Genius kale salad, lemony lentils and zucchini dip
Hello, friends.
The past week has been a bit of a blur, and I know I ate multiple times a day but somehow I can't remember it all. There has been a very simple tomato soup with slices of Sourdough English Muffin Bread, and there was an epic Szechuan cauliflower recipe that was kind of meh, especially with the amount of work involved, and this crispy baked tofu, which was fine. A sourdough discard chocolate cake that was good but not so good I think you should all make it.
What you should make, though, if you have the ingredients, is the blender hot chocolate I shared last week. Turns out I was right on target with my prediction – it was snowing (!) and I was cold on Friday afternoon and I made it and it made things better.
Genius Kale Salad
One cookbook I keep going back to is Food52's Genius Recipes, source of last week's green beans and this week's salad. Conveniently, it's online, blogged by Heidi Swanson at 101 Cookbooks, who made a spring version using asparagus instead of butternut squash. (I still had butternut squash here in this perpetual winter.)
I found the simple dressing rather tart, or maybe I'm just a sugar addict, but I added a drizzle of maple syrup like I usually do in my kale salads.
Lemony Lentils
Megan recommends this Bon Appétit take on mujadara, a Middle Eastern dish of lentils, rice and onions. She says: "This has been a real pandemic staple in my house. Simple, comfort food, and you can eat it with anything and everything for a week. The onions require patience, and I skipped the fried shallots last time with no real loss."
Obviously I wasn't paying enough attention to what she wrote because I was waiting until my shallots arrived before making this. They are here! And this is now on my list for this week.
Courgettes
They sound so much prettier in British, and become the super cute "courgetti" when you turn them into noodles. In any case, I was accumulating them, so I made this delicious dip from Anna Jones. Interestingly, I enjoyed it best on top of a simple quesadilla, but it's also good with crackers or bread. (Note that I used quite a bit less olive oil than the recipe calls for, so do it to taste if you're rationing your oil.)
My aleppo chili comes from The Spice Trader, who are shipping if you're in need of good spices, and I also like it with hummus or baba ghanouj.
Crumpets update
I am still making crumpets. Seriously, if you have a sourdough starter going, this is the easiest thing you can make with your discard. It literally takes minutes. (If you aren't doing sourdough and happen to have yeast, here is an alternative recipe.)
I don't have English muffin rings (yet! they are on order), so I've been experimenting with different things and honestly, the best and easiest solution is to just make a big skillet crumpet. My small carbon steel skillet fits a half recipe of batter perfectly and is just right for my breakfast.
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