An Impatient Evening

Let me tell you a story about what happens when a girl takes on too much on a Tuesday night! I came home from work yesterday and immediately left again for the local Whole Foods. With my list in hand, I entered the store and began to collect my items. Along the way, I ran into a friend, had trouble finding an ingredient, and got side-tracked by the Ben and Jerry's in the freezer aisle. Needless to say, I got home later than expected.

I knew the lamb was going to take awhile to cook...but I took the time to read all three recipes listed for this meal anyway. This meal comes from Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys. The "appetizer" of Savory Baked Eggs in Filo dish looks amazing, but unfortunately, my filo dough was fresh from the freezer section of the grocery store, so there was no way it would thaw in time to use it appropriately! Maybe I can make it for breakfast this weekend or something!

Moving on to the main course of Fragrant Lamb with Prunes and Almonds, I prepped my lamb according to the instructions. I added some thickly sliced onion to a pan with some butter and saffron, and allowed it to stew for the next five minutes. While that was cooking, I gathered the spices that would be added to the pan next! A cinnamon stick, some coriander and cumin seeds, chopped garlic, slivered fresh ginger, some powdered ginger, and a bunch of cayenne pepper! After all of that was incorporated into the onions, I threw some golden raisins and pitted prunes into the mix. I placed the lamb in an oven-safe dish and covered it with the onion mixture. I finally added a cup of tomato puree and poured a bunch of chicken broth on top, covering everything in the pan with the liquid. 

Into the oven it went. Covered with foil...but for how long? I used half the amount of meat so I cut the time in half, assuming that an hour would be long enough. Nope, it wasn't! I upped the temperature from 325 to 350 and gave it another 15 minutes. Was it done yet? Nope...my husband and I were both getting impatient! It was now 8pm, and we were hungry! I raised the temperature by another 25 degrees and gave it another 15 minutes, leaving it uncovered this time, to get a nice browning on the meat. Ok, now we're getting somewhere.

I could have probably let this dish cook for another 1/2 hour, allowing it to reach the fork-tender consistency that the recipe boasts, but the lamb was cooked through, and it already tasted really good (or was I just THAT hungry?). Instead, I removed it from the oven and distributed it to plates for serving. It was a spicy, homey, rustic stew and it was delicious! We may have had to use a knife to cut our lamb, but the heartiness of this dish shone through. I definitely got a feel for the Moroccan cuisine that this recipe was styled after! (I forgot the almond garnish too...eek!)

While we were waiting impatiently for our meal to be completed, I could have focused my energy on the dessert: Blood Oranges and Pomegranate in Orange Flower Water, but the store had no blood oranges. I contemplated replacing the ingredient with regular oranges but the flavor profiles of these two fruits are different, and I didn't think it would make the same impact using plain, old navel oranges. Instead, we finished our meal with ice cream, and that was just fine by us!

Steak and Potatoes...of a sort!

This menu, from Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys by David Tanis, is entitled "Dead-of-Winter Dinner from the Supermarket." Now, wait a minute...it's not winter! I know, I know, but I was intrigued by this menu because of something the author says in the introduction to this group of recipes. David Tanis was upset by the amount of pre-packaged foods and pre-made condiments on the shelves at his local supermarket. "The companies that make all these prepared sauces prey on our fear of cooking, and on the notion that we somehow inherently believe we do not have time to cook." This sentence really struck a chord with me, because that's essentially what I'm trying to counteract with this blog! Anybody can cook from scratch, any night of the week, and this menu is a perfect example of fresh, easy-to-find ingredients being pulled together to make a delicious, well-balanced meal in the span of an hour. I thought this would take me much longer, but it really came together quickly and easily...a weeknight meal that anybody could put together!

First up on the menu, we have Romaine Hearts with Shaved Parmigiano and Lemon Dressing. This was a really simple one to pull together. You can buy romaine hearts in a package of three, at the grocery store. I only used two since there were two of us, chopped off the ends and cut them into large pieces. The dressing consists of fresh-squeezed lemon juice, dijon mustard, a garlic clove smashed to a paste with a bit of salt, and some olive oil. Once everything is whisked together, it can be seasoned to taste with salt and pepper. After tossing the lettuce with the dressing, I added some Parmigiano flakes to the salad and tossed again. This was a really delicious salad, along the lines of a Caeser, but not. It's simple, it uses ingredients that you most likely have lying around the house, and pulls together quickly and easily!

The main course is a Pan-Fried Steak with Steak Sauce. The steaks you buy should be about an inch thick, but the recipe gives a lot of leeway for the reader to decide which kind of steak to purchase. After seasoning them with a bit of salt and pepper, I placed some sliced garlic on top of each steak, coated them with olive oil, rubbed everything into the meat and then allowed everything to sit at room temperature for a little bit. When it was time to cook, I heated a cast iron pan until it was really hot, and then placed the steaks in the pan, after removing the garlic slices. After 3 minutes, I flipped the steaks to find a beautiful sear on the first side. After two more minutes, I transferred the meat to a platter, and poured some beef stock into the pan, de-glazing with a wooden spoon. As the stock thickened, I threw in a few pats of butter and some parsley. This made a really delicious, and HOME-MADE, steak sauce that beats any pre-packaged sauce at the store. And what's even better - you can pronounce everything in it!

While I let the steaks sit with their olive oil and garlic slices, I prepared a Classic Potato Gratin, and put it in the oven. Here's where a mandoline comes in really handy. I quickly, and thinly, sliced 4 russet potatoes, and layered them in a baking pan that I had thickly slatered with some butter. As I completed a layer, I seasoned it with salt and pepper, before starting the next layer. Once all the potatoes were in the baking dish, I poured some heavy cream on top, tilting the pan to and fro a bit to distribute everything evenly. Finely, I dotted the surface with small pieces of butter before placing it in a 375 degree oven. I forgot to cover the pan with foil for the first half hour it was in the oven, but I think it's okay. The potatoes came out creamy, well-seasoned and delicious!

Last but not least, of course, is the dessert! This was a really simple Broiled Pineapple with Rum. All I had to do was cut my pineapple, sprinkle the slices with some brown sugar, and broil them for about 10 minutes. Once the slices were slightly browned, I removed them from the oven and poured some rum on top. With a lighter, I gently lit the rum in order to flambe the pineapple slices. ready to serve! This was a really tropical dessert that was totally simple to make, and it only took 10 minutes! 

This was a really simple meal to put together for a weeknight. I loved the simplicity of the ingredients, and the complexity of the finished flavors. And on top of all that, this menu proves, without a doubt, that we can make home-cooked meals without the use of pre-packaged, pre-made ingredients! Buy fresh, and make your own, because there really is no substitute for homemade!

Slightly All-American

The new menu is here! It's begun! Our trip around the world has commenced...and naturally, we are starting our journey in the United States. Where else would we start? ;) I'll be honest, I chose this menu partially because it's entitled "Slightly All-American," in A Platter of Figs, by David Tanis. I love these menus because they are always so well-tailored and they make sense in the timing department. Each component comes together naturally well, making it easy to do lots of things at once!

Aside from the name of this menu, the ingredients, and the final product, reminds me of a Fourth of July BBQ, and what could be more all-American than Independence Day! The introduction in the book talks of a woman named Josephine, a self-taught cook with a knack for making simple, delicious food. Her response when complimented is always, "It's nothing fancy. I'm just a salt and pepper cook." And really, that's the only seasoning that I used while cooking today. The flavors are simple, yet bold, and it made for a delicious and hearty meal!

Sliced Tomatoes with Sea Salt: I bought some heirloom tomatoes at Whole Foods today. I made sure to get different species so that the colors would pop on the platter. One purple, one green, and one yellow...it's just the prettiest combo to see sliced and on display. I sprinkled some basil ribbons, chopped parsley and chives on top, and just before serving, a dash of Tuscan Sea Salt...a gift from my dear friend Heidi. It was simple, refreshing, and really just epitomized the late summer season for me.

Grilled Chicken Breasts: I made four chicken breasts so that we'd have some leftovers for tomorrow. I cleaned them of their fat and chewy tendons, and placed them between two sheets of plastic wrap to pound them down a little bit. Remember what I told you? An even piece of chicken will cook a lot better than an uneven one. I drizzled the chicken with olive oil and then sprinkled it with ... you guessed it ... salt and pepper! I also chopped up some rosemary and sprinkled that on both sides as well. I allowed them to sit at room temperature for a bit while I prepared the other components of the meal, but once it was time to grill, I placed them in a grill pan for 6 minutes on one side, and about 3 minutes more on the other. They were perfectly cooked and juicy as all get out!

Corn, Squash, and Beans with Jalapeno Butter: While the chicken was resting before grilling, I prepared this vegetable dish. There was a bit more prep involved in this one since I had to cut the kernels off ears of corn, dice some zucchini, summer squash, green beans and onions, make some garlic paste and also create the jalapeno butter, but it was totally worth it. After cooking the onions for a few minutes, and then cooking them a few more minutes with the rest of the veggies, I transferred the mixture to a bowl and tossed it with the jalapeno butter (consisting of butter, minced jalapeno, lime zest and juice, salt and pepper).

Blueberry-Blackberry Crumble: Finally, while we enjoyed this delicious all-American meal, my oven was quietly cooking a delicious dessert for us to enjoy later on in the evening. This crumble was totally simple to assemble, consisting only of blackberries, blueberries, brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon. The syrupy berry goodness that was hidden only by some browned crumbly topping was deliciously sweet and tart at the same time. My only wish is that I had bought vanilla ice cream at the store today!

To me, the ingredients that I used tonight are very American ingredients. Heirloom tomatoes, mixed berries, and fresh ears of corn are all things that I can buy at local farmer's markets, items that are always readily available to us. Nothing on this list of ingredients was difficult to find, nor was anything foreign to our everyday cooking practices. American cooking, in general, is a hodge podge of mixed cuisines, due to the fact that America itself is a melting pot of different ethnicities. I love that we can find so many different types of food on our continent, and that even something as all-American as grilled chicken with some vegetable sides incorporate ingredients such as jalapenos, an ingredient more widely used in other cuisines. But now it's time to see what's going on in other corners of the world! What do they have that we don't? What spices should be more readily accesible in our stores? What techniques can we learn from other cultures?

Here we go! :)

North African Comfort Food

It was a long day at work today, and I'm not feeling fantastic this evening, but I had one last menu item to create, and today was as good a night as any. The fact that comfort food is actually in the title helped a little bit too! :) So this meal is another excerpt from A Platter of Figs and other recipes by David Tanis. Remember my New Mexico post? Yup, it's from the same book. This guy gets around. In the introduction to this, the twenty-fourth menu in his book, he discusses the meaning of comfort food, and how it is interpreted by different cultures. To us, hearty soups and stews, as well as warm, gooey dishes like macaroni and cheese conjure up those images of a "comfort food," and in North Africa, the thoughts of hearty stews isn't far off-base.

From Flickr - by bocavermelha

The entire menu consists of:

Carrot and Coriander Salad

Chicken Tagine with Pumpkin and Chickpeas

Walnut Cigars

I scrapped the thought of making the cigars, even though I had thawed my phyllo dough and everything. I just wasn't in the mood for another baking catastrophe this evening. I put the chickpeas on to boil since they had to cook for over an hour and then got to work on the rest of the ingredients. This dish was fairly easy to complete, as the recipe really went step by step, and there wasn't much multi-tasking involved. 

I cooked up some diced onions in butter and oil, until they were golden. These onions became the bottom layer of my casserole dish (since I don't have a tagine...yet!) After that, I laid large slices of seasoned butternut squash on top of the onions. I couldn't find pumpkin...I think it's a tad past the season for those, but the butternut squash worked out swimmingly. After that, I layered on my seasoned chicken thighs and drumsticks. Finally, I poured some of the liquid that the chickpeas were cooking in on top of this concoction and stuck it in the oven! 

From Flickr - by visiting-africa

While that was cooking, I prepared the Carrot and Coriander Salad, which, I have to say, was just eh. It was raw, and I probably didn't leave enough time for the acidity of the lemon juice to soften the carrots, but it was just okay. The flavors melded well with the main course but I'm not a huge fan of raw carrots to begin with. 

And back to the main event! The chicken skin browned nicely by the time it was time to take my casserole dish out of the oven, and the chickpeas had just finished cooking. I mixed those with some butter, parsley and cinnamon (I think that was my favorite part - SO GOOD!) and then it was time to plate! I put a chicken drum and thigh on each of our plates and then spooned on some onions and butternut squash which was cooked until it was so soft it was falling apart! I spooned a little of the liquid over it and then topped it all off with some of those delicious chickpeas! VOILA! 

Now that's what I call comfort food! It might not be what I thought of first but going forward, it will be!