Homemade Falafels

I made homemade falafels for my brother and I the other night. So homemade that we soaked our own chickpeas... enough chickpeas to feed an entire village. What on earth am I going to do with all these fucking chickpeas? Thanks a bunch brochacho. Seriously though. We needed 1 cup. He did an ENTIRE bag. Probably close to 10 cups. No exaggeration. ANYWAY.

I had honestly never had falafel before this (besides a drunk bite of Lindsey's Falafel wrap the other night) so had no idea what to expect or had no ability to judge their authenticity. End result, they were delicious. Authenticity rating from my bro - "shockingly legit". 

Ingredients:

1 cup raw dried chickpeas, soaked overnight

1 cup chopped falt leaf parsley

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

2-3 cloves garlic

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp hot paprika

salt to tase

1 tsp lemon zest + juice of half lemon

1 tbsp olive oil 

sesame seeds to sprinkle on

vegetable oil to deep fry 

Directions:

Soak 1 cup of raw dried chickpeas over night (approximately 12 hours) in plenty of water. The chickpeas will double in size as they soak. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Add to food processor. Peel cloves of garlic and add to processor. Add parsley and cilantro. Add the spices (coriander powder, cumin, pepper, paprika), lemon zest, the lemon juice and olive oil. Pulse the food processor, shaking it to make sure the ingredients are well combined. The texture should still be grainy yet combined. 

Line a baking tray with aluminium foil. Using your hands form the mixture until small balls and line them on the baking tray. It is important to note that the mixture isn't the easiest to shape and falls apart fairly easily! Handle with care. At this point you can lightly sprinkle the falafel balls with sesame seeds. Heat vegetable oil in a deep pan (like a wok). When the oil is nice and hot lower a falafel ball at a time with a slotted spoon into the oil. You can have more than one going at a time. Deep fry until a light golden brown on all sides. 

We served our falafels in pita pockets with lettuce, cucumber, onion, tomato, hummus, tzatiki, and tahini sauce. Next time we will get better pitas because these ones sucked. 

Goan White Fish Curry

I recently went to Curry Twist  for dinner with my friend Val. It was some of the best Indian food I've ever had. One of the dishes she suggested we get was a Goan White Fish Curry dish. As I've said before, I'm not crazy about fish but I'm trying. It was probably the best dish we had that night and that is saying a lot since everything was so good.

The dish inspired me to try making my own Goan White Fish Curry. I found this recipe and it looked easy enough. I'm also very lucky to live in a house with such eclectic spices that I didn't need to go buy any of them!

Ingredients
2 small onions, grated
2-3 long green chilies, deseeded and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 cm piece of fresh ginger - peeled and grated
2-2 /12 tsp each of the following: garam masala ,turmeric, cumin, dried coriander
2-4 cardamon pods, split
2 bay leaves
350 ml coconut milk
1 3/4 cup chopped tomatoes
5 tsp vegetable stock
400-600g (3-5 filets) of white fish, I used tilapia - chopped into chunk (around 1 1/2 inches long)
Juice of 1/2-3/4 lime
2 tbsp fresh coriander
Rice to serve

Directions
Spray a pan with cooking spray or add a little vegetable to the bottom of the pan. On medium heat, add the onions and fry until softened and beginning to color (approx 10 minutes). Stir in the chillies, garlic, ginger, ground spices, cardamon seeds and bay leaves. Cook for approximately 1 minute. Pour in coconut milk, chopped tomatoes, stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer half covered for approximately 5 minutes. Add the fish chunks and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally and being careful not to break the fish. Cook for about 10 minutes until the fish is cooked through. Add in the lime juice.

My brother and I both enjoyed it, however it was no where near as good as the one I had from Curry Twist so I was rather disappointed. My brother had nothing to compare it to and happily took it for lunch the next day!

Baked Zucchini Fries

Well yummy! Both my brother and I were quite surprised at how good these were. They call them the "healthier alternative" to french fries. Now I would never cut french fries out of my diet... because I'm not psycho and I love potatoes. But I would certainly make these again. As my brother went for a second helping of zucchini fries he said quietly to himself  "these make me happy". Serve zucchini fries with marinara sauce. I just heated up a bottle we had in the cupboard because I didn't want to make one.

The chicken was also surprisingly delicious too. Marinated in olive oil, dijon mustard, garlic, s&p, thyme and oregano. Grilled on the grill pan for about 7 minutes aside. Poured white wine in the pan and stuck it in the oven for another 4 minutes. 



Zucchini Fries

3 small zucchini, or 2 large
1 cup panko crumbs
2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning (I just used a mix of basil, thyme and oregano)
salt & pepper
1/4 tbsp garlic powder
¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 425. Line a baking sheet (or two - you want them to be spread out) with aluminum foil. Spray with a little cooking spray (or lightly drizzle with some olive oil). Set aside. Start by cutting your zucchini. Cut off each end. Then cut the zucchini in half and then lengthwise. Set one piece on its end and cut it in half lengthwise. Cut that half in half. Cut that half in half. Stack the planks on top of each other and cut into strips. Basically just make them into french fry shapes. Combine panko crumbs, italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt/pepper and shredded parmesan cheese in a shallow bowl. Whisk the egg together in a shallow bowl and working in batches dip each zucchini strip into the egg and coat well in panko mixture. Set on a the cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 until lightly brown.

They were actually pretty crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Like a real french fry! 

Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken

Turns out fettuccine alfredo is SUPER easy to make. I never new that.

I made this for dinner for my two guy friends and they tend to eat a lot so I made enough for 6 real people (or the three of us). Ross said it was better than Il Fornello (take that Il Fo!) and Will exclaimed "fuck ya bud" (excuse the language) when he took his first bite.

Ingredients:
24 oz dry fettuccine pasta
1 cup of butter
3/4 pint heavy cream (35% whipping cream)
2 clove of garlic
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmasean cheese
salt and pepper to taste
sliced green onions top top

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add fettuccine and cook until al dente. Drain. While the pasta is cooking, in a large saucepan, melt butter. Add crushed garlic. Let the butter and garlic begin to boil. Add in cream. Stir. Add in nutmeg. Stir. Add in cheeses. Stir. The sauce will begin to thicken. Stir. Add salt and pepper to taste.... Stir. Add pasta and guess what... STIR!

Now if you'd like this to be fettuccine alfredo with chicken, this is now where you would add the chicken. We BBQ'd chicken which was marinated in olive oil, garlic, lemon, basil, hot pepper flakes, s&p. Sliced it into bite size pieces.

Top with the sliced green onions. STIR. Just kidding.

Penne with Rainbow Chard and Farmer's Market Sausage

 There is a farmers market by my house that I never have a chance to go to because it finishes before I get home from work. I've been getting off work early this week because I'm covering for someone who is on vacation, so I got to go. My mom and I went down and spent way too much money... but we got some great stuff!!

I saw rainbow chard, which to be honest I've never used before, and got really excited. It was just so pretty and colorful. So we bought it. We also got the most delicious sausages ever. They were pork sausages but according to the vendor they were fashioned after wild boar sausages... whatever that means. But seriously, they were so good. And I will return and get more next chance I get!

Ingredients:

• 250 g rigatoni or you could use penne
• 1/2 bunch of chard, stems removed and leaves sliced
• 3 italian or pork and fennel sausages
• 2 tbsp pine nuts
• olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
• 1/2 wineglass of white wine
• good handful of grated parmesan... lots of it. And more to top 
• small knob of butter
• salt & pepper

Instructions:
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and cook the rigatoni according to instructions.  Reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta water when you drain the pasta to use for the sauce. While the pasta is cooking heat a pan on medium heat and toast the pine nuts until lightly golden.  Take them out of the pan and set aside.  Wipe the pan with a paper towel to clean remnants from pine nuts.

Heat a small splash of olive oil and squeeze the sausage meat out of their skins into the pan and with a wooden spoon break them up into small pieces.  Cook until the sausage meat has browned. Add the oregano, stir for a minute and then add the white wine and cook until half has evaporated.

Add the chard and cook until wilted and then add the pine nuts. The pasta should be done by now.  Drain it and throw it into the pan, stir through sausage and chard.  Add the butter and parmesan.  Stir through and then add a splash of the pasta water and stir through.  This will mix with the parmesan and butter to create a silky sauce.  If you need more moisture just add more of the water.  Taste and season with salt & pepper if necessary.

Serve with extra parmesan to sprinkle over the top