Today, we prepared two simple dishes that are mainstays of their cuisines.
The first was pan-roasted plantain, a staple in Latin America and the Carribean. The secret of this dish is to wait for the plantain’s skin to turn black as show by the left picture. Black = Sweet.
The second was baba ghanoush, a roasted eggplant dip that is very popular in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
Here are the recipes.
Today, our Coop organized several demonstrations for children. Strider, our produce manager, asked us to take advantage of a new shipment of cantaloupes from California and baby spinach from our neighboring town of Farmington. Kathy, our grocery manager, asked us to use a soy milk product on promotion.
To combine the various themes, we prepared three kid-drawing dishes:
| image | the cantaloupe into a refreshing drink |
the spinach into a creamed sauce, and the soy milk into a honeydew smoothie. Kids and grown-ups relished the results.
Here are the Horchata de Melon, Pasta With Creamed Spinach, and Honeydew Smoothie recipes.
Today, we prepared three salads. The first two salads had a potato, onion, mushroom, and cilantro base. One of the salads was dressed with a garlic and peppercorn vinaigrette. The other was dressed with a Thai sesame lime vinaigrette.
The third salad consisted of a mix of spring greens, several citrus fruits, strawberries, and cashew nuts. It was dressed with an orange sesame vinaigrette.
Here are the recipes.
Today, we prepared Ribollita, a hearty Italian soup. We paired Tuscan cabbage (aka lacinato kale, dino kale) with cannellini white kidney beans, supported by onions, celery, carrots, potatoes, and tomatoes. We finished the dish with Italian peasant bread, a splash of olive oil, and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.
Here is the recipe.
Today, we prepared Masala Dal, a protein-rich legume dish that is a classic in Indian cuisine. We boiled yellow split peas in water, puréed, and then seasoned it with salt. While the peas were cooking, we prepared oil seasoned with mustard seeds, browned onions, and a bit of cayenne pepper. Here is the Masala Dal recipe.
We served the dish with pita bread toasted with ghee. As an accompaniment, we prepared a Tomato and Yoghurt Salad with chopped tomatoes mixed with yoghurt, sour cream, green pepper, and a mustard seed-flavored oil. Here is the Tomato and Yogurt Salad recipe.
Today, we started our our culinary adventure producing curry powder from whole spices. We continued by using the curry to flavor green beans and chick pea (garbanzo) flour. Freshly grated coconut and cloves sweetened the dish.
We culminated the adventure by explaining how to separate the coconut meat from its shell.
Here are the recipes.
Today, we made garam masala spice mixture, starting with whole spices. The process took some time to complete but it was very satifying to make a fragrant blend that is much better than the pre-mixed variety.
We produced enough garam masala for several dishes. As a start, we made stuffed cauliflower, a specialty from the Marahashtra state of India. This state may not be familiar but it’s capital, Mumbai (aka Bombay) certainly is. The stuffing consisted of a garlic paste with spices. The cauliflower was steamed first, then combined with a tomato sauce that included garam masala and other spices. The dish was well-received by our Co-op clientele.
To balance the rich flavors of the stuffed cauliflower dish, we also prepared a cool dish called Cucumber and Yoghurt Salad, also known as a Cucumber Raita.
Here are the recipes.
Today, Khun Sunee treated our Co-op members and friends with a green Thai curry with eggplants and mushrooms and a red Thai curry with tofu, mushrooms and peanut sauce. She toned down the pungent spices to appeal to our audience, but the dishes still received a very warm reception. The curries were served with steamed jasmine rice.
Sweet pumpkin rice cakes complimented the curries. Thank you, Khun Sunee and Tong!
Here are the recipes.
Today, we had a guest cook, Khun Sunee, who is a visiting scholar at St. Olaf College and a culinary teacher in her native Thailand. She was assisted by Tong, a St. Olaf student from Thailand.
In such capable hands, we produced three dishes that can constitute a complete meal. For starters, we served Tom Yum Tofu Soup, a sour and pungent soup with tofu and mushrooms. For the main course, we had Pad Thai, a stir-fry rice noodle dish. Finally, for dessert, we offered Kluay Buat Chee, or banana in a sweet coconut syrup.
Here are the recipes.
A great soup begins with simple ingredients — some meat, vegetable or seafood with water and salt. Today we start with a chicken broth and then enhance it to prepare a family of delicious soups. Happy New Year!
Here are the recipes involving chicken broth.
Here is the recipe for a rich vegetable broth that can substitute the chicken broth.
Luigi Cooks 