in my kitchen :: thrifty finds, comfort food and repurposing an old pine wardrobe

Did you know that potatoes are related to tomatoes? I didn't. I suppose the clue should have been in the name...the 'toes' bit. After our potatoes flowered we noticed two little green fruits that looked just like tomatoes growing on one of the plants...curious. A quick google query 'fruits that look like tomatoes on a potato plant,' revealed that they are the poisonous fruit of the potato plant that carry seeds. Apparently they only produce this fruit when growing conditions are perfect and if you sow the seeds they'll  produce a variety different from the one that you planted and it might be difficult for them to germinate. I think that I'll stick to planting potatoes when they start shooting out little roots in the vegetable basket the same as we do with the onions. 

In case you wondered...also in the kitchen:

• Quick summer crumbles. Lots more, including peach, egg plum and cherry. I think apricot is still the favourite. I have to stop now before I get crumbled out...
• Bay leaves from the garden to stock up kitchen herb supplies. 
• Vintage shopping...I can't resist white pillow cases. Especially if there's a lace border or even a peep of broderie anglaise to be seen. And a cute little stoneware pie funnel. It will hopefully encourage me to move on from crumbles to pies.
• The teeniest, weeniest frog spotted jumping on the kitchen floor. It must have hopped in when the door was opened. I began to think we had a mini plague after we rescued two on subsequent evenings. Now I think it was the same one that just liked our kitchen so much that it popped back in again...
• A solid old pine wardrobe that was a real bargain from a charity shop. I have been scouring the auctions for months since I left a bid on a larder cupboard and lost it for just £2 above my bid. Had I been there I would have gone much higher and still had an amazing bargain. But this one is still very cheap even though more than twice as much as the one in the auction sold for and the money will go to a good cause. With the clothes-rail removed and shelves added it makes the perfect pantry. Hey presto from wardrobe to larder cupboard in an hour. We're not quite sure whether to paint it to blend in with the rest of the kitchen. What do you think?
• Seeds collected from the garden ready for next year. My mission is to avoid buying as many seeds as possible. (Do you like my classification? 'green spiky')
• Comfort food...more risotto. Another green one, this time with spinach and mange tout.
• Haleem, Persian chicken porridge...more comfort.
• Mini omelette made from lovely local free range eggs.
• There's also been lots of sewing but I'll show you that later...

Haleem, Persian chicken porridge

To make enough for three to four people place a teacupful of oats into a saucepan or porringer and a good pinch or twist of sea salt. Poach a chicken breast in salted water until just tender but not dry. (I usually reserve the cooking liquid to make chicken stock.) When cool, shred the chicken with your finger or two forks using the same method used in Chinese restaurants to prepare duck with pancakes. Add this to the oats in the saucepan.  Gradually add  cold water into the oats and cook over a moderate heat, feeding the water in, in the same way that you would a risotto.  This is one of those dishes where you need to stand and stir...a bit of cooking therapy...After a little while you can add milk instead of water to give a much creamier texture. Cook until the oats are broken down into a smooth porridge.  

I like to eat it with the traditional spoonful of butter. It's also served with the addition of a little cinnamon and sugar or clotted cream stirred in but I prefer to keep it savoury.

That's just a bit of my kitchen chaos...I wonder what's going on in yours. 

Oh and about painting the pine cupboard. I really would appreciate your advise...what do you think? To paint or not to paint? 
debx

weekend :: Mallen Streaks, and Persian Chicken with Walnut and Pomegranate Sauce.

Minnehaha feeding the birds, Frances Anne Hopkins, Ca 1880

If spring was a whisper, now it's almost a shout. The calendar may say that it's not, but tell that to the birds. They are in full nest-building mode. When I open the bedroom curtains in a morning, I see them shoot out of the eves dropping straw and feathers. At first I was worried that I may scare them away, but I don't seem to phase them at all. They were here when we came, and they'll probably be here long after we've gone. I don't think that I'll ever have straw free window ledges, what with the birds and the tractors towing hay bales and leaving showers in their wake. 

We've seen the first baby lambs...twin ones. Cute...or what? Everything is having babies, budding and blossoming. 

There were three whole days to ourselves at the weekend to catch up with decorating. Mostly bright, bright sunny days. I'd lost part of the kitchen again but it meant that the bathroom was getting completed, walls plastered and sink fitted. A couple of coats of paint, then half a day making the front room into a temporary workshop. I am determined the kitchen won't get eaten up again. 

We sanded and undercoated and painted, and things are moving on bit by bit. 

A friend popped around Sunday afternoon with a sweet gift of fragrant rose and pomegranate bath oil made with damask rose, patchouli leaf, cedar-wood and bergamot; with organic pomegranate and apricot oil, from this lovely shop. It proposes to restore a peaceful balance to mind and body. 

It certainly did something. Don't you think it sounds like the scent of a lake where Minnehaha might have bathed?  Stepping into the warm perfumed water for a soak with a Mallen streak of white paint in my dusty hair and the last few pages of a novel to read, I didn't notice the unfinished shower or tools piled in the corner. 

Ahmad has been putting me to shame, cooking much more than I have this week. He made Fesanjoon (or Fesanjan) which is Persian chicken cooked in a walnut and pomegranate sauce. It's probably one of the easiest Persian dishes to cook and yet somehow always seems one of the most luxurious. But you do really need to get traditional Pomegranate Molasses to get the authentic taste, a mildly sweet/sour flavour.There's a link below with information about where you may be able to find it. 

Here's his recipe...

To make generous servings of Fesanjan for four people you will need the following ingredients:

• A small free-range chicken that has been skinned and jointed, or a chicken portion per person
• 200-250g of finely ground walnuts
• Pomegranate molasses. Lots of supermarkets now stock this or you can find it in most middle-eastern deli's or on-line. 
• One large or two medium sized onions, chopped finely.
• Mildly flavoured oil like groundnut for frying
• Honey
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Fry the onion in a little oil until golden brown but not quite caramelised.
2. Add the chicken portions and brown
3. Add the ground walnuts and fry for a further couple of minutes, stirring all the time to ensure that the mixture doesn't stick and burn.
4. Cover all the ingredients with boiling water, remembering that this will be cooking for at least and hour, so add enough.
5. Season with salt and pepper
6. Add a some of the pomegranate molasses to liquid and give it a good stir. It should look pale to mid golden brown at this stage.  Like in the image below.
7. Cover the pan and simmer for a long time until the liquid has reduced and the sauce is much darker in colour. A heavy cast iron pan is ideal for making this. So that it can be left to leave simmering for at least an hour. Maybe two or more. Checking every so often to ensure that it doesn't stick.
8. The sauce should be sweet/sour and dark brown once cooked. This will depend on the quality of the molasses syrup you use. You may like to add a little runny honey while it continues to cook if it's too sour. Some recipes ask for sugar but I think that you can taste the sugar in the food. Honey somehow melds in more easily and becomes part of the flavour. It's up to your own taste but it should have a lovely sweet/sour flavour but not overly so...delicious.

you can see step-by-step images here and I've written a bit here about where you can find pomegranate molasses. 

I wonder if there is a whisper of spring in your neck of the wood yet...
debx


joining with Karen for weekends

This week in my kitchen 14 :: Persian tomato rice : Polow ghermez (red rice)

Capturing my love of whole foods, combined with the activity of a bustling kitchen.

A weekly collection of photos from the center of my home. 

*     *     *     *     *

• Persian tomato rice  with torshi (Persian pickle) mast-o-musir (yoghurt with shallots) made with dried shallots, reconstituted and then left in yoghurt to absorb the tangy flavour.
• Tea anniversary gift from my lovley sister P. Too nice to open yet...we might keep it for a little bit longer. 
• Making mast-o-masir. You can buy the dried shallots from here.
•  Porridge cooked with vine fruits and maple syrup
• No baking this week, just lots of fresh fruit
• this carrot and chickpea salad with apricots and ginger. I used the carrot tops with mint from the garden and added spring onions 
• boxes lots of boxes...

Polow Ghermez

Every so often 'A' would mention Persian tomato rice saying that one day he'd make some for me to try.  I'd never heard of it before, never seen it, or tried it so presumed that it can't be that good or everybody else would be serving it up too... But we had lots of ripe tomatoes this week and I asked him to teach me how to prepare it. 

So he measured the rice into a saucepan and washed it, and I poured boiling water over tomatoes to release the skins and then peeled them. We pulped the juicy tomatoes and then added them to the drained rice plus a little turmeric and sea salt and a good trickle of olive oil. The tomato juice should cover the rice when all mixed together by about an inch if not enough you can add a little water and tomato puree. We covered the saucepan with a lid and placed it on the hob and allowed it to cook on a low heat for about an hour until the rice is cooked to a delicious soft pinky pollo with crunchy tadik at the bottom of the pan. 

It's very more-ish and so easy to make that I wish I'd asked sooner. This will definitely be a new staple.

• about nine tomatoes juiced
• three and a half cups of basmati rice 
• tomato puree
• sea salt
• turmeric
• olive oil about two tbsp

wash the rice, put in saucepan, add salt and juice mix. should be about an inch above cover leave on low heat for about an hour. 

joining with heather for her weekly blog hop

...coming?
debx