Yummus Hummus

Tonight was a vegetarian dinner - Mediterranean-style hummus... or as my husband calls it, "Yummus".

Yes, those are cucumber strips instead of circles. Easier to dip into the hummus, or jam into a pita bread. Unless your toddler only will eat cucumber slices, of course. The total time to make this meal is about 25 minutes (if the carrots are already prepped- peeled and chopped and stored in a container in the fridge, soaking in cold water. Great tip from my Mother-in-law: they stay fresh, crunchy, and you can prep them ahead of time for snacking.)

I would love to say I made the Falafel myself, but I took a short-cut and had my buddy, Albert Heijn make it. Just pop these beauties into a pan with a bit of oil, and fry them up for a nice, crunchy exterior.

Inform your two-year-old that these are meatballs and risk wasting one (unless you don't mind it ABC- already been chewed).

The key to this fabulous meal is of course, the Hummus. A recipe I found online long ago here: (and modified slightly)
Yummus Hummus
1 jar of chickpeas (trying to cut down on canned foods because of the BPA), drained but reserve the liquid (360 grams or 16 oz)
1/4 cup (60ml) of reserved chickpea liquid
juice from 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup or 60ml)
2 Tablespoons Tahini paste* (about 30ml)
2 cloves of garlic, chopped fine (or if you don't like raw garlic, roast it first)
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (plus more for garnish)

Blend everything in a food processor for 3 to 5 minutes, or until creamy. Add more reserved chick-pea liquid if desired, but don't add too much or you'll end up with soup.
To serve, place in a bowl and add a Tablespoon or so of olive oil as a garnish on the top.  Make it look pretty with a carved carrot flower or creatively placed tomatoes. Use cut veggies to dip, or stuff a pita-pocket (also AH supplied! and the par-baked pita pockets bake up nice in only 5 minutes!) with the hummus, falafel, veggies and a drizzle of oil if you like.
* = Tahini is sesame paste. If you don't have it and can't get it, you can use a mortar and pestle to grind up sesame seeds until they are a paste and use that instead. I've done it this way when I was out of tahini and craving hummus. It works okay, but you really have to work to grind up those seeds and it takes a long time.

Yummus!

Happy New Year! Lentil Soup

Happy New Year! With the little matter of 2011 behind me, I'm excited to share with you one of my family's traditions for New Year's Day. If you happen to have lentils in your pantry, you, too, can create this soup today. Otherwise, I'll remind you next year, and you'll be all set for financial gain and good luck in 2013.

For as long as I can remember, my family has been celebrating New Year's Day with a bowl of lentil soup. My godparents, Kathleen and Mike, always invited us over for both soup and also cannoli. I tried typing "cannolis" or "cannolies" just now, (because you can't each just one) but upon further research, it appears that cannoli is actually plural, and the singular is cannolo. I was also excited to learn that these 'little tubes' are Sicilian in origin, which is from where my grandmother's family immigrated to America. But enough about dessert, let's talk soup:

Lentil Soup
(served on New Year's Day for good fortune in the coming year)
adapted from Dom DeLuise's book Eat This... It Will Make You Feel Better

8 oz dried green lentils (227 grams)
4 cups veggie broth (1 liter)
3 cups water (750 ml)
2 Tablespoons olive oil (2 eetlepels)
1 medium onion, diced
2 to 3 garlic cloves (you can use more if you like), minced
4 to 5 carrots, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped (cut in half length-wise and then slice)
1 bay leaf

In a large soup pot, combine lentils (sort through them, make sure there are no foreign objects), broth and water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes. Lentils should be just tender, but not falling apart. Chop the veggies, and when there is ~15 minutes left on the lentils timer, heat a saute pan with the olive oil. Place the onions in the oil, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and cook on medium heat until onions are translucent, about 8-10 minutes. Stir them often to prevent burning. Add garlic, carrots, and celery and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes, stirring often. You might need to add another tablespoon of oil or so if the mixture is sticking to the pan. The lentil timer should be going off at this point, so add the veggie mixture to the lentil soup pot along with the bay leaf. Simmer this for another 10 to 15 minutes, checking the carrots. I like my veggies done aldente, so if you would prefer them cooked longer, go for it. The soup can be topped with grated Parmesan cheese and served with bread, or as we did today, grilled cheese sandwiches. Enjoy!

The two-pan technique of this soup ensures your veggies are not cooked to oblivion, a flaw in many recipes online. By cooking the veggies separately from the lentils, the flavor and texture of the veggies is preserved. If you eat this soup on New Year's Day, you will be wealthy in the coming year, according to the Italians, for whom lentils signify good luck (their recent financial situation aside). If you don't trust the Italians, the Brazilians also believe lentils signify wealth, so you've got that going for you, too.

Carrot Cake

Years ago, I cut out an article in one of my cooking magazines about cake and ratios. It talked about the ratios: of sugar = flour and eggs = butter... as well as eggs + liquid = sugar. It was a lovely article and I was thirsty for more information. About a year ago, at a party, I met the sister-in-law of a friend here who is a food scientist. How cool is that? She works at Mars and has to work with caramel and nougat extruders. Not to mention the chocolate. Can you imagine walking into work every day to the smell of chocolate? She recommended a cooking textbook: McGee's Food and Cooking and so I bought it. Granted, it is huge, so I have not yet read the whole thing. But whenever I pick it up, I want to read the rest! Can you imagine being excited about a text book? It is amazing.

But I digress. This post is about Carrot Cake, so I will bring it on. Using only these ratios I began to fiddle around with a carrot cake recipe.  I had the Belimar book's Carrot Bundt cake recipe to start with and one from my aunt. It really only took me a few tries (I got lucky!) and I had a hunch that I was onto something.

If you are hoping for cupcakes, half of this recipe makes about 15 muffins/cupcakes (bake for 25 minutes). (Don't get me started on the difference between a muffin and a cupcake.)

Carrot Cake
400 g (3 and 1/4 cup) all-purpose flour (use the Zeeuwse Bloem in Nederland)
200 g (1 cup) sugar (fijn suiker)
220 g (1 cup) brown sugar (light bastard suiker)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp all-spice (or 1/8 tsp cloves)
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
2 egg yolks (37 g)
5 whole eggs (270 g)
1 1/4 cup vegetable oil (300 ml)
2/3 cup buttermilk (150 ml karne melk)
2 cups shredded carrots (275 g)
1 cup toasted walnuts (120g)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9" round cake pans and line with parchment. Grease and flour the parchment.
2. Mix the dry ingredients (flour through salt)
3. Beat eggs lightly, add oil, buttermilk and mix until combined. Fold in dry ingredients. Fold in carrots and walnuts.
4. Pour batter into the prepared pans and spread evenly. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, checking after 30 min using the toothpick test (does it come out clean) and the press-test (lightly touch the center of the cake with your finger and see if it springs back. If it does not spring back, it is not done)
5. Run a knife around the edges of the cakes. Wait about 10 minutes and then turn cakes out onto a wire rack. Allow cake to cool completely before frosting. I used the Cooks Country Cream Cheese frosting recipe.

The first time I made this cake was for my friend Viktorija's birthday. I followed advice from Hello Cupcake and made sunflowers from oreos.

Another time I made this cake was for my husband's birthday, and I spelled his name with raisins on the top as the decoration. A bit low-brow compared to the sunflowers, no? But he just wanted to eat the cake! And it was good.

Viktorija requested carrot cake for her birthday again this year and so I obliged. And I even remembered to take a photo of the inside of the cake.

Simple Soup

A hot bowl of soup when you feel a cold coming on is so soothing. As my friend, Viktorija would say, "Use whatever veggies you have." or "Relax"! Take her advice- I know I should!

In French cooking, carrots, celery, and onion minced and mixed together can be the main part of your broth- Mirepoix if you will. If you are lucky enough to have leftover chicken on hand, or a whole, uncooked chicken, you can use it to make the stock. If not, simply chop equal parts carrots, onions, and celery (1 cup of each if you need exact measurements) and throw it all into a pot with some olive oil coating the bottom (1 tsp or so). Stir, on medium heat, until the onions are fragrant. The veggies will not be 'done' yet, but go ahead and add 4 cups (1 liter) of boiling water or (preferably) broth or stock. I use bullion cubes to make my broth when I'm lazy, or if I'm industrious, I create stock from scratch by boiling a whole chicken with a bunch of veggies, straining this completely, stripping the meat off the chicken bones and then using the strained broth at this point in the process (add the cooked chicken pieces at the last minute, if desired).  Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally and then time the addition of any other veggies you like, such as broccoli (takes 5 minutes to cook), cauliflower (3 minutes), sweet peppers or herbs (add at the last minute). If you are adding potatoes, I recommend doing so when you saute the carrots, celery, and onion in the first step, or right after you bring your mixture to a boil. If you are crazy about veggies not being over cooked, you can also start your stock/broth boiling, add potatoes, cook for 15 minutes, then add the carrots, celery, and onion and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes. However, I really prefer the onions sauteed a bit with the olive oil(and a pinch of salt) at the start, so that they get a bit caramelized.

Serve, piping hot, with Parmesan cheese or a swirl of extra virgin olive oil on the top along side some homemade French bread. If you want your soup to be a noodle soup you can add the pasta (preferably something small like ditalini) as soon as your mixture has come to a boil after you've added the broth or stock or water. If you only use boiling water you will definitely need to salt your soup!

One of my favorite parsnip recipes is Alton Brown's parsnip muffins. However, I found the toasting of the almonds to be a bit excessive (mine burnt to a crisp) and also found that just greasing the nonstick pan was not enough to enable smooth removal of the muffins. Cupcake liners, people! That's what you need. Additionally, the timing is a bit off on the baking instructions- it always takes my muffins at least 30 minutes to reach that internal temperature of 210 degrees F. (I love how Alton does things like check a muffin's temperature!)

Another recipe I like for parsnips is a parsnip and carrot side dish. I slice parsnips and carrots into match-stick shapes and then saute in a high-heat oil like canola or sunflower oil. Add some sliced garlic and cook until the carrots and parsnips are al-dente. Toss with diced rosemary leaves and serve with a bit of extra virgin olive oil. Yum!