Shakshuka

Last night, we cooked Shakshuka with Spinach and Feta, adapted from Janna Gur's The Book of New Israeli Food. The recipe called for sautéed leeks, but we substituted half a white onion and it turned out well. Shaksuka is one of my favorite dishes from Israel, but usually it's cooked in tomato sauce. I thought this book did a great job creating a tomato-less version. This is not exactly the book's recipe, but it's close.

For our version, you need:

About 6 ounces feta cheese, cut into cubes
One bunch organic spinach, chopped
1/2 organic white onion, sliced
6 free range eggs butter
1 clove organic garlic
Salt and green pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a deep pan with a lid, sauté onion until soft. Add spinach and garlic and sauté until soft. Blend ingredients well and spread around the pan. Crack 6 eggs on top of your spinach mixture, spread the feta around the pan, and turn heat to low. Put the lid on the pan and steam until egg whites are done. Season with salt and pepper (we used green peppercorns). Careful with the time so you don't cook the yolks completely...unless of course you like them that way. Shakshuka is supposed to have soft yolks and cooked whites. We enjoyed our shakshuka with red wine and flax oat bran bread =)

Happy Cooking!

Visit to St. Patricks

Tonight, we visited the East side church plant of our home church, King of Kings called St. Patrick's. It is a home church for now, but with full evening service and communion. It was the first time we had taken the boys out at night and it went really well. The boys did great! We had to leave a bit earlier than we would have preferred simply due to poor planning on our part but next time we will make sure we have a place for them to sleep in case we want to stay longer. My Messianic background has familiarized me with liturgical services to the point where I am very comfortable using a prayer book. John's experience in the Messianic movement was less liturgical, but he also has a Catholic background - long story - which makes him more familiar with the order of service in an Anglican church than I am. I have been struck by the parallels in Anglican liturgy to some of the Jewish liturgy that I am more familiar with, particularly the "Holy Holy Holy" portions of the prayer book. In the Jewish tradition, we lift our heels off the floor during "Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh" symbolizing with our bodies our reaching toward God's holiness. I don't notice the same bodily reflection in the Anglican church, but the words are similar. Of course the liturgies share sources and thus commonalities. For dinner we enjoyed baked potatoes, very quickly consumed on our way out the door to feed our ravenous boys. John's potato waited until we were actually at home, since he held both babies so I could get some dinner, thanks honey;) We also had some good red wine during dinner, which I was able to enjoy while nursing the boys in the back of the house at the end of service. =)

Enjoying a Warm Fire

Tonight we made our first fire of the winter season. Of course, it qualifies as the first fall fire, too, since we haven't built a fire since last year. So, we're enjoying the crackling sound and earthy smell of our real wood fire. We had leftover soup tonight with more of the bread and some Cabernet that mom bought us on her last visit down here. We felt like it had a smoky finish (Smoking Loon, perhaps the origin of the name?) but then again we were pretty close to the fire. Praying Charles sleeps better tonight. He's given us two full nights of sleep in the past month. I'm not sure if he needs extra food or extra comfort at this stage, maybe a little bit of both. Either way, we need wisdom in dealing with his frequent night wake-ups that have kept both of us pretty tired during the day. That's about it for now! John is cleaning up the last bit of the kitchen before we head to bed.

John's in the kitchen...

Well, John is in the kitchen prepping for dinner. Tonight, we'll be enjoying soup - Lentil and Broccoli cream soup. We've never tried that but had some homemade chicken broth from when I made chicken curry salad last week and had to find something to do with it! So, soup it is. Perfect on a cold night like this - supposed to dip to 30 degrees. John stopped by Great Harvest Bread Company on his way home and bought some really tasty-looking whole grain bread, so we'll have that with some butter along with our soup tonight and some wine. Only additions needed are a good fire in the fireplace, which we should have soon! John has been handling a lot of the dinner end of things lately, since I'm the baby-feeder of the house, a job which I gladly assume. It's nice to be able to sit together in the evenings and enjoy dinner and a glass of wine, since that is basically our time together. Then, we feed the boys one last time between 9 and 9:30 and they go to bed for...hopefully the rest of the night! Joseph is our good sleeper; Charles is our active little guy and we're working on him a bit more.

Blog Happenings...or Finally an Update

So those of you who have been following "What's Cooking" have probably stopped following since nothing new has been posted since November! Well here is a new post, finally, but which has nothing to do with cooking. I've decided to re-think this entire blog and along with a new design come some new thoughts. Originally this was intended to be a family blog - kind of a compilation of everyone's activities in the kitchen. Since I am the only one who has really been posting (except for a couple by you, mom, kudos!:)) I feel a sense of ownership and desire to change things up a bit. I'm going to be the only one posting from now on - and including posts having nothing to do with culinary activity.
I'm re-thinking the name, too. The URL will stay "home artisans," but the header most likely will change from "What's Cooking" to something a bit less kitchen-specific:) We shall see.

Above you'll see the picture of our new additions...the beautiful reasons I haven't updated in so long! Introducing Charles and Joseph, now almost 5 months old! Full names are Charles Frederick and Joseph Benjamin. Charles is on the left, Joseph is on the right.

More updates to come, as I figure out what I want this blog to become.

Thai Basil Chicken or Gai Pad Gra Pow

This is a family favorite. We like to cook it at least once a month at our house (preferably much more often!). Originally, this recipe came from Thaitable. We modify their recipe slightly.

YOU NEED:

2 TBS Vegetable Oil
4 - 7 Thai chili peppers, minced
1 TBS sugar
1 - 2 packages fresh Thai basil
1/2 lb chicken, minced
1 TBS garlic, minced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
a wok is preferable for cooking this dish
Jasmine rice

For sauce:
juice of 1 lemon
equivalent amount of fish sauce
4 or 5 minced Thai chili peppers


We modify the above in the following way: we usually double everything! While this is not true modification so far, we also typically add a bit more garlic than is called for, more Thai chili peppers (at least 10), and 1 - 2 TBS oyster sauce. Occasionally, we add 1 - 3 sliced Asian eggplants right before we add the chicken. We also add a Thai basil curry paste to the ground chicken and let it marinate a few minutes.

PREP

Make your sauce by mixing sauce ingredients above in a small bowl. Set aside.

Mince the garlic and chili pepper. Put in a small bowl together or separate. Set aside.

Thinly slice your carrot (and eggplant, if using) and place in a large bowl. Set aside.

Clean and pick your basil leaves. Pile onto a plate. Set aside.

Measure your sugar, fish sauce, and oyster sauce if using into a small bowl and set aside.

Mince your chicken.

Ingredients should be assembled. We add eggplant to ours as well (if you do this, add it before the chicken and stir a few minutes.)

COOKING!

Fry garlic and chili pepper in oil over high heat.

When garlic begins to brown, add eggplant (if using) and carrot. Stir-fry eggplant a few minutes until softens (add more oil as needed). If only using carrot, proceed immediately to the next step.

Drop chicken in and stir constantly. Keep stirring until all juice is out of chicken and chicken is cooked.

Add sugar, fish sauce, and oyster sauce. Stir fry for a few seconds.

Add Thai basil. Turn it over in the wok to mix through the dish. It will wilt and smell wonderful.

Plate over jasmine rice. Serve with lemon-fish sauce and enjoy!

PICS of the Cooking Process:

Bi Bim Bap

Yes, it's been since June since the last post! I'll be trying to blog regularly from now on since those first three months of pregnancy are over and the nausea has subsided enough for me to return to the kitchen.

I wanted to post about my favorite Korean dish - Bi Bim Bap. Bi Bim Bap is frequently served in a hot stone bowl, in which case it would be called Dol Sot Bi Bim Bap.

It's an extremely nutritious dish - full of vegetables, with anchovies and egg as protein, served over rice. Most people eat it with a semi-sweet, slightly spicy, red pepper paste.

I'm giving the recipe for our easy home-made version. You will find many variants of this recipe, since Bi Bim Bap can really be made with a variety of vegetables, depending on your preference and what is in your fridge. In that way, it can be economical and a great way to use up raw vegetables while they are still fresh. And since this recipe is so centered around vegetables, they need to be the freshest!

Our basic recipe for two calls for:

3 or 4 carrots, julienned
One package small mushrooms (baby bellas cut into fourths or enoki mushrooms are good choices)
1 package spinach, washed
2 cups jasmine rice
myulchi bokkeum (stir-fried dried anchovies)
Korean red pepper paste
1/2 Cup soy sauce
2 Tbs Sesame oil
2 or 3 Pinches Sesame seeds
One package sliced green onion
2 eggs

For Myulchi Bokkeum (thank you, Maangchi!):
1 cup dried anchovies, 1 tbs olive oi, 1 or 2 tbs sugar, 1/2 tsp minced garlic, 2 tsp water, and 1/2 tbs corn syrup (Optional. We use canola oil instead and it turns out great!). Follow recipe through the link above - it's very easy and delicious.

1. First, put your rice on to steam in your rice cooker or pan.
2. Mix soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds in a small bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of chopped green onion. Set aside.
3. Make myulchi bokkeum, following Maanchi's recipe above.
4. Blanch your vegetables one at a time: carrots, spinach, and mushrooms. (You can also fry your mushrooms for a few minutes in 1 or 2 tbs sesame oil for stronger flavor).
5. Arrange blanched vegetables on a plate along with the extra sliced green onion.
6. Sprinkle some sesame seeds over your mushrooms. Drizzle vegetables with a small amount of sesame oil if you like.
7. Fry two eggs (we use the same pan used for the mushrooms without washing it first).
8. Fill your bowls with rice. Arrange your bi bim bap as desired - the vegetables go on top of the rice, spoon a little of the soy sauce blend over the veggies, and top each bowl with your fried egg. You can either mix your anchovies into the dish or eat them on the side. Add Korean red pepper paste to taste throughout the meal.
Enjoy!