Middle Eastern Feast

Dinner 6/14 by Tony



• Whole Wheat Pita

• Falafel

• Garlic Scape Hummus

• Tahini Sauce

• Chopped Pickles

• Sautéed Kale and Beet Greens

• Strawberry-Peach-Rhubarb Crisp

Tony is the only person in the co-op who has ever made pitas and they are soooo good. One day, I'll be brave enough to try it, but not yet. In my pre-DR days, whole wheat pitas I've bought from the store were never this warm and soft. They were the perfect vehicle for the savory and crunchy falafel.

I'm not the biggest fan of hummus. Maybe it's because I'm a vegan that doesn't like mushrooms *gasp*, so when I'm out at less-veg friendly restaurants, it's what I tend to eat. Or maybe it's because Juan and I made a large tupperware full of it before taking a long train ride and we both got sick of it before the train arrived at our destination. Either way, I'm hummused out. But this hummus was really good! Tony replaced the usual garlic with garlic scapes and it gave it not only a different flavor, but a nice green tint.

The tahini sauce was made from East Wind tahini. We have a 15 pound bucket on the shelf that we're slowly making our way through. We like buying our nut butters in bulk from them because they're made in the same state and they usually have seconds to sell us. The chopped pickles were from a jar we made several years ago. They still have plenty of flavor though.

As you've probably noticed, we've been eating a lot of the same produce each day. That's because we are eating what's in season, Ironweed is only selling certain veggies and we buy large quantities of other veggies from a local organic farmer who has a large greenhouse. Ironweed delivers three times a week and the other farmer once. Today, we got a large delivery from the local farmer so you'll start seeing new ingredients like tonight's beet greens. I imagine soon you'll be seeing the beets they were attached to.

The dessert was based on Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Strawberry-Rhubarb-Peach Pie recipe from "Vegan with a Vengeance". Tony turned it into a crisp. He used canned strawberries and peaches from last year and some fresh rhubarb that was delivered today. The topping was rolled oats, flour, brown rice syrup, cinnamon, oil, and salt. We had a late frost that killed our stone fruit buds, so we won't be getting fresh peaches this year. It makes last year's canned fruit all that more special. Of course, that's the risk we take when we focus on eating what's growing up around us.