When life gives you leftover rice, make rice balls!

In my opinion, there are two types of cooks: the kind that follow recipes to the letter and produce flawless food every time, and the kind that employ their creativity (and hopefully common sense) to draw outside the lines of recipes and invent completely new dishes in the process.  I consider myself among the latter category.  I'm not one to abide by the rules of a recipe (BO-ring!).  

So, since I choose to cook in this flexible way, I often find it easy to make use of my leftovers.  "And here I am!" says the newborn rice ball.

 This is less of a formal recipe and more of a guideline that goes as follows:
- For each cup of leftover rice (or other grain - I also had whole wheat berries) mix in one beaten egg.
- Add spices, herbs, seasoning, or a whole other leftover dish - I added black lentil hummus here.
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Oil lightly.
- Form one-tablespoon sized balls of rice mixture with your hands and space out evenly on the baking sheet.  You should be able to fit 5 rows of 6, for a total of 30 rice balls.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, longer if needed, making sure each rice ball is golden and crispy on the outside.  Remove to a serving dish and enjoy as a low-cost, highly-tasty appetizer!

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?

SPiCE II

I'm still totally digging this cookbook, Spice, and have finally stopped drooling long enough to produce one of its recipes: "Spoon Lamb," alongside a jeweled basmati rice pilaf of my own invention and the previously mentioned roasted chickpeas. While I would love to share with you all the exact steps I took to make this ridiculously delicious braised lamb dish, I fear copyright law infringement and will therefore keep this vague and picture-laden. Please note, the photos are courtesy of Kat Cheng Photography, and they're awesome. Check out Kat's site for other amazing photographs of non-edibles.

Some lamb highlights:
1. The butcher cut the lamb shoulder chops to order, as requested, in 2-inch thick crosswise pieces, with a really scary table saw.
2. After browning the lamb and sprinkling it with fresh ground cumin, I braised it in red wine with some vegetables for 3 hours, totally unattended. Meaning: Ultimate couch-potato time with Dan!
3. The sauce I later made from the strained braising liquid included a never-before-used ingredient: pomegranate molasses. Very tart, and good when counterbalanced with the acidity of lemon juice and the richness of butter.
4. The lamb consumption was accompanied by grateful moans. Always a good sign :)

"spoon lamb" with jeweled rice pilaf and crunchy roasted chickpeas