Dinner a la Yotam

As y'all might recall, I purchased my second Yotam Ottolenghi cookbook, Jerusalem, not long ago. It's a joint effort between Yotam and his childhood friend, Sami Tamimi; they grew up in Jerusalem, one in a Jewish family and one in an Arab Muslim one. I've really enjoyed all I've made from this book so far, and, like Plenty, it's beautifully photographed and clearly written. Tonight, I made two dishes I'd flagged several weeks back: chermoula eggplant with bulgur and yogurt, and a kohlrabi salad. I loved(!) both. T found the kohlrabi too bitter which I didn't sense at all. He must have the bitter allele in spades. Mother of god! Anyway, more for me.

Chermoula is a North African paste made of preserved lemon, garlic and some wonderful spices including cumin, coriander and paprika. Here, you put this together, slather it on a halved eggplant and then roast the concoction in a hot oven for about 40 minutes. In the meantime, you whip up a bulgur salad which is specked with chopped green olives, plump raisins, almonds and some herbs. That, Greek yogurt and sumac top the eggplant when it's done = DELISH!

I thought this kohlrabi salad was fabulous and refreshing; it's dressed with a terrific Greek yogurt-sour cream-mascarpone sauce into which you whisk lemon juice and pressed garlic. YUM! 

OMG- I think I made a casserole

Casserole is not one of my favorite words. However, I think it aptly describes our dinner tonight, a summery, yes summery, creation that T said to please make again very soon. My mom used to make a dressing of rice and beef, cooked with onions and garlic, stuff it in green bell peppers, top with homemade buttery croutons and bake. They were a comfort food that I remember being a consistent presence on our dinner table. Tom just can't love green peppers; it's taken 8 years of work to get him to tolerate red, yellow and orange ones if cooked and well mixed into something else. So using them as the serving bowl just would not suffice.

Summer squash is everywhere right now if you haven't noticed. As if it is a healthy, vegetal tsunami, you almost can't get away from its ongoing harvest. But it is at its peak, so crisp and good, just begging to be used in myriad ways. So, OK. I bought a large one, sliced into slim lengthwise strips and used them like lasagna noodles. Interspersed among three layers of them, I put my mixture of brown rice, ground beef, onions, garlic, lemon zest and a blend of Greek yogurt, mint and ground pistachios. I drizzled the whole thing with olive oil, baked and served with the remaining yogurt sauce. Yum and quite light. I'll post the recipe for you!

Zucchini-feta fritters, pomegranate molasses sauce

Tonight I managed to use up the last of this morning's zucchini/squash haul by making these glorious, fabulous, delicious, pretty fritters. Three cups of grated squash plus feta, green onions, feta and lots of dill, parsley and mint. Really, really wonderful. We also plank-grilled some King salmon, and to go on top I whipped up a new blend: Greek yogurt, pomegranate molasses, roasted garlic, pistachios and mint. I am not going to lie- these was good and I'm eating the remainder with a spoon.

The only disappointment was that I made a cocoa pie crust for a French Silk pie, put it in the oven and realized I didn't have enough Tru-Whip (all-natural Cool Whip), went back out to the store to get some, and they were sold out. I had them call two other nearby locations. Sold out. So, I've got a pretty and extremely empty crust. Sigh. Is this some message??