Here is another “Superbowl Weekend” food adventure: Hot Wings! Did you know that Americans eat 1.6 BILLION chicken wings on average, on Superbowl weekend? Crazy, right? These are with a homemade Berbere paste, which is an Ethiopian spice. Plus roasted peppers, onions, garlic and other spices. The wing sauce from that has a little bit of honey in it, so while they are spicy, they aren’t “blow your head off” spicy. The paste can also be used for meats (beef, pork, chicken or even fish) or a little bit could be put in a vinaigrette. Pleased with the result!
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Sides
Sauce”. I like to experiment with different sauces and chutneys to accompany the big turkey on the day. This year, I made the chutney variation a little earlier than usual, while I still had time. So here you go: Cranberry Black Currant Apple and Ginger Chutney. It’s very hearty and a little different than your standard “out of the can” or “recipe on the back of the cranberry bag” but I think that it is really lovely.
Cooler weather (though really, it has still been summery) makes me want to bake more bread. Most of the time, when I want a multigrain, I go to my standard Dakota bread, but I wanted to see if I could make a decent No Knead, bake in a Dutch Oven style. This didn’t disappoint. I happen to have some King Arthur Artisan Bread Topping, but you can also mix your own with a combo of seeds (sesame, sunflower, poppy, even pumpkin) or mix in some flax or even oatmeal. Turned out really nice for a first attempt. While it does look dense, it is actually lovely and light on the inside.
Have I ever told you about my complete and utter infatuation with the Dill Pickle? The Gherkin. The traditional accompaniment to the American burger. I have never met a combination of Vinegar, Dill and the standard ol’ cucumber that I didn’t love. Put them together and I am in heaven.
This infatuation has roots literally to the first years that I was on this plant (or any other planet, as far as I know). As my mum will tell you, I abhorred baby food. Anything mushing and unidentifiable, I wasn’t going to eat. No mushy carrots, no porridge, no yogurt. Blech. So there I was, one day at that age when one is just learning to speak and I was being a fussy little one, sitting in a high chair and pointing at the table. The family tried everything: does the want a piece of bread? Perhaps some of the soup that my sister was eating? Anything, anything? Finally, in my infant rage, I skipped the whole Mama and Papa as my first word and yelled “GURKE!” (the German word for pickle, think like gherkin). And yes indeed, I wanted a dill pickle. To this day, I have to pace myself from eating entire jars in one sitting. Yeah, I’m weird like that.
And while I have my favorite store bought ones, I also make my own. This is my basic recipe (though I make some spicier ones too). These Refrigerator Dill Pickles can be used for whole mini-cukes, spears, stackers and slices…. add a little bit of onion and it makes a great relish too. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a fridge full of deliciousness.
Ahh, summertime when veggies are fresh and you really don’t want to eat hot food anyway, right? Right. So I made this lovely Lemon-Dill Salmon Pasta Salad with Cucumbers and Peas for lunch. Made it up on the fly as I had salmon for dinner last night. In the end, it turned out to be more “northern” influenced… these flavours remind me of Scandinavia, though I doubt this would be authentically Swedish or Norwegian. At any rate, it *is* delicious. I have plenty of leftovers so it may turn into dinner as well as lunch.