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Roasted Red Pepper Hummus w celery sticks for serving (on arrival)Almond Soup
Fattoush
Main: Elk Goulash over Potatoes Tumeric
Chocolate Cherry Pecan Tell
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus w celery sticks for serving
Crazy! I picked up some Hummus mix from WinCo, and did not get the directions to make it, (I know, I know, just add water, but that is not how I think). So I did a Google search for Hummus from dry mix and WinCo came up in the number two spot on page one of Google. The recipe said just add water *grin*, but they also recommend olive oil.I roasted a chunk of red pepper on one of the burners of my stovetop, cut it up, stirred it up, finished with a sprinkle of Gamay Masala; life is good indeed.
Almond Soup
Collected some parsley and mint from the garden and rinsed them well. Chopped some green onion tops, 1/2 a red pepper, tsp. grated coconut, 1 quart almond milk, sea salt to taste, ruling spice is cloves. Have some almond flour in a bowl ready to mix with hazelnut oil to create a roux.
Fattoush (Peasant Salad)
This can be almost anything in the world as long as you end up with something tangy and slightly sweet. I made this with raw cabbage, chopped red pepper, tops of green onions, sliced cherry tomatoes, using a vegetable peeler I added strips of cucumber. I gave it a light dressing of yogurt and tumeric and on the side did a tahini/yogurt/raspberry vinegar dressing.
Elk Goulash Pin Ups
I have two servings for four or five people each serving from my frozen elk rump purchase from Butcher Boys. Got the last of the uncooked elk out of the freezer on Tuesday. For pin ups, I need a fairly thin slice. If the elk is slightly frozen that is much easier to accomplish. In the mean time I worked on the filling. 4 small onions, 1 green pepper into the blender, puree goes into a non-stick skillet to start cooking off some of the water.Spices. (any Hungarian Goulash recipe you trust will help you with the flavoring), here is mine:
2 tbsp. paprika, (smoked and spicy if possible)
2 tsp. marjoram
2 tsp. caraway seeds, either soak them overnight or run them through the blender
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
Cube some Monterey Jack cheese, 1/4" pieces, throw them in the pan and kill the heat immediately, you want the cheese to be slightly distinct from the sauce. Throw the mix into the fridge for at least 30 minutes to start setting up. Work on your largest cutting board. Put a toothpick for each pin up in the work area, once your hands are goopy you will not want to be reaching into the toothpick container. Take the thin sliced elk, spread the sauce on it, have your toothpick ready when you start to roll, carefully insert the tooth pick, I find working from the high side at about a 45 degree angle towards the cutting board.
These will be baked and served over the:
Yukon Yellow Potatoes Tumeric
Note: this is designed to serve between 4 and 6 people, we will use a different starch on Friday.I found a 3 lb bag of small potatoes at WinCo and they seemed like fun. Slice the potatoes longwise, (flat not tall), and fill a medium sized skillet when them facing up. Cover with water. Add 2 tsp. tumeric, cook on high. While the Yukon potatoes are cooking, finely chop a small onion, a celery stalk, a large cremini mushroom and add them.
I have found these yellow potatoes can be all over the map doneness wise and cook unevenly in the microwave or baked, that is why we are boiling them. The next step is a bit tricky. Take three tbsp of cheddar cheese powder, (they sell it in the bulk at WinCo and in "survival" cans at Wal-Mart), put it in a bowl, pour some liquid from the skillet and whisk immediately in the bowl till smooth and add back to skillet. Put on the low setting of your lowest burner, the goal to produce a nice thick paste without burning, or creating a mess stuck to the skillet for all time and place. Transfer to a pyrex baking disc tops up, sprinkle parmesan cheese on the top of the potatoes, Broil for two minutes, if the cheese is browned, you are done. Put the pin ups on top. 15 minutes before serving place the dish in a pre-heated oven at 325, (recommend a meat thermometer into the center of a couple pin ups).
Chocolate Cherry Pecan Tell
In ancient times in the middle east, when a culture failed, the next culture would build their city over the top of the old one. Eventually you had a hill or a small mountain and this was called a tell, I guess it is kind of like Mt. Trashmore in VA Beach.
I wanted a dessert, not too exotic nor too plain. You can use any decent gluten free brownie mix that calls for either chocolate chips or diced chocolate bar. Made the first layer with a bit too much egg white, (I substituted egg white for the 2 eggs in the recipe), so it spreads out, (it is a multilayered tell we need a foundation). Started it off with a large non-stick skillet till the bottoms were set and the tale-tail signs of a pancake, (bubbles on the top), showed through. Quick like bunny, I removed the pan from the heat and pressed in the first layer of Mortmorency cherries. Covered them with more dough, and put them in the broiler. Do Not over cook, if the bottom is burned, it is time to start over.
For the next layer, I added a pecan and three more dried cherries to each tell. Since I used a pasteurized egg product, food safety is not a huge issue, so you can have have moist "molten" chocolate on the inside and a more done, maybe even approaching crust if not crunchy, on the outside. Do cover every original surface with some of the batter or it will burn.
Lather, rinse repeat, you can go four or five surfaces high, in fact if you didn't have a life, I bet you could go taller, but I prefer to play the averages, real guests are really coming. Let's get this done and baked!
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