Apron Strings

As is always the case, the sim­plest dishes with good fresh ingre­di­ents are always the best. These stuffed arti­chokes burst with gar­lic, pars­ley and lemon and the sub­tle addi­tion of anchovies. Really, what could be better?

The odd look­ing arti­choke has a ton of leg­ends sur­round­ing it going all the way back to Zeus. In 77AD one Roman nat­u­ral­ist called them “one of the earth’s monstrosities.”

Sure they look funny, but man do they taste good, as Clara and Mafalda can attest.

Ingredients

6 medium sized globe artichokes

1/2 Loaf of Italian bread (with crust cut off and bro­ken into small pieces)

3–4 cloves of gar­lic chopped finely

3/4 cup– 1 cup of parsley

2 cans of fil­lets of anchovies ( slice anchovies into small pieces and mix with 3–4 table­spoons of oil)

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This is a veg­e­tar­ian dumpling dish that when topped with sour cream and kid­ney beans (for added pro­tein) really does seem like the Afghani ver­sion of Nachos (but of course my more refined)

Stuffing Ingredients

• 1 bunch leek (usu­ally there is 3 in there)
• Salt
• Black pep­per
• 1 bunch of  coriander
• Package of Dumpling Wrappers or Wonton Wraps (can be bought from local gro­cery store)

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Basically, these are Afghani dumplings pre­pared two dif­fer­ent ways–one with meat and one veg­e­tar­ian. The yogurt spread on the bot­tom of the plate gives this a fresh flavour–like a bright summer’s day.  This is Nooria’s meat based ver­sion. Don’t be afraid of all the raw onion. It actu­ally makes it incred­i­bly delicious.

Ingredients for Mantu Filling

• ½ Lbs of ground beef
• Salt
• Black pep­per
• ½ Lbs of Onion
• 1 bunch of  coriander
• Package of Dumpling Wrappers or Wonton Wraps (can be bought from local gro­cery store)

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The fresh, salty flavour of Ackee and Saltfish (Codfish)  makes it a deli­cious alter­na­tive to bor­ing old scram­bled eggs. Saltfish has an incred­i­ble his­tory that links back to our Canadian shores. And Ackee, a dis­tant rel­a­tive to Lichee fruit has a sim­i­lar del­i­cate flavour. Jessie’s ren­di­tion topped with, her favorite, crispy fried Plantains (pro­nounced Plant-ins, not PlantAins as I always said) is the per­fect meal to roll out of bed for. You could also make it fancier and serve it as an hors d’oeuvres on a crispy cracker.

Ingredients

• 1 Can Ackee
• ½ lb Codfish (bone­less & skinless)
• 4 Cherry toma­toes (or 1 tomato)
• 2 Sprigs Scallion (green onions)
• 1 Sprig Fresh Thyme
• 2 Tablespoons Canola Oil (or veg­etable oil)
• ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper
• ½ Diced Onion
• 2 Slices Red/Green Pepper
• ½ Scotch Bonnet Pepper (optional)

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Oma from the Loire region, bor­der­ing the region between France and Germany, knows how to pound beef. Her Rouladen was divine–even with­out the inclu­sion of  pick­les that her grand­daugh­ter and great-granddaughters prefer.

This is a clas­sic dish that is soul-warming com­fort food at it’s best.

Ingredients:

• 6 slices top round – pounded flat and very thin (or more if you’re Oma)
• 3 slices bacon
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 gar­lic
• ½ cup parsley
• 2 tbsp. butter
• mus­tard, salt, pep­per, corn starch
• 1 — 2 cups water

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