Two Recipes

I'm about to head off for a week(end) on the East Coast (DC to SC to GA to DC to NC to DC to home because, among other things, my sort of brother Joe F. is graduating from marines boot camp, and I'm going to get to see him, my parents, my brothers Dan and Nate, and Nate's kids, all in the beautiful southern locale of Parris Island, SC--how appropriate is that for Memorial Day?), but before I go, I wanted to post these two recipes I collected at a recent surprisingly satisfying enrichment about cooking.

I plan on making both in my near future lifetime. (Thanksthanks, Rechele.)

Edamame Puree

• 2 1/2 C cooked edamame (without pod, of course)--you can put more (the recipe originally called for 2 1/2 lbs of cooked edamame, but Rechele made it first with the smaller amount, and I liked it better)
• 2 lg garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 1 1/4 t fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 lemon, zested
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 1/2 t salt
• pepper to taste
• 1/2 C extra virgin olive oil
• 2-4 T water

Combine all but olive oil and water in a food processor and pulse to a coarse consistency. Slowly add olive oil with motor running. Adjust seasoning. Slowly add water to reach desired consistency.

Serve on crackers or--what did Rechele call them?--crustinis. Crustinis. Little slices of sourdough bread, toasted with a bit of olive oil. So, so good.

Omi's Coconut Curry Cheese Ball

• 11 oz cream cheese, softened
• 3 heaping T sour cream
• 1/2 C currents (or raisins)
• 1/2 C chopped cocktail peanuts, salted
• 1/2 C chopped green onions, chopped fine
• 2 t curry powder
• sweetened flaked coconut
• mango chutney (if desired)

Mix the first six ingredients together. Put coconut on wax paper. Roll cheese into a ball on wax paper. Put cheese ball in refrigerator. Serve with mango chutney (optional) and crackers (less optional).

I really liked this second recipe--I'm all for curry--but it was a little sweet for me. Maybe the currents are less sweet than the raisins I had it with? Maybe I'd put in more curry and more salted peanuts and less raisins and more sour cream? Maybe I'd put in more green onions chopped less fine? I don't know. Something. In any case, it was super tasty, and I'm make it (and experiment with it) again again for sure.

Let me know how it goes. Semper fi.