Make A Dish You’ve Never Made Before, by Lauren
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Make A Dish You’ve Never Made Before, by Lauren
“Make A Dish You’ve Never Made Before”
This was theme of our 2nd Ghetto-gether. A pot luck dinner party a friend I are starting to organize in Amsterdam once every few weeks. What would you make? Would you play it safe or step outside of your culinary comfort zone? Would you make a cake if you didn’t know how to bake, or make fresh ravioli having never made fresh pasta before? How about hollowing out courgettes and stuffing with a pea mousse with marscapone? Or crab mini quiches?
Lucia's Stuffed Courgette with Pea Puree and Marscapone
Afra's Mini Crab Quiches
The idea behind the Ghetto-gethers is that none of us are professional chefs, but we enjoy good food. We all need to eat so why not do it together? It’s a movement. It’s about how we eat, what we eat, and who we eat it with. It’s about inspiration, creativity and pushing our own limits.
Matias's Brandy Crepes with Sweet Mascarpone
Stefanie's Key Lime Pie
It’s interesting how this simple theme can reveal different personality traits. Are you a risk taker? Are you afraid of bringing a bad dish? Do you go for center stage? Even interpreting “new” dish even means something different to different people. To me a new dish was something new out of a cookbook I’ve been wanting to make. But to others it was to make up a whole new dish, or create something from scratch (like fresh pasta). I just had no idea how ALL OUT people would go. Everyone stepped up their game Friday night.
I made a new dish was making out of the Ottolenghi cookbook (shocking, I know) that I’ve had my eye on for months. Honeyed Sweet Potatoes with Chickpeas and Spinach. Sounds good and was definitely tasty, but I gotta say, my dish paled in comparison to some of the guests culinary explosions. And in a way it does represent my personality. I don’t consider myself a huge risk-taker, I’m not good at creating things from scratch, but I am good at following instructions and improvising a little.
My Honeyed Sweet Potatoes with Chickpeas & Spinach
Lebanese Meat Pies
So instead of holding a center stage dish last night, I really wanted to up my game with the photography. This week my little mini photo studio came in the mail and what better place to test it out. Of course as soon as I set it up one of the lamps fell over and broke the bulb. Luckily our gracious hosts had a clip on light that ended up working really well. I also just got photoshop, which I’m attempting to learn, and for Christmas I got the 50mm 1.8 lens. So with this perfect storm of photography toys, it’s time to take some more than decent shots. With PJ doing amazing food styling, it was ON. So (almost) every dish created and consumed, first made a pit stop at my portable photo studio for its culinary close-up.
I believe food isn’t just about nourishment. It’s not just what’s on your plate. Food is a uniting force that brings people together, cultivates cultural understanding, and instigates social interaction. That’s what’s behind the success of these Ghett0-gethers.
The idea is that all of the guests from the party put their recipe in the comments section. So that we build a virtual cookbook. So if I loved someone else’s dish, I’d have the recipe here. It becomes a place we can all come to re-live the dishes of the night. Two guests even made dishes previously posted on the blog: Mariake made Cauliflower & Cumin Fritters with Lime Yoghurt and PJ made Brussel Sprouts with Carmelized Garlic & Lemon Syrup. Both from Ottolenghi
We want to grow this movement and hosting more of these parties. If you want to join the next one just email me at hilaryandlauren@hotmail.co.uk or find our Edible Europe page on Facebook, and I’m going to update through the blog and FB. And if anyone is interested in hosting, let me know that as well, we’re looking for venues!
[Gallery not found]Honeyed Sweet Potatoes with Chickpeas and Spinach
200g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked for about 1 hour (or use a standard 400g tin)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
100g baby spinach leaves (or use 200g frozen leaf spinach, defrosted)
10g coriander leaves, for garnish
salt and pepper
For the sweet potato:
500g sweet potatoes (about 2 medium-large)
700ml water
50g unsalted butter
4 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp salt
For the yoghurt sauce:
100g Greek yoghurt
1 garlic clove, crushed
juice and grated zest of 1 lemon
1-3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried mint
Slice the sweet potatoes into 2.5cm pieces. Put them in a saucepan with the remaining sweet potato ingredients. Don’t worry if it seems like a lot of butter, as most of it will stay in the water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 35-40 minutes until the potatoes are tender..
While the sweet potatoes are simmering, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and add the onion, cumin seeds and coriander seeds. Fry for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomato puree, cook for a minute, stirring, then add the tin of tomatoes, the ground cumin and the sugar. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes over a medium heat and then season to taste.
Stir the spinach and chickpeas (drained and rinsed if you used a tin) into the tomato sauce. Cook for a further 5 minutes and check the seasoning again.
Make the yoghurt sauce by whisking together all of the ingredients and seasoning with salt and pepper. I used fresh mint here and thought it was a nice replacement for the dried herb
To serve, spoon the warm chickpeas into a serving dish, arrange the sweet potato slices on top and garnish with the coriander leaves. Spoon the yoghurt sauce on top or serve on the side.
From Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s ‘Ottolenghi’.
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“Junior’s Famous Cheesecake”
7/8 Cup sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Pound, 14 ounces cream cheese (seriously)
1 Large or extra large egg
1/2 Cup heavy cream
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Graham crackers, crushed (enough for a 7 to 8-inch pan)
Butter
1. Preheat oven to 430 F (220 C).
2. Mix sugar and cornstarch.
3. Add to cream cheese and mix.
4. Add egg and blend.
5. Add heavy cream, a little at a time and mix.
6. Add vanilla and mix.
7. Prepare pan by greasing it well (with butter) and patting down a layer of Graham cracker crumbs.
8. Cover with cheese mixture.
9. Bake at 430 F (220 C) for about 40 to 50 minutes or until top is golden brown.
10. Cool for about 3 hours.
Oatmeal Raisin (Chocolate Chip) Cookies
1/2 Pound butter, softened
1 Cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
2 Eggs
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon salt (optional)
3 Cups Oats (preferably not quick or 1-minute), uncooked
1 Cup raisins
1 Cup chocolate chips (optional)
1. Heat oven to 350 F (175 C).
2. Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.
4. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
5. Stir in oats and raisins (and chips, if desired); mix well.
6. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, remove to wire rack.
Makes about 4 dozen
Absolutely agreed to the quote :Make A Dish You’ve Never Made Before,step outside of your culinary comfort zone.
After I move to Kiwi land, I have a great cooking group where we use to have pot luck lunch sharing date, with each of us bring in in different cuisines and learn from each other.
Can’t agreed much on your statement “Food is a uniting force that brings people together, cultivates cultural understanding, and instigates social interaction”
Thanks for accepting me as your new friend in foodbuzz.
Thanks for sharing.
Matias’s Brandy Crepes & Sweet Mascarpone
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
3 large eggs
2 cups of milk
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1,5 cups of Nutella
1,5 cups of Mascarpone
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 vanilla pod
4 tablespoons of brandy
1/2 liters of strawberries
1/2 cup of icing sugar
Start of by preparing the crepe batter. Mix together the flour, brown sugar, eggs, melted butter and milk until smooth. Once there are no lumps remaining, add the vanilla and half of the brandy. Melt a small dab of normally salted butter to prevent the crepe from sticking to the skillet. Keep the stove on medium/hot heat. Pour 1/3 cup of the crepe batter into the skillet and tilt it in all directions to create a evenly coated thin layer of batter. After a minute, use a spatula lift the crepe to check that it is golden around the edge. Flip the crepe over and cook until both sides have beautiful golden spots. Slip the ready crepes onto a plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Mix the Nutella and Mascarpone together and add the rest of the brandy. Take a crepe and lightly spread the Nutella Mascarpone mix on top of it and roll into neat rolls. Pile the rolls onto a plate and garnish with fresh strawberries and icing sugar.
Great food great company and neither of those run out.
Million thanks of the invite!
M&A
Mariake’s Cauliflower & Cumin Fritters with Lime Yoghurt Sauce-
Edible Europe has made these in a prior post. They are super yummy and fun to make.
Cauliflower and cumin fritters with lime (in our case lemon!) yoghurt
Ingredients:
1 cauliflower
120g plain flour
3 tbsp chopped flat –leaf parsley
1 garlic clove crushed
2 shallots chopped
4 eggs
1.5 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1.5 tsp ground turmeric
1.5 tsp salt
1. tsp black pepper
550 Ml oil
Lime Sauce: (we made lemon)
330g Greek yoghurt
2 tbsp chopped coriander
Grated zest 1 lime
2 tbsp lime juice (or lemon!)
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
1. Put all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and whisk well. Taste – looking for a vibrant, tart, citrusy flavour – and adjust seasoning. Chill or leave out for up to half an hour.
2. Prepare the cauliflower, dividing it into florets. Add to a large pan of boiling salted water and simmer for 15 minutes or until very soft. Drain into a colander.
3. Put the flour, chopped parsley, garlic, shallots, eggs, spices, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk into a batter. When the mixture is smooth, add the warm cauliflower. Mix to break down cauliflower into the batter.
4. Pour sunflower oil into a pan – 1.5cm depth – and heat. When hot, spoon in generous portions of the cauliflower mixture, 3 tablespoons per fritter. Fry in small batches, controlling oil temperature so the fritters cook but don’t burn. They should take 3-4 minutes on each side.
5. Remove from pan and drain on a kitchen paper. Serve with sauce on the side.
I love it!
Eggplant rolls.
I used a grill pan to grill the eggplant..but I guess you could grill them in the oven also.
2 medium size eggplants
300 grams Greek Feta cheese (I used a 50/50 mix of goat and sheep milk feta)
3 tbsp capers. chopped up.
2 spring unions, chopped.
about half bunch of mint (the big ones you buy at the turkish store..not the small ones from the supermarket) finely chopped
a squeeze of fresh lemon.
olive oil.
fresh pepper to taste.
Cut the eggplants lengthwise into about 8-10 slices and toss the outside ones ( I tried to make all of them about 3-5 mm thick). Brush the slices on both sides with plenty olive oil en then grill them on both sides till they are soft.
In the mean time mash the feta with a fork and mix in the capers, onions, mint and lemon juice. Season with pepper to taste.
When the grilled eggplant slices are cooled off enough, place a big spoonful of the feta mixture in the middle and roll up the eggplant around it.
You can stick one of those wooden pins in to keep it in shape and serve right away or store in the fridge until needed.
RECIPE
Mexican Chocolate Tofu Pudding
By MARK BITTMAN
Time: 10 minutes, plus 30 minutes’ chilling
3/4 cup sugar
1 pound silken tofu
8 ounces high-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or more to taste
Chocolate shavings (optional).
1. In a small pot, combine sugar with 3/4 cup water; bring to a boil and cook until sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly.
2. Put all ingredients except for chocolate shavings in a blender and purée until completely smooth, stopping machine to scrape down its sides if necessary. Divide among 4 to 6 ramekins and chill for at least 30 minutes. If you like, garnish with chocolate shavings before serving.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings.
P.S. I bought everything at the Nature Winkle!
There is actully some recipes that I would make!
Went out of my box yesterday at the SuperBowl party and make a dip of raw cashews, cucumbers, dill and chives and lemon juice. Was a hit!
Miniature Crab and Mushroom Cheesecakes
Found on “A Communal Table” food blog
12 muffin size cakes
50g melba toast, ground
25g butter, melted
1 Tbsp. (canola) oil
75g shallots (1/2 cup) minced shallots
75g (1/2 cup) red bell pepper (= about ½ pepper)
150-200 (2 cups) assorted wild mushrooms, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2 Tbsp. dry sherry
375 – 460g (2 x 8 oz). packages cream cheese, room temperature
2 large eggs
55ml (1/4 cup )whipping cream
1 can / 130g (1 cup) crab meat, drained and picked over
100g (1/2 cup) grated gruyere cheese
1/4 cup minced fresh chives
1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. (white) pepper
1) Preheat grill. Flatten bell pepper and grill until blackened. Once cooled remove skin and chop pepper very finely.
2) Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix melba toast crumbs with melted butter. (To make it easier to lift the cakes out once ready you could lay a strip of parchment into each cup of your muffin tin.) Place 1 Tbsp. of the crumb mixture in the bottom of each cup of a muffin tin. Tamp down the crumbs with your fingers/glass. Bake crust until golden brown – about 10 minutes.
3) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Saute mushrooms brown and liquid evaporated. Add shallots and saute until soft – about 2 minutes. Add sherry and cook until evaporates. Set aside and cool.
4) In a mixer bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add whipping cream and beat until thoroughly combined. Mix in mushroom mixture, bell pepper, crabmeat, gruyere and chives. Spoon filling into each cup about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for approx. 20-30 minutes until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5) Let cheesecakes cool on a rack. Run a knife around the edges of the cheesecakes and remove. Serve warm to roomterperature
“Sfihas” or Lebanese meat pies
Found on “Chicho’s Kitchen” food blog
About 15-20
For the dough:
• 360g (2 1/4 cup) flour
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 pinch of salt
• 115ml (½ cup) water
Mix all the ingredients of the dough and knead it until it’s soft. Cover with a towel and put it in warm place to be leaved for around 1 hour, then divide it into small balls.
For the filling:
• 250g (9 oz) minced beef
• 2 tbsp of yogurt
• 1½ tbsp pomegranate molasses (or lemon juice)
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 oz pine nuts
• fresh mint
• salt – pepper
1) Brown the pine nuts and set aside. Finely chop the onion. In a skillet, heat some olive oil and saute them until transparent, add the crushed garlic and set aside. Mix the meat with yogurt, molasses, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, pine nuts, chopped mint.
2) Spread the roll dough on a floured surface, cut it into rounds or squares of 5 mm thickness. Garnish the center with one to two tablespoons filling, brush the sides of the dough with water and pinch the flour sides firmly shaping it into an open-face sfiha.
3) Preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC). Arrange the pies on a baking sheet covered with a sheet of parchment paper and bake 15-20 mn.
Lovely idea! Wish I was in Ams to join one of these amazing potlucks!
Are you in Paris? We could host an event in Paris sometime, I’ve had a few interested from there!
Wow, what a treasure trove of gorgeous dishes…and incredible recipes. THANKS!
What a fantastic night!! Wow, Lauren, you really attract the coolest people, and the best food!! You continue to inspire me, girl.
Rima… girl, you rock out loud, you do. Thanks for the cleanup help, and just for your beauty, so contagious.
Big hugs to all of you who came on Friday. Chris and I are still enjoying the memories of the night, we made some great new food-adventurous friends that we definitely look forward to seeing again very soon.
Here’s my recipe, or should I say, Lauren’s recipe that she helped me make. It’s also on this blog elsewhere in its original form. This one includes my mistakes.. uh, I mean changes
***
Yotam Ottolenghi’s Brussels sprouts with caramelized garlic and lemon peel
Serves four.
4 heads garlic, cloves separated and peeled
About 150ml olive oil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
50g caster sugar
90ml water
Salt and black pepper
1 medium lemon
600g brussels sprouts
1 diced red chili (I substituted chili oil for 1 cut up chili)
50g parmesan shavings
20g basil leaves, shredded
Put the garlic in a pan, cover with water and blanch for three minutes. Drain, dry the pan, and pour in two tablespoons of oil. Return the garlic to the pan and fry on high heat for two minutes, stirring, until golden all over. Add the vinegar, a tablespoon of sugar, the water and some salt. Bring to a boil and simmer on medium heat for five minutes, until barely any liquid is left, just the caramelized cloves in a syrup. Set aside.
Use a vegetable peeler to shave off wide strips of lemon skin; avoid the white pith. Cut the strips into1mm-2mm thick slices, or julienne, and put in a small pan. Squeeze the lemon into a measuring jug and add water to bring the juice up to 100 ml. Pour over the strips of peel, add the remaining sugar and bring to a simmer. Cook for 12-15 minutes, until the syrup is reduced to about a third. Set aside to cool down.
Trim the bases off the sprouts and cut them top to bottom into halves. Heat four tablespoons of oil in a large, heavy-based pan, add half the sprouts, season and cook on high heat for five minutes, stirring them once or twice, but not too often, so that they char well without breaking up; add extra oil if needed. They will soften but retain some firmness. Transfer to a bowl and repeat with the remaining oil and sprouts.
Stir in the chili, the garlic and its syrup into the sprouts, and set aside until warmish. Stir in the parmesan, basil and peel (the original recipe said don’t use the syrup of the lemon peel, but I used it. didn’t know I shouldn’t until just now typing this up!! oh well, it tasted great with the syrup added!), Season and add oil (I added about an 1/8 cup of olive oil to the mixture) if necessary. Serve as it is or at room temperature.
***
The food photos are beautiful!! What fun, I look forward to doing this again!
Lauren and Rima, thanks again for organising this great dinner!! I’d love to come again.
PJ and Chris, you were wonderful hosts!
KEY LIME PIE
Ingredients
200 g Wholemeal butter cookies
150 g Butter
6 Eggs
1 Can condensed milk (approx. 400g)
3-6 Organic limes (depends on size)
Salt
180 g Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon baking powder
Preparation
1. Put the cookies in a freezer bag and pound them into small pieces. Melt the butter, mix it with the cookies and knead it to a kind of dough. Put the dough in a greased pie form and leave a bit of a curb on the sides. Put the base in the fridge for about 15 min.
2. Mix the egg yolks and the condensed milk in a blender until it becomes a thick cream. Wash the limes and rub off the peel. Press out approx. 1/8 l of lime juice. Mix the juice and peel with the cream.
3. Strain the cream through a sieve directly on the cake base (to get rid of unwanted pieces of the peel) and put it all in the oven for 25 minutes (180°, without convection). Let the cake cool down afterwards.
4. Whisk the egg whites with a pitch of salt. Afterwards add the sugar step by step and go on with mixing for about 4 minutes, you should get creamy meringue. At the end just fold in the baking powder.
5. Put the meringue on the cake and make little clouds with the back side of a spoon. Carefully brown the meringue in the oven (250°, might just take 1 min). Let the pie cool down and ideally eat asap.
FENNEL SALAD WITH CHICK PEAS
(For 6-8 people)
Ingredients
2 Fennel bulbs
2 Onions
12 Dried apricots
1 Can chick peas (400g dry weight)
1 Organic lemon
1 Organic orange
6-7 Spoons olive oil
Salt
Suger
Pepper
2 Spoons minced dill
Preparation
1. Chop the fennel, onions and apricots in fine pieces. Drain the chick peas and mix it all together.
2. Squeeze the orange and lemon and mix the juice together with the olive oil. Season the dressing with salt, sugar, pepper and dill and marinate the salad for about 10 min.
Tip: The dish goes well with warm smoked salmon!
hi everyone
The ingredients the ‘Indian mung dahl with raw banana’ dish are the following.
1 green (raw) banana
1 cup of mung dahl (green lentils)
1 tea spoon of black mustard seeds
1 small onion
2 table spoons of curry leaves
1 small onion
3 table spoons of grated coconut
1 tea spoon of tumeric powder (yellow)
1 small green chili
preparation
1. Boil the mung dahl in a pressure cooker (one cup of mung dahl needs twice as much water). Let pressure cooker whistle 3 times and switch of the gas. Let the mung dahl boil till finished. If no pressure cooker available, let the mung dahl soak overnight and boil them the next day.
2. Boil the banana and mash it, add this to the mung dahl
3. Mix 1 finely chopped onion with the grated coconut, tumeric powder and the green chili. Grind it well and add to the mung dahl.
4. Fry mustard seeds in oil, add onion and curry leaves. Fry till onions are dark brown. Add this seasoning to the mung dahl.
5. Add salt and to taste and your side dish is ready!
Enjoy!
Charlotte & Shammy
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