Fawaffles

The age old question - How to Grill Falafel - has been answered.

I sound kind of stuck up saying it like that, I know. Forgive. I am excited.

Cookout season is upon us and you guys know I like to stick everything ever on ze grill. Luckily, a pal and my's craving for falafel coincided with her monthly weekend grillfest and I had to get creative - and fawaffles were born.

Now, that doesn't mean you HAVE to grill them - they're super-awesome straight out of the waffle press, drizzle with tahini + hotsauce, pickles a-sprinkled - but if you want a little char on 'em, form the patties, wafflize them, and throw them over some hot coals. I do love a char on my falafel and that's the perfect way to accomplish it.

Plus, no frying! Healthy! Yay!

Fawaffles
makes 9-10 burgers

2 cups falafel mix (OR get industrious and go at this from scratch)
2 eggs or 2 eggs worth of egg replacer
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons freshly minced parsley
Super finely minced red onion - I used about 1/2 of 1
2 tablespoons freshly crushed garlic
Dash cumin
1 tablespoon minced sundried tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

Canola spray for the press

Tahini sauce, hot sauce, minced pickles and turnips for serving

Vegan Note - if using egg replacer, make your batter a little dryer - try 1 1/4 cup water, let the batter sit, and check consistency.


General Note - You want a slightly thinner batter than if you were frying the falafel - not crumbly, pretty mushy and wet. If using a mix, remember to let the batter sit for 10-20 minutes after combining everything to allow for rehydration.


Beat your eggs (or mix egg replacer) with water and oil in a separate bowl. Mix all other ingredients in a large bowl, add water, and stir thoroughly. Let sit 10 minutes and stir again - again, you're looking for mushy, not crumbly.


Heat up your iron and spray liberally with canola. Put a ball the size of a large lemon in the middle of your grill and close. Let the waffle cook for about 5 minutes, until it browns just a teeny bit. Remove to a plate to cool. Using a smaller amount of batter makes for a circular patty - if you'd prefer square, use a tad more batter.


Finish off your batter.


We made these ahead of time and once they were grilled, stuck them in (grilled, of course) pita with all the fixings. Lordy lordy, this might be my new party trick this summer -they were LOVELY.

For the sake of preserving Falafel as an awesome vegan protein source, I'm planning on reworking the eggless recipe over the next couple of weeks (not a huge Ener-G fan over here, sad to say). Stay tuned, my vegan darlings!

Ode to Asiadog

It all started with this dude.

And two days after reading that rad little tidbit, we were chowing down on some of the awesomest dogs ever (veg/pork alike) at a pal's cookout. Which was random, since we'd never been to her casa before, and I show up with like, 20 vials of assorted kimchees, relishes, pates, etc, cover her kitchen table, and go to work on Ode to Asiadogfest '11.

Crowd fav was the Sidney - "Thai style" dog with mango relish, jalapeno (optional - nerds), cuke, cilantro, peanuts, onions, umm... yeah there was a ton of stuff on that there weiner. It's the one in the middle.

Mine, however, had to be the Vinh - Bahn Mi dog. Hullllloooooo.

Best part, tho - I still have multiple kinds of stinky, glorious Kimchi aging in random places around my kitchen. Saurkraut ain't got nothing on this, it's spicier, hotter, prettier Cousin.

I know I'm running the risk of more angryangry putting a Kimchi recipe up - but this recipe is what I used (as a base) adding stuff as I saw fit - a little sesame oil, twice the pepper paste, more garlic, celery, etc. I had a half-head of red cabbage to use up, so one pickle was bright maroon - gorgeous. We did standard Napa:

And, a new one to me - Apple Kimchi, in a further attempt to replicate the Asiadog experience. Ain't the Tubes wonderful? I've never had a dog from that cart IRL but there were enough pics, convos, menus, etc available that we could do the Stinky Dog Stand justice. 

The Apple went atop a simple dog - the Ito - slathered with a paste made from S+B's boxed Golden Curry (watch out MSG haters- it's full of it). This was a close second for me - partly because I could take my time eating this dog (the Thai fell apart instantly, yay mango slaw).

I also ate two with nothing but Kimchi. They were fantastic. New fav topping for dogs this summer.

Anyways. NYCers, you're lucky. The rest of us have to make do.

Shroomjitas - made with a really versatile marinade

I'm in full-tilt get-it-in-before-it-gets-chilly grillin' mode these days, as a kind of farewell to this ridiculously hot summer. That I'm bidding farewell with total relief, but if you've ever tried throwing something on the coals in the middle of December, you know what I'm talking about - it's a warm weather thing. I tried grilled pizzas last January and ended up with hockey pucks topped with unmelted cheese that tasted like gasoline. Eh.

I've done a lot of marinading this year, but still hadn't settled on a Mexican flavor wash that I liked - until last weekend, when we were doing some Labor Day cooking at a pal's in Wilmington. He had one of those chili kits in his cabinet, came with the usuals (cayenne, garlic, onion powders). Add some smoked paprika, chili powder, a little extra cumin, green onions minced fine, some tomato paste, and a lot of fresh garlic, and you've got a savory, spicy marinade that goes fantastically with salsa, guac, tortillas, todos. More importantly - it sticks well to the slippery sides of zucchini and the smooth backs of mushroom caps.

Mushroom Fajitas

for the marinade:

1/2 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup olive or corn oil
1/2 cup water (or cider vinegar, for a sharp flavor, or water left over after all the salsa's gone, like we used)
1/2 bunch scallions, minced fine
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tablespoon salt
1 tsp sugar

In a bowl, whisk all the above together. Set aside until ready to use.

for the Shrooms:

4 pounds mushrooms, either portabello caps, oyster mushrooms, or large creminis
Marinade, above

Slice the oyster mushrooms in half, leave other 'shrooms intact (having removed the portabello stems, that is). Throw them in the bowl with your marinade (or move everything to a large, flat plate or bowl) and using your hands, toss with the marinade until there's sauce in every crack and crevice. Let sit for about an hour.

prepare and serve:

30 corn tortillas (enough to feed 5 hungry people)
bunch cilantro, minced
1 medium onion, diced
Cojita or queso Fresco, crumbled
Diced fresh jalapenos

Preheat your oven to 350f. Wrap tortillas, no more than 6 to a pile (they'll stick if you wrap any more than that together) in foil and place in your warm oven for 10-15 minutes (whilst your mushrooms and searing).

Get your grill HOT, as hot as it can get (with a gas grill, somewhere around 450-500f will be sufficient). Throw your 'shrooms on there and grill about 4 minutes each side, until you see some char. Remove to a large plate, slice in strips, and chow down with tortillas (double them up, or you'll end up with fajitas in your lap), toppings, yum yum YUM.

Leftovers, if there are any, make amazing veggie Migas.

So what if I just discovered homemade 7 layer dip?

Don't look at me like that. I've always just grabbed the least browned-avocado-looking plastic carton of Dip on the way to a cookout, thinking, you know, it'd be expensive to make it from scratch, wouldn't really be worth it, people get more excited by the burgers anyway, who cares.

But. Seriously. I couldn't quit this last night. It's dangerous - you're just chillin' on the couch, watching an episode of ST:TOS or something, and a garlicky, whispery voice is up in your ear, telling you to just have a couple scoops. Before you can say Fascinating, it's half gone.

If your house is anything like mine, there are crazy people in it that hate awesome things like cilantro and olives. While you can probably sneak some cilantro into the guac and salsa, olives are a garnish-topping, and will be noticed. If you like spice, try mincing some escabeche (tiny!) for a pickly topping instead. Also, be picky about your chips - try for rounds rather than the strips pictured here. Structural integrity is key when scooping this heavy, delicious dip.

7 layer dip, part by part

So the classic layering goes thusly, bottom to top:

Black refried beans
Sour cream
Salsa
Guacamole
Shredded Cheddar
Minced olives/ peppers
Green onions

Obviously, the easiest way to go about gettin' 'er done is grabbing premade stuffs. Anyone out there who's a lover of salsas and guacs will tell you that homemade is the only way to go, but it's tempting when throwing them in a dip this complex to lazy out and just buy them from Hairy Peter or TJ's or wherevs. Trust me when I say it was totally worth the chopping and mushing. Surprisingly, flavors stayed distinct, all the way down to the refrieds. Delicious.

So, for the beans:

1 can black beans, undrained
1/2 carrot and 1/2 celery stalk, minced fine
1 clove garlic
Dash salt
Dash hickory smoke seasoning (like dees)
2 tablespoons olive oil

In a skillet, heat your oil over medium-high heat. Add your garlic, celery, carrot, and cover. Get some brown on 'em (about 3 minutes) then stir. Add beans and liquid and hickory seasoning, and grab a potato masher. Working in a circular motion, mash your beans until about half of them have dissolved. Let the beans simmer a bit more to thicken, then remove from heat. Taste and adjust salt. Set aside.

For the salsa:

1 large, somewhat ripe tomato
2 tablespoons freshly minced cilantro
2 tablespoons freshly minced green onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt, about a tsp
Couple grinds fresh black pepper
1 small jalapeno

Chop your 'mater, throw it in a medium bowl. Add herbs, juice, garlic, salt, and pepper, mix. In a blender, put about a handful of your salsa thus far. Chop your jalapeno and throw it in the blender - pulse until things are relatively obliterated. Return it all to the bowl and stir. Taste. Set aside.

For the Guacamole:

1 avocado
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon minced cilantro
1 tablespoon minced green onion
1/2 roma tomato, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
Optional (depending on avocado's ripeness): 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tsp salt, or to taste

Pit the avocado, put the delicious flesh in a medium bowl. Add lime juice and garlic, and using your potato masher, mash it all up. I like mine a bit chunky, but if you want it really smooth, use a food processor. Add your herbs, salt, tomato, and stir. If you aren't getting a good, fatty taste when you same, add the olive oil and mix well.

A note on the other layers:

Chives or green onions would work equally well as the final topping, as would a mix of cilantro and green onion. For cheese, I used an aged white cheddar - but for color, most go with regular orange. I really enjoyed the nutty, salty quality of the cheese we used. But it was kinda pricey for going on top of a million other flavors.

You can either buy Mexican crema or thin yours a bit with salt and a little water to get it spreadable. If you've never tried Crema, now is the time!

Diced jalapenos are an awesome way to spice this up a bit, especially as a final topping. I used some homemade jalapeno pickles, since I wanted to tone it down just a bit. Oh ya and those huge slices of raw pepper on top were all me. MWAha!

Weekend Nosh

We've been trying to make a tradition out of grilling something, at someone's house, every Sunday this summer. Praying to the Church of Charcoal, if you will. I had a bag of Vadouvan spices staring at me from the shelf, so "tandoori" kebabs were on the menu.

It's kinda misleading to use the word Tandoori in describing these, since a Tandoor is a type of clay oven, and obviously these were getting charred over a pile of briquettes. Although not an impossible stretch since tandoors typically use charcoal as a heat source. But anyway.

The previously mentioned Stuart had played Garden Produce Fairy again and graced us with about 2 pounds of green tomatoes. Those needed to get eaten, so we had some fried green 'maters too, using a secret technique whose how-to I'd pried out of a friendly waitress at the Penguin some weeks back (who shall remain names, lest she lose her job). Bad news for my vegan CLT homies: the fried pickles are NOT vegan.

And then we had this delicious lucky pot:

Bean salad, courtesy of MT. Kid has this uncanny knack for making the mundane surprising - his pasta salad, which I've since tried to replicate, holds a sweet memory in my foodbrain. The kicker here was pickled green beans. Awesome.

Onto the recipes!


Tandoori Kebabs

As with any kebab, use a mix of your favorite veggies, remembering that the marinade will stick best to wrinkly things (cauliflower and broccoli, ungilled mushrooms, scored zucchini).

Makes 15 skewers.

1 pound mushrooms
1/2 head cauliflower
1 block tofu, frozen, defrosted, squeezed to drain
2 bell peppers
2 medium squash or eggplant

2 cups yogurt
1/4 cup vadouvan or Tandoori spice mix (for a make-it-yourself mix, see here, can't go wrong with eCurry)
Dash sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt, 1 tablespoon

Mix your marinade and taste. You want a little heat, a fair amount of salt, and a bit of sweet. Add more sugar, red pepper, and salt until it tastes balanced and strong.

In several large plastic bags, separate your veggies. Pour a third of the mixture into each bag, seal well, and squish, gently, to coat your veggies. Put the bags aside at room temperature and let marinate for at least 3 hours (we went to 5 on ours).

As your briquettes are briquette-ing, skewer a piece of each of your veggies on either bamboo or metal skewers, starting and ending with a hearty vegetable (like cauliflower or squash, saving your tofu and peppers for the middle). Careful! The marinade makes things slippery. I punched a couple of tiny holes in my thumb with the sharp end. D'oh. 

As soon as you see mostly gray on your charcoal, it's time to grill. Highest heat possible is ideal. If you have concerns about the tofu sticking (which it likes to do) wipe your grill down with olive oil ahead of time. Put your kebabs on and close the grill, letting them cook for 2-3 minutes per side. Keeping the grill covered helps to steam the veggies, so they cook all the way through. Using tongs or a spatula, flip the kebabs, and cook about 3 minutes. Edges should be charred, colors bright.

Serve with a tamarind chutney (recipe below) or another sweet dipping sauce. Yum.

Tamarind dipping sauce:

1/2 cup tamarind puree
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tsp Sriracha (hey, nobody said this was authentic!)
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste

Mix it all together and heat, either in a non-reactive pan or the microwave, until warm enough to melt the sugar. Taste and adjust salt. Chill.

Fried green tomatoes

I have an irrational desire to capitalize the letters of green and tomatoes. Thanks a lot, Jessica Tandy.

The secret is soaking the freshly sliced 'maters in, basically, Ranch Dressing for a good hour before coating/frying. Buttermilk base, little mayo, herbs and salt (my recipe is here).

1 cup ranch dressing

5 medium or 10 small green tomatoes

1/2 cup fine white cornmeal
1/2 all purpose flour
Dash each: cayenne pepper, black pepper, onion and garlic powder
1 tablespoon freshly minced chives

Vegetable oil, for frying

After your tomatoes have soaked in their ranch batch for a good hour, mix your flours, powders and chives in a large plate pan or plate.

Heat your oil in an iron skillet to medium-high.

As you fry, you're going to lose cornmeal to the oil. Since you'll be doing 4-5 batches, every batch or two, wipe the cornmeal out of you skillet and replace the oil. Otherwise, you'll end up with very burnt taste tomatoes and a kitchen full of smoke.

Shake a little dressing off your tomato round and plunge it into the flour. Press gently to coat one side, then flip and press again. I like to let the tomato sit there until I have a panful ready to fry - so you can cook them all at once.

Gently place each tomato into the oil and fry until golden on one side, about 2 minutes. Do not move the tomato, as you'll loose your crust, if you do. Carefully flip by getting all the way under the tomato with your spatula, scraping the crust off the pan if needed. Fry the other side another 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Serve with more Ranch, for dipping. Mmmmm.

Those are good burgers, Walter.

I know I'm not the only one that reads/sees/dreams about a certain nosh and obsesses over it 'till it's in my belly. Right? Right?!

So, I started planning a veg In-And-Out burger cookout on Wednesday - after reading this obscenely awesome article by the venerable Kenji over at SeriousEats. Me and half the nation, ya, I know.

The question wasn't whether it was gonna taste good - caramelized onions + gov't cheese + mustard + double soy patties =/= bad. The gamble was on whether we could make it work with a grill - In-And-Out fries their boigas. Solution - treat 'em like wings - baste them with a mixture of butter and mustard while they grill to get that mustard-fried flavor (I mean, we're already in heart-attack land, might as well storm Instant Coronary Castle). It worked beautifully - bright yellow, slightly crunchy crusts on each patty. Hell yeah.

Seems the keys to the castle were a couple of things:

Patiently caramelized onions. Like, 40 minutes, start to finish. Pretend like you're making French Onion Soup like Julia does (no, not me, silly!).

Half mustard. Half butter. Melt, stir, brush brush brush brush. You can also stick all your patties in a dish and marinate while your coals get ready.

We used Boca's. Morningstars would work fine. Keep it firm tho - none of that Dr Praeger's crap.

Once we had gray, we stuck all 12 patties on at once (enough for 6 burgers). 4 minutes later (approx - there were copious amounts of beer involved) they were brown and crusty. Flip.

Now for the mess. Spoon a tablespoon (or two. or three!) of onion onto each patty. Top with two slices of cheese. Then, top with another burger.

Let the cheese melt. Quick! Grab your buns and give 'em a quick toast. Then layer: spread, pickles (4-5 dill slices), burger, lettuce, tomato (2 slices please!), more spread. Squish. Eat!

Someone made awesome mac n cheese to, you know, make sure we all had our daily butterfat intake.

Someone else got the cheesy onions that kept falling off everybody's sammiches. There's glee in them eyes.

Grilled Pizza

God, I can't get enough. I'll even start the Weber up in February and stand around, freezing, to get that burnt, grilled taste onto my pizza. Delicious.

I've been known to go the lazy route, however, when pizza night rolls 'round - TJ's fresh dough is delicious and vegan, and most of the time we just use that. For special occasions, however, I'll make it myself. The differences are subtle - it's lighter, puffier, chewier, takes the heat a bit better. Worth it, if you have the time - you'll find the recipe below.

This is an adaptation of two recipes - the NY Times pizza dough recipe, and Wolfgang Puck's everyday pizza dough. Basically, I added more olive oil, subbed bread flour for half of the all purpose flour (you need all the structural integrity you can get, else all your work and beautiful toppings'll end up as charcoal additives) and did a little more kneading, a tad less rising. In 1.5 hours start to finish, you'll have delectable, chewy dough ready for any topping you desire. Suggestions (for toppings) at the bottom.

The Dough
makes 4 single serve pie crusts or two larger crusts

1 pack active dry yeast (2 tsp)
1 cup warm tap water
1 teaspoon honey or sugar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1.5 cups bread flour
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt

Mix your yeast, sweetener, and water together in a small bowl. Let sit 5 minutes.

Mix your dry ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer (the smaller bowl will suffice). Use the paddle or beater attachments (if using the beaters, you'll have to clean them out with a fork before moving onto the dough hooks). Add the olive oil to your yeast water, and while your mixer is mixing, toss your liquids in. Mix your ingredients evenly, then switch to the dough hooks. Knead for about 8 minutes, until everything incorporates and balls up, pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Oil another bowl, plop that dough in there, and cover tightly. Set in a warm place and allow to rise for about 45 minutes.

While you're waiting, make some sauce, saute some mushrooms, grate some cheese, you know.

Take the dough out of the bowl and cut it either into quarters or halves. On a clean, un-floured surface, knead your ball gently for 2-3 minutes, pulling the exterior underneath and working it in, 6-7 times. Your dough will feel firm and elastic when finished. Place on a cookie sheet and repeat with the other pieces - cover with oiled plastic wrap and let rise another half hour.

When the dough has finished resting, generously dust a surface or large cutting board with flour. Grab a hunk of dough, stretch it slightly, then plop it in the flour. Turn over and do the same for the other side. Now pick the dough up and hold it, dangling, while moving constantly in a clockwise motion, letting gravity thin and stretch it out. You may need to stretch the center of your crust a little more forcefully. Rotate and stretch about 5 times, until the dough is thin and you can see light through it when you hold it up to a lamp or the window. If it's a bit thicker at the edges, that's just fine. Lay it out on a cookie sheet or roasting pan. Do the same to your other crusts. Do not stack them on top of each other with layers of cling wrap, foil, or parchment paper in between - they'll stick terribly.

The Process

The best temperature at which to grill pizza crusts is about 5 minutes after you spread your hot coals out from their lighting-position-pyramid. The hotter, the better. You'll need a spatula and tongs, a brush and about 1/2 cup olive oil. Make sure you have the plate or pan space to move the crusts around as needed, since they'll be getting two doses of grill (one to grill one side, one to finish the other and melt your cheese).

Do either two smaller crusts or one large crust at a time, do not overcrowd. Brush the crusts with oil, generously, and with two fingers, grab the top of your crust. Flip it over and gently place it on the grill, quickly. Get it as close to the edge of your grill, and away from the hottest part, as possible. Do the same with the other crust and put the lid on the grill.

Wait a minute or two. At a minute in, you'll see the dough start to bubble.

Turn the crusts 180 degrees, to grill more evenly. Once you have a nice, toasty (even black in places) bottom, brush the top with oil, and flip them. Close the grill again. This time, only cook the crusts for about 30 seconds to a minute - just long enough to set the dough. Pull them off.

Top your pizzas on the finished (most cooked) side with your choice of cheeses and veggies (and in this case, fake 'roni and fakon).

With a large, wide spatula, set your pizzas on the grill once again, as close to the edge as possible. Close the grill and let 'em go until your cheese is somewhat melty. Watch the bottom - burnt is good, charred isn't. If you'd like, you can finish them in the oven with the broiler, but that's cheating!

Let pizza's sit for 3 minutes before slicing and noshing.

Grilling pizzas introduces a very strong burnt flavor to the palate, so you'll want to use strong toppings and cheeses. Honestly, a light, fresh mozz gets a little lost. Use some asiago, blue cheeses, brie, stronger flavors when topping your to-be-grilled-'zzas.

Here, we had some scapes that we brushed with oil and quick grilled. The tops ended up on our "Hawaiian" pie - accompanied by grilled pineapple and fake bacon, along with red sauce, mozzarella, and asiago. The other was simple - red sauce, mozz, fake pepperoni, and quick-sauteed mushrooms. Nom.

Adventures with Black Garlic

Saw a pile of fermented garlic when I was at Kalustyan's last week, and had to have it, despite the 10 dollar price tag (for four heads). Surprisingly, the taste of fermented garlic is sweet and musty, almost skunky, rather than strong and salty, which was what I was expecting. Pairing it with fresh-harvested Shiitakes is only for those in love with strong, earthy flavors.

So, I made a marinade - oil (mostly olive, with a little truffle), salt (smoked), a splash of sherry, and 12 cloves of fermented garlic. Black pepper, fresh cracked. Pureed in the blender until smooth, add a little cold water, puree some more. Marinate your 'shrooms for 30 minutes in a deep dish. Throw them on the hottest grill you can come up with (as in, as soon as all the coals are gray and glowing red 'round the edges). Here, we ate grilled pineapple with them - an awesome, bright counterpart to the cranky, stinky 'shrooms. Ah, summertime.

Fermented Garlic Marinade, for grilling

1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon truffle oil
1-2 heads fermented garlic
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 tsp salt, smoked was used here
Lots of freshly cracked black pepper
1/3 to 1/2 cup water, to thin

Put your garlic, oils, sherry, salt and pepper in a blender and puree until smooth-ish. Drizzle your water in until the sauce is thin, but still soupy. Pour over your to-be-marinated veggies or mushrooms. Let sit 30 minutes. Makes about a cup of marinade.