Cooking
I have to start by saying that I was already a fan of Dorling Kindersley before I received a copy of their book, Street Food. We honeymooned in Ireland on one of their travel guides, and ever since I've found their books to the same: gorgeously photographed, concise, and easy to use.
Street Food is stamped from the same mold. Stunning photographs fill the pages...you find yourself hungry after nothing more than a quick browse.
But it's about more than looks. The author, Tom Kime, clearly did his research, sending himself on a whirlwind tour to find the best and tastiest 'street food' in some of the most interesting locals.
Traveling to places like Malta, Hue, Salvador de Bahia, and Marrakesh, he spent hours hitting food stand after food stand, often perplexing the proprietors who watched him as he worked his way down the rows of stalls.
As is our usual custom upon acquiring a new cookbook, both Matt & I went through the pages, affixing colored sticky tabs to the recipes we wanted to try.
Ok. Not every page has a yellow tab sticking to it. But that's simply because neither of us is much of a seafood lover.
But the rest of the book? Wow. Really, the only question was 'what to make first?'.
Not necessarily in the order we made them, here's what we've had so far.
Fattoush
This one got mixed reviews, but only because I found the dressing to be a bit sour. Matt, on the other hand, loved it, eating the entire thing.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, arugula, parsley, mint and toasted pita, with a sumac dressing. I think it was the sumac that turned me off, because otherwise, this simple salad is very much my kind of thing.
Queijo Na Brasa
Who doesn't love food on sticks?
This one couldn't help but be a winner. It's cheese. Slightly melted. On a stick!
The recipe called for Queijo de Coalho, a Brazilian cheese, but suggested Haloumi as a substitute. Worked perfectly. It's dressed with oregano and red pepper flakes. Nice.
Not much else to say. It's cheese!
Hummus Bil Erfeh Lahem
You may not think this looks like much, but then, you'd be wrong.
Ground lamb is cooked till crispy with a little bit of cinnamon, and piled on a dish of hummus. Again, no big, right?
Oh, no...this stuff is good. The smell alone makes you forget about the leftover pizza in the fridge, or the cookies in the cupboard. This is really good. And very easy to make.
Salada Fresca
This is our one disappointment. This lovely salad of avocados and tomatoes was to accompany a crispy bean fritter.
Well, the salad was just fine.
The bean fritter, Acaraje, was a disaster. Black-eyed peas, garlic, ginger and chilis were pureed, pan-fried, then dropped by spoonfuls into hot oil. This was were things went terribly wrong.
Instead of crunchy bean goodness, we had a frying pan full of bean puree. It simply wouldn't hold together.
The few small bits we salvaged were incredibly good. Unfortunately, the sum total of edible fritters came to about a 1/4 cup, maybe.
We liked the idea so much, though, that we tossed around the idea of adding an egg to the mix before frying, in hopes of binding the beans, in some future endeavor.
Chee Pow Kai
Now this? This was both weird and fun.
Chicken, marinated in soy sauce, ginger, five-spice powder, salt and star anise, is carefully enclosed in packets of parchment paper, and the bags are then briefly submerged in hot oil.
It's an almost-grease-less deep-fry.
And what you get?
Yum.
So, we're 5 for 6, so far. But we're looking forward to testing out many, many more of Street Food's recipes.
Tagged with: Food and Drink + Cookbooks + DK + Street Food + Reviews
- Greek Salad On Grilled Pita
Actually getting some use of the latest issue of Gourmet... A light & cool salad of cucumbers, mixed Italian (go figure) greens, cherry tomatoes, feta, chickpeas, and black olives, light dressing, on hummus-smeared grilled pocketless pita. So easy to...
- Matt's Fancy Dinner
Chateaubriand with Bernaise Sauce, Deep-Fried Souffled Potatoes and Herby Popovers Just because I'm not a carnivore doesn't mean Matt has to give it up. I've had this recipe kicking around for some time, and finally decided Matt had to have...
- All Mexican Food, All The Time
Or, Day two of our Cinco de Mayo feast! This time, it was Chile-Rubbed Lamb Chops with Pumpkin Seed Sauce, and Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup. First up, lamb chops. (And yes, I substituted Veat for mine) Chile powder, ground cumin, dried oregano and coarse...
- Bites For The Bride (to-be)
One of the girls in my on-line cooking club is getting married next weekend (six more days!), so we decided this month's theme would be party, or 'reception' food. I went with appetizers and drinks. Well, here it is. My contribution to the...
- Probably The Prettiest Salad On The Planet: Fattoush
Doesn't that look like spring? Just a tiny bit? And don't we NEED a little spring? I know I do. The weather has been absolutely pretty around here the last couple of days, I've dropped off my big bulky winter jacket at the cleaners (so it'll...
Cooking
Cookbook Review: Street Food
I have to start by saying that I was already a fan of Dorling Kindersley before I received a copy of their book, Street Food. We honeymooned in Ireland on one of their travel guides, and ever since I've found their books to the same: gorgeously photographed, concise, and easy to use.
Street Food is stamped from the same mold. Stunning photographs fill the pages...you find yourself hungry after nothing more than a quick browse.
But it's about more than looks. The author, Tom Kime, clearly did his research, sending himself on a whirlwind tour to find the best and tastiest 'street food' in some of the most interesting locals.
Traveling to places like Malta, Hue, Salvador de Bahia, and Marrakesh, he spent hours hitting food stand after food stand, often perplexing the proprietors who watched him as he worked his way down the rows of stalls.
As is our usual custom upon acquiring a new cookbook, both Matt & I went through the pages, affixing colored sticky tabs to the recipes we wanted to try.
Ok. Not every page has a yellow tab sticking to it. But that's simply because neither of us is much of a seafood lover.
But the rest of the book? Wow. Really, the only question was 'what to make first?'.
Not necessarily in the order we made them, here's what we've had so far.
Fattoush
This one got mixed reviews, but only because I found the dressing to be a bit sour. Matt, on the other hand, loved it, eating the entire thing.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, arugula, parsley, mint and toasted pita, with a sumac dressing. I think it was the sumac that turned me off, because otherwise, this simple salad is very much my kind of thing.
Queijo Na Brasa
Who doesn't love food on sticks?
This one couldn't help but be a winner. It's cheese. Slightly melted. On a stick!
The recipe called for Queijo de Coalho, a Brazilian cheese, but suggested Haloumi as a substitute. Worked perfectly. It's dressed with oregano and red pepper flakes. Nice.
Not much else to say. It's cheese!
Hummus Bil Erfeh Lahem
You may not think this looks like much, but then, you'd be wrong.
Ground lamb is cooked till crispy with a little bit of cinnamon, and piled on a dish of hummus. Again, no big, right?
Oh, no...this stuff is good. The smell alone makes you forget about the leftover pizza in the fridge, or the cookies in the cupboard. This is really good. And very easy to make.
Salada Fresca
This is our one disappointment. This lovely salad of avocados and tomatoes was to accompany a crispy bean fritter.
Well, the salad was just fine.
The bean fritter, Acaraje, was a disaster. Black-eyed peas, garlic, ginger and chilis were pureed, pan-fried, then dropped by spoonfuls into hot oil. This was were things went terribly wrong.
Instead of crunchy bean goodness, we had a frying pan full of bean puree. It simply wouldn't hold together.
The few small bits we salvaged were incredibly good. Unfortunately, the sum total of edible fritters came to about a 1/4 cup, maybe.
We liked the idea so much, though, that we tossed around the idea of adding an egg to the mix before frying, in hopes of binding the beans, in some future endeavor.
Chee Pow Kai
Now this? This was both weird and fun.
Chicken, marinated in soy sauce, ginger, five-spice powder, salt and star anise, is carefully enclosed in packets of parchment paper, and the bags are then briefly submerged in hot oil.
It's an almost-grease-less deep-fry.
And what you get?
Yum.
So, we're 5 for 6, so far. But we're looking forward to testing out many, many more of Street Food's recipes.
Tagged with: Food and Drink + Cookbooks + DK + Street Food + Reviews
- Greek Salad On Grilled Pita
Actually getting some use of the latest issue of Gourmet... A light & cool salad of cucumbers, mixed Italian (go figure) greens, cherry tomatoes, feta, chickpeas, and black olives, light dressing, on hummus-smeared grilled pocketless pita. So easy to...
- Matt's Fancy Dinner
Chateaubriand with Bernaise Sauce, Deep-Fried Souffled Potatoes and Herby Popovers Just because I'm not a carnivore doesn't mean Matt has to give it up. I've had this recipe kicking around for some time, and finally decided Matt had to have...
- All Mexican Food, All The Time
Or, Day two of our Cinco de Mayo feast! This time, it was Chile-Rubbed Lamb Chops with Pumpkin Seed Sauce, and Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup. First up, lamb chops. (And yes, I substituted Veat for mine) Chile powder, ground cumin, dried oregano and coarse...
- Bites For The Bride (to-be)
One of the girls in my on-line cooking club is getting married next weekend (six more days!), so we decided this month's theme would be party, or 'reception' food. I went with appetizers and drinks. Well, here it is. My contribution to the...
- Probably The Prettiest Salad On The Planet: Fattoush
Doesn't that look like spring? Just a tiny bit? And don't we NEED a little spring? I know I do. The weather has been absolutely pretty around here the last couple of days, I've dropped off my big bulky winter jacket at the cleaners (so it'll...