When I arrived at Jennie's home in Fort Collins the day before we spent some time in her backyard garden picking borage, chamomile and coriander seeds. Her chickens are getting fat and laying eggs regularly now. Little blue and pink eggs are searched out daily & look precious lined up in egg racks lining the door of her fridge. She had mentioned that the root of cilantro is often used in Indian curry (which she had plenty)--that's when we decided to make an Indian feast the following day & invite some long time friends over to celebrate summer!
After berry picking we looked through numerous cookbooks, favorite online cooking sites, and decided from what we already had on hand what would be the best entrees to make for tonight's feast. We would make a potato & tomato curry with cilantro (aloo timatar). Of course we planned on adding some additional seasonal vegetables already in the fridge. The second dish decided was eggplant with spicy shallot & tomato sauce, (sambal terong). Jennie's father has a
huge garden which is producing plenty! She had so many Japanese eggplants, we had to find a use for them. The bread came about as kind of an accident, we are calling it 'campfire grilled naan' & in addition some sweet corn on the cob w/ sheep's feta & a turmeric infused basmati rice. For dessert the lovely rich raspberry chocolate almond bread!
When cooking, it is very important to have a well stocked pantry--once you establish and maintain this, you will typically never have to empty your bank account when making an elaborate meal. To make these dishes, we needed only a few items of which we headed to the
Fort Collins Co-op to purchase. Almond milk, goat milk yogurt, sheep feta, flour & sugar, organic dark chocolate chips & a few other minor things. Most of the 2 1/2 hrs spent was in-store was talking to people, and not so much shopping--but that is the fun of the co-op! We planned to stop by one of the garden plots Jennie and her non-profit group at
The Growing Project are managing. We harvested some tomatoes, beans, & zucchini for tonight's meal, or for use in our pickling project tomorrow. The rest was coming from Jennie's backyard!
Arriving back to Jennie's home, we decided best to make dessert first. We prepared the raspberry bread (recipe on previous post) readying the finale of the evening's meal. We prepped and planned for the main dishes with the help of Jenn's roommate Matt. Friends began arriving--Sadie, Brita, Natalie, Katelyn-- and we took turns chopping, mixing and helping in the kitchen, picking up in the recipe where the last had left off. Jenn had dug cilantro root and gathered coriander from her garden & we ground the seeds to make a spice mix.
A cork burst out of a bottle of wine on a high shelf in the kitchen Jennie had made from her crop last year and we took that as a sign it was ready to be drunk! She brought out a few other bottles of hard apple cider, and a whiskey infused with mint leaves she bottled and fermented last harvest season & we enjoyed these earthy drinks as we eagerly awaited for dinner to be ready.
It was a mighty group effort of the best kind. A major success, not to mention delicious! The most amazing part of the meal was that almost all of the ingredients were able to be harvested from the garden that day--fresh & local! Our total spending was around $20 for supplies. Here are the recipes from our feast below! Please make these for a special evening with friends!!
Potato & Tomato Curry with Cilantro (Aloo Timatar)
Serves 4-6 Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs waxy boiling potatoes (on top of this we also added some turnips in with the boiling mix)
(We added zucchini, cilantro root & carrots as well)
1 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
3 tbsp corn, peanut or olive oil
1/8 tsp asafoetida
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/2 tsp whole brown mustard seeds
2 whole dried red hot chilies
1 tsp peeled & grated fresh ginger
1 cup grated fresh tomatoes
2 tbsp plain yogurt (we used goat milk, but Greek would be good)
4 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
Directions
-Boil potatoes, drain them & allow to cool. Do not refrigerate. When they are cool enough to handle peel the potatoes. Which we did not do. The skin is a nutritious, so we kept them on. Cut or break them into pieces in a bowl and add the salt, coriander, cumin, cayenne, turmeric. Toss & set aside.
-Pour oil into a large skillet and set to med-high heat. When the oil is hot put in the asafoetida, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, & chilies (this is when we added the cilantro root as well).
-As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop ( few seconds) put in the ginger. Stir for a few seconds and add the grated tomatoes. Stir and cook for 6 minutes until the tomato puree separates from the oil. Add potatoes (and extra vegetables if any), and mix.
-Add 1 1/2 cup water, stir and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce and heat to low and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
-Put the yogurt in a small bowl and beat lightly. Add about 4 tbsp of the sauce from the potatoes and mix it in. Stir in cilantro. Now add this mixture in with the potatoes. Stir once to blend and turn off heat. Check for salt adding more if needed.
Eggplants with Spicy Shallot-Tomato Sauce (Sambal Terong)
Serves 4 to 6 Ingredients
1 3/4 lb Japanese eggplants, about 8in long and cut crosswise into 3/4in wide chinks
1 tsp salt
For the Sauce
1/2 large red bell pepper, seeded, cored and coarsely diced
4 medium shallots, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
3 tbsp vegetable oil, peanut or corn oil
2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
You will also need
Vegetable oil, peanut or corn oil for frying
Directions
-Put the eggplants in a bowl, sprinkle w/ salt & toss. Set aside for 30-60 minutes
-Meanwhile, make the sauce. Put the red pepper, shallots, garlic, turmeric, Cayenne, and 4 tbsp of water into a blender. Blend to a paste. Set the spice paste aside.
-Put 3 tbsp of oil in a large skillet set over med-high heat. When hot add the spice paste. Stir for 7 minutes or until the paste loses most of it's moisture. Add the tomatoes and stir for an additional 4 minutes. Add the salt and 1/2 cup water. Turn the heat down to low and cover, simmer for 3-4 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside.
-Drain eggplant single layer on paper towel and pat dry.
-Pour oil to a 2in depth in a wok, deep frying pan or deep fryer and set to med heat. When it is hot, put enough eggplants to fit in a single layer. Cook about 7 minutes or until they are golden brown on both sides. Lift out w/ slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. (The oil can be strained and reused)
-Set the sauce to med-low heat. When hot put in the eggplants, stir gently. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.
Turmeric Infused Basmati Rice
Serves 6
1 1/2 cup white or brown basmati rice
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp corn/peanut or olive oil
2 3/4 cups water
-Rinse the rice in water to remove the starch.
-Put 2 3/4 cups water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil
-put oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. When hot add turmeric and stir for a few minutes, when bubbly add the rinsed rice and stir until coated with the turmeric and oil for an additional 2-4 minutes, never letting the rice burn
-Add the rice to your boiling water and cover w/ lid. Cook like you would regular rice.
'Campfire Grilled' Naan (Indian style bread)
We had no room on the stove to make this bread in the traditional way, our charcoal grill went out and we resorted to making this bread on the bonfire we built in the backyard as the rest of our meal cooked. This worked perfectly and could be adapted to any backyard situation. We used the grill top from the grill over a few hot embers to the side of the fire.
Makes 8
Ingredients for basic naan dough
About 5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp plain yogurt (we used goat, but I like Greek)
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 tbsp unsalted butter melted, plus 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter melted for other uses. Can sub peanut or canola oil.
2 tbsp peanut or canola oil
Directions
-Make the basic naan dough. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
-Put the sugar and yogurt into a larger mixing bowl. Beat w/ an electric whisk (easier) or a wooden spoon. Add the milk and 1 cup water. Keep beating. Now beat in a little at a time, about 2 cups or a little more of the flour mixture. Beat very well to encourage the gluten to go to work. (100 strokes if you are using a wooden spoon).
-The batter should look pasty. Add the egg and the 1 tbsp melted butter and keep beating. Now slowly add another 2 cups of the flour mixture and keep beating.By the end of this, the whisk will hardly move and you will have a very elastic dough batter. Remove whisk.
-Use a wooden spoon to add enough flour (about 1 cup) to make a soft, sticky dough. Empty the dough onto a floured surface and knead briefly with oiled hands.
-Divide the slightly sticky dough into 8 balls, flatten each & cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes. You may refrigerate the covered tray for up to 48 hrs.
-Stretch each piece of dough to a tear drop shape, thinly but not too thin as to break or make brittle. On a hot grill, or a grill surface on a campfire place each dough direct on the grill rack making sure not to put in the way of any flames--which will char the bread.
-Grill each side for about 7 minutes and flip till cooked through and raised!
-Dust w/ garlic, parsley & additional butter after you pull the bread off the grill or whatever you like for a little extra flavor!
Grilled Sweet Corn with Feta
Serves 8
8 ears sweet corn shucked
2 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
1 large block feta cheese (we used sheep milk feta from the co-op)
-Shuck corn and drip each piece w/ oil, season with salt and pepper
-Grill each side for about 8 minutes, turning to ensure no burning
-Pull off the grill cut/break each cob into thirds
-Place pieces in a bowl and toss w/ feta.
-You can add fresh herbs (mint/basil) or other spices if you'd like. This is a dish that leaves a lot of room for additions and tweaks!
