At long last we have not seen any good rain since March, it has been raining on and off for 2 days now and myself and my plants love it.
Ofcourse Angelinos have no idea how to drive in the rain so there have been 4 times more than normal, traffic accidents since Thursday!
I love weather like this, it reminds me of Fall-Winter in Ibiza,( in the early 1980's) Spain. Then most of the tourist hotels were closed for the season, and the beaches & towns were quiet. It was a great time for islanders to entertain friends in their homes, scattered around the small island.
Most of my friends then, were imported Europeans like myself, but from, Germany, Holland, France and Italy, & dinner parties were Pot Luck.
As not everyone had access to a telephone,( these were the times before the cell phone and for a long time the roads where not paved) so the party plan was pinned to a notice board in the local bar, usually a month ahead, as some people didn't come back into town for weeks. People just showed up with their own made dishes to feed 6.
There was always lots of food, the majority of which was vegetarian, ..(a lot of the people there were from the Hippy hey days of Ibiza, others were actors, writers, film directors, and musicians, who looked upon the island as their second home). Most people had no fridges ( a lot of the house conversions had no electricity) and lived high on the island's foothills in old converted farm houses, so everything was bought fresh from the local markets that day.
Some foods would be cooked at the party house, vegetables grilled on an outside barbeque, a lot of vegetables came from the guests own gardens, and home made pickles and chutneys, and lots of local red wine.
Fabulously fresh food cooked and served in a very relaxed atmosphere in very old stone houses that dated back to the Moor's invasions of the island.
Wood fires filling the whole house with the smell of almond wood.
Fresh wild flowers in glass jars through out the house, before the cold winter blasts came across the island..it never snowed but it did get cold.
Ibiza is closer to north Africa than Spain.
Music was provided by spontaneous instrument playing & singing or if it were a record, would be powered by a gas powered generator.
Simpler times for wonderful people
A popular dish then was whole wheat pancakes with a "cheese/tomato" vegetable filling sometimes this would be baked like cannelloni.
I am doing something very similar for Monday's menu, I am using steamed ( own grown organic) tender broccoli leaves with lebni cheese, white wine garlic, chopped yams, onion and fresh thyme, with buckwheat crepes..these are filled at the clients home and topped with crumbled feta cheese
then baked in a hot oven for about 25mins, until heated through. They are very delicious.
Also polenta made with cornmeal, Parmesan cheese, sweetcorn and onion; served with a Putanesca sauce, tomato based but I am adding eggplant (again own grown).
Sauteed and served with warm sauce at the client's home.
I am making a carrot and tomato bisque..very deep flavors and chunky, great for cooler nights.
Also a light, Moroccan inspired butternut squash and zucchini stew, with hints of cumin and cinnamon, served with steamed millet.
The desserts all are variations ( also termed experiments)
a Sweet potato pie but I am going to use baked yams instead, it should result in a very good, orange colored pie, similar to pumpkin. With the same Amish recipe, oatmeal-wholewheat pastry. (I am making another 6 yam pies and a coconut custard pie on Tuesday to deliver to friend's in the Mojave Desert on Wednesday for the American traditional Thanksgiving on Thursday)..the results from this experiment are fantastic
And Butterscotch chip-raw cashew oatmeal all butter cookies, I had something similar without oatmeal and wanted to try this combination.
It is all good feasting for the cooler weather, although as I said it is still in the mid 60-70f's during the day, the rain seems to make it warmer.
 |
| Baked yams for the dessert pies |
 |
| Rain drops on own grown organic broccoli & peach Palace roses |
 |
| Rain on dwarf eggplants |
 |
| Chopped, own grown broccoli greens for the crepes |
 |
| the fabulous yam, white wine, broccoli greens and lebni cheese filling for the crepes |
 |
| The base for the crepe filling |
 |
| stacking the whole wheat & oatmeal pie crusts |
 |
| The tomato & carrot bisque finished with olive oil & torn basil leaves |
 |
| the butternut & zucchini squash stew |
 |
| side view of the Butternut Squash and Zucchini stew |
 |
| The tomato-carrot bisque side view |
 |
| own grown organic dwarf Ivory eggplants |
 |
| The pie crusts rest them for 3 hours before filling |
 |
| The sweetcorn, cheese polenta to be cut into wedges tomorrow & sauteed at clients home.Made with onions, white wine and large grain corn polenta |
 |
| Butterscotch chip and cashew oatmeal cookies |
 |
| Side view of eggplant polenta sauce |
 | |||
| previous 4 shots..the crepe batter, mix the whole milk, eggs, flours (organic whole wheat and buckwheat) salt, melted butter (this is a must to ensure non-stick and tenderness of crepe).Then allow it to rest for 6 hours or overnight. Check thickness of batter, adding water to dilute it to thickness of pouring cream. The pans have to be, oiled & smoking hot. Cool on clean kitchen towels, NOT paper towels. |
 | |
| Previous 3, the Yam (Sweet Potato) pies..fabulous. Bake in middle of oven for 10 mins at 400f then turn oven down to 350f and bake for 30 mins ( the middle should jiggle and will set up as they cool). If there is no jiggle the pie filling is over cooked and will split when cooling, does not affect the flavor, just appearance. |
No comments:
Post a Comment