PYROG Salad & Baba Ganoush

What a burst of color and taste!



The name PYROG was put together simply because of the colors. I mixed chopped red cabbage (P=purple), a bell pepper (Y=yellow), cherry tomatoes (R=red), shredded carrot (O=orange), regular and lamb's lettucce and cucumber slices(G=green) and topped it all with roasted sunflower seeds. The dressing pretty much consisted of Balsamico bianco, a little olive oil and 1 tsp. fig mustard.

I don't have salad often enough and I always wonder why. It's not that time consuming and it always tastes good. Plus, the boyfriend loves to eat it. He gets all excited when I make salad (the kind of excitement I get when I see the Lindt commercial and start to believe that I will one day work in that exact same setting =p) - even more reasons to toss together some greens every now and then!



I also made Baba Ganoush for the first time and used this recipe(added some additional fresh parsley). But being the way I am I did not start small and then added more, as suggested by Susan. I used 2 cloves of garlic. BIG cloves! So when I tasted it... woooosh, hardcore garlic infusion! Even for a garlic lover like me.




So I didn't eat much of it and decided not to grill my veggies (I wanted to use my new grill pan to try out Katies recipe using asparagus, zucchini and bell pepper to accompany the Baba Ganoush) and just had some slices of raw bell pepper instead. I don't eat enough raw vegetables... I'll really try to eat a big salad every day(or at least every other day)!

Falafel (Crumbs) from VwaV

I had been so excited to make Falafel. I have always loved it and couldn't wait to do it myself.

So last night I finally had enough time on my hands. I prepared the chickpea mixture and the tahini sauce. Both had to cool in the fridge for 30 minutes. And I was starving already. So were my boyfriend and my parents downstairs whom I had promised to bring some of my selfmade Falafel.

Finally, after 30 long minutes, I started shaping the patties. Or better yet, I tried. They totally fell apart. I squeezed them together as hard as I could and put them into the boiling oil. They fell apart and nothing but deep fried crumbs were left.
This was 1/4th of the mixture. Ugh!
I wasn't too excited about the deep frying anyway, so I took out a pan and baked 3 patties a time in just a tiny bit of oil. They didn't stay in shape too well either, but at least you could call them a patty.

Eventually, after lots of swearing, I had 9 small patties to serve to my hungry folks. 4 for my parents and 5 for my boyfriend and me. I forgot to take a picture until I had one more bite left and that was mostly just pita bread with some cucumber and tomato.
They tasted good though. My mom gave me a call "Wow, the patties tasted great. The sauce wasn't right somehow, but the patties... mhh!" I used VwaVs recipe.

Bottom line: I will not make these again. Although the taste was good, it was just too much work. Not to mention that my apartment stank like crazy. Like I had fried fish in tons of oil, yuck. Not to mention I almost fainted when I entered my kitchen this morning.

And a picture I just found online...
I always look like that when I walk past meat in the supermarket, when my boyfriend devours a steak, my mom prepares chicken etc.
But a few days ago I had the same facial expression when I passed some people grabbing huge amounts of gummi bear bags. All I wanted to say to them was "You are aware of the fact that you're going to eat boiled pig skin, are you?" I can't help but shudder at this thought every single time. I can't believe I used to eat this stuff.


Vogue Paris October 2007 | Photographer: Steven Klein