Swedish Tea Ring and Christopsomo Bread

The moon is near full and holidays are lapping in like a glittery tide. We are finally getting a breath of cool air here in the Crescent City and nothing feels better on a cold day than baking. I very much enjoyed the first edition of Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg’s Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and along with the Tartine method, it revolutionized my approach to bread baking, which is to say, I never knead anymore. Also, I like to make giant batches of dough to store in the refrigerator and have fresh bread all week. Their latest holiday edition has decadent selections, gorgeous photography and a multiplicity of recipes to choose from all using the same few starter doughs. High marks.

Swedish Tea Ring

Adapted from Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day

3 TB unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 TB cinnamon

Pinch of salt

1 ½ pounds piece of whole wheat brioche dough straight from the fridge (see recipe below)

All purpose flour for dusting

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 TB water or milk), for brushing

Icing

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

¼ tsp almond extract

1 TB heavy whipping cream

½ cup sliced almonds

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine melted butter, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Roll out dough ball into a rectangle about 14 by 18 inches. Spread the cinnamon butter mixture evenly over the dough.

Start with the long end of the dough and roll it into a log. Pinch the seam closed and stretch the log until it is about 1 ½ inches thick. Join the ends into a wreath. Place on the baking sheet, cover loosely in plastic wrap, and let rest 40-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Brush lightly with egg wash. Make evenly spaced cuts all the way around the wreath about 1-2 inches apart, going almost to the bottom of the ring but not quite to the bottom. Pull every other piece to the outside and twist up so it looks like a cinnamon roll (it should still be attached by the bottom, and it’s fine if it looks messy). Bake for 35-40 minutes.

Let cool for 20 minutes before drizzling with icing (just mix all together in a bowl, more titrate the liquid to the desired drizzability).

Greek Cross-Topped Bread, or Christopsomo

Adapted from Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day

1 pound brioche dough (below)

1 TB orange zest

Egg yolk glaze (one yolk beaten with 1 TB milk)

1 walnut, decoration

Grease an 8-inch cake pan. Dust the refrigerated dough with flour and roll dough into a ½ inch rectangle, and spread orange zest evenly over dough. Roll up like a log, then form into a ball. Knead to distribute the orange zest. Pinch off two pieces, sort of plum size, and form a boule with the larger dough ball and place in the cake pan. With the smaller pieces, roll into thin snakes about 12 inches long.

Cut each at the end with a four inch slice so each snake looks like a chromosome. Roll the ends, like so.

Cross the two strands over the resting dough ball in the pan, and then top with a walnut. Brush with egg glaze, cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 F, and just before baking glaze with the egg wash again. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool and serve!

Whole Wheat Brioche Dough recipe

4 cups whole wheat flour

3 cups white flour

100 g (about ½-3/4 cup) sourdough starter

1 TB kosher salt

2 ¼ cups warm water

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter

5 eggs, beaten

¾ cup honey

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 TB water), for brushing

In a stand mixer, mix together the liquid ingredients, including the sourdough starter. Then add the dry ingredients—a dough hook works best. Chill for 3 hours. No need to knead! You can refrigerate for up to five days, or freeze. This makes a ton. In addition to the above, I also made just simple rolls for our last Mid-City Dinner Club—styled into these gorgeous place settings by none other than Denae, my beautiful neighbor friend.

Free Range Eggs and S’More Whoopie Pies

My hens bring me joy. Sometimes I lounge in the yard with a plan to read a book, and then spend the hour watching chickens dodder by, top-heavy, clueless, burbling like a slow stream. They bring me laughter and peace, and every day, warm and smooth round gifts. We love to give our ladies oats and millet seed and fresh lettuce and vegetable scraps. They give us compost to feed our garden plants. Endlessly they scratch and stir up the clay into a bed softer than our ocean floor New Orleanian soil every knew it could be.

I recommend backyard free-range chickens to all, but for those who can’t host a small flock, the next best thing is to support and buy eggs from those who respect and love their chickens as much as we do—Nellie’s Free Range Eggs love their chickens.

Eggs that issue from happy, healthy and free chickens are actually more healthy for you. So many ways to enjoy! Hardboil and take with you to work as a snack! Frittata!

Bake them into Whoopie Pies while cheering on your favorite SEC Football team!

S’More Whoopie Pies

Adapted from the Southern Living All-New Official SEC Tailgating Cookbook

½ cup salted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

3 large Nellie’s eggs, room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¼ cup whole milk

Whoopie pie filling (I just made meringue with four egg whites whipped with a sprinkle of cream of tartar and ¼ cup powdered sugar)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat until well blended, 3 min. Add eggs, one at a time. Then vanilla. Stir all the dry ingredients in a bowl separately, then add the dry to the mixer interchanged with the milk in two-three additions. Scoop a dollop of the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 400 until they are set and just beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Cool the cookies on racks until totally cool. Put the filling on one side, and make a delicious whoopie pie sandwich! With the meringue filling, you can torch it to make it like a toasted marshmallow. We dipped ours in fondue chocolate left over from our chocolate fountain and created a S’more-like Whoopie Pie experience. But in the SEC Cookbook, you will see how each university team has their own signature pie recipe. Also tons of recipes for different chilis and nachos.

I’ve also always loved to use eggs for French Toast. This collection of toaster oven recipes by Linda Stephen has a great French toast recipe we used to get ourselves up and pumped to vote on Election Day this last week. I will now always coat my French toast in oats with cinnamon. Delicious.

This post is sponsored by Nellie’s Free Range Eggs. But opinions and genuine chicken love, my own.

Phantom of the Opera Halloween

Happy Halloween to Mid City New Orleans—where the porches are well-stocked, the costumed are dedicated, and the spirit of celebration buzzes like hummingbird moths in the open mouths of butterfly ginger blossoms. So many smells, so much joy. We had our annual fete, this year a masquerade ball in the theme of Phantom of the Opera. I may never take these decorations down. Never, never.

So full. So full. We had cheese served on Tuscanini parchment crackers in assorted flavors. These are delicious! Also great when dipped in a chocolate fountain.

In other news, I love quinoa and all the ways quinoa can be costumed.

Spicy Fajita Stuffed Skillet Peppers

Inspired by Best of Bridge Weekday Suppers

2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

8 oz skirt steak, chopped into thin strips

1 tsp dried oregano

1 TB fajita seasoning (Penzeys!)

12 dedos de moca (Brazilian chili peppers), diced

Salt

Pepper

2/3 cup pimiento cheese

1 ½ cup Better Body Foods quinoa, cooked

3 bell peppers (any color), halved

1 cup red salsa

½ cup green salsa

Heat up a skillet hot hot HOT! Add 1 TB olive oil, salt and pepper the meat, and toss it onto the skillet, flip until the strips are just browned and remove, set aside.

In another skillet, saute the onion and green bell pepper until soft. Then add the chiles and garlic, stir until combined.

Add the oregano and fajita seasoning, stir to combine, then transfer to a bowl and mix with the quinoa and cooked steak. Spoon into bell pepper halves and return to the skillet, top each with a generous dollop of pimento cheese, and fill the skillet around the peppers with the salsas. Add ½ cup water (if your salsa is on the dry side).

Bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer for 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and the peppers are softened. YUM. Wow wow wow. This was a variation from the Stuffed Skillet Pepper the Bridge has in their book.

This cookbook has so many classics. Several times, I’ve looked at ingredients in my fridge with ennui, like eggs for days, and felt like, I just need some ideas here. The table of contents is organized by ingredient, so you can be so inspired. In this case it was green bell peppers that were starting the death wrinkle. Transformed into spicy deliciousness. Ready for the show to begin.

Westworld Porch Crawl with Ragged Branch and Chicken Curry Dinner

Zeal for costuming is a common thread that runs deep in the fabric of New Orleanian culture. It is [one reason] why I love this city. By October, it has been nearly half a year since our last masquerade and we yearn to hot glue, glitter and feather together something to parade. In Mid City, the best neighborhood of the Crescent City, we Porch Crawl. Last year, my dearest neighbor friends and I won Best Group Costume with our Beauty and the Beast concept (complete with dance routine). This year, we stole the show and prize for a Westworld concept with a Davinci Man float, and doubloons we passed out with the maze stamped on one side and “Have you ever considered the nature of your reality?” on the other.

I have such gratitude for friends who live houses away and who share our love of celebration and creativity. KP, as Rebus, designed a wound that would make it appear he had been shot in the stomach while drinking milk and dribbled a glue solution that looked pretty real.

I was a saloon player piano. The quotation is an homage to Kurt Vonnegut’s book The Player Piano, from which the show Westworld rumoredly drew upon for thematic content. “Those who live by technology die by technology. Sic semper tyrannis.” Latin for “Thus always to tyrants.” Curiously, the state motto of Virginia. We got to taste a lick of Virginia recently…

About a week ago we visited something of a New Orleans saloon, the Hermes Bar, where we got a tasting of Ragged Branch Whiskey, visiting from where else but Charlottesville, Virginia. We tasted both the Wheated and the Rye, I preferred the Rye, as I do. It had the essence of wort and smoke. It was the sort of thing Rebus would have in his back pocket.

It’s time for warm and filling dinners. I feel like I ate vegetables all spring and summer. Now it’s time for meat to blanket my bones for the cold season (a Southerners cold—maybe 50 degrees, eek!), and this chicken curry does the trick.

Creamy Chicken Curry

Adapted from Chatelaine (a magazine I found somewhere in Canadian travels)

4 chicken supremes, about 1.5 kg

3/4 tsp salt, divided

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cinnamon stick

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp minced ginger

4 large tomatoes, chopped

2 tsp granulated sugar

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with foil.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 tsp salt. Season with fresh pepper. Add oil to pan, then chicken, skin-side down, in 2 batches. Cook until golden, 3 min per side. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Bake until chicken is springy when pressed, about 25 min.

Return same pan to heat on medium. Add onion and cinnamon stick. Cook until onion starts to soften, 3 min. Add garlic and ginger. Cook 1 min. Stir in tomatoes, sugar, garam masala, turmeric, cumin and remaining 1/4 tsp salt. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 min. Discard cinnamon stick. Scrape hot mixture into a food processor. Purée until smooth. Pour back into pan and stir in sour cream. Cook until heated, about 2 min. Ladle sauce into bowls and set chicken on top.

Get close to the fire, y’all. Winter is coming.

Peace of Mind as an Inside Job with Tomato Pesto Spaghetti

I spent the morning removing thorns and then the afternoon pruning. Literally and figuratively. Last night we went to a lecture by Anne Lamott, a childhood favorite of mine (odd, as most the audience were women in their sixties), and I left with a sense of urgency to address the untended parts of my life. The overgrown garden first, and writing—this—next. I can’t put Lamott’s new book Almost Everything down. Her books really do all sound the same, she has a great niche and she knows it, but I’d say the wisdom and the delivery of that wisdom is starting to become more buddhist and monastic with each new edition. Parables and aphorisms, this. And a little Mr. Rogers sprinkled in there, reminding me that I have, we all have, intrinsic value. So why all this heartache and striving after what we already possess?

“There is almost nothing outside you that will help in any kind of lasting way, unless you are waiting for an organ donor. You can’t buy, achieve, or date serenity. Peace of mind is an inside job.”

What an honest truth, and a welcome message to pop up on an internet page amid all the ads and pretty people with white teeth implying you will only be enough and happy if you buy this or flog your body into looking this way.

I recently discovered a book about food that has a similar message, I think Lamott would dig it. Nourish, by Heidi Schauster, is a gentle book about how to heal your relationship with food. It seems to blend together several of my favorite therapy modalities, mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment, dialectical behavioral therapy, etc into an approach that works on developing self-love and balance rather than shame and diet-focused control games. I love it. I am recommending to all.

As I am with this sauce.

Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Pesto

Adapted from Food and Wine

1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes

1/2 cup pine nuts (3 ounces)

8 small garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus shavings for garnish

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Kosher salt

Pepper

1 pound spaghetti

Basil leaves, for garnish

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice water. Using a sharp paring knife, mark an X on the bottom of each tomato. Add the tomatoes to the saucepan and blanch just until the skins start to peel, about 30 seconds. Transfer the tomatoes to the ice bath to cool. Peel and transfer to a blender.

In a small skillet, toast the pine nuts over moderately low heat, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add to the tomatoes in the blender, along with the garlic, grated cheese and 1/3 cup of olive oil; puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the spaghetti until al dente; drain and transfer to a large bowl. Add the tomato sauce and toss to coat evenly. Drizzle the pasta with olive oil, garnish with cheese shavings and basil leaves and serve.

With the extra pesto, or with any pesto, tuck into Smelly Proof bags and store in the freezer. It’s about that time of year when I start hacking through the massive amounts of basil and make buukuu batches of pesto for months to come. These special plastic bags are supposed to be smell-proof, and they report that they are “bear tested” for campers, so.

The other product I want to plug is ChocZero—a monkfruit-sweetened sugarfree alternative. I sampled their syrup and their chocolate, both YUM and I would totally recommend to anyone looking for sugarfree foods.

Cedar Plank Salmon and Walnut Fudge

I wear this razory fishhook/of crucifix/look…

It hangs right here/near the heart’s/hidden room

Where a table is set for me. -Franz Wright

I met this poet in college and I remember he looked like he was in pain. Just constant pain. His poems sound now to me sort of like the way he looked that day. There is also the ring of grace. I love the image of a heart’s hidden room where a table is set. Perhaps this place is the purpose of the fall, both as a metaphor [from grace] and as a season. Despite the many pains, it is good to gather and feast we must.

We had a delicious salmon with KP’s parents this week. I didn’t have a cedar plank on hand, but the marinade for the fish was DELICIOUS. I’ve included the instructions for the cedar plank stuff because I imagine it only gets better.

Cedar Plank Salmon

Adapted from the Food Network

2 cups pinot noir (optional)

1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary

Kosher salt and coarsely ground pepper

1 large side of salmon (3 to 3 1/2 pounds), skin on

Depending on the size of your salmon, put 1 or 2 cedar grilling planks (about 15 inches each) in a large dish or roasting pan. Pour in the wine, then add enough water to cover (if not using wine, just use all water). Weight the plank down with a heavy pot so it is submerged. Let soak at least 2 hours, flipping it over halfway.

About 30 minutes before cooking, preheat a grill to medium (if your grill has a thermometer, it should register about 375 degrees F). Combine the brown sugar, lemon zest, rosemary, 4 teaspoons salt and 2 teaspoons pepper in a small bowl. Remove any pin bones or belly fat from the salmon. Rub the salt mixture all over the flesh side of the fish. Transfer to a baking sheet, loosely cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. If you are cooking without the cedar plank, put on foil and bake in the oven at 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Drain the cedar plank and arrange on the grill. Place the salmon skin-side down on the plank, cover and grill until just cooked through, 12 to 18 minutes, depending on the thickness.

For dessert, since I have been on a walnut kick lately, thanks to Primavera, AND because walnuts save lives (major cardiovascular benefits!) try this walnut fudge recipe. It is healthy healthy (as fudge goes). It comes from a cookbook featuring GAPS friendly recipes by Signe Gad. I had to read up on GAPS (“Gut and Psychology Syndrome”) because I had never heard of it before. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much data to indicate it really works to help folks with gut problems calm down inflammation, but in general the recipes look like good nutrition and honestly, if my gut was on the fritz, or I thought my mood could be improved by fixing my bowel problems, I’d definitely give it a try.

We know that there is a significant link between gut flora and mood. I look forward to learning more in this area, lots of research currently underway. For this recipe, I soaked the walnuts in salt water for half a day and then dried them out (to reduce phytic acid) which is apparently an irritant. Because I don’t have IBS or gut stuff, I didn’t notice any big change (also didn’t commit to the diet for the weeks necessary) but the fudge was awesome. Would repeat.

Tomato Tart and the Maine Marathon

After KP and I finish a marathon, as a woman, there is really nothing like the experience of eating a whole pizza by yourself. And thinking to yourself, I still probably need a few more calories to make up today’s deficit! KP and I just finished our 28^th marathon, in pursuit of the 50 nifty United States. We got to run the hills of Portland, Maine along Back Cove, enjoying fall colors. The lobster was underwhelming (not enough spice if you ask this Gulf Coast convert.)

This pizza recipe (or tart, what have you) from one of New England’s finest, is the best thing around. And I added a little spice for the Southerners.

Tomato Tart

Adapted from Ina Garten’s recipe in Cooking for Jeffrey

For the crust:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Kosher salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, 1/2-inch-diced

2 cold extra-large egg yolks

1/2 cup ice water

2 1/2 pounds dried beans, for baking the crust (blind bake style, optional)

For the filling:

2 1/2 pounds firm medium (2 1/2-inch) tomatoes, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 cup whole fresh parsley leaves, lightly packed

1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves, lightly packed

3 large garlic cloves

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup good olive oil

6 tablespoons Dijon mustard

3/4 pound grated Gruyere cheese (1 pound with rind)

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly grated Italian Parmesan cheese

7 dedos de moca (Brazilian hot peppers), diced (optional, if you like spicy like me!)

Place the flour and 1 teaspoon of salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add the butter and pulse 12 to 15 times, until the butter is the size of peas. Add the egg yolks and pulse a few times to combine. With the motor running, add the ice water through the feed tube and pulse until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a floured board and roll it into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Meanwhile, place the tomatoes in a large bowl. Put the parsley, basil, garlic, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process until finely minced. With the processor running, pour the olive oil down the feed tube and process until combined. Pour the mixture over the tomatoes and toss gently. Set aside.

On a well-floured board, roll the dough out to an 11 x 17-inch rectangle and transfer it to the prepared sheet pan. Don’t worry if it doesn’t fit exactly; you want it to cover most of the bottom of the pan but it can be a little rough on the sides. Place a second sheet pan directly on the pastry and bake for 15 minutes. (You can also line the pastry with foil and fill it with dried beans.) Remove the top sheet pan (or the beans and foil). Using a dinner fork, pierce the pastry in many places. Bake for another 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Check the pastry during baking; pierce any spots that bubble up. Allow the crust to cool for 15 minutes.

Lower the oven to 375 degrees. Brush the mustard on the crust with a pastry brush. Sprinkle a thick even layer of Gruyere on the pastry, reserving 1/2 cup for the top, and sprinkle with the 1/2 cup of Parmesan. Place overlapping tomatoes in rows on top. If there is a little garlic and herb mixture in the bowl, sprinkle it over the tomatoes, but if there is liquid in the bowl, strain it through a very-fine-mesh strainer, discard the liquid, and sprinkle the garlic and herb mixture on the tomatoes. Sprinkle the reserved 1/2 cup of Gruyere and the remaining 2 tablespoons of Parmesan on top. Add the hot peppers if you are also in the mood for THAT. Bake for 30 minutes.

Cool slightly, cut into squares, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Ethiopian Cuisine for Dinner Club – Turn Down For Wat

The discovery of Ethiopian spiced butter is the first inkling of holiday warmth. Forget pumpkin spice latte, cook down ghee with every wintery spice on the shelf, simmered for an hour until it tastes like the Sun fell into the Indian Ocean. For the last week I’ve been finding ways to put niter kibbeh (the spiced butter) into everything I cook. And when I feel bad, I open the jar and inhale the scent like a candle. Food is aromatherapy, but feeds you twice, really.

Here are recipes for three different wats—a red, green and yellow palette for your palate.

Doro Wat Ethiopian Lentil Stew

1 -2 Tablespoons Spiced butter (see my recipe for niter kibbeh)

¼ cup cooking oil

1 large onion diced (in a food processor)

1 1/2 Tablespoons berbere spice Homemade here

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/2 Tablespoon fresh minced ginger

1 teaspoon coriander or cumin

1-2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 cup dry lentils soaked for 2 hours

1 Tablespoons Tomato paste

2 cups or more broth Vegetable /Chicken or water

2 tablespoons or more chopped parsley/Cilantro

Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat up large sauce-pan with oil, spiced butter, then add onions, berbere spice, garlic, ginger, cumin, and smoked paprika, stir occasionally for about 2-3 minutes until onions is translucent.

Then add soaked lentils, tomato paste, stir and sauté for about 2-3 more minutes. Add stock / water if necessary to prevent any burns. Salt

Bring to a boil and let it simmer until sauce thickens, it might take about 30 minutes or depending on how you like your lentils. Throw in some parsley, adjust for salt, pepper and stew consistency. Serve warm

Gomen Ethiopian-style Collard Greens

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp olive oil

1/8 tsp cardamom seeds

1/8 tsp ground fenugreek seeds

1/8 tsp nigella seeds

1 1/2 lbs. collard greens, stemmed and cut crosswise into 1/4″ wide strips

1 1/2 cups water

1 large yellow onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Thai chiles or 1 jalapeño, stemmed, seeded, and minced

1″ piece of ginger, peeled and minced

salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Heat 4 tbsp oil in a large pot over medium heat.

Add cardamom, fenugreek, and nigella and cook, stirring often, until fragrant. Increase heat to medium-high and add the remaining oil. Add onions and cook, stirring often, until browned. Add garlic, chiles, and ginger and cook, stirring often, until soft and fragrant.

Add collard greens, water, and salt and pepper.

Cover and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens are tender, 50-55 minutes.

Kik Alicha Ethiopian Split Peas

1 yellow onion, minced

1 large tomato, very finely chopped

1/2 lb. yellow split peas

2 cups water

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp. olive oil

2 tbsp garlic, minced

1″ piece ginger, peeled and minced

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp bessobela (Ethiopian basil– dried basil works too)

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

salt and pepper, to taste

Wash split peas in warm water. Drain and set aside. In a large pot, cook onions over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until translucent, adding water as needed. Add tomatoes and garlic and cook for 5 minutes (do not let them brown or burn) Add the ginger and cook for 5 more min. Add olive oil and stir until well mixed. Cook briskly, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

Add split peas, turmeric, bessobela, cardamom, salt, and pepper. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently and adding water gradually until split peas are soft but the mixture is not watery.

Serve with fresh injera. A note on injera. I tried to make my own with 100% Teff from Pereg

using the recipe in this book, What’s On Your Plate?, which is great for kids, fun and educational with relatively simple kid-friendly recipes. The book takes readers on a trip around the world highlighting foods popular on different continents.

I was inspired by the section on Ethiopia to make injera, but had difficulty with a brittle texture in the recipe they feature using teff and water with baking soda,

so I tried another batch made with my sourdough starter and proofed for over 48 hours. Again, too brittle and difficult to get thin enough for using as a wat mop. What’s on your plate? Wat.

Still tasted great though. We hosted an Ethiopian Cuisine dinner party and cheated by purchasing injera from the only Ethiopian restaurant in Louisiana, Abyssinian Creole. They told us they use mostly white flour (grr, America!) which I think is definitely cheating and not as healthy (or gluten free). All this to say, if anyone out there has any fool-proof injera recipes (I’ve now tested three with poor results), I would LOVE to hear them. Also I probably need a crepe skillet. We blended Ethiopian cuisine with a Bob Ross theme–Gursha! The homemade invitations:

The Monosyllable of the Clock can be Love, Love, Love – Fish Tacos and Thai Basil Dumplings

In the fleeting moments of another fleeting Sunday evening, we make time to feed ourselves. A few hours of heating spices and loosening vegetables from their fibers and adding sprigs of color to the plate like painters their palette. I’ve been reading Tennessee Williams through again, Streetcar Named Desire. The week his play debuted in New York in 1947, he wrote an OpEd in the New York Times “The Streetcar Named Success” in which he argues that purity of heart is the one success worth having.

“Time is short and it doesn’t return again. It is slipping away while I write this and while you read it, and the monosyllable of the clock is Loss, Loss, Loss, unless you devote your heart to its opposition.”

Which might be Feed, Feed, Feed Others with Love, Love, Love. Invite someone to join your table tonight and see if you can get the monosyllable of the clock to sound a new chime.

Are not dumplings something of a totem to togetherness? These vegan ones from Nasoya really were delicious and so easy, the Thai Basil is divine with some chiles from the backyard, dedos de moca. And of course, basil.

Also, fish tacos. There just needs to be more of these in my life. All around me, always.

Fish Tacos with Roasted Tomato Salsa

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

1 pound firm skinless white fish fillets, such as cod, halibut, or sea bass

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin or chili powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

8 soft flour or corn tortillas, warmed

¼ cup sour cream

Roasted Tomato Salsa (see recipe below)

Chopped avocado, chopped fresh cilantro, lime wedges and/or sliced radishes

Brush fish with oil and season with cumin, salt, and pepper. Grill in a preheated grill pan or on a gas or charcoal grill on the greased rack of a covered grill directly over medium heat for 4 to 6 minutes per 1/2-inch thickness or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, turning once.

Warm tortillas in the pan or on the grill rack. Serve fish in tortillas with sour cream, salsa, and toppers.

Roasted Tomato Salsa

2 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges

½ large red onion, cut into wedges

¼ cup olive oil

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup packed cilantro leaves

1 teaspoons chopped canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a shallow baking pan with foil. Place tomatoes and onion in the prepared pan. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil and sprinkle with salt; toss to coat. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes or until nicely browned. Cool slightly.

In a food processor place roasted vegetables and cilantro. Cover and process until smooth, gradually adding remaining oil with motor running. Add chipotle to taste. Makes 1 1/3 cups.

#sponsored by free product from Nasoya, which was SCRUMPTIOUS.

Summer’s End with Green Lasagna

Someone left the bougainvillea on all night.

Michael Dickman has the most wonderfully strange end of summer poem “Lakes Rivers Streams” with lines jumbled together like berserk frayed edges of a beach blanket.

I think the day knows exactly what’s its doing…

The good news is ferns…

Meanwhile inside a belly button…

Meanwhile real sunlight sneaks up the wall somewhere between/ butterfly yellow and butterfly brown…

I picked up everything in the house and put them all back down just/ to the left of themselves.

It is a 40-page poem that wanders like the idle days of summer. And it makes me feel so glad to be at the end of it [the poem and summer]. Finally time for some fall food. Let’s start with a lasagna.

Green Lasagna

16 oz labneh cheese

1/2 c fresh basil, sliced into ribbons

1 t garlic salt

1 t Penzeys Pasta Sprinkle

1 egg

1 T olive oil

2 c onions, chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

2 c fresh spinach

One box of uncooked green lentil lasagna from Explore Cuisine

32 oz of marinara sauce

2 cups (or more) of shredded mozzarella cheese

Garnish: additional basil cut into ribbons, ½ cup Pereg whole wheat bread crumbs with 2 TB olive oil and 1 TB pasta sprinkle

In a medium bowl combine cheese, basil, parsley, garlic salt, pasta sprinkle and egg. Mix together and set aside.

In a skillet over medium heat, warm the oil. Saute the onions until they soften and they are starting to shrink. Add in spinach to wilt.

Combine spinach mixture and cheese mixture.

Using a 9X13 baking dish pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce into the bottom.

Add half the uncooked noodles, top that with 1/2 the mixture and 2/3 c of cheese. Repeat. You will end with a third layer of sauce, and top with mozzarella cheese. I love to put bread crumbs on everything—so I highly recommend this as garnish.

Cover casserole dish with foil. Bake at 400 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Remove the foil after 35 minutes.

Garnish with remaining/additional cheese and basil.

Let sit and rest for 15 minutes before cutting into squares.

In the spirit of all things green, I’ve been sampling some health products lately—one a deodorant that is organic and without aluminum by Type A. Smells great! Not quite New Orleans’s strength, ahem, but at least the rainforest had a nice odor.

Also, I enjoyed an antimicrobial toothbrush by Dr. Plotka. I’m not much of a toothbrush connoisseur, that would be my father’s department. But it got the job done.