House Spouse

Note: My in-laws are visiting this week, and have promised to take us out to eat most nights, so I am taking a break from cooking (except of course when we initiate Mom and Dad into the pizza grilling revolution). In the mean time, I’ll be moving some of the older House Spouse archives onto this site. The post the follows, I think, is especially appropriate now that I’ve started to see zucchini at the farmers markets. Enjoy!

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(From January 2008)

Andrew and I returned yesterday to icy sidewalks and brisk air after a week of sunshine and sixties in Los Angeles. My Vitamin D levels are up, and I’m certain this elevated mood will last for at least a few days.

Just before we left, I got to open two Christmas gifts (so as to avoid lugging gifts to and from California): a stand up Kitchen Aid mixer and Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess. Opening gifts was bittersweet because while I was thrilled with these two new kitchen additions, I knew I’d have to wait an entire week to use them. Last night, after a full day of travel (and a loss of two hours), exhausted we ordered Thai from our fave neighborhood spot and planned for the morning a re-stocking grocery run.

Zucchini and Chickpea Filo Pie
From How To Be a Domestic Goddess
(My notes are in italics.)

1/2 tsp cumin seeds (or 1/4 tsp ground cumin)
1 small onion or 1/2 large onion, finely diced
2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp tumeric
1 tsp ground coriander (or 2 T fresh cilantro, finely chopped)
3 plump zucchini
generous 1/2 c basmati rice (I used brown basmati and cooked it about half way before starting)
2 1/4 c vegetable stock
2 15-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained
scant 1/2 c melted butter
7 ounces filo pastry dough

Preheat the oven to 400 F and put in a baking sheet.
Gently fry the cumin seeds and onion in the olive oil until soft (or, if using the ground cumin, wait to add it with the rest of the spices). Add the tumeric and coriander (if using cilantro, add it at the very end, with the chickpeas). Dice the zucchini (unpeeled), add them to the onions and cook on a fairly high heat to prevent the zucchini becoming watery. When they are soft but still holding their shape, add the rice and stir well, letting the rice become well coated in the oil. Add the stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring while you do so. When all the liquid has been absorbed the rice should be cooked, so take it off the heat, stir in the chickpeas, and check the seasoning.

Brush the insides of an 8-inch spring form pan (unfortunately, mine is a 10-inch pan, meaning my pie turned out shallower, next time I’ll make more filling) with some of the melted butter. Line the bottom and sides of the pan with 3/4 of the filo, buttering each piece as you layer. Leave a little filo overlapping the sides, and keep 3 to 4 layers for the top. Carefully put in the slightly cooled filling, and then fold in the overlaps. Butter the last layers of filo and scrunch on top of the pie as a covering. Brush with a final coat of butter, and put in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the filo is golden and the middle hot.

I served the pie for dinner with orange slices and a salad with yogurt dill dressing. I’m looking forward to a room temperature slice for a savory breakfast.

I tend to think pancakes for your first meal of the day are almost as wrong as coco puffs for breakfast. Still, intrigued enough by the 101cookbooks recipe for coconut macaroon pancakes and sensitive to Andrew’s penchant for toothache-inducing Saturday brunch, I decided to give them a go.

(Although, you can see in the picture a tangerine was added to make the pancakes “part of a complete breakfast. What you don’t see is the plain yogurt we also consumed making the pancakes more like a sweet side than the main meal.)

Like with most recipes, I altered things slightly to accommodate the ingredients I had versus what was called for, namely sweetened, not unsweetened, coconut flakes. The batter was particularly wet and much more coconut-y than I had imagined it would be, so I added a touch more flour. I started with the sprinkled brown sugar, but the pancakes started burning before they were cooked enough to flip, making for somewhat of a mess. Even lowering heat didn’t help, because the brown sugar turned gooey and caramel-y rather than crisped like it ought to have.

My verdict on these pancakes? I won’t make them again unless Andrew begs for them, which I doubt he will. They were tasty, but in each bite is a mouthful of coconut, making them much more like their namesake cookie than pancakes.

Coconut Macaroon Pancakes
From 101 Cookbooks

1 14-ounce can of coconut milk
2 tablespoons honey (or agave nectar)
1 /4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose or regular pastry flour)
3 cups unsweetened dried shredded coconut (sweetened is fine, too)
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt (or, for regular gals like me, regular salt will work)
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 large eggs. whisked in a medium bowl
1/4 cup brown sugar

In a small saucepan heat the coconut milk and honey, bring barely to a simmer.

In a separate large bowl combine the flour, coconut, salt and baking powder. Stir the coconut milk into the flour mixture.

Whisk about 1/3 cup of the coconut mixture into the eggs. Now quickly mix the eggs back into the large bowl of coconut batter. Stir until well combined. You can do this the night before if you like.

Heat your favorite non-stick (or very well-seasoned) skillet, pan, or griddle to medium-hot and brush it with a bit of butter. Test for the right temperature. If a drop of water dropped onto the pan starts to dance, you are in the ballpark. Drop a heaping tablespoon into the skillet, sprinkle the top with a bit of brown sugar. Wait until the pancake bottom is deep golden in color, then flip with a spatula and cook the other side until golden and cooked through. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Makes dozens of silver dollar sized pancakes, or a dozen or so larger ones.

I must tell you that I sat here for a moment contemplating the consequences of titling this post, “Brioche Boobs.” Keep reading and you’ll understand.

I was so intrigued by the photographs and recipe for “Sunny Saffron Brioche” on Design*Sponge a week or so ago that I knew I needed to use my first “free” afternoon (as in, reading and working at home) to take on this little project.

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