Lahmacun

So now I work at a cooking store.  My coworkers own every cool cooking tool that exists, and one was nice enough to lend me their Emile Henri pizza stone.  After baking a bunch of wonderful soda bread, I decided to try to reproduce a delicious flatbread pizza I'd eaten in Istanbul last summer.

I doctored the topping, adding more chili pepper flakes, cumin, and red bell pepper with the tomatoes.

Then I baked it on the pizza stone, making a really crispy crust.

It was delicious.

I will add the recipe soon.

Hubby's birthday!

In honor of Paul's birthday, I baked him America's Test Kitchen's Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake (via Annie's Eats).

Yum. 

It was so good I forgot to take a picture of a slice showing all the layers (you can almost see them in the second picture.)

Delicious.

AF's Fabulous Chicken Salad

As promised in my previous post, here is my favorite chicken salad recipe, courtesy of my good friend, AF. 

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
honey
2 granny smith apples
2 small cucumbers
1 shallot
1 red bell pepper (optional, can be roasted too)
dijon mustard
mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste
turmeric and cumin to taste


Coat chicken in honey.  Broil 4-5 minutes on each side, until done.  Let cool. Shred into bowl.  Meanwhile, dice apple, cucumber, shallot, and red pepper if using. Add to bowl with chicken.  Season with mustard, mayo, and spices to taste.  Chill and enjoy!

The High Holidays!

Since it was just me and the hubby this Rosh Hashanah, I decided to go all out.

Two kinds of challah.

Apple:

And my regular challah recipe, but made roll-sized and round!

[The leftover apple stuffed challah makes fantastic bread pudding!]

For the first night, I made a persian chicken, apple and cherry stew, a khoresh.  It was a bit too sweet, and a bit too watery, but the chicken was melt-in-your-mouth tender.

The persian rice with crispy topping [tahdig] was more successful.

We had a really nice Riesling to go with the meal.

Since I was trying to be economical, lunch consisted of my friend AF's fabulous chicken and apple salad (recipe will follow in another post!)

Night two started out with the traditional apples and honey with an unusual fruit (starfruit in this case, I couldn't find pomegranate):

There is a Jewish tradition to eat a "new" fruit on the second night of any holiday.  Some popular ones are pomegranate, star fruit, kumquat, etc.

We had a traditional brisket for dinner.

All in all a delicious holiday with lots of leftovers!

Brudder's Birthday!

In honor of my baby brother's birthday, I cooked his favorite dinner:

Baked potatoes, Steak, and Asparagus:

And when I say cooked, I mean my dad grilled.

But I did make an amazing birthday cake! 

Annie's Eats Cookies and Cream Cake

Since Brudder is an incorrigible chocoholic who eats gallons of Cookies and Cream ice cream every summer, I decided to combine his loves, to delicious result.

Despite trying to frost with warm frosting and almost pulling the cake apart in the process, a quick trip to the fridge to solidify and some careful doctoring resulted in this:

Which my brother seemed to enjoy:

Cut yourself a slice!

Sometime in July

Eager to relieve the glories of Dad's kitchen, and to live down past kitchen disasters once and for all, to save face in front of my brother and his friend A, I borrowed my Dad's girlfriend's Syrian Jewish cookbook and went to town.  On the menu:

Phyllo triangles stuffed with spinach [Im'warah b'Sbanech]

Rice with crispy bottom [Riz]

Meatballs in tomato cumin sauce [Kibbe m'Kamuneh b'Bandoorah]

Jewish Sabbath bread [Challah]

Pistachio rosewater cornstarch pudding [El Mazeeyah]  {Least successful dish, tasted more like a palate cleanser than a proper dessert}
Phyllo nut pastry [Baklawa]


And no dinner party would be complete without a Menage a Trois!
Just kidding...

Simple, Classic French "Gateau au Yaort" (Yogurt Cake)

It seems everyone has a family recipe for "Gateau au Yaourt" (pronounced gah-toe oh yah-oor).  You might ask what is so special about a yogurt cake?  It is a recipe, whose measurements are proportional by volume, so it is easy to remember and even simpler to make. 

Ingredients
1 single-portion container of plain yogurt
2 eggs
vegetable oil
sugar
flour
1 sachet baking powder (11g, or appx. .5 oz or 1T)
pinch of salt
vanilla extract
grease or spray for pan

Supplies
Baking dish
mixing bowl
spoon
 
Flavoring options: rum, diced apple, sliced banana, pineapple, cinnamon, cocoa, nutella, nuts, extracts, etc...

Directions


Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160C).

Crack two eggs into the bowl, gently beat.
Empty yogurt container into bowl, stir into eggs.
Fill yogurt container halfway with oil, stir into eggs.
Splash in some vanilla extract.

Rinse and dry yogurt container.

Measure 2 yogurt containers of sugar and stir into liquids.
Measure 3 yogurt containers of flour and stir into batter.
Add sachet of baking powder and pinch of salt, stir into batter.

Add your desired "extras".

Pour smooth batter into greased baking dish.  Bake for 1 hour.
Enjoy!

Adventures in Cheeses!

A week ago Tuesday, I made homeade macaroni and cheese from a blend of Emmental and Jeune Cantal.  Big success!  Eventually, I will make it again, remember to take pictures, and post it on the blog.  Unlike in the U.S. where I usually buy a can of pumpkin puree to thicken the bechemel sauce and add some healthy veggie-ness, in France, I would have had to buy my own pumpkin, roast it, and puree it.  Since I was busy earning my Master's degree via Skype defense, I did not have time to do that.  But I do have a Master's degree now!

Last Tuesday, I bought supermarket Brie de Meaux.  Big mistake.  Ate a bit that day for lunch, and while the cheese is characteristically fort, strong tasting, this particular slice was pushing it.  Badly overripe, my husband said it made the whole apartment smell like fart.  The smell intensified overnight to where even I couldn't eat it, and the remainder made its way into the trash.

 A typical, casual,ch lunch spread--I love Paris!

Yesterday, at the market near Metro Bastille, I bought an aged Cantal and a Trou du Cru, both cow's milk cheeses, for a picnic.  Delicious!  Despite having a name one-letter removed from the French word for "asshole" (honestly, that amused me enough that that is why I picked the cheese), it was creamy, complex, a bit tangy and just plain delicious.

And a picture of our market picnic: those aren't ordinary strawberries, they are gariguettes.

One-pan Chicken dinner in the Oven

So I discovered this chicken recipe by accident, and have tried it successfully in three different variations, whose descriptions I will include.

Ingredients
boneless skinless chicken breasts
olive oil

Version 1: 1 large zucchini, 3 tomatoes, 2 small onions, fennel, garlic, lemon, cumin, coriander, tumeric, paprika, salt and pepper

Version 2: 3 small potatoes, 2 small onions, cherry tomatoes (cut in half), curry powder, cumin, coriander, tumeric, paprika, salt and pepper, a little bit of liquid in the bottom of the baking dish.

Version 3: 3 small potatoes, 2 small onions, 1 zucchini, 2 small tomatoes, lemon, curry powder, cumin, tumeric, paprika, salt and pepper

Supplies
Knife and cutting board
Baking dish
Oven

Directions (for Version 3, which I have pictures for)


Slice the potatoes and layer them in the bottom of the baking dish.

Slice the onion and add it to the pan.

 Chop the zucchini and tomato and add them.  

 Season with salt, pepper, and turmeric. Drizzle on some olive oil.

Pull out your seasoning for the chicken breast.  In this case I used curry powder, paprika, cumin, turmeric, salt and pepper.  Slice the lemon.

Rub olive oil on the chicken breasts and season on both sides with spices.

 Layer lemon slices on chicken breasts to keep it moist.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until cooked through.

If lemons start to burn, tent with tinfoil.
Enjoy!

Le Grand Prix de la baguette 2010

Since Passover is quickly approaching (it starts Monday at sundown!)  The husband and I decided to end on a positive note-with Paris' best baguette, the winner of "le Grand Prix de la baguette" 2010.  We took the train 20 minutes early Sunday morning to Le Grenier à Pain near Métro Abesses (near Montmartre) which happens to be the stop deepest underground in the Paris transport system.  Many stairs later and a few blocks walk past throngs of people selling laurel/palm for Palm Sunday, we reached the promissed land, also known as 38, rue des Abesses in the 18e.  We bought two of boulanger Djibril Bodian's delicious baguettes, only 1.5 of which made it home ;)  We couldn't let a warm baguette go to waste, now could we?

Crunchy on the outside, doughy on the inside, excellent texture, a faint taste of nutty yeastiness, these are by far the best baguettes I have tasted so far.

We tried it with nutella, fresh goat cheese (the mild, sweet kind, not the aged, sharp kind, more akin to fromage frais), and raspberry jam.  Winner.

Adventures in Cheeses!

So, with Passover approaching, I went to the local market (right outside my door) to buy a cheese that would be spreadable-matza friendly but not boring and not too strong for the husband's sake.  The fromagier recommended "Le Cabri d'Antan" a pasteurized goat cheese from the Poitou region.  Light, like fromage frais, but with the mild tang of fresh goat cheese, delicious.

Gotta catch 'em all!

Every year on March 20, world-renowned pastry chefs celebrate the jour du macaron.  A macaron is a delightful cakey cookie related more closely to the meringue, and though linguistically similar, not-to-be-confused with Passover staple, the macaroon.

On this day, all over the world, at select shops, macarons are given away for free!
This year, my husband and I made the tour of four of the six Pierre Herme Paris shops, discovering too-late that there was a special gift involved in going to all 6 (a free box of 35 macarons!).  Nevertheless, our careful strategy (and the purchase of 1 macaron) allowed us to taste all 25 flavors being offered that day.

Here is a photo of (almost) all of them.  Three were eaten en-route home.

The flavors are:
Arabesque (apricot and pistachio)
Cafe (coffee)
Chocolat au lau & the Earl Grey (milk chocolate and Earl Grey tea)
Chocolat & foie gras
Chuao (chocolat and black currant)
Citron (lemon)
Coing & Rose (quince and rose)
Eden (peach, apricot and saffron)
Fragola (strawberry and balsamic vinegar)
Huile d'olive & vanille (olive oil and vanilla)
Imagine (Matcha green tea, crunchy black sesame)
Infiniment Vanille (Tahitian vanilla, Madagascan vanilla, Mexican vanilla)
Infiniment caramel (salted-butter caramel)
Ispahan (rose, litchi, raspberry)
Jasmin (jasmin flower and jasmin tea)
Magnifique (strawberry and wasabi)
Marron & the vert Matcha (chestnut and Matcha green tea)
Medelice (lemon, hazelnut praline)
Mosaic (pistachio and wild cherry)
Mutine (milk chocolat and coconut)
Mogador (milk chocolate and passionfruit)
Pistache (pistachio)
Rose (rose and rose petals)
Truffe blanche & noisette (white truffle, grilled Piemont hazelnut sprinkles)

They lasted all week and they were delicious.

Return of the Blog!

Since November, I have not stopped cooking, but mostly forgot to take pictures.

I also moved to Paris.

For the past month, I have been cooking on two finicky electric burners with moderate success.  This weekend I will be buying a small toaster oven.  Expect updated blog entries soon as I explore French produce and experiment on a tight budget!

Disappearing Tarte aux pommes, French crust redux

Using the tart crust recipe from my previous post, I made a very simple apple tart.  I call it the disappearing apple tart because not only are there never leftovers, but it disappears before I can get a piece!!!  I call that a baking success.

Ingredients
French tart crust
2 apples, I use 1 granny smith and 1 fuji (or any sweeter apple), peeled and sliced thinly
appx 1/4 apple sauce
cinnamon
sugar

Spread the apple sauce in the baked pie crust so there is a nice layer to nest the apples in.  Shake on some cinnamon (alternately, you can do cinnamon-sugar mixture on the top, but I prefer to hide it since I prefer to hide the darker color of the cinnamon.)  Spread the apples.  I like to do a pretty pattern (I circle the edge, then do an inner circle,) alternating slices of the two types.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 350F until the apples are tender but not burning.
Voila!

 

Blog Title

So while joking around about how many of my recipes involve hiding vegetables in meat, I came up with a possible alternate blog title:

Dr. Strangecook: Or how I learned to stop worrying and to love vegetables

Thoughts?

Date Night Dinner!

Tonight my husband and I are having a special evening out:  a show at the Fox and steak for dinner!

For the soup:
1 acorn squash
1 c chicken stock, optional
2T margarine, optional

Preheat oven to 375F.  Wash the skin of the acorn squash.  Pat dry.  Stab repeatedly with knife--this is very good for stress!!!  It also keeps it from exploding in the oven under the pressure of the steam from its flesh cooking.  Put on baking tray, to catch any leaking juices, and roast for 45 minutes or until tender.

Let cool.  It should be soft enough to pierce easily with a fork.

Cut in half.  Scrape out the seeds and innards, discard. 

Cut in four pieces and peel off the skin, discard.  Puree the flesh and add choice of liquid and spices to make a tasty soup to the desired consistency!

I added turmeric, a little coriander, a little ginger powder, and fresh ground black pepper. 

The puree can be frozen, and snuck into other veggie-less meals to pump up their healthiness.  Stealth veggies!!  You can also add brown sugar, orange juice, and milk or cream to make a sweeter soup, or blend in apple puree or parsnip puree to make a veggie side, sweet or savory respectively.

Steak

Ingredients
3 beef eye of round steaks
1/4 c sweet vermouth
1/4 c white vinegar (white wine or cider would have been better)
1/4 c olive oil
1 onion, diced
Salt and pepper

Salt and pepper both sides of the steak.

Marinade the meet in the vermouth, vinegar, oil and onion.

I never finished this post, because while the soup was delicious, simple and filling, the steaks were too greasy and underseasoned.  I should not have used olive oil, I should have used a more acidic marinade, and I should have kept the onions separate from the meat as they cooked at a different time and temperature.  Lesson learned.

Sausage, peppers and rice

Ingredients
2 onions, diced
sausage (I used about 6 inches of a Turkey sausage link)
2 bell peppers (I used 1 red, 1 yellow)
garlic
beer
chicken stock
rice (I used brown basmati rice)

Set the rice cooking, with just a little less water than usual since it will be finished in the frying pan.

Cook the sausage and onion in a frying pan, letting the fat from the sausage soften the onions.

Add the bell peppers and garlic.

When all the vegetables are softened, add some beer to deglaze the pan, about 1/4 c.  This keep things from burning and adds a little flavor.  Wait for that to heat up and start to cook off, and add the chicken broth, about 1 1/4 c.

When that reaches a boil, add the almost-cooked rice.

Let the rice absorb most of the liquid.
Serve and enjoy!

Silly Orange Halloween Dinner

Barbecue-Sauce Baked Chicken with Pumpkin-Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Carrots

Ingredients
2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 c canned pumpkin
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 T margarine
1/4 c chicken stock, or amount necessary for desired consistency
4 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1" pieces
olive oil
salt, pepper
BBQ sauce (store bought or recipe below)

Preheat oven to 375F.  Spread some BBQ sauce in a baking dish.  Set chicken breasts on the sauce.  Spoon more sauce onto the chicken breasts, being careful not to cross-contaminate.  Bake for 25 minutes.

On a baking tray or a second baking dish, place carrots, toss in olive oil.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Put it in the oven for about 25 minutes as well, until tender.

Boil potatoes until tender.  Drain, return to pot, add pumpkin and heat a bit so that any excess water cooks off and the pumpkin warms through.   Add the margarine and chicken stock and mash with ricer, fork, or potato masher.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Barbecue Sauce
1 can tomato paste
white vinegar
brown sugar
cumin
chili powder
Worcester sauce

Blend all the ingredients into desired thickness and taste.  I just experimented until it tasted right.  You can also add hot sauce, diced onion, or whatever you like.

And voila!  A very orange meal for Halloween!

Spaghetti with Meat Balls: or how to hide veggies without even trying, my recipe

Ingredients
2 onions
2 carrots
2 celery sticks
1 lb lean ground beef, appx
1 egg
breadcrumbs (optional)
2 cans diced tomatoes, no salt added
1 jar tomato sauce
garlic
My herbs of choice: parsely, basil, oregano, cumin, turmeric, black pepper
Spaghetti

Supplies
knife and cutting board
blender
2 pots: 1 for the spaghetti, 1 for the meatballs (if you cook the spaghetti 1st and set it aside, you can get away with just 1 pan)
colander (for straining the spaghetti, you can use the pot lid if you don't have one.  Just be careful of steam burns.)
jar or garbage container of some kind

Dice onions, carrots, celery. In a blender, puree 1 onion, the carrots and the celery.

Mix the pureed veggies, meat, and egg in a bowl.

Add breadcrumbs to the bowl.  The point of the breadcrumbs is to help bind it all together by keeping it from being too moist, but if you don't have that, just treat them more gently.  I usually start mixing the meat, and have my hubby shake some in, and decide how much by feel--not too dry, still moist, but holding together a bit.

Once mixed, roll the meat into little balls, about 1" diameter.

Heat a pot and add meatballs gently, one at a time.

Keep adding meatballs, rolling the already cooking ones to one side so they brown all over and to make room for the new ones.

Carefully pour off the fat that is cooking off the meatballs into your throwaway jar or container.  I didn't have one, so I poured it into a bowl until it cooled enough for the trashbag.

The meatballs don't have to be fully cooked, just gently browned.  They're going to simmer in sauce later to get fully cooked.
Add the remaining diced onion to the meatballs to soak up the fat that is left in the pan.

When they begin to soften, add the two cans of diced tomatoes with their juice.

Add the whole jar of sauce.  Sometimes I save the jar in the fridge, wait until the pasta is cooked, and pour about 1/4 c of the pasta water in the jar to pick up ALL the rest of the sauce in there, and pour it into the cooking sauce to thin it.

Stir very gently so as not to break up the meatballs.

Cover, bring to a boil, then simmer on low for about an hour or until you're hungry, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the pan and burning. 

Add spices to taste soon before serving, so they don't lose their potency in the long simmer.  You can thin the sauce out if you need to be frugal and stretch this meal out, the meaty taste really permeates to make it feel richer than it is.
Serve with cooked spaghetti.

This dish freezes really well, with or without the spaghetti, so you can make a big pot of it on the weekend, freeze in individual containers, and have an instant and healthy meal on a night when you don't feel like cooking.