CD in the Valley - Our First Dinner

Thank you to all the CDiners that came over on Friday!

As you saw, dinners are simple, simple... a pot of soup will do!

Moroccan Red Lentil Soup - this is my favourite recipe from Serious Eats!

June 26 2012 CD - Mushroom Barley Soup

not actually our soup but it looked just like this from The Joy of Cooking ingredients 3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon butter 1 1/2 lbs mushrooms, sliced 1/2 cup chopped shallots 1 tsp dried thyme 2 cups veggie stock (bweeyawn cubes work) 2 1/2 cups water 3/4 cups dried barley groats 1 tsp salt 2 tsp pepper instructions 1. Try really hard not to interfere with Brennon's absurdly messy chopping style Bstyle and the outraged OCD chicken 2. Blend oil and butter on high heat, 3. add mushrooms and shallots, cook until mushrooms are wilted, about 5 minutes 4. add thyme, reduce heat and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes  5. add broth, barley, salt, pepper 6. bring to a boil, reduce heat*, cover and simmer until barley is tender, about 1 hour

*Brennon actually boiled this hard for an unknown length of time before intervention so it's a pretty bulletproof recipe

Kenny's Favourite!

Greek Salad

(Kenny's Favourite!)

Greek salad, or horiatiki, is a rough country salad of juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumber, sliced red onion, green pepper, crumbly feta cheese and plump kalamata olives. Serve this delightful combination as a side dish or as a light meal with some crusty bread.

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1½ tablespoons lemon juice

1 clove garlic—minced

½ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and extra for garnish

3 tomatoes—cut into wedges

¼ red onion—sliced into rings

½ cucumber—sliced into thick half-moons

½ green pepper (capsicum)—julienned

4 oz (120g) feta cheese—cut into small cubes

16 kalamata olives

PLACE the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and oregano in a small jar with a screw-top lid and shake to combine. PLACE the salad ingredients in a large bowl. POUR the dressing over the salad and toss gently to combine just before serving. Garnish the Greek salad with a little freshly ground black pepper.

CD Winter 2009

John & Lu - CD Jan 28th 2009

Vegetarian Moussaka

Mouss:

2 large eggplant

1 young impressionable zucchini
1 large can whole green lentils
(the recipe says cook your own but really come on...)
2 onions, sliced
5 cloves garlic
1 bunch spinach, stemmed
1 large can chickpeas
1 large can chopped tomatoes
4 tblsp tomato paste
fresh ground pepper, cumin, coriander & herbs de Provence

Aka:
1/2 litre yoghurt
1/2 pound aged white cheddar
3 eggs

Mouss
1. Slice eggplant & zucchini diagonally about 1/4 inch thick and sprinkle with salt, put in a colander with something heavy on top for 30 minutes to squeeze out the evil juices.

2. Sauté onions and garlic, add lentils, chickpeas, tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs and 3 tblsp water, bring to a boil then simmer for 10 minutes. Mixture should look like chunky vomit. Season to taste with S&P.

3. Preheat oven to 350 kelvin

4. Rinse eggplant & zucchini, fry briefly to brown edges (sauté if you're French) then put a layer in the bottom of a big ass buttered pyrex dish, add a layer of vomit mixture, then spinach leaves, then eggplant / zucchini, then vomit etc. Make top layer eggplant / zucchini as a roof. Keep in mind the Aka layer will swell like an inch due to the eggs.

Aka
5. Mix together egg yoghurt and S&P and pour over the Mouss, add a shitload of cheese on top, then add more cheese, then bake at 350 for 45 minutes, then grill for 5 to brown that bad boy up.

6. Let sit for 5 minutes to congeal, serve. Is really good the next day with hot sauce and a beer.

Thank you all for coming over and making me blush for the first time in years

John

Carrot Ginger and Cilantro Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb young carrots, chopped
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1 knobbin' of young ginger, chopped
2 small potatos, chopped
1 celery stalk, that's right, chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
2 tbsp butter
Olive oil
3 tsp ground coriander
3 tbsp cilantro, chopped
2 -3 tbsp young celery stalk, chopped
1 cup milk
fresh ground pepper & salt
Lemon

The making

1. Sauté the onion and the ginger in 1 tbsp of butter and a bit of olive oil until the onion is shiny and soft

2. Add the celery, mix with the onion and ginger for about a minute.

3. Add the carrots and the potatoes. Let it sweat for about 10 minutes, occasionally stirring so the vegetables don't stick to the bottom of the pan.

4. Add the vegetable stock and let the carrots and potatoes cook until soft.

5. Meanwhile, add the rest of the butter to a pan and saute the young celery stalks, the cilantro and the coriander. reserve.

6. Blend the soup then add the milk and the coriander, cilantro and celery mixture

7. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

8. Serve with the celery leaves sprinkled with pepper as garnish.

For extra 'zest' add lemon

Thank y'all for putting up with tanked Luana... yet another Wednesday!

Lu