Food for Football and Friends

As much as the weekend was about football, for me it was a weekend of eating and drinking. Probably too much of both and frankly at the end of the day, not unlike most of my weekends.

I also recognize that it’s good to gather together and socialize, even if the TV is on and that when my friend Carol was in the middle of talking about how her Mom was doing, I kinda wasn’t listening because I was fascinated by how hard it was snowing in Green Bay. And it probably isn’t so good for digestion to be a Packers and Patriots fan on a day when they both had playoff games, thankfully not against each other. I am simultaneously begging that that does and doesn’t happen for the Super Bowl.

Anyway we ate great food. I was out in the woods with friends and I brought Middle Eastern treats from the markets in Watertown, MA — lamejune, roasted red pepper and feta dip with toasted pita chips, and a bunch of different olives. We barely had room for our MJ’s open-faced raviolis with scallops and the leg of lamb we grilled. We managed. Downward facing dog and pigeon’s pose were a little rough the next morning at Belchertown Yoga, but, I suppose ultimately cleansing.

I learned to gussy-up lamejune from my friend Ana Sortun (she owns Oleana in Cambridge and wrote a terrific cookbook, Spice). As I said, I buy lamejune in Watertown (Sevan Bakery, Massis, and Eastern Lamejune are all great sources), but I suppose if you not as lazy as me, you might make them yourself. They are a pita type of thin bread with a smear of ground lamb, garlic, tomatoes, and spices.

What Ana taught me is to place them bread on a hot pan for about 3 minutes (you don’t want it to get brown or get too crunchy), then spoon some labne (super thick plain yogurt — you could drain regular plain yogurt for a similar flavor) on one half, and a layer of arugula (you could use watercress or other slightly bitter green). Fold in half and cut into wedges. Mother-of-pearl, is this good. And just a little different.  

Read more of Annie’s Eating New England.