Food Trip Down The Silk Road

I received this cookbook as a gift with a note that says "...for you are the happiest cook we know!". It is a great book of recipes, stories about food, hints from the author, and more - how can I not be a happy cook making a dinner from this book.

The evening theme was Food Trip Down The Silk Road given the different countries that were featured. Read on and enjoy, and if you are interested in buying this book, click on the link to the left and help me generate funds for my upcoming somerville kitchen renovations.

The trip started in Greece with Kolokithi Me Feta Salad (Zucchini and Feta Salad - Page 640). 

A refreshing salad where the zucchinis are barely cooked and the mix of dill, lemon, oil and scallions with feta cheese made it a delicious treat to go with the rest of the meal.

A quick hop to Cyprus for Revithia Yakhni (Chickpea Stew with Spinach - Page 31). 

According to the author, the spice mix enhancing this stew - red chiles, garlic, onions and tomatoes - is called tiganissi. She describes it as "something between an Indian tarka and a Spanish sofrito".

Whatever it is, it created a nice hit to the pallets. 

We then traveled far to look for the rice which we found in South India.

Elamcha Saatham (Lemon Rice - Page 380) is a simple, yet balmy, basmati rice. The rice is mixed with basil leaves fried with mustard seeds, lemon grind and lemon juice.

Delicious.




The trip is not over yet. look for the final stop, China, in tomorrow's post.

Purrfect Burger

Google search yields 3,320,000 hamburger recipes. But why waste time and effort; here is the perfect recipe.

The secret to a perfect hamburger is the level of fat in the meat. Buy lean, not extra lean ground beef, and you have all you need to make those perfect burgers.

Sprinkle the meat with a bit of salt (not too much, I typically use a quarter tsp for a pound of meat) and a bit of pepper. Forget about anything else you read that tells you to add breadcrumbs, onions, ketchup, eggs, etc. All you need is salt and pepper.

Make the patties large enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

Sprinkle the grill with a drop of vegetable oil and turn on the heat to high. Grill 5 minutes on one side and 3 on the other side for medium, or up to 5 minutes for well done.

The smell and taste of these burgers is what you imagine sailors of the 18th century ate what they referred to then as "steak cooked in the Hamburg style".

The cat had to be restrained throughout the meal after his immediate attack on the patties! 

Another Dim Sum Option

I heard about Dai Tung dim sum at a dinner party last month and thought it might be worth a try on a sunny weekend.

A busy place, so aim to be there before 11:00 am. One of the few dim sum places that have not dispensed with the cart pushing servers, but be patient -  some items were circulating at ten times the frequency of the others.

Sho-Mai and Shrimp Dumplings were not the best I have had in the city. The hot sauce that came with them tasted more like Mexican Tabasco sauce than Chinese hot sauce.

But the bean curds with mushrooms were worth the wait.

The BBQ pork buns were nicely done and presented, but the Gai Lan were too oily and soaked with garlic.

The Black Beans sesame buns for desserts were surprisingly good, and somewhat addictive.

Worth the try, particularly when the bill arrived - 6 items, including taxes and tea, came to $19.49.

 Dai Tung Chinese Restaurant

1050 Kingsway (just east of Fraser)

Vancouver, BC

Ikea - Best Dining Deal in Town

 

Yes, you are reading right - 99 cents dinner at Ikea until Monday; that is less than 10 cents a meatball. However, you have to work at it. First, you stand in line for over 20 minutes to get your hands on the meatballs, that is 2 minutes for each ball.

 

Then, you have to deal with the meatball robots - they count the balls, pour, add the sauce and potatoes and move on to the next plate. If you are not swift enough to pick up your plate, your chance is gone. 

And, if you are there at the end of the meatball robots' shift, you will be stuck with french fries instead of mashed potatoes, not fair!

Laura's Lasagna

When vegetarian Laura (and her not so vegetarian cat) invited me for lasagna, I expected a vegetarian one.

Well, this delicious lasagna was a veggie beef one looking and tasting like a regular meat lasagna - also included green peppers, onions and mushrooms; cilantro in the sauce, and cottage/mozzarella cheese.

The lasagna was accompanied by a tasty fresh salad of green lettuce, cucumber, crab and feta cheese served with five herbs dressing.

Of course garlic bread was on the table but my camera did not succeed in capturing their appetizing look well.



Dessert was home-made chocolate cupcakes to die for. While they looked heavy, they were actually very light and fluffy, covered with a nice chocolate frosting. To wrap up the evening, addictive sugar coated fennel seeds were delved into for a long time.

 

Thank you Laura!

 

Meal Experiment

A dear non-meat eating friend drops by spontaneously for dinner, what to do. Took out bits of this and that from the fridge and started improvising The Meal Formula

Frozen shrimps + capellini package + (carrots + zucchini + mushrooms + celery) + dill + butter + lemon = Capellini aux Crevettes


The Experiment

• Fry all the vegetables in a butter/vegetable oil mixture
• Season with salt and pepper
• Add more butter and juice of one lemon
• Sprinkle chopped fresh dill
• Add frozen shrimps to defrost in the sauce (2 minutes)
• Serve over buttered boiled capellini

The Results

Nice looking delicious meal!

"How Did You Cook That?", You Asked...

I had few questions today about my dinner yesterday (see last part of yesterday's entry), specifically the yummy looking stew I poured over the mashed potatoes that were inside the popovers. So I thought I will share the recipe below.

This is a very easy recipe that I learned from a special wonderful one. It is quick to make and goes well over mashed potatoes. Perfect for a weekday dinner after a busy day.

• Use a large frying pan or wok.
• Fry some leak or onions in vegetable oil.
• Add chunks of chicken breast and fry until lightly brown, season with salt/pepper.
• Add the different vegetables you have on hand - carrots, mushrooms, zucchini, peppers, broccoli, celery - you got the picture. Fry until somewhat tender.
• Add a can of cream of chicken soup and half of the same can worth of water, milk or a mix of both.
• Bring to a boil until sauce thickens.
• Sprinkle with fresh dill and serve.