Living with the Webers - Sharing our recipes and artistic ideas

Burnt Eggplant with Tahini

Pia — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:39:55 +0000

Delicious! This is a recipe from a wonderful cookbook- Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi.

1 large eggplant
1/3 cup tahini paste
1/4 cup water
2 tsp pomegranate molasses
1tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove
3 tbsp chopped parsley
Salt and pepper
3 mini cucumbers (6 to 7 oz in total)
3/4 cup cherry tomatoes
Seeds from 1/2 large pomegranate

1. Pierce the eggplants with a sharp knife in a few places and put into a 375F oven until soft and mushy.
2. Scoop out the flesh of the eggplant. Mix well in a bowl with tahini, water, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, and some salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more pomegranate molasses, garlic, or lemon juice as needed.
3. Quarter the cucumber lengthwise and then slice thinly. Halve the tomatoes. Add into the eggplant mix along with the pomegranate seeds.

Recommended With

Basic Bread

Tangelo Tree Blessings

Christoph — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 02:59:53 +0000

This year our little 4 ft Tangelo tree didn't just have lots of sweet smelling flowers - next to Jasmine, this tree has the most amazing scent of all plants in our garden! After flowering the tree set a load of fruit and the little green balls kept on growing. Usually, most of its fruit shrivel and fall off in short order, but not this time! By mid May we knew we'd have some nice Tangelos come Fall.

Nussknusperli

Pia — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 22:55:31 +0000

These are an easy and delicious type of Swiss Christmas cookies.

Dough:
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup ground hazelnuts
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup flour

Glaze:
125 grams chocolate
2 tablespoons water
Ground hazelnuts, approximately 1/4 cup

1. Mix all of the cookie dough ingredients together. Add the egg white if necessary to make the dough stick together.
2. Spread dough onto a lined cookie baking sheet. It should be about half a centimeter thick.
3. Bake in a 375F oven for 10-15 minutes.
4. While it is baking, prepare the glaze by melting the chocolate with the water.
5. When the cookies are done, immediately spread the melted chocolate on top. Sprinkle the ground hazelnuts on top and press slightly into the chocolate so that it sticks.
6. Immediately afterwards cut into 1 inch squares and let cool.

Spitzbuben

Pia — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:55:02 +0000

The name of these cookies means "mischievous boy." The jam peeking out is like a mischievous boy sneaking a peek.

1/3 cup and 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg white
1 pinch salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup white flour, add more as needed

Preheat oven to 390F.
Roll out dough to 2mm thickness. Cut out cookies into circles.
Arrange cookies onto a baking dish. Cut out the center of half of the cookies. These will be the tops.
Bake for 8-10 minutes in the middle of the oven.
Spread jam onto the bottom cookies, then place tops onto them.

Gewürzschnittli, Spice squares, one kind of Christmas cookies

Pia — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 06:05:32 +0000

Traditionally in Switzerland we bake at least 4 different kinds of Christmas cookies during the Holidays. Our family does about 6 kinds. This cookie recipe is quick and easy and very delicious.

4 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
2 cups ground almonds or hazel nuts
Grated rind of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup candied fruits
3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 3/4 cups flour
1 pinch salt

Glase:
1/2 cup powder sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 350F
Mix all ingredients except for the glase in a bowl. Pour mixture into a greased baking sheet about 1/4 " thick and bake for 20-25 minutes in 350F oven.
Mix ingredients for the glase and brush over still hot cookie rectangle. Cut into bite size diamonds or squares.

Store cooled down cookies in an airtight container or even better pack them into a freezer bag and freeze them. Take them out a half hour before serving. They stay really fresh that way.

Vegan, Low-Fat Pumpkin Pie

Pia — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:10:30 +0000

You would never guess that this pumpkin pie is vegan!

Pastry crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons oil
1/3 cup water

Filling:
1 1/2 packages of Mori-Nu Silken Tofu
2 cups of cooked pumpkin
2/3 cup honey or sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 nutmeg
1/4 cloves

1. Mix all pastry crust ingredients in a bowl with a spoon or hands and press dough into a 9 inch pie pan.
2. Mix the filling with a whisk and pour into pie crust.
3. Bake in preheated 350F oven for about 1 hour. Filling will be soft, but will firm as it chills.

Antique finds

Christoph — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:44:24 +0000

Material:

Casual browsing at Wynola Junction Antiques and Wynola Farms Marketplace turned into a very productive shopping trip. Here's what we found and where it is going in our home:

the butler chair - helps with dressing and holds clothes for the night, proudly stationed at the foot of the bed

llama wool - shorn from proud and impressive Dakota, nearly black, slightly heathered, it will be knit into a warm scarf

a cute little shelf - perfect for the master bath

iridescent teardrop garden lights - hung along the eaves below the jasmine branches

old fashioned metal garden seed ad sign - above the stove in our kitchen

The Butler Chair

Who doesn't have the perpetual disarray of clothes in the bedroom, not going into the closet for some reason, but not into the hamper for another? So these clothes are in temporary limbo, and there's never a good place for them. In our master bedroom, a perfectly good chair and a perfectly usable chandelier serve as holders for those clothing items. Not anymore for Pia, for the Butler Chair was built for the purpose. It has a clothes hanger back with a second piece above and can take care of those stray clothing items elegantly. The seat is a bit lower, so you can comfortably reach your feet while putting on socks and shoes, and when seated you can effortlessly slip into the jacket hanging from the clothes hanger back. Simply genius! And then there's the secret compartment under the seat. Pia is in love!

The Butler Chair has a little, secret compartment under the seat which swings out and is perfect for stashing away jewelry or other small items.	This is undyed pure llama wool. Dakota's fleece is going to be a very special scarf.	The cute little white shelf is a great addition to our bathroom, and looks perfect against the blue wall (which is one of those "I just had to do it" Pia ideas).
The iridescent teardrop garden lights strung out on our bench, before I mounted them in the backyard.	Teardrop Garden Lights mounted and lit.	This old fashioned metal sign advertising garden seeds is going to have a special place above the stove in our kitchen.