No Seafood, Slabs of Meat or Curry

Friday evening I had two friends over to celebrate a birthday (yes another one). Jules and I missed Francesca's celebration the week prior because neither of us were able to take the out of town trip where the celebration occurred. So I began searching for recipes in my vast collection of cookbooks. I have an absolutely horrible weekness for cookbooks. They can be so visually beautiful. And they are such a wonderful escape when I am bored or lacking in culinary enthusiasm. I digress. Jules doesn't care for seafood and Fran doesn't care much for slabs of meat. She can deal with small chunks but no steak etc. Of course I read that as no chops, tenderloin, and any other thing that came to mind to prepare on the grill. I finally came up with chicken. That's simple. Everyone likes chicken. So, once again I turn to Nigel for inspiration. I took a whole chicken, split it down the backbone and flattened it out so that it would cook properly on the grill. Then I marinated it with olive oil, fresh garlic, diced red chilis and the joice of one lemon. It smelled divine. I covered that and put it aside for sit for and hour or two. Once that was done I quickly put together fresh thyme, garlic butter to be added right before placing on the grill and right after taking it off. Thank goodness I could use more of the fresh thyme bought for my braised lamb shanks. Hence my ingredient of the month.

For sides I decided to be a bit adventurous for those two. It's so funny how we can all limit our exerience of things simply because we are afraid to try something previously untried. Well, in my book, that is what makes us grow and makes our world so much bigger. Food helps me understand other cultures and makes me feel more connected to other human beings on a global level. We all have to eat. And each culture has their own unique way of preparing a dish that nourishes and unites their friends and family. For so many it is a social event. A time to reconnect and share time together. That is something it seems our culture has lost. Oops, the anthropologist in me is coming out again. So I thought just a mild introduction to something new, especially something rather tame, would be a good thing. I discovered at the market that day that there were fresh fava beans. Now, I have to admit that I have never prepared fresh fava beans. But I was intrigued and wanted to try them and I really don't consider fava beans too terribly exotic, being a bean and all. Beans seem non-threatening. After a short search, I found a recipe with fava beans as the main ingredient. The dish was quite interesting, in a good way. After shucking (?) the beans, they were cooked with ground cumin, ground ginger and fresh garlic. Then I added some marinated artichokes from a middle eastern grocer. This is where I took liberty with the recipe. It actually called for artichoke bottoms (non-marinated). But I liked the tang that the marinated ones added to the dish. And that way it could be eaten hot or cold. Once that was all cooked I added strips of preserved lemon peel. I have a recipe for preserved lemon that I will share soon if I can figure out exactly where to post it. Then, you are supposed to add green olives but that was another no-no for one of them. I do have left overs however, and I will add those green olives today.

Some people believe that you always need a starch to make a meal complete. I really don't adhere to that but on this occasion I thought I would add one. Coucous...easy...also not too terribly scary. Yes, perfect. we seemed to have had a bit of a middle eastern theme going anyway. So I cooked the couscous in chicken broth to give it a little flavor and while I was waiting the 3 minutes for that to cook I soaked some golden raisins in hot water. I wanter them to be pump and moist before I added them in. Now I was going to be really sneaky. Of course the two of them were hanging our in the kitchen with me chatting so I had to be a little careful. But lebanese wine (see wine list) was flowing freely for the girls and Jules was enjoying his third Fat Tire. A piece of cake. I ever so smoothly added the raisins, slivered almonds, a bit of cumin and dare I say it, curry powder. Just a pinch (or two). Jules did look over at one point after the secret ingredients were added and said "what kind of sticky grits like food are you making over there?". Now, I was not insulted, the statement was not meant to be an insult. My couscous is never sticky. How would that be possible. It's a simple formula to follow. No, it was just foreign to him and grits was the only food he could relate it to. But you know, he ended up eating it when we all finally sat down to dinner. And no one compained about the fava beans either though I must admit I really wasn't paying attention. I must ask both of them if they actually ate any. I'm sure at least one bite was taken for fear of hurting my feelings.

And one more nibble I didn't mention was grilled haloumi. It is sort of like a middle eastern version of provalone. quite interesting grilled. It holds together for the most part and gets a little gooey. Just enough. I seved it with flat bread as an appetizer. Sort like a quesadilla. Next time i think I will marinated the cheese a bit to give it a little more flavor and perhaps add a sprinkle of cayenne or hot paprika to give it a little punch. It would be really good on a panini as well. The meal ended with a strawberry/blackberry trifle. I really wanted to do something different but it's August...so hot. And I haven't played around with the ice cream attachment on my KitchenAid mixer. sometimes it takes me a while to bite the bullet and read a manual. I just hate those things. Always written in the most confusing way possible. Who writes those things?

All in all it was a lovely evening. We had a chance to celebrate a birthday and spend a few hours catching up. And we even got to add a new experience in the process.

I leave you with a thought for the day. I have Francesca" grandfather to thank for this one. He is a very wise man.
"One of the measures of a person's character is that they are nice to people they don't have to be nice to"