My Post-Nemo Dinner...

By Yonni @vegandthecity

lima beans in tomato with onion

Well, I don’t know what you did as Nemo was pounding the East Coast, but I was cooking!  With over a foot of snow the next day, we weren’t looking to drive very far and thankfully had planned to see friends who live down the street for dinner Saturday night.  My friend, Al, loves to cook maybe even more than I do, so we planned in advance to stay in and make a Middle Eastern spread our families would enjoy.  We succeeded!
Felafel, babaganoush, tahini, cucumber & tomato salad, roasted cauliflower, fried eggplant, a version of gigandes (giant beans) in tomato sauce with sauteed onion, hummus and gluten-free tabouleh.Incredibly delicious…
Here are a few of the original recipes we used:

wheat-free tabouleh

Tabouleh ~ while I did not use Pure Food & Wine’s recipe, I was inspired by theirs as I prepared this wheat free version:
1 1/2 cup cauliflower, chopped in a food processor until fine 1/3 cup olive oil 1/3 cup lemon juice 2 cups flat leaf parsley, finely chopped 1 tomato, seeded and chopped Salt and ground black pepper to taste
Just mix well and serve
Hummus:

hummus

2 cups garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed well 1/2 cup tahini dressing (or more for a smoother consistency) 1/2 cup lemon juice 1 teaspoon salt 2 cloves garlic, halved 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 pinch paprika 1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
Place the garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, salt and garlic in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Transfer mixture to a serving bowl.  Drizzle olive oil over the garbanzo bean mixture. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley.  Serve with toasted pita, whole olives, carrots, celery and sliced bell peppers.
Skordalia: 3 lbs potato, peeled, boiled, drained and mashed 6 cloves garlic, roasted 3 TBSP olive oil Juice of 1 lemon Salt to taste
Mash or whip up your potatoes as you would your favorite mashed version.  Then mix in smashed roasted garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and salt to taste.  It’s great with roasted, sliced beets…