Midweek moed meals

[magid]

Wednesday night I hosted the family with a number of food allergies. Not everyone is allergic to all of these, but collectively at least one person is allergic to: dairy, beef, all nuts (including peanuts, but not coconut), chickpeas, lentils, sesame, all squashes (summer and winter), eggs, wheat, corn, rye, oats, barley, spelt, and chocolate. There was precipitation, so we were inside, which, given the tiredness level of the smalls, was good.

The menu: chicken baked with white rice, preserved lemon, and garlic; cranberry-orange relish; green salad with red leaf lettuce, mesclun, arugula, mizuna, some baby Asian green, apple slices, and a maple-black pepper balsamic vinaigrette; and applesauce (exept that we never quite got to the applesauce).

Last night I hosted some food-restriction-free (well, except for that kosher thing) adults, and the weather was balmy, so we were out in the sukkah enjoying the night.

The menu: bread; cranberry-orange relish; green salad with green leaf lettuce, slices of apple, slivered almonds, orange pepper, and a balsamic vinaigrette (which was rather boring; some arugula would've made a huge difference); sliced sweet potatoes and red onion sauteed with cayenne; turkey meatloaf made with sauteed eggplant, peppers, hot peppers, zucchini, and onion mixed in, also breadcrumbs; and chocolate cake (slightly stale, alas).

I am hosting no meals on this last holiday weekend (Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah). I have one tray of chicken and rice from Wednesday, a bit less than half the (three pounds of meat) meatloaf from yesterday, and some cranberry relish leftover. I'm roasting a tray of zucchini, red and orange peppers, and fennel (no onion: I seem to have run out again); and another tray with red onion, golden beet, celeriac, purple-topped turnip, and kohlrabi, all cubed up. I'm boiling red fingerling potatoes to mash with some of the extra meatloaf juices. And I have a pineapple to cut up whenever I like. I think I'm just about set for yom tov (which is good; candlelighting is far too soon), though I haven't made a dent in the surpluses of squash or eggs.

Chag sameach, Shabbat shalom, happy weekend.

Zahzeh: it's all take-out pizza, really.

Comments

[rethought.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking...'that first family could be gluten-free'. And then I clicked the cut. Wow. And I thought gluten-free vegetarian could be hard. Wrong. Thank goodness mom still eats all of those except the barley, spelt, rye, and wheat.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's just nutty for them. Except not, of course. For a while coconut was out, now it's in again. Ditto mustard. There's a possibility that strawberries will be out; testing is in progress. At this point, the main cook in the family would be so happy to only be gluten-free...

So your mom can have other grains like buckwheat, oats, amaranth, quinoa, and so on? Sounds like a noticeable challenge, but a doable one, for people who cook, anyway. I'd hate to have to deal with it living on take-out/pre-packaged stuff.

[rethought.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she can also have tapioca, chickpea, and rice flour. The only thing that's definitely out after years of testing is takeaway or eat-out italian food. Unless we find out after the first visit that there's problems, most Asian, Indian, and Mexican restaurants are okay. With prepackaged stuff, they've gotten better about noting that as an allergen like they have with nuts for ages.

There's a company that makes pasta called Tinkyada...I swear, I can't tell it from gluten except that it takes longer to cook.

I know that I would have a hard time staying on a diet that prohibited grabbing a bit of bread from the baker's, but she says feeling good is better than the bread. :)

As a cook, yeah, it definitely makes me more aware of what I'm putting in things.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I'd have a hard time cutting bread out, too, but it's a heck of a lot easier having just one category. Worse for me would be another friend's allergy: onions. That would be completely horrible (and I rarely have him over for a meal because I find it so difficult).

I'm glad there's more allergy labeling, though it's sad that it's so much more needed than it used to be.

Tinkyada

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, I do like the Tinkyada. It's great stuff, though I do manage to overcook it regularly.

Still, it's more forgiving than most rice pastas, and it's actually edible the next day! I serious blessing for mama o' the culinarily complex.

-Mama O' (fill in the blank)
http://breedingimperfection.blogspot.com

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

How did you prepare the lemon-rice-chicken thing? Sounds good.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I've dubbed this Chicken with Gloopy Rice, and it's very yummy, though not horribly good for you, given the chicken fat.

I put a cup of white rice in a 9 x 13 pan, added some chopped up preserved lemon (half a lemon this time, I think, maybe more), crushed cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, and the water for the rice (depending on the kind, different ratios). Put a chicken in eighths on top, then seal with aluminum foil over the top. Bake in a 300F oven for at least 2 hours.

I've permuted this by adding a variety of different veggies (onion, tomato sauce, carrots, parsnips, leeks, etc), and usually I'd pair pine nuts with preserved lemon, except for the allergies in play this time.

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

It doesn't necessarily sound that bad for you. You can always substitute brown for white rice, fat free chicken stock for water, and de-skin the chicken. Or would that just be icky?

[magid.livejournal.com]

I think brown rice would take longer (though I'm not sure how much longer), and be less gloopy (not a problem, just different). Stock instead of water would work, but I'd be a little nervous that the chicken would dry out too much if it were skinned, despite the steam. Hrm. I might consider skinning the chicken, then topping it with something that would keep it moist (first thoughts: some kind of chutney or non-dairy pesto).

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

Is there a reason not to mix the chicken in with the rice and keep it moist that way?

I admit that the lack of goopiness with the brown rice is always a loss.

[magid.livejournal.com]

No reason I can figure; I just put the chicken on top to make sure that the rice and water were together, so there wouldn't be any underdone crunchy rice bits.

[zahzeh.livejournal.com]

Chag sameach, Shabbat shalom, happy weekend.
Back atchya babe! :-)

I'm drooling over that take out pizza.... ;)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I hope you had a good one.

And the pizza was excellent :-)
(I do like making pizza, when I have inspiration. I'll have to post some pizza porn soon for you...)