Mi querida limon
I made preserved lemons with some of the 5 lbs. of Meyers I got last weekend for a 3-citrus marmalade. Many bloggers have extolled the virtues of preserved lemons elsewhere so I don’t wish to proselytize for them here; I wish only to impart one small but tremendous technique to all of you.
I have been baking cakes lately, and putting things in jars. I am also poised before the chasm of a great transition, which has me somewhat preoccupied; just hanging out nervously, waiting to hear back from those voices in the wind. So I’m keeping busy with kitchen stuff.
These are the best brownies you will ever make. No, really, we mean it this time.
Look mom, I’m a food blogger!
Sooo… I made some candied Buddha’s Hand. But first:
Hello. I am the Buddha’s Hand. Ancient fruit. Citron mutant.
I am not exactly sure why I am posting this recipe when I consider that I ripped it from a page of O Magazine while in a doctor’s waiting room and it’s all over the internet anyways. However, when I consider how much I actually enjoyed both eating the finished product and the way I felt after, it is totes obvious. These things are so weird, yet so good! You feel like you’ve just eaten power pellets.
I got most of the ingredients from the bulk section of my hippie grocery store, but they can be procured all over the internet. Warning: not cheap. Just so you know.
I don’t have a dehydrator, so I just stuck a loaded baking sheet in my oven on very low heat overnight.
EQUIPMENT YOU WILL NEED:
A spice grinder, nut grinder or appropriated coffee grinder
A silicone baking mat or parchment paper
The usual suspects: bowl, fork, spoon, measuring accoutrements
INGREDIENTS:
1 C. chia seeds, finely ground
1/2 C. pecan or macadamia nuts, finely ground
1/2 C. dried mulberries
1/2 C. mesquite powder
1/4 C maca root powder
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
Coconut butter and maple syrup for eating
THE RECIPE:
Mix ingredients in a bowl. Add 2 C. water and blend with a fork. Form rounds on a baking tray and put in an oven set to warm over night — no more than 115F — or dehydrate at 115F for 7 hours. Peel them off the tray and put on a plate; serve with the coconut butter & syrup.
a.k.a. Fassüliah K’dra, these are soft and delicately savory saffron cannellini beans. This is a very simple recipe and the result appears quite plain, but it is in fact amazingly subtle and delicious. The white pepper adds just the right amount of spice. You can eat this plain in a bowl as you would any old bean stew, or add toppings to it like chopped tomato or yogurt or whatever strikes your fancy, or serve alongside a bunch of other salads and tasty bits.
Adapted from Mediterranean Street Food by Anissa Helou. Serves 6.
2 1/2 C. dried cannellini beans, soaked 8 hrs. or quick soaked for at least 3 in boiling water
A nice fat pinch of saffron
10 C. water
5 Tbsp. olive oil
3 medium or 2 large white onions, halved or quartered and sliced very thin (a mandoline is good for this)
1/4 C. flat-leaf parsley, minced
1 tsp. white pepper
Salt to taste
Put the drained beans and the water into a soup pot. Add the saffron, crushing it with your fingers first. Bring to a boil, add the oil, and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
If pressure cooking, heat at maximum pressure for 6 minutes and then quick release; add the ingredients listed below and pressurize again for the same amount of time.
Stir in onions, parsley, and pepper, and cook for another 30 minutes or until beans are tender, stirring occasionally. Add salt to taste. You can adjust the consistency by cooking longer or adding more water.
Happy Thanksgiving.
1 squash (acorn/kabocha/butternut etc.)
Olive oil
Fresh ground pepper
3 Tbsp. white miso
3 Tbsp. rice vinegar
1 Tbsp. maple syrup/agave/brown rice syrup etc., more or less to taste
1 Tbsp. dry yellow mustard
Heat oven to 375F. Halve the squash and scrape the seed cavity clean. Pour a small amount of oil into each cavity and use it to baste the entire cut surface. Dust with pepper and place cut-side-down on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or so, about the amount of time it takes you to repot a couple of plants or listen to 1/2 of an LP, until the squash is relatively tender.
Whisk the remaining ingredients together until smooth. Remove squash from oven, flip, and baste the cut surface with the sauce. Return to oven for another 10 minutes or until squash is soft and the surface is toasty brown and caramelized.
Eat the squash with a spoon straight from the baking dish like an uncivilized human, or slice and serve on plates in front of company.
Everybody loves horchata! Not everybody loves chia pudding, though — not YET, anyways, but they will. Chia seeds are like the thing these days. You can easily do a cheater’s version of this recipe with boxed horchata in a pinch.
This takes time! 8 hrs. for horchata, 8 hrs. for pudding. (It’s a whole bunch of passive action, hanging around waiting for water to be absorbed.) So if you want pudding in your evening meal, start the horchata soaking the night before, finish it up the next morning, and set the pudding in the fridge for the day. You might not know what’s for dinner, but you will definitely know what’s for dessert.
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The beginning stages of a project are usually where I totally stall out and fall fallow, so I am going to devote a few posts to the “boring” process of getting some momentum going. Hence, the mending pile:
The Odd Kitchen 