Avocado Monster

This is not food related, but oh my god this is the biggest thing I've ever grown! I've got another one sprouting and it should be ready to plant in another couple of weeks.

I'm going to try my hand at a mulberry tree next. There are a few baby trees near a mulberry down the street from my old apartment. It's growing in the alley, so I'm pretty sure it doesn't belong to anyone and will likely be pulled next time the city repaves.

Pretty soon our apartment will be a jungle. rawrrrrrrrrr!

Picnic Dinner in the Park!

Even though we've been having an ridiculous heatwave, I wanted to spend some time outside on Friday. I get out of work early on Fridays in the summer, so I get to enjoy an early start to the weekend and there's no better way to start the weekend than a dinner picnic in the park.

Chicago has no shortage of beautiful outdoor spaces and I'm lucky enough to live equidistant from two great parks.

The picnic menu featured a few favorites and some new creations:

• Curried Chickpea Salad
• Salted Garlic Kale Chips
• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Tomato and Olive Bruschetta w/ toasted Rye Bread
  
• Couscous Stuffed Mushrooms
• Mackinac Island Fudge

I guess this is a mega post since I'm featuring the recipes for curried chickpea salad, tomato & olive bruschetta and the couscous stuffed mushrooms.

Curried Chickpea Salad:
1 can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons of curry powder
1 teaspoon of ginger
1/2 teaspoon of mustard powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
1 clove of garlic, pressed or minced finely
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2/3 -1/2 cup of water (it depends on how thick you want your curry sauce)
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 small- medium yellow onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups of mustard greens
1/2 a green apple, chopped
1/4 cup of dried cranberries

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil, add chopped onions and cook until slightly browned. Add chickpeas and cook for about 5 minutes. Add half of your water and let simmer. Mix in garlic, curry powder, salt, turmeric, cayenne pepper, ginger and mustard powder. Blend well. Add the remaining water and stir. Let simmer for 6-10 minutes on low heat. Allow to cool to room temperature.

After the chickpeas are at room temp, combine greens and apples in a bowl and stir in chickpea mixture. Top with dried cranberries and serve with a baguette or other crusty bread.

Tomato & Olive Bruschetta 
3 medium size Roma tomatoes, chopped
3 cloves of garlic pressed or finely minced
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 14oz can of black olives, chopped
1 handful of fresh basil (approx 1/3 cup), chopped
1/2 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and let sit for 20 minutes to allow the flavors to marinate. Serve over toasted bread.

Couscous Stuffed Mushrooms
10-12 medium size mushrooms (baby bella or button mushrooms are good)
1/2 cup of cooked couscous
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 roma tomato, sliced thinly
1 tablespoon of olive oil.
a wedge of lemon for each serving

Wash mushrooms well and peel the outer layer of skin. This isn't necessary if you wash them really well, but I do it because that's the way my mom always made stuffed mushrooms and I figure she has good reason. Using a small parring knife, cut the stem as close to the head as possible, so you have a little mushroom bowl. Chop the stems coarsely, these will be used in the filling. At this point, pre-heat the oven to 325.

Cook the couscous according to the instructions on the package. In a large saucepan, heat oil and saute onions, garlic and mushroom stems until thoroughly browned. Mix in the cooked couscous and stir until well blended. Remove from heat and let cool.

Use a small spoon to fill the mushrooms with the filling. The filling should be densely packed in the mushroom cap. Top with a slice of Roma tomato and set in a shallow, lightly greased baking tray and bake for 12-15 minutes. Serve with a wedge of lemon for those who like a more tart mushroom.

This meal was lovingly topped off with some iced green tea, served in my new favorite mug. I found this gem in an thrift store in East Lansing, MI last weekend.

On another note, I'm currently making some Sun Pickles! This is the first time I've made them, but they were a staple of my childhood. My mom would make huge jars of them every summer. They won't be ready until Sunday, since they have to sit in the sun for a few days and finish fermenting. The jar with the darker water has dried sage instead of dill for flavor.


Sun pickles are much like sun tea, so some people are reluctant to try them since there's a healthy amount of bacteria that forms in the fermenting process, which can look gross.  However, I assure you these are the most flavorful pickles in the world.

I'm so excited to taste these. If they turn out good, I may stock up on jars and pickle cukes to make a supply for the winter.

Quinoa Salad

Quinoa is quite versatile and with so many quinoa salad recipes available, there's no shortage of new and interesting things you can do with it.  However, most of the quinoa recipes I've come across call for quinoa to be served cold when in a salad. This recipe is different because the quinoa and the dressing are both served hot.

Salad
1 1/2 cups of cooked quinoa
1 1/2 cup of mustard greens cut into approx 1 inch strips
1 shredded carrot
1 coarsely chopped roma tomato
1 coarsely chopped green apple
1 coarsely chopped red apple
1 head of broccoli (steamed or raw)
 
Dressing
3 tablespoons of almond butter
1/2 cup warm water
2 medium cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon of ginger
salt to taste

The garlic, ginger and almond in the dressing provide a warm  and sweet flavor contrasted by the tartness of the apples and complemented by the spiciness of the greens.

Cook the quinoa according to the instructions on the package while you chop the veggies and fruits (and steam the broccoli if you so choose). In a small saucepan at low heat add the almond butter. Stir until it is soft and creamy. Slowly add half the water and stir. Add ginger and garlic (also add salt if you desire). Continue stirring and add the remaining water until the dressing is well blended and hot.

This recipe makes 2 servings, maybe 2 1/2 depending on how big you like your salad. On two plates spread the greens evenly, add the cooked quinoa, cover with tomatoes, apples, and carrots. Drizzle with hot dressing.

Gombóc!

Made a huge batch of these little guys yesterday and now I'll be set on sweets for the next month. For those not in the know, gombóc are Hungarian plum dumplings. The batch I made are plum and apricot since I had a crap ton of fruit that needed using.

These look intimidating, but are actually pretty easy to make. The only drawback is they take quite a bit of prep. So here's what you'll need:

5 medium potatoes, boiled in their skin
3 medium eggs
3-4 cups of flour, plus some for when you roll out the dough
1 teaspoon salt
8 small-medium ripe plums, halved or quartered depending on the size
6 ripe apricots
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 cup - 1 cup of farina
6 cups of water

Boil the potatoes, peel the skin off by hand while submerging them in cold water. I find the dough is of better consistency it the potatoes are warm when you mash them, but if you don't like touching hot potatoes, you can just let them cool and then peel.

Mash the potatoes with a fork, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and eggs. Mix together thoroughly. Slowly add the flour until your dough pulls away from the edges of the bowl and is not too sticky. Be careful to not add too much flour, or the dough will be too chewy and thick.  Let the dough rest while you rinse, and cut the plums and apricots.

Add salt to the 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into approx. 3x3 squares. Put one fruit piece in each square, and wrap the dough around the fruit. Make sure you seal the edges since you don't want any leaking when you boil them.  If your dough won't stick, use a little warm water to seal the edges.

Drop a batch of gombóc (5-6 depending on the size of your pot) into the boiling water. Adjust them periodically so they don't stick to the bottom. When they float, they're done. Remove them from the water and set them in a strainer. If you're good at multi-tasking in the kitchen or are a master of the gombóc, you can do the boil and fry steps simultaneously. If not, boil all the dumplings and then coat/fry them.

In a frying pan or wok (I find the wok works really well for coating), heat the olive oil and add 1/4 cup of farina. Brown the farina and then roll the gombóc in the farina until they're well coated. Add more farina as needed.
I usually take the excess brown farina and add cinnamon and brown sugar and use it as an ice cream topping.
 
You can top them with white sugar as I have above, or brown sugar, or you can eat them plain if you don't have a big sweet tooth. Occasionally, I like to serve them with a little vanilla ice cream with the cinnamon brown sugar topping.

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Total Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
Yields: 42 gombóc