First off, another "fried rice" creation. It's not rice but millet and I've used some cut up deli ham, red bell pepper, summer squash, onion, green onion, and an egg. The sauce is the usual with soy, a little rice wine vinegar, and very little or no sambal oelek. I really liked how the saltiness of the ham worked in this. It was a really tasty lunch and of course the egg really enriched the sauce.
Next up is my first attempt at a recipe I was curious to try from Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson. She has a recipe for Baked Purple Hedgehog Potatoes with Yogurt-Mint Dipping Sauce. I prepared a slightly modified 1/4 recipe utilizing 2 small red potatoes (about 8 ounces total) in place of purple potatoes. She states that any type of new potato may be substituted and these were the best I could see, although they didn't look that good. I'd expected to find better potatoes at the store. Basically, I made thin slices part way through the potatoes that you can see here in my photo of the potatoes pre-baking.
Into the slits in the potato I put thin slices of garlic from the garden coated with a mixture of olive oil and sambal oelek. I used the sambal in place of harissa, the Tunisian hot sauce that Swanson recommends. I think the substitution worked. I then sprinkled the potatoes with salt and pepper and baked them covered for 25 minutes and uncovered for about 25 minutes at 375 F.I prepared my own version of the dipping sauce by combining a half cup of yogurt with a chopped garlic clove, salt, pepper, and a bunch of chopped basil. I used basil because that's what I had although I'm sure mint and cilantro would be good, probably better. The whole recipe seemed good in that garlic-is-good way. I like dipping things in cool, creamy, tangy yogurt and also used the dip for a pork chop and some grilled patty pan squash.
There was a problem, though. The potatoes were crispy and undercooked. Clearly much more than the 45 minutes of total baking time in the recipe is required, at least for 4 ounce potatoes. I might try this recipe again, but I will be way more careful to cook the potatoes enough.
Finally, the Thursday-night thrown together dinner that was unexpectedly really, really delicious. This is my millet and clam superbowl. Umm, yeah. That's the name. I started by sauteing a quarter of an onion, 3 sliced mushrooms, and a couple of pinches of red chili pepper flakes in a little olive oil. I added a minced clove of garlic and some chopped red bell pepper and sauteed a little more. Then I added 2 chopped smallish tomatoes, 2 chopped green onions, and a small can of chopped ocean clams (about 80 grams). Finally I added 1 cup of cooked and cooled millet and a splash of chicken broth. I broke up the chunks of millet and warmed everything through before adding a bunch of torn basil and mixing it with grated Parmesan cheese in the bowl. It was of course seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. And here it is:
It was sooooo tasty. The bell pepper and tomato added irresistible sweetness. That was balanced by a slight spicy kick from the pepper flakes. The clams had an intriguing salty taste of the ocean and pleasingly chewy texture. The basil added fragrance while the Parmesan added complex cheesy flavours and richness. The mushrooms were tasty and meaty as well. Altogether, this was one unexpectedly delicious bowl of light, summery dinner.
Now you have it, three things that I've tried cooking lately.
