Editing always makes other jobs seem so much more interesting and imperative. This week it seemed like a good idea to catch up on my recipe resolution.
The first recipe I tried was for baked falafel. I love falafel, but I don’t like to deep fry things – if nothing else, it’s messy. I’ve tried to make it up myself and bake it but never have gotten the mix quite right. So, I finally looked for and found this recipe.
The only thing I did differently was to skip the fresh cilantro and use only parsley – not because I don’t like cilantro, but because I didn’t happen to have any, but I did have a lot of parsley. I also skipped the hot sauce because I didn’t think the children would enjoy it. I was encouraged when I made up the batter – it was moist but not drippy. I scooped it out and put the majority in my cast iron skillet and the overflow on a cookie sheet.
The patties on the cookie sheet actually cooked much better – I suppose because the cookie sheet heated up so much more quickly. I ended up pan frying the ones in the skillet just to crisp them up a bit at the end. Next time I’ll just use a cookie sheet for all. And there will be a next time – these were great and everyone enjoyed them so much I didn’t have any leftovers.
Many of my recipe ideas come from some item hanging around in my kitchen. The parsley inspired the falafel patties. The aging strawberries and leftover spray whipped cream from my daughter’s party inspired me to try my hand at strawberry shortcake.
I’ve only ever had strawberry shortcake on top of sponge / angel food cake and I have to say that served that way, it doesn’t tempt me much. Make a fresh shortbread base for it though and oh-my-goodness-is-it-good. Seriously yummy.
I am also pleased to say that I’m making my way through the final edits for Separation Anxiety bit by bit. Once those are complete, I only need to format it and get it uploaded (hopefully by the end of the month).
ETA: I bought a pastry cutter last summer and finally got to use it when making the shortbread recipe. It’s much easier to clean than my food processor, but I’m not sure that benefit outweighs the speed and efficiency with which my food processor would blend in the butter! Also, I’m already making plans for alternate toppings for the shortbread – like raspberry sauce, plums, peaches, etc. Hard to go wrong with just about any berry or fresh fruit. Kind of like a reverse cobbler!
