bad. The cauliflower, though, was very good despite it's bizarre appearance. We blanched it in boiling water, coated it with olive oil and salt and pepper, then threw it under the grill/broiler until it was cooked through and getting brown (like the above-described grilled broccoli). Then we tossed it with fresh lemon juice, which is when it took on the magenta color.




Then there's our go-to recipe for green things. When in doubt, we saute some onions/garlic/leeks in olive oil (or occasionally butter if we're feeling decadent), then throw in the greens (sometimes we blanch them first if they seem a little tougher) and cook until they turn an edible texture. With some salt and pepper, it's hard to go wrong. Here we have runner beans on the left, and spring greens on the right.


Enjoy!