Hot Greek Dip

I know, I know, it just sounds dirty. It was Hors d'oeuvres Night in the apartment (a somewhat impromptu feast that occurs when all the stars are in the right alignment.) This was one of the Epicure recipes from Erin's party. I'm going to have to get a hold of some of the spices because I liked it and Meag ate about a cup and a half of it with pita bread wedges and Wheat Snacks (see above, the best cracker that I've ever tasted. It's so tasty that I'm afraid to look at the nutritional information.)

Hot Greek Dip

1 package cream cheese
1 cup mayo
1 cup feta
2 tsp VE Tapanade
1/4 cup olives
1/2 T each of VE Red Bell Peppers, VE Green Bell Peppers, VE Minced Garlic, VE Toasted Onion.

Put it all in the food processor. Microwave or put in the over at 350 F for 20 to 30 or bubbly.

Okay, I used the Tapanade seasoning and the dried onion because Erin had some but instead of the dehydrated peppers and garlic I used about a tablespoon of minced garlic and I threw in some roasted red pepper. I also kept the cover on the casserole dish while it was in the oven.

Peas Massalam

Peas Massalam



I got this recipe from my dad ages and ages ago. He and Barb had a visitor who showed him this one. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm tasty!

1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 or 2 large onions finely sliced
2 large ripe tomatoes - chopped
1 tsp salt
1 1" piece of ginger root finely sliced and diced
2 cloves of garlic chopped/sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp brown sugar
1 c frozen peas

You could put all the ingredients into a food processor (except the peas) and puree then cook it up and add peas, but I don't do this. I prefer this method:

Heat oil in a pot, and add the onions and saute. Add the salt and saute until soft. Then add garlic and ginger root and continue sauting for a few minutes (until soft?) Add the tomatoes and spices and cook, stirring until the tomatoe starts to soften, then add brown sugar and reduce heat to simmer for about 10 minutes. (The mixture will darken) Then add the peas - I always add them frozen and it seems to work out just fine. Continue simmering until the peas are cooked.

The McNarland Contribution to the Easter Feast

Fantastic feast! Yesterday I roasted 5 chicken breasts with olive oil, white and black pepper, and Alder Smoked Sea Salt (just to try it out). I cut a little piece off of one as I was puttering and then made Meag taste it, we then stood there and ate one of the breasts a chunk at a time. It was amazing and much harder than it should have been to put the other 4 away for the next day.

This afternoon, I made Meaghan's Chicken Curry recipe using the new Madras curry powder from Epicure. Food has no business being that shade of yellow. Dredge the chicken pieces in flour, curry powder and cumin then saute them till they're done. Pull them out of the pan and deglaze using equal parts chicken stock and orange juice. Add a couple of tablespoons of mango chutney and boil it till it's thickened. Whisk in some sour cream, add the chicken back and heat it all up. I'd like to add a little fresh cilantro next time.

After I wrapped it up, Meag went in and used the roasted chicken breasts to make her Chicken Kormadoori again (a good recipe has to be repeatable and she totally pulled it off). I'll get her to post the recipe.

Now I'm going to harass Erin until she posts her side of things although I may return to wax rhapsodic about the chicken and spinach.

Steamed Sumplings

I meant to type dumplings but I liked this better. I started the day planning a stir fry using tofu that I had marinated in homemade Teriyaki sauce. I was going to steam some dumplings as an appetizer. I got bored in the afternoon and put together some Yakitori Sauce for the stir fry, figuring that I could save a little bit of it to dip the dumplings in. After that I made some Indonesian Satay Sauce because I still felt like cooking.

A quick run to the store and I had put together a pork/vegetable filling and a crabmeat filling for the little guys. Meag and I stood at the kitchen counter and stuffed wonton wrappers in between dumpling breaks. Maybe not the most traditional meal in the world, standing at the kitchen counter with a wokful of boiling water between us, getting cornstarch all over the place (both of us wearing black, to boot), and eating a bamboo tray at a time so that we could refill them but it was good.

I would definitely make the Satay sauce again but I would probably just make a 1/2 recipe as this made WAY too much for just the two of us. The Yakatori sauce was the big hit and went really well with the crab. Steamed dumplings were on my 100 list so this was cool.