Portuguese Feast

Bacalhao

1 lb. of salt cod
5 to 6 large potatoes
2 large onions, sliced
1 green peppers, sliced into slivers
3 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
4 cloves of garlic
black olives,
black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of parsley, chopped fine if fresh,
1 tablespoon of vinegar or the juice of one lemon,
½ cup of red or white wine, nutmeg can be added instead of wine

Soak cod fish overnight. Boil the cod fish the next day in unsalted water for 15 min. Flake fish and set aside. Boil potatoes, slice and set aside. Slice onion, peppers, crush garlic and sauté in olive oil. In large casserole add a layer as follows, potatoes, then fish, sliced hard boiled eggs, onion, peppers , garlic. Sprinkle olives and parsley. Pour olive oil over the entire casserole. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for ½ hour in a 3 qt. casserole dish.

Chickpea Salad with Salt Cod

½ pound dry chickpeas, soaked
2 quarts water, or as needed
½ lb dry salt cod, soaked overnight
1 small sweet onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 ½ tbsp finely chopped parsley or cilantro
1 tsp coarse salt or to taste
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped or cut in wedges for garnish
½ tsp paprika

Drain the chickpeas and rinse. Place in a 3-quart saucepan with enough water to cover by 2 inches, about 4 cups. Cover and bring to a boll over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until very tender, but not mushy, about 1 ½ hours. Drain and set aside.

Remove the fish from the soaking water and rinse. In a medium pot, bring the remaining 4 cups of water to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the cod. Cover for 15 to 20 minutes, then drain. Set aside until it is cool enough to handle.

Hand-shred the cod, discarding any skin or bones, and place in a serving bowl together with the chickpeas, onion, and garlic. In a small bowl, whisk the oil with the vinegar. Stir in the parsley and salt, if needed. Pour the dressing over the chickpeas and toss gently.

Garnish with the chopped eggs and a sprinkling of paprika. This dish can be served hot, cold, or at room temperature; it can also double as a light meal or side dish.

Middle Eastern Delights

Throughout my life the exotic, the strange, the unusual has always held extraordinary fascination for me. "Is that all there is?" was and still is my forever question as far back as I can remember. Much good came from following where it has led me - also some not so good, but in my view it's purpose was strictly to serve as a contrast to what was desirable. The lure of the unknown can be credited with my having had a quite adventurous life, especially when I was young and unattached. Now as I am getting older I have toned things down a bit of course, but in my kitchen I am still the inveterate explorer and fastidious avoider of the commonplace.

So from very early on I was drawn to the Middle East, mainly due to my illustrated copy of 'Thousand and One Nights' which I read cover to cover more times than I care to remember. Later on I discovered the exotic rhythms of their music and the sensuous movements of Belly dance - I was hooked! Through my friend Anne Marie who had spent several (admittedly miserable) years in Algeria while married to an Algerian, I was introduced to Algerian cuisine and from there I explored on my own.

I relished using unusual (to me) ingredients like bulghur, discovered the tantalizing flavors of tahini, started using mint in salads instead of in tea and much more. When I come across an unusual flavor combination or ingredient I am in paradise, even to this day!

Ah - the little pleasures of life that make it so worth living despite the valiant efforts of certain factions (who shall remain nameless) to push us into ever smaller corners so they may have more! Pooh on you - you will never succeed to fill the emptiness of your stony greedy hearts until you become a human being!

'Nough said! We are now in the Middle East, we have crossed one of their many deserts on camel back, we are stiff and sore from the day's journey and glad to get off and stretch. We have arrived in a small dusty town on the edge of this desert and our hosts great us and ask us to come in. We enter and find a table laden with all kinds of interesting foods and after freshening up we seat ourselves around the table and the feast begins. Amidst tales of the days adventures we leisurely enjoy the many savory treats - and if you take a little time you may join us as well by preparing the following recipes:

Tabbouleh

⅔ cup bulghur
2 cup water
⅔ cup minced red onion
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground allspice
½ cup finely chopped fresh mint
2 ½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
½ cup finely chopped scallion
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 ½ cup finely diced cucumber

Put bulghur in a heat proof bowl. Bring water to a boil and pour over bulghur. Let bulghur stand 1 hour. While bulghur is soaking, in a large bowl, stir together onion, salt, allspice, and dried mint, if using (do not add fresh mint now), and let stand 30 minutes. Drain bulghur in a sieve, pressing hard to extract as much water as possible, and add to onion mixture with remaining ingredients, including fresh mint, if using. Toss salad well and season with salt and pepper.

My favorite Tahini dressing

2 heaping tablespoons of tahini
½ clove of garlic
½ red bell pepper
Juice of ¼ of a lemon
Sea salt, to taste
Water

Put garlic, bell pepper and lemon juice into blender and purree. Remove into small bowl, add tahini and stir, adding water until desired consistency is reached. Season to taste with the salt. Serve on salads as dressing or wherever you might want a bit of it's nutty lemony flavor!

Okra with Tomatoes and Onion

2 lb fresh young okra
2-3 cloves garlic, sliced fine
1 lb tomatoes, sliced
1 large onion, chopped fine
6-7 Tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
freshly ground coriander seeds

Wash the fresh okra. Cut off any hard stems and dry the okra thoroughly. Saute onions and coriander seeds with the garlic in olive oil on medium heat till soft, transparent and golden. Add okra and continue to saute for a few minutes longer. Add the tomatoes while sauteeing, then season to taste, cover with water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour till the okra is very tender. Squeeze in the lemon juice before serving.

I have many friends who can't stand Okra who rave about this recipe! So if you are one of those people who have never liked Okra, do yourself a favor and try it this way - I promise you will love it!

Rice with Fava Beans

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 lb fava beans, soaked overnight
2 cloves garlic, grated
½ -1 tsp ground coriander seed
2 cups rice

Saute onions till soft and golden over medium heat. Add the fava beans and saute a little, add water to cover, season to taste, and simmer till the beans are tender.

Saute the garlic and coriander in oil in large pan, add some small, hot, dried chilies (optional) and continue for a few seconds on high heat till they change color, immediately add the rice and saute until transparent. Add this to the cooked fava beans together with enough water to make 4 cups. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, for 20 min till rice is tender. Serve with Cucumber Raita as accompaniment. Makes 8 servings.

Cucumber Raita

½ medium size cucumber, peeled
1 pint yoghurt
salt and ground roasted cumin to taste

Grate peeled cucumber half on carrot grater into small bowl and sprinkle lightly with salt - let salt soak in for about 15 minutes. Drain off liquid, add yoghurt and roasted ground cumin, stir and adjust seasoning.

Bon Apetit!

For Feta Cheese lovers of all ages!

It is really nice to serve something different when friends come over to hang out with you. I found this recipe some time ago and think it makes a great topping for crackers. Serve it along with a vegetable dip, some cut up veges to dip with and a nice salad like the Choriatiki which follows the spread recipe:

Goat Cheese and Pistachio Spread

• 3-3.5 ounce logs of mild soft goat cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped pistachios, toasted lightly and cooled
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced chives (or other fresh herbs)
• 1 large garlic clove, mashed to a paste with 1t salt
• ½ tsp oriental chili garlic sauce (optional)

Beat together the goat cheese, butter, garlic paste, pistachios, chives, and salt and pepper to taste until combined well. Spoon the spread into a serving dish, cover with plastic wrap, and chill overnight. Garnish with herbs.

Peasant Salad (Choriatiki)

• 2 medium-sized tomatoes
• 1 green pepper
• 1 medium-sized onion
• half a cucumber
• 3-4 oz feta cheese
• black olives
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh mint

Peel and cut the tomatoes and place then in a salad bowl. Seed and cut the green pepper. Peel and slice the cucumber. Peel and dice the onion. Wash and finely chop the mint. Add all the above ingredients to the salad.

Add the onion, the feta cheese, the olives, the oil and vinegar and the seasonings. If you want to prepare the salad in advance, do not add the salt until the last minute because the salt makes the tomatoes watery. Makes 5-6 servings

Fruit Jewel Cookies

One of life's many little pleasures is a steaming cup of tea accompanied by some dunking cookies! We have a nice bay window in our dining room where we enjoy a lovely view of birch trees and small bushes and if we are lucky we can observe our local band of deer looking for edible tidbits who come by here every few days. So this makes for a very nice break in the afternoon as you can imagine.

I found this recipe and having a weakness for candied fruit and nuts I decided to make it last Saturday.

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, stir before measuring
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 2/3 cup chopped candied cherries

Preheat oven lo 375°. Sift flour with baking soda, nutmeg, and salt. Beat together shortening, brown sugar, vanilla, and egg until well-blended. Blend in half of flour mixture, then milk, then remaining flour mixture. Stir in chopped nuts, candied fruit and peel. Drop by level tablespoons about 2 inches apart, onto greased baking sheets. Press lightly with a flat-bottomed glass covered with a damp cloth.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes at 375°. Makes about 3 dozen fruit cookies.

I used unsalted butter for the shortening and pecans for nuts - the cookies came out wonderful. When they were freshly baked they were soft, but on the following day they hardened and became perfect dunking cookies.

Unfortunately they did not last beyond the third day, in fact there were only two left which were consumed by a guest before the sun set that evening.

Orange Marmalade (improved recipe)

• 5 medium oranges
• 1 large lemon
• 8 cups of water
  
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 heaping tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 package of pectin (about 2 tbsp)

Peel the oranges and lemon with a sharp knife taking care not to remove too much white pith along with the peel. Cut the peels into small strips about 1 1/2" x 1/8" and set aside.

Halve the oranges and lemon and squeeze out juice. Scrape off pulp and membranes of the fruit from the remaining white pith and place pulp into muslin bag, tying it securely with cotton string. Place into glass bowl along with juice and all the water. Let marinade overnight in refrigerator.

Next day remove all the contents of the bowl into large pot, bring to boil, cover and after lowering heat simmer for 2 hours or until skins have softened.

Remove muslin bag carefully and set aside in bowl. Add all the sugar, the pectin and the ginger and let rest. When muslin bag is cool to touch, gently squeeze juice into pot along with juice collected in bowl and stir. Discard muslin bag. Then bring the orange mixture back to a boil over medium heat and let boil for another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Sterilize your glass jars and lids and fill with mix, and seal lids. Stored in refrigerator it should keep for about 4 weeks. Makes two small jars.

Orange Marmalade Adventures...

As the title suggests, my orange marmalade has turned into an adventure as it often happens when you do something for the first time! On the day I had set aside to make my marmalade I made very good progress preparing all the ingredients for the marmalade. Here is the recipe I was using:

• 5 medium oranges
• 1 lemon
• 4 lbs of sugar (which I reduced to 2 cups convinced that 4 lbs seemed excessive)
  
• 8 cups of water

As the recipe instructed me I carefully removed the skin from the oranges and the lemon, paying attention to not remove too much of the white inner skin along with the peel. Next I moved on to cut all the orange and lemon peels into fine strips about 1 1/2" long and 1/8" wide and setting it aside. Then I halved the oranges and lemon and attempted to squeeze all the juice out. That turned out not to be so easy as everyone who has ever tried to squeeze an orange without it's skin will attest to! But eventually I succeeded, yeah!

Next step was to reserve the membranes and whatever parts of the fruit were left over from the squeezing operation and tie them up securely in a piece of Muslin. So I spent a considerable time removing whatever white pith was still remaining on my orange and lemon halves since I do not like orange marmalade that is bitter!

Finally I was ready to progress to the next step which was to place the muslin bag, the orange and lemon juice, the orange and lemon peel and the 8 cups of water into a bowl and let them marinate in the refrigerator until the next day.

I looked around and noticed that I had better clean my kitchen, getting the oranges ready ended up being quite a messy operation!

You can see in the photo what my orange bowl looked like before I placed it in my refrigerator!

Next day it was time to complete the recipe by pouring all the prepared orange mixture including the muslin bag into a large pot and bringing it to a boil. Once boiling I covered the pot, turned the heat down and simmered it for about 2 hours until the skins were nice and soft!

By now the mixture had shrunk considerably which is to be expected. I carefully removed the muslin bag and set it aside in a bowl and then added all of the sugar while stirring the concoction. The recipe called for a short rest period which I observed with a nice cup of tea and another chapter of the book I was currently reading.

After about 1/2 hour I gently squeezed out the muslin bag over the pot, poured whatever juice had drained from the muslin bag into the bowl and then I brought the mixture back to a boil which I kept up for about 15 minutes. While I was sterilizing my glass jars I let the mixture cool down. I thought that the orange mix was a bit runny, but being a neophyte marmalade maker I thought that it might gel once cooled, so I decided to have faith in the recipe and proceeded to fill up my glass jars and sealing them.

The following day I opened a jar to see if it had gelled - alas, no such luck! It was just as runny as the previous day, so I headed to my computer to find out what was wrong. I found out that something called Pectin was available (and fortunately ready for duty in my cupboard) to save the day. I also found out that some recipes call for ground ginger to enhance the flavor of the marmalade and being all in favor of flavor enhancing anything I thought I might as well add some of that as well!

So I added half a package of Pectin to my mix along with a heaping tsp of ground ginger and reheated it in a small pot over medium heat. Once boiling I simmered it an additional 15 minutes and then allowed it to cool over another cup of tea and a peak into my book.

Success! My marmalade now had marmalade consistency and I filled my jars and resealed them properly. I had a small amount left over which I left out for sampling by my trusty food taster and partner Gilbert - who ate all of it claiming he had to in order to being able to come to the conclusion that it was the best he had ever tasted!

Which is music to any cooks ears, thank you Gilbert!

Why I wanted a blog about cooking!

Food - without it we could not live for long! It nourishes our bodies, hearts and souls. In kitchens the world over families share joys and sorrows, laughter, tears and secrets. With food we celebrate the milestones in our lives, births, deaths, marriages, treaties, and new presidents. The most important room in our homes usually is the kitchen, it is invariably where everyone congregates during festivities.

There is nothing like a home cooked meal, no matter how humble the ingredients. It is nice to go to a lovely restaurant and enjoy a meal with a friend or loved one, but even the simplest broth enjoyed at home with some freshly baked bread will hold more satisfaction than the fanciest meal eaten out.

I have been cooking for myself and my family for too many years not to understand the value of knowing what is in the food we eat. In a culture where convenience is very tempting because our schedules have become too hectic trying to balance family responsibilities with jobs and social commitments, it is all too easy to succumb to the lure of 'all you do is add water' or 'heat for 5 minutes in the microwave and serve'.

Alas, the unwelcome news is that there is a price tag attached to all that convenience - the myriad chemical preservatives, additives and flavor agents used to prepare those convenience foods seldom are in harmony with what nature intended to nourish our bodies and ensure our good health with and all too many of us have paid for their convenience with ill health. So there is much to be said for taking the time and cooking your food at home as freshly as possible and as little processed as possible.

Over the years I have amassed an impressive collection of recipes from breads to cakes, from soups to main courses to delectable snacks. Being an avowed do it yourselfer I have recipes for teas, refreshing drinks, punches and preserved herbs, herbal tinctures, marmelades, deserts, and many unusual concoctions. I even have recipes for organic pest control sprays, remedies for insect bites and much more.

As I am getting older I would like to share these recipes with others of like mind and I thought it might be nice if I had all my recipes on hand in a blog. It is now winter and we spend much more time indoors so this is the ideal time for me to get everything set up and ready to go. This spring when our garden demands more attention I will be lucky to find time to make entries, I know I won't feel like figuring out the format for this blog and whatnot!

The first entry will be a recipe for orange marmalade. I love having some marmalade on toast with breakfast! Orange is my all time favorite, closely followed by raspberry. I bought some oranges today and tonight I will be deciding which recipe I will follow tomorrow when I will prepare it. Hopefully my camera will cooperate with me so there will be some photographs to accompany the recipe.