[Sca-cooks] Old?

[margali]

>>>> Ah my dears. I am 61, and while I have a few gray hairs, they are hard
to
> find. So can we get back to food? What's coming into season where you
are
> and how would you have fixed it in period? Margarite


Well, Phlip's birthday is hitting pennsic as always, and we are
doing middle eastern this time around.

Since Rob isn't able to get the whole time off, he is coming for
the weekends and is going to bring the main course out. I am
precooking the ducks at home and reserving the drippings. It is
going to be a variant of chicken al qata'if so it will be rubbed
with saffron before cooking, and in place of the commercial
kataif that resembles shredded wheat, I am using the middle
eastern 'flaky pastry' recipe from the miscellaney and layering
it with ground almonds, and rosewater, and mixing the drippings
into the honey syrup to go over the nut/kataif 'baklava' to be
baked separately. I am sizing them to reheat easily in primative
conditions. That way I don't have to worry about doing 6 ducks
onsite. The rest of the goodies are all quick and easy to do.

Along with it, I am serving khichri [mung beans, rice and ghee]
isfanakh mutajjan [spinach, garlic and spices sauted in sesame
oil], the bread from ain i akbari with white sals instead of
hummus bi tahini, the modern cuke/mint/yoghurt 'dip' that is
actually a salad, hais for dessert and to drink pomegranite syrup
for dilluting, modern lemonaid and coffee.

I am also thinking of doing the dish of lentils, and omitting the
eggs on top for the vegans that lurk, and possibly something
eggplant based - maybe the eggplant pancakes. I am throwing in
the oil preserved lemons, onion pickles, beid hamide, dates,
olives, cheese and nuts as nibbles.

margali