Spicy Chickpeas and More

Last night was another recipe from Vegetarian. Spicy chickpeas. They tasted very much like channa masala, but were less saucy, and maybe even better. They were spiced with tumeric, cumin, garam masala, fresh ginger, minced green chile, a couple cloves of minced garlic and tamarind concentrate. Really easy to make to. Just saute onion until soft. Add above ingredients and saute for a couple more minutes. Add a couple cups of chickpeas and a can of diced tomatoes and simmer for 45 minutes. That's it. I served it over jasmine rice, and made a side of steamed cauliflower and broccoli. To season the veggies, I toasted a few cumin seeds in about a tsp of oil, added a pinch of tumeric, and poured it over the veggies. The toasted cumin seeds gave it a nice little crunch.

Tonight I made a dinner that Sleek had requested. In the Vegetarian cookbook, he saw a recipe for asparagus with hollandaise sauce and another for asparagus and eggs. He wanted a combo of the two. Another really easy dinner. I roasted the asparagus, and poached the eggs in ramekins in a pot of boiling water. The hollandaise was really easy to make. I think it would have been a bit creamer and more "solidified" if I had used butter instead of Earth Balance. The flavor was really good, though, and definitely lighter than your traditional hollandaise. I don't eat eggs very often, but when I do at least I can get free-roaming, pasture-fed eggs from a farm right outside of M0-town. If I couldn't, I definitely wouldn't be eating them at all.



I kicked it old-school in the kitchen today with Beastie Boys License to Ill and Check Your Head. Sweet!

Fish Tacos

Way back on my "Veggie Tacos" post, Jessica posted a recipe for fish tacos. It looked so good, that I knew I would be making it soon. Well, last night was the night. Wow! They were off-the-freakin'-hook. I pretty much followed her exact recipe, substituting Cod for Tilapia. I asked Sleek to bring home some taco shells a couple nights ago, and brought "Garden of Eatin" blue corn shells. They were perfect. I may never buy yellow corn shells again.

For the cole slaw, I made the dressing as recommended by Jessica. I did add a pinch of cumin. It almost tasted like the slaw at one of our favorite locally-owned restaurants, Black Bear Burritos. (Jessica, I think I remember you liking Black Bear as well.) Add too much cumin would take away from the flavor of the fish, though. So, I definitely didn't want to go overboard with it.

I also made some refried beans and a side of roasted asparagus to go with it. I just place the asparagus on a baking sheet, drizzle with a little oil, and a sprinkling of Kosher salt. Roast at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, take it out and give it a toss, roast for 8 more minutes. It's so good and so easy!

Yesterday in the kitchen, my daughter wanted to play computer games, so I was forced away from NPR. Oh, well. I decided to listen to Clinic's album, "Walking With Thee". It is fantastic, and apparently the Radiohead guys were really into Clinic when they were creating their "Hail to the Thief" album. The two albums definitely have a similar sound. The guys in Clinic sure must have thought it was super-cool to be influencing a band as great as Radiohead.