The [trademarked chocolate and peanut butter confection] Challenge. My chicken dish for this meal emphasizes the chocolate elements. For my starch side dish I want to make the peanuts the star, with the chocolate element being more of a secret ingredient. I want it to add a depth to the taste without having a distinct “chocolate” flavor.
Karl’s Peanut Rice
Filed under Side Dishes, Starches
Jan and I went to the farmer’s market yesterday and she fell in love with Big Paw’s Mission Fig Balsamic Vinegar. The question was what to do with it. We had already decided that we were going to have a Deli-dinner (fresh bread, cheese, cold meat, salad etc.) Jan had already gotten some heirloom carrots for carrot salad, so what were we going to do with the new vinegar?
Karl’s Fig Balsamic Asparagus
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
If you have ever been to an Ethiopian restaurant the beautiful tray covered with the large, sour pancake dotted with brightly colored stews is a delight to see and even more to taste. It makes you want to try to do this yourself. While many of the Ethiopian dishes appear to be simple, with only a few ingredients, you discover hidden complexities. Many of the ingredients in Ethiopian cooking turn out to have their own complex recipes.
Karl’s Doro Wot – Ethiopian Red Chicken Stew
(in the center)
with Authentic Injera (under all)
Filed under bread, Main Dishes, Poultry, Side Dishes
Adapted from Esther’s Ethiopische recepten
Jan is always pushing me to have more green vegetables. Last week’s Cajun collard greens went over very well with my family. When I discovered that collard greens were a standard Ethiopian dish I had to include it in my feast.
Karl’s Abesha Gomen
Ethiopian Collard Greens
(at 9 and 2)
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Adapted from a recipe posted by: jrt
Is one of those catch all names for a legume stew. It can be made with chickpeas, fava beans, green peas, yellow lentils, red lentils or any combination of these. You roast and grind the legumes into flour. If you buy it (like I did) it comes as either plain (shiro alecha) or pre-spiced with Berbere (mit’in shiro). When you add it to the other ingredients it cooks quickly into a thick stew.
Karl’s Shiro Wat
Ethiopian Legume Stew
(at 11 and 5)
Filed under Side Dishes, Starches, Vegan
Adapted from Ethiopian Food
A cool salad is the perfect counter point to all of the spicy stews and is the standard complementary dish for an Ethiopian feast. It may not be “Ethiopian,” but this salad cries out for garlic and just a bit of spice.
Karl’s Timitam Salata
Ethiopian Tomato Salad
(at 1 and 7)
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Jan really loves turkey and she has been running her legs off at work (literally, yesterday she walked 7 miles back and forth across campus, as recorded by her Fitbit). I decided to surprise her tonight with roasted turkey, stuffing and green beans, but I wanted to keep it to a weekday’s level of effort.
Karl’s Weekday Thanksgiving
Filed under bread, Main Dishes, Poultry, Sauces and Spices, Side Dishes, Vegetables
Adapted from Jolinda Hackett, About.com Guide
For this Sunday’s feast I am making Jambalaya. Jambalaya is really a one pot meal, but it is heavy on the meats and starch. I wanted a green vegetable side dish to balance out my meal. Jan and I are in complete agreement about okra. It may be one of the classic Cajun/Southern vegetables, but despite our Southern roots (Virginia and Mississippi) we both dislike it. Many of the things calling themselves “Cajun vegetables” on the internet were just regular veggies with some Cajun spice thrown on top. I finally decided on collard greens, another classic Southern vegetable. I would not, however be cooking it in the Southern fashion, the way our mothers did, boiling it down to a sludge. California-Style, braising until just tender, is my plan, with a little red pepper for color.
Karl’s Braised Cajun Collard Greens
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
I overslept today, so Jan invaded my kitchen. Jan loves to tweak her anthropology student’s by telling them that the kitchen in our house is a very gendered space. They all go “yeah, yeah, of course that’s right.” Then she drops the punch line, “No Women Allowed!”
Jan’s Muesli Cinnamon Swirl Mini-Muffins
This morning Jan had a hankering for Schat’s Bakery Cinnamon twists. Jan’s parents were living in Lone Pine when she was born and she has taken many field classes through Eastern California, so Schat’s has a very special place in her heart. It is not the gooey sweetness she misses, but the bite of the amount of cinnamon that they use. Most bakeries and recipes are very shy in their use of cinnamon. Jan wanted the spicy heat of the cinnamon, but she did not want it to be drowned out by the sugar. She also wanted to make it healthier, but still to be like muffin Red Hots.
Filed under bread, Breakfast, Side Dishes, Starches
Tonight’s dinner was jiaozi (gee-aw-za, dumplings). This was a weekday meal so I did not make them myself. Jiapzi making is a major operation. The rolling out of dozens of little bits of dough becomes a social activity for a gathering (it is not really possible to make just a few jiaozi). To the Chinese, it is very similar to Mexicans and Christmas tamales, an activity that brings people together. For an everyday meal the Chinese cook will run down to the corner, where a jiaozi seller has parked their bicycles truck, and pick up enough for their meal.
Karl’s Spicy Chive Stem and Giant Bamboo Stir-fry
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
karllueck
Miriam
Jabberwocky Stew 