Injira The Bread That Is The Backbone

 Ethiopian and Eritrean cooking is mostly deliciously rich stews. These need a good bread to stop up the sauce and flavors.This would be injera, the porous bread that is a staple in both cuisines. It's one of the easiest breads to make and a great accompaniment to fall's flavors.

New contributor Naz Deravian and cookbook author of the fascinating Bottom Of The Pot Persian Recipes and Stories wrote about this vital staple of both Ethiopia and its neighboring country Eritrea.It's a sour springy flatbread rich with nutrients. It serves as both a bread and a utensil. The two countries have cuisines heavy with stews such as alitcha kik a split pea one , Shira  a chickpea and tomato mix and doro wat, a spicy chicken mix.Injira is known for its' "eyes" tiny holes that stop up juices . The malleable texture allows it to be torn off and allowed to stop up sauces as well as being used as a kind of spoon. Los Angelenos can buy the bread from Gennet Wondimu who started her catering business out of necessity after her husband's death. she also makes it without the usual added grains of barley. The original teff flour is gluten free which makes it perfect for those with gluten allergies. demand for it grew as Los Angeles hosted more and more Ethiopian restaurants.

Injira can be made at home and Ms. Deravian includes it. Teff flour is required to get the most authentic look and flavor.It can be found on Amazon but some groceries carry Bob's Red Mill brand . Home bakers do have to create a starter - not unlike sourdough. This is called leet and it's a mix of water and teff.It's left to ferment for a few days and then added to boiling water until it forms a thick smooth paste called absit..This is to ensure the injira doesn't;t crack and is springy. The absit is stirred into the remaining batter until it's smooth and pourable. Getting this right will either make or break the bread. This may be tricky for a novice baker. It takes a lot of practice and the right environment for fermentation,Once done it can become second nature as Ms. Wondimu attests. What about the griddle or the mitad? Use a non stick pan, making sure  all residual oils are wiped from it.Use a paper towel for this. Pour the batter into the pan .It should be a thin stream and forming a circle in the center. Try not to have any thick areas. Its done when the eyes or holes pop and cover three quarters of the surface.Cover and finish cooking for thirty seconds more. Take the pan off the head and use a spatula to slip the injira onto a towel to cool. Stack the breads  and they can be stored for up to two weeks.

Injira is the staff of life for Ethiopians and Eritreans.It is perfect for stews. Make it to discover this great staple.

Easy Dinners For Busy Days

September is here and with it the start of busy days and weekends. Is there time to cook a tasty and nutritious dishes? Yes! There are many easy recipes out there that work for you and your family.

Regular contributor Emily Weinstein wrote this must keep article in today's  Wednesday New York Times Food section. She is no stranger to creating long lists of recipes. last year she created a list of one hundred (!) recipes. Some are in today's paper but they and the others can be found on line. This is not just for this month. The months ahead will be crazy busy with everything from holiday shopping to holiday cooking. The recipes are great for home chefs starting dinner at a later hour due to work or personal business. They're also great for leftovers too, lasting for two days instead of one.Families will love the skillet only chicken with mushrooms and caramelized onions.It's giving a French onion soup vibe but has much more, Vegans ans vegetarians will love the lentil cacciatore. It can be varied with white beans ot brown lentils.Its a flavorful dish thanks to the tomato paste, garlic and capers. Carrots are added to get rid of that sometimes overpowering tomato tang.Kids will love dumpling soup. Frozen dumplings are used along with very thin rice , dried wheat or egg noodles. Broccoli florets and baby bok choy give it that nutritional boost while miso supplies a flavor boost.

Kids will love any of the next recipes.There's a sticky miso salmon bowl, not unlike those takeout bowls many restaurants offer. Kids can add such toppings as nori, kimchi, chili crisp and slices of cucumber avocado and radishes. The salmons get a rich flavor thanks to it being  first marinated in a lime ,honey and oil marinade and then broiled on a sheet pan. Smash burgers are always a must on any menu rotation. Ms Weinstein gives sausage smash burgers. Loose pork , whether mild or spicy  is used for the burgers .They're topped with a sauteed mix of any color bell peppers onions and garlic. The burgers are fried after these and served on toasted brioche or buns. Oregano can be added to this. Of course everyone will love the peanut butter noodles.Two kids favorite spaghetti and peanut butter are combined along with butter,Parmesan cheese  and soy sauce to form an Asian influenced dish. Top with more Parmesan if you want. Another meat free dish is eggplant adobo, eggplant is cubed and sauteed in olive oil, salt and pepper first, This is placed in a bowl to make room for cooking the adobo.The sauce is coconut milk,soy sauce ,vinegar and sugar cooked in the same pan as the eggplant in the oil. The eggplant is added back in an d cooked for ten more minutes. Add rice to it for a heartier dish

These are easy dishes for busy nights ahead. Make them for a quick dinner that the family can enjoy. They're a simple cook - perfect for the non stop days ahead.

Kitchenscaping It's A Thing

 There's all these new culinary and kitchen related  trends thanks to social media platforms. Now there's a new one - kitchen scaping where people arrange everything in the kitchen so it looks magazine ready. Are they inspiring? There's the question.

Let's put it this way - my table isn't "scraped"

It is messy, full of bags of various snacks and tons of cups and glasses. There is space to chop and dip. There even a space for eating for one. One day this will be cleaned. Not now. Do I need to bring in a kitchen scraper? I don't know. I have more respect for kitchens that are messy and lived in. It means people actually cook here. They chop. Things squirt and squish here. There are sticky  drips. This is what a kitchen should be like,

Maybe the closest I have to a kitchenscape is my stove top.it is neat and I like how essentials, like my salt, olive oil and vinegar (and yes they're all from my favorite -  Lidl) are evenly aligned. I can easily reach for them whether I'm sauteing veggies for ratatouille or creating a cooling gazpacho. Will the rest of my kitchen - especially my fridge -  be scaped? Eventually.

Kitchenscaping. Yes it is a thing. If you have a pretty kitchen show it off. Yet the more interesting kitchen is always the messy one. It has a story to tell.

Remember Labor Makes Food

 Today is Labor Day and we should honor all those who contribute to put food on our tables and in our school cafeterias, Keep in mind that lunch ladies and your waitstaff at your favorite restaurants all do the same thing - serve food.

Give praise to all those serve you. Most are working for low wages .Do what you can to boost their day either by a generous tip or a warm compliment. They 'll greatly appreciate that you thought of them and cared.Praise both the chef at your local restaurant and the cook at your kid's school.Think about giving both gifts for the holiday coming up.

It's Labor Day . Remember those who labor to bring us hot and tasty meals.

A Great Easy Cooking Cookbook

 Prepping for a recipe can be hard, especially when it comes to finding the right ingredients. Yet suppose you could use shortcuts that make cooking and baking that much easier.Thanks t a new cookbook HOmemade -ish you can.It's a great book for those who are novice home chefs or for those who don;t want too much fuss in the kitchen.

I really love this cookbook by Lauren McDuffie who also authors the blog My Kitchen Little which features easy to follow recipes that use canned and already made ingredients . Homemade-ish (Gibbs Smith Publishing 2024) is kind of an extension of the website. Home chefs like myself will appreciate her philosophy, She believes in ease and efficiency ,holdovers from when she worked in the government. She tells home chefs that it's OK to jazz up boxed cake mixes and buy jarred pesto instead of making it from scratch. There are also a list of kitchen must haves which are not fancy such as a blender  slotted spoon skillet and muffin pan among other kitchen basics.

There are all sorts of recipes, from breakfast to dessert here.I've had my eye on the spaghett and meatball which I can make with vegan meatballs.This is a perfect Sunday dinner meal that can easily translate to Monday leftivers

I also have my eye on the cold soba noodles with sprouts and edaame

THis is perfect for those still hot days ahead when I want something cool yet nutritious.Also on my radar are the mall pretzels, premade pizza dough  and then first  boiled in baking soda and water then baked. There is a roasted potato salad perfect for late summer barbecues. The meat recipes, too re easy and any novice home chef can try bruschetta smash burgers made with store bought meatballs along with the dreamy seared scallops and gnocchi<Yes there are great desserts and easy ones too like an apple pan dowdy made with package prepared sugar cookie dough and apples. I definitely want to make the Ritzies for the holidays. These are simply those peanut butter sandwich crackers dipped in dark chocolate. 

Homemade-ish is the must have cookbook for every home chef. These are tasty and easy recipes that will make any meal stand out. definitely make it part of your culinary library

Friday Night Quick Meals

 every home chef should be ready for the rushed fall nights.This means quick cooks. Friday is usually one of those nights. Some order out. Some prefer to cook.If you're in the last category then think about a quick cook meal. This is just throwing some ingredients together sauteing or steaming and then serving.

I found my go to - zucchini coins with tomatoes cooked in a mix of  plant butter butter and Lidl  olive oil.

try to make any combo and olive oil a staple of quick cooking. They impart flavor as well as creating a smooth sauce

YOu can add garlic or garlic powder if you want a long with any combination of herbs. 

It;s a quick and easy meal that tastes soooo good. The best part is that there will be leftovers for a hot Saturday lunch.Another easy cook is the classic sheet pan one.Melissa Clark's recipe that was featured in her  A good Appetite this week in the New York Times Wednesday Food section. This is a mix of crispy cornstarch coated tofu , corm kernels and chiles. You can easily cut the kernel off the corn ears and keep them in containers in the fridge. They'll keep for several days.It;s a colorful dish and easy to make in a 425 degree Farenheit oven.

Friday night is a night for quick cooking,.Sauteing and sheet pan roasting will help in this. You'll have tasty food in no time.

A Peppery Bite Of Flavor

 Red pepper adds spark and brightness to any dish.They can be from anywhere in the world but they' share a spiciness and excitement. This is what makes cooking great.

Regular contributor Eric Kim knows this and wrote about them in yesterday's New York Times Food section.Capiscums or peppers are grown all over the world. There are the Aleppos , fruity tasting ones from Syria which go into labneh and baba ganhouj along with soups. The Koreans have gochuguro, those sweet red pepper flakes while the Japanese have their togarashi - an interesting mix of yuzu, chili, ginger, black and white sesame and sansho - Japanese cardamon. The French use Espelette which is grown in the Pyranees and used to flavor many Basque dishes.The US has ground chipotle and jalapeno that flavor many Tex -Mex dishes. What makes chili powder unique? According to Ethan Frisch , founder and chief executive of Burlap and Barrel it's really the terroir or the ground that it's planted in. It's much like wine and coffee. The dirt determines the flavor.It doesn't;t take long  for the Chile to meet the demands of the local climate.Ut's also shaped by human interest as well.

One example of this is a school friend of Mr. Kim;s James dong grew Korean peppers in their Georgia hometown. While Mr. dong bought the seeds on Etsy , the peppers took on the fragrance of Mexican chipotle while they were being smoked and crushed to make gochugaru. The blazing perfume was so intense it felt like Mr. Kin was carrying around a flame. He used it in a variety of different dishes but the one recipe it clearly shone in was a pizza sauce. HOme chefs can use this type in the sauce but they can also use Aleppo, Espelette and red pepper flakes. Also add a teaspoon of smoked paprika to give it smokiness and depth. He recommends using a mix for a unique tasting sauce.It's an homage to the great chef and cookbook  author Marcella Hazan. You do have to switch the order of ingredient though if you are familiar with Hazan's recipe.Five tablespoons of butter has to be melted first so it can bloom, then the chiles are added.There's also a teaspoon of sugar added to eliminate the tomatoes tang.It would be also good warmed as a dipping sauce for garlic knot.

Peppers can make any dish sing. Use any combination for a kick.They'll turn anything into an exciting bite.