by Sam Tackeff | Jun 22, 2009 | Pantry Staples, Soups
I went to the gym today.
I’ve been trying to drag myself in there for weeks.
I strolled in and screamed I NEED INCENTIVE! And so I got a free personal training session on the weight circuit and gave every muscle a moment to shine. It doesn’t hurt to have a cute trainer to get you really sweating. Huzzah! I’m feeling great that I’ve finally done it, and as I walked out of there, a woman walked briskly across the room and told me I had beautiful hair (and that was post gym hair!). I’m still beaming!
When I got back to the house, I was determined to continue my positive streak, so I put together this soup in about five minutes from some leftovers of Jamie Oliver’s Sticky carrots* that I had sitting in my fridge. You could just as easily boil some carrots with a little salt, pepper, and garlic, and make the soup in about 20 minutes from start to finish.
Quick Carrot Soup: In a blender, put a few cups of leftover cooked carrots (mine had salt and pepper already on them, but if yours don’t just add some), a half cup of plain yogurt, a half teaspoon of cumin, and a half teaspoon of turmeric, and a dash of water (or chicken stock if you have it), and blend until smooth. Top with some snips of dill.
Serve with garlic toast: just lightly coat a few pieces of day old bread with some good olive oil, put under the broiler or in the toaster for a couple of minutes, and then just lightly sweep a clove of garlic over the warm toast.
*Jamie’s Sticky Carrots: Cut a couple of pounds of carrots into two inch lengths, and stick them straight up in a small saucepan fitting them together snugly. Add a couple of Turkish bay leaves, salt and pepper, and a small nob of butter (a tablespoon or two) on top. (I add in a few cloves of garlic here, although his recipe doesn’t have them). Add enough water so that the carrots are halfway submerged, and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, until carrots are cooked, about twenty minutes, and then just take off the lid and continue to cook until the water cooks down almost away, and the carrots get stick and lovely – about half an hour more. Jamie has you turn them out so they are all beautiful on the plate (taking care not to burn yourself), and serve.
by Sam Tackeff | Feb 24, 2009 | Candy, Challenge, Turkish
Sugar High Friday is a monthly food blogging event created by Jennifer, The Domestic Goddess and is hosted each month on a different food blog. This month’s host for the event is Palachinka, and the theme is “Copycat”, where you copy one of your favorite store bought candies.
I spent a good couple of weeks thinking of the best candy I could copy. Would it be Snickers, my favorite bar candy? Pecan Divinity? Nutella? (I was seriously considering Nutella, until I realized that it would completely ruin any semblance of a healthy diet if I made it and then ate the entire concoction in two days.)
Finally I turned to Turkish candies, because Turkey happens to have some of the best confections: Lokum (Turkish Delight), Dragees (chocolate covered nuts and orange peels), Pişmaniye (a type of wispy candy floss that I can’t describe with any justice). My mother happens to be in Turkey this week, and now that I live across the country from her, I know that I’m going to be depressed when she returns and I get calls of what wonderful things she has brought home. Maybe she will send me a care package (hint).
And so, after thinking of all the candies that I wouldn’t be getting, I decided – why not create one of my favorites here at home? I finally settled on cezerye, a Turkish candy made of carrots! Now, although they have a lot of vitamin A and B from the carrots, they also have enough sugar to fully sweeten your blood, so I wouldn’t exactly qualify them as health food, but they certainly are delicious.
Home-Made Cezerye
makes about twenty five candies
Ingredients
2 cups grated carrots
3/4 cups loosely packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
about 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup ground walnuts
1/2 cup ground petit beurre biscuits
1/2 cup shredded dried (unsweetened) coconut
Method
1. Grate a few medium carrots and put into a medium saucepan with the sugar. I simply took my cup measure, loosely packed it three quarters of the way with brown sugar, topped it with the white sugar, and added water to wet the sugar (as much fit in the cup).
2. Simmer on low heat for a half hour or more, covered. Add the ground nuts and petit beurre cookies, and continue to cook uncovered for a few minutes. Take off the stove, and let cool enough to handle the mixture.
3. To make the carrot balls, roll the dough balls in some shredded coconut, as you would if you were making truffles. Place in the fridge for at least an hour, and eat!
These come out a little bit moist, but they should dry as they sit.
by Sam Tackeff | Feb 9, 2009 | Salads
To think that I almost missed out completely on the joyful possibilities of cole slaw… After years of being served the gloppy, mayo mess at summer picnics or lobster pounds, I had developed an extremely negative association with anything that called itself “slaw”. Fortunately I learned that all slaw is not the same, and there are some really fantastic versions out there with endless varieties of of crispy, crunchy vegetables dressed lightly and most importantly not swimming in jarred mayonnaise. (more…)
