1-Year Blogoversary - Falafel Revisited

Falafel: March 28, 2012                                                                                                          Falafel: March 28, 2011

Today marks our 1-year anniversary of It's Not About the Recipe (or our blogoversary, as some might say).  A lot has changed during the year - we graduated college, moved away from Charlottesville, returned to Charlottesville, and have had many kitchen upgrades (from food processors and immersion blenders to knives and silverware).  The one thing that hasn't changed though is our love for food and finding enjoyment in every meal we make.  We have really enjoyed keeping a blog, learning about blogging along the way, and being able to share our cooking with friends, family, and all you foodies out there.  We hope you have enjoyed reading about our culinary adventures and continue to do so in year number two.

For this blogoversary we decided to revisit the first recipe we posted - falafel.  We have made falafel numerous times and continue to improve upon our method to make it as authentic as possible.  We have learned how to cold-soak chickpeas to provide a great texture, omit eggs and flour to keep the falafel light, and incorporate handfuls of herbs to give it a burst of fresh flavors.

While we still may not be able to compete with the best falafel makers, we certainly love this rendition and hope you do to!  Happy cooking!

Vegetables au Vin Blanc

The recipe chosen this week for the Food Matters Project was Bittman's Vegetables au Vin with Coq chosen by Evi + Sam.  Bittman is an advocate of reducing meat consumption so most of his recipes feature vegetables and use meat sparingly, if at all.  This recipe, for example, used a ton of vegetables and only a small amount of chicken, thus turning Coq au Vin (chicken with wine) into Vegetables au Vin with Coq.

Being vegetarian, we had to change this recipe to take out the chicken but keep the dish hearty and flavorful.  We still wanted to braise something (traditionally the chicken is braised) so turned to a hearty vegetable that could stand up to the braising process - butternut squash.  We also thought that a heavy red wine would overpower the other flavors of the dish so decided to use white wine instead (hence Vin Blanc).

Bittman suggests serving this dish with bread or potatoes, but we decided to make it a bit healthier and served it over some creamy polenta - which soaked up the sauce perfectly.

Overall we were happy with the dish, but didn't think that the flavor of the squash worked perfectly with the other ingredients (though it did braise very well).  It was a bit too sweet and in the future would like to try some other hearty vegetables, any suggestions?

To find Bittman's original recipe, check out Evi + Sam's blog Fifth Floor Kitchen and continue reading below to find our version of the dish.

Curried Tomato Soup

This weeks recipe from the Food Matters project was chosen by Joanne and was a unique take on tomato soup.  Instead of the typical creamy tomato bisque, this version incorporated strong Indian flavors and lots of spice.  The soup was still creamy but used coconut milk which added an extra layer of flavor.  We also used curry powder (though we didn't have enough so mixed together paprika, coriander, and turmeric), cumin, jalapeno, and ginger to round out the Indian flavors.

Bittman's original recipe called for potatoes and cauliflower which we decided to omit and instead served our soup over fragrant basmati rice.  This created a perfect pair for the spicy soup and complimented the rest of the Indian flavors perfectly.  To complete the dish, we poached the eggs right in the soup (rather than hard boiling them beforehand), which added a great texture to the dish.

We loved this unique spin on tomato soup and it will certainly become a go-to one-pot meal for us in the future!  Next week's recipe is Vegetables au Vin with Coq so check back to see how we make a classic French dish vegetarian!

For Bittman's original recipe check out Eats Well with Others by Joanne.

For our version of the recipe keep reading below.

Hummus Served Hot

Our good friend from college, Juliana, is a contributing writer for Big Girls Small Kitchen, and heard about a unique project going on in the food-blogging world.  A group of food bloggers decided to cook their way through Mark Bittman's newest cookbook, The Food Matters Cookbook.  Mark Bittman is a writer for the New York Times and is a leader in the sustainable food world.  His columns in the Times and cookbooks advocate for healthy and wholesome cooking that focuses on vegetarian ingredients.  Naturally, when we heard about this project, we were eager to join and experiment with all sorts of recipes.

The project is called the Food Matters project and each week a participating blogger hosts and chooses a recipe from Bittman's cookbook.  The other bloggers then prepare and blog about their own version of the recipe and post it on the Food Matters project website.  We think that this will be a great way to be more a part of the food blogging community and help support a cause we really believe in (plus it gave us an excuse to buy a new cookbook!).

We'll be participating most weeks and adapting each recipe to our own preferences (especially when the recipes aren't vegetarian) and we hope you enjoy reading about our experiences and check out some of the other participating blogs.

This week the recipe was "Hummus Served Hot" chosen by Erin of Naturally Ella.  We've been making homemade hummus on a weekly basis for a long time but are always looking for new twists on it.  Bittman's recipe is a very basic recipe which leaves room for plenty of personal adaptations.  What makes this recipe unique is that it is served hot.

We decided to personalize this recipe by adding some dill that we happened to have which we had never tried before but added a delicious and bright flavor.  We also added our own twist by cooking the dry chickpeas in a unique way.

To get the chickpeas light and airy we added baking soda to the soaking water and the boiling water.  This methods works really well for making hummus because it allows extra water to soak into the chickpeas and thus creates a remarkably smooth final product.  Be warned though, this method should not be used for anything but hummus because the texture is too soft for falafel, salads, soups, etc.

If hummus is in your daily diet like it is for us (or even if you've never made it before), try this, and the other, unique takes on the classic recipe and definitely try using baking soda!  You'll never be buying store-made hummus, or canned chickpeas, again.

Cabbage and Leek Gratin

When cooking on a budget (and to be environmentally conscious) we think that it is always important to not waste any food we buy.  We recently had some cabbage that was starting to wilt and decided that this recipe would be the perfect use for it.  The recipe comes from a great vegetarian cookbook we received for Christmas, Vegetarian Suppers by Deborah Madison.

The gratin is yogurt and egg based, rather than cream and cheese.  This, combined with fresh herbs and leeks, yields dish that is both fresh and hearty.  Accompany this dish is a mustard "cream" that adds an extra layer of flavor.  The originally recipe uses sour cream but we went with yogurt to make it lighter.  We would have never thought to combine mustard and yogurt but it worked wonderfully in both this dish and on others throughout the week.