I am a rock star, late summer episode

[oneroom]

Homemade chicken soup (spicy-cumin style) with homemade biscuits.

Homemade blancmange with homemade blueberry zucchini muffins for dessert.

Total effort = approximately 3 hours. Total satisfaction = immeasurable.

I'm gonna go knit some socks or something, just to further impress myself.

Comments

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

i love cumin chicken noodle. the mexicans in the kitchen at the local lebanese restaurant make it, with a touch of fire and inch-wide noodles. very delicious. you are a rock star.

[(Anonymous)]

I second that! Mmm.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

What, no recipes? *sulks*

[oneroom.livejournal.com]

You've got to read Crescent by Diana Abu-Jaber if you're a fan of Mexicans in the kitchens of local lebanese restaurants.

No wide noodles in this soup, as I had a request for letter pasta instead. If I had my way, it would have rice. Mmmmm.

[oneroom.livejournal.com]

Soup: Fill a big pot with water, leaving oh... two or three inches of room. Put it on to boil. Add the following: salt, four chicken thighs, a chili, a lot of paprika and cumin, some carrots, an onion, three cloves of garlic. Um... some celery, some chard stalks, half a can of tomatoes, and a bit of cinnamon. Oh, after it's boiled, add some black pepper. Let it cook for awhile. When it's almost done, add half a zucchini, some parsley, and some letter-shaped pasta.

Biscuits: From The Joy of Cooking. Combine 2 C flour with 2.5 t baking powder and a decent-sized pinch of salt. Using whatever method doesn't make you crazy, cut in 5-6 T of butter. (I used my hands to cut in 5 T of fake butter.) Make it look like really big breadcrumbs. Pour in .75 C milk and stir ingredients until just moistened. Take the dough in hand, pat up any spare bits stuck to the bowl, and knead a half dozen times. Pat out to .5" thickness and use a cup to cut rounds. Brush with milk and bake at 450 degrees for about ten minutes.

[oneroom.livejournal.com]

Blancmange: Put a cup of milk (soymilk works) and a good dose of cinnamon on medium-high heat. In a bowl, combine .25 C cornstarch with .5 C sugar. Add some more cinnamon, plus 2 more C milk. When the cup of milk on the stove begins to simmer, add the cornstarchy milk. Raise the heat in order to boil the whole thing, whisking briskly the whole time. It'll take a few minutes, but when it boils, let it boil for about a minute then remove from the heat. Add some vanilla and some almond extracts. Pour into any handy tiny little bowls, molds, etc. you have and refrigerate over night.

Blueberry zucchini bread: Combine 3 eggs, .75 C oil, and some vanilla. Add 2 C sugar. Fold in 2.5 C zucchini. Add 3 C flour, a large pinch/small handful of salt, 1 t baking powder, and .75 t baking soda. Add some cinnamon and nutmeg. Fold in a generous 2 C of blueberries.

Bake at 350 for about an hour.

[purejuice.livejournal.com]

done. the lebanese are an amazing people. they are in liberia, where i met them as a child. and mexico. selma hayek. who is whupping ass as a producer now, even before having lost her looks. when i think of faye dunaway and the actresses of her generation and before, who neither married well enough or rich enough and didn't diversify their talents.....
anyway, go diana.

[oneroom.livejournal.com]

I've got some Lebanese half siblings I don't know very well, but they are definitely good looking.

Speaking of not marrying, Diana AJ writes about not marrying when one comes from a tradition where marrying is everything. It's one of the reasons I love her.

Just one warning on Crescent - I was disappointed with the ending. Up until the last ten pages, I was in love. I think she got tired. And after such a poetic, funny, thick effort, one can forgive her.

[oneroom.livejournal.com]

Actually, the muffins don't take an hour. I made tiny breads, too, and those took about an hour. I took the muffins out after 40 minutes or so, I think.

[sallybelle.livejournal.com]

oh lovely food - thanks for the info - especially eggplant - my girlfriend is allergic so I rarely cook this most beautiful veg but will try the baba. great bolb - may I friend

[sallybelle.livejournal.com]

oops meant blog- can't spell - but that was over the top even for me

[oneroom.livejournal.com]

There's something about the word "bolb" that makes me really happy, so I'm glad for your spelling over-the-topness.

Any friend of Susan's is a friend of mine. :)