Sunday 26 October 2008

One Hundred and One Cookbooks

Friends,

I wanted to write a quick post to introduce you to a great source of joy in my life these days, 101cookbooks.com. After our beautiful night of stuffed peppers back in Glasgow in June, I know you will appreciate it! I'm starting to worry that I'm going to fail school because I like cooking so much. I just can't stop! Today I made chili, cornbread, and eggplant hummus. Yummy. I also went on a bike ride, and read the newspaper. Now, I guess it is time for homework.

But first, here are a few recent favorites from 101 cookbooks!

Beluga Lentil Crostini
Now, I don't know what the heck a beluga lentil is, but I did have the tail end of a batch of French blue lentils that I'd originally cooked up with onions, garlic, tomatoes, and cardamom sitting bored in the fridge, bemoaning me to do something with it. My friend Annie was having a last-night-in-America potluck, so I bought a loaf of bread, cut it into little slices which I then burned terribly, scraped the burnt bits off and put goat cheese and lentils on top, as inspired by this recipe. Both delicious and portable!

Curried Pumpkin Seeds
Okay, so I shouldn't need a website to tell me to toast pumpkin seeds. But it had never occurred to me to do it with curry, and it turned out deliciously! I actually used the seeds of butternut and acorn squash, but it's all in the same family.

Farro and Roasted Butternut Squash
I used whole wheat instead of farro, and, for lack of time, cooked the butternut squash, garlic, and onions in the wok instead of in the oven, and I was thoroughly pleased with the results! Raia and I often have huge containers of things in the fridge, and you've never seen us go through one so quickly. This is quite possibly my favorite recipe out of all of them, which is saying a lot!

Cabbage Soup
The thought of cabbage in soup made me shudder, too, but I'd had such luck with the last recipe that I thought I'd just try it. Plus, I had a huge cabbage from my CSA and I didn't know what to do with it! It turned out to be quite yummy and nourishing, perfect for the sicky I was last week. I think the most important thing is to not put the cabbage in until the very end, and the texture is actually very nice!

Thai Spiced Pumpkin Soup
My christening of my blender, just the other day! I don't have any of this Thai red curry paste, but I put in chilli paste, chilli powder, and paprika-seasoned salt instead, and I thought it was extremely good. Raia and our friend Brett and I ate this along with apple-radish salad and spiced cider, and then we really knew that fall was here!

Well, today I was cooking from imagination, but my next plan is Pepita Salad. 'Tis the season! What are you guys cooking these days?

5 comments:

Sofie said...

Ah I am utterly impressed!
My life doesn't really lend itself to cooking these days, maybe as explained by my venn diagram. But you know, girl's gotta eat, and yesterday I was lucky enough for my mate Rock (who works at the office I was in this summer) to cook me and Naomi a lovely spaghetti bolognaise. I did bake bread the other day, but it turned out rather doughy and nasty.
I'm just not a great chef! I think also I need someone to share food with, I find it boring to conjure up fancy stuff just for myself. WAIT! I did make a delicious fish meal this summer, when Else and her parents and Tore came to visit, she can tell you about it!
It was white wine/ garlic blue mussels for starters, mustard and sesame seed marinated tuna with asparagus, rice and soy sauce for mid course and wolffish in parsley, garlic and butter marinade with roasted potatoes and salad for main course!
And, my mum made her delicious sherry-raisin dark chocolate bits vanilla ice cream for dessert... Yummy!!!

Else said...

I want to meet your mate Rock (he has the english version of my dad's name).
The meal Sofie cooked for us was amazing. I haven't stopped thinking about since. Mussels, real tuna (not in a box) and nice fish with marinades. And Grete's rum-raisin ice cake for dessert.

(omg, what I wrote over, I wrote before (!) I read what you wrote about the meal)

anyways. I'm so stressed about an essay I have to write. So nice to get some recipes :)

ink and ginger said...

Dude, this is like my favorite cooking blog ever. Have you seen her cookbook? It is fantastic.

I'm maybe drooling a little remembering that mushroom farro dish you made. Mmmmmm.

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