Finally - Weather for Baked Pasta & Clafouti

Blame it on Hurricane Isaac, but we're finally getting some cool rainy (make that torrential rain) days, perfect for actually being able to use the oven.  And between my love of Pinterest, the ultimate place to store all those great recipes you come across via the web, and my new eCookbook Laurent Gras - My Provence (which I wrote about here)  I decided to whip up some quick-to-prepare and totally delicious dishes.

A Great Broken Telephone Chickpea Salad

Remember that childhood game of Broken Telephone that ended in hilarious messages so distorted and removed from the original? Well, this dish turns Broken Telephone to a much lovelier (not to mention more delicious) game.

I saw this mouth-watering Curried Chickpea Salad on Kalyn's Kitchen. She got it from her brother who saw it in the LA Times from some restaurant in LA that sounds like a great place to visit. Naturally Kalyn had to put her spin on the recipe ... and naturally, not able to leave well enough alone, I decided to do my own little twist, using Aleppo 7 Spice Blend from Epices de Cru, adding garlic, using avocado oil... you know how it goes once you start adding things to a recipe, it becomes something quite different from the original.

Aleppo Spiced Chickpea Salad

This one doesn't stray too far afield from the original, but it did get me thinking.... what are your favorite ways to make a dish your own?

A Whole New Perspective on Curry

Truth...I'm embarrased to say, the first time I ever tasted curry was in London, England when I travelled there for the first time at the ripe old age of twenty one. Somehow, it never made it into my mother's repertoire and even when I was boss of my own kitchen, I didn't make it very often.

My take...curry = Indian; the more Southern the hotter the dish; lots of work to prepare (of course it is when you make a giant feast and invite the world), so best eaten out.

Gradually my horizons expanded (through restaurants at first) Pad Thai, Singapore Noodles, Jamaican goat curry roti,...plus now you find curry dishes on just about every menu of every restaurant.

That said, I'm still learning and the latest in my treasure trove of cookbooks is Curry Cuisine which does an awesome job of explaining which countries cook which curries, what spices each uses and tons of other interesting info (like Japan first started cooking with curry through their British connections in the mid 19th Century. Check out my review for the whole scoop.

And, how uninformed of me to lump "curry" with India...Northern India and its many regions, Southern India and Pakistan are all so varied in their use of spices and cooking methods, not to mention Vietnam, Laos, Caribbean....

I tried this Pakistani Lamb & Tomato Curry, expecting lots of heat and was pleasantly surprised with its mild and mellow flavors.
I served it with another Pakistani dish - Chickpea & Rice Pilau, thinking I'd need it to counter the anticipated HEAT. It was gloriously aromatic and quite a lovely combination. Now I have to choose my next cultural curry...I wonder where I'll end up?

What's you latest food fixation? And which book explains it best?

A Lazy Sunday and Simple Bites

Even though the sun is shining and it's balmy (at least for Halifax - 14C or 57F), we'll probably be staying in. The short outing yesterday had me pooped, so I think another day of blobbing (at least I've progressed to actually getting dressed) is in order. And lucky me that yesterday I made a new tasty dip from a new and delightful cookbook called Small Bites. I've written about it and have a ton of pages bookmarked, but feeling under the weather, this dip sounded perfect...and it was!

I love hummus and have a couple of versions I could make in my sleep, but I wanted something different and boy...this was it in spades! Still has the chickpeas, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic, but then some other magical ingredients come into play and it's a whole different story.

Chickpea & Pomegranate Dip

Seriously... so good that I have to whip up another batch today and too bad I don't have any chicken wings or ribs around because there are definitely a couple of things I could whip up in 5 minutes and let the oven do the rest!

What's your favorite "munch in front of the TV" snack that's simple to put together? I need a plan.