Monday, September 24, 2007

Starting a new tradition

After a "long" absence, I'm back ( and I'm knocking) :-)
Just kidding! (I'm saying, in case you haven't seen the Mr. Opportunity TV commercial)

It's been quite a week - couple of books, dozens of magazines, one new CD and I don't remember how many movies!
In a brief manner, here is the summary:

Books: Nice book, the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", although I don't think it's going to be the last one as J.K Rowling states. I don't know, the way Harry said his scar has not been burning for 19 year makes me think that's going to change soon :-) Well, at least Daniel Radcliffe is going to have a Harry Potter movie contracts until retirement and "Harry Potter - the movie" is going to be at least long as " Dallas" :-)

Cooking magazines( Bon Apetit, Fine Cooking), gosh! Why, oh, why SO MANY commercials?! You can barely find the actual cooking content from them! It's so annoying!

"Finding Neverland", with Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, amazing, amazing movie! I didn't think I would love it, we thought it was a children's movie, but it just touched me.
"The Final Cut" with Robin Williams, what a disappointment! I can't believe this movie! The idea is GREAT, the actors were good too, but what happened at the end?! It was like the movie got cut in the middle, no ending at all! I was sooo disappointed!

I have a little surprise for the food lovers! I decided to start a tradition by adding a cooking recipe at the end of my postings.
I am going to post some of my personal cooking recipes( as well as ones that I would borrow for the occasion from somewhere, respecting the copyrights of course), so whenever you get bored from all the other things I am talking about, it won't be a a complete loss, because I'll give you the opportunity to peek in my kitchen and see what's cooking!
I hope you enjoy it!

And for the start of a new tradition I've decided to give you one Fall recipe that I call:

" The Zucchini tree".
For that easy but elegant recipe you would need:
1 lbs zucchini
2 cloves garlic
1 cup yogurt
1 dash olive oil
1 walnut
dry dill

Now, there is a variation of this recipe. You can either fry the zucchini before you serve the dish or you can sterilize them in jars for up to 12 months, so whenever you have guests you are going to be ready with something delicious in less then 10 minutes!
Even if you are not going to sterilize them, the procedure is pretty much the same.

First you wash and clean the zucchini, slice them in 1/2 inch circles, deep fry them ( but no flour!) and then put them in a jar.
Now the basic procedure of forming the tree in the jar has to be like this- you put couple of zucchini,then you put some salt on top, again zucchini and again some salt.

*If you are going to sterilize them you can also add fresh dill and fresh garlic in between the zucchini too.

Then you press lightly on top, so the zucchini would kind of "stick" together and leave them to cool down.
I would personally recommend, if you are not going to sterilize them- leave them in the refrigerator for a little bit. They are going to stick together better from the cold and it's supposed to be a cool entree anyway :-).

* If you are going to sterilize, boil some water and put the closed jars in it for 5 minutes. The lids have to be very well closed of course, and when you take the jars out, leave them bottoms up, so they can "suck in" the air . Check them on the next morning, if some of the lids are not well closed, repeat the boiling procedure.

Now, when you open the jar ( no matter sterilized or not), put a plate on the opening and put the jar bottoms up, so the zucchini can slip on to the plate in the shape of a tree.

*I've tried to decorate the tree with different "leaves", made from spinach, romaine salad, green salad etc, but unfortunately I have a picture only with the dill, so I will explain how to proceed with this type of "tree".

Take the dry dill ( it has to be dry, because it sticks better to the "tree" surface) and sprinkle on top and the sides of the tree. Cut "flower" petals from the cloves garlic and put them on top of the dill. In the middle of the flower put the chopped walnut. Mix the yogurt with the salt, pepper and the olive oil. Fill the empty space on the plate around the tree with it.

*Alternatively you can put big leaves on top of it, so it would look like a palm tree and you can use olives as "coconuts"

And that's it :-)
I hope you enjoy it, I will have some new recipes soon!
Especially since I got these amazing cook books for my birthday, so I will post pictures whenever I try something new!

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