Brain Food
This page is for listing the latest and most interesting new books, articles and websites on buying, eating and growing healthy food that I come across. Recipes will be included as well.
North Africa in North Carolina
Tis the end of the summer, and all the late veggie crops are coming in full force. We’ve got speckled beans, loooots of multicolored sweet peppers, onions, okra, tomatoes of all kinds, and the native grapes, bronze and blackpurple. Plus lots of squash, yellow crookneck and green zucchini summer, butternut and acorn fall varieties.
That means it’s time for North African recipes, and here are a few: Carrot and Pumpkin/Butternut Squash and Eggplant dips for pita bread, just in case you’re tired of hummus: preserved lemons, to put into hummus, salads, pastas and baked chicken, among other things: and vegetable Tagine, a stew-like concoction that reminds me of my mom’s gumbo, with the rice replaced by couscous. So here are some of my favorites.
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Carrot Dip
1 lb carrots chopped 2 teaspoons ground cumin salt to taste
2 cloves garlic minced 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 onion minced about 1 teaspoon harissa (see note)
Cook or steam carrots and garlic until carrots are tender. Heat cooking oil, preferably olive, and cook the onion until softened. Add the cumin, stirring in until fragrant. Process everything in a foot processor or mash by hand. Add lemon juice and harissa and salt. Let cool and spread or dip with pita crisps or tortilla chips, or your favorite dip carrier.
Note: Harissa is a chile paste that is used on just about everything in North Africa, rather like salsa in Latin America or Oelek Sambal in Southeast Asia. You can get it by the jar or tube in a Mideastern Market or a very trendy modern supermercado. In the Triangle, look in Neomonde or Nur Deli. Or just use a good chile paste, or try this recipe, but I’ve not made this one myself, as I have been able to buy my harissa.
Harissa
Soak in hot water for one hour, 2 oz. dried red chilies, your choice, and drain. Combine in a grinder with 2 garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons coriander seeds, 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, 2 teaspoons caraway seeds, pinch of salt. When it has been mixed into a paste, add 3 tablespoons olive oil, put into a small jar and float some olive oil on top to keep it from darkening and to preserve it from mold. Cover and keep in a cool, dark place, which in this climate means the refrigerator.
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Pumpkin Dip
1.5 lb pumpkin in pieces (butternut squash is perfect too) 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 garlic clove, crushed 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon caraway seeds 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon harissa salt to taste
Clean pumpkin of skin, seeds, threads. Cook or steam until tender. In a separate pan, heat the oil, cook the caraway and coriander until fragrant. Add pumpkin, garlic, harissa, lemon juice and salt. Remove the pan from the heat, mash or process all the ingredients together, let cool before eating.
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Eggplant Dip
2 lb eggplant 1 /2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, sliced 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika 3 tablespoons lemon juice
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut slits in the eggplant skins and insert garlic slices. Bake in the oven until the skin is charred and blistered. Remove and cool. Peel the eggplant, squeeze out and discard the juices, then place in a bowl and mash with the spices.
Heat the oil in a pan, add the eggplant mixture and fry it, stirring frequently until very thick, about 15 minutes. Pour out excess oil and add lemon juice to the paste. Serve warm or cool, with pita bread slices or crisps, or with broiled meats, chicken or fish.
Have fun! More recipes coming up soon . . .
Liz – 05Sept2010
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Food Program Sucker, Right Here
I’ve got suckered into watching some of those food programs, that are on WUNC_TV Explorer channel. Just saw a half-hour show on Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie show on Korean cooking. I’ve now got it bookmarked so I can show it to Joe tonight – especially since we have a Korean market down the street (in the same place much-missed Hancock Fabrics used to be, around the corner from Ollie’s and TJ Maxx). Yay! Can go get the ingredients. Boo! Have just discovered that my local Korean/Japanese restaurant – Asahi – has just gone out of business. Damn. Haven’t visited them in awhile, now I can feel guilty, plus we always ate off the Korean menu and I was just getting into the mood for some Bibimbob and some Korean seafood pancake. Rats!
Next week, I’ll post the result of trying out one of the Korean recipes from the show – tofu w/ a spicy sauce on top, really fast, looks simple.
Liz – 18June2010
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Michael Pollan's latest
The Botany of Desire – Not What You Might Think, Shame on You
I just watched – for the 2nd time – the PBS special on Michael Pollan’s book The Botany of Desire, narrated by him, and it was just as good again. Totally recommend it. The book was really good too, and of course, it gives way more info than the TV show, but is a good introduction to it. The show has some different info to add to the book, and really interesting interviews with growers and researchers as well. Gorgeous visuals, too, and not too difficult for kids to understand.
In a nutshell, the book shows how plants have used us while we’re using them – for food, beauty, mental stimulation(!) – in order to propagate themselves throughout the world from their areas of origin. Not with any intelligence, of course, but as most organisms do, by responding to various stimuli and encouragement to reseed.
And I notice that Michael Pollan has yet another book out on food and eating – Food Rules – on how to fix the health care crisis by eating whole food rather than food products. That’s what we’re all about, so that’s next on my reading list.
Wow, that was fast, but it turns out to be a handbook, companion to the In Defense of Food book. This one is short and sweet, and has it’s funny moments too. Rule #36 – Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk. Oops, bet I know which ones those are.
Liz – 17June2010
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Julie and Julia, Great Book – What About the Movie?
Maybe movies will make the cut – I just finished reading Julie and Julia, and may check out the movie. I’ll definitely be looking for Mastering the Art of French Cooking at the library to get hold of that recipe for cauliflower, watercress and cheese casserole. It just sounded too good!
Liz
Date: February 23, 2010