There's no pictures, because I couldn't cope with the camera, but last night we had a fun little gathering for our pal's birthday and had a bunch of middle-eastern/turkish-style treats. Some came from Sofra, and were dreamy as usual: beet-yogurt-walnut, smoky eggplant, red pepper-pomegranate, kidney bean-walnut, and something we think was based on fava beans.
But Sofra for a big group can get expensive, so I got out the Claudia Roden book and went nuts for a couple of hours. I love this book so much -- easy, easy vegetable recipes full of addictive flavors.
I made:
- spiced carrot puree (lots of hot smoked paprika, cumin, coriander, etc)
- celeriac-almond hummus (idea stolen from sofra)
- greek yogurt with salted cucumber dice and dried mint
- chickpeas in garlic-lemon-olive oil dressing with parsley
- smashed zucchini with garlic, raisins and pinenuts (so insanely good)
- white turnip and orange salad with olive oil and black pepper
- radishes pickled in lemon juice and olive oil (they turn a lovely hot pink)
- baba ganoush
and there was also feta and labneh and fresh herbs and breads from Sevan Bakery in Watertown, and watermelon with feta and mint, and MG's curry turkey burger sliders with mango chutney. I just cannot get enough of this kind of food. It makes me so happy. YUM.
(post script: lemon/olive oil radish pickles are really really good mixed in with the chickpeas in lemon, garlic and parsley. just sayin'.)
Posted by foodnerd at July 8, 2009 12:40 PM