Asparagus salad (and Dan makes dinner!)

Last weekend, I walked into the apartment after a long day of working brunch to find that Dan was preparing a fantabulous dinner of grilled lamb chops with a minted cucumber-yogurt coulis! Wow! The food was delicious. And for once, I got to take the backseat. (Unfortunately, we were both so excited that I forgot to take a picture to show off.)

My only contribution was a simple salad of more of that lovely spring asparagus.


Warm Asparagus Vinaigrette
(serves 3-4 as a side)

- 1 bunch asparagus, blanched and cut on the bias into 1-inch pieces
- 1/2 red onion, sliced thin
- 1/2 cup mint leaves, torn or chiffonaded

- 2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
- 1 cup olive oil
- salt and white pepper to taste

To prepare, simply toss the first three ingredients together, and make the vinaigrette with the remaining ingredients, whisking in the olive oil last. Season with the salt and white pepper and enjoy while the asparagus is still warm from blanching.

Spring is here!

And this means the asparagus has sprung!

Walking home from work yesterday, I spotted a sweet deal at my local green grocer: huge bunches of beautiful pencil asparagus for just $1 each! (Oh Astoria, how I love thee.) At the same time, my stomach was calling for tacos. Now, you might scoff at the idea of tacos with asparagus, but at that moment a lightbulb of craving went off in my brain (or my gut?), and a slightly crazy idea was born. The resulting repast? Shredded chicken tacos with crunchy asparagus and guacamole. Easy and very rich in vitamin S! (that's for Spring, silly.)
Pulled Chicken Tacos with Asparagus and Guacamole
(serves 3-4)

Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 bunch pencil asparagus (about 1 pound)

- 3 ripe avocados, halved and pitted
- 1 medium red onion, chopped small
- 1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded and minced
- 2 plum tomatoes, cored and diced
- juice of 2 lemons- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
- salt to taste

To serve:
- corn tortillas (I used blue corn - very aesthetically pleasing)
- sour cream
- Mexican beer with lime

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Rinse and pat dry the chicken breasts and place in a medium baking dish. Coat with olive oil and sprinkle evenly with salt, cumin, and paprika. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until the inside is not pink, or an instant-read thermometer reads 165 degrees.

2. Meanwhile, salt a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Rinse asparagus and cut off the toughest part of the stem, at the very bottom. Chop the remaining asparagus stalks into half-inch segments and drop into boiling water for a minute only (you want the asparagus bright green, not yellow-brown and overcooked). Drain quickly and shock with cold water immediately to stop the cooking. Set aside.

3. Now go ahead and make your guacamole: Scoop the avocado out into a large bowl and break up roughly with a wooden spoon. Add the onion, jalapeno, tomato, lemon juice, cilantro, and season to taste with salt. Mix well and set aside.

4. When chicken is fully cooked, remove from baking dish and allow to cool completely. Then, using your fingers, shred the chicken into small, taco-appropriate pieces.

5. Finally, in a hot, dry skillet, warm your tortillas - about 1 minute per side - and keep warm by wrapping in a clean kitchen towel until ready to serve.

6. To serve, pile some chicken, guacamole, crunchy asparagus, and sour cream on a warm tortilla, roll up, and enjoy with your favorite Mexican beer!

Glorious glutens

In the past, my bread-making attempts have been less than fruitful. I've turned out lumpy loaves, misshapen messes, and rock-hard ryes. But lately, having honed my dough skills as the Pizza Queen at work, my homegrown efforts are yielding some delectable results. If you have a food processor, this is the least messy bread you'll ever make. (No need to knead!)
If you don't, it's still worth a try - simply incorporate the ingredients by hand, on a well-floured surface, and be sure to keep kneading until the dough is smooth and springy.

Herbed Sandwich Bread
(makes one big honkin' loaf)

- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon dried rosemary, thyme, za'atar, or dried herb of choice
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1-1/2 teaspoon instant (granulated) yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for greasing bowl and pan
- 1-1/2 cups cool milk (or water)

1. Fit your food processor with the dough blade attachment. Add the flour, chopped onion, herb, salt, and yeast, and pulse a couple of times.
2. With the motor running, add the honey, olive oil, and milk slowly through the feed tube. Continue running the machine until a ball of dough forms around the blade, about 1 minute.
3. Remove the hunk of dough from the machine and shape into a sphere. Place in a large well-oiled bowl and cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let rise at least 2 hours in a warm spot.
4. Deflate the risen dough and reshape into a ball. Let rest 15 minutes. Then, shape into a loaf and place on an oiled baking sheet (if you're going free-form) or in a large oiled loaf pan, cover with a towel, and allow to rise again for another hour.
5. Heat your oven to 375 degrees F. With a sharp paring knife, slash across the top of your loaf in a few evenly spaced horizontal lines. Brush the top of the loaf with water and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow when you tap it. You can also test for doneness by taking a read of the internal temperature of the loaf; it should be about 160 degrees F.

If you want to do some experimenting, try substituting garlic for the onion and add chopped kalamata olives. Or go nuts! Walnuts and sunflower seeds would work nicely, maybe with some caraway seeds sprinkled on top.

Chicken pizza?!!

Yes, folks, you read that right: Chicken pizza. Or, really, chicken lamejun. Lamejun is a flatbread made in Armenia and Turkey that is typically topped with ground lamb, onion, and spices chopped finely into a paste. This non-traditional version, again taken from Ana Sortun's "Spice," is a wonderful adaptation. Imagine an aromatic chicken meatball spread all over a thin piece of bread (called lavash). Having just acquired an 11-cup Cuisinart food processor (thanks, Mom!), I thought I would take it for a test drive with this simple recipe:

Chicken Lamejun with Roasted Red Peppers, Pistachios, and Za'atar
(makes 4 large lamejun)

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 small Spanish onion, peeled and finely chopped
3 scallions, trimmed and minced
1 teaspoon za'atar (see previous post)
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg white
1/4 cup milk
1 cup toasted and ground pistachios
4 rectangular pieces of lavash
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 roasted red peppers, deseeded, skinned, and sliced into strips
Homemade labneh (see previous post) for serving

1. Trim chicken breasts of any cartilage or fat and cut into 1- to 2-inch cubes.
2. Grind the chicken in a food processor until you get a smooth paste, for about 1 minute.
3. Use the pulse button to add in the onion and scallions, za'atar, salt, and egg white.
4. Remove the mixture to a small bowl, and stir in the milk and pistachios.
5. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
6. Spread a thin, even layer of the chicken mixture onto each lavash, all the way to the edges.
7. Put the lamejuns on a baking sheet or a pizza stone (or even in a baking dish that is too small, so the ends hang over the sides - you'll end up with a bowl-shaped lamejun!) and bake for about 15 minutes, until the lavash is crisp and the chicken mixture is totally cooked (it should be completely firm).
8. Serve each lamejun with a few red pepper strips and a dollop of labneh cheese.

Dan enjoyed his lamejun!

My new super-snack

This might not be what you typically reach for when you're feeling peckish, but my new go-to is warm whole-wheat pita with homemade labneh and za'atar. It's delicious and healthy. This new dish was inspired by yet another wonderful addition to my cookbook collection: "Secrets of Cooking," a collection of Armenian/Lebanese/Persian recipes by Linda Chirinian. The book came wrapped in brown paper, with a NYC return address label that showed the headquarters of the AGBU (the Armenian General Benevolent Union) - for some, a mysterious benefactor, but I knew right away that this was a gift from my Aunt Viviane in Paris, who presides over the AGBU (in French it's "UGAB") in the City of Love. Big batchigs to you, Viviane!

Now, onto the definitions: Labneh is a yogurt cheese, made by straining plain yogurt, mixed with a bit of salt, through a sieve lined with cheesecloth for up to 12 hours. Imagine Greek yogurt, but even better. It is tart, creamy, and spreadable.

Za'atar is a word that refers both to a family of Middle Eastern herbs, closely related to thyme and oregano, as well as to a spice mixture that is a blend of sumac, toasted sesame seeds, the green herb itself (whichever variety you go with), and sea salt. I mixed a variation on what I found in the cookbook and on various websites:

1/4 cup sumac
2 tablespoons dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt

Simply toast the sesame seeds lightly in a dry skillet, then grind them gently, either in a food processor or with a mortar and pestle (my preference). Then mix in the remaining ingredients and Voila! you have homemade za'atar.

To enjoy these two creations together, spoon some labneh into a bowl, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, and sprinkle generously with za'atar and more sea salt to taste.

Happy dipping!

My homemade (un) sun-dried tomatoes

I've been experimenting with (among other things) using my gas oven as a dehydrator. I've dried herbs, garlic and now: tomatoes. Dan is a big fan of sun-dried tomatoes, so I figured, why spend the extra moolah buying those fancy, non-eco-friendly, imported sun-dried tomatoes when I can make my own at home?! Granted, they're not exactly sun dried (although it looks like the sunshine is returning again to New York, yippee!!), but they're virtually the same. To make them, I simply core and vertically slice plum tomatoes (they're less juicy, more meaty - better than the beefsteak tomatoes for drying), lay them out on a baking sheet, and put them in the oven overnight, until they're all wrinkled up and leathery. You don't even need to turn the oven on - just trust in the steady low heat of the oven pilot to do the job right.

Here are my oven-dried tomatoes, packed into a jar with some extra virgin olive oil to cover.
Packaged this way, they should keep for months in the fridge. And if I weren't so tired of kitchen appliances, I would use the nifty canning kit that Paul got me for Christmas (thanks, bro!) and make 'em last forever. However, considering I live with a jiu-jitsu trained eating-machine, I needn't worry about these sweet snacks going sour :)

A condiment occasion

One would think my full-time job as a cook might slow my pace of home-cooking, but not so, sir! Yesterday I spent exactly the entire day in the kitchen, made two new spice blends (a fish spice and some Ras El-Hanout), used the latter to make homemade harissa, made a pickled red onion condiment, and also whipped up some parsley butter with loads of garlic. Also, I oven-dried some tomatoes to use in my harissa. Here's the aerial view:


You may be asking yourself, what's this harissa stuff? Well, it's a sauce typically used in North African (ie. Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian) kitchens for many purposes, such as flavoring meats, brightening soups, mixing into cous-cous, etc. The uses are rather infinite because it's so damn tasty. The number of recipes for harissa are just about as infinite, but mine is a blend of the following (makes about 1 cup):

1/2 cup ground hot red chilis
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (I used my oven-dried ones)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons Ras el Hanout **
2 tablespoons olive oil

Note: you'll want to strain this blend through a fine-mesh sieve before serving to extract all the chili pepper skins and seeds.

** Ras el Hanout translates from Moroccan Arabic to "head of the shop" and refers to a spice mixture comprised of the best products the shop owner has to offer. So, again, many different variations on this tune. Mine has cumin, saffron, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, black pepper, and loads of medium-hot paprika.

After I had played mad-scientist with my spices for long enough, I made a simple dinner of grilled steak strips placed on pita bread to showcase my new repertoire of condiments: the still hot steak got a slight schmear of parsley butter, then a pile of pickled onions, then a drizzle of my extra hot harissa.

Accompanying the main was a salad of thinly-sliced fennel bulbs, sectioned oranges, and baby greens, seasoned simply with olive oil, salt and pepper, and a light sprinkling of chopped parsley.


Oh, and there was plenty of vino! Dan contributed a shiraz, and Steph a syrah - both totally hit the bulls-eye of appropriate meat-pairing wines. And both were mercilessly drained by the end of the evening!

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

SPiCE!

As a kid, I used to love mixing watercolor paints, inventing bold new colors, and sometimes just making a mess on the page. As an almost-adult, a palette of (and a palate for) spices has replaced my watercolor collection, and thanks to a gift from my dear friend Zahra, I now have a new source of inspiration for my taste compositions: "Spice," a cookbook by Ana Sortun, the chef/owner of my favorite restaurant in Cambridge, Oleana. (Mom, remember that meal??) Her approach to the cuisines of Turkey, Morocco, and the Arabic tradition in general, is totally exciting and accessible.

The problem with me and cookbooks, however, is that I tend to get too excited to wait and try an actual recipe. I flip through the pages, skimming the ingredients and looking at the pictures, until my impatience and food fervor takes hold of me and I am compelled to do some improv cooking with what I have at hand. It's sort of my way of welcoming a new cookbook into my life.

So, this snowy morning, drawing inspiration from Ana, I cooked a pot of chickpeas, mixed a spice blend of my own, and made a salty, addictive snack food that will knock those old wasabi peas right off your shelf!


Crunchy Chickpeas

3 cups cooked chickpeas
1 teaspoon whole cumin
1 teaspoon whole coriander seed
3 whole cardamom pods, outer green shells removed
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

2. Set a dry saute pan over high heat. Once hot, add the cumin, coriander, cardamom and peppercorns. Swirl the pan around until the seeds are fragrant but not toasted or burnt. Remove to a spice/coffee grinder, let cool, and grind to a fine powder.

3. Add the spice mixture to a small bowl and mix in the turmeric, olive oil, and salt.

4. In a large bowl, mix the chickpeas and spice paste until the chickpeas are evenly coated. Pour out onto the baking sheet and bake for 40-50 minutes, stirring the chickpeas every 10 minutes or so to ensure they roast evenly. Enjoy these as a garnish for a grain pilaf, or on their own as a healthy snack.

I want to know: What's your favorite spice mix?