Home-pickled olives

I've recently started liking olives a lot. The problem is that in most delis, here in Brisbane, they're like 20$ a kilo, and that can get a bit pricey. At the farmer's market, I found fresh big green olives for 3.50$/kilo and figured I may as well give home-pickling a go (fresh olives taste horrible). Googling didn't yield much, until I found this cute and wonderful website.I followed the recipe exactly and will post here with updates (it takes ~5months to get it edible), changing the brine every month or so. Wish me luck!
Month 0:
Month 1:
Month 3 (I got lazy):

(I've since found a source for olives for 5$/kilo for black and 8$/kilo for Kalamata).

Creamy Chumus

I'm made hummus before, but it didn't turn out the way I like it: it was good, but didn't have the creaminess of the Israeli chumus that I like so much. My older brother emailed me a recipe for the creamy kind and, while a bit labor-intensive, turned out just how I wanted it.

Prepare:
-Over night, soak 1 cup of dried chickpeas in 4 cups of water and 1tsp baking powder (use a large pot)
-Ready 1/3 cup tahini, 1/2 cup lemon juice (I used the juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime), 3 minced cloves of garlic, 1 tsp coarse salt, 2 tbsp olive oil
-Get out your food processor

Cook:
-Drain water from soaked chickpeas, fill pot back up with 4 cups water and 1/2tsp baking powder - bring to a boil and simmer for about 40 minutes (skimming off some foam from the top), until each chickpea is consistently yellow all the way through (ie they're edible)-Drain (but save water) and cool water and chickpeas down to room temperature and then stick in the freezer for about 30 min (or fridge for 2hrs) until well chilled-Process chickpeas with lemon juice and salt until even and creamy. It should be thick but not too thick. Add 1 or 2 tbsp of the cooking water to thin it out a bit-Add garlic and tahini and process completely
-While processor is still running, drizzle olive oil into it
-Taste and decide how to adjust (add more tahini, lemon juice, salt, garlic, etc)

Tips:
-Well, this turned out how I wanted it. It was a bit plain and so next time I'll go for a garlickier item, or perhaps make it spicy
-Originally, the recipe called for 1/4 cup lemon juice and I added 1/2 by accident and it turned out perfect. Normally I don't like things too sour, too, and I was fine with it
-The recipe called for 1/2 cup tahini but even with 1/3 cup the tahini taste was still quite noticable
-In the recipe, they mention in the stage between lemon juice and tahini to spread chickpeas on a "fine mesh sieve" to get out the peels. I tried with a paper-towel and (obviously) couldn't get anything out, so I just skipped that step and it turned out fine
-My processor was a bit too small for all the stuff, so I separated everything in two and mixed it with half the ingredients, then mixed the stuff back together

Spicy Lentil and Veggie Tomato Soup

This hearty vegetable soup is tasty, filling, and fairly healthy. Takes a bit of time to cook but really isn't that bad for what you get. The extras freeze quite well.

Prepare:
-Chop 1/2 onion, 1/2 zucchini, 1 cup mushrooms, 1/2 a bell pepper, a couple chili peppers,and mince some garlic
-In a saucepan, put 1 cup lentils and enough water to barely cover. Cook covered, on medium-high, for about 10 minutes. Drain and keep
-Ready 1 can peeled tomatoes, as well as 2 cups of stock (or water with stock powder)
-Drain and rinse 1 can of beans (borlotti is good, or canellini)

Cook:
-In a large pot, saute onion, garlic, and pepper in some olive oil on medium heat-After 3 minutes, add zucchini and mushrooms and cook for about 2 more minutes
-Add and crush the tomatoes in the pot and add the stock. Bring to boil, then reduce the heat to simmer
-Simmer for 20 minutes, then add lentils
-Simmer for 10 minutes and then add beans
-Simmer for 5 more minutes and then garnish well with salt, pepper, dried basil and rosemary and serve hot

Tips:
-Fennel, broccoli, and others would go well in this soup
-Cook longer to reduce the volume and thicken up the soup
-Goes great with a simple garlic-bread: Peel one small clove of garlic, toast bread and as soon as it's out of the toaster, rub the raw garlic up and down. Garnish with olive oil and black pepper

Momos: the great return

Well, I'm back after too long of a sojourn from the world of blogging, cooking, and blogging about cooking. My trips and travails were great, rest assured, and I even learned a thing or two to bring back to the site. One of the most special thing to introduce are Momos: the Tibetan/Nepali dumpling. This delicious snack was available all over Nepal with a variety of fillings: chicken, buffalo, veggies, or egg. I present here the recipe for beef momos. To save (a lot) of time, you can buy wonton wrappers from an Asian grocery store to use as the shells. This makes about 50 momos. You can freeze those that you do not eat. I made this beautiful batch with my older brother.

Prepare Filling:
-In a large bowl, mix 1lb ground, lean beef (I also made a batch with turkey, lamb, etc), about 1.5 cups of chopped cabbage, 1 cup chopped carrot, and 1/2 cup chopped onion. I also added 3 diced chili peppers for some kick. Add 1 tbsp each of grated/minced garlic and ginger, as well as 3 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp soy sauce. Add about a tsp of salt, black pepper, and cumin, as well as any other stuff you may have lying around (turmeric, cloves, coriander, fenugreek, ginger powder, etc).-Leave, covered, for 30 minutes to marinate while preparing the wrappers

Prepare Dough:
-In a large bowl, mix about 3 cups flour with 1/2 cup water. Mix together until the flour can be managed as a ball, peeling away from the bowl. Add water/flour until consistency is right.
-On a large floured surface, roll about 1/3 - 1/2 of total flour, until pretty flat (~1/2 cm). Then, using a cookie cutter or a thin-edged glass, wider than a can of soda, cut out circles of dough. Place aside, then take the remaining edges of dough, reball and reflatten it, repeat until all dough is gone.

Prepare Momos:
-Take about a tbsp (maybe a little less) of filling and place it on one half of the dough. Fold dough in half and flatten the edges together (or make in-dents with fingernails) and place them aside.

Cook Momos:
-Steam on a steam tray (making sure there's a bit of space in-between each momo) for about 7 or 8 minutes

Prepare sauce:
-Chop about 1 cup of cilantro, as well as 1 or 2 chilis. Mix with tbsp of olive oil, tbsp (or 2) soy sauce, tsp sesame oil, and a tsp of water. Mix well
-Dip momos in sauce and enjoy!

Tips:
-If you don't have a rolling pin, you can use a clean wine bottle
-For egg filling, hardboiled egg, chopped up, works the best
-You can buy coleslaw mix for the chopped carrot and cabbage and just use that with the meat

Bean and Broccoli Baked Polenta

I got some polenta from an awesome Mediterranean grocery store and whipped up (and modified) a recipe from an Italian cookbook. It was nice, if a bit bland. It is a bit intensive (you cannot stop stirring polenta, really) so make sure you have everything ready ahead of time.

Prepare:
-Ready 3 cups water with 1/2 tsp of salt in a pot
-1 cup of polenta (yellow cornmeal)
-2 tbsp olive oil
-Chop and lightly steam about 1 cup broccoli
-Drain and rinse 1/2 cup cannellini beans
-2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Cook:
-Preheat oven to 400F (205C)
-Bring the pot of water and salt to boil and then reduce to simmer
-Immediately add polenta in a light, slow, constant stream (I put the cup of meal into a glass and then poured from there), mixing it as you add it. Break any lumps that happen to form-Once all the cornmeal has been added, add the olive oil
-Continue to cook, stirring the whole time (a wooden spoon is best), for 20 minutes. Make sure it's medium-low heat (to keep from polenta sticking to bottom of pot)
-Add beans, broccoli, and some cracked black pepper and salt and mix thoroughly-Pour polenta onto a baking dish (I used a loaf pan - it came out thick)
-Sprinkle cheese on top-Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese has brownedTips:
-This was a bit bland - having a tomato or pesto sauce to go with this would be great
-I served this with kangaroo sausage. I think adding sausage directly to it would be nice as well.

Chicken, Potato, and Peppers

Another recipe from the Italian cookbook gifted to me, this simple dish turned out quite tasty. I expanded on the original by adding chili peppers as well as chicken. Without the chicken, it would work well as a side or an appetizer.

Prepare:
-Boil several unpeeled small red potatoes until almost ready, about 10 minutes.-Chop up some chicken, 1 large bell pepper, 1 chicken breast, 1 hot chili pepper and half a red onion, as well as 3 cloves garlic, minced
Cook:
-In a large fry pan/wok sautee chicken and garlic in some olive oil, medium ht
-After about 5 minutes (all sides of chicken should be cooked), add the peppers and onions and let cook for about 8 minutes, covered-Add the potatoes and stir and cook for a couple minutes until the sides of the potatoes start to brown. Salt and pepper to taste, as well as 1 tsp of oregano and rosemary, each. Make sure chicken is cooked through
-Eat

Chocolate and walnut biscotti

I got this recipe from a cute-little Italian cook book I got from my girlfriend's nephew and niece. The book is Italian Light and Easy and has a number of nice recipes, that I have cooked.

Prepare:
-Chop about 1 cup of walnuts, toast for 8 minutes at 350F. Keep oven on for the cookies
-In a bowl, melt 2 oz unsweetened chocolate with 3 tbsp unsalted butter in a microwave (about 1 minute), then let cool
-In a large bowl sift 1 1/4c flour with 1 tsp baking powder-In a different bowl, beat 2 eggs; add 1/2 cup sugar and blend; then add the chocobutter
-Stir the two together, then fold in walnuts
-On a lightly greased cookie sheet, form a roll, about 14 inches long, 3 inches wide, smooth
Cook:
-Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until firm all the way through
-Take out the biscotti roll and cut diagonally, 1/2 inch-wide pieces
-Place pieces on wire frame (I used the wired rack of the oven, cleaned) and back another 15 minutes
-Cool and enjoy

Tips:
-Any nut would work well for this. I think in the future, I'd try pecans or something
-I only had sweetened chocolate, so I used that and reduced the sugar by a tablespoon. The cookies weren't that sweet (though maybe they're not supposed to be) and in the future, I'd keep the sugar the same
-Adding dried cranberries or raisins would only be a plus with these babies!