Tune of the Moment: Apropos yesterday's post about being smitten with a song and playing it ad nauseum, today's tune is by my favorite SA band, Beatenberg. I mentioned them in a previous post but just today they posted a brand spanking new song on Facebook. Cue excited shrieking and jumping up and down. The verdict? I don't know how many times I've played this song today. I wish it was downloadable and, darn it, I've earned the right to download it due to my incessant playing of it. I'm completely whipped.
Here is the link-you've been warned. Click on this puppy and those around you will curse you for clicking "play" over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. "Echoes" is freaking addictive.
Food-wise, I just made a pretty delish lunch. Part of it comprised a cheese-less pesto experiment. I'm in love with coriander but can never use it up fast enough-I ultimately end up with wilting, brown ish coriander that begs to be thrown away. So, because I still want to purchase herbs and need to justify the acquisition of cilantro (coriander), basil, sorrel and more, I decided to make a big batch of green goodness. Patrick Holford has a similar idea/recipe in his "Liver Cleanse" book-basically take a variety of green herbs, blend them up and consume them with everything and anything. I also love kale and am trying to find new ways to prepare it. The solution? Coriander and kale pesto happiness.
Go Green Pesto Princess
Handful of coriander
Handful of kale, chopped up a bit
Good glug of olive oil
Handful of pine nuts (or other nuts-pecans or walnuts would be yummy too)
Sea salt
(Optional: sundried tomatoes, marinated artichoke hearts, olives, hard cheese like parmesan or grand padano)
Blend the above in a blender and eat it with EVERYTHING.
Remember: there can never be too much green!
I enjoyed this greenness with baked cod and a salad of leaves, avo and beets. Oh, and the salad was dressed with this dressing (sans the jalapeños because I'm a wimp). Oh, and the cod was roasted with black olives and marinated artichokes. Here's lunch before I added the green pesto:
Tune of the Moment: Do you ever hear a song and wish you wrote it? This happens to me all the time. It's like song-envy but without the negative connotations. And I tend to listen to these lusted-after gems on repeat, until I can't stand them any longer and need a month's hiatus from hearing them. Then, after the month is up, they creep up on iTunes shuffle and I fall in love all over again. How delicious to rediscover the toe-curling, hair-raising amazingness of a song monthly! Almost as delicious as Levain's chocolate chip cookies...almost.
A couple of songs fit the bill-and they are varied and a half. Here they are in no particular order:
Spencer & Antfood, "Trek"
(discovered because of the Emirates advertisement)
Carly Rae Jepson, "Call Me Maybe"
(a fellow jazz musician introduced me to this song and I. AM. IN. LUST.with this ditty)
Wunderkind Anthony Da Costa, "St Therese"
(He's 21. It's just good music. It's that simple. And it's scary that he's 21 and one of millions in the USA. Freeeak me out.)
Most people read the newspaper (in paper form or electronically) while drinking coffee in the mornings. I drink green tea (sometimes spiked with jasmine) while reading food blogs. A friend of mine asked me today if I'm a vegetarian or vegan. As of january I'm no longer a vegetarian-it lasted 6 months, pretty good innings for me. However, I still try to stick to a plant-based diet. It's just better. In every which way. It's considerably easier having multiple sources in the protein department and after going a tad overboard on my reunion with hamburgers and grilled chicken, I've found more of an equilibrium. I also spoke to my sister who, while against trends, let alone vegetarianism, confessed she and her husband live a largely veggie existence. So, after a wonderful trip to SA (where I maxed out on Nando's chicken and boerewors rolls-yuuuum) I've started finding renewed veg inspiration on the blogisphere.
The first bright (green) idea was from Recipe Rifle-a blog written by Londoner Esther Walker (who, incidentally is married to foodie Giles Coren). Her writing is very, very funny. Acerbic. Catty. Honest. Her food isn't always as entertaining-she reports the mishaps as well as the triumphs-but every now and then there's a good idea. I had a nearly-off bag of spinach that needed my attention so I tried out the spinach roulade and it made me very, very sad indeed :( Ok, so maybe roulades need to be made for the masses and not for one. But it still flopped beeeg time. I still ate it though. And it was still quite yummy. But my freezer is now overflowing with Garden Lite soufflés. They don't come with a side of Nicky-love though. Just saying.
Sad, sad soufflé.
The following blog-lead culinary adventure was from this blog, written by holistic heroin Sarah Britton. A staunch vegetarian, oft vegan, I usually read, drool over and ogle her posts but seldom cook anything she's described. Her photos are gorgeous and the information she provides about nutrition and science is interesting. I'm not 100% what entice me to try a recipe, but I do tend to adopt concepts or ideas as opposed to full-length recipes. And thanks to my incredibly intuitive, creative and savvy mum (who always knows what flavors will match up and tantalize your tastebuds with surprise), I've got an ok idea of which items can be substituted or how a recipe can be tweaked to include more greenery (there can never be too much greenness on a plate). So, with that spirit I was itching to try Sarah's recipe for aubergine/eggplant/brinjal. I adore, completely LOVE eggplant but struggle to cook it to perfection without using a frying pan or oodles of oil (that it speedily laps up).
This recipe calls for roasting/baking said brinjal for 35-40 minutes, I think the scoring also helps, and you can go to town on topping it. I opted for sautéed garlic/lemon spinach and kale, home-roasted red peppers, and goats cheese feta. Her version includes a spicy tahini sauce, honey and more greens-I'll try this next time fo' sho'.
Aubergine n' Greens
(From "My New Roots")
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 large aubergines
plenty of fresh greens (arugula, watercress, spinach, purse lane)
olive oil
good finishing salt, such as Maldon
fresh mint
goat’s feta (cow feta also works)
liquid honey
3 Tbsp. sesame seeds
pinch crushed chili flakes
1 lemon
Spicy Tahini Sauce (see recipe below)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 °F/200°C.
2. Toast sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant. Remove from pan to cool.
3. Cut each aubergine in half lengthwise. Score across the flesh on a 45° angle and then repeat in the other direction to achieve a diamond pattern (this allows the steam to escape). Drizzle lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and roast in the oven for 35-40 minutes until the flesh is very soft and golden.
4. While the aubergines are roasting, make the Spicy Tahini Sauce.
5. Remove aubergines from the oven, crumble a bit of feta on each half and turn on the broiler. Broil just until the cheese softens and takes on some colour (watch the aubergines carefully so they don’t get too dark). Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
6. Serve aubergines on a bed of greens doused with lemon juice. Sprinkle with roasted sesame, crushed chili flakes, flaky salt, lots of mint, a generous drizzle of honey and the Spicy Tahini Sauce.
Not sure the pic does it justice but it was v delis. Fact.
