Dinner a la Yotam

As y'all might recall, I purchased my second Yotam Ottolenghi cookbook, Jerusalem, not long ago. It's a joint effort between Yotam and his childhood friend, Sami Tamimi; they grew up in Jerusalem, one in a Jewish family and one in an Arab Muslim one. I've really enjoyed all I've made from this book so far, and, like Plenty, it's beautifully photographed and clearly written. Tonight, I made two dishes I'd flagged several weeks back: chermoula eggplant with bulgur and yogurt, and a kohlrabi salad. I loved(!) both. T found the kohlrabi too bitter which I didn't sense at all. He must have the bitter allele in spades. Mother of god! Anyway, more for me.

Chermoula is a North African paste made of preserved lemon, garlic and some wonderful spices including cumin, coriander and paprika. Here, you put this together, slather it on a halved eggplant and then roast the concoction in a hot oven for about 40 minutes. In the meantime, you whip up a bulgur salad which is specked with chopped green olives, plump raisins, almonds and some herbs. That, Greek yogurt and sumac top the eggplant when it's done = DELISH!

I thought this kohlrabi salad was fabulous and refreshing; it's dressed with a terrific Greek yogurt-sour cream-mascarpone sauce into which you whisk lemon juice and pressed garlic. YUM! 

Farmers market

The boys opted to stay at home with T this morning, so I headed to Dupont by myself. The farmers market is always a different experience when the kids aren't with me; the pace is slower but the conversations with vendors are fewer, so it's a trade-off. It is a glorious day, and I brought home some beautiful goodies.

Apples, persimmons, carrots, rainbow kale, hot peppers and some gorgeous sorrel. I love sorrel: it has a clear lemon flavor component and the greatest yet delicate crunch. Yotam uses sorrel a lot so I'm going to use this bunch in one of his recipes. The greens are stunning this time of year, and I worked mightily to not bring home more than I'd use well.

With the apples and peppers, I'm hoping to find the time to make some pepper jelly. Otherwise, more applesauce it will be! I'm not yet sure how I'll use the persimmons but will, of course, keep you posted. Look at the size of these daikon radishes!!!

Adventures with the kids, fab-o pizza

After my class today, Jack went on a hike with T's dad, and Oliver and I went on a date (T was rather pooped after a full morning with the boys!). Grandpa and Jack headed to a mountain about 90 minutes from us and there found a great topper of snow. Meanwhile, Oliver picked a playground that this afternoon "is my favorite", and we practiced playing safely since, while I was gone, he tumbled down the stairs with a chunk of wood onto which he'd affixed googly eyes and ended up with this sizable gash. AAAH! We let them stay up late and ultimately had a dance party to Gangnum Style -hilarious- and after finally tucking them in grilled this delicious pizza. No mozz in the house, no pizza sauce either, but we were glad because it forced us out of our regular 'za rut and into something refreshingly new. I made a shallot-garlic-mushroom saute and used all manner of truffled goodies my sister brought me from the truffle festival in Chianti. T used some of the sausages I'd made yesterday, and both of us topped everything with my fresh ricotta. Delicious!

Now we're off to finish enjoying the rest of a bottle of Tempranillo and watch last night's Real Time!