• 4-5 small tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red pepper, trimmed
• 1 red chile pepper
• 3 small cloves of garlic, unpeeled
• 1 medium carrot, cut in half lengthwise
• 2 spring onions, trimmed
• Juice from 1/2 lime

• Get the broiler going. In the meantime, get your prep on.
• Arrange all of the veg in a medium baking dish. Just before you pop it under the broiler, give everything a nice coating of vegetable oil.
• You want everything to have a nice char, especially the tomatoes and peppers. This usually takes about 10 minutes or so to achieve, but keep an eye on the proceedings.
• Remove the dish from the oven. Trim the top off the chile and remove the garlic from its skin.
• Pop everything into the food processor and blend until smooth. Add the lime juice and season to taste.

Mix it up with some cilantro, if that’s your thing. Sometimes that’s my thing too. This goodness keeps for few days in the Frigidaire.

Blended to Avi Buffalo – Avi Buffalo.

There are infinite variants of the mighty masoor dal. This just happens to be the one we made last night. Experiment. It’s very difficult to ruin.

• 1 cup red lentils
• 4 cups light vegetable broth
• 1.5 teaspoons cumin seed
• 1 teaspoon mustard seed
• 1 clove garlic, smashed
• 2 cm piece of ginger, halved
• 1/4 teaspoon of chile powder or to taste
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon of fat: oil, ghee, butter, whathaveyou
• salt to taste

1. Rinse the dal with a few charges of cold water and set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. When the oil’s nearly smoking add the garlic, cumin and mustard seeds. The cumin seed should pop on impact. Keep this moving for about a minute, careful not to let the cumin seed burn.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan and bring it to a simmer.
4. Cook over low heat for about 45 minutes, or until it’s at a consistency you’re more than happy to eat. Stir occasionally. The water tends to separate from the lentils and you could get in a bad way if you’re not mindful.
5. Serve over a nice basmati rice, like Majula’s wonderful zucchini rice.

Dal making music: Mount Eerie – Wind’s Poem.

• About 1 tablespoon tahini
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon or lime
• Enough water
• 1/2 garlic clove, crushed to smithereens
• Salt, pepper, and herbs to taste

1. Add the tahini and citrus juice to a small bowl. Whisk them together until things get all pasty.
2. Slowly add water about 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing as you go. You want it to pour easily, but not become watery. If things get too damp, add a tiny bit of tahini to the mix. A little tahini goes a long way.
3. Mix in the garlic, seasoning, and herbs to taste.
4. C’est tout!

Dressed with Atlas Sound – Logos.

Frittatas tick not only the 30 minute checkbox, but also the “crap, that produce is about to turn – better make something pronto” box. Presenting a fine Frankenstein of a frittata that came out of one such evening: the asparagus, tomato, stilton, and marscapone frittata!

• 5 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon marscapone
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• a small bunch of asparagus, trimmed
• a few small tomatoes, quartered
• a few ounces of stilton or similarly stinky cheese
• a pinch of garlic granules
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C, 400F.
2. Par-cook the asparagus in a steamer for a few minutes. You’ll want to vary this depending on the girth of your little green wonders – skinny ones will only need 1-2 minutes. They’ll still have quite a crunch to them. Shock the asparagus in some icy water. Dry them on a towel and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, marscapone, and garlic granules. Season to taste. The marscapone shouldn’t completely emulsify. Deep breath: move on.
4. Heat some olive oil in an oven-friendly pan. Add the onions and dash of salt. Sautee the onions until they’re translucent.
5. Add the egg mixture to the pan. Arrange the asparagus, tomatoes, and crumbled stilton into something pleasant to look at. Once the bottom of the egg mixture starts to set, transfer the pan from the heat of the stove to the heat of the oven. It doesn’t take long for the magic to start happening. The frittata will start to rise and then brown. It should only take 5 minutes or so, but it’ll depend on the size of your pan, so keep an eye and nose out.

Sure, it’s fantastic straight out of the oven, but it’s also tasty anywhere between piping hot and room temperature. A friendly suggestion: serve it with a salad of greens and apples (which work tiny miracles with the stilton).

Whisked to School of Seven Bells – Alpinisms

So sure, it’s always time for chili, but in winter the dish takes on a whole new life and becomes a weekly staple. I started documenting my chili attempts about a year ago, and I’ve settled on a foundation that I’m really happy with. It’s easily extensible, like any good piece of recipe software, and not too fussy. There’s nothing technically complicated here – just a bunch of ingredients. It’s all timing and patience.

This chili serves 2 comfortably, but why not make a double batch and enjoy the miracle of leftovers. Leftover chili is one of the wonders of the culinary world, only improving in flavor on the second day. You could be really crafty and make this potion the night before.

For roux:
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons white flour

For chili:

• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon chile powder
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 can whole plum tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup tasty red wine
• 2 teaspoons mole paste
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 cups cooked kidney beans, preferably home-cooked
• 2 cups cooked chick peas, preferable home-cooked
• Salt, pepper to taste

1. Make the roux, foo’. In a small saucepan, add the oil and flour over low heat. Whisk continually for for 5-10 minutes until you have a nice, golden brown, heavenly smelling roux. It’ll turn from brown to black very quickly – so be careful. Take the roux off the heat and set it aside. You won’t need it again for a few hours. If you want to skip this step all together, fine. You can always add some corn starch, arrowroot or flour at the end. The roux just adds this really wonderful nutty richness to the whole affair.
2. In a large saucepan, heat up a bit of oil over medium-high heat and add the onion. Keep the onion going for about 10 minutes until it starts to caramelize. Add the garlic and move things around until the garlic is blond – it should just take a minutes or two.
3. Add all of the spices, except the oregano, to the pan and sauté for a few seconds.
4. Add the canned tomatoes and crush them almost to oblivion – I like to leave a few chunks. Some chili traditionalist snobs eschew tomatoes entirely, but I really love the depth (and umami) they add – especially in the absence of any meat.
5. Add the oregano, broth, wine, honey, and mole paste. If you don’t have mole paste, that’s OK. Just skip it. You’ll miss some of the bitterness and sweetness it imparts, but you’ll only have yourself to blame.
6. Don’t forget to season at this point, but this amazing concoction is going to cook down for a few hours, so don’t add too much salt yet.
7. Now for some patience. Turn the heat down to low and get the hell out of the kitchen, returning occasionally give things a good stir and taste. My favorite version of this chili simmers away for about 4 hours. If you don’t have a ton of time, cut the amount of liquid by half. But there’s not a lot of effort involved at this point. Just restraint.
8. Once things have stewed for a bit – usually about 1 and a half to 2 hours – add the beans. Taste again and adjust for seasoning. Continue cooking for a while. Feel free to get substitute happy – this chili works with pretty much any bean in any quantity.
9. The consistency of the chili will start to change – you want it to be pretty thick, but the roux will add additional thickness. About 20 minutes before the chili’s done, stir in the roux.
10. Take the chili off the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes or so before serving. You could eat it all in one sitting, and that would be great. But this devilish brew only gets better as it sits overnight.

For some extra starch action, we sometimes serve this chili over rice or better yet some of Nat’s cornbread. I like mine garnished with some cheddar, or if I’m in a mood, some fresh coriander and a bit of diced onion.

Stewed to Jonny Greenwood – Bodysong

• 1/4 of a baguette or whatever stale, crusty bread you have lying around, diced
• About 25g mushrooms, diced (more if you’re feeling shroomy)
• 2 big cloves of garlic, minced
• A large handful of fresh parsley
• 10g or so of cheese. You know: cheese. Whatever you have on hand. Something hard and Italian or British and mature makes a lot of sense.
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• A few glugs of extra virgin olive oil
• A few tablespoons of water
• 1 egg, beaten
• Salt, pepper to taste

• Dice up your bread. If it’s not stale/crusty enough, pop it in the oven for a few. In a food processor, turn those chunks of bread into crumbs. They don’t have to be microscopic. Even pea-sized crumbs work just fine. Once you have your crumbs the way you like, add in the parsley and process for a few more seconds. Place the mixture in a big bowl and set aside.
• In a frying pan over medium-high heat, get your garlic going in a tablespoon of olive oil. Once the garlic is golden, add the diced mushrooms. Get those fungi frying until almost all of the water is cooked out. Add salt and pepper to taste and then scrape the results into the bowl of breadcrumbs.
• Add the rest of ingredients, except for the egg and water, to the bowl. Mix, taste, and adjust for seasoning.
• Add the beaten egg and enough water so the mix comes together easily when shaped into balls. It doesn’t really matter how large and in charge you make these little wonders – I just wouldn’t make them more than about 5-7cm (2.5 inches or so) across. Place the finished ballz on a lightly oiled baking sheet. You should end up with 6-12, depending on how big your balls are. (Filthy!)
• Bake at 175C for 25-30 minutes, turning once halfway through cooking. They should be nice and golden brown but still a little soft in the middle.

We had these over some pasta and tomato sauce. Delicious starch-on-starch action.

These would be ultra-tasty on a veggie meatball sandwich. As long as you can forget that fact that you’re essentially eating bread on bread.

Rolled (and rocked) to Sonic Youth – EVOL. But really, any Sonic Youth will do.

• 2 cans of peeled roma tomatoes
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• A glug of olive oil
• A glug of red wine
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• Salt, pepper to taste

1. Preheat your oven to 200C/400F.
2. Empty the 2 cans of tomatoes into a baking dish, along with the garlic cloves and olive oil. Give a sprinkle of salt while you’re at it. Use a little less salt than you would think. Pop that thing in the oven for an hour.
3. Take the baking dish out of the oven. The tomatoes and garlic should be a nice, healthy brown. Mash up the tomatoes and garlic with whatever utensil tickles your fancy. I won’t judge you.
4. Taste for seasoning and adjust. Stir in a glug of wine, and the thyme. Pop it back in the oven for another 15-30 minutes, depending on how thick you want your concoction. It’ll probably start to caramelize a bit around the edges, which is only a good thing.

The final result is oh-so-very rich with tomato-y goodness. Stir in some chili flakes for a kick or even a teaspoon of lemon juice for some extra tang. Really fantastic on whatever starch you want to grace with its presence.

Concentrated with Jana Hunter – There’s No Home

Fresh, homemade pita has a texture that’s worlds away from anything you’ll find at the store – well, maybe you live right by a middle-eastern grocery, but still.

• 2 cups strong flour, like the “0″ or “00″ pasta flour variety
• 1 cup warm water
• 1.5 – 2 teaspoons yeast
• 1 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

1. Gently mix the yeast, water, and oil. Let the yeast dissolve for a few minutes.
2. While the yeasties are working their magic, mix together the flour and salt.
3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Get messy – use your hands.
4. Knead the dough until it’s no longer sticky, adding a touch of water or flour as needed.
5. Lightly oil the dough and set it aside in a warm, draft-free place until it’s doubled in size. Should take about 30-45 minutes. OK, fine. Sometimes it takes a little longer.
6. Punch the dough down and knead the air bubbles out.
7. Time for more rising. Second verse, same as the first. Another 30-45 minutes, until it’s doubled in size.
8. Cut the dough into golfball-sized chunks. Roll them in a little bit of flour to keep them stick-free.
9. Heat up a frying pan. You want it really hot, but not quite smoking. You don’t need any oil. Just dry heat. Some folks cook their pita in the oven, but I just love the beautiful char the stove-top version yields.
10. One at a time, roll out your delicious little golf balls and transfer them to the pan. You don’t want them too thin. Maybe 1/4 cm thick. Maybe a little less.
11. They’ll get uniformly bubbly when they’re ready to flip. It’s usually only takes around 30 seconds. Flip it. At this point, sometimes you get lucky and they start to puff. Sometimes they don’t. The pita puff is a fickle mistress.
12. Transfer the pita from the pan to an open gas burner on medium heat. Just a few seconds on each side will give them a little char, and if you’re lucky you’ll see some more puffing. Be careful not to let them puff too much or they’ll burst. It’s OK – it’s not the end of the world if they do.
13. Place the pita on a cooling rack.
14. Roll out another pita ball and you’re back in action.

Today, we’re enjoying these with some baba ghanoush, roast tomatoes with garlic and olives, and tabbouleh.

If your pita puffed (or perplexingly partially puffed), you’ll have a picture perfect pocket to polish off. The pita will keep for a few days.

Accompaniment: Grouper – Dragging a Dead Deer up a Hill. Certainly, one of my favorite records this year.

• 1-2 tablespoons of Chinese mushroom sauce. (This is that pseudo-oyster sauce you find at the good markets.)
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1-2 tablespoons of chili sauce/sriracha
• 1 teaspoon of dark sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon of water

1. Yes. You mix it all together.

The result is a dressing chocked full of umami. Slightly sweet, slightly spicy, mega-savory. We brushed this on some seared aubergines and courgettes to top a salad. Versatile as a marinade, dressing, sauce, what have you.

Marinated with The Dodos – Visiter

Yotam O. was kind enough to conjure up a vegetarian main for the two veggies of the bunch to prepare. Following the Ottolenghi spirit, it’s a simple yet divine dish of baked aubergine wedges with yoghurt sauce and pomegranate. Now, aubergine and yoghurt – fine, we’ve done that before. But, the addition of pomegranate is visionary.

• 2 medium aubergines, cut into wedges. Cut them in half horizontally, and then slice up the wedges out of the two halves.
• A mixture of nice, fruity extra-virgin olive oil and some lighter olive oil. About 3 parts of the nice stuff to 1 part of the cheap stuff.
• Some yoghurt sauce. Figure it out. (Yoghurt, garlic, oil, lemon, herbs…you can’t go wrong.)
• 1 pomegranate, seeded
• Salt + pepper, of course.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C.
2. Arrange the aubergine wedges on a baking sheet and brush them very liberally with olive oil. Sprinkle on a hearty dose of salt and pepper.
3. Pop those puppies in the oven. It’ll take a while. So make yourself some yogurt sauce and set it aside. While your at it, get those pesky pomegranate seeds out.
4. Check your aubergine after 20 minutes or so, but it’ll probably take 30-40 minutes depending on the chunkiness of your wedges. They should be a healthy, dark brown. Give those beauties a little squeeze with your fingers to see if they’re properly done. They should feel pretty mushy.
5. Plate em up with some of the yoghurt sauce and pomegranate seeds. So very, very good.

We also prepared a cucumber + onion salad, bulghur wheat with caramelized onion and feta, and some crazy raspberry and passion fruit mess. All delicious.