Fattoush (Traditional Middle Eastern Salad) ♥ Recipe

It takes a lot of words to describe what's really a simple traditional Lebanese / Syrian / Middle Eastern salad. So instead, just learn this one word and repeat after me: Fattoush. Fattoush. Fattoush. (That's fuh-toosh, fuh-toosh, fuh-toosh.) Now go make one.

Dear St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
A certain St. Louis food blogger is wild for the Fattoush Salad at Ranoush, the Syrian restaurants in University City and now in Kirkwood. Would you please see if the owners would share the recipe? Please, pretty please?

That Certain Food Blogger

Since February, I've been writing a weekly column for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called "Special Request" -- the one where St. Louisans write in to ask for recipes for their favorite dishes from restaurants. It's a kick! (See St. Louis Restaurant Recipes & the Most Recent Columns.)

But every once in awhile, I want to game the system and send in my own request. Now that'd be cheating but I've been extra-tempted all summer long, ever since Ranoush (before clicking, you might want to "mute" your sound) opened a second location just a few blocks from home.

Ranoush is my kinda place. Good food. Open late! (The "Kirkwood Dinner Bell" rings at five so finding good food after 8pm here can be tricky!) Friendly owner and staff. A big patio with red umbrellas that brightens a too-long empty corner right in the midst of our little downtown. We've been at least three times -- and I've suggested it for lunch and supper and a late-night snack at least that many times again -- but have ordered only one thing, the fattoush salad. (Well, two, actually, but the amazing hummus will have to wait for another day.) The fattoush salad is made with romaine and tomatoes in a lemony-garlicky-sweetish vinaigrette and checkered with crisp squares of just-out-of-the-fryer pita bread. OH MY.
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Chilled Zucchini Soup Shooters ♥

Here's a soup that will satisfy as summer winds toward autumn, made with little more than zucchini charmed with a touch of curry and served cold. It tastes much richer than it is, for the recipe is low carb and for Weight Watchers, either 1 or 2 points. Enjoy!

REVIEWS
"... loved it warm ... it's creamy without using cream or much fat ... " ~ Anonymous
"Absolutely outstanding! ... SO GOOD!" ~ Anne I

If I were the "document everything" sort, I could impress you by naming exactly how many recipes there are here on A Veggie Venture. But I'm not that sort. Sure, I could figure it out, it wouldn't even take that long. Maybe some day I will. But it seems beside the point somehow -- for there's no disputing that A Veggie Venture has a lot, a LOT of vegetable recipes whether it's a 1000 or 1200 or 1400. How many vegetable recipes are here? A lot. That's all you (and I) really need to know.

During the first year, I cooked a new vegetable recipe every day (that was the "Veggie" part), and posted it, good or bad (the "Venture" part). It surprises me that nearly all the recipes, even the ones from six years ago that I've not made again, remain familiar. So when I happened onto a recipe for a chilled zucchini soup on Food52, I knew there was already a recipe here like that -- and that back in 2005, it hadn't been very good. So being an "Out with the old! In with the new!" sort, that's exactly what I've done.

And this, dear readers, is the new recipe, the one worth making, the one I'm happy to recommend, the one that had me up at midnight one night, taking a spoon to the refrigerator for just one more bite.

The soup is surprisingly creamy -- in fact, first taste, you'll think, "Wow, this is rich." But it's not. It's just onion and zucchini and some chicken broth. It's good enough warm but it's designed to be served cold and that's what I did, like shooters, small cupfuls with tiny spoons. Add another vegetable recipe to the list, we're up one.
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Tomato Smoothie ♥

A summer treat, a smoothie made with the fruit of a sweet, perfectly ripe summer tomato (we do remember that tomatoes are technically fruit, yes?) contrasting the tang of cold buttermilk.

Ha! So is it true? I have the idea that all it takes are the words "tomato smoothie" and in an instant, everyone who reads them will be hankering one and know exactly how to make one too. Well just in case I'm wrong about that second point, here's the savory smoothie that I've been playing with.

And honestly, I started to call this recipe "Chilled Tomato Soup with Buttermilk" but with that name, well, doesn't it sound like it takes some, you know, effort? In contrast, a smoothie is on-the-spot, on-demand food, needing just the inspiration and a few minutes to toss into the blender and toss it down the throat.

So a "smoothie" it is. Serve it in glasses with straws or in bowls with spoons. It's still a smoothie.
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Sticky Date Pudding

Stephanie Alexander's Sticky Toffee Pudding - a favorite in our house:

pudding
170g dates, stoned and chopped
1 teaspoon bicarb soda
300 ml boiling water
60 g unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (or castor)
2 eggs
170g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla

sauce
400g brown sugar
1 cup thick cream
250g unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean, split

Preheat oven to 180 celcius and butter an 18cm square cake tin. Mix dates and bicarb. Pour over water and leave to stand.

Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Fold flour in gently, then stir in date mixture and vanilla (I used vanilla bean instead) and pour into prepared tin. Bake in centre of oven for 30-40 minutes until cooked when tested with skewer.

We always do these in individual ramekins, they cook in about 20 minutes and are fun to eat.

To make the sauce, bring all ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove vanilla bean. Pour a little sauce over warm pudding(s) and return to oven for 2-3 minutes so sauce can soak in. Serve with extra sauce to pass around.

Hope you enjoy as much as we do.

P394 Cook's Companion 2nd edition.

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Lamb Shanks

I love weekends at home! Slept til nearly mid day today - must have needed it.


Today I'm cooking one of my hubby's favorite meals, to celebrate his birthday yesterday. Thought I'd share the recipes and some photos of the cooking.


Main - Lamb Shanks, crunchy smashed spuds and greens
Dessert - Home made vanilla bean icecream and sticky date pudding


Apparently lamb shanks used to be dirt cheap - they were considered unclassy, and butchers could hardly give them away. Yesterday I paid $4.50 each! They are about half that at the Vic Market, but unfortunately in a regional town, we pay a premium.  Slave to food fashion.


Lamb Shanks
Cant remember where this recipe originated from, but I have bastardised it anyway, so here's the adaption i used today for 10 shanks. Would normally do about 4-6, depending on their size, but we're feeding a crowd tonight. I have put in [brackets] the standard recipe.


1. Rub freshly cracked pepper and sea salt into 10 shanks [4 shanks];
2. Smash 3 dried chillies and 2 heaped teaspoons of whole coriander seeds in a mortar and pestle or other 'smasher' of choice [1 dried chilli, 1 teaspoon whole coriander];
3. Finely chop 1-2 twigs of rosemary (minus the twigs) and mix into the chilli and coriander mix [1 twig], along with a teaspoon or two of dried marjoram.
4. Rub that all over the shanks, press it in really well and don't forget the ends of the shanks.
5. Dust shanks with plain flour.
6. Heat oil in a thick bottomed casserole dish (I used two, because I did 10 shanks - suggest you make sure the shanks will fit comfortably in a dish before you start, so you don't have any mid-cooking crises and wind up flapping your arms around your kitchen while the contents of your cooking dish cupboard pours onto the floor... not that this happened to me, i'm far too organised and well prepared...)
7. Brown the shanks on all sides (I did two at a time in each pan), remove from pan and set aside. There will be some black bits on the pan, don't worry, its all part of the taste sensation.
8. Quarter and slice a bunch of celery, 3 or 4 carrots, 3 onions, 5 garlic cloves and add to the pans, dividing equally or in proportion to the number of shanks you're going to fit in each. [If you're doing a normal sized batch of 4 shanks, use 6 sticks of celery, 1 carrot, 1 onion and 1-2 garlic cloves].
9. Once vegetables are soft, add 4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and cook until syrupy. This doesn't take long. I used two pans, so 2 tablespoons in each for those playing at home. [2 tablespoons balsamic]
10. Add 2 wineglasses of dry white wine [about 170ml if you're doing standard size batch]. Cook for a couple of minutes.
11. Add 12 anchovy fillets [6 anchovy fillets for standard], and 4 tins of whole peeled tomatoes [2 x 400g tins for standard].
12. Let it cook and mix it up good.
13. Return shanks to the pan, try to get them as low in the dish as possible with the juice and veges, bring to the boil, put the lid on.
14. Put into oven 180 degrees for 1.5 hours, then lid off for another 30 minutes. I started mine in the oven at about 12.30pm, and have it on about 140-150. They should be perfect by dinner time.
15. Check every half hour or so, moving the shanks around so they all get the same amount of time submerged.


You can serve these with mash and veges, or whatever you like. I'm doing smashed baked potato - to do this, peel (optional) and chop your spuds, bake on a sturdy tray with olive oil. when soft enough to squash them, use a masher to push them down. add more oil, and salt, and bake some more. Smoosh them around again after 5-10 minutes. When they're done they'll be all crispy and chunky. Will try to post a photo later so you get the gist.




Here's some photos:

Chilli, coriander, marjoram

Rosemary

Chilli, coriander, marjoram and rosemarty rubbed into shanks.

Dusted with flour

 Browning on the stove

 Starting to worry they wont all fit

 Onion, garlic, carrot, celery

 The view from my kitchen window

 Keiramoo, lady of the house

 shanks have been returned to pan

 thankfully they all fit!

 and after some adjusting and coaxing, they fit in the oven. PHEW!

Just quietly... smells awesome!

Hopefully I'll have time later to post some shots and recipe of the sticky date pudding...

Happy weekend everyone!

x

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Because Life Is Fragile

Life is fragile, life is precious, life is precarious. We all know this, we all experience it, we all, too often, live this. And yet, and yet. Some times life's fragility strikes close to home -- even when it really isn't.

For me, the life lesson hit twice this week, first when my friend Janet buried her granddaughter in a casket just twenty-four -- aiii, twenty-four -- inches long. And then again, with the sudden and unexpected death of a young husband and father, "Mikey" as wife and food blogger Jennifer Perillo of In Jennie's Kitchen called him.

Those of you who follow food bloggers will see lots of peanut butter pies appearing today. That's because Jennie invited us to make pies in her husband's memory. You see, she'd been meaning to make him his favorite pie, "Tomorrow", she'd think, "Or on the weekend." But she never got to it and suddenly, it was too late.

And so today I invite you too to make a peanut butter pie, perhaps my favorite Frozen Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie from Kitchen Parade. But if you're like me, you'll make a metaphorical peanut butter pie --- instead choosing the act, the words, the hug, the call, the visit, whatever it is that you've been thinking, "Tomorrow".

Instead, make it today, won't you? Because life is fragile.

---

Update:

Follow more tributes at this special page on Facebook, Peanut Butter Pie Friday for Mikey and Jennifer Perillo.

The editors at the wonderful Food52 are also collecting the stories in one place, watch Peanut Butter Pie for Mikey for updates.

A Veggie Venture is home of 'veggie evangelist' Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.
© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2011

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Stuffed Zucchini Boats ♥ Quick Technique Tip

Today's summery recipe: On-hand vegetables stuffed into summer squash, topped with a little cheese, then devoured for breakfast or a side dish or a vegetarian main dish. There's a quick trick to zucchini boats: a few minutes in the microwave!

So maybe it's just me but isn't there a dirty little secret about zucchini boats? The stuffings are nearly always delicious (cheese, anyone?) but the boats themselves, the zucchini (or in this case that zucchini summer-squash cousin called the "yellow squash" or the "crookneck squash") is either undercooked and tasteless or overcooked and watery, in either case unappetizing. So here – with just one quick and easy step – the zucchini boats become more than mere vessels, they actually taste good!

The trick? So easy, you'll be whacking yourself on the forehead, "I shoulda thoughta that."

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES Before stuffing, just cook the zucchini in the microwave for a few minutes. The added benefit? It's easier to scoop out the zucchini innards too.
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