Saturday, February 20, 2010

Weekend Meze.

It rained last night and the forecast had predicted rain today but it has yet to come. I took advantage of the current blue skies and sun with slight breeze to lunch al fresco once again. I'm really getting used to this! It makes me look forward to the weekend. Come summer, this is will be a regular thing. Can't wait.


Another meze lunch with lots of things to nibble on and again with the mediterranean theme. I just got a new cookbook, "The Greek Vegetarian" and I wanted to use it today. I made from it Eggplant Puree with Walnuts and Fava Bean Stew with Mint. I also made hummus and a greek salad.


Hummus on the left and Eggplant Puree with walnuts (Makedonitiki Melitzanosalata) on the right. The eggplant puree was delicious and garlicky. The walnuts are first ground to a paste and then processed with roasted eggplant pulp.


Fava bean stew with mint (Koukia Stifado me Dyosmo). Delicious and filling tender fava beans with a base of tomatoes, red onions, garlic, mint and dill. I added dill because I'm crazy about it and a lot of greek dishes have fresh dill so it seemed rather fitting.


Greek salad with cucumbers, olives, red onions and "Betta Feta", a tofu based faux feta from The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook. Drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.


First of the jasmine blooms I've seen this year.


Buster eating pita.


Dessert is banana bread that I made with the biggest ripest bananas that I found in our fruit bowl. The cake sunk in the middle a bit because of my impatience. I peeked in the oven way too many times!

10 comments:

marciferous said...

I've often wondered about that "feta" recipe from the Uncheese book... is it easy to make? How does it taste?

sweetsandsweat said...

This makes me want to go home and cook for myself! I love eating on a table/tray instead of eating on my computer desk in my dorm room.

Glue and Glitter said...

Aaah that Bettah Feta pic makes me miss my Uncheese Cookbook more than ever! Someone borrowed it, and I don't know who!

kmouse said...

marciferous,
It's very easy to make. You basically make a brine out of water, miso paste, vinegar and salt and you soak the tofu cubes in it for longer than 2 days. I like it ok but I find that it doesn't have much flavor. I even added dill and oregano to the brine.

Mary said...

I'm so glad I read this post! I made some roasted eggplant puree the other day and it was nearly flavorless. I'm gonna rescue it with garlic and walnuts. Thanks, Kim!

kmouse said...

Mary,
I just found a link to that recipe which I included in the post.
Add garlic, walnuts, lemon juice and red wine vinegar to your eggplant puree!

Lauren Lowe said...

What a coincidence - I have this cookbook and tried the fava spread with capers (p. 38) for the first time yesterday. The flavors were wonderful but it looked nothing like the photo. I put in too much water and the yellow split peas never really binded for a hummus-like consistency. But I think it's definitely worth trying out!

kmouse said...

Lauren,
That recipe looked good. I want to try that soon as well.

MissAlyssaDawn said...

that greek salad looks yumE!

Claryn said...

I love mezze so much (I've posted about it before), and it's awesome to see what other people like to include in theirs! The eggplant puree sounds particularly tasty.