Lately, I’ve gone to a number of meetups with the Traditional Community Kitchen. This is an official Meetup group based in NYC, and one that I help organize (I’m a Co-Organizer and to some extent the Social Media Manager). It’s been one of the most fun social groups I’ve been a part of in NYC, and I’ve met some delightful people there that have become friends. Everyone is really friendly and eager to both teach what they know and learn from each other.
If you are in the NYC area, and interested in cooking together – whether your orientation is WAPF, paleo/primal, grain- or gluten-free, vegetarian, or simply an overall curious person looking for more inspiration to eat whole, real food – I highly recommend joining this group and coming to one of our meetups!
So, one of the most recent meetups was actually a repeat event – making a big pot of meatballs. This recipe was originally developed by Hannah Springer here in NYC, and she shared it with one of our meetup members, who passed it on to the rest of us. We’ve all really enjoyed the resulting delicious savory meatballs (which I like to make on the smaller side), enough so to make them together again.
They are different from any other recipe I’ve seen for meatballs, in that they are free of grains. Essentially, they are all meat, with the addition of egg, cream, and a few other things. I’m not personally avoiding grains, but for those omnivores that are, this is a great recipe
I remember the first event – which took place at my home – to be really fun. This second event was a lot of fun, too, and held at another member’s home. The four of us chopped onions and I was glad to talk about my favorite way of chopping onions, which I’m happy to say sped up the chopping process – chopping onions can be a painful experience, so getting through them as fast as possible is a real benefit.
We then mixed those onions with spices and some pastured lard, and fried ’em up. You can only imagine how wonderful the house started to smell while this was going on.
The other night, I had the pleasure of joining my friend Judith for the inaugural Fooditka Blogger Social. This was a really fun event organized by Judith (aka Fooditka), which involved a group of food bloggers gathering together for a meal in Astoria. We met at Ovelia, a popular Greek cafe/restaurant on 30th Avenue.
Often times, one leaves events like these having made some professional connections, but I felt like I really made some new friends: Lindsay of The Lunch Belle; Elena of The Gotham Palate; Erin of GlutenFreeFun; and of course my friend and writing partner at We Heart Astoria, Judith, who has just relaunched her Foodista blog as Fooditka. These blogs are excellent, and the women behind them are all really nice people.
One disclaimer – the food was comped, and Judith picked up the tab for the drinks. We also got quite a bit of attention from the staff. It was all very nice.
That being said, I’d eaten at Ovelia a couple of times before this (for brunch), and was very happy with my previous meals. So I did go into this eating experience expecting the dinner food to be delicious as well… and I was not disappointed. From the inventive sangria, to the feta cubes, to the barbecue, everything was delicious.
One thing we were served was the loukaniko, otherwise known as Ovelia’s house-made sausage. I’ve had it every time I’ve been at Ovelia, and frankly, I don’t want to have a meal there without it. It is so delicious.
Loukaniko is a traditional Greek sausage, made from pork and seasoned with spices, including fennel. It is also flavored with orange peel, which I absolutely love. It’s delicious on its own, but I love it with a squeeze of lemon (many dishes at Greek restaurants are accompanied by a couple of lemon slices). The lemon really makes the flavors pop – it’s fantastic! I also like how it’s served, sliced into pieces on a small plate.
We had a few other traditional Greek dishes – calamari, grilled halloumi, and Greek style pita (it doesn’t have a pocket), cut into triangles and grilled. But Ovelia has also created some really interesting and intriguing small plates. My favorite was probably the feta cubes, which were coated in white and black sesame seeds and fried. There was some honey in there, too. I also enjoyed the kafteri poppers, which were feta and jalepeño croquettes.
Additionally, there was chicken – grilled and buttermilk fried – and ribs, whose meat fell off the bone and into your mouth. It was a delight!
These savory treats were delicious and a lot of fun. I also wanted to mention that Erin, our gluten-free dining companion, did not go hungry, what with all the bread and such. The staff took very good care of her. They offered her cucumber slices in place of pita, provided the filling from the kafteri poppers without the breading, made these wonderful “crackers” out of halloumi cheese, and even slathered on some gluten-free barbecue sauce on a separate serving of ribs. We were all very impressed at how well our gluten-fee compadre was treated.
And I must write a bit about the Ambrosia Sangria. This was an unusual take on the classic mix of wine and fruit – the base was a dry rosé wine populated with bits of strawberries and kiwis. It was beautiful, and yes – a bit girly, but I like girly drinks (I’ve enjoyed many a cosmo over the years). We were all delighted by this drink.
So, judging from the delicious brunches I’ve had there, as well from as our social night together last week, I can wholeheartedly recommend Ovelia for great Greek food and more. Astorians especially – if you haven’t had a meal there yet, definitely stop on by. They have some outdoor cafe seating, which is terrific in the summer for both relaxing with a good meal and people watching along 30th Ave.
For more on our meal that night and Ovelia’s food, please click on over to the posts written by Judith, Erin, Elena, and Lindsay:
Back in July 2009, I volunteered to do some recipe testing for a new cookbook being written by Shauna and Danny Ahern. You probably know them as Gluten Free Girl and the Chef. I was sworn to secrecy at the time, but since their book is out, I can share this.
I only was able to test one recipe, but the one I tested was a total winner: millet tabbouleh.
Now, I don’t need to eat gluten-free, but I have friends who do, and it’s always interesting to work with new recipes. Millet is a delicious alternative to using bulgur wheat for tabbouleh, too. And it’s got a lot going for it: it’s high in manganese, phosphorous and magnesium. I love the taste and texture. And I always prepare this whole grain by soaking it with an acid to reduce the amount of the anti-nutrient phytic acid in it. This makes the grain more digestable and more nutritious.
I made this for an event over the weekend, and everyone loved it. The resident picky eater also loves it. I hope you do, too.
Millet Tabbouleh
Adapted from the recipe by Shauna and Danny Ahern
I’ve halved the original recipe – the original it made two large mixing bowls full of tabbouleh. This half recipe satisfied the needs of a small party, plus there was extra left over.
1 cup millet
vinegar/lemon juice
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
water
2 medium-size tomatoes, or enough to make 1 cup chopped (cherry tomatoes work well)
1/2 cup scallions, small dice
1 long English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and small diced
1 tablespoons Italian parsley, washed well and chopped
1/2 tablespoon mint, diced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Soak the millet for 8-10 hours in water with an acid (I used a tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar). Drain and rinse the millet and put it in a large saucepan with 2 1/4 cups of water and 1 tsp of coarse sea salt. Let it come to a boil, stir the millet, then turn down the heat to low. Let it simmer until it has absorbed all the water and has turned fluffy, around 15-20 minutes.
Remove it from the heat, put it in the refrigerator (put a thick towel underneath), and let it cool down in there – this step is very important. .
Add the tomatoes, scallions, cucumbers, and herbs to the millet. Put the smoked paprika in the palm of one hand, and pinch it over the tabbouleh. Combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper into a dressing. Pour over the salad and toss everything together.
You’ll easily get 8 servings out of this, maybe more.
For a while, I’ve been wanting to try coconut flour.
Coconut flour is made from dried, finely ground coconut meat. It is high in fiber (one serving provides about 1/4 of the recommended amount of fiber each day), gluten and grain free, and low in soluble carbohydrates. It smells faintly of coconut (not a bad thing in my opinion).
From what I’ve read, recipes using coconut flour require a lot of eggs. This is because all that fiber absorbs a lot of liquid. After further research, I learned that it is recommended that each half cup of coconut flour be paired with 6 eggs. Eggs are so good for you – especially pastured eggs – that this is truly a bonus.
I discovered this ratio after I made my first foray into coconut flour use. The recipe I used – one for pancakes – only used 4 eggs to a half cup of coconut flour, though it also used a cup of milk. Still, I found that these pancakes were a little dry, and I could tell they were not made with grain. They had great flavor, though, and didn’t taste much like coconut at all. T even thought they were tasty.
I found that I had to add butter to them post-frying to moisten them up; this never happens when I make pancakes with wheat or sprouted wheat flour. I expect that if I upped the egg amount this would take care of that. However, the batter would be much looser. Perhaps then I’d have coconut flour crepes? Intriguing… I of course added maple syrup because that’s the perfect pairing with pancakes. That also helped with moisture levels.
I also think incorporating bananas or berries would be a welcome addition and add to the feeling of moistness in the pancakes.
Since coconut flour is so fiber-rich, these pancakes were crazy filling. I could only – actually, barely – eat two small pancakes. I think next time I’d make a half batch – I had a bunch left over after Sunday’s brunch.
So, although the resulting pancakes did not meet my expectations, I do plan to experiment with this recipe again, and consider other recipes that ask for coconut flour. Cilantro chicken filled savory coconut flour crepes come to mind right away. I also might try using coconut flour in brownies, too. Looking forward to playing more with this new ingredient!
This week was an unusual one – I had a bunch of evening meetups, so there wasn’t much cooking going on at my house. I won’t deny it – I love going out to restaurants – but I also love cooking at home. Next week looks busy too, but I hope I can get more cooking in, despite.
Probably my favorite dish I made this past week was a gluten-free tabbouleh. I tested this recipe for the upcoming cookbook by Shauna and Danny Ahern last July; I loved it then, and it’s just as good now. I did make some adjustments – upped the amount of a few things, primarily, to match my personal tastes. It was great with some greek yoghurt on the side. I can’t give you any more details until the book comes out (maybe in October? I can’t remember exactly), but when it does, I’ll post the recipe.
As for my garden, the little plants in the ground are slowly growing up. The tomatoes, cucumbers, and tomatillos have loved the recent hot, humid days, and I hope for more hot (though not necessarily humid) days to encourage growth. I see tomato plants from nurseries, and experience a little bit of “size envy”, but I have to remember that those plants were probably grown quickly in a hot house and not from seed in paper pots in someone’s backyard.
I’ve added a couple of things to the site itself – at the top of the right sidebar is a line of icons leading you to the Harmonious Belly twitter feed, Facebook page, RSS feed, and a new contact form. The contact form is the best way to get in touch with me with questions, comments, or suggestions. That and formspring.
Finally, I made the decision to eliminate sugar from my diet again. Even the little bit I’ve been eating seems like too much right now, so I’m going to go back to just abstaining. My plan is for doing this for two weeks, and at that point I’ll see where I am. I think it will only be a positive adjustment, especially with respect to my running and general feeling of well-being. Perhaps this will usher in a new era of kombucha brewing!
Socca, too me, has always had an exotic aura about it. From time to time I’d imagine what it might be like to eat it while lingering on vacation in the south of France, enjoying this chickpea crepe on a lazy afternoon in sea-salted air.
I wondered if it needed special ingredients that you could only get abroad. Well, the answer is… no. Turns out it’s simple, unpretentious food, made with only a handful of ingredients. My favorite!
I was inspired most recently to make socca after going through the little bags of flours in my pantry, and putting some of them in glass jars that I bought on the weekend. I had the majority of a bag of chickpea flour sitting on the shelf, left over from making baked sweet potato falafel a while back. The flour didn’t all fit in my glass jar, so I thought why not use some of it up. Socca came to mind immediately.
I first checked for the recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks, but turns out that particular recipe called for an addition of a cup of white flour, something I wasn’t too keen on. So, I turned to the interwebs for guidance. I came across David Lebowitz’s recipe, which was simple and straightforward in its ingredients, and was exactly what I was looking for (and no white flour).
It was delicious! Very easy to make, consisting of five ingredients that come together effortlessly. It was well-received in my household, so much so that I plan to make it regularly. This summer I’ll be eating it with an ice cold glass of rosé.
Socca
from David Lebowitz’s The Sweet Life in Paris
I found it to be easier to heat up the initial pan of olive oil on top of the stove instead of in the oven with the broiler. This also means there is one less scary grab of a hot hot hot pan handle. Socca is also naturally gluten free.
1 cup (130g) chickpea flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (280ml) water
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
freshly-ground black pepper, plus additional sea salt and olive oil for serving
Mix together the flour, water, salt, cumin, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Let batter rest at least 2 hours, covered, at room temperature.
To cook, heat the broiler in your oven. Oil a 9- or 10-inch (23cm) pan (I use a well-seasoned cast iron skillet) with the remaining olive oil and heat the pan on top of the stove (you can heat it in your oven if you prefer).
Once the pan and the oven are blazing-hot, pour enough batter into the pan to cover the bottom, swirl it around, then pop it back in the oven.
Bake until the socca is firm and beginning to blister and burn. The exact time will depend on your broiler.
Slide the socca out of the pan onto a cutting board, slice into pieces, then shower it with coarse salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.
Cook the remaining socca batter the same way, adding a touch more oil to the pan between each one.
