One last wrap - for now: Green Olive Hummus Wraps

Green Olive Hummus Wraps
Delicious Wraps Copyright 2007

4 10-inch wraps
4 cherry tomatoes, halved I used grape tomatoes
½ cucumber, seeded and quartered
2 oz baby spinach leaves I used Romaine lettuce
7 oz canned chickpeas, drained
1 garlic clove, crushed
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil I used canola oil
1 tsp tahini
1 tsp lemon juice
2 oz pitted green olives, chopped I used pimiento stuffed olives
A small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, shredded I omitted this
Salt and pepper

To make the hummus place the chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, tahini and lemon juice in a food processor and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste, transfer to a bowl and mix in the olives and parsley.

Preheat a nonstick skillet or broiler pan until almost smoking , add the wraps, 1 at a time, and cook for 10 seconds on each side. This will add some color and soften the wraps. I don't find this step necessary.

Spread some hummus over each wrap and divide the tomatoes, cucumber and spinach among them, placing some in the center of each wrap. Fold in the wraps at the ends, roll up, cut in half diagonally and serve.

Makes 4.
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I usually end up fighting the urge to barrel through a cookbook when I've made something really good from it.  I'm not sure why I fight it. One reason is that I have so many cookbooks, I don't want to get stalled on one book.  That might be boring and more importantly, it might make my other cookbooks feel left out and sad.  Another reason is that I try not to delve too much into a single cookbook - I'm trying to promote the cookbook love here, it's not my intention to share all of their contents.

This time, however, I gave into my urges and tried three recipes out of this same book, practically right in a row.  I have no regrets either - this book is three for three.

I love hummus.  I love Spiced Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, but I've been wanting to try different versions.  This one was fantastic, since I like green olives.  The salty olives really played off the garlic well.    The overall saltiness of the hummus played off the vegetables in the wrap nicely.

For the olive haters (and I know there are many), leave them out or try something else.  Personally I intend to do a lot more experimenting with hummus recipes since once you spring for the tahini (which isn't cheap but it goes a long way), the rest of the ingredients are very reasonable.  Store-bought hummus is rather pricey.

I did make this with the amount of oil called for the first time.  I won't lie - it's great that way, but I don't think you lose too much by replacing some of the oil with the liquid from the chickpeas or water either, which is what I did when I made it again (and again).

I continue my tradition of falling apart during December.  I am not even stressed out but I am not eating well and I haven't been to the gym in over a week.  I'm trying to conserve my cooking energy for baking.  

More wraps: Turkey Wraps with Brie and Cranberry

Turkey Wraps with Brie and Cranberry
Delicious Wraps 2007

4 10-inch wraps
2 ounces cranberry sauce
9 ounces cooked turkey breast, shredded
5 ½ ounces brie, sliced
Salt and pepper

Preheat a nonstick skillet or broiler pan until almost smoking, add the wraps 1 at a time and cook for 10 seconds on each side. This will add some color and soften the wraps. (I don't find this step necessary since the wraps I have were soft enough.)

Spread the cranberry sauce evenly over the wraps and divide the turkey and brie evenly among them, placing some along the center of each wrap. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then fold in the wraps at the ends. Roll up each wrap, cut in half diagonally and serve.

Makes 4.
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Normally I like to mix things up and I would wait a few posts to tell you about another wrap but heck, let's stay on wraps for another post (or two).

This would have been a great recipe to have last week but better late than never. I cheated and used prepackaged turkey, the new thicker 'carved' variety, which wasn't that bad. I had hoped to pick up a turkey after Thanksgiving but the store was wiped out.

This is not way out of the box but it's something simple that I wouldn't think to put together on my own.  I can make this for lunch in the morning very easily, which is a good thing. I know I say I'm going to start planning ahead but that never happens.  Brie is pretty easy to find these days.  I normally don't buy it since the local stores only seem to carry the bigger wedges and I know I could make it disappear very quickly.  However I was in a different store this weekend and I was able to get a smaller piece of brie. 

I love cranberry on sandwiches and these three ingredients go together very well.  I might have to start investing in those bigger wedges.

Question of the Day:  Do you like brie cheese?

Using It Up:Salmon

Salmon and Dill Wraps
Delicious Wraps Copyright 2007

11 oz fresh salmon fillet
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
4 eggs
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp sour cream
¾ oz capers, chopped
Zest of one lemon
A small bunch of fresh dill, chopped I used some dried dill
4 10-inch wraps

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the salmon on a nonstick baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place in the oven and cook for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. (I nuked my salmon.)

Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil, add the eggs and cook for 9 minutes, then cool under running water for 5 minutes. Shell the eggs and chop them roughly. (I put the eggs in cold water, brought the water to boil, turned it off for 10 minutes, drained and cooled the eggs.)

Flake the salmon into a bowl, removing any skin. Add the eggs, mayonnaise, sour cream, capers, lemon zest and dill.

Preheat a nonstick skillet or broiler pan until almost smoking, add the wraps, 1 at a time, for 10 seconds on each side. This will add some color and soften the wraps. (I skipped this step.)

Divide the salmon mixture evenly among the wraps, placing some in the center of each wrap. Fold in each wrap at the ends, roll up, cut in half diagonally and serve.
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I had some frozen salmon fillets in the freezer for the longest time.  They would not have been there as long had I tried this recipe sooner.  I loved this.  The lemon zest and the dill - yum! 

This book is part of a set of books that I bought at a book sale a while back (my son's daycare received a percentage of the sales).  There's a book on wraps, a book on salads and a book on lunches. I was hoping for lunch inspiration but my problem with lunch is I don't usually plan ahead. I really need to start planning ahead because it's great when I have something really good for lunch (like this). Unfortunately most of my lunches lately haven't been that great.

I did a lot of cooking last week and now I'm afraid I'm going to forget what I made before I get a chance to tell you about it all.  I haven't had much energy for blogging in the evenings.  Oh, I did finally bring the recipe archive up to date.  I was over a year behind!  As of this recipe, I've made 1032 recipes from 346 cookbooks.

Quality over quantity

A more professional, on-the-ball blogger would probably have presented you with a multitude of recipes for Thanksgiving by now.  I don't have any Thanksgiving recipes.  (Well, if you peruse the archives, you could possibly find a few recipes for appetizers, sides or pies that appeal to you.)

Better bloggers would at least be at the ready with a list of ideas for your leftovers.  Honestly, I don't think my family has every had an amount of turkey leftover that couldn't be handled by a few turkey-stuffing-cranberry sauce-and-mayo sandwiches. However, I do have one recipe suggestion from the archives for leftover turkey to offer you this week - Giada's Turkey Bolognese, a very anti-Thanksgiving use for leftover turkey. If you don't want to get right to it, you could freeze the leftover turkey and make this later.



Turkey Bolognese
Giada’s Family Dinners Copyright 2006

 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and finely chopped
1 ½ pounds coarsely shredded cooked turkey (preferably dark meat)
6 cups marinara sauce she suggest her recipe but I used jarred Bertolli Organic
1 cup water
2/3 cup chopped fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ pounds spaghetti
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the celery and carrot, and sauté until the vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Add the turkey and sauté 1 minute. Add the marinara sauce and water. Bring the sauce to a simmer over medium-high heat, then decrease the heat to medium-low and simmer gently for 25 minutes, stirring often, to all the flavors to blend. Stir in the basil. Season the sauce generously to taste with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile in a very large pot of boiling salted water, cook the spaghetti, stirring often to prevent the pasta from sticking together, until tender but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes, Drain, reserving one cup of the cooking liquid. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to coat, add enough of the reserved liquid to moisten as needed. Serve with the Parmesan.
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It's only one recipe but it's a good one. Happy Thanksgiving!

Question of the Day:  Are you cooking a Thanksgiving meal this year?

My new favorite egg salad: Egg Tartare

Egg Tartare
River Cottage Every Day Copyright 2009

6 medium eggs, at room temperature
4 spring onions or 2 small shallots, finely chopped (I used green onions)
3-4 gherkins,finely diced
1 tbsp capers, rinsed
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley (I left this out)
1 tbsp finely chopped dill (optional) (I used a generous sprinkling of dried dill)
2-3 tbsp mayonnaise
Dab of Dijon mustard
2-3 dashes of Tabasco sauce (optional)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Slices of wholemeal, sourdough, rye or your favourite bread, to serve (I only had Fiber One Honey Wheat bread on hand)

1. First, boil the eggs. (The author discusses how to cook the eggs and suggests the egg yolks should be soft but I just hard boiled them.)

2. Peel the eggs.  Roughly chop the eggs and mix with the spring onions or shallots, gherkins, capers, parsley and dill, if using. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard and Tabasco, if using.

3. Gently combine this mixture with the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Serve on wholemeal, sourdough or rye bread, as closed or open sandwiches.
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I've always loved egg salad but no egg salad has ever impressed me as much as this one. I just happen to love green onions, capers and dill. The gherkins add a nice punch. You don't need very much mayo for this - the second time I made it I cut back on the mayo and punched up the Dijon mustard (I made a half-batch to start but it was so good I soon found myself making another half-batch). If you used eggs with a soft yolk as the author suggests, the salad would probably require even less dressing.

Green onions have become the staple onion in my produce bin. Sweet onions had been my staple onion forever but I think I've only purchased two of them since I've moved in August. I particularly like green onions for use in salads. 

This recipe is so named because it uses the classic ingredients in tartare (tartar) sauce.  I love tartar sauce sauce so it's no wonder I love this.  Tartar sauce often has tarragon so you could add that or switch out the dill for tarragon

I checked this cookbook out of the library.  It's a bit out of my league  - not in complexity but this is more for the crowd who buy organic, eat locally, eat seasonally, grind there own wheat, etc, while I am lucky to get food on the table at all these days.  However, I have my eye on many recipes in this cookbook.

I baked for a bake sale this week.  South Seas Cookies, 7 Up Cake, and Peppermint Patties  are my standards.  I should have taken a new picture of the South Seas Cookies!  They came out really nice.  I also made Sweet and Crunch popcorn (in pink), chocolate covered pretzel rods (chocolate with white chocolate drizzle and white chocolate with assorted sprinkles and jimmies) and boxed brownies that I melted and spread a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips on top after they came out of the oven (they were studier to package that way).  Everything sold well. People seemed a bit afraid of the pink popcorn. I used to eat pink popcorn at the zoo when I was a kid but maybe not everyone had that experience. But at least one woman who bought it soon came back for more. It's one of Nick's favorites.  Heidi's got some great recipes.

Question of the Day:  Do you like eggs?  Eggs seem to be one of those foods that many people dislike.