Improv Score: 4/5

Curry Lentil, Pepper, and Bacon Seitan Soup

1 package of Bacon Seitan (sliced into 1-2 inch strips)
1 cup dry lentils
5 oz spinach (roughly chopped)
1/2 green bell pepper (chopped)
1 jalapeño (chopped small)
1 celery stalk (sliced thinly)
1/2 cucumber (diced)
6 grape tomatoes (quartered)
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
curry
a pinch of onion powder
a pinch of dried ginger
salt & pepper
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups water
2 tbsp olive oil

1. In a very large saucepan or dutch oven, warm oil on medium heat and saute garlic for about 30 seconds or until the scent has been released.
2. Add green pepper and jalapeño to the pan and saute for 3-5 minutes or until softened.
3. Add celery and cucumber to the pan and saute 2-3 minutes more until softened.
4. Stir in broth and water, lentils, and spices to taste. How much curry do you like? Bring to a simmer and cook 20-30 minutes until lentils are soft.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the bacon seitan as the packaging instructs. Set aside.
6. Once lentils are softened, add bacon seitan, spinach, and tomatoes to the soup and simmer until spinach is wilted.
7. Adjust seasoning throughout cooking by adding more spices, additional veggie bouillon, and olive oil.
8. Enjoy

Improv Score: 4.5/5

White Bean, Kale, and Italian Seitan Sausage Soup

1 package of Italian seitan
1lb dry white beans (cannelloni, great northern, etc.)
4 leaves of kale (roughly chopped)
1/2 white onion (chopped)
1 shallot (chopped)
4 cloves of garlic (chopped)
3 carrots (chopped)
1 bay leaf
dried sage
dried rosemary
dried thyme
dried basil
dried fennel
salt & pepper
5 cups vegetable broth
5 cups water
pecorino romano cheese rind
pecorino romano cheese (for topping)
2 tbsp olive oil

1. In a very large saucepan or dutch oven, warm oil on medium heat and saute garlic for about 30 seconds or until the scent has been released.
2. Add onion and shallots to pan and saute for 3-5 minutes or until onions start to become transparent.
3. Add broth, water, dry beans, bay leaf, dried spices (to your taste preference), and the cheese rind. Simmer for an hour or until beans are cooked through.
4. While the soup simmers, prepare seitan as instructed by the packaging. Set aside.
5. Once beans are cooked through, add carrots, seitan, and kale. Simmering about 15 minutes or until carrots are cooked and kale has wilted.
6. Adjust seasoning throughout cooking by adding more spices, additional veggie bouillon, and olive oil.
7. Remove bay leaf and cheese rind. Serve and top with extra shredded cheese.

Pro Tip: Cook a day in advance and reheat. The flavors and textures really come together!

This dish turned out to have a wonderful sweet and savory balance – between the apples and blueberries, and the smokey maple bacon tempeh and curry. I’ve never tossed blueberries into a stirfry before, but I’ll definitely try it again!

Improv Score: 5/5

Tempeh Bacon and Apple Curry Stirfry

1 pkg Tempeh Bacon (I used Maple Bacon Tempeh from Turtle Island)
1 clove garlic (minced)
1/2 onion (chopped) (sweet or white would be best)
1/2 red bell pepper (chopped)
8 grape tomatoes (halved)
1 apple (chopped) (try Braeburn or Fuji, or anything else that won’t turn mushy)
1/2 cup blueberries

For the sauce:
curry powder (I used a yellow curry on the sweeter side)
apple & onion jam (or most any other not-too-sweet jam or chutney)
1/8 tsp aniseed
1/4 tsp caraway seeds
sesame seeds
apple cider vinegar
olive oil
water

1. In a skillet, prepare the tempeh as instructed by the packaging. Set aside.
2. In the pan that you cooked the tempeh in, heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium to medium high heat.
3. Add the garlic to the oil, stirring frequently for about 30 seconds, or until the scent is released
4. Add the onion and red pepper and saute until onion is nearly transparent, adding splashes of apple cider vinegar along the way as the pan dries out.
5. Add a bit more oil to the pan, then stir in the apples and tomatoes. If it seems dry you can add more oil or apple cider vinegar. Saute.
6. In a small bowl, mix about a half cup of water with an amount of curry that you feel comfortable with. (How much kick do you want?!)
7. When apples start to brown, stir half of the curry mix into the pan along with the blueberries, aniseed, and caraway. Saute 2-3 minutes, or until curry is mostly absorbed.
8. Next, add 2 tablespoons of your jam or chutney and half of the remaining curry mix. Stir and allow to mostly absorb. Repeat with 1-2 more tablespoons of jam and the remaining curry mix.
9. Once curry is mostly absorbed, but still moist, divide the curry onto plates or bowls and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
10. Enjoy!

Moroccan week is over and, overall, it was very successful! Most of the dishes I chose to cook were stews, not sure if that’s because those are the dishes I just happened to pick out, or because that is what the majority of Moroccan entries are. The only non-soup/stew that I made was the wonderfully (and sinfully) delicious Chicken B’stila – keep reading for the details!

Moroccan flavors: saffron, sweet Hungarian paprika, cilantro, parsley, turmeric, ginger.

Dinner No. 1: Tagine B’Ga’Raa Sghira Wa Matisha Mieb’sa
Lamb Stew with Zucchini, Potatoes & Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This was a rather delicious stew. Aside from the perfectly tender bites of lamb, I’d say the highlight was the sun-dried tomatoes – they really made the dish pop. This stew was spiced with saffron, turmeric, cilantro and parsley.

Rating: 4/5

Dinner No. 2: Tagine Bil Hoot
Fish Stew

My first go at cooking mahimahi seemed to go rather well. I don’t think I overcooked it (too much)! This stew was spiced with cilantro, sweet Hungarian paprika, saffron, ginger, cumin, and garlic – which gave it a full, rich flavor. But what really gave it a kick was the green olives! One ingredient I left out was a tablespoon of preserved lemon pulp (which I didn’t have 6 weeks to wait on), I’m not sure how much of a difference it would have made, but I tried to substitue with a bit of grated lemon rind.

Rating: 4/5

Dinner No. 3: Sebha Del Hdaree
Ratatouille with Dates

This seemed like a pretty typical ratatouille, spiced primarily with rosemary, a bay leaf, and sweet Hungarian paprika. It contained onion, red bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and the best part – dates. The dates really helped round out the flavors and give it a smooth sweetness.

Rating: 3.5/5

Dinner No. 4: B’stila B’djej
Chicken B’stila

Holy mother of god. This was like eating baklava stuffed with spiced chicken, onion, and eggs. It was like dessert for dinner. The whole pie contained about a cup of powdered sugar! Between the cinnamon’y-sugary, savory slow cooked chicken filling and the flaky phyllo wrapper – it really just melted in your mouth. The pie all by it self was a 5/5 – but! accompanied by Israeli couscous and caramelized carrots – Adam gave the whole meal a record-breaking 6/5!!

Rating: 6/5

Dinner No. 5: Chorba B’hodra
Saffron-Vegetable Soup

A hearty beef soup with strong saffron flavor. There were a ton of great vegetables in this one – onion, tomato, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, celery. Thickened up with lentils and Israeli couscous. A rather good ending to the week!

Rating: 3.5/5

—

That’s it for Moroccan week! Only three more cuisine weeks left this year – next up is Thai! I do love me some good Thai food, so it should be a fun week!

1. Vietnamese – DONE!
2. French – DONE!
3. Irish – DONE!
4. Indian – DONE!
5. Jamaican – DONE!
6. Ethiopian – DONE!
7. Greek – DONE!
8. Cuban – DONE!
9. Moroccan – DONE!
10. Thai – NEXT!
11. Polish
12. Japanese

Whew! Cuban “Week” ran a little longer than expected… it lasted a little over 2 weeks actually. A busy month slowed things down… and it turns out plantains take a long while to fully ripen. But it’s all over now, and was good for the most part. Not my favorite cuisine week though… now let’s see if I can remember all the details.

Cuban flavors: dry sherry, bay leafs, pimientos, citrus juices, tomatoes.

Dinner No. 1: Pollo Criollo en Cazuela
Creole Chicken Casserole

This was some good, tender chicken, but not bursting with flavor. The chicken was rubbed with garlic and cumin, marinated in orange, lime, and lemon juice, and then cooked with onion and dry sherry.

Rating: 3.5/5

Dinner No. 2: Potaje de Garbanzos
Chickpea Stew

My second dish ever featuring ham hocks, this was a pretty hearty stew. Not only did it get some smoky flavor from the ham hock, but it also got some kick from some chorizo. But even with the ham hock and chorizo, the flavor was lacking that something special to melt it all together and give it a real punch.

Rating: 3.5/5

Dinner No. 3: Cangrejos con Harina
Crab and Cornmeal Stew

The best meal of the week by far. The most unique flavor of this dish came from a jar of pimientos which sharpened it up and gave it a kick. The cornmeal base was different but worked really well. And the crabmeat was excellent, but I guess that’s to be expected when you inadvertently purchase a $35 can of it. Put all that together and you’ve got a solid and hearty stew.

Rating: 4/5

Dinner No. 4: Vaca Frita
Fried Cow

This was an interesting preparation. First you boil a flank steak in water with a bay leaf for 1.5 hours, then remove it, let it cool, chop it up and shred it. Then you let the cooked, shredded beef marinate in lime juice, lemon juice, and garlic for at least an hour. After that you squeeze the marinade out of the beef and fry it in oil with onions until it’s crispy.

Rating: 4/5

Dinner No. 5: Tortilla de Plátanos Maduros
Plantain Omelette

This was a yummy omellete even thought I burned the plantains a little bit. The first step was to fry up plantain slices, which you then place a layer of in the skillet. After the fried plantains are heated, add whisked eggs and cook until set, then flip. The fried plantains had a syrupy flavor which gave the eggs a light and sweet breakfast flavor.

Rating: 3.5/5

—

So Cuban week has finally ended and so has a lot of the business that made this “week” take so long!

Next month’s Cuisine Week is Moroccan! Looking forward to it!

1. Vietnamese – DONE!
2. French – DONE!
3. Irish – DONE!
4. Indian – DONE!
5. Jamaican – DONE!
6. Ethiopian – DONE!
7. Greek – DONE!
8. Cuban – DONE!
9. Moroccan – NEXT!
10. Thai
11. Polish
12. Japanese

Man, this month’s cuisine week was pretty hard to keep going – more on that in my next blog post – but everything ended up really excellent. The recipes were all pretty basic, using a lot of fresh and flavorful ingredients. It was the perfect refreshing cuisine for the month of July.

Greek flavors: dill, parsley, oregano, tomato, and onion.

Dinner No. 1: Τόνος με Ρεβύθια & Καλοκαιρινη Σουπα με Αγγουρακια
Tuna with Chickpeas & Summer Cucumber Soup

Good timing for this one. Our AC had just died a few days before and it was 90+ degrees in our house all day, so having 2 cold dishes to chill out with was a welcome treat. The tuna and chickpeas were flavored with herbs, lemon juice and olive oil. The cucumber soup had some kick with a fair amount of garlic.

Rating: 3.5/5

Dinner No. 2: Γαρίδες με Σάλτσα & Κριθαράκι με Κολοκυθάκια
Shrimp Scorpio & Orzo w/ Zucchini

This shrimp dish was so tasty! The sauce was slow-cooked with tomatoes, onions, and herbs and topped off with a generous amount of feta cheese. The sauce and cheese melted in my mouth. The orzo and zucchini was a nice combo, as well – lighter and refreshing.

Rating: 4/5

Dinner No. 3: Μελιτζάνες και Ράις στο φούρνο
Baked Eggplant and Rice Casserole

I got Adam to eat eggplant again!! And he liked it!! …Mostly, sorta. He had a few bites and said it was really good, and then he had a few more bites and asked if the purple stuff was eggplant, and then he said, “yeah… I don’t really like eggplant.” Le sigh. Well, I really liked it – it was a wonderful combination of flavors and fairly simple to put together.

Rating: 4.5/5

Dinner No. 4: Σουβλάκια με Κότα
Chicken Souvlakia

Pretty standard chicken kebabs here. The marinade was good, but didn’t stand up to the grilling so well. Good though, nothing special

Rating: 3/5

Dinner No. 5: Κρεατοπετά
Lamb Meat Pie

Holy awesome sauce. This one was a winner. It took a few hours to make, but I’d say it was well worth the effort. The filling included lamb, onions, celery, tomato sauce, olive oil, eggs, rice, pecorino romano, and herbs. While it was cooking, I was concerned because it was so soupy, but it thickened right up once the eggs and rice were added. It was so good that my team at Quicken Loans devoured the bulk of it at lunch the next day. Win.

Rating: 5/5

—

So Greek week worked out. It was the first cuisine week in the new house :) So we’re off to a good start here.

August’s cuisine week is Cuban! I’ve not really tried much in the way of Cuban food… I think they like ham sandwiches right? We’ll find out in a few weeks!

1. Vietnamese – DONE!
2. French – DONE!
3. Irish – DONE!
4. Indian – DONE!
5. Jamaican – DONE!
6. Ethiopian – DONE!
7. Greek – DONE!
8. Cuban – NEXT!
9. Moroccan
10. Thai
11. Polish
12. Japanese

This year’s cuisine weeks are half way over, but still going strong! This month’s theme was Ethiopian, a cuisine I’ve never even tried until now, and that turned out pretty tasty. A lot of the dishes are hearty and very stew-like. Many of these stews are supposed to be served on a flatbread called injera, however this bread requires teff flour which I couldn’t find locally, so I enjoyed them on their own.

Ethiopian flavors: cayenne, ginger, cumin, turmeric, and cardamom.

Dinner No. 1: Yeshiro Wat
Spicy Chickpea Stew

This chickpea stew was very similar to other chickpea dishes I’ve made. Pretty basic all said and done, but good. It wasn’t very spicy, which was a little disappointing. Not the strongest start to Ethiopian week.

Rating: 3/5

Dinner No. 2: Saga Alicha and Solanum Tubersum
Beef Stew and Mashed Potatoes

The mashed potatoes in this meal were my favorite part – a combination of sweet and white potatoes, corn, coconut milk, curry and turmeric. The beef was spiced pretty well and cooked in a sauce until the sauce was completely absorbed, so it was rather tender as well. A small step up from the chickpea stew of Day 1.

Rating: 3.5/5

Dinner No. 3: Yemiser
Lentil Soup

This was when things started getting really good. The flavors of this stew were rich and delicious – probably due to the addition of niter kibbeh, a clarified butter spiced with onions, garlic, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, and turmeric. The butter turned out really well and I can’t wait to use it on everything from pancakes to stir-fries.

Rating: 4/5

Dinner No. 4: Doro & Quia
Hot and Spicy Chicken Wraps and Tomato Cucumber Salad

Epic. “Restaurant quality.” So good.

Just a few comments regarding these outrageously awesome chicken wraps. Slow cooked chicken thighs with onions, garlic, ginger, spices, stock, red wine, and tomato paste. Homemade kita bread pulled it all together. I will SO be making this again!

Oh, and the tomato cucumber salad was pretty good, too. Pretty standard.

Rating: 5/5

Dinner No. 5: Sambusa & Tikil Gomen
Fried Lamb Turnovers & Hot Cabbage Salad

These little lamb turnovers were fun to make and rather tasty, too. They were flavored with cinnamon an cayenne – a nice mix of sweet and spicy. The hot cabbage salad was also really good – hearty vegetables spiced with cumin and turmeric.

Rating: 4.5/5

—

So Ethiopian week ended up working out pretty well! I’ll definitely be making the chicken wraps again, and probably some of the sides – like the mashed potatoes and cabbage salad.

July’s cuisine week is Greek! It should be a fun one – and it will be the first cuisine week in our new house! Hopefully we’ll be all unpacked by then! ;)

1. Vietnamese – DONE!
2. French – DONE!
3. Irish – DONE!
4. Indian – DONE!
5. Jamaican – DONE!
6. Ethiopian – DONE!
7. Greek – NEXT!
8. Cuban
9. Moroccan
10. Thai
11. Polish
12. Japanese

Cuisine Week for the month of May officially ended last night with a stellar BBQ, certainly the highlight of Jamaican Week! Overall, I was somewhat disappointed with Jamaican Week. I was expecting much bolder flavors and vibrant dishes, but maybe the lack of those has more to do with my choice of cookbook and absence of scotch bonnet peppers. There are at least a few dishes I’ll be going back to in the future though, so it wasn’t a total failure.

Jamaican cuisine themes: allspice, thyme, scallions, and scotch bonnet peppers (I couldn’t find them and so substituted with serranos and jalapeños).

Dinner No. 1: Stewed Fish

Adam really liked this dish, but I found it a bit bland. It was basically white fish sprinkled with a tiny bit of allspice and lime juice, cooked in oil with a bunch of onions and scallions. Half way through cooking, the recipe had you add a milk and flour mixture to pull together the sauce. It had a 1/4 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce in it… why? I don’t know – because you couldn’t taste it at all!

Rating: 3.5/5

Dinner No. 2: Chicken Fricassee

This Jamaican chicken fricassee also came out a little “meh” to me. The chicken was marinated with lime juice and all the vegetables – onions, tomatoes, garlic, thyme, and scotch bonnets (serranos). After marinating, the chicken was fried and then the vegetables were added to the skillet along with some broth to simmer for 45 minutes. Nothing to crazy here. The chicken was amazingly tender though.

Rating: 3.5/5

Dinner No. 3: Cornmeal Fritters & Quick-Fry Cabbage

This combo only received a rating of 3 because of the cabbage. Without the cabbage, this would have been a fail. I bought coarse ground cornmeal instead of fine ground. Mistake. The fritters had good flavor but were way too crunchy to enjoy eating.

Adam did not like the cabbage, but I did – enough to make it again for the BBQ finale! It was kind of fun / easy to make, too! Cook up some onions, sweet pepper, tomato, and scallions in oil and after that’s all softened, add the cabbage and scotch bonnet (or in my case, serrano) peppers. Cook with the lid on for 10 mins, lid off for another 5. Simple and tasty.

Rating: 3/5

Dinner No. 4: Red Pea Soup

This one was pretty exciting if only because I got to cook with a ham hock for the first time ever! What Jamaican’s call “red peas,” we call kidney beans. So this dish was sort of like a chili or stew. Beans, beef chunks, ham hock, carrots, potato, cucumber, a few scotch bonnet (serrano) peppers, and dumpling-like dough “spinners”.

Rating: 4/5

Dinner No. 5: Jerk Pork, Festival, Avocado Salad, Quick-Fry Cabbage, Red Pea Soup, Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, and Banana Daiquiris

And finally, we’ve made it to the best part: BBQ! I spent quite a few hours preparing this feast, which was exhausting to say the least. First up, I put together the jerk marinade – the recipe called for 5 bunches of scallions, a quarter cup of allspice, and scotch bonnet peppers. While the pork marinated for about 4 hours, I put together the pineapple upside-down cake – which was fun to make AND delicious. Next up was the festival, a cornbread like fried dough stick – these were also yummy. Following the festival was the quick-fry cabbage. And then finally, the avocado salad – which was really a pretty standard salad.

Rating: 5/5

—

The big take away of Jamaican Cuisine Week – find scotch bonnet peppers or substitute enough to match the spice level. I admit, I was hesitant to use a bunch of serranos as a substitute since what I read said to use double the number, and after the heat during last months Indian Cuisine Week. But I really should have used double the peppers. Next time.

Next month I’ll be cooking Ethiopian! I have no idea what to expect! Should be fun – see you then!

1. Vietnamese – DONE!
2. French – DONE!
3. Irish – DONE!
4. Indian – DONE!
5. Jamaican – DONE!
6. Ethiopian – NEXT!
7. Greek
8. Cuban
9. Moroccan
10. Thai
11. Polish
12. Japanese