Saturday, February 20, 2010

Spicy food for the Soul

Friday night dinners have become a real thing around here for the past few weeks. Last time, it was the "spoon lamb" with my rice pilaf. This time, I improved upon my rice with a fancy new spice mix I made, and served it alongside some Persian fried chicken (me!?? fried?? health nut...no more??) and salad with pomegranate vinaigrette.

I just worked all day and I'm not feeling too chatty, so I'll just dump these pictures and quick blurbs into your lap(top) for you to gander at.

Sweet (and savory!) dreamzzzz...
Take 2 of my pilaf involved the same basmati rice, this time with carrot ribbons braised in orange juice and zest, chopped toasted pistachios, and a spice blend that featured dried rose petals, black pepper, cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg, ground to a fine and fragrant powder in my spice grinder. I mixed the spice with some olive oil to make a paste, with which I coated the still hot rice, thus quickly cooking the spices and allowing them to melt into the soft floral scent of the basmati. Mmm, can you smell that....?

The Persian Fried Chicken recipe came from page 56 of Ana Sortun's book (still my new obsession), so I can't disclose the thing, but I'll tell ya this: I marinated chicken thighs in yogurt, garlic, and mint, and then dredged them in paprika-spiked flour, and fried them in a vat of hot oil until they looked like something deeply Southern. But they tasted Middle Eastern! Quite tricky.
The spinach salad was refreshing and dressed simply:
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
- 3/4 cup olive oil


I'm considering going into business selling my own spice blends:
Whaddya think?

3 comments:

Dan said...

I think its goood! And the chicken. My my. A delicious feast, if I may say so.

Unknown said...

Oh Dan, you're my favorite guinea pig. xx

mmann1123 said...

That looks awesome....