My Attempt At Ghormeh Sabzie

A dear Iranian friend introduced me to Ghormeh Sabzie - an Iranian herb stew (including fenugreek leaves) that is not easy to make.

I know I love it. I also know I won't be able to recreate it from scratch.

But when I saw the packages of the frozen mixed herbs at Yek O Yek (read shopping story at Yek O Yek on Main), I could not resist.

I went from memory and made a simple version. First, I defrosted the cooked herbs.

Some already cooked beef stew came out of the freezer and added to the herbs.

I recall beans, so a can of kidney beans was dropped in. I know it calls for dried Persian limes, but that was pushing it for me.

Ghormeh Sabzie is eaten with Iranian rice. I have watched Iranians make this rice so many times and I still cannot perfect it.

But I tried. Some barbari bread and a mock-Iranian meal was served.

It sure did not taste anywhere near the original from-scratch versions I have had and I apologize to my Iranian friends and readers if I have messed up one of your traditional meals. But I was craving it and had to do with what I could get my hands on. I am accepting invites for dinner though...

National Tabbouleh Day

Time Out Beirut declared today as the National Tabbouleh Day.

10542.17 KM away, somerville kitchen celebrated the National Tabbouleh Day with this gorgeous looking platter packed with jardin crop.

Jardin parsley and mint came together to make sure today's Tabbouleh fits the occasion.

And nothing goes better with Tabbouleh than some grilled meat.

This was an easy recipe of chicken, sausage, zucchini and peppers marinated with mustard, garlic and oil. Very fancy for the fancy occasion.

The peak of the celebration was double-desserts. A carrot cake from the Pacific Institute of culinary arts that is probably one of the best I tasted.

This was surrouned by a selection of dainty and tasty tartlets, éclaires and coconut macaroons from Trafiq.

 Definitely a very blogworthy celebration of the National Tabbouleh Day.

Conversations with Cats (again) - Real Food

Cats, what are you smiling about?

You back make me famous again, cats likes lightspot.

We like the traffic you generate for the blog.

Meow, interview on driving humans crazy catcits. 

No, our sponsors rather we talk about food. Last month's Dry Food article was a hit.

Cats likes food from human white box.

Tell me about it. What food is that.

Cats feast on fancy foods. Human stingy on fancy foods.

How and when do you eat your Fancy Feast? 

When cats meows, cats eats fancy food. But you old and not recall, told you old one human stingy on fancy foods. So cats meows one time more.

What do you like most about this food?

Nose holes open wide, makes tummy happy.  

So how come you have not touched this plate?

This no fancy food. This human trick to eat crunchies. Told you eating crunchies 4440 days boring and cats knows, this same boring crunchies. 

But I heard human found you new food to reduce boredom. Which one is that?

Human loves shopping food, me stuck try foods like this new purrreeew.

You mean prowl? Tell us about it.

human can talk many on it. some range free stupid birds get cooked in human food facility and no fun salt or funner sugar added to food. 

Sounds like an excellent source of protein with no additives.

And no gredientin from big country starts with C - see? It writes on box - No gerdientin from C----.

But how does it taste?
  
See box - taste tested by humans.

It looks so fresh and delicious when it is hydrated with water.

cats and best human friends call space food.

The big question cats is do you like it?

No smell, so human patient so cats takes cats time and taste. 

But do you eat it?   

It real cats favourite bird you crazy - Cats love. But tell you no smell, human tricks with rain drop fancy food on top. Then cats eats all.

And where do you buy it from?

Nice man with white coat happy home.


Any last words for us cats?

Yes, human says to says that best foods at Vancouver Animal Wellness Hospital. kay, cats can now back to catmint god pray.

 

Yek O Yek on Main

Yek O Yek (3046 Main St.) is an amazing little Iranian Foods store with lots of offer. In fact, it is more than a store. It is a deli, a warm food restaurant, a cafe, a bulk food depot. You can even pick up an Iranian ice cream there as you stroll Main Street.

Here are the contents of my shopping bags from Yek O Yek today.

You can only find it at Yek O Yek, frozen Fried Herbs for Ghormeh Sabz.

This is the base for my favourite Iranian stew (I will fill you in more once I cook it - stay tuned).

Bags and bags of cheap, quality grains in bulk:

- Short grain brown organic rice
- Long grain brown basmati
- Pearl wheat; perfect for Hrisseh
- Every colour and grade of quinoa you will ever need

Full ready-to-go meals. The lamb shank comes with saffron rice while the kebabs come with basic basmati rice.

They also have the best quality middle-eastern meat pies on the city.



Add a couple of those pies to the take-out and you have dinner ready for four.

Yek O Yek

3046 Main Street

Vancouver, BC

604-877-0139

Coast is Good

Coast Restaurant's website describes it as Fresh, Vibrant, Made in Vancouver. So true.

I used to be a regular a decade ago when it first opened in Yaletown. This is what I always had and loved at Coast (tonight's were the Kusshi from Baynes Sound).

But little did I know that, in their new location, they are also known for their sushi. Supposedly they have one of the best sushi chefs in the city (it sure was nicely done and excellent fish qualify).

Their fish are simply grilled - pricy, but excellent fish quality. Mine was a BC Sable Fish (which is really a black cod under its sexier name). 

It does not come with much, so you are on the hook to order sides. But their sides are definitely worth the money. The two favourite ones sampled are the Crispy Brussels Sprouts (I have to crack how to make them this crispy)...

... and the Prawn Mac & Cheese with tarragon. I thought it will be rich and heavy, but no, it was surprisingly very tasty and light.

Dessert was sampled, and I fell in love with something white and creamy on top of a peanut butter cookie (in the far left of the platter).

Here's to rediscovering Coast.
 

Coast Restaurant

1054 Alberni Street

Vancouver, BC

www.glowbalgroup.com/coast 

 

Weekend With Friends

The rain held off until the last hour of the weekend allowing for a beautiful fire and BBQ party to wrap up the long weekend.

Friends, old and new, got together around the fire. Theme was middle eastern. Languages were abundant. Conversation easily flowing. 

Food was simple, non-adventureous and included jardin crop as much as possible. 

The rain at the end of the night simply moved the party into the house.

So what was served?

Jardin chard was harvested and cooked with pepper plant leaves, garlic and onions.

Jardin lettuce and mint were mixed with store-bought vegetables to make a handsome Fatoush.

Parsley is the queen of the jardin this year. This was used along with jardin chives to dress up a Lebanese-style lemon juice and olive oil potato salad.

The BBQ hosted chicken thighs marinated in two options along the Canada Day weekend theme: white lemon, oil and garlic and red BBQ sauce.

And in my home, no chicken BBQ is ever eaten without humus.

When the rain started, sugar warmed all up with home-made atayef and delicious gift of Iranian sweet creamy desserts.

What better can life offer than a filling weekend with friends. Thank you all for the fun.

Happy 145th Birthday Canada

Cats just loves Canada Day. 

Like last year's Canada Day, cats and I spent the day today cooking a red and white meal.

And in the spirit of our Canada, the recipes were in French, from Inspirés - IGA's Quebec cooking magazine. 

I was lucky that all I needed was in one issue. So what was served at somerville kitchen tonight?

White chicken meat with red raspberry sauce.

An easy recipe - chicken coated with coriander and cumin, roasted and then drizzled with a raspberry balsamic vinegar sauce.

The vegetables were red outside white inside cooked radishes.

Why do we eat turnips cooked and radishes raw? This dish flipped the principle and radishes were boiled in a butter sauce. Served hot.

Red potatoes were roasted in a mustard-paprika-thyme coating and sprinkled with white creamy brie cheese once out of the oven. 

Dinner nicely enjoyed with a red raspberry beer - perfect!

Dessert was a first-time cooking adventure for me.

First time I make a rolled cake and first time a flourless one (more like a chocolate omelette given the cake is made of eggs and cocoa). 


Inside it had Ricotta and cream cheese and red raspberries. I cannot take credit for the presentation design though.

 

Dinner and dessert were enjoyed in le jardin, surrounded by those appropriately called Canada Day Sweet Peas - they come up in jardin every year around this time.

And of all, cats had the most fun with flags.