Food Glorious Food - The Cooking Thread

[chonies]

I was starting to get hungry in the Dear Greecies thread, so I skipped off to Google one of the things tabby mentioned.

Here's a recipe similar to the one I use for Pulla, a cardamom-infused egg bread.
Homer Simpson sounds

If you can stand not to eat the whole thing, let it stale up for a fabulous bread pudding or French toast. Use chai-related aromatics and you will get marriage proposals from people who ought to know better. True story.

[roseland]

For lena:

Ratatouille Latkes:

Ingredients
Makes: 8 latkes
6 ounces eggplant, peeled and shredded on large holes of a box grater (1 cup)
2 medium yellow squash, shredded on large holes of a box grater (2 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup minced red bell pepper
1/3 cup grated onion
1/3 cup chopped basil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
FOR TOMATO-CAPER RELISH:
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
1 1/2 teaspoons nonpareil capers, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
Directions
FOR THE LATKES:
Place the eggplant and squash in a colander set over a bowl to drain. With your fingers, squeeze the eggplant and yellow squash until dry.* Discard any liquid.
Transfer eggplant mixture to a bowl and add the bell pepper, onion, basil, flour, egg, salt, and pepper; toss well to combine.
In a large, heavy skillet heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium. Using a 1/4-cup measure, place 3 to 4 mounds of eggplant mixture in the pan, flattening with a metal spatula to a 1/2-inch thickness. Cook until crisp and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Repeat with remaining mixture, adding additional 2 tablespoons oil for the remaining batches.**

FOR THE TOMATO-CAPER RELISH:
In a medium bowl, stir together tomato, basil, capers, and oil. Serve latkes with tomato relish.

*Okay, the recipe calls for you to squish the squash and eggplant into a colander but I found that it's much easier to spread the mixture onto a towel and roll the towel up and squeeze the mixture until dry. I use a kitchen towel that I don't care about since they can get stained. But then I don't have the best upper body strength so if you're the type to lift weights, stick to the recipe.
**You can preheat your oven to 250 degrees Farenheit and place the finished latkes on a cookie sheet to keep warm until you're finished with all the latkes. This is especially useful if you're doubling the recipe.

[butterfly]

Stop talking about margeritas Yoss!

It's just not fair!

[biondetta]

roseland, that sounds delicious! But then I have an unhealthy love for what I term "small, round foods". I love pancakes, patties, fritters, latkes, balls, polpetti, dumplings and any other variation of foods like this. My birthday dinner the past few years has been a smorgasbord of such dishes. Plus, since they're usually heavy on the veggies, I don't feel so guilty! Well, except for the chicken pieces wrapped in bacon and coated with a honey and mustard mixture. But those are too tasty for me to care.

[margojata]

Ohh, I love latkes (or potato pancakes, as we grew up calling them with my Slovak mom). I started to make them gluten free - you pretty much just replace regular flour with rice flour, or an all purpose GF flour.

I made this sauce for the turkey this year, and everyone loved it. Even my super picky kid and brother-in-law.


2 tablespoons butter
1 jar (18 ounces) apricot jam
1/2 cup amaretto liqueur

Directions

Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add the jam and allow it to melt into the butter. Add the amaretto and blend in. Let simmer for 5 minutes.


I'm not a big turkey fan, so I really enjoyed the sauce.

What does everyone else make for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner? I usually go all Slovak for Christmas Eve with the potato pancakes, stuffed cabbages, pirogies. But I really want to switch it up this year. I'm thinking of oyster stew and fried fish. Any other ideas?

[WitchyPoo]

It was our family tradition growing up to make tamales for Christmas Eve when my grandmother was visting. One meat and one sweet. The savory one has a filling of pork in a red chile while the other is sweetened with crushed pineapple, sugar and cinnamon. With my grandmother now living closer to my mother's I only get to eat them when I visit for the holidays, which is once every two or three years. Two years ago I was able to help make them. It was my grandmother, my mother and myself all in the kitchen taking part in the process. We had to get a stepstool for my grandmother so she could see over the giant stock pot in order to stack the tamales properly for steaming.

I'm thinking about making a small batch this year. Maybe it won't be so daunting if I make a couple of dozen as opposed to the many dozen she makes.

[chonies]

Pineapple? I've only ever had sweet tamales with raisins, which were not to my taste. Do you have a recipe?

[WitchyPoo]

A recipe for just the sweet ones or for the tamale starting with how to prepare the fresh masa? If you have the fresh masa already just add in some crushed pineapple, cinnamon, and enough sugar to make them sweet. Prepare like any other tamale.

[chonies]

I have the masa under control, I was just wondering if you did anything to the pineapple first. Does canned work best?

[Ripley]

TTMR & I spend vary our Christmases: one year with his family in Canada and one year with mine. On the year that we are with my family, I've started doing a tradition where I do hors d'oeuvres on Christmas Eve and light a bunch of candles. There are generally only six adults and I end up making WAY too much food, but the recipes all sound so tasty that I can't resist.