Monday - Mustard and Muffins

There was little of culinary interest going on over the past weekend. Scott was home and it was warm and nice out, so rather than slave in the kitchen, I played outside, watched movies and played video games (yes, I'm a nerd). We ate stir fry, veggie burgers, leftovers and actually went out to eat yesterday! It is still really nice out and I am fighting the temptation to play outside some more. However, for the moment I am content with the windows open and a random play list of about 60 gigs of mp3s blasting. Oh yes, I am also enjoying an afternoon glass of wine (is that wrong? nah).

I'll start today's recipes with mustard. A couple months ago, as I scraped the last drops out of a jar of dijon, I started thinking that it couldn't really be too difficult to make mustard at home. I did a search for recipes online and found one that looked fairly straightforward and doable. I tried it out and was very happy with the results. I wouldn't really call it 'Dijon', but it is a nice spicy mustard that gets better with age. I finally ran out of my first batch this weekend, and in light of Nancy's request, I figured I would make more today and post the recipe.

Homemade Mustard (the original recipe I used is posted here)

2 Tbs mustard seeds (I used a combination of brown and yellow)
1/4 cup powdered mustard
1/4 dry white wine (use something you like to drink)
2 Tbs red wine vineagar (the original recipe calls for white, but I don't have any on hand)

Roughly grind up the mustard seeds in a spice or coffee grinder ( I use this as an excuse to clean out the coffee grinder. You could probably use a mortar and pestle just as effectively). Mix the powdered mustard and ground seeds together in a small bowl. Add wine and vineagar and mix well. Pour the mixture into a jar and seal. Pour yourself a glass of wine:). Leave the jar on the counter overnight then refrigerate for at least 2 days before using.

My other project today is to make homemade English muffins. This is a work in progress, so I'm not going to post the recipe yet. So much for not making bread the 'old fashioned' way. My counter is covered in flour and my hands are tired from kneeding.... If all goes well, I'll update the blog later (and bring some samples to the co-op tomorrow).

What I'm actually cooking today

Now that I have placated Steph, I'll move on to the business at hand - namely tonight's dinner. We're having falafels tonight. Yum Yum. We often have falafels on Tuesday or Wednesday because I get fresh pitas at the co-op on Tuesday. It will likely become apparent that my menus are largely based around what I pick up at the co-op on any given day. So I have fresh(ish) pita. Step one. Step two involves soaking and boiling chick peas. I could use canned, and to be perfectly honest, I often do, but I also want to make hummus this week, so I started soaking some last night. Step three is the tricky one - tahini. Why is this tricky? Well, mostly because I am fussy about tahini. I don't really like the brand we are carrying at the co-op right now. Had I any foresight, I would have picked some up at the Stop 'n' Shop (yes, this is the name of the major grocery store chain here) on Saturday, but I didn't. So, on a whim yesterday afternoon, I decided that it really can't be hard to make ones own tahini - I bought a big bag of sesame seeds to try it out. I think it turned out well. Granted, I have not yet made the tahini sauce for the falafels, but it tastes right when i dip my finger in it. If it sucks, I will amend this post later.

Ok, to the recipes. I will start with my experimental homemade tahini.

Tahini

2 cups sesame seeds
1 cup canola oil (you could probably play around with different oils for slightly different flavours... but I played it safe my first time around)

Preheat the oven to 340. Spread the sesame seeds on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 min. Stir the seeds every couple minutes so they roast evenly. Remove from oven and allow the seeds to cool for a few minutes. Using an immersion blender or food processor on high speed, blend the seeds with 1/2 cup of oil for a minute or so. Scrape the edges and add the other 1/2 cup of oil. Blend until you have a smooth, even paste. Put into an airtight jar or container and refrigerate.

And now for the main event (I know some of you *Nancy* have been waiting awhile for me to get around to typing this out)..... Thanks to Florence for this recipe!

Falafel

1 can Chick Peas drained and rinsed (about 2 cups cooked)
1 medium onion
2 Tbs parsley
3 Tbs flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp corriander
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 egg
pepper to taste

Whirr all these ingredients in a food processor. Heat a lightly oiled pan to med-high and drop the mixture in by the spoonful. Cook until browned and flip over to brown the other side. Serve in a pita with tahini sauce, lettuce, tomato and sliced dill pickle (or whatever dressings you like).

Tahini Sauce

1/2 cup tahini paste
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Whirr all these ingredients in a food processor until smooth. If you wish to thin it down just add a little more water or lemon juice.

Bread you say?

Well Steph, considering you are my first official commentator, I will post my mom's bread recipe. This makes 8 (yes eight) loaves of tasty white bread. It's basically an all-day affair and I have to admit that I haven't made this bread in a couple years. I've become far too accustomed to the ease of my bread maker to make bread the 'old fashioned' way. Plus, what are two people to do with eight loaves and an already full freezer? This bread is tasty, so if you have the time and enough friends and family to share it with, go for it.

Mom's Bread

2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 pkg yeast
3/4 cup margarine
4 cups boiling water
4 cups cool water
4 tsp salt
20 cups flour (5 lbs)

Mix 1/2 cup water and sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the mixture and set aside. Put the margarine in a large pot and pour the boiling water on top. Add the salt and mix. Add the remaining 4 cups of cool water so that the mixture is lukewarm. Mix in the original yeast mixture. Slowly add the flour and keep mixing (use a wooden spoon). Place the dough on a floured counter and kneed it until it becomes a smooth ball (you may need to add extra flour if it is too sticky). Fill the pot with water to soak - clean the pot out. Grease the pot and put the dough back in it. Cover with a tea towel and let it rise for an hour and a half. Punch the dough in the pot and place back on the counter. Break into 8 loaves - cover with tea towels. Let rise for another 40 minutes. Put the dough into greased loaf pans. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes then turn the oven down to 350 and continue baking another 45-50 minutes. Tap on the loaves - if they sound hollow, they are done.

It begins.... with pea soup on a snowy evening

Ok, so after months of talking about it, I've decided to join the world of bloggers. I'm thinking this will be mostly about cooking and recipes, though I'm sure unrelated rants and observations will also find a home here. I may also end up posting things about knitting, as I seem to be doing a lot of that these days too.

If you are reading this, you probably know me... but I'm going to introduce myself anyway. I am Canadian, currently living in New Jersey because of my husbands work. I'm not able to work here, so I spend my time volunteering at a local health food store, cooking, reading, knitting, learning yoga, and trying to do all the other things I never had time for when I was working full-time. I've been a pescatarian (sometime fish and seafood-eating vegetarian) for 19 years and have always loved cooking and experimenting in the kitchen.

It's snowing here today. The nice fluffy kind that makes the trees look like a postcard. Yoga and choir are cancelled tonight because they can't handle snow down here. So I found myself with a free afternoon and evening. I decided that such weather deserves comfort food and these days comfort food seems to take the form of either a soup, a stew or a casserole. I opened the pantry and the first thing that caught my eye was a jar of mixed green and yellow split peas. Pea soup, I thought, mmmmm. After flipping through a few cookbooks and reading a few recipes online I came up with a general idea for my soup (I rarely stick to just one recipe). The soup was a hit - Scott claims it is the best pea soup he's ever tasted. Here is what I came up with:

Pea Soup
1 cup dried mixed yellow and green split peas
1 yellow onion
1 large carrot
2 stalks celery
1 med-large potato, cut into small cubes
1 Tbs olive oil
5 cups water
1 no-salt vegetarian bouillon cube
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper

Rinse the peas with cold water and set aside. Chop up the onions, carrots and celery and saute in oil with a little salt and pepper until the onions are soft (3-5 min or so). Add the water, bouillon cube, peas and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the potato and cover. Allow to cook, stirring frequently (so that the soup doesn't burn to the bottom of the pot) for another 35-40 minutes. When it is ready the peas should be soft and the potatoes mostly dissolved. Remove the bay leaves, season with salt and pepper and enjoy!