It’s hot here in the Northeast. It’s so hot that every night I am tempted to order takeout. I have been good. I have cooked, every night even. I apologize for neglecting to show you my goodies.

I will share with you some winners from this past weekend. I had an old roomie over for Shabbat, who declared me a balabuste. If she only knew. I can’t be a balabuste if I can’t cook a kugel. I can make some awesome rice dishes though.

Friday night is always rough on these long summer Shabbats. By the time Shabbat starts, you are super hungry, but too tired to eat. Still, I cooked, and I cooked some more. Guests are fun. On the Friday night menu was chicken soup, roasted maple glazed chicken with roasted root vegetables, a pilaf, steamed broccoli, and yummy garlicky green beans with shallots. I forgot to serve the sauteed zucchini. Sorry for the lack of pictures.

I don’t have a name for my rice creation. I never use recipes for rice. I will admit that I have become overly confident in my knack for a good rice dish.

July 4th, 2008 Rice Dish

2 cups basmati rice
1 onion, diced
2 shallots, chopped
1 Tbsp. ginger, minced
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
handful of pinenuts
7 mushrooms, sliced
3 cups water or vegetable broth
coriander
olive oil
salt
pepper

In a large saute pan that you have a lid for, on medium-high heat, saute onions, garlic, shallots, and ginger. Throw in the rice. Let it toast a minute or two. Add in the sliced mushrooms. Saute one more minute. Add 1 Tbsp. of coriander, salt and pepper. Add in the pinenuts. Add the water or broth, and cover with a lid. Turn the heat down to medium-low. Walk away a bit until done.

For Shabbat Lunch, I made a pot roast in the crockpot, accompanied by a tasty assortment of salads. There was a large green salad, an imitation crabmeat salad, a couscous salad, a tomato basil salad, and hummus.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast – adapated from Allrecipes.com

4 pounds roast – I used chuck…just look for a nice hunk of meat, after a dozen plus hours in the crockpot – it’s all good

salt and pepper to taste
1 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup of good red wine – reminder to always use wine you like to drink
3 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 stalk celery, chopped –

Take the chuck roast and season with salt and pepper to taste. Brown on all sides in a large skillet over high heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute a bit more.
Place in the slow cooker and add the broth, wine, carrots, onions, potatoes and celery.
Cover and cook on low. It is done after 10 hours, but I left it cooking overnight until lunchtime. The smell was heavenly at 6am.

“Crab” Salad – dedicated to my Aunt who introduced us to the yummy salad

1 Package of imitation crab meat, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped fine
Half of a small seedless cucumber, chopped
1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped
Juice of one lemon
chopped parsley
Pepper
1 Tbsp. Old Bay
1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard
1 1/2 Tbsp. Mayonaisse

Mix everything together and serve.

Tomato Basil Salad

5 Sliced Plum Tomatoes
Chopped Red Onion, about a quarter
Chopped Fresh Basil
Salt
Pepper
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

Mix all together. Enjoy! Good with some nice crusty challah to sop up the juices

CousCous Vegetable Salad – from www.fantasticfoods.com

2 cups cooked whole wheat couscous
6 green onions, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, seeded and cut into small pieces
1 cup cucumber, chopped
½ cup cooked (or canned) garbanzo beans
1 cup parsley, chopped

Mix all ingredients together and toss with the following salad dressing:

Dressing
¾ cup olive oil
½ cup fresh lemon juice
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

All of these dishes were a hit. I had little to no leftovers…which in my book is always a good sign. I get ooked out by leftovers.