TOUM me or not toum me…. that is the question.

I’ve been testing some more recipes for culinary goddess Terry Romero for her upcoming international cookbook Vegan Eats World and stumbled upon Toum. I had no idea what it was, so that usually makes me want to make it even more.  Come to find out, toum is a Lebanese garlic sauce that is often served with veggies, bread, or as a dip for some type of kebob.  It’s similar in theory to the more familiar aioli and the less familiar Greek skordalia (which was coincidentally the very first recipe I tested for this cookbook months ago).

Toum is not for the meek. It is not the condiment to use before a big date. Actually, you may not want to consume toum if you have to see other people at all for the next 48-72 hours.  Since after tasting it, it will be impossible to never make it again, my suggestion would just be to feed it to everyone you know. Then you’ll all have dragon breath together.

This creamy white puree has about 18-20 cloves of fresh garlic, salt, olive oil, lemon juice, and the secret thickener *drum roll please*, a touch of potato.  Oh and it only makes about 3/4c….and you could probably eat it all in one sitting.

I can’t wait to experiment with this on more than just pita! Steamed green beans immediately come to mind, as does using it as an international helper for a roasted red pepper, arugula, basil, and grilled eggplant sangweech.  Something fun and funky with pineapple may be in it’s future as well.

So if you come across some toum, by all means eat it. On everything. When the cookbook comes out, make it. 4 lyf.  But for the love of everyone you know, please  make sure you have some gum.

Home of The Greek Salad King

Now where I grew up in Brockton, there’s this long established Greek restaurant on the east side called Christo’s, which is the self-proclaimed “Home of the Greek Salad King”.   It’s full of pizza, lamb, and greek salads (and really strong, inexpensive drinks) but one of their most famous dishes is their Greek Lemon Chicken soup. This stuff is bright yellow and smooth like velvet. Each bowl must contain like a half a dozen egg yolks…but I do remember it to be delicious and to this day is one of the prides of the city of Brockton (right behind Rocky Marciano). I thought this was going to be a thing of the past, a distant memory from my pre-vegan (pregan?) days…. until stumbling upon this recipe in Vegan Eats World. I’ll admit I was very very skeptical, but I had to try it and see. Oh my woah, Terry! You hit the nail on the head, my friend.

No-Glovemano (Greek Lemon Soup)

COOKBOOK TESTING!!! Lemony Dill Rice

COOKBOOK TESTING!!!

Yay! I’m lucky enough to be testing recipes for Terry Hope Romero‘s upcoming international cookbook Vegan Eats World. I’ve been trying to slow my roll with singing up to try out things but everything seems so delicious I almost can’t help myself! Buy this book when it comes out. You won’t be sorry!

I had a little Greek feast this night- minus the togas….

May I introduce Lemony Dill Rice!

This was amazingly good and making it better was how easy it was. It reminded me of spring, it was so fresh. I think it’d be awesome paired up with some type of tempeh kabob and a lebanese salad, loaded with mint and lemon. Yum!

Tags: VEW, cookbook testing, Terry Hope Romero, greek, rice, lemon, dill