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Monday, June 19, 2006

Food blog interlude

As you know, Don't Trust Snakes is not a food blog. This is not because I don't know all sorts of amazing things about food, cooking and restaurants. Rather, it is because food blogs are tiresome and written by losers. Except for that one I always forget to read where your friend writes about what she made for dinner. That one is "a rocket-ship ride of a food blog, emanating rare deliciousness" (Paul Fischer, DARK HORIZONS). What, you think I'm talking to you? Your friend really does have a blog like that?

Get over yourself.

I'm going to take a short hiatus from not writing a food blog so that I can favor you with some really great tidbits of food-related information. Just because I'm in the mood. Prepare to receive knowledge.
  • Seattle's best Ethiopian food: Enat Ethiopian Restaurant, 11546 15th Ave NE, in the Pinehurst neighborhood (closed Mondays). Trust me on this one. It's the best. As a bonus, there are shakers of berebere on the tables. Order the vegetarian combo, which you will find is the best vegetarian combo to be found anywhere in Seattle, because this is Seattle's best Ethiopian restaurant. (When did MWR become such a search-engine whore? Or start referring to himself in the third person?)

  • Keep your eyes open for this delicious hot/sweet sauce from Indonesia.


  • Try the following combination of pizza toppings: black olives, fresh garlic and bacon. Not Canadian bacon, but regular salty bacon. I invented this combination. It is best executed by V&T Pizzeria, Amsterdam Avenue between 110th and 111th.

  • This delicious dip will delight your guests. You probably think I'm exaggerating because I seem to be in one of my moods, but I'm not. I once took this to a party and almost every single person there asked for the recipe.

    Muhamarra

    2-1/2 lbs. red bell peppers
    1-2 small hot red chilis, or harissa
    1-1/2 cups crushed walnuts (6 oz.)
    1/2 cup wheat crackers, crumbled
    1 tbsp. lemon juice or sherry vinegar
    2 tbsp. pomegranate molasses or more to taste
    1/2 tsp. ground freshly-roasted cumin
    3/4 tsp. salt
    1/2 tsp. sugar
    2 tbsp. olive oil

    Roast, seed and skin peppers. Process walnuts, crackers, lemon juice, molasses, cumin, salt and sugar until smooth. Add bell peppers and process until smooth. Drizzle in oil with motor running and add chili. Adjust flavors with more molasses, etc. (I often add significantly more molasses, lemon/vinegar and/or salt here). Optionally, garnish with chopped pistachios mixed with cumin or nutmeg.

    Serve with pita wedges, crudités, etc.

    Since this is a beautiful brick red color, people are unlikely to refer to it as "hummous."

  • Don't miss my other tasty tips!

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posted at 8:52 PM

1 Comments:

Blogger MWR said...

1. Yes, I'm sure it would. You don't really taste the nuts, but they add body. I'm sure you could omit them entirely and it would still be very nice. I think I made it with almonds that time I got all the recipe requests because someone was allergic to all other nuts.

2. A good gourmet shop should have it, or a Middle-Eastern grocery. It was quite in vogue a few years back (well after I began making this recipe, naturally). Here in Seattle I think the Metropolitan Market grocery stores carry it, but they are exceptionally good markets. In Portland I would expect a place like Pastaworks on Hawthorne will have it.

3. Yes, I toast them in a dry cast iron skillet over fairly high heat, agitating them constantly, until they get a little color and I can smell the cumin aroma. Then I grind them in a Krups "Fast Touch" coffee mill that I have dedicated as a spice grinder. Of course you could skip these steps entirely and use commercial cumin powder for perfectly acceptable results.

June 20, 2006 11:46 AM  

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