6 August 2010 Eastern Mediterranean Day

Had lots of people helping today. It was great and I was in such a tizzy (I even ran over Augustus' plastic cart, which you see him on in the photo. It is history. I'll have to go out and find another.)

Our menu:
Kurdish spicy pink lentil, rice and chickpea soup with farm onions, celery, carrots and long green peppers plus mint and basil and some chili. It was good and rib sticking.
Za'atar bread--thin and crispy. Lovely.
Sweet and sour Greek zucchini and celery--raisins, honey, red wine vinegar and cinnamon with olive oil of course.
Beet and chickpea falafel patties with sumac, za'atar, lemon and tahini sauce
The beet falafel is from a very new British cookbook from a Bulgarian born Brit named Silvena Rowe. She's 6 feet tall, bleached blond and very very cool.

Madeleine Vedel and her mother Emita Hill helped Maureen and me. It was such fun to have them. Madeleine brought a large loaf of bread. She lives in Avignon in the south of France. If you need a savvy tour guide she's great--owned and ran a cooking school in Arles for many years and now runs private tours--she knows everyone in the area associated with food and wine--and speaks fluent French of course.

Here's a photo of Augustus with Liz, who will be heading off to Ann Arbor for law school in just a few weeks. We'll miss her terribly.

Recipe today is for Greek Sweet and Sour Zucchini (you can add celery if you like)
Adapted from Flavors of Greece by Rosemary Barron

2 pounds zucchini or yellow squash, washed and trimmed
(5 to 6 stalks Meadowlark celery, washed and sliced into 2 inch lengths)
1/3 cup dark raisins
1/4 to 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
4 to 5 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons honey mixed with 4 tablespoon hot water
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano, optional

Cut squash into 1-inch chunks. Toss with salt.

Mix raisins and 1/4 cup vinegar together.

Heat olive oil in 10-inch deep sauté pan over medium-high heat and add vegetables. When they sizzle, lower heat to low and partially cover. Simmer vegetables until tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Sprinkle vegetables with cinnamon, raisins and vinegar, honey and water, and season with salt and pepper. Raise heat, shake pan to mix, and cook vegetables uncovered until sauce is syrupy, 3 to 6 minutes. Toss in parsley and oregano. Taste and reseason, adding more salt, pepper and vinegar until the dish sings to you like the siren call: come back come back come back.

If anyone wants the beet falafel recipe I will give it to Jenny. It can be made with Swiss chard, kale, carrots, turnips or rutabaga.