Dinner 3/4Manti
(dumplings in a roasted garlic broth with soy yogurt and mint)
Cretan Stew *
(seitan, tomatoes, unfiltered/unfined red wine, pearl onions, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, orange juice, orange halves,
Couscous
(couscous, ground cumin, cinnamon stick, turmeric, smoked paprika)
Braised Fennel
We just love this stew -- adapted from an issue of Saveur from 2000 -- the ingredients and flavors are just so different -- which is always a plus around here ;)
And as a bonus, more manti! We had leftover dough and filling and decided to make more as a soup in the broth tonight
* that's from the the island of Crete you, uh... cretin -- man, I'll bet they never get tired of that... ;)
update:
Here's the recipe -- we went back to the original and worked out the changes we made...
16 oz. of seitan (home-made or 2 8oz. packages)
2 cloves garlic chopped
20 black peppercorns
6-10 allspice berries
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon stick
1 lb. small white onions (or pearl onions)
4 plum tomatoes, cored and quartered
2 cups unfiltered/unfined light bodied red wine (or use veg stock as a substitute)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 orange, washed and halved
Preheat oven to 375F
In a large Dutch Oven, cut the seitan into 1/2" cubes and sear over med-high heat in small batches with 1 tbs. olive oil, until a nice crust forms. Remove the seitan and place on a plate. Add 1 tbs of olive oil and saute the onions with a pinch of salt for 3-4 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and saute for an additional 1-2 minutes.
Put the seared seitan back into the pan and stir in the peppercorns, allspice, bay leaves and cinnamon stick. Add the tomatoes, wine (or veg stock) and olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Squeeze the orange halves over the stew, then add the squeezed halves as well.
Cover and cook for one hour, remove cover and cook for an additional 20 minutes -- but check to see how much liquid is left, there should be a little left over.
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