food and beverage

There are always new food sites popping up - new food blogs, product sites and food communities- just waiting to be discovered, and it is often hard to stay on top of your old favorites while exploring new and exciting sites. But sometimes the old opens up the new and that happened for me today and so I want to share my new find with you as well..  Today, I saw a post update by one of my favorite bloggers, Susan of Food Blogga, asking for votes for her oatmeal topping in the Quaker Oatmeal Challenge for charity as well as her chocolate cookie recipe on food52. As a blogger who is loyally devoted to my fellow blogger, I voted for Susan's topping (Cinnamon Comfort in Round Three for those of you who want to support Susan's charity as well!),  and then travelled around until I found food52. The brainchild of Amanda and Merrill, both prolific food writers with the New York Times, the site has as its mission celebrating the  best cooks in the world- home cooks, definitely a sentiment I share. Food52 offers a place for cooks to share recipes and tips, and a blog, as well as contests, pulling recipes that will eventually be included in a book. What a great idea!!

With the lofty goal of being the one site on food that you will need, food52 is a fun new site that is worth checking out (and make sure you take a look at my mother-in-law's stuffing recipe which is the cornerstone of the Dowd family Thanksgiving-you won't be sorry).  Before you know it, food52 is bound to be an old favorite!

How to make best hummus?

Hummus is one of the most popular Middle Eastern dips. Served with fresh or toasted pita bread, hummus makes for a great snack or appetizer.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 16 oz can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans
1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:
Drain chickpeas and set aside liquid from can. Combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of liquid from chickpeas. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth.

Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.

Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well. Garnish with parsley (optional).

Serve immediately with fresh, warm or toasted pita bread, or cover and refrigerate.

Variations
For a spicier hummus, add a sliced red chile or a dash of cayenne pepper.

Storing Hummus
Hummus can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and can be kept in the freezer for up to one month. Add a little olive oil if it appears to be too dry.

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Great Garlic Hummus Recipe - Enjoy middle eastern hummus.

Makes 3 cups

Ingredients
* 600g canned chickpeas, drained, rinsed
* 3 garlic cloves, crushed
* 100ml olive oil
* 2 tbs tahini paste*
* 1 tsp ground cumin
* Juice of 1 lemon
* Toasted Turkish bread, to serve

Method

1. Place the chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, tahini paste, cumin and lemon juice in a food processor and process until combined. Add 1/4 cup (60ml) of water and process again until quite smooth.

2. Place hummus in a bowl and serve with toasted Turkish bread.

Notes & tips
* From health food stores and selected supermarkets.

Source
delicious. - June 2004, Page 107
Recipe by Valli Little

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Enjoy feta hummus (Fattet Hummus) - best Feta hummus recipe, enjoy middle eastern cooking!

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As I have posted recently, I am open to recipes wherever they come from. I particularly love to look in unexpected places for inspiration and recently my inspiration came from a Penzey's Spice catalog. Penzey's is an incredible purveyor of spices, but their catalogs, website and, and magazine, Penzey's One, are all great sources for unique and delicious recipes. So far I haven't made one recipe from them that hasn't been extraordinary, and this one is no exception. As a bonus this dish, Curry Toast, is  a quick and easy dinner for those busy nights you get stuck at the office- Add a salad or  some fruit and you have a balance meal in minutes. It also uses fairly cheap ingredients making it perfect for a family on a budget.

I used the recipe in the Penzey's catalog and made some adjustments based on what I had on hand, and every time I have made it it is a bit different based on the cheeses I use. As easy as a grilled cheese sandwich, but better!

1 package (6 ) English muffins
5 tbsp butter
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Monterey Jack also works well)
1 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/4-1/3 cup mayonnaise (I used light with great results)
1 bunch green onions chopped (including the green parts)
1 tsp sweet or hot curry powder (your choice, but use Penzey's of course)
1-2 garden tomatoes

Split and toast the muffins, then butter and place on cookie sheet. Mix the cheeses, green onions curry powder and mayonnaise gently until well-combined. Slice the tomatoes in uniform slices and dry off with paper towels,placing a tomato slice on each muffin. Cover the tomato slices with the cheese mixture and broil for 4-8 minutes until brown and bubbly. Now try not to eat all 12 yourself!!

I made this soup a couple of nights ago while Ian was washing up, which shows how quick it is to make. I blended all of the soup, but might try half and half next time.

Ingredients
Onion - 1, finely chopped
Garlic - 1 clove, finely chopped
Butterbeans - 1 can
Chopped tomatoes - 1 can
Sun-dried tomatoes - 3 or 4, chopped
Olive oil - 1 tbsp

Methods
1) Heat the oil in a medium-sized pan. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a further two minutes.
2) Add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes, chopped tomatoes and butterbeans and their can juices to the pan. Cook without a lid for 10 minutes.
3) Process in a blender and serve. Alternatively process only half the soup in the blender and mix with the other half. Serves 2.

This soup is really easy to make and well worth it. The recipe states to use 5 chillis, but that probably depends on their size and the most we've made it with was 4 (which turned out to be a little hot for our liking).

Ingredients
Plum tomatoes - 1.5kg, halved
Red chillis - 2-4, seeded
Garlic - 6 cloves, crushed
Red onion - 2, roughly chopped
Red (bell) pepper - 1, halved and seeded
Tomato puree - 2 tbsp
Olive oil - 3 tbsp
Vegetable stock - 400ml

Methods
1) Preheat the oven to 200° / gas mark 6. Place the tomatoes, chillis, red pepper, garlic, onions and tomato paste in a roasting tin. Drizzle all the vegetables/fruits with oil and toss. Roast for 40 minutes.
2) Process the vegetables/fruits in a food processor in batches, adding a ladleful of stock to each batch to make a smooth thick puree. Be careful at this point to make sure that the chillis don't all end up in the same batch.
3) If you prefer to remove the seeds then press through a sieve or strainer and add more stock to thin as necessary. Heat gently and serve. Serves 4-5.

I don't have to travel often for my job and usually it is a short jaunt twice a year but the beginning of October I had occasion (my boss was delivering Congressional testimony, and I was delivering him!) to travel twice within the space of 3 days to Washington DC. Once I drove both ways, but the second time I decided to take the easy way out and took the train.  While it was a lot of travelling in a little time, the bonus was that I got to spend two nights with my daughter and son who live in Shirlington.

I grew up in Winchester VA, a town that is now a DC bedroom community, but I still love visiting Washington- there is so much to do and see and the pace is so different from where I live now.  And as a foodie, there is all manner of food to experience there. One thing I know- if I lived in DC, I would probably weigh a lot more than I do because with so many choices, I would want to experience (and consume) it all!
So, in the land of 1000 restaurants, where did I eat during my visit? The first night, I arrived on a Sunday evening (after making my way through hellatious traffic), and my daughter,her significant other (boyfriend sounds so juvenile) and my son were debating where we should go for dinner. With choices like Ethiopian, Vietnamese, Greek, French, Chinese laid in front of me, I caved in and told them to decide. The guys proposed a Spanish/Latin American Restaurant in Dupont Circle that Gavin had been to and Olu had heard good things about and so we  piled into Olu's car and headed for Lauriol Plaza.  Even though Gavin told me it was big, I was in no way prepared for the modern urban building that looked like it took up a whole block!  And even on a Sunday evening, the place was packed!  Inside, the restaurant offered multi-level dining,and just being there gave you feeling of fiesta- laughter, clinking of glasses, conversation and music- it felt like home, only louder.  I love Spanish and Latin-American food and the reviews I read while waiting for our table made me anxious to check out the menu. While we got settled, our waitress came and took our drink orders, and  delivered salsa and some of the thinnest, crispest chips I have ever had. My son, who is a former sous chef, wanted Ceviche for an appetizer, but they were out so he ordered some mussels instead. Katie and Olu ordered some sweet plantains to split.  I didn't try the plantains, but Gavin's mussels were cooked to perfection, and the broth made me want to ask for more crusty bread to soak up its goodness. When it was time to order entrees, I was conflicted- I overcame my overwhelming desire to order mole, which I do almost every time I am in the vicinity of Mexican food they offered a special of lamb fajitas which sounded amazing, but I decided on Enchiladas de Marisco,  enchiladas stuffed with shrimp and scallops in a seafood sauce with cheese. I encouraged Olu, who was feeling a bit punk,to order the special that was a shrimp with garlic broth that sounded perfect for someone nursing a cold, but he ordered a pork dish instead. Katie ordered chiles rellenos with cheese, and Gavin ordered the Santa Fe Platter that had a cheese chile relleno, a cheese enchilada and a guacamole taco.

Gavin and I have the best luck- besides the fact that his mussels were an amazing app that easily could have made a dinner itself, his combo was full of cheese and had a complexity of spices that was pleasing even to a former chef. Katie was not very happy with her entree, but mainly because it was not what she expected. It was covered in a tomato-y sauce, but when she told our server she adjusted the bill. My enchiladas were amazing! Since seafood has to be cooked just right I was worried that they might be overcooked, but my fear was misplaced because Lauriol Plaza clearly knows seafood.  The seafood sauce was delicately flavored and complemented, rather than smothered the morsels of shrimp and scallops.  I would have loved to try dessert but I was stuffed to the gills, so we headed home.  A great meal and a real dining experience in the land of 1000 restaurants!  If you are in the DC area- check out Lauriol Plaza, you won't be disappointed!