Extra Schmaltz!

Put 1 part lentils, 1/2 part rice in a pot. Clean well if you live in a country where bulk goods are kept in burlap sacks on the floor in dirty market places. Add enough water that things will be soupy. Add a tsp or so of turmeric, mostly for color, and salt to taste. Cook until lentils and rice are soft. Crush up several cloves of garlic(3-6, or more depending on quantity of soup - This is typically done in a mortar and pestle with a bit of salt). Pour an inch to 1.5" oil(olive or vegi) into a small frying pan, add garlic, heat and fry until garlic is golden. Pour oil and garlic into soup. If too garlicy, cook soup for longer.

...was terrible.

Here's a flavorful way to use leftover meat. I made mine with leftover steak from Valentine's Day, but they could be made with anything--the key is to keep the filling simple. I'm not wild about enchiladas that use canned sauce, so I made my own sauce--it's not much more work than opening a can, and the result is so much better! I'd like to try making the sauce with whole chiles one day, but until I'm feeling more ambitious, I'll use this recipe which calls for chili powder. These use corn torillas. Sauce: 1/4 c. oil or lard 2 Tbsp. flour 1/4 c. chili powder 1 c. tomato sauce 1 1/2 c. hot water 1 tsp each: oregano, cumin, garlic powder, onion flakes Heat the fat in a saucepan or skillet until quite hot. Add the flour and chili powder and stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture starts to brown (take care not to burn). Stir in the remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes until slightly thickened. Allow to cool before making enchiladas. Filli...

Brown lentils have gotten a bum rap, at least in my mind. I think I always associated them with boring, muddy, vegetarian fare. As it turns out, brown lentils go great with hot dogs and really any smoked meat product you can find. Here's a cheap and hearty soup that makes good use of this humble legume. At some point I should post my all-veggie lentil burgers that are so good even an Iowa farm boy would love 'em (I have proof!). This recipe makes a lot, so feel free to halve it (or just plan on soup for lunch all week). 1 lb. brown lentils, rinsed 7-8 c. chicken broth 1 onion, minced 2 ribs celery, minced 2 medium carrots, minced 2 whole chipotle chiles, canned or dried 2 bay leaves 2 tsp. marjoram 1 tsp. thyme 3 c. hearty greens (such as leafy endive or escarole), chopped 1 lb. hot dogs sliced into rounds 3 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped 2 Tbsp. butter 2-3 tsp. Tobasco sauce S&P Heat some oil or lard in your soup pot or pressure cooker. Saute the onion, celery and carrots. A...

This recipe is based primarily on what I had around and what I sort of made up as I went along, but I think it turned out well enough to be worth keeping around. Chicken is either really expensive these days, or the places I went by today were adding a stiff foreigner tax, so I decided to go vegetarian. This recipe is very off the cuff, and I'm sure it could be improved in a lot of ways - I look forward to hearing how everyone else adds to it. Yogurt Curry Cauliflower 2 small heads cauliflower Several onions(depending on size) A couple carrots A very small amount of fresh minced cilantro(equivalent to 1tsp or slightly more) A small amount of green bell pepper might be good as well A rather lot of yogurt(maybe total 1c?) - I think the more, the better. Use plain yogurt, obviously. Spice mix(measurements super imprecise): 2tsp if not more whole cumin, roasted and then lightly ground in mortar and pestle. This should be one of the primary flavors. 3 cloves garlic 2tsp curry powder 1ts...

Behold my blurry food porn! Tonight's dinner, as Dan said, was "so good it would make Gordon Ramsay's bollocks tingle". After an exhausting trip to Chicago, eating overpriced and unwholesome food, I needed something to cleanse my body and soul. Something a bit fancy for Friday night, and a way to exercise my cooking muscles. An earlier meander through Wikipedia brought me to " dukkah ", an Egyptian condiment made of ground, roasted, seasoned nuts. I directed Dan to pick up whatever kind of fish looked delicious and he got some amazing ahi tuna steaks from Byerly's. Inspiration! I decided to combine the two. First I marinated the tuna in a simple combination of: Juice of 1 lemon 2 cloves crushed garlic salt and pepper dash of pomegranate molasses (you could use soy sauce + sugar) Meanwhile I made the dukkah: 1/2 c. nuts 2 Tbsp. raw sesame seeds 1 tsp. each whole cumin, corriander, fennel 1 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper 1 tsp. dried mint 1 tsp. salt T...

Delicious, easy, soothing, simple. What more could you ask for in a recipe? This is based on the one featured in the Almost Turkish Blog I linked to in the sidebar. I wasn't feeling well and wanted something nourishing but simple. The mint in the recipe is soothing on the tummy and the bulghur and lentils combine to make digestible protein. 1 onion, minced 2 Tbsp. olive oil 1 tsp. red pepper flakes 1/2 c. red lentils (green or brown OK too) 1/2 c. bulghur 2 Tbsp. flour 2 Tbsp. tomato or red pepper paste 6 c. broth 3 tsp. dried mint flakes 2 tsp. dried thyme half-sharp paprika or red pepper flakes to garnish s & p 2 Tbsp. butter In a nice soup pot, saute the onions in the olive oil until they are almost translucent. Add the red pepper flakes and cook 1 minute. Add the flour and stir well so that the onion is coated and the flour is distributed. Add the tomato or red pepper paste and stir so that the onions are coated and there are no paste globs remaining. Add the lentils, bul...