HIP STEVE FOOD

Last week friend, actor & comedian Steve ben Israel fell and broke his hip.  Not so funny. He has been moved to a rehab place and was ready for some better food than what is offered there. However, because of the pain relieving drugs he isn't too hungry. What to do? Bring him some good food mixing colors, techniques and tastes. Steve is a lifelong vegetarian.

I'd like to share with you some of the recipes created just for him along with the photos. I would just like you to wish Steve a speedy and painless recovery while you read them. Deal?

Here is the list of dishes:

GRILLED EGGPLANT with preserved lemon peel, mint, parsley, sumac, olive oil, s&p
CANNELLINI BEANS with garlic, sage and olive oil, s&p
GREEN BEANS with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, s&p
YELLOW LENTILS & GARBANZO BEANS with onion, mustard seeds, nigella seeds, turmeric & lemon juice
RAW ZUCCHINI STRANDS with Moroccan black olives, red onion, Turkish Biber pepper, oregano, basil, champagne vinegar
RAW RED CABBAGE with mint leaves, honey, apple cider vinegar, chili powder
OAT CAKES: pinhead oats, smart balance, water, sea salt
CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COOKIES: oats, chocolate, walnuts, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, sultanas, flaxseed, chia seeds, etc.

You can probably already figure out how to make these dishes just from the ingredients.

Slice the eggplant in rounds about 3/8" thick. Your choice to leave the skin on or not. Soak in salted water about 10 minutes, then drain well. Heat a cast-iron grill pan very hot. Sear the eggplant on both sides and in two directions. Remove to a plate. Cut up some rinsed, preserved lemon peel into small square pieces.
Drizzle with a copious amount of olive oil, sumac, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Tear pieces of fresh mint and parsley. Toss well breaking up the eggplant in bite-sized pieces. Let rest about 20 minutes to have the flavors bloom. Eat room temperature.

Take a quantity of dried cannellini beans and cover them with water. It's always best not to use a metal pot, but if you have to go ahead. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn off heat. Let sit about an hour or overnight. Drain the water and put some fresh water in the pot. Bring to a boil, adding a couple of bay leaves, if you like. Boil, then simmer low for about an hour or until tender. Drain well. Toss with lots of olive oil, freshly torn sage leaves, slivers of fresh garlic, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Let sit. Eat room temperature. Add some more olive oil when ready to serve.

Pinch off the stems of some unblemished green beans. Slice into sections about 1-1/4 inches, or whatever size you prefer. Cover with water and a little bit of salt. Bring to a boil, simmer about 5 minutes, then cover and turn off the heat. Let sit until soft and tender - about 10 minutes. I like my green beans cooked so my teeth are not met with resistance. Put about 3 tablespoons of Sahadi tahini into a bowl, add some lemon juice, minced garlic, and enough water to make a sauce. Toss in the drained green beans. Add some sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Taste. I usually add some more lemon juice.

These so-called yellow lentils start out coral colored. I wish they would stay that way, don't you? Rinse them well, over and over, until the water runs clear. Drain. If you have ghee use it, if not, use grapeseed oil.  Saute some red or yellow onion, toss in some mustard seeds - black or white - and some nigella seeds, if you like. Cook until the onion is a bit caramelized and the seeds are popping. Add the coral lentils, (1 cup to 2 cups plus of water), bit of sea salt, boil until soft and mushy. Add a good amount of lemon juice, toss in some canned garbanzo beans that have been drained and rinsed. Taste. Add salt? Add pepper? More lemon? Stir well. Hey, leave some for everyone else.

 You can't do this without one of those spiral cutting gadgets. I just got one and I'm going raw vegetable spaghetti crazy! Cut off the ends of a zucchini and cut to fit the gadget, turn the wheel and out comes strands of zucchini. One zucchini makes a ton. Take your hands and break it up a bit - permission granted to play with your food. Slice some red onion very thin and toss in along with a handful of Moroccan black olives, or whatever kind you like. Sprinkle with dried or fresh oregano , some basil, Turkish Biber pepper (www.kalustyans.com). Drizzle a bit, not too much, champagne vinegar to add an acidic note...or vinegar of your choice. Whatever you like. I like something lighter than balsamic here. Toss well. Fluff those strands!
 


Cut red cabbage into slivers. The idea here is to make it a bit sweet and sour. Drizzle honey, apple cider vinegar and toss well. Taste. More honey, more vinegar? Tear in some mint leaves and a dash of chili powder. Sea salt and fresh black pepper, too. Smallest amount of water. Toss. Toss.

Haute Oat cakes. Veddy haute. I have some Scottish pinhead oats (remember Archie comics?). There is a recipe on the package. Just melt some butter, or Smart butter. It says a dessertspoon...maybe that's 2 tablespoons? Pour into the center and mix well. Add salt and hot water to make a paste. Well that didn't work. So I put the mass into a food processor to break down the oats, then let it sit for a bit. Kneaded it well until it held together, well almost. Rolled it out on the board, then cut it irregular triangles. I did the best I could. Placed on a sheet pan and into a 400 F. oven...until the ends started to curl and they got a bit brown. Success! They held together and, though a bit dry, taste great. Put something nice on top and they aren't dry at all. Perfect. Such ruffage.


And then there's the cookies. Sorry folks. No recipe. You can order them from me. PHYLLIS' COOKIES. www.amorebakedgoods.blogspot.com
phcookies@gmail.com


Ask for the 'Hip Steve' cookies and I'll know what you mean. They are $20 a pound plus shipping. These are vegan too but not gluten free. Loaded with nuts, seeds, etc. Very rich. No eggs. Sugar, but not tons.


That's it for now. It took longer to post this than I thought. I'm starving. Gotta go make dinner.
Ciao...... PH