Sunday, July 17, 2016

It Ain't Over til the Fat Elf Sings

Once again, a week has gone by and we are happy to be before you again!! It’s been a busy week in the KEK (Kinky Ellery Kitchen), so without further ado, ‘let’s git all up in it’ (thanks Jill Conner Brown for sharing that phrase).
********************
This week’s recipe from Susan Voisin’s FatFree Vegan was one of the remaining Elfy Award Winners for best recipes from 2015, Eggplant and Chickpea Curry.
This is the recipe that made Big Solid a semi-believer in eggplant—meaning that he WILL eat this recipe whereas any other mention of eggplant is usually met with an expletive. Curry is not everyone’s cup of tea but we love it and every type of Indian cuisine.
We got our ‘mis en place’ with most of the ingredients. 

For those of you who don’t know what ‘mis en place’ means, it’s French for ‘getting your ingredients all present and accounted for’, although that’s not a literal translation. And, it’s one of the most important thing Your Elf has learned from Skye Michael Conroy (aka The Gentle Chef). You know how you watch cookin’ shows and the chef/cook/baker always has everything ready to put together. They never have to drop everything and run to the store or frantically search the pantry for a can of something that was THOUGHT to be there but wasn’t! It really works, folks.
Next up, we sautéed our onion 

Until it was turning brown 

Then added the diced peppers (we had some orange and red, so used that, Really pretty! 

Following that, the eggplant and chickpeas.
And here’s where our picture takin’ went off the rails…we got so involved with getting everything done and served, we plumb forgot to take any more pictures and we’re really sorry about that. HOWEVER, we reached back and found a picture when we first made this, so here you go. The look really hasn’t changed that much! 

This is a delicious dish if you like spicy and Indian! If you don’t, you’re missing out on a great dish and some great food!
So that brings us to our LAST Elfy winning recipe to be recreated…Creamy Vegan Broccoli and Rice Casserole. http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2011/11/creamy-vegan-broccoli-and-rice-casserole.html 
We remember preparing this for our Thanksgiving feast at the Dees and how good it was. AND, it will give us a chance to try out our new RICE purchase that you’ll read about in a bit.
********************
Saturdays are great days for The Elf because we always go to the Farmer’s Market. It’s an opportunity to see what great produce is available, to see old friends and to make new ones. Today, we not only took advantage of the produce selection with some great heirloom and beefsteak tomatoes from Two Dog Farms and Salad Days, but also to see a couple of old friends. THEN, we made a couple of NEW friends who were on hand to display a product that we’ve not seen at the Market before…MISSISSIPPI BLUE RICE!
 We met Marshall (pictured) and Lawrence who told us about their product. No pesticides/fungicides or bad stuffs.
So, we bought some and will give it a go. In fact, stay tuned for a feature on MISSISSIPPI BLUE RICE in the very near future in our developing Explorin’ with the Elf project. 

An update on Lauren Rhoads (Sweet and Sauer Fermented foods)…she is now settled in her new commercial kitchen where she shares space with Camille Peeples amazing FEAST! Foods. 
We saw Lauren yesterday and she’s so excited to be in a kitchen with space to prepare her delicious fermented foods in bulk and begin to sell to stores.. WAY TO GO LAUREN!!
********************
That puts us at the end of the road for this week’s blog and once again, we’ve encountered the face of evil in the world with the horrific events in France. We remember the people who were killed and the people of France with a recommitment to be the best we can be, to do good whenever possible and never miss an opportunity to be kind. So, we’ll leave you with that this week and look forward to another chance to be with you next Sunday. Eat Plants, Laugh, and DO EPIC.
Your Elf

No comments:

Post a Comment