Chaat Masala Potatoes with Yogurt and Tamarind recipe and cookbook review: Ottolenghi: Flavor

#Ottolenghi @Ottolenghi #OttolenghiFlavor #TenSpeedPress @TenSpeedPress

Ottolenghi: Flavor is the third book in Ottolenghi’s vegetarian series: Plenty, Plenty More, and Flavor. This is a gorgeous book filled with more delectable love poems to produce. Yes! If you adore or want to adore produce, you need this! All the dishes we tried were wonderfully complex, balanced, and filled with flavor. While quite a few of the dishes are an hour or two from start to finish, most of it is just an exercise in patience. Do this 5 minute step and come back in an hour to finish everything off. It is all worth it!

I’ll tell you all about all the dishes we tried in a minute. But first, let me share his recipe for Chaat Masala Potatoes with Yogurt and Tamarind with you. Don’t be fooled by their appearance. Two out of four of us think this is the yummiest in the book so far. The cumin, chiles and tamarind give this an amazing flavor. And his dual handling of the potatoes, first boiling, then roasting, gives them a perfectly pillowy interior and a crisp exterior. Perfection. A huge thank you to Ten Speed Press for letting me share them with you! I’ve added links at the bottom to all his books. The holidays are coming up, and these are the ultimate gift for any produce lover that wants to flex a little kitchen muscle. Prepare to crave what you’re supposed to eat!

The recipe calls for nigella seeds. Sometimes they’re called black cumin. If you’re a Penzey’s-head, they sell it as charnushka.

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Jen’s Sweet Goat Cheese Apricots

Need a fabulous and easy party appetizer? Or an Apri-tizer? I’ve got you! Turkish apricots are one of my favorite things.

Jon Bonnell has a restaurant in Ft. Worth called Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine, and it is outstanding. Everything. My husband and I have gone for many anniversaries and finally went there for a Christmas week outing with our girls last year. One is the appetizers is Texas Bruschetta – chips instead of bread, of course. It arrives with 4 small things to try, like Texas tapas – Savory herbal goat cheese, avocado and pecan relish (like guac), salsa, and caramelized sweet Texas onions. I’ve been playing with goat cheese dips ever since that first time. Here’s the result.

Fig Cake with Dried Cherries recipe and cookbook review: The Forest Feast Mediterranean

#ErinGleeson @ErinGleeson #TheForestFeastMediterranean @TheForestFeastMediterranean #TheForstFeast #AbramsBooks @AbramsBooks

My dog eats earbuds. I put between 5 and 15 miles on my sneakers every day, and love listening to audiobooks while I’m out there on the trail. I keep leaving those earbuds on my desk, and find them fully munched when I go to grab them, so I’m usually trapped in my own head. When my mind wanders, it’s usually food-related. One day, my fantasy tv show popped into my head. The host would travel the world, and visit people’s gardens, and then follow them into the kitchen to see what they do with their produce. No 3 different dish segment. Nope. Just a slow paced visit with a lot of vegetables, chatting, and coffee. Or tea if that’s your thing. Sounds flippin’ wonderful, doesn’t it? I found that in book form! Well, at least the Mediterranean. She’ll have to work on the rest of the world later.

Jen’s Pina Colada Coconut Pancakes. Healthy, Deeeeelicious, and Vegetarian.

Oh brunch! How I love you! A few years ago, we spent a few days in Denver on the way to Yellowstone. What a cool city! If you go, the art museum there is absolutely amazing. Definitely in my top 5 art museums ever. There’s a breakfast place there called Snooze. http://snoozeeatery.com/ You have to wait to get in, but it’s oh so worth it! Mmmm. Sweet potato buttermilk pancakes topped with homemade caramel, candied pecans and ginger butter. Buttermilk pancakes with caramelized pineapple chunks, housemade vanilla crème anglaise and cinnamon butter. I LOVE those pineapple upside down pancakes!

I started playing with that idea in my kitchen trying to bring a little vacation home. I added dollops of crushed pineapple and a sprinkle of sugar to each pancake before flipping it, and it caramelized so nicely. Delish. Then it hit me! Coconut flour is healthier than regular flour and it’s banging the same tropical vibe. And coconut milk makes everything more decadent even though it’s good for you. Oh baby! The wheels were spinnin’! Coconut flour and almond flour pancakes love to stick to the pan, so you need to make them smaller. And that would make adding a little dollup and sprinkle to each fussy. Hmmm. In Maricel Presilla’s Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America, she makes the most cravable caramelized pineapple, avocado, and red onion salad. (She has a killer restaurant in Hoboken, New Jersey, right through the Lincoln Tunnel from Manhattan, called Cucharamama, and you must go if you’re ever near there. She’s a culinary genius and food history nerd extraordinaire!) The pineapple is caramelized under the broiler, just getting turned once. Perfect technique for this!

They’re healthier this way, but they’re yummier, too! It tastes like an island vacation. It’s a little plate of sunshine. Delicious, delicious sunshine.

It’s a weekend, so let’s set the kitchen mood! Put on a Marley’s Legend or turn your XM to 42 for the reggae channel. Prefer a little Cuban music? Albita’s No Se Parece A Nada wonderful. Or a little Jazz or Blues is always brunch appropriate. Or crank Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All (Remastered). You do you. Open the windows. But brunch is really at its yummiest on the porch. Truth.

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Beatiful Mess’ recipe for Zoodles and Noodles Teriyaki Stir-Fry and Cookbook Review: A Beautiful Mess Weekday Weekend by Emma Chapman and Elsie Larson

Looking for a little healthy vegetarian fare to balance out the upcoming holidays? A Beautiful Mess Weekday Weekend: How to live a healthy veggie life . . . and still eat treats is delicious, nutrition-packed, easy, pretty, and it’s in the category I lovingly refer to as butt-reducers.

A big thanks to Chronicle Books for letting me share the recipe for Zoodle and Noodles Teriyaki Stir Fry with you so that you can taste the book. Yum!

My review with my pics and thoughts on the dishes I tried is below the recipe.