The Odd Fork

Do you keep beer bottles in your fridge? The Odd Fork surely does, as it is a big beer lover! So when it doesn't drink all the beers -a thing that rarely happens- it cooks with beer! Today, the Odd Fork used a Greek beer with a sweet, caramel character and the result was a fantastic beer cake. Oh, it is vegan as well!

For a medium cake like the one above:

- 200 gr. dates

- a bottle of beer (bock, stout or a Belgian dark ale)

- 3/4 cup molasses

- 3/4 cup white sugar

- 1/2 cup vegetable oil

- 1 & 1/2 tsp mix of: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger (all ground and in powder)

- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

- self-rising flour (use by hand, as much is needed)

Start by soaking the dates in beer for 3 hours minimum. Drain the dates, chop them and remove the seeds. Keep the beer! In a large bowl pour the date-flavored beer and add sugar, oil, molasses and spices, whisking until all are combined in a unified mixture. Add flour to get a smooth sticky batter, a little thinner than cookie dough.

Add dates and walnuts last mixing softly, to incorporate them into the batter. Pour the batter into a prepared pan and bake in a preheated oven, air setting, at 350C for for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let it cool for 30 - 40 minutes before cutting. It is lovely with coffee in the morning or -of course- with beer in the evening! Desserts with beer are yet to come on the Odd's Fork blog, so stay tuned!

There are times that the Odd Fork tries to keep a balanced diet. It pinches snacks which are low in fat and often gluten-free while at the same time are nutritious, rich in protein and of course tasty! The cookies in the photo above, are another example that "less is more". They have everything you want from a cookie: Great taste, excellent aroma, a soft texture and almost zero fat and calories! What they do NOT have: Sugar, oil or butter, eggs, lactose and gluten! 

For the Odd Fork, black coffee and 2 - 3 cookies of these make the perfect fast and energy breakfast!

For 10 - 12 cookies all you need is a ripe banana and some of your favorite flakes (oat flakes, buckwheat flakes, quinoa flakes or millet flakes). Also add spices of choice, chopped nuts or dried fruit pieces, cocoa nibs... Variations are countless! 

For this version, mash banana in a bowl using a fork and add in the banana pulp the zest of a lemon and about 1/2 tsp of ground ginger (powder). Also add some coconut, some dried, sugar-free blueberries and last but not least millet flakes, as many as needed to have a mixture that resembles a cookie dough and you can use your fingers to shape the "dough" into cookies (if millet mixture is a little sticky, don't worry).

Put cookies onto a baking pan lined with a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 15 - 20 minutes. Store them in an airtight container and enjoy in breakfast, before or after your workout, or just anytime you want a healthy, sweet snack!

Trying to keep a healthy and gluten free diet for a period of time, the Odd Fork cooked many times with quinoa, buckwheat and several superfood grains, it hadn't tried millet though. When it came across a small pack of millet in a food store one day, it decided to give it a try. The buy was successful, as millet was cheaper than quinoa, easier and faster to cook and its taste was mild and pleasant, almost like couscous or rice. 

The Odd Fork added millet in vegetable soups, prepared a millet tabbouleh salad, made a delicious veal millet stew and the last -at least for now- dish is this one. Of course, it is the most creative and the most yummy!

Ingredients:

For the millet "pastry":

- 1 cup uncooked millet

- a small onion, finely chopped

- half a bunch of fresh parsley

- 1 Tbsp of olive oil

- 1/3 tsp turmeric (powder)

- a pinch of dried ginger (powder)

- a pinch of nutmeg (powder)

- salt

- 250 grams smoked yellow cheese of choice, grated (optional)

For the mushroom stuffing:

- a medium onion, finely chopped

- a clove of garlic, finely chopped

- 1 Tbsp of olive oil

- a big, green pepper cut in small squares
- a pack of small white fresh mushrooms, cleaned and cut in small squares
- the remaining half bunch of fresh parsley
- a small sachet of dried mushrooms (porcini or anything you like)
- a glass of Greek Mavrodaphne or a similar sweet, red wine
- 2 to 3 Tbsps of tomato paste
- 2 to 3 whole cloves
- some whole grains of allspice
- some dried, ground thyme
- a bay leaf
- 2/3 tsp smoked paprika and a pinch of hot paprika
- salt, black pepper
- a can of red kidney beans (optional)

For the millet "pastry", just sauté onion in olive oil, add the parsley stems very finely chopped and add water (about 2 to 3 cups, twice the amount of millet). Add spices and salt and when it comes to a boil add millet, cover  the pot and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, until millet is tender. Then uncover the pot, add fresh parsley leaves chopped, increase the heat and let millet absorb the liquids, stirring often and carefully with a wooden spatula. Remove from heat when the mixture has the texture of a really thick porridge. Let it cool (when cooler, it will thicken more) for some time and add cheese (keeping though some of the cheese aside). For a vegan option, skip the cheese -the millet porridge will still be aromatic and tasty!
For the mushroom stuffing, add olive oil in a pot and again sauté onion and garlic. After a while add pepper, parsley stems very finely chopped, fresh mushrooms and dried mushrooms soaked in Mavrodaphne -add Mavrodaphne also. Add tomato paste, a big glass of water, salt and all the spices. Cover the pot and cook over medium to low heat for 30 to 40 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Uncover the pot, increase the heat and let liquids evaporate. A couple of minutes before removing pot from the stove, add fresh parsley leaves chopped and beans drained from the can and very well washed. Set it aside and let it cool.

Preheat oven to 180* C (350* F) Fan. Grease with olive oil a medium rectangular casserole and evenly spread half the millet porridge onto the bottom. Place the cool mushroom stuffing over the millet base and cover it carefully with the remaining millet mixture. Spread the surface of the pie with the remaining cheese (if using) and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown and cheese melts.



The pie is better to be cut at least half an hour later. The combination of aromatic herbs and mushrooms has a taste similar to minced meat sauce and the Odd Fork remembered the traditional Greek Moussaka!
Millet pie turned out to be fantastic and it is a very good reason to reduce the meat intake! Besides, with a creative and hearty pie like this, who needs a steak?

The Odd Fork got the inspiration for this recipe from the Greek traditional dish "Gioubetsi" which is made with veal, beef or even chicken and sometimes seafood. It is made in a pot on the kitchen stove where it boils with tomato paste and when the meat is tender, it is transferred in a baking casserole and with the addition of short pasta -usually orzo- it is baked until is soft and sauce is thick.

The Odd Fork cooked it in the pot over the kitchen stove, used millet instead of orzo, added many spices, carrots and red peppers and nice Greek black raisins and the result was a hearty, aromatic stew -probably far from mom's Gioubetsi, but still lovely!

Ingredients:

- 300 gr of veal stew meat, cut in small cubes

- a small onion, finely chopped

- a clove of garlic, finely chopped

- 2 red peppers cut in thin strips (the Odd Fork used the Greek "Florinis" peppers)

- 2 Tbsps of tomato paste (or a mini pack of 70 grams)

- 2 carrots grated in the cheese grater

- salt, pepper

- a pinch of dried spearmint

- a pinch of red hot pepper

- a pinch of nutmeg

- 2 bay leaves

- 3 whole cloves

- 2 to 3 allspice grains

- a whole star anise

- 2 to 3 Tbsps black raisins

- 1/2 cup uncooked millet

In a pot, add a tbsp of olive oil and sauté veal with onion and garlic. Add peppers, tomato paste and 2 cups of water. Stir well and when it comes to a boil add carrots, salt, pepper, all the spices and raisins and cook over medium heat for 40 - 45 minutes, until meat is tender. Add millet and cook uncovered for about 25 minutes or until millet is tender and it has absorbed most of the liquids.

The veal was tender like bread dough and the millet had infused all the aromas from the spices and raisins -it worked exactly like orzo! The Odd Fork pinched the food satisfied and paired it with a "ripe" semi-sweet red wine.