Lenten Bulgur Wheat Salad with Cashews and Mandarins. And Some Rambling.

Tags

bulgur wheat, cashews, Lent, mandarin, salad, vegan

Um, hello… do you remember me? Yes, it’s me, Eleni. I bet you thought I’d never be back! Well, here I am. Gosh, it’s weird writing in English… my fingers can’t seem to find the right keys!

So, my news. Busy busy with little brother blog The Foodie Corner. It’s funny how I think of blogs as being boys… wonder why… Anyway, lots going on over there as I recently launched my new pages from which I am selling slow cookers in Greece! Yay! It’s something I’ve been obsessing about for a couple of years now. It’s an almost unknown cooking device here, goodness knows why. So for a long time I knew I wanted to bring them over and introduce the wonders of slow cooking to Greek people. Many of course already know how brilliant they are, since the internet is a major educator on all things trendy and popular. But now they can easily purchase one by ordering it from my blog! Yay again! Now I just need to somehow tell everyone in the country about this. Yeah, that’s not so easy/cheap to do (if it’s one it’s not the other). But I will get there. I will. I will. Won’t I?

The past few days have been a bit strange. Apart from the above question that keeps popping up in my mind a-l-l-t-h-e-t-i-m-e, I am also having trouble switching my mind off work. The combination of working for yourself and working from home is, I’m sure, a fool-proof recipe for this condition. One of the two is bad enough, but put both in the mix and there you go. Business and life become one gooey mixture which oozes into every single corner of your mind. Can I just say here that I’m not complaining. I love what I’m doing and I have absolutely no regrets about the decision I made. I’m just putting my thoughts into html and what better place to do it than my hobby-blog? So back to the oozing mess of work/life. What do I mean? Well, say I’m on Facebook and I’ve posted my newest recipe link (pure business), and I’ve then clicked on “home” to see what everyone else is up to. I’m sitting there liking stuff, and adding new friends, and catching up with old ones. Am I wasting time? It’s not pure business, but surely as a blogger I need to keep up and be seen out there? That colleague I haven’t seen in years might want to buy a slow cooker! Business/life = blurred. I’m in the kitchen and I’m cooking. It’s dinner but it’s also my next post. Does the time I spend chopping and prepping count as work? Blur. Does the time I spend washing up count as work, since the dishes held my next post? Blur (ha). Do I deserve an extra hour in bed tomorrow because I was writing this post till ten o’clock at night? No so blurred (I do). Anyway, you get the picture. And I’m sure lots of you know exactly what it feels like; I haven’t just discovered America. The worst thing about it all is that I can’t stop thinking about recipes, food and the blog. If I’m left for one minute to just sit quietly without any distractions, my mind will automatically go to that recipe I saw on tv, that photo I saw on Pinterest or that idea I had for a good brownie. Food will not get out of my mind. At all. It’s driving me just a little bit nuts. Yesterday I resorted to 2 hours of ironing while watching Scandal, just to get rid of the cheeseballs that were in my head (don’t ask). Ok, I’m done now. That feels better already. No it doesn’t, now I’ve remembered the cheeseballs…

Moving on (if any of you are still here) I’m going to share one of the most amazing salads I’ve ever tried, let alone made myself. This was a dish I prepared for a charity event last December, and –if I may say so myself- it went down preeeetty well! As soon as I had mixed the dressing ingredients I was already in love with it just from the smell. You have to try it. I’ll leave you in peace now, I’m going to watch House of Cards. That’s one I really have to concentrate for, I haven’t a clue what’s going on even on the best of days…

Recipe adapted from Power Hungry

Lenten Bulgur Wheat Salad with Cashews and Mandarins

Makes a big bowlful (approx. 10 side servings)

Ingredients

1 box (500gr) bulgur wheat, soaked overnight in lots of water and drained well
2 spring onions, the white and a little bit of the green part, chopped (you can use more if you like it)
6 Tbs parsley, finely chopped (measured after chopping)
3/4 Tbs orange zest (from 1-2 oranges)
3/4 cup sultanas
1/2 cup cashews, roasted and salted
1/2 kg sweet mandarins, peeled, segmented, with each segment chopped in half

For the dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed
3 Tbs lemon juice, freshly squeezed
3 Tbs honey (or vegan friendly substitute)
1 1/2 Tbs Dijon mustard
1 Tbs cumin
2 1/4 tsp cinammon
2 1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Drain the bulgur wheat very well. Use some cheesecloth over a colander, fill it with the wheat, grab the corners creating a pouch and squeeze it dry. (Note: we do not boil the wheat)
2. Put the wheat in a large bowl with the onions, parsley and orange zest. Mix well.
3. Put all the dressing ingredients in a clean jam jar and shake till well incorporated. It will be thick and yummy.
4. Add the sultanas, cashews and dressing to the wheat and mix well but gently. To be sure, add the dressing in stages and mix as you go along, that way you can stop when you feel it’s enough.
5. Finally add the mandarin pieces and mix again, being careful not to break them up too much.
Note: The salad is best made in advance so the flavours have the chance to mingle and get to know each other. Just make sure to take it out of the fridge about half an hour to an hour before serving so it’s at room temperature. If you do this, keep the mandarins out till just before serving.

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Hazelnut & Golden Syrup Rice Crispy Treats and Some “Preparing Ahead” Tips

Tags

chocolate, dessert, golden syrup, hazelnut, honey, nut butter, nuts, rice crispies, rice crispy treats, sweet, vegan, vegetarian

Well, this is new to me. Just diving in and writing about a recipe that is barely even ready to eat. In order to do this, I had to rely on Instagram for my photos, as there was really no time to find the right spot/light/props for each photo I was taking. But let me start from the beginning.

Tomorrow we are having friends round for a barbeque. The next day, we are going to a (different) friend’s house for another barbeque. I always make stuff to take to her parties, as she likes my food and.. well, any excuse for me to make stuff. This time, she has invited around 50 people (it’s a house warming do) and that’s not counting the 15 or so kids. Yikes. My friend has it covered, she always does, as she has a talent for throwing things together that taste lovely, but I would like to help out and do something special in support! Also, my friend and her partner are fitness freaks, so I’m the one who makes the really fattening sweets that their kids are normally deprived of! (just joking… but they do get an extra hit of sugar when I visit).

So after much thought, I set about planning my 3-day weekend. This is an operation that requires much organisation and fine tuning! Today was Day 1 – Prep Day. I don’t like making things too far in advance, as I get anxious about whether they will be good enough to serve when the time comes. But there are many little things that can be done; things that help enormously when it’s time to actually make the final dishes. Here are some tips.

Plan. Make a note of what you are cooking. If you’re like me, write them down, then cross at least two off the list. Try and include some things that can be made ahead, or at least have some steps that can be completed beforehand. Check you have the recipes, and check what ingredients you have/need. Then, do the shopping list.

Next, make yourself a schedule. I am a fan of schedules, so that’s not too difficult for me. I don’t mean down to the last 5 minutes of your day. But think about all the things you will need to do, like supermarket (allow for botched credit card machines and shops that don’t have rice crispies..), other irrelevant tasks that might take time (catching up on Twitter and Facebook), and a break for lunch.

An important part of the schedule are the “make ahead” steps for each recipe. For example. Salad. You think, I can’t possible make it a day in advance. True, but you can wash the veggies. And mix your dressing and keep it in a jar in the fridge. That has just saved you more than half the prep time on the day. Are you baking? You can probably bake a day in advance, especially brownies! But if you don’t want to do that, go through the recipe and complete any steps you can. For example, measure and mix the dry ingredients and keep them in an airtight container. Measure the butter or oil, chocolate, beetroot (brownies on my mind again) and mix if the recipe tells you to. It might seem that all this is unnecessary, but I find that measuring out ingredients is the most time consuming of all stages in baking. But that’s me! Label your containers so you know what’s what.

One has pieces of Twix in it!

For tomorrow’s BBQ, one of the things I’m making is a pasta salad. Again, I could probably have prepared the whole thing today, they are usually better the next day anyway, but mine will have raw courgettes (zucchini) in, so I don’t want it to get very watery overnight. So, I boiled the pasta, coated it in olive oil and it’s now patiently waiting in the fridge. The only downside to these methods, is the full-to-the-brim fridge, and the washing up of all the containers! But desperate times call for desperate measures! The dishwasher can do most of the work.

If you are wondering what the sponge is doing next to the courgette, read on..

Finally, if you have a lot planned, splurge on something you wouldn’t normally, to save time and energy. For example, I am making a potato salad on Sunday. I like it with new potatoes, the little ones. My supermarket does these packets of pre-washed new potatoes that need 7 minutes in the microwave. Definitely worth the extra money. Pre-cut and washed salads are also life savers, although these can be much more expensive and not cost effective for a large number of guests. Washing lettuce though? One of my pet hates.

At this point I would like to share another couple of tips, which have nothing to do with planning. As mentioned above, lettuce. Love to eat it, hate washing it. I do however have a good method that keeps it fresh for quite a while. If you’re eating it the same day or the next, chop (after getting rid of the outside leaves), put in a colander, wash and leave in the colander to drain, shaking up at regular intervals to get rid of water. If you’re keeping the lettuce for a bit longer, peel off the leaves whole (disgard the outside ones), wash them and spread them out on some kitchen paper to dry. Try to shake as much water off first, but be careful not to bruise the leaves. Do something else for a while. When they are just about dry (don’t leave too long as they will wilt), layer them in an airtight container with kitchen paper between the layers. Yes, I use lots of kitchen paper. If you have chopped the lettuce, pop a sheet of… kitchen paper in a zip lock bag, add the lettuce and seal, trying to push as much air out as possible without crushing the salad. Gosh, how long can one talk about lettuce…?

Courgettes/zucchini. Have you ever started to wash them only to find tiny prickly invisible hairs on them? Keep a clean dish sponge (the one with the rough green side used for pots) in your draw. Use it to lightly scrub the zucchini skin. You can also use it to scrub potatoes, if you want to cook them in their skins. You probably already knew that…

And now, a recipe. A recipe I never imagined would be this good. This is my own version of Chocolate Covered Katies’s 5 Ingredient Rice Crispy Treats. They can be stored in the freezer, so I decided to make them today. They’re for the kids on Sunday. Well, they were until I tasted them. Now I think the kids can have the beetroot brownies and the grown-ups will have the Rice Crispy Treats. The Hazelnut & Golden Syrup Rice Crispy Treats. Or maybe I won’t take them with me at all…

Hazelnut & Golden Syrup Rice Crispy Treats

Ingredients

1/2 cup (8 Tbs) hazelnut butter (in the UK this is available at Holland & Barrett)
1/2 cup (8 Tbs) golden syrup (you could use honey, unless vegan)
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups rice crispies or similar puffed rice cereal (mine was the Lidl brand – use an appropriate version if you are vegan)
160g dark chocolate, cut into pieces
1 Tbs golden syrup
Optional: 1 Twix Xlarge bar (42.5g), cut into small pieces (I had one left over, it was either that or eat it..)

Instructions

1. Place the hazelnut butter, syrup, salt and vanilla in a small saucepan and warm over low heat till melted and combined.
2. In a large bowl, combine rice crispies and hazelnut butter mixture. Stir gently and patiently with a spatula till all the rice crispies are coated.
3. Transfer mixture to a baking tin lined with grease-proof paper. Put another piece of paper over it and press down on it with your hands or the bottom of a glass. Press down well making sure you get into the corners. Put the tin in the freezer for about 20 to 30 minutes.
4. In the meantime, melt the chocolate and 1 Tbs of syrup in the same saucepan you used earlier, over low heat, stirring constantly. When it’s melted, add the Twix pieces and stir until these too have melted. You will have some lumps from the biscuity part of the Twix.
5. Spread evenly over the rice crisy base and return to the freezer till the chocolate topping sets. Use the parchment paper to lift out the set mixture, carefully cut it into pieces (won’t be very easy!) and store in the fridge (or return to freezer). They would also be fine at room temperature (unless you are here in Greece) for a few days.

A sliver, just to taste test!

Other Rice Crispy Treats from around the blogosphere
50+ Rice Krispie Treat Recipes from Something Swanky (need I continue?!)
Rocky Road Rice Krispies Treats from Brown Eyed Baker
Homemade Coconut Luna Bars from V. K. Rees Photography

A Glass of Dessert Part 3 – Lenten (and Vegan) Chocolate Mousse

Tags

chocolate, coconut milk, honey, Lent, mousse, tahini, vegan

Antique English spoon dating from the late 1800s, on kind loan by The Collector

It’s Good Friday today, a day of strict fasting in Greece. It is really hard to believe this chocolate mousse is actually allowed. But it is. I, however, would make this any day of the year. Out of all the chocolate mousses I’ve tried, this might just be the best. And not a raw egg in sight!

I give you two versions and two methods of preparation. The original version, adapted from an insert in Ta Nea newspaper (Feb 2012), uses honey and a food processor. Honey is allowed during Lent even though it comes from bees; this is not the case with veganism. So, I thought I would make it again replacing the honey with golden syrup, making it suitable for vegans. This time I also ditched the processor, purely because I couldn’t be bothered to wash it. Surprisingly, this actually made a big difference in the texture of the mousse, and produced a much softer, lighter and well, mousse-ier result. The original is very smooth and dense, and might be better described as a chocolate pot de crème. Taste-wise they are very similar and I can’t choose which one I like more. But texture-wise, my own version wins hands down. You’ll just have to make a double batch, one of each, and decide for yourself!

Lenten Chocolate Mousse – The Original (with Honey)

Adapted from Ta Nea insert Feb 2012
Makes 4

Ingredients

1 c. coconut milk (not cream, not water)
100g dark chocolate, chopped
3-4 Tbs honey
2 Tbs tahini
1/8 tsp cinnamon
sesame seeds and slivered almonds to garnish

Instructions

1. Heat the coconut milk in a small pan till just below boiling point.
2. In a food processor, whiz the chocolate pieces with the cinnamon.
3. Add the warm coconut milk to the processor, along with the honey and tahini, and whiz till it froths up. Be careful, the warm milk might make it froth up too much, or even overflow and make a mess everywhere. That might put you in a bad mood.
4. Empty the mixture into 4 glasses or small bowls, let cool and refrigerate till set (at least 3 hours).
5. Garnish with the sesame seeds and serve. To get the margarita effect in the photo, I put some golden syrup on a plate, twirled the rims of the glasses through it, and then twirled the rims round a plate sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Note: The recipe in the newspaper used almond milk instead of coconut. I haven’t tried this; if you try it please come back and let me know what it’s like!

Lenten and Vegan Chocolate Mousse – My Version

Adapted from the same recipe
Makes 2

Ingredients

1/2 c. coconut milk
40g dark chocolate, chopped
2 Tbs golden syrup
1 Tbs tahini
a pinch of cinnamon
sesame seeds to garnish

Instructions

1. Heat the coconut milk in a heat-resistant measuring jug in the microwave (in 15 second bursts, checking after each burst).
2. When hot, add the chopped chocolate and stir till melted.
3. Add the tahini and golden syrup and whisk till incorporated.
4. Add the cinnamon and continue to whisk till smooth.
5. Poor into glasses, let cool and refrigerate till set.
6. Garnish and serve.

Other Chocolate Pot or Mousse Recipes
Instant Chocolate Mousse by Nigella Lawson (tried, tested and loved!)
Chestnut Chocolate Pots by Nigella Lawson
Chocolate Mousse with Olive Oil and Sea Salt by The Kitchn (also tried and tested; gorgeously interesting and different)

Artichokes A La Polita – Slow and Not So Slow

Tags

artichokes, avgolemono, crockpot, Dukan diet friendly, egg lemon sauce, Greek, slow cooker, vegan, vegetarian

Recently I’ve found myself adapting more and more traditional Greek recipes for the slow cooker. I’m pleasantly surprised by the many options and how easily adaptable they are. However, I realize there are many people out there who don’t own slow cookers, especially here in Greece, so I’ve decided where possible to include some brief instructions for a stove top method.
A La Polita means Of The City; however in Greece when you hear “The City” it means Constantinople (Istanbul). The original version of this recipe comes from Turkey, and was made with artichokes, whole small onions (shallots) and lots of oil. Over the years it has changed a bit and now usually includes spring onions instead of shallots, potatoes, carrots and sometimes peas. It can be made plain with a bit of lemon juice, or swimming in my favourite (yes you guessed it) egg lemon sauce!
I use frozen artichokes. You can use fresh if you want to, but for me they are a MAJOR pain. Once when we were visiting the village The Mister’s dad and I went for a walk and picked loads of lovely fresh ones, so I did the whole cleaning and rubbing with lemon thing and picking/spitting out tough bits all through dinner thing. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. I can now enjoy the convenience of modern life and buy them all clean and white and ready to cook.
Usually the veggies are cooked in water, but in this case I used chicken stock to give it some extra flavour. I threw all the ingredients in the CrockPot together, but keep in mind this will give you very soft artichokes after the many hours of cooking. If you prefer them to hold a bit, you could try adding them a couple of hours after you’ve started the potatoes and carrots. I’ve not done this, so if you do please come back and let us know how it worked out!

Slow Cooker Artichokes A La Polita

Serves 2-3
What you need:
400g frozen artichokes
3 small potatoes, cut into smallish pieces
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 spring onion (or more if you like), thinly sliced (I used only the white bit)
1 cup chicken stock
½ cup water (I added this because my stock was homemade and quite thick and jellied. It may not be necessary if your stock is watery)
½ lemon (juice of)
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 sprigs of fresh dill weed, finely chopped (I forgot to buy some so I didn’t use it, but it’s nice)
For the egg lemon sauce
1 egg
3 Tbs lemon juice (or more if you like it quite lemony)

What you do:

1. Add potatoes, carrots and onions to the slow cooker. Mine is a 4quart.
2. Add artichokes on top.
3. Pour the rest of the ingredients over the top.
4. Cook on low for 8 hours or until potatoes are cooked through. Stir occasionally so they cook evenly, but be careful not to crush the artichokes.
5. An hour or so before the end of cooking time, take the egg out of the fridge so it comes to room temperature.
6. When the veggies are ready, take a clean bowl and crack the egg in it. Add the lemon juice and whisk.
7. Without turning the slow cooker off, take the insert out and place it on a heat proof surface. Carefully temper the egg mixture by taking a spoonful of sauce at a time from the slow cooker and adding it to the bowl while whisking continuously. Do this slowly and patiently so your egg doesn’t scramble. You want the mixture in the bowl to slowly warm up enough so that you can pour it into the slow cooker. When you have a good amount of sauce in the bowl and it feels nice and warm, pour it into the artichoke stew. Hold the insert with both hands and swirl it in a circling motion so that the egg mixture goes everywhere and mixes into the stew.
8. Put the insert back in the slow cooker and let it warm through again (on low). I test the sauce with a food thermometer just to make sure the egg is cooked. Temp should read at least 160F.
9. Enjoy with feta cheese and crusty bread.

Stove top method:

What you need (extra to above ingredients):
1/3 cup olive oil
Water (enough to almost cover veggies)

What you do:

1. In a saucepan warm the oil over a medium heat and add onions. Cook gently till soft and fragrant.
2. Add the carrot and potatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes stirring frequently.
3. Turn the heat up to medium high and add the artichokes. Sauté for a couple more minutes.
4. Add dill, lemon juice, salt & pepper, chicken stock and water until just covering the veggies. Bring to a boil.
5. Turn heat down to low so that the stew is slowly simmering. Cook for about an hour, or until veggies have the desired tenderness and the sauce has reduced.
6. Prepare your egg mixture and temper as above, before returning it to the heat for a few minutes.

Notes: You can omit the egg lemon sauce and use only water or veg stock instead of chicken, in order to make a vegan version. Thicken the sauce at the end of cooking (if necessary) using a corn flour slurry.
The slow cooker version is also Dukan Diet friendly (Consolidation Phase).

Other recipes using artichokes:
Spaghetti with Artichoke Hearts and Tomatoes by The Pioneer Woman
Artichoke Soup by Simply Recipes
Chicken and Artichokes in Wine Sauce by The Kitchn
Slow Cooker Shrimp and Artichoke Barley Risotto by Cara’s Cravings via Slow Cooker From Scratch recipe collection

Other traditional Greek recipes adapted for the slow cooker:
Slow Cooker Village Rooster “Kokkinisto”
Stuffed Courgettes (Zucchini) with Egg Lemon Sauce (as featured on Slow Cooker From Scratch)
Revithia from Sifnos (Traditional Chickpea Soup)
Pork Lemonato (as featured on Slow Cooker From Scratch)