So here I am, working on the weekend. But I took off quite a bit of time last week to get ready for Orphan Thanksgiving 2012, so I’m not even bitter. All my energies went toward pulling off the event rather than being a good little copyeditor. I’m balancing a bunch of small projects this month and while I was making salad and organizing my pantry so nobody (viz., Mr. Dangling Participle) lost his mind while cooking, my clients were writing and revising and sending me new material.
I am a much happier and more relaxed freelancer now that my much-neglected kitchen is better organized, and my office received a small makeover as well. I’ve thrown out crackers that expired in June and am feeling slightly smug, working at the dining room table, which still has leaves in it and is canted at a 45-degree angle so as to accommodate all of our orphan friends. I made a shelf for borrowed and library books, and a shelf for my style manuals, so I didn’t have to keep them on the floor near my workspace.
And as a reward for reading this far about my not-so-interesting life, here is the recipe for falafel that we didn’t end up needing.
Falafel (adapted from epicurious, who in turn adapted it from “The Foods of Israel Today” by Joan Nathan)
1 c dried chickpeas
1/2 large onion roughly chopped
2 Tb fresh parsley
1 ts salt
1 ts (or more) hot pepper (dried or fresh)
4 cloves of garlic
1 ts cumin
1 ts baking powder
4-6 Tb flour (or bulghur)
1. Cover chickpeas and soak overnight. Should you have forgotten this step, you can also do the bean quick soak method, which is to bring the water and chickpeas to a boil and let sit for an hour. Add a lot of water because chickpeas soak up water like nobody’s business.
2. Grind chickpeas and onion in a food processor. Add the herbs. I have yet to make this with fresh parsley, as I never have it on hand, so I just up the cumin content and added some thyme and paprika for kicks and jollies. Process until blended but not pureed.
3. Add baking powder and 4 Tb of flour and pulse. The dough should form a ball.
4. Let chill in the fridge for an hour or so. It says several hours, but who has the time?
5. Fry in 3″ olive oil, a few minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels.
Serve with pita; on salad; with a schmear of hummus; with chopped onion, tomato, and lettuce; with a little hot sauce; and enjoy. It keeps well in the fridge for quick snacks while editing and writing.
Fangs and Clause 
Hey Indy,
Happy orphan thanksgiving.
And thanks for saying chick peas. This cook lunged for the container, to put some on to soak. Some teenager had put an open packet of pumpkin seeds on tops of it – you got it- they are all over the kitchen floor. And wait, there’s more. Lid of chick pea container wasn’t on tight. Yup, they went in the sink as well as on the floor. By the time they are soaked no one will know the was a hint of kitchen floor on the skins. They went in the bowl. Now satisfyingly overflowing. I’m more of a hummus maker myself. Maybe falafel later.
Chickpeas are dangerous. I had a major chickpea spill in my pantry last year, and I found dried chickpeas for months afterward. I didn’t even have a teenager to blame.
Hummus AND falafel.
Yum. I’m gonna make this for my teens when they come to visit for Christmas. Thanks, Indy Clause.
No relation 😉
Falafels are one of my favorite things in the whole world, especially smothered in hummus and tahini sauce. Mmmmm.
Good on you, worker bee.
Yum. That is all.
(well, not all—do you make your own hummus, too?)
Not recently. But it’s pretty easy to do if you have a food processor. Mr. Dangling Participle also makes a kick-ass white bean hummus. Recipes will be posted with the least amount of encouragement.
Consider this encouragement, please!
And is Mr. DP the official decision? Did I miss a post?
Yep, read this. Hummus recipe forthcoming. Do you want the classic one or DP’s never-kiss-your-sweetie-again white bean hummus?
I meant to leave a link: https://fangsandclause.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/offending-grandma-with-grammar/
🙂
You have a pantry?
It’s a closet with shelves. What I really need is a scullery and, of course, a scullery maid.
Yet another reason for me to finally, once and for all, buck up and get a food processor.
They also are FANTASTIC for cutting butter into flour for biscuits. I was a denier for many years, but oh, now, I believe.
I think “denier” has something to do with stockings (let’s get back to words please Indy). Were you a nylon hose linear mass density rating system? Who woulda thunk it?
And you might as well admit you have two (yes TWO!) kitchen aid mixers.
Denier? Not hardly….
Stockings?
As for the Kitchen Aid Mixers, in my defense, one was inherited and the other came with DP. I did not marry him for the mixer, I married him for the pie safe.