I like food blogs. I like writing one and I certainly love reading other people’s food blogs. One of my favorite is “Bitten“, written by Mark Bittman of the New York Times. He’s kind of a no-nonsense cook, doesn’t worry about incredibly fancy preparation but instead focuses on health and flavor.
Here are three recipes I found in his blog recently and prepared at home. Click on pictures for a larger version.
The first was for a Curried Cauliflower Flatbread. Quite easy to make, this unleavened bread cooks in a skillet (perfect chance to test out that recently restored and reseasoned cast iron skillet!) and makes a very tasty appetizer. It does look a little plain when finished – some roasted peppers, hummus, a sauce or something would perk up the color – but it is tasty!
The second dish was an unusual pairing of lentils and rhubarb in an Indian Spiced Lentil and Rhubarb Stew. Yes, rhubarb in a savory dish. Sadly, I may have overcooked this as the lentils were a mushy mess. My bad as I was on a conference call while finishing it. And I think using chicken stock instead of water would have made the flavor more robust. Interesting concept, but I’m not sold on it yet.
Finally, for dessert I made a Chocolate Semolina Pudding from a recipe in Bittman’s new book, “Food Matters”. Ostensibly somewhere between a pudding and a cake, my version turned out kind of dry, maybe because the whole milk yogurt here in Thailand has a different consistency from that in the US. The texture was good, though: semolina flour gives it a little “toothier” consistency. Will have to play around with this and see what I can make of it.
Happy May Day to everyone!
christao408 
I usually check out the NY Times during lunch. But it’s tough to look at some great food while you’re eating at your desk. The last dish looks pretty good!
I’m getting hungry just imagining how you and Tawn are having these delicious dinners every nite! Bon Appetite!
@ElusiveWords – Yeah, although Margaret Cho was right about eating dinner in front of the TV while watching the Food Network… the ultimate in food porn!
@curry69curry – Oh, we only have these delicious dinners occasionally. Left-overs in between.
The flatbread sounds fantastic!
:)I made roasted chicken w/ veggies and stuffing yesterday but didn’t take pics >_<I should really start doing some cooking blogs…
Chris, I am glad that you experiment so willingly with different foods. The lentils, what I see in the photo, is called masoor dahl. For this particular lentil which cooks very easily in small amount of time, the best thing to do is use a couple of large tomatoes. If at all you have tamarind available a tablespoon of the tamarind extract will give it a great flavor. And, you can add any vegetabel to this… cauliflower, cabbage, capsicum or even shredded greens. Not trying to teach or anything, just letting you know what I do. Sometimes i make meatballs with ground beef and spices and after frying or baking, add them to the lentils also.
Thanks for sharing these pictures.
The lentils (the masoor dal) is something which I can cook as well! But, I still haven’t mastered the water and time you cook ratio and always end up in a mess. I like it best with a couple of large tomatoes cut into pieces, chopped onions, chopped green chilly and garlic ( the stronger the garlic flavour the better!) .
@TheCheshireGrins – I’d strongly recommend it.
@yang1815 – Andy, if you don’t take pictures you can’t blog about it! =)
@ZSA_MD – @Dezinerdreams – Thank you very much for the suggestions. I love lentils and was disappointed that this dish didn’t turn out better considering it had onions, garlic, ginger, cumin, curry, tumeric, cardamom and cloves in it. Not what I would consider a shortage of flavorings. But it sounds like a few more would have helped. I’ll continue experimenting because lentils are so healthy and tasty.
@christao408 – I could, it’d just be a sucky food blog!
@yang1815 – Oh, I’m sure it would be much better than that.
@christao408 – haha thanks! I’ll remember next time 😉
Delicious! I was looking for a lentil recipe to cook now that I’m a veggietarian. I’ll try out that recipe with a vegetable bouillon and let you know how it comes out.
@brooklyn2028 – Wow, I’m getting so many comments from you today, Sheldon! Please give it another try and let me know. I was also thinking that a little tomato paste might have helped things. When did you go veggie? I didn that for a few years in university.