Communication Satellites Collision Two Dinners

Three years ago to the day, two communication satellites collided in orbit above Siberia at velocities greater than escape velocity. BOOM! It was 'the first accidental hypervelocity collision between two intact artificial satellites in Earth orbit.' Only one was operational. There was a ton of debris, which hasn't caused any damage to other satellites. Cool.

I can't access the internet at my apartment, so I'm posting this from a cafe down the street. I won't post recipes for these dishes. Above is just rice and lentils (unseasoned), with steamed and then sauteed beets, beet greens, and broccoli. Below is penne with a sauce made from four tomatoes, the better part of an eggplant, and a yellow onion, seasoned with dried oregano, basil, and parsley.

I'll have two film reviews for you soon.

Mom Meal: Legalized Homosexuality in New South Wales Lentil Salad and Couscous

New South Wales, Australia didn't legalize homosexuality until 1984. Talk about feet-dragging. Oh, wait. Same-sex sexuality wasn't legal throughout the US until 2003. Talk about head-hanging.

Went on a bike ride with my dad tonight. It was way too hot (over 90F) and I was too slow. We pulled off the back of the group early. Mom had a beautiful summery meal waiting for us at home. Lentil salad (olives, grape tomatoes, chickpeas, olive oil, red wine vinegar) and couscous (lemon zest, sun-dried tomatoes). And there was mesclun mix and bread, too! It was all delicious; the recipes "look like they're from Gourmet" (i.e., Mom has unannotated photocopies). Sniff it out or approximate. Here's a closeup to help.

Reichstag Fire Lentil Patties

In 1933 someone set the German parliament building on fire. Been reading about Nazis for my moral psychology class.

The reason I ate these patties on sandwich bread is that Whole Foods (where I had to go to buy bulk nuts) didn't have hamburger buns that were free of both animal products and palm shortening. Palm oil is bad, friends. This spread isn't as good as the others I've made, but it goes pretty well with these patties. Oh, and the avocado was unnecessary. Best keep it simple with tomato.

makes approx. 4-6 patties

INGREDIENTS:

Patties
INGEDIENTS:
3/4 c. green lentils
1/4 c. long grain brown rice
2 small red onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 small carrots, peeled and diced
6 large crimini mushrooms, diced
1/4 c. broth (e.g., water from boiling navy beans)
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. coriander
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/3 c. vital wheat gluten
1/3 c. bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS:
1. Simmer the lentils and rice together in a pot until tender. The lentils will be overcooked, but that's fine because you're just gonna mash 'em up anyway.
2. Sauté onion in a large pan with carrots and mushrooms. Add garlic, and couple minutes later add broth, lentils, and rice. Mash the lentils with a spatula. Mix in seasonings.
3. Preheat oven to 350F.
4. Let the mixture cool for a couple minutes. (Eat some to tide you over, it's good!) In a mixing bowl, mash it up some more, then add wheat gluten and bread crumbs. Knead with a wooden spoon — wouldn't want to get your hands dirty.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Form patties and bake for 15 min. each side.
6. Heat some oil in a pan. Fry the patties a few minutes on each side to brown them and firm them up.

Spread
INGREDIENTS:
1 c. frozen edamame, thawed
1/2 c. frozen corn, thawed
1 c. spinach, tightly packed
1/4 c. broth
1/4 c. water
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. tahini
1/2 tsp. chili powder

DIRECTIONS:
1. Purée everything in a blender. Get frustrated that it's too thick to get properly smooth. Scrape the sides, stir with a spoon, pulse, shake, etc.

Douglas Hofstadter Beet Soup

Douglas Hofstadter turned 66 today! Gödel, Escher, Bach is a great book, but so is the much more concise, political, freely accessible "A Person Paper on Purity in Language." Check it out.

There's maybe a little too much going on in this soup, but at least it's hearty and flavorful. And there's lots of it. My first time cooking with beets. Beets are delicious. For the broth I used 3 c. water I'd frozen after cooking black beans, plus 2 c. water from making kidney beans on Saturday.

makes approx. 5-8 servings (I really have no idea)

INGREDIENTS:
1 c. green lentils
2/3 c. quinoa
5 small sweet potatoes, cubed
1 beet, skinned and cubed
1 medium white onion, diced
~1/2 c. tofu, crumbled
1/4 c. cilantro
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp. chili powder
5 c. vegetable broth
3 c. water

DIRECTIONS:
1. Fill a large stock pot with broth and lentils. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Add the sweet potatoes and the beet.
2. After 25 min., toss in the onion, tofu, cilantro, and spices. Start simmering the quinoa in a separate pot.
3. After another 20 min., turn off the heat. Stir in the quinoa and the water, which will instantly bring down the temperature to a comfortable hotness. Serve immediately!

I can't figure out how to embed audio, so if you want to listen to this funny little piece I recorded March 10, 2006 on a warped half-size acoustic guitar and contact mic, you'll have to download it here.

Green Lentil Patties with Spicy Green Spread

I didn't actually end up eating both of these. I went overboard with the spread so I was pretty full. If you anticipate liking the spread, consider increasing the recipe by 50-100%; I'm not sure I'll have enough to cover all the patties I made.

These were damn good, but next time I might cut down on the breadcrumbs a tad and substitute some wheat gluten. If you have a food processor (I don't), there's nothing to worry about. Also, I'm running low on spices so instead of using cumin and thyme or something I used garam masala, paprika, and coriander. Worked fine. The recipe for the patties is adapted from Isa's Olive Lentil Burgers.

makes 4-6 patties

Patties

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 c. green lentils, uncooked

1 small yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 handfuls shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and diced

1 c. breadcrumbs

2 Tbsp. oil

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1/2 tsp. garam masala

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. coriander

ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook lentils. Drain and set aside.

2. Fry the onions in a pan for a few minutes. Add the garlic, then a minute later throw in the mushrooms. Cook for another several minutes, then set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 350F.

4. In a mixing bowl, combine the lentils, contents of the pan, and everything else besides 1/2 c. of the breadcrumbs. Mash for a few minutes until the mixture begins to coalesce.

5. Add in the remaining breadcrumbs (or wheat gluten if you're trying that) and knead until a dough forms.

6. Apportion the dough into between 4 and 6 patties, depending on how fat you want them.

7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the patties on it. Bake for 12-15 minutes, then flip and bake on the other side for approximately the same amount of time.

Spread

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. shelled edamame

1 jalapeno, chopped

6 sun-dried red tomatoes

1/3 c. pine nuts

4 Tbsp. oil

3/4 c. water
juice of 1/4 lemon
1/4 tsp. lemon zest

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook the edamame in a pan over medium heat for a couple minutes. Add the jalapeno, and after another couple minutes add the pine nuts. Pine nuts burn easily, but they shouldn't be too bad in there with other things. Cook until you can smell the pine nuts or until you catch a sight of some browning. Remove from the heat.

2. Place the sun-dried tomatoes, water, oil, and contents of pan in a blender. (Secret: I used 1 Tbsp. peanut oil. Magic.) Puree until relatively consistent.

Done! There is one major cost, though...

For those who read to the end, here's a special treat. I figure I'll start posting cool non-food links. I had never heard of Charles Cohen, Jeff Cain, or this album until the other day, but it has got to be one of the coolest things from 1981. I wasn't even alive!