Witchy Kitchen

Tag: vegetarian

  • Kuku Kadoo

    Kuku Kadoo

    Under the Shadow is the story of Shideh (Narges Rashidi, brilliant) and her daughter Dorsa who become haunted by a djinn. It’s currently on Netflix, I enjoyed it a lot and suggest checking it out!

    Under the Shadow

    As a 2016 mother-child horror movie, it’s comparable to The Babadook, but whereas Amelia in the Babadook is haunted by her internal grief, the djinn that haunts the collected, ambitious, and modern Shideh seems to compound the ways she’s already being suffocated in her everyday life – ways there are no shortage of in 1980s Iran. Her dreams of becoming a doctor have been crushed, she and her neighbors live almost casually with the daily threat of missiles, and the morality police are more concerned with how she’s scandalously uncovered when she bolts outside in fear than by her and her child’s safety.

    Add to that the folkloric element of the tricky and unnerving djinn, who seems to target Shideh’s deepest insecurities. I cried hot tears as it takes the form of her husband telling her what a horrible mother she is, and almost applauded its pettiness as it destroys the only thing that seems to relieve her frustration: her beloved Jane Fonda workout video. So 80s. So culturally forbidden.

    Shideh doesn’t seem like a character that cares much about cooking, but at one point in the film, she’s seen in the kitchen chopping what looks like zucchini and potato, and then sweeps it into a pot. I took this as opportunity to try kuku kadoo, sort of an Iranian frittata which uses those ingredients. It’s a portable dish that works at all temps, so it’s good to take either to the apartment basement during an attack or as a road snack while on the run from supernatural forces.

    Kuku Kadoo

    Adapted from the defunct Lucky Peach

    • olive oil
    • 12 eggs, lightly beaten
    • 1 pound zucchini, grated and squeezed of moisture
    • 3/4 pounds potatoes, parboiled, cooled, and grated
    • 1 bunch green onions, sliced
    • 2 tablespoons yogurt
    • 2 tablespoons flour
    • 2 teaspoons baking powder
    • 2 teaspoons coarse salt
    • 1 handful parsley, chopped
    • 2 cloves garlic, grated
    • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
    • black pepper to taste

    Heat oven to 400°. Line a baking pan with parchment and grease with olive oil.

    With a spatula, combine eggs, zucchini, potatoes, green onions, yogurt, flour, baking powder, slat, parsley, garlic, tumeric, and black pepper. Spread into the baking dish an dback for 35 minutes, until top is golden. Check that it’s cooked through by inserting a knife into the center, should come out clean.

    Cool, remove from dish and slice into squares to serve.

  • Orange Jubilee

    Orange Jubilee

    Hey mutants! This month’s Fandom Foodies theme is #Xmenu, all X-Men inspired recipes hosted by Food ‘n’ Flix!

    Most of my X-Men familiarity comes from the 90s animated series. My favorite was Rogue, but I love a spunky orphan, so Jubilee was a close second. She’s the truest of mall rats; she ran away from an orphanage to hide out in the Hollywood Mall.

    alb-eleven

    Jubilee by one of my favorite illustrators Heather Mahler

    When brainstorming a recipe, I settled on a remix of one of the most iconic mall foods, the Orange Julius. I gave it some energetic personality by using coconut milk, then frozen pineapple as yellow and frozen OJ concentrate as dated as her signature jacket (just kidding, that jacket’s on point). Fire up those energy plasmoids, or your blender, and you have a drink as fun and girly and cool as our underrated heroine.

    Later I tried topping it with some sparkly orange seltzer – gave it that little bit of fireworks.

    Orange Jubilee

    • 12 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate
    • 1/2 cup sugar
    • 1 cup frozen pineapple
    • 1/2 cup ice
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • 2 cups coconut milk (the beverage kind in the carton, not the kind in the can)
    • orange seltzer, optional

    In a blender, combine orange juice concentrate, sugar, pineapple, ice, vanilla extract and coconut milk, blend until smooth. Pour into a glass and top with orange seltzer (optional), enjoy!

    WHAT, Jubilee gets turned into a vampire?! I may have to investigate this further.

    I’ve not seen Logan yet, so the most recent movie I’ve seen is X-Men: Apocalypse, which I think we can all agree was ok at best. However, there were two pieces of perfection, including my girl Sophie Turner who can do no wrong as Jean Grey, and this amazing mall montage with plentiful Jubilee which didn’t even make the final cut.

  • Roasted Tomato Soup with Sherry and Cream

    Roasted Tomato Soup with Sherry and Cream

    You are part of me now, and I cannot let you go. After awhile you will forget what you were, and you will begin to love me as I love you.

    The 1983 film The Hunger is a spooky chic take of a vampire story. The cast is amazing: French goddess Catherine Deneuve, the weird and wonderful David Bowie, and smart, sexy Susan Sarandon.

    hunger-poster

    I watched it after I became aware of the myriad references in American Horror Story. In Hotel, Lady Gaga and the other vampires are heavily influenced by The Hunger, from the ankhs to the slicing vs. biting kill technique to the use of Bahaus’s Bela Legosi’s Dead (which you can find on my ever-growing Spooky Shit Spotify Playlist). There’s a reference in Coven too, with Jessica Lang seeking youth from the scientist who does tests on monkeys, and probably even more that I’m not aware of because apparently Ryan Murphy is a huge fan and goes back to this well.

    I loved the movie for its stylishness, twist on the classic vampire lore, and of course the charismatic actors. The sexy AF aspect of vampires is not new but it’s well used here. It’s also quite enjoyable that in a movie about obsession with youth, the hottest scene is between two women who were in their late 30’s/early 40’s at the time (not old by any means, but ancient by Hollywood standards).

    Deneuve’s Miriam begins her seduction of Sarandan’s Sarah with a glass of sherry (another move echoed by Gaga in AHS), which makes an appearance in this sleek and velvety soup. Garlicky too, not a problem as these aren’t your average vampires. It’s an elegant starter for a dinner that ends in blood.

    Roasted Tomato Soup with Sherry and Cream

    • 1 pound roma tomatoes
    • 1 head garlic
    • olive oil
    • salt & pepper
    • 1/4 cup sherry
    • 4 cup chicken broth
    • 1/2 cup heavy cream
    • basil chiffonade for garnish

    Heat oven to 300° and line two baking sheets with parchment. Slice tomatoes to medium thickness, toss with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and lay on baking sheets in a single layer. Meanwhile, slice top off the head of garlic, wrap in foil, and drizzle with olive oil.

    Bake tomatoes and garlic, flipping tomatoes after 30 minutes, then again after another 30 minutes. Bake a final 30 minutes (1 1/2 hours total) until nice and roasty, checking that they don’t burn. Allow the roasted garlic to cool enough to handle, and squeeze out the cloves.

    Put tomatoes and garlic in a soup pot with the sherry, and cook until sherry is reduced. Add half the chicken broth, mix well, and cook for 20 minutes. Cool slightly and puree in a blender. Return to the soup pot (optional, for vampire-worthy soup do it through a mesh strainer), add the rest of the chicken broth and heat through. Check seasoning and add more salt if necessary. Add heavy cream and just heat through, serve hot garnished with basil.

  • Khobz Eddar – Algerian Bread of the House

    Khobz Eddar – Algerian Bread of the House

    The MENA Cooking Club celebrates the food of the Middle East and North Africa, and this month we’re cooking Algerian food! I chose to bake khobz eddar, or “house bread.”

    You can learn so much about a country from its folklore, so I spent some time reading about the stories from Algeria. Lots of tales trace back to the Kabyle people, a Berber group from the northern side. For the most part, the stories are about clever animals playing tricks and getting stuff done, but I was most excited to see that there is an Algerian Snow White story, similar to the Grimms version those of us from the West are more familiar with, but with some distinct Algerian flavor.

    yvonne-gilbert-snow-white
    Illustration for Snow White by Yvonne Gilbert.

    It’s very common in Algeria to bake bread at home to accompany meals, so certainly little Snow White regularly baked khobz eddar for the seven ogres! I made some to accompany my Algerian meal, which included a white bean stew and Teal Tadjine’s lovely garlicky meatballs.

    Khobz Eddar

    Adapted from La Petit Panière

    • 1 packet yeast
    • 1 teaspoon sugar
    • 1 cup warm milk
    • 200 grams semolina flour
    • 200 grams all purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 egg
    • 1 egg yolk for the brush
    • nigella seeds for garnish

    In a mixing bowl, mix yeast, sugar and warm milk and set aside until foamy, about five minutes.

    In another bowl whisk together flours, and salt. Lightly beat the egg and combine with to the yeast and milk mixture. Gradually add the flours to the yeast mixture until a sticky dough forms (you may not use all flour). Knead for 10 minutes on a floured counter, adding a little flour if the dough gets too stick. Roll into a ball and place in a clean, greased bowl to rise, covered, for one hour.

    Knead the dough again for about 10 minutes. Grease a 9 inch cake pan. Flatten and spreadthe dough with your hands into a nine inch circle, and place in the pan. Brush with egg yolk, sprinkle with nigella seeds and slice the top into 8 wedges. Cover and let rise for another hour.

    Heat oven to 400° Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. Cool, slice, and serve!

    Story time! This is a little long and winding, but there are some interesting details – the wicked woman is the girl’s own mother, the moon is an oracle, tricks with henna, and death from needles. Oh yeah, and ogres!

    More Beautiful than the Moon

    A beautiful and vain woman asked the moon each night “Is there anyone more beautiful than me?” to which the moon responded “I am pretty and you are pretty, but no one is prettier than you!”

    The woman had a child, a girl, who grew very lovely. One night when the girl was still very young, when asked the moon responded, “I am pretty and you are pretty, but the girl is prettier than everyone.” The woman was jealous and asked the moon if she should kill the girl. The moon allowed her to wait until the girl grew older, learned to cook and sew, then told the woman “now she is old enough to marry and have children; kill her or I will kill you!”

    The woman paid a butcher in jewels to take her daughter to the forest and kill her, returning with a flask of her blood that she could drink. The butcher tried, but could not bring himself to kill the beautiful girl, so he hid her in a cave.

    She fell asleep, and when she awoke she was surrounded by seven ogres. They made her their sister, and she stayed with them and kept their house.

    Meanwhile the woman revisited the moon, who told her her daughter was alive still, so she was killed.

    The ogres fell in love with the girl and all wished to marry her. To decide which one she would marry, she put henna on their hands, covered them in cloth, and told them she would marry the one whose henna turned the reddest. In the morning, none of the ogres’ hands were red at all, as she had tricked them by using another herb, so she remained unmarried as their sister.

    One day when the ogres were out, the girl was visited by an ogress who put seven needles in her head, so that when the ogres returned they thought she had died. They put her body on a horse and led her through the forest, where they came upon a prince who was hunting. He fell in love with the beautiful dead girl, but his father the king insisted she be buried; however, the undertaker discovered the needles and removed them and she awoke. She was married to the prince and they had a son.

    The son grew, and asked his mother about her family. She took him to see the seven ogres, who thought she had died, and embraced her with happiness. They visited the house of the ogress that had stuck her with needles and set her on fire. They discovered the ogress had seven daughters, to which the ogres were married, and lived happily ever after with the girl and her prince.

    Original story can be found in Tales Arab Women Tell by Hasan M. El-Shamy

    More MENA Cooking Club Recipes


  • Buttered Leeks

    Buttered Leeks

    Leek, leek, it rhymes with Reek.

    This is an innocent side of green veggie that is secretly, luxuriously bathed in butter. Leeks are delicate, with such a softness to their sharpness that even my daughter who hates onion with the fire of seven hells was happy to gobble up.

    Buttered Leeks

    • 2 pounds leeks
    • 3 tablespoons butter
    • generous pinch salt
    • several sprigs thyme to garnish

    Trim leeks of almost all green (you can leave a little of the spring green stem) and slice vertically. Wash well to remove all grit, and slice into half moons.

    Heat butter on medium heat, and add leaks, season with salt, and stir to coat. Cover and cook, stirring frequently, until completely soft and wilted. Season if necessary, serve garnished with thyme.

  • Scalloped Turnips

    Scalloped Turnips

    The night is dark, and full of turnips.

    Turnips are a staple of medieval cookery, and can often be used just as new world potatoes, whether sliced, mashed, or cooked into a soup. I recreated a scalloped potato dish I often cook for Thanksgiving using turnips instead, and their slightly sharper flavor worked well!

    The final product was a teensy bit soupy when sliced, as turnips aren’t as starchy as potatoes, but I’m not going to tell you not to make this because it was delicious. Eventually I may try variations, such as adding carrots and/or parsnips, using slightly less cream, or adding cheese (as in these garnished turnips, basically a turnip gratin).

    Scalloped Turnips

    • 4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
    • 2-3 sprigs rosemary
    • 2 cups heavy whipping cream
    • 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
    • 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
    • 3 large turnips (or 6 small)
    • 3 tablespoons butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

    Heat oven to 350°

    Butter a 7×11 baking dish (I know this is an odd size, so others will work). Place the garlic and rosemary along the bottom.

    In a mixing bowl, mix whipping cream, salt, and white pepper.

    Cut turnips into quarters (if they are small, just halves). Using a mandolin, slice a turnip at a time, dip in the whipping cream mixture, and arrange in layers in the baking dish. Sprinkle small butter cubes over the top, and loosely tent the dish with foil.

    Bake for an hour, until turnips are soft and easily pierced. Raise heat to 425° and remove foil. Cook another 15 minutes until top is golden. Rest 15 minutes before serving.

    From Game of Thrones menu Queen in the North

  • Rosemary Lemon Cakes

    Rosemary Lemon Cakes

    No Game of Thrones menu, especially one themed Queen in the North, is complete without the iconic lemon cakes.

    Previously I had made a southern Highgardenish version delicately flavored with rosewater, dolloped with a rosey lemon curd. Now that Sansa is back up north outside of Winterfell, presumably heading to the Wall, I started dreaming of a fragrant, piney, northern version of her favorite treat. Rosemary pairs so perfectly with lemon, and I made pretty candied lemon slices to decorate.

    These turned out delicious, and were even better over the next couple of days.

    Rosemary Lemon Cakes

    For the candied lemon slices

    • 1 cup sugar
    • 2 sprigs rosemary
    • 1 large lemon, cut into thin slices

    In a saucepan, heat sugar with 1 cup water and the sprigs of rosemary. Bring to a boil, swirling the sugar to dissolve it. Gently drop in lemon slices in a single layer and lower heat to medium low. Simmer gently, flipping occasionally, for 15 minutes, until rind softens. Remove to a wax-paper lined baking sheet, cool for an hour, then move to the fridge for an hour. When ready to use, slice the lemon slices into quarters.

    Reserve the syrup, you will use it for the lemon cakes.

    For the lemon cakes

    • 6 tablespoons butter, melted
    • 1/3 cup honey
    • 3 egg yolks
    • zest and juice of one large lemon
    • 1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped
    • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour (spoon very lightly into measuring cups to measure)
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/2 teaspoon salt
    • candied lemon slices (above)
    • lemon rosemary syrup (above)

    Heat oven to 275°

    Whisk together well butter and honey, then whisk in egg yolks one at a time. Whisk in lemon juice and rosemary.

    In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt, then stir into wet ingredients until just combined. Spoon into greased mini muffin cups, and bake for 15-17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

    Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then overturn onto a plate. Brush liberally with the reserved lemon rosemary syrup (slighly warmed), and top with a candied lemon slice. Cool completely.

    Even better the next day!

    From Game of Thrones menu Queen in the North

  • Asparagus with Lemon, Aleppo Pepper and Burrata

    Asparagus with Lemon, Aleppo Pepper and Burrata

    Asparagus for dinner again. I hate asparagus. Does this mean I’ll never grow up?

    This is such a dead simple non-recipe, but it’s currently one of my favorite way to prepare vegetables, as elegant as Laura Palmer’s slinky black red room dress. The asparagus is broiled so it takes minutes to cook, and keeps it’s lovely green color with a hint of a char. The simple flavors of lemon and aleppo compliment each other perfectly, and the burrata is creamy just a little melty.

    Maybe Laura would have liked it prepared this way, maybe not; but that’s ok, you can absolutely do other vegetables. Burrata is a little pricey, but I buy it in a package with two four ounce balls, and can make different veggies on different days – with the other ball I roasted half a butternut squash with the same seasonings, equally lovely.

    Asparagus with Lemon, Aleppo and Burrata

    • 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
    • olive oil, sea salt, aleppo pepper (or substitute paprika)
    • 1 lemon
    • 4 ounce ball burrata

    Set oven to broil.

    In a roasting pan, toss asparagus with olive oil, a generous sprinkle of sea salt, a good pinch aleppo pepper and the zest of one lemon. Broil for five minutes then roll with a spatula, then broil for two or three more minutes, until asparagus is soft but keeps a bite.

    Slice the burrata and lay in a line on a plate, arranging the warm asparagus over it. Sprinkle with a little more aleppo pepper and a spritz of lemon juice.

    Read the Food recap Twin Peaks s01e01: The Pilot

  • Mushroom Potato Scotch Eggs | David the Gnome

    Mushroom Potato Scotch Eggs | David the Gnome

    I loved David the Gnome when I was a kid; fantastic creatures in general interested me, but gnomes in particular seemed so sweet and cozy. Affectionate, nice to animals, and with the cutest little houses; I was obsessed with their pretty Nordic carvings and their little beds built straight into the wall.

    mushroom-potato-scotch-eggs-david-the-gnome

    I had all but forgotten the show (based on a book I am now interested to read) until Diana from Fiction-Food Café and Catherine from The Gluttonous Geek started talking about it on Twitter, inspiring a watch-and-cook from all of us!

    Rewatching the show was like snuggling up in a warm blanket of nostalgia. It is exposition heavy in the most charming way: each episode starts with a snippet about the lives of gnomes – the clothes they wear, their houses, and of course the food they eat. Gnomes are very kind, and very environmentally conscious, so all their food is plant-based or else gifted by their animal friends.

    I think we all chose to use mushrooms, which seemed natural as they are forageable in the forest and form magical fairy rings. Mine I used to make scotch eggs – vegetarian of course! In the very first episode the gnomes eat skylark eggs (having no skylark eggs available I used completely mundane chicken eggs) and David, a doctor, helps an ailing goat, so I thought it might be reasonable he was repaid in goat cheese. I also have it on good authority that gnomes are partial to root vegetables, so potato seemed like a good ingredient to tie it all together.

    Mushroom Potato Scotch Eggs

    • 8 hardboiled eggs, peeled
    • 1 large russet potato, peeled and medium diced
    • 6 ounces goat cheese
    • olive oil & butter
    • 1 medium shallot, diced
    • 3 cloves garlic, grated
    • 11-12 ounces mushrooms (I used 8 ounces cremini and 3.2 ounces fresh shitake), finely chopped
    • 1 teaspoon Herbs de Provence (or a mix of herbs such as thyme, basil, or parsley)
    • salt & pepper
    • 1/2 cup flour
    • 1 egg, beaten
    • breadcrumbs (optional, I did some with, some without. I seasoned the breadcrumbs with a little salt and fresh thyme)
    • oil to fry

    Put potato in a small saucepan, just cover with water and a good pinch of salt, and bring to a boil. Boil until the potato is very soft, then drain and mix with goat cheese and a tablespoon of butter.

    On medium-high heat, warm a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon (or two) butter. Cook shallot and garlic until shallot just starts to turn golden, then add the mushrooms and herbs. Cook, stirring, until mushrooms have released their water and the mixture is mostly dry. Stir into the potato mixture, season to taste, and allow to cool to room temperature.

    On medium to medium high, heat 3/4 inch of oil in a frying pan. Take a palm-sized portions of the potato mixture and form it around each of the eggs (it should be malleable and spread easily). In batches of two, roll each egg in the flour, dusting off any excess, then dip in the egg and coat with breadcrumbs if using. Fry, rolling gently, until they are golden all over, and remove to a paper towel-lined plate. (Any leftover potato mixture you can just form into little disks and fry on each side until golden).

    Serve on a bed of greens or asparagus.

    For more David the Gnome recipes, visit:

    And if you’re inspired to revisit your childhood, the entire series is on YouTube.

  • Spiced Carrot and Fennel Soup

    Spiced Carrot and Fennel Soup

    This month for MENA Cooking Club, the lovely group I’ve been cooking with to try more Middle Eastern and North African recipes, the country was Oman, hosted by Rafeeda of the mouthwatering blog, The Big Sweet Tooth.

    This month also happens to fall during Ramadan. As I’ve been reading about Ramadan traditions around the world, it seems most Middle Eastern countries have a traditional iftar (fast opening meal) of a light soup of lentils and/or vegetables, humble food to kind of adjust the digestive system, gently bring it back to life. Makes sense, seems very peaceful and measured…then the Pakistani tradition, as far as I can tell, is party food: pakoray, dahi baray, papri chaat, rooh afza! Fried goodies and sugary drinks, at least we’ve got some watermelon or fruit chaat to balance it out, and I’ve been throwing in some roasted veggies or a fresh tomato salad as well.

    Anyway, since this month was Oman and one of the suggested recipes was a vegetable soup, that’s what I chose to make because it seemed like an appropriate iftar dish. I focused on carrots and fennel and added some Middle Eastern spices. Several of the soup recipes I looked at were thickened with oats, which I found interesting, so I tried that here. It gave the soup a nice creamy texture that I’m sure is much healthier than actual cream, so I might be trying that trick more often. I’m happy with the garnish too, I shaved a carrot and fried the shavings into crispy little carrot chips to sprinkle on top – I always garnish, it makes even the most mundane dish a little special.

    Please, friends, I’d love to hear more about your iftar traditions!

    Spiced Carrot and Fennel Soup

    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 1 large onion, chopped
    • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
    • 2 small bulbs or 1 large bulb fennel, sliced
    • whole spices: 1 teaspoon ajwain seeds (you could sub a little dried thyme), 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
    • powdered spices: 1/2 teaspoon turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon red chili
    • 1 pound of carrots
    • 1/4 cup quick cooking oats
    • 4 cups chicken broth

    In a large pot, heat butter/ghee and saute onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add fennel and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes or so until fennel is softened. Add whole spices and stir for a minute, add powdered spices and stir for a minute more.

    Add carrots, oats, and 2 cups of the chicken broth. Stir well, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and simmer until carrots are very soft. Puree in a blender and return to the pot. Add the remaining 2 cups of chicken broth and heat back through.

    Serve garnished with crispy carrots (below) and chopped fennel fronds.

    For the crispy carrot garnish

    Peel and trim a medium carrot. Shave carrot into thin slices with the peeler. Heat a pan with oil and shallow fry the carrot in batches, until no longer bubbly and is beginning to turn golden. Remove to a paper towel lined plate.