Fish in a flash

Flash frozen fish is a great staple item.  In a pinch you can make a relatively decent meal.  At 6pm last night it occurred to me that I had nothing prepared for my husband and son (my daughter was at a friend's iftar).  Our refrigerator and freezer were pretty bare because I don't like to stockpile food during Ramadan. 

I grabbed the whiting and a bag of peas from the freezer and made a quick pancit with the canton noodles I had in the pantry. 

My friend not so subtly suggested that I make fish or wings and invite her and all of her kids over for an iftar tonight.  I might have went for it but I had already arranged a potential iftar for tonight.  I had convinced my other friend to make samboosa (and of course shorba) because I hadn't had samboosa since last Ramadan. 

I wasn't sure if she was going to make anything else so I thought about what I could bring that would compliment her dishes and suit their tastes.  I made salmon stew.  I knew I couldn't go wrong with fish, onions, and tomatoes.  I even added a teaspoon of bebere for good measure. 

I threw in some frozen chopped spinach and the remaining frozen peas for a hearty simple dish served over yellow grits.  Coincidentally my friend also made fish - fried fillets with rice and green peas.  Our iftar was simple yet filling - of course it's always nice to be in the company of friends. 

A new twist

My friend was somewhat offended when I referred to her pasta dishes as an Eritrean twist on classic Italian.  She insisted that her lasagna and spaghetti were "regular" and I insisted that they were far too savory to pass for Italian. 

We hosted a Girl Scout iftar on Monday and spaghetti was on the menu.  I agreed to make meatballs to make it a bit more hearty but I knew they needed to compliment the flavor of her spaghetti rather than be a typical Italian meatball.  The good thing is that although we would be serving Arabs & Indo-Paks, both cultures are familiar with a form of meatball so I felt confident that people would eat them. 

The kicker is I don't eat meatballs and have never made them but I didn't tell her that because I didn't want her to panic.  I thoroughly enjoyed the meatloaf I made so I essentially used the same recipe, substituting Italian seasonings for the onion soup mix and adding fried onions.  On Sunday my mother and I mixed 26 pounds of freshly ground beef which produced 360 meatballs.  Monday I cooked them on convection roast for about 20 minutes per batch (I checked each tray with a temperature probe to confirm doneness).  While they were cooking I simmered a savory sauce based on her recipe. 

Alhamdulilah, the food was a hit and this will be our new menu for our annual iftar.  What's more, she acknowledged that her sauce was a bit ethnic and we both agreed that worked out just fine for the crowd

As a bonus we were able to feed 80 homeless people the following day with the leftover pasta and fresh salad.  That's what Ramadan is all about!

Gravy

I picked up a pack of chicken thighs from Whole Foods on Tuesday with the intention to make smothered chicken Thursday.  Yesterday my entire afternoon slipped away from me because I was dealing with the vulturism that emerges after someone dies.  It was time to break the fast and I had no iftar.  Fortunately I had skinned and seasoned the chicken earlier in the day so all I had to do was cook it.  My only option was the pressure cooker.

I have never made smothered chicken in a pressure cooker but I figured it couldn't be that bad.  I sauteed the onions, then browned the chicken.  I poured off the oil, put the onions on top the chicken, added some water and a packet of gravy mix I had picked up from Whole Foods.  I let that cook on high pressure for about 6 minutes while I sauteed more onions, made some rice and a bit of gravy from the oil.  I threw some frozen petit brussel sprouts in the microwave and we were eating within 20 minutes. 

My mom was pleasantly surprised.  The gravy was fantastic.  And we topped it off with fresh squeezed lemonade!

Transatlantic fusion

It was finally time to cook the rockfish I picked up from Whole Foods last month.  When I seasoned it this morning I realized that it wasn't as big as I had remembered.  It was 4lbs, essentially the size of 2 whole fish, enough for a typical night's dinner.  I had invited a friend over for iftar and it was possible that my mom would stop by so I needed to figure out a plan to make the food stretch. 

I was tempted to go to the regular market to look for a reasonably priced wild caught fish but I couldn't bring myself to do it.  After my morning walk I went to Whole Foods and there was nothing available at a price point I was willing to pay - other than wild caught shrimp, which I happily bought for suhoor.  I decided that I would go with salt fish and pumpkin as my filler and that's when I realized that winter squash was not yet in season. 

I can't remember where I bought my last pack of baccalao so I headed to the Caribbean grocer and began to panic that it would be some farm raised crap from China.  It was - $3.99 for Atlantic cod from China (I was confused by that) and $6.29 for wild caught cod from Canada.  Of course I went for the wild caught.  I also picked up a kabucha (a starchy pumpkin reminiscent of an acorn squash). 

I did okra, corn muffins, and the salt fish...I cooked the fish on convection roast then sauteed a topping that had influences from my experiences with the Caribbean escabeche and the Malian poisson.  Everything was very good and surprisingly plentiful. 

Homestyle

I'm feeling pretty good about the two most recent meals I prepared.  Friday night I made tandoori chicken (in the convection oven, not a clay pot), rice, and okra. I snazzed up the rice by making it like a pseudo biryani - While I soaked the rice, I sauteed cinnamon sticks, cardamon pods, peppercorns, and black jeera.  I added the rice and a ton of fried onions to the pot, brought to a boil then simmered.  The aroma was awesome, as was the taste.

For the weekend we followed our usual routine of community iftars, but it's nice to be back in the kitchen.  The only problem is that I forgot to take something out of the freezer and this morning I discovered that I only had ground beef and ground turkey.  I was talking to my mom and she suggested meatloaf.  The problem was that I'm not a huge fan of meatloaf and I haven't cooked one in ages. 

I looked online for inspiration and found none.  Then I thought about the "Eritrean lasagna" and went from there.  I mixed the beef and turkey with parsley, thyme, lots of garlic, berbere, onion soup mix, and tomato sauce.  In hindsight I wish I had threw some fried onions in as well.  Towards the end of cooking I brushed it with a glaze that I made from ketchup, worcestershire sauce, chili sauce, and honey. 

We ate the meatloaf with the 5 pounds of mashed potatoes my aunt made and sauteed cabbage & carrots.  Everything was devoured and absolutely delicious.  I think this is one of my new comfort meals.  My mom even suggested that I use the same recipe for meatballs.

Taboo

Food taboos exist in a variety of cultures and religions.  For me, pork has always been a biological taboo because of the parasites it carries that can be transmitted to humans.  However in controlled conditions pigs can be grown with relatively clean meat and if cooked thoroughly parasites can be killed.  But that's the case with lots of meat products in today's factory system - raw and undercooked can mean a brush with death.

So what is clean?  It depends on if you're talking biology or Leviticus.  It is clear that many of the dietary laws in Leviticus 11, make a lot of biological sense, particularly for the period. 

I have been asked a million times why I eat "shellfish" - the assumption being that they are scavengers and many correlate them to undesirable insects.  I'm no biologist but I do have a basic knowledge of scientific classification, and while mollusks are distantly related to snails and slugs, and crustaceans are distantly related to insects and arachnids - they are not the same.  In fact, they only have the phylum in common and follow a different trajectory down two ranks to order.  Not to mention that attempting to apply terrestrial rationale to marine animals can be tricky.

The biggest issue is that people overgeneralize and apply terms such as scavenger loosely without understanding the organism's role in an ecosystem and what they are scavenging.  I love the flesh of filter feeders such as oysters, mussels, clams, and scallops.  I also don't mind squid, which falls into a different class of mollusk.  My concern is their ecosystem because whether or not you have fins or scales, if you're swimming in a filthy habitat then you're certainly not clean.

Comeback?

Tonight I made a pan of baked penne and topped if off with some matcha ice cream that was more like a green tea frappuccino because I didn't have time to let it ripen in the freezer.  My husband proclaimed that I'm back. I'm not sure if he means back from bereavement or back from the 7-10 year LG hiatus.

Lately I've been thinking about resurrecting Lazeez Goodeez.  I've been inspired by my cousin who is opening up a cupcake shop on Roosevelt Blvd and an acquaintance who has launched a website to sell her pound cake.  Sometimes you just have to go for it. 

This fall I will be relatively underemployed so I might as well give it a shot - carrot cakes, apple dabbles, and perhaps chocolate chip cookies. 

Reimagined

I had no choice but to snap out of the rut I've been in since my dad died.  After 16 hours of fasting, it's nice to have an enjoyable meal for iftar.  We're on a tight budget so I needed to work within the framework of what was available in the fridge. 

I thought about making a gravy for the chicken my mom had roasted, or even some sort of soup.  I already have turkey salad that I made last Thursday so I wanted to do something a little less mundane.  Stir fry seemed like a good solution.

I knew I wasn't ready to do a whole bunch of prep so I went to TJ's and bought shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, and peeled garlic.  My plan was to make a quick version of pad kee mao as I had rice flakes in the pantry.

I was able to recover 4 cups of chicken from the carcass.  I cut up an onion and the equivalent of two heads of garlic, then began soaking the noodles as directed.  I mixed up a surprisingly nice sauce (fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, lemon) then heated up the chili oil in the skillet.  I felt a bit exhilarated as I began to cough from the heat. 

I got a little nervous that the 8 ounce package of noodles wasn't going to be enough so I also boiled some capellini for good measure. 

I turned up the flame and quickly tossed in the onions and garlic, then the veggies.  I pushed the veggies to the side and poured in the sauce, I let it smoke then stir fried the noodles, creating two seperate dishes.  We thoroughly enjoyed it and my husband declared it as one of his new favorites. 

Lasagna with love

After my father's memorial gathering on Thursday, my sister commented that I have really good friends.  She's absolutely right.  Two of them were on their feet for the entire gathering and the Muslims came to support me despite their fasts.  I can't thank them enough.  My Eritrean friend really stands out.  She is more like her mother than she realizes.  Since my dad died last Thursday she has been desperately trying to do something to help me.  Something, anything to help.  I told her that she could best help me by taking care of her 6 kids, especially because one of her twins is sick.

Because I wasn't fasting earlier in the week, she invited me over for beef zigni for lunch.  That the first sign that she was becoming Abay.  The meat and onions were cut up small and we ate together - eating together is a big deal to Abay.  When I left, I told her that she could relax now that she had finally did something. 

She asked about the menu as if she was going to try to cook something.  First of all, she has too many small children to pull something like that off.  Secondly, it was a menu based on my Thanksgiving favorites, which is outside of her expertise.  Her flagship dish is lasagna and of course zigni.

Thursday night she said that she would make lasagna for us for Friday.  I thought that was an admirable gesture but considering that her baby had an appointment, I didn't think it would come to fruition.  When she called Friday saying that she would have the lasagna ready by 630 I was shocked.  My husband was excited because I have barely cooked anything this week.

I've seen her lasagna many times but I never ate any because it doesn't really look like lasagna because it's dark and very saucy.  I knew it had to be good because the Italians colonized Eritrea and it's her flagship dish.  I put the lasagna in the oven for 40 minutes as instructed and the aroma filled house, letting us know that people still live here. 

We ate it with string beans and it was absolutely delicious.  It doesn't taste like traditional lasagna...my husband called it African lasagna...but you could taste the love she was trying to send my way.  The next time I make lasagna, I'm going to use her recipe - the spices & the love.