We try to bring lunch during the week to save money and to eat healthier. I have also been trying to enforce a fish 2x a week for lunch rule. Eh, most times it’s more like once a week, but we’re trying! Sometimes this means tuna, not the ( good awesome kind) and sometimes that means other things.

This is my new favorite other thing and I think jwa like it a lot too. That is no small feat. He is very skeptical of fish (especially fish tagged with Cheap Fish Project, which this is — $5/lb, frozen, at Trader Joe’s).

I’ve also discovered a new, fun thing to do with orzo — toast it in the pan with olive oil before cooking it with the boiling water. It gives it a nutty taste that is quite delicious!

This is also easy to whip up the night before specifically to bring to work the next day.

Orange-Rosemary Grilled Mahi Mahi
Marinade:
1 tbsp orange zest
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of half an orange
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar

Fish:
1 lb mahi mahi, cut into bite-sized cubes
salt & pepper
juice from the other half of the orange
a little more olive oil

Everything Else:
3/4 cup orzo
1/4 tsp chopped rosemary
1 tbsp olive oil

6 cherry tomatoes, halved
4-5 artichoke hearts, halved
6 green olives, halved

Whisk all the marinade ingredients (orange zest through vinegar) together in a bowl or a freezer bag. Add the fish and marinate in the fridge for about 1-2 hours.

Heat a grill pan (or a regular skillet) and just drizzle a little of olive oil in the pan. Hit the fish with a little salt and pepper and cook until just barely opaque — about 2-3 minutes per side. After you turn the fish over the first time, add the artichoke hearts and the cherry tomatoes to the pan while you cook the other side of the fish. When it’s done, remove everything from the pan and set it aside in a bowl. I squeeze the other half of the orange on the fish, artichoke hearts and tomatoes and cover it up with aluminum foil.

Heat the other tablespoon of oil in a small pot and add the orzo and rosemary. Toast for a minute or two, then add some water and bring to a boil. Add some salt. Cook until done, about 8-10 minutes. Drain.

Assemblage
Divide the orzo among your plates (or containers). Then add the tomato/fish/artichoke heart/OJ mixture and the olive halves. Top with a few crumbles of feta, if you are feeling fancy and perhaps a drizzle of olive oil.

If you’re bringing this for lunch the next day, it keeps and travels very well and people will see your lunch and get all jealous. Ha!

Just give it about 1.5 minutes in the microwave (on full power) to reheat.

Wow! Two posts in two days! Amazing! Uh, anyway, lately, I have mentioned to jwa (threatened?) that we will be eating more fish — at least two times a week. The problem is, we have expensive, fancy-pants fish tastes. Mostly, we both like salmon, tuna and halibut and that’s pretty much our fish repertoire. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love salmon, tuna and halibut but, those fishes are kinda up there in price.

So, I am starting a new project to try different, more, shall we say, economical kinds of fish. First up? Some frozen “Wild Holland Sole Fillets” that I got at Trader Joe’s. Price: $6.99/pound. Not bad.

After some searching, I came across a recipe that was featured on Cooking Live with Sara Moulton a few years back, that incorporates butter, olives, capers and bacon. See — we are eating more fish because it is healthy. We are eating the butter and bacon to eat more fish. Excellent!

Lemony Sole with Green Olives, Bacon, and Capers
4 (6-ounce) sole fillets
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped green olives
3 tbsp drained capers
3 cloves garlic, chopped or minced
3 strips cooked bacon, crumbled
1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
Beurre Blanc (see below)

Beurre Blanc
1/4 cup white wine
1 shallot, finely chopped (I used extra — mm!! shallots)
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into cubes and chilled
1 tspn fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Optional: 1 tbsp cream
Optional: 4 more tbsp butter

Combine the wine and shallot in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil, and cook until reduced by half. Now, if you are really crafty, before you even add the wine, you will use the pan you used to fry the bacon in. And you will sweat the onion for a few minutes first in residual, after-being-wiped-out, bacon grease. Next after reducing the wine-shallot mixture, add the cream (if using, I did not) and continue reducing until just thickened. Reduce the heat to low.

While whisking constantly, add the butter, little by little, waiting for each addition to be incorporated before adding more, to make a smooth sauce. Here, the original recipe called for 8 tablespoons butter — I reduced that by half. Whisk in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Set aside in a warm area. (The sauce may break if it’s too hot or too cold.)

Dredge the fillets in the flour and season with salt and pepper. Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the 2 tablespoons oil and 1 tablespoon butter and heat until hot.

Add the fillets and cook, turning once, until just cooked through, about 4 minutes. Remove to a plate and keep warm with foil.

Remove the skillet from the heat, add the olives, capers, and bacon, and stir, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom, until the mixture has warmed through. If you have a lot of brown bits to scrape up, I found that adding about a 1/4 cup of white wine worked well.

Add the beurre blanc and parsley and stir to combine. Spoon the sauce over the fillets and serve immediately with rice or orzo.

The verdict: Come on, it had butter and bacon. Of course it was really good! I tried to healthy it up just a little by using olive oil instead of vegetable oil, decreasing the pan-frying butter to just one tablespoon and reducing the sauce butter to 4 tablespoons. Eh, fine, it’s still not exactly a healthy meal but it was a wonderfully successful fish experiment. And the huge side of steamed broccoli counts towards the healthy. So there.

Next up in the new kinds of fish experiment? Mahi mahi — probably next week.

A week or so ago, jwa and I were outside surveying the garden and we noticed we had about 40 tomatoes (a mix of Early Girls and Romas) that had all ripened at once. Seriously. Something needed to be done and be done fast.

Enter Provencal Tomato Sauce. Wow — so tomatoey and garlicky. Make a batch or two and enjoy a little bit now and a little bit later from the freezer. I found this sauce to be so rich and intensely tomato flavored, I even added a little vegetable stock to thin it out just a bit.

We had some over some plain store bought gnocchi. Wonderful. The rest will be enjoyed over some linguine one night, once the weather is chilly again.

Provencal Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce
Recipe adapted from Gourmet magazine
olive oil for brushing pans
1 head garlic
4 pounds vine-ripened red tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
3 tbsp fresh orange juice, or to taste (I used the juice from 1 medium orange)
Optional: 1/4 cup vegetable stock

The garden tomato bounty

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. and lightly brush 2 shallow baking pans with oil. Now, if this temperature is too high for your oven (read: if it’s not spotlessly clean, it’ll smoke), do it at 425 degrees and just increase the cook time about 5-10 minutes. How do I know this works? Let’s just say I will be cleaning the oven soon…

Separate garlic head into cloves, discarding loose papery outer skin but keeping skin intact on cloves, and wrap in foil, crimping seams to seal tightly. Cut tomatoes into 1/2-inch-thick slices and arrange in one layer in baking pans. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons each of rosemary and thyme evenly over tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.

Put foil-wrapped garlic in one of baking pans with tomatoes and roast garlic and tomatoes in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of pans halfway through roasting, about 35 minutes total, or until garlic is tender and tomatoes are slightly charred. There will be tomato shrinkage — that’s okay. Unwrap garlic and cool slightly.

Peel skins from each clove and force pulp with warm tomatoes and herbs through a food mill fitted with small disk into a bowl. Another option is to use a hand-held blender and puree it that way. The blender will leave little bits of tomato skin, skin but I didn’t mind that at all. It builds character.

Finely chop remaining teaspoon rosemary and remaining teaspoon thyme and stir into sauce with orange juice. If it’s a bit thick, this is where you an add a little vegetable stock. Season sauce with salt and pepper and reheat if necessary. Sauce keeps, covered and chilled, 4 days or, frozen, 4 months. To reheat, simmer sauce over low heat and reseason with orange juice, salt, and pepper.

Like I mentioned above, I served this sauce with gnocchi and sauteed zucchini. It made great lunches for both jwa and I to bring to work.

A fairly quick and healthy dinner. Minimal cheese. Spinach. Beans. Carrots. See? Pretty healthy. We had this meal two Sundays ago, after we got back from Port Townsend. I believe I used roasted garlic hummus but you could use any kind you like. You could also, of course, make your own hummus or hummus-like dip.

The Parmesan cheese on the outside of the breasts give it a really nice and tasty crust. The sprinkle of Parmesan on the inside is just for fun. Fun!

Hummus and Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup hummus
8 or so spinach leaves
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup chicken broth
Optional: Your favorite spice blend — for instance, I used a little Sunny Paris (probably about 1 teaspoon total)

Spread a piece of plastic wrap out over a cutting board and lay a chicken breast down. Fold a layer of the plastic wrap over it and pound the breast out until it’s much thinner. Repeat with the other breast.

Sprinkle a little seasoning mix if using and lay down some spinach leaves on each flattened piece of chicken. Divide the hummus between the breasts. Sprinkle each with a little Parmesan.

Roll up. It might be a little messy but you should be able to get it into a rolled shape.

Sprinkle each chicken roll-up with some salt, pepper, a little more seasoning mix and some Parmesan cheese. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil. Then, add the chicken, seasoned and parmed side down. Go ahead and season the side facing up and let it brown for a couple of minutes.

Flip it over and brown the second side. Add the orange juice and broth to the pan and reduce the heat to medium. Cover partially and let cook until the chicken is done (165 degrees — make sure you are checking the hummus temperature too).

Remove the chicken and cover with foil to rest. While it’s resting, turn the heat up on the pan and reduce the sauce by about half — 5-7 minutes. Serve the chicken with a little orange sauce drizzled over it.

Now the carrots came about like this: while in Port Townsend, jwa and I were walking around the Uptown area after the Farmer’s Market had ended. One of the vendors was having trouble getting the door up on the back of her truck. jwa and I helped her get it attached and she gave us a bunch of carrots. Awesome.

That night, when we got home I whipped up this side dish to go with the chicken.

Good Samaritan Carrots
1 bunch carrots, preferably procured through a good deed
5 cloves garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper

Clean the carrots and cut off the tops. I like to scrape off a bit of the peel but you don’t have to. Cut up into about half the size of baby carrot snacks. Peel the garlic and slice thinly. Heat a pan on medium heat and add the oil. Add the carrots and pan roast slowly, for about 5 - 7 minutes, until they start to get a little color. Add the garlic and continue to cook about 10 more minutes, stirring frequently. Don’t let the garlic burn but it should have a nice golden color.

When the carrots are tender and done, remove from the pan and serve with the chicken.

Too hot outside? Yep. I agree. If you can suffer through the boiling water and the grill pan (if you choose to add the tuna), this is a great meal. I just serve it room temperature. It’s delicious. I usually use frozen albacore tuna from Trader Joe’s — just defrost it the night before in the refrigerator and it’s ready to go.

Instead of the basil and dill, you could also use different herbs — really whatever you like. Plus, with all the veggies and white beans, this is very healthy. Hooray!

Summer Spaghetti
1/2 lb spaghetti
1/4 cup green or black olives (I used green, stuffed with feta)
1 bell pepper, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Englished cucumber, diced
1/4 tsp dried oregano (or more fresh if you have some)
1/2 cup feta (or more)
1/4 cup red onion, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
Olive oil
Splash of red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
Fresh Dill, chopped (about a tablespoon)
salt and pepper
Optional: Grilled albacore tuna, lemon

Add all the veggies and beans in a big bowl. Add the herbs, garlic, some salt and pepper and a little olive oil.

Cook the pasta. Toss with the veggies. Let come to room temperature and if you are using, grill the tuna (salt and pepper first). When it’s done, give it a squirt of lemon juice.

When the pasta and veggies have cooled a bit, add a bit more oil if desired, a bit of red wine vinegar and the feta. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. I typically slice the tuna up and then add to the top.

The leftovers also travel very well for the next day’s lunch.

Coming soon: WCC19, ricotta gelato and possibly even a pie. Now, as part of my new lifestyle, I will be going to bed soon so I can drag myself out of bed by 6:15AM. But, it is totally worth it as I love Stash Tea.

So, starting back slowly, I am. This is a salad / side type item we had last week when it was fairly warm out. Not any longer. Rainy and cold now. Anyway, the recipe is originally from Tyler Florence and I really loved the lemony-garlicky flavor. Make some for yourself and see. Oh! I was just thinking, some crumbled feta on this right before serving would probably be amazing.

Very easy and tastes great. I’m sure we’ll have this many more times this Spring and Summer. Oh, I used button mushrooms but I bet this would be awesome with cremini. I also liked the fact that the mushrooms were cooked a bit before marinating them.

Marinated Mushrooms
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil (divided)
1 pound cremini or button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small bunch fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes

Add 2 tbsp olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and bay leaf and cook for about 3 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon zest and juice, garlic, red pepper flakes and thyme. Pour the remaining olive oil in with the mushrooms and season the mixture with salt and pepper.

Let cool and serve at room temperature or refrigerate for a few hours and serve cool. I broght mine to room temp and then stored in the fridge for about 2 hours and that seemed to work quite well.

***
The rest of the week there’ll be a post about our wonderful and delicious Easter Brunch at Heceta Head Lighthouse, a chicken-fauxmale casserole and more. Possibly a new broccoli soup and a spinach salad with grilled shrimp and a Meyer lemon vinaigrette. Whoo!

Waiter, There’s Something in My…is a new event hosted each month, alternatively by Spittoon Extra, Cook Sister! and Passionate Cook. The first theme is stew and is being rounded up here.

The timing for this food blogging event was perfect as jwa and I had been planing a Life Aquatic film festival. And what goes well with The Life Aquatic? Stew! Seafood Stew!

Steve Zissou: Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go on an overnight drunk, and in 10 days I’m going to set out to find the shark that ate my friend and destroy it. Anyone who wants to tag along is more than welcome. But first — some fish stew.

Also, I’m really happy to see a new general cooking event now that IMBB seems to have died out and I’m even happier to be participating in this one. We started the festivities with an episode of Jacques Cousteau’s Odyssey, while munching on fried calamari (recipe tomorrow) and then, a Spanish fish stew while watching The Life Aquatic. It was a very nice way to spend a chilly Saturday afternoon.

This recipe is based on one that I found at the Whole Foods Market for a Spanish Fish Stew with saffron, smoked paprika and ground almonds. The original recipe however, just said to use about three fish fillets, which was um, pretty unspecific. So, I chose some salmon and shrimp, both of which we had in the freezer. I used a pound of seafood total — one half pound of each. The salmon worked pretty well but I think halibut would be really good in this also. Or cod. Or uh, whatever looks good that day at the store. Or whatever you have in your freezer. It’s all good.

Cue the storming the beaches of the Hotel Citroen music, grab your red hat, your campari and soda and let’s go…

Life Aquatic Fish Stew
There’s a lot of ingredients but don’t let that scare you off…
1/4 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and diced (or a combination of red, orange or yellow bell peppers)
2 oz prosciutto, diced
3 lb ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted and finely ground
1/2 tsp saffron threads
1 tsp dried thyme
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 tsp sea salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 smoked paprika
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups vegetable stock, a light chicken stock or fish stock (if you use fish stock, omit the clam juice and use 3 1/2 cups of stock — I used no-chicken chicken broth, as neither jwa nor I wanted an overly fishy fish stew — I know, weird, it being a fish stew and all…)
1/2 cup tiny shell pasta
1/2 cup clam juice
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 pound halibut, salmon, cod or whatever, diced into bite-sized pieces
1/2 pound shrimp, cleaned and de-tailed if you like
6 lemon wedges, for garnish
parsley, chopped, for garnish
wedges of grilled country bread for serving

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Sauté the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and red bell peppers and cook 5 minutes more, until softened. Stir in the prosciutto and cook 3 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.

Add the tomatoes and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring frequently to prevent scorching, until the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the ground almonds, saffron, thyme, rosemary, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and white wine. Boil until the wine has nearly evaporated.

Pour in the stock, clam juice, lemon juice and pasta. Bring to a boil and cook 5-6 minutes until the pasta is almost done. Add fish and simmer, 3 to 5 minutes longer, until fish is done and pasta is tender. Adjust seasonings and remove rosemary sprigs. Serve with lemon wedges and toasted bread.

It’s funny — I really made the fish stew to go with the movie, rather than really, really wanting a fish stew. jwa was, in fact, wary of the fish stew. But — this was so good! A bit spicy and saffrony, it had a great flavor and was very filling. I really can’t wait to make it again. Now, I just need to decide what will make a good meal with the Rushmore/Royal Tenenbaums Festival that’s in the works…

Thanks to Spittoon Extra for hosting this month’s event. I’m already looking forward to next month’s theme!

Today’s Super Foods recipe is a little like falafel — ‘cept it’s not. Instead of garbanzo beans it uses lentils. I was very surprised by the overall flavor difference, in that there was one. These have a nuttier taste and were very, very good. Even jwa expressed a surprised liking for these. That’s quite a recommendation as he typically does not get too excited about lentil recipes.

These were a little crumbly, so you probably don’t want to over stuff the pita. Two-three patties per each sandwich.

Next week, Sugar High Friday kicks Super Foods Friday to the curb.

Lentil Fritters with Yogurt Mint Sauce
From a recipe in Gourmet Magazine
1 1/4 cups lentils, picked over and rinsed
1/2 cup rolled oats
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
dash of red pepper flakes
1 large egg, beaten lightly
Olive oil for frying
6 pita pockets, split (or flat bread)
Spinach leaves
1 tomato, chopped
1/4 cup olives, chopped (mine were feta-stuffed)

Yogurt Mint Sauce
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup cucumber, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced

Add lentils to a large saucepan of salted water and bring water to a boil. Cook lentils at a bare simmer until tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.

In a blender or food processor grind oats into meal.

Drain lentils and combine in a bowl with the garlic, coriander, pepper flakes, cumin, and 3 tablespoons of the ground oats. Mash mixture with a potato masher.

Stir in egg and salt and pepper to taste and form mixture into small patties — I got about eight.

Coat burgers with remaining ground oats and chill, uncovered, 15 minutes.

In a small bowl stir together yogurt, mint, and salt and pepper to taste.

In a large skillet heat a liberal coating of oil (a few tablespoons) over moderately high heat until hot but no smoking and fry burgers, in batches if necessary, until browned and crisp, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

Serve burgers in pitas with lettuce and yogurt mint sauce.

Super foods used: beans (lentils), oats, and yogurt.

This is a recipe I found on Epicurious about a year ago, emailed it to myself and then forgot about it. While cleaning my recipe folder out last week I came across it. Good things happen when you tidy up your email folders, people!

While the lentil soup was good, the meatballs make it awesome. In fact, a great appetizer would be to whip up a batch of the meatballs and serve them with some cherry tomatoes, chunks of cucumber and kalamata olives. Oh, okay, throw in some feta cubes, the yogurt and flat bread too. You could also impale the meatballs, cucumber and olives on wooden skewers and pretend you are Sandra Lee (but, you know, with actually appetizing and edible food).

Epicurious says that this recipe is adapted from Wolfgang Puck, “Adventures in the Kitchen”.

Lentil Soup with Lamb Meatballs
This makes 8-10 servings, so halve it if needed. That’s what I did and it worked fine. Just beat an egg first, then divide that in half.
Soup:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped red onion
1/2 cup diced carrot
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 celery stalk
1 branch fresh parsley
1 branch fresh thyme
1 pound golden lentils (or regular lentils, if not available)
10 cups chicken stock or store-bought chicken broth (or turkey stock!!)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Pinch chili pepper flakes

Meatballs:
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1 pound ground lamb
1 cup blanched almonds, toasted and ground
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup raisins, coarsely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Garnish:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp honey
Pinch salt

Start with the soup. In a large saucepan, heat up the olive oil. Add the onion, carrot, garlic, turmeric, and cumin. Saute over high heat until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, make a bouquet garni by tying together the celery, parsley, and thyme, and add to pan.

Stir in the lentils and the chicken stock, season lightly with salt, pepper, and chili flakes, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. Skim as necessary.

Meanwhile, prepare the meatballs and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, soak bread crumbs in milk. In a mixing bowl, combine the lamb, almonds, soaked bread crumbs, onion, raisins, egg, garlic, parsley, cilantro, and chili pepper flakes. Season lightly with salt and
pepper. Drizzle olive oil on the platter you will place the meatballs on and rub oil into the palm of both hands. Form meat mixture into 40 golf ball-size meatballs, each approximately 1-inch in diameter.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet or saute pan. Arrange the meatballs in 1 layer in the pan, quickly sear meatballs over high heat, and then place in the oven. Cook until the meatballs are well
browned and firm to the touch, 8 to 10 minutes.

Prepare the yogurt garnish. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Refrigerate until serving time.

Now, return to the soup. Remove the celery bouquet. With an immersion blender, lightly blend soup (you want it to still be a little chunky).

Alternatively, transfer 2/3 of the soup to a blender. Blend until smooth and return to the saucepan. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Ladle soup into 8 or 10 soup bowls. Divide the meatballs evenly among the soup bowls and drizzle the yogurt mixture over. Serve immediately. Mmmm!

Okay. Now, it’s time to make more cookies!

Can of garbanzo beans. Check. Onion. Yep. Cumin. Uh-huh. Garlic? Are you kidding me? Olive oil. Got it. Big pan. Right here. Well, okay then. Let’s go.

Easy Falafel
1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas), drained — you can also use 1 cup of soaked (overnight), dry beans
1/2 sweet white onion (red will also work — or, hell, whatever onion you have in the house will work here
1 handful parsley leaves
1 handful cilantro leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 shakes red pepper flakes
4 cloves of garlic
1-2 tsp lemon juice (about 1/2 a lemon)
1 big tsp ground cumin
1 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp flour (or a little less)
olive oil
Extras:
kalamata olives (just a few, chopped roughly)
2 Roma tomatoes, sliced
spinach leaves
Tahani sauce
flat or pita bread

Start by adding the beans, herbs, salt, garlic, onion to a food processor and pulse until roughly chopped. You can also use a big bowl and a potato masher and skip the processor all together. Just be patient with the mashing.

Next comes the cumin, lemon, baking powder and pepper flakes. Just a few pulses. Then add about 3 tablespoons of the flour. You want it wet but together enough to make little falafel balls. Add up to 3 more tablespoons of flour.

Add a little flour to a bowl with a sprinkle of salt. Roll each falafel ball you form into the four, flatten a bit into a disc shape, and set aside until all are done. Make sure you shake off excess flour — you just want them lightly coated.

Heat a pan over medium heat and cover the bottom with olive oil. Just coat it, probably 2-3 tablespoons, depending on the size of your pan. Add the falafel and cook 5-6 minutes each side, until golden and cooked through.

Sprinkle with a little salt and let cool on paper towels.

Make a sandwich by laying down a bed of spinach leaves on your bread of choice. Add halved falafel (I cut them so they fit easier — you don’t have to do this, of course), tomato slices and chopped olives.

Drizzle with a little tahini sauce. Eat. Don’t forget the fallen falafel crumbles on your plate. Sleep. Snore. I love you, bed.