Dinner & A Movie Night: The Mummy

Not a lot of time to talk about tonight's movie. Still need to post today's idea for my (mostly) Handmade Holiday blog. I'll just leave it that the Mummy is a fun ride and staring at Brenden Frasier and Oded Fehr for two hours ain't so hard either.

The Mummy Wrap
aka the
I've Been Cursed and Falafel Sandwich

• 1 (14oz) can chickpeas, drained
  
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup peeled and chopped zucchini
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3 flour wraps
  
• lettuce
• 1 tomato, sliced thin
  
• 1 small onion, peeled and sliced very thin
• 6 slices American cheese
  
• Olive oil
• Yogurt cucumber sauce
  

Combine half the chickpeas, the onion, lemon juice, 4 teaspoons water, zucchini, cayenne, cumin, baking soda, salt, and pepper in a food processor. Process until smooth. Transfer mixture to a large bowl.

Add remaining chickpeas to processor, and pulse just until lumpy. It should still have some texture. Stir into chickpea mixture.

Use your hands to pat the mixture into nine patties. Place each on a lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap, and transfer to refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Heat olive oil in pan over medium heat. Cook until golden brown and crisp.

To serve, place lettuce, tomato, cheese and onion slices on each flatbread. Place three of the cooked patties on each flatbread. Top with yogurt cucumber sauce and roll up like a burrito.

Yogurt Cucumber Sauce
Mix together 1 small container of plain Greek yogurt, 1 small cucumber that has been peeled, seeded and chopped, 1 cloves of crushed garlic, a handful of fresh chopped dill, 1 tbs olive oil, 2 tsp lemon juice, salt and pepper.

April 14: Pea day in Maine

Today promises to be a warm day here in southern Maine. That's a good thing since today is the day the peas are scheduled to go into the garden. Other cool weather crops that get planted today are scallions, spinach, lettuce, shallots, and radishes. The mini hoop is coming down, but the cold frame is staying outside to provide a little shelter for seedlings.

Inside on the grow table, the peppers are doing great. I'm already drooling whenever I think about cheese filled jalapenos. Broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts are all up and looking strong. The celery root and the leeks continue to do well. I thinned out the celery root this morning and was surprised to see just how long the roots were. I also took a nibble on one of the seedlings that didn't make the cut. What a remarkable celery flavor!

The lettuce that I started back in March goes out to the garden today and in it's place under the light table go the tomatoes, basil and dill. Oooh. I have to go find some breakfast. All this talk about veggies is making me hungry.

What's in the box?

So, my experiment of growing winter produce has come to an end. My results are mixed. The radishes and the swiss chard did not withstand the cold temperatures back in January. All that remains of these plants are some moldy, brown leaves. The lamb's lettuce and the kale are a different story.

These two cold-hardy plants are happily getting larger every day. The lamb's lettuce is big enough to pick, and next fall I will make sure to plant a lot more of this sweet green.

The scallions that I planted are... well, they aren't dead yet but they are lackluster at best. I probably should have planted more of them.

On the plus side, being under the mini-hoop has warmed up the soil enough that it will be easy for me to plant my first round of peas, radish and lettuce.

The vegetable garden for fall/early winter experiment really only got half my attention last year and while I claim only a partial success, I will definitely be back next fall with the mini-hoop. I need to start the seeds earlier in the season than late October and I think I'll stick with the kale, scallions and lamb's lettuce.

Spring planting, here we come!

Dinner and a Movie Night: Spanglish

Spanglish didn't get great reviews but it wasn't rated as Spawn bad, so I thought we'd give it a try for tonight's Dinner & A Movie. Thomas Keller was consulted on a sandwich that is made in the film and for me, that's enough to warrant a viewing.

Spanglish Sandwich
From Thomas Keller and Food and Wine Magazine

• 4 thick slices of bacon
• 2 slices of Monterey Jack cheese
• 2 thick slices of rustic white bread, toasted and hot
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 4 tomato slices
• 2 leaves of butter lettuce
• 1 teaspoon unsalted butter
• 1 large egg

In a skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat, turning, until crisp, about 8 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

Set the Monterey Jack slices on 1 piece of toast. Spread the mayonnaise on the other slice of toast, then top with the bacon, tomato and lettuce.

In a small, nonstick skillet, melt the butter. Add the egg and fry over moderate heat, turning once, until crisp around the edge, about 4 minutes; the yolk should still be runny.

Slide the egg onto the lettuce; close the sandwich and eat right away.

Makes 1 sandwich.