Hello again! Last night I made one of my favorite staple dinners, goat cheese-stuffed falafel with hummus and pita and fried greens. Sounds pretty luxurious–and tastes awesome–and yet it’s easy enough that we have it once every few weeks. The pita recipe I use is the same one I referenced back in June.

Goat cheese stuffed falafel

Falafel is great on its own. But when you form the falafel ball around a little cube of goat’s cheddar, the cheese will melt while you fry the falafel so that when you bite in–oh, so good.

28 oz. canned chickpeas, drained
one onion, finely chopped
1/3 C. fresh cilantro
1/3 C. fresh parsley (I cheat and use 1-2 tsp. dried, when I don’t have fresh on hand)
1/3 C. fresh mint
1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1/4 C. water
goat cheddar, cubed
oil for frying

Process the chickpeas, onion, and herbs in a food processor. It forms a nice mix, but doesn’t stick together well.

Mix in the flour and water. Now you should have a good dough.

Form a one-inch ball of “dough” around a cube of cheese. Keep doing this until you’ve used up all the falafel mix. Let the falafel sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. You can let it sit longer–even over night, but you’ll want to cover them with plastic wrap if you leave them longer than an hour or so.

When you’re ready, heat about 1/2 inch of oil in a sauce pan, and fry the falafel until dark brown. You want them to cook long enough for the cheese to melt, so a medium heat works well.

Cilantro... My favorite smell in the world

Hummus

I’m picky about hummus, and after lots of experimenting, this is just about my favorite. That said, I usually fudge the portions a little bit so it comes out a little different every time… not on purpose, but it works out.

14 oz. canned chickpeas
2 large cloves of garlic (more is always fine with me!)
4 Tbs. tahini
5 Tbs. lemon juice
2 tsp. cumin
4 Tbs. olive oil

Combine everything in a food processor and blend well. That’s really all there is to it.

To serve, pour a small amount of olive oil over the top and sprinkle on a little paprika. I apologize, I don’t have a picture of the hummus–but okay, you’ve seen hummus before.

For a side–and the only vegetable in the meal, really–we sauteed this huge pile of kale from our backyard, along with a good amount of butter. Great dinner in about an hour.

August 25, 2011

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