Spinach Toasts, the Recipe

I had to hit the ground running today. I had to remember to breathe...and that helped a lot. I had to bring Medha back from a slumber party, put in a few hours of work, drop her off at the Mini Pom Clinic, do grocery, buy beer, go to a tasting party hosted by my lovely neighbor across the street, put the spinach together, get to Medha's mock rehearsal in time and bring her home, and make it to the Oktoberfest next door. And, figure out breakfast and lunch in all of that. I know many people who do much more in a single day but, for me, this is way too much.

If you're wondering why grocery and beer are separate items, well, it is because they are. We were used to buying liquor in grocery stores in Illinois. The local Dominick's (Safeway) in Frankfort had one of the best selection of wines, beers and alcohol. And, it was open 24 hours. Who could ask for more? In my haste to relocate to Colorado, I forgot to research the state's policy on liqour.

While we can buy some beer in the grocery stores in Colorado, it's limited to beer that is very much like making love in a canoe. That is quite lame since Colorado is the beer capital of the USA. You can stop thinking that since we make the most beer, we must have the most drunks, too. Nope! We're only 22nd when it comes to consumption. Statistics link this phenomenon to the large volume generated by the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Fort Collins and the Coors brewery in Golden (yes, there is a place called Golden in Colorado!). Then again there are a gazillion microbreweries in Colorado and the beer simply rocks! Since Fat Tire is our current favorite, that's what we took to the Oktoberfest party.

The party had to move indoors as we were hit by a welcome downpour. My husband was ecstatic as, instead of him and his water bill, nature would take care of our parched lawn. The kids - more than 25 of them - had a blast playing in the rain and came inside only when it got too cold. There was too much food, as always, but the star of the show was the sauerbraten that the hostess had made. I wonder if that can be made with lamb or chicken instead of beef.

My Spinach Toasts were also fairly popular. I based this on a recipe from a book that I am totally in love with, The Healthy Kitchen, Recipes for a Better Body, Life and Spirit by Andrew Weil and Rosie Daley. More about the book in another post. Yes, my friend The Budding Cook, definitely another post!

Spinach Toast

• 1 cup water
• 1 lb baby spinach
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 small onion, chopped fine
• 1 clove garlic, chopped fine
• 2 green chillies, slit vertically
• 1 cup low-fat or fat-free yogurt, hung for as long as it takes to make this appetizer
• 1 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
• 2 tbsp walnuts, toasted and then chopped
• freshly ground pepper, to taste
• salt to taste
• 9-10 slices of whole wheat bread

1. Entice the large man to part with his handkerchief yet again or use a thin muslin cloth or cheesecloth to hang the yogurt
2. Preheat the oven to 300F
3. Boil water in a large pot and add the spinach. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring as needed to ensure that all the spinach wilts.
4. Drain the spinach in a colander. You can save the water to make vegetable stock or use it to knead the dough for rotis.
5. Trim the crusts from the bread slices and then cut them twice on the diagonal to make 4 triangular pieces. Save the crusts to make bread crumbs.
6. Place the triangles in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake for about 5 minutes or until lightly toasted.
7. Heat the oil and sauté the onions, garlic and green chillies until the onions are soft. The onions don't need to be browned. Discard the green chillies.
8. Press down gently on the spinach leaves, while still in the colander to remove any excess water. But don't squeeze them dry!
9. Put the spinach leaves and the onion mixture into a bowl.
10. Add the hung yogurt, mint, chopped walnuts, pepper and salt and toss thoroughly with a fork.
11. Spread the spinach mixture onto the toasts just before serving. You could garnish this with thin slices or small wedges of apple.

This is a delicious and healthy appetizer; a class apart from the regular high calorie party dips and appetizers.

Notes:

• The original recipe did not call for green chillies. I added green chillies as I wanted the appetizer to have some punch. You could even slice the green chillies and keep them, instead of discarding them, if you are sure that your guests don't mind that additional kick.
• The original recipe also called for 1/8th tsp nutmeg, which I skipped. I am not a fan of nutmeg but it's a variation one could try.
• The original recipe did not call for any salt. I felt it needed some salt so I used it.
• I did not spread the spinach mixture on the toasts for the Oktoberfest party. Instead I placed the mixture in a bowl in the center of a large platter and arranged the triangular toast pieces around the bowl, rather like a cracker and dip platter. I didn't want the toast to go soggy as the party was going to go on for more than a few hours!

I am sending this to Kalyn for the Two Year Anniversary of Weekend Herb Blogging. Now, go over to Kalyn's Kitchen and congratulate her on the tremendous job she and her partner hosts have done over the past two years!

Spinach Toasts for Oktoberfest

This is what I am taking to our neighborhood Oktoberfest this evening! But first, I have to pick up Medha from a Mini Pom clinic. She's going to be performing at next Friday's football game at the high school. She's very excited!

Recipe in my next post!

Pepitas

I was mystified when I came across pepitas in an ingredient list recently. I had never heard of them before and I needed to know what I could substitute them with, so that my plans could continue unaltered. There was no picture with the recipe nor a clue what they might be. Google to the rescue!

Pepitas are nothing but pumpkin seeds. They are a popular snack in Mexico and are usually roasted and salted. They can be eaten hulled, or not. Raw or toasted. Salted or not. The kernels are eaten by themselves, too. They are also ground and used to make mole, a delicious Mexican sauce.

I found roasted and salted pumpkin seeds in my local King Sooper's (Kroger's) in the aisle with snacks and nuts. We ate these unhulled till I realized that the quantity was being fast depleted. Then it became a game to see who could crack open the shell and pull the kernel out in one piece. The game worked cos all the seeds got hulled! I put aside as many as I needed, the rest disappeared immediately.

For us, these could very well displace peanuts in the hierarchy of nuts that please.

Officially Lost My Mind

I have officially lost my mind.

But it's really all Amy's fault. You might remember her as the Old Soap Crone from this post. I happened to check in on her today and found that she has suddenly become prolific, like another Denver blogger whose blog I love to read. What was going on here?! Two related yet different events. Kitt's into NaBloPoMo, while Amy's hosting NaBloWriMo. All roads lead to NaNoWriMo, which is an annual (November) novel writing project that brings together professional and amateur writers from all over the world.

These acronyms, if they can be called that, remind me of Crooked Man. He washed cars for a lot of people in our building, as well as in the area, way back in the 70s. He would complain about having to spend extra time on our car. My Dad always parked it under a tree, to make the most of the shade in the concrete jungle that was Colaba. What else would one do with a black car? I even remember the licence plate. BMH 4126. A black Fiat. Crooked Man would say in choice Bumbaiyya Hindi, even though he knew he could communicate better in Marathi with my family: Kayko udhar gaadi park kartay. Udhar kavva hagtay. The joke is pretty much lost if I translate it. You need to know at least some Marathi and some Hindi to appreciate it. But for the benefit of those who don't know either or just know one: Why do you park there? The crow poops there. Not very funny anymore. Well, he washed my cousins' car, too. Four mean, very mean boys who have all grown up into handsome, loving men. How that transformation occurred, we still don't know. They called him LoPoSloMo, short for Lower Portion Slow Motion.

Now that I read over it, none of this is very nice. But as kids we didn't realize we were being mean. And that here was a lonely man, trying to make a living from washing our cars.

So, almost as if in penance, I have to blog everyday through October, and I thought Amy might forgive me 10 days worth of posts, for being a late starter. But, no! She's greedy and wants me to write 31 posts through the month! And I said yes. OK, I asked for it!

I have officially lost my mind.

Holy Bananas! It's the Big Four Oh!

Yes, that's me! And that was 39 years ago. I hit the big-four-oh today and I am on a new high. At least I think I am. I have to be, especially after going through a long period of "just what have I achieved in my life so far" and "where am I headed." I would be lying if I said I have things under control and that I know where I stand! My life did not pan out the way I thought it would. I was never quite the size 1 lissome supermodel, nor the powerful and intellectual CEO of a company that changed the world, nor did I ever become a Nobel Laureate. Actually, no-one's ever heard of me. And I don't mind because I don't think I have it in me to bear the burden for others, to shine the guiding light and carve the path ahead. I do have my sphere of influence where, no matter what, I know that I make a difference.

I dug out some of the very few pictures I have of my childhood cos I am in a sepia kind of mood. My parents used to kid me that this young man was my first love. The next two pictures are taken in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. I was not quite 2 years old.

I don't remember the cutie's name but it's pretty obvious that he didn't much care for me! Heartbreak at two! Cruel, cruel life!

This picture below was taken in Bombay, now Mumbai. Didn't everyone have a papier-mâché model of the mascot of Air-India? Almost everyone I knew had a relative in Air-India. And almost everyone had the Maharajah taking a deep bow on one of their bookcases.

And that transistor radio! I loved to fiddle with the big knob that changed the stations. Was there any other radio station besides All India Radio with their Vividh Bharati service at that time? Does anyone know or remember? It was just one of those tangential thoughts that arose through all this introspection I have been doing.

My conversation with Medha last evening was very interesting. I told her that it was probably the last day of the first half of my life. She started negotiating with me - maybe it's the last day of the first third or better still, the first quarter of my life - as though I had some control over it all. When I told her I didn't want to live that long, she said she never wanted to have to do without me. But, I pressed on, there would and should come a time when she will not need me anymore. She thought a while in deep silence, her brow furrowed, and then said, "Mumma, I may not need you but I will want you!"

Sweet! That is where I want to be. Wanted more than needed. If we ever get there, it means that there will be at least one job that I will have done well.

I am quite sure that today will be a normal / business-as-usual kind of a day. But it is an important milestone. Technically I am 'over the hill' but, as my friends tell me, there is a whole new life on the other side. I certainly hope so!

We don't have plans for today except to make Glazed Bananas with Ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day will pan out just as life has, moment by moment and no regrets.

Glazed Bananas with Ice Cream

• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup orange juice, preferably fresh
• 3 bananas
• Vanilla ice cream to serve a la mode

1. Heat butter in a small skillet until melted.
2. Add brown sugar, cinnamon and orange juice and cook till it simmers. Stir frequently.
3. Cut bananas in half lengthwise and then cut into 1 inch pieces.
4. Add bananas to the juice mixture and cook for 3-5 minutes, turning as needed to coat the bananas well with the mixture.
5. Serve hot over ice-cream.

This is a really simple dessert that is out-of-this-world delicious. My brother-in-law served it to us when we visited them earlier this summer. It was the perfect antidote to the Goa Prawn Masala that had us on fire. He said it was a recipe from a local newspaper.

I don't have a picture for you because Medha and I will be making this later tonight. If I take a picture, I will update this post with it. If not, just imagine the flavors as you know them all very well and feel the warm bananas in your mouth as it mingles with the chill of the ice-cream.

I know my day will be great! I hope yours is, too! Just don't ask me for pearls of wisdom. I am only turning 40. Not 80!

Update: And here is the picture, as promised:

It was very difficult to take a picture of this dessert. I did not chill the bowls and when warm glazed bananas met cold slow-churned vanilla ice-cream, I was looking at a white pool of ice-cream! But this was a wonderful treat and a great way to celebrate on a schoolnight.

I am sending this to Mandira, the warm and gracious host for JFI: Bananas.