Food happenings in our house this week include two new cookbooks, and some new
ingredients that I haven't used before, including chickpea flour, berbere seasoning, and Ethiopian teff. I'm just getting started with these
cookbooks, which are both fairly recent and have been widely praised by reviewers. Both
of them offer a look at cuisines that are unfamiliar, and that I'm interested in
learning about.
|
|
Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean, & Southern Flavors Remixed by Bryant Terry. Published in 2014. |
|
|
From Afro-Vegan: twice-cooked potatoes for "smashed" potatoes with corn and peas. |
|
| The finished dish, with salad. The flavors were unusual, and nice. |
|
|
Ethiopia: Recipes and Traditions from the Horn of Africa by Yohanis Gebreyesus, Published in 2019. Kindle edition. I haven't tried any of the recipes from this prize-winning book yet. |
I've been experimenting with spices and ingredients from Africa, but not always with perfect results. For example, I tried making some chickpea-teff patties from a website. The flavor profile was great, but the "patties" didn't stick together and were more like crushed-chickpea hash. So no photos! And hopefully the books will have more reliable recipes.
Baking Bread This Week
|
|
Len made two loaves of pain de mie with pepper. The recipe is from Poilâne: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery by Apollonia Poilâne |
|
| Len also baked a French rye bread from the Auvergne region, using a recipe from The Rye Baker by Stanley Ginsberg. We sampled this bread with butter and jam. Delicious! |
Ordinary Food
|
|
Salmon croquettes made from frozen salmon: no recipe. |
|
| A pot of vegetarian chili: no recipe. |
|
| Lime and cilantro to garnish the chili. |
|
| Cornbread to eat with the chili. |
|
|
Classic simplicity: French oil-based potato salad with herring and tomatoes. We remember eating this often in a VERY cheap restaurant when we were students: the menu read "hareng pommes à l'huile." |
Blog post and photos © 2022 mae sander.
This is a good time of year to explore foods from afar. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteWell, I am supper impressed not only with the books but all the grand foods this week. I would love to be your neighbor taste testing for you. LOL Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteI googled pain de mie, not having heard that term before that I recall. It looks good. I make salmon patties (that's what we call them) regularly but use canned salmon. I always use meat in chili, but your looks delicious. Cornbread with chili is a must! What a cozy-feeling post :)
ReplyDeleteA great idea to find a new cookbook. It's a season for cooking!
ReplyDeleteThat rye bread looks fantastic. We are having herring for lunch and I'm going to use your salad as inspiration as I've got potatoes.
ReplyDeleteHungry, hungry, hungry (despite I just had a self-made low-carb pizza muffin).
ReplyDeleteOh, I've been cooking with chickpea flour, berbere seasoning, and teff for years. Fun to try new to you ingredients.
ReplyDeleteI much prefer oil potato salads to mayo. The herring sounds good there. I got RIck that Poilane book for Christmas a few years ago but I don't know if he's baked from it. I'll have to get on him about that!
ReplyDeleteMae,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing about the Afro -vegan cookbook - sounds interesting to me. Nothing like homemade bread especially when its cold outside. My mom made salmon croquettes with stewed tomatoes and macaroni and cheese every Thursday when I was growing up. It was a favorite in our family and considered a lighter meal the day before the big Friday night Shabbos meat and chicken meal.
Favorite things!! Trying and experimenting with new foods, cookbooks and recipes. I'm currently enjoying the inspiration of Filipinx, Heritage Reipes from the Diaspora.
ReplyDeleteI do love the vegetable recipes in Vegan cookbooks! The potato dish looks good.
ReplyDeleteThis is a vegetarian's delight and I am starved. I read somewhere if you really want to smash potatoes and burgers, you should not use a spatula, but wrap the outside of a heavy pan in aluminum foil and use it to smash the food. You get a better smash that way. Had to laugh at "chickpea hash" so no photos.
ReplyDeleteThe bread looks good, and so does the chili. The oil based potato salad, not so much. Nice way to test new books, though.
Just read the comment you left about Squiggles. Neither of the boys go outside. Squiggles has been to the vet in a carrier, but never stepped a paw outside the house. I tell people he has virgin paws. Bleu goes out in spring and autumn if I ask him if he wants to go, but lately, all he wants to do is eat, sleep, poop, repeat. No chance Squiggles will be looking for either mice or any songbird.
ReplyDeleteCornbread is a must-have with chili. You made some interesting dishes here!
ReplyDeleteEverything always looks delicious! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete