HUMMUS, HUMMUS, HUMMUS!

Eating delicious, eating healthy, eating HUMMUS! Can't make hummus without tahini, though. What is tahini?  It's a paste made from ground, toasted sesame seeds and vegetable oil, and it's popular in North African, Middle Eastern and Greek cuisines. In Greece, other than in recipes, tahini is used as a breakfast spread. Slather it on a piece of bread and eat it without another topping, or drizzle some honey on it. Tahini contains relatively high levels of calcium, protein, fibre, and iron. When tahini is combined with chickpeas it turns into hummus. And chickpeas contain fibre, lots of protein, folic acid and Omega-3. Because chickpeas are high in fibre they are a healthy source of carbohydrates for diabetics.  So make that hummus!  Try it with grilled eggplant, it's great that way! Use it instead of mayonnaise. Potato salad with hummus? Great!!! 

Here is my recipe for hummus, into which I add some 2% Greek yogurt.  This recipe is a protein and calcium powerhouse!!!  

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas (about 15 ounces)

3 tablespoons tahini 
1 garlic clove finely chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup Greek yogurt
salt and pepper to taste
a pinch of ground cumin
chopped parsley for garnish
a bit of olive oil to drizzle for garnish
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted lightly, for garnish

Directions:

• Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Place them in the bowl of a food processor and add the tahini. Make sure the tahini is mixed well before you remove it from the jar. The oil from the sesame paste tends to float to the top of the jar, so it needs to be reblended with the paste. 
• Add the rest of the ingredients except the ones that will be used as garnish. Mix until a desired texture is achieved. You might want the hummus to be chunky, or smooth or somewhere in between.
• Remove to a bowl and chill for about two hours before serving. Pour the hummus into a serving bowl and sprinkle the parsley and toasted pine nuts on top to garnish. Finally, drizzle a little olive oil on the hummus and serve.
• Accompany with pita chips and raw vegetables.
• Hummus will keep in the refrigerator for about five days. 

NAVARIN PRINTANIER: A French Lamb Stew

A really, truly delicious lamb stew!!!  Navarin printanier is French for lamb stew. "Navarin" refers to a stew which contains lamb, and the word "printanier" alludes to springtime and to the first tiny vegetables appearing in the garden. 

This stew is made from lamb shoulder, a tougher cut of meat which becomes truly flavourful when properly cooked. The stewing method tenderizes tough pieces of meat and allows the flavours of the ingredients to blend deliciously. The dish needs to cook for about 2 hours, partly on the stovetop

 and partly in the oven. In the end, the lamb comes out very tender, the vegetables are sweet, and the sauce is perfect! 

Meat from the shoulder of lamb is fatty, so a good amount of fat trimming needs to take place before it's ready for cooking. This type of meat also contains some bones, which I saved for cooking but discarded before serving. Adding bones to the pot makes the dish that much more flavourful. All too often making stew means cooking with beef. This lamb version is an absolutely delicious change!

   

A previous rendition

Ingredients:

olive oil for sautéing     

2 pounds lamb shoulder, excess fat removed, bones separated. I purchased two pounds and the breakdown was as follows: one pound stewing meat, half a pound of fat which was discarded, and half a pound of bones.      

3 tablespoons flour       

2 cups broth       

6 Roma tomatoes chopped well after the skin and seeds have been removed

3 garlic cloves chopped  

1 small red onion, chopped   

1 pound small onions, such as pearl onions, skins removed   

3 carrots        

3 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered 

1tablespoon sugar

1 cup frozen peas    

salt and pepper    

a bouquet garni (tie it up) made up of rosemary sprigs, thyme sprigs, parsley sprigs, and two bay leaves     

salt and pepper 

1/2 cup of water  

a few rosemary leaves, a few thyme leaves, and 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 

Directions:

• After removing the fat from the lamb cut the meat into 1½ inch pieces. Keep the bones. Bones left in while cooking provide additional flavour to the stew. Once the stew finishes cooking, the lamb will be very tender, and the bones will just pop away from any meat and can be discarded before serving.
• Use paper towels and dry the meat well because it will not brown if let damp.
• In a Dutch oven heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and brown the lamb on all sides. Brown in batches without overcrowding the pan, and add more olive oil to the pot as needed.  
• Remove the browned lamb to a plate and reserve. 
• If there is a lot of fat in the pot, discard it. If the pot has just a lot of brown bits in it, by all means, leave those alone. 
• Season the meat with salt and pepper and sprinkle the flour on top. Coat the meat with the flour. 
• Return the lamb to the pot and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. This process of sautéing meat with flour will help to thicken the sauce. 
• Add the red onion and garlic. Mix and sauté for about two minutes.
• Add the broth, chopped tomatoes, and the bouquet garni. 
• Bring to a slow boil and deglaze the pot by making sure you gently incorporate into the broth all that brown goodness stuck to the bottom of the pot. 
• Cover and place in a 300°F/150°C oven. Cook for two hours.
• While the lamb is cooking prepare the vegetables: 
• Tackle the onions by first removing the onion skins. When dealing with small onions there is a very easy way to do this: cut off the root and stem ends. Let the onions cook in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Drain them, and when they are cool enough to handle, pick them up one by one. You'll be able to squeeze their skins right off. Next, add a little olive oil to a skillet and sauté the peeled onions until they turn brown. Add 1/2 cup of water, a few rosemary leaves, a few thyme leaves and two tablespoons parsley. Simmer slowly until the liquid evaporates, about half an hour. 
• To the onions add the peas and half of the sugar. Stir for about a minute or two and then remove the onions and peas to a plate and cover to keep warm.    In the same skillet heat a little more olive oil and add the carrots, potatoes, a few rosemary and a few thyme leaves. Stir for about 2 minutes and then add the rest of the sugar. Cook, stirring, for another 5 minutes until the vegetables are browned. 
• When the lamb has cooked for two hours remove the pot from the oven, add the potatoes and carrots, mix, cover again, and place it back in the oven.  
• Raise the oven temperature to 375°F/200°C. Cook for another 30 to 45 minutes until the lamb is really tender. 
• Check periodically to make sure there is enough liquid in the pot. You may or may not need to add a little bit more.  
• Remove the lamb from the oven and discard the bouquet garni and the bones. 
• Stir in the peas and onions. 
• Like all good stews, this lamb stew will need to be ladled into soup plates. And, like all good stews (perhaps it's a cliché to mention it), it will taste better the next day. 

STUFFED GRAPE LEAVES (with ground lamb and ground beef)

Ouch!  I hurt my back doing yard work. That made it hard to get ready for Easter. By the time our guests arrived on Easter Sunday, I was thoroughly exhausted. I had been cooking for two days, plus planting flowers, plus setting tables, plus washing pots and pans, plus praying the Tylenol I was taking for my backache would work a little faster. Even though I was tired, all the preparations were so worth it! Once the company arrived, I felt brand new. Well, almost brand new. 

One of our visitors was an adorable two-year-old named Gracie, who (almost) possesses the vocabulary of a high school graduate. Actually, Gracie is something of a scholar, because, at the tender age of two she attends preschool. She saw a band-aid I had on my finger and asked me if I had a boo-boo. "Yes, I have a bad boo-boo," I replied. "Bad boo-boo?" She kissed my band-aid. How can one not fall in love with Gracie?  

Among the dishes we served were these grape leaves stuffed with ground beef and rice. Gracie, of course, wanted nothing to do with them. She stuck to lamb, potatoes and salad. Everyone else enjoyed them. Usually, but not always, grape leaves stuffed with meat have avgolemono sauce poured over them (avgolemono is a Greek egg and lemon sauce). I chose not to make it, but instead to add extra lemon juice to the cooking liquid. Why no avgolemono? Mostly for dietary reasons - some of our guests do not eat eggs. Even without the avgolemono, the ground lamb-stuffed grape leaves were very good!

Ingredients:

1 jar (16 ounces)  grapevine leaves
about 3/4 of a cup of olive oil

 2 onions, chopped

 4 cloves garlic, chopped

 1 bunch scallions, chopped, use as much of the green part as you can        

 3  tbsp fresh chopped parsley

 2 tablespoons fresh chopped dill
 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves

 1 teaspoon fresh chopped mint

 1 lb. lean ground beef 
 1 lb. ground lamb (if not available, use pork)

 1 cup raw long-grain rice

 optional: 1 cup fresh diced tomatoes (not canned)                      

 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese 

  the juice of two lemons

  salt and pepper to taste 

  2 tablespoons butter

  3 14-ounce cans low sodium chicken broth, plus water as needed

 

Directions:

• Remove the grape leaves from the jar and discard the briny liquid they are packed in. Soak them in water for at least four to five hours,  changing the water a few times in order to remove the saltiness of the brine. When you have desalinated the grape leaves, boil them in water for no more than 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the water and set the leaves aside until they have cooled. Keep them covered so they don't dry out as they are cooling.    
• Save all the stems and leaves from the herbs and scallions that you would otherwise discard. Make sure they are rinsed well.
• Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Sauté the onions, until they begin to soften. Add the scallions and garlic and cook for one minute while stirring. Turn off the heat, add the herbs and set the mixture aside until it cools.
• When the mixture has cooled, add the ground meat, rice, tomatoes if using, Pecorino Romano cheese, pepper, a touch of salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. 
• Line the bottom of a medium-sized heavy Dutch oven with the leaves and stems of the herbs you have saved. If there are any really tough grape leaves, instead of discarding them, arrange them in the Dutch oven. 
• Cut off the stems from the grape leaves and discard them; they'll be too tough to eat. Now comes the time to start filling them: set the shiny side of the leaf down, and place the filling on the duller-looking side where the veins are thicker. 
• Fill each grape leaf with about 1 tablespoon of the mixture. 
• Roll up the grape leaf once, fold in the sides of the leaf and continue rolling. As you are rolling, don't make the grape leaf bundle too loose, however, keep in mind that there is rice in the filling and it will expand during cooking. Therefore, don't roll the grape leaf bundle too tightly, either. 

I had lots of grape leaves to stuff, so I moved the show to our breakfast area, where we have a television set. I spread a few kitchen towels on the breakfast table. On top of the towels, I placed the Dutch oven, a bowl full of filling, and a plate of grape leaves. I sat at the table and turned on the TV. I watched some TV, I stuffed some grape leaves, and that was the easy way to go about it because stuffing those leaves is a tedious undertaking! On with the rest of the recipe:

• Fit the stuffed grape leaves, seam side down, on top of the herb stems in the Dutch oven. Pack them in tightly. Place a second layer on top, keeping the same pattern of layering. Keep the same pattern so that the cooking liquid can penetrate all layers.

Champagne and Geritol! Oh Yeah!!! I placed my trusty Dutch oven on the breakfast table. I sat down, turned on the TV and started stuffing the grape leaves. One by one, in they went into the pot. My mother was sitting next to me just so I could have a supervisor. She insisted the TV be set to PBS, and there was nothing wrong with her request ... or so I thought. But as it turned out, Lawrence Welk, her favourite musician, was on.  I'm referring to Mr Lawrence Welk, bandleader, the heartthrob of every octogenarian female!  I'd like to report that I survived the experience. Anyway, on with the cooking. ...  

• Sprinkle the rest of the olive oil over the grape leaves, then add the lemon juice, the butter, and enough chicken broth to cover. If during cooking you run out of chicken broth due to evaporation, just add water. 
• Take a plate that will fit into the cooking pot and wrap it in parchment paper.  Place it on top of the grape leaves. This will weigh them down to prevent them from floating around in the pot. Cover the Dutch oven with the lid.
• Cook in a preheated 350° F oven for two hours. Once in a while during cooking, check to make sure there is enough liquid in the pot. If the liquid level is too low, just add some more. The cooking time is long, but that's because the grape leaves have to soften and become as tender as the filling.
• Remove the stuffed grape leaves from the pot and place them on a serving dish. Don't let them sit in the cooking liquid. Any cooking liquid left can be discarded or used to make avgolemono sauce if needed. The recipe for the avgolemono sauce follows.
• The grape leaves can be served warm or at room temperature. I hope you make these and enjoy them in good health!

If you choose to serve them with avgolemono sauce (in which case they should be served warm), here's a recipe for avgolemono: 

1 egg

2 egg yolks

3 tablespoons cornflour

juice of one lemon

about 2 cups of the cooking liquid, cold or at room temperature; if less than two cups remain, substitute the missing amount with chicken broth.

2 tablespoons heavy cream
Black pepper to taste

In a saucepan, beat the eggs with the lemon juice. Very slowly so that the eggs won't curdle, add the cooking liquid. Over low heat and while mixing, slowly add the cornflour. Allow the mixture to thicken a little. Turn off the heat. Add the cream and mix. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Pour on top of the grape leaves and serve.   

ARTICHOKES à la POLITA: a Greek Artichoke Stew (Αγκινάρες α λα πολίτα)

Spring is a peak harvesting season for artichokes, therefore, it's during springtime that artichokes are plentiful, better tasting, and can be had for a good price. Preparing them for cooking is a tedious job, but the effort is worth it. 

This lemony stew is a medley of braised artichokes, potatoes, carrots, peas, and onions. 

One can use canned or frozen artichokes for dips and such, but for this braised artichoke dish only the fresh stuff will do. The taste of fresh artichokes is far, far superior to the frozen or jarred varieties. The part used here is just the artichoke heart, and when it finishes cooking it's soft and lusciously flavourful. 

Artichokes are native to the Mediterranean region and were cultivated since the time of the ancient Greeks. This recipe has a very long history. Variations of it were popular as far back as Byzantine times. The name polita means that the dish originated in the city of Constantinople, which was the capital of the Byzantine empire. Greeks referred to Constantinople simply as the polis (the city), because it was the most important city in the empire, therefore, "à la polita," means in the style of the polis, or in the style of Constantinople. 

Nutritionally, artichokes aid digestion and strengthen liver and gallbladder functions. They are rich in protein and vitamin C and are known to lower blood cholesterol levels. Artichokes are good to eat and are good for you!  Here's my recipe for this flavourful vegetable stew starring the artichoke:

Ingredients:

3 scallions, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped

3 medium Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped into quarters (Yukon gold potatoes taste great when they are braised).

3 carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds or, if available, one bunch of baby carrots left whole

1 cup of frozen peas 

10  pearl onions (use the red variety if available)

8 fresh artichoke hearts

1/2 cup dill, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

juice of two lemons 

3 cups water or vegetable broth

olive oil

Directions:

• To clean the artichokes: peel all the hard outer leaves until you reach the softer core. Keep peeling the leaves until you reach the choke which is the uneatable fuzzy part of the artichoke that needs to be scooped out. It can be scooped with a spoon or a small knife, but my favourite way to remove the choke, and one that works faster for me, is by using a melon baller.
• With the use of a paring knife, trim the stem, removing any remnants of the outer leaves. The artichoke heart will start to turn brownish. That's because the chlorophyll present in the hearts begins to oxidize or lose its green colour when exposed to oxygen. Another thing that happens is enzymatic browning (the same thing that happens to bananas). During this process, certain enzymes produce melanin when exposed to oxygen. The melanin turns fruits and vegetables brown. 
• To prevent oxidation you must place the cleaned artichokes in a water bath with an acid pH: have a bowl of cold water standing by, 10% of which is made up of vinegar or lemon juice. As soon as the hearts are ready, drop them in this water bath and leave them there until they are ready to go into the cooking pot. When you add them to the pot, just pull them out of the water bath, but do not use any of the soaking water for cooking. 
• Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large cooking pan. 
• Add the chopped onions and celery and sauté until the onions are soft. 
• Add the pearl onions and potatoes and sauté for a few more minutes.
• Add the carrots and mix. Season with salt and pepper.  
• Add the lemon juice, vegetable stock or water, and 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
• Add the artichokes, thyme and dill. Simmer in the broth for 30 to 40 minutes or until the vegetables are soft but not mushy. 
• During the last ten minutes of cooking add the peas and scallions.  
• Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. 
• During cooking, a lot of the liquid will be absorbed or evaporate. Make sure it doesn't totally disappear. If it starts to get low, add more broth or water.  On the other hand, if there is too much liquid leftover, you can thicken it with a little cornstarch.
• Arrange the vegetables on a serving platter; season with freshly ground black pepper, drizzle olive oil on top, and serve.  

I hope you enjoy this lemony and delicious vegetable recipe made with artichokes.