Tag Archives: TasteFoodblog

Spaghetti with Italian Sausage Ragout

Posted on April 5, 2012 | 8 Comments

Spaghetti with Italian Sausage Ragout

Change is in the air. We are moving house in a week, and while it’s a local move, it still requires dismantling a life, glass by glass, book by book. Our belongings are wrapped and boxed in ambiguous cartons that creep along and up the walls, towering over the furniture with an insistency that precludes denial. In a week our life will be unpacked in a new home and environment, our belongings liberated and rapidly arranged then rearranged to produce a new vignette. For now, the dust bunnies and memories swirl about, gathering in corners and getting in our heads. And our dog is behaving strangely. I think she is hoping and fearing that she will also be packed.

Change is cathartic. It’s also unsettling. For all of the moving we’ve done in our family life, you would think this would be a piece of cake – the next step in our family adventure. Is it because I am older now? Or perhaps it’s because the children are older, fully aware and present in this move, packing their belongings and looking forward to our next step in their teenaged lives – a time which guarantees uncertainty with or without a move. I see how they watch me and listen to my words and mood, using me as a measure, while secretly I watch them back, feeling curious and just a little guilty about this event. After all, I am their mother.

So I reflect on our previous moves, from one country to another, to languages I would have yet to learn, searching for homes and a community to insert myself and my family into. This time we are simply moving zip codes, but this move has its baggage, too. So, today I will do what I do best and what has always served us well. I will cook a comforting and nourishing family meal, and we will share it for dinner as we sit together at our well traveled kitchen table.

Spaghetti with Italian Sausage Ragout
Serves 4

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 pound Italian sausage, casings removed, crumbled
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium red bell pepper, seeds and membranes removed, cut in 1/4 inch dice
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 28-ounce can Italian plum tomatoes with juice
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon granulated sugar, optional

1 pound spaghetti
Grated Parmigiano cheese
Chopped Italian flat leaf parsley

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and sauté until golden. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with a paper towel. Discard all but 1 tablespoon fat in the pan. Add garlic, red pepper, oregano and chili flakes. Sauté 2 minutes. Add wine. Bring to a boil and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer 30 minutes. Taste for seasoning. If needed, add sugar.
While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add spaghetti and cook until al dente. Drain. Serve hot with the sauce spooned over. Garnish with cheese and parsley.

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Posted in Kitchen Table Philosophy, Main Course, Pasta, Pork

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Chicken and Farro Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms

Posted on April 2, 2012 | 10 Comments

Simple Sunday dinner:
Chicken and Farro Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms

Following a busy, social weekend with big meals and late evenings, Sunday is nicely relaxed and peaceful with no reservations, no make-up and no agenda. Dinner will reflect simplicity and balance with fresh and light ingredients and minimal fuss. It’s a perfect moment for this restorative chicken soup, using leftover meat and homemade stock from last week’s roast. Carrots, shiitakes, and fresh snipped parsley from our terrace pots brighten and flavor the soup, while farro adds a little nutritional heft to this easy one-dish meal.

Chicken and Farro Soup with Carrots and Shiitakes
Serves 4

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, trimmed, halved if large
6 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup farro
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cooked chicken breasts, 12 to 16 ounces, shredded in large pieces
1/4 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley

Heat oil in a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until it softens without coloring, 2 minutes. Add carrots and mushrooms. Sauté until carrots brighten in color and mushrooms begin to release their juices, 2 to 3  minutes. Add stock, farro, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Cover and simmer until farro is tender, about 25 minutes. Stir in chicken and top off with additional stock if needed. Taste for seasoning. Simmer until chicken is heated through. Ladle into bowls. Serve hot, garnished with parsley.

If you like this, you might enjoy these recipes:
French Onion Soup from TasteFood
Seafood Miso Noodle Soup from Steamy Kitchen
Farro, Kale and Butternut Squash Soup from TasteFood
Italian Wedding Soup from the Kitchn
Celery Root and Parsnip Soup from TasteFood

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Posted in Breads, Pasta, Rice, Grains, Chicken, Soups and Stews

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Roasted Chicken and Potatoes with Yogurt, Lemon and Garlic

Posted on March 29, 2012 | 10 Comments

If you are wishing for an easy and rewarding rustic dinner then look no further than this Roasted Chicken with Yogurt, Lemon and Garlic. A whole roasted chicken is  a weeknight wonder, yielding a bounty of food with little effort. It will fill your home with comforting and tantalizing aromas as it cooks, amply feed a family of 4 with leftovers for lunch, and bestow you with the goods for a rich and restorative stock.

I roast a chicken nearly weekly in our home. For variety, it’s easy to change it up with a rub or marinade depending on the mood or season. Feeling spicy? Then try a marinade with Sriracha and serve over a bed of couscous. Prefer something cozy and traditional for a grey and rainy day? Then keep it simple with olive oil, rosemary, thyme and a pan gravy. If you are in the mood for exotic spice and aroma, like I was the other day, then try this recipe which infuses the bird with yogurt, lemon, garlic and ginger.

Roasted Chicken and Potatoes with Yogurt, Lemon and Garlic 

Serve with baby potatoes roasted in the pan juices. Serves 4 to 6.

For the chicken:
1 whole free-range or organic chicken, 4 to 5 pounds
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup whole milk Greek-style yogurt
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

For the potatoes:
2 pounds baby potatoes, halved if large
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt

Thirty minutes before roasting, remove the chicken from the refrigerator. Preheat oven to 425 F. Rinse the chicken all over and inside the cavity with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels. Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to blend. Rub the paste all over the outside of the chicken, between the skin and breast, and inside the cavity.  Place, breast-side up, in the center of a baking pan or oven proof skillet.

Prepare the potatoes: Toss the potatoes, olive oil, paprika and salt in a bowl. Scatter around the chicken. Place the pan in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven. Using tongs, carefully turn the chicken over, breast-side down. Stir the potatoes. Return to oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove and once again turn the chicken over, breast-side up. Return to oven and cook until chicken is thoroughly cooked and thigh juices run clear when pierced with a knife, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Transfer chicken to a cutting board. Tent with foil and let rest 10 to 15 minutes before carving. While the chicken is resting, return potatoes to oven to keep warm. Carve the chicken and return to skillet, nestling the meat between the potatoes in the pan juices.

If you like this, you might enjoy these recipes:
Braised Chicken in White Wine from TasteFood
Roast Chicken with Caramelized Shallots from David Lebovitz
Harvest Chicken Tortilla Soup from TasteFood
Peruvian Roast Chicken from Leite’s Culinaria

 

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Posted in Chicken, gluten-free, Main Course, one-pot, Poultry, Uncategorized

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Pizza Night: Arugula and Prosciutto Pizza

Posted on March 26, 2012 | 22 Comments

~ Arugula and Prosciutto Pizza ~

As the saying goes, the shoemaker’s children go barefoot. In my case, they eat pizza. I write about food and develop recipes, yet sometimes I am working so hard on a deadline I don’t have a dinner to feed my family. After a day spent in the kitchen developing a dessert, I would be remiss to feed chocolate cake to the kids for supper. I might spend an afternoon tweaking dressings, sauces and marinades, but I can not feed my family a bowl of vinaigrette. Or I may not make it to the kitchen at all, spending an entire day at the computer writing and researching recipes, only to realize that I never went to the store and the refrigerator remains neglected. As irony would have it, on days like these, once it’s dinnertime I can’t muster any excitement to make much of anything. So I make pizza.

Homemade pizza pleases everyone and is easy to make with a minimum of ingredients. When I make dough for the crust, I double the portion to freeze for emergency pizza nights. If you have a favorite store-bought crust, that’s fine too – just be sure to buy extra and pop it into the freezer. That way when Sunday night rolls around and everyone is asking what’s for dinner, the children (and adults) eat pizza.

Arugula and Prosciutto Pizza

The combination of salty prosciutto, creamy mozzarella and fresh arugula makes this pizza very popular in our home. Be sure not to overload the pizza with the toppings. The amounts below are approximations and will vary with the size of the crust. Makes 1 large rectangular pizza or 2 10-inch pizzas.

Pizza crust (recipe below)
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2  cup tomato sauce (recipe below)
8 ounces fresh mozzarella, shredded
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes, or to taste
8 slices (3 ounces) prosciutto
4 cups fresh arugula
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano cheese

Preheat oven to 500 F. Using your hands, stretch crust to desired shape and place on parchment paper. Combine 2 tablespoons olive oil and garlic clove in a small bowl. Lightly brush crust with oil. Smear a thin layer of tomato sauce over the crust, leaving one inch clear around the edges. Scatter a layer of mozzarella over the sauce. Sprinkle with chili flakes. Top with a layer of prosciutto. Sprinkle Parmesan over the pizza. Brush the exposed edges with a little more olive oil.
Slide the parchment and pizzas onto a baking stone on lowest rack in oven. Bake until crust is beginning to color, about 10 minutes. Slide pizza out of the oven and spread arugula over the pizza. It will look like a lot, but will cook down. Return to oven and bake until crust is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately, drizzled with olive oil.

Tomato Sauce
Makes 1 cup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 15-ounce can crushed Italian plum tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat olive oil in a saucepan. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, about 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning.

Pizza Dough Recipe
Adapted from a recipe by Alice Waters. Makes 2 – 10 inch pizza crusts.

2 teaspoons dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup semolina flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups cold water
1/4 cup olive oil

Stir yeast and lukewarm water together in a bowl. Add 1/4 cup all-purpose flour and semolina. Mix well. Let sit until bubbly, about 30 minutes. Combine remaining flour and salt in another bowl. Add to yeast with cold water and olive oil. Mix well to form a dough. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead with hands until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Or use a mixer with a dough hook, and knead about 5 minutes. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and turn to coat all sides with oil. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours. Punch dough down, and let rise another 45 minutes. Divide dough into 2 equal disks. Let rest 30 minutes before shaping. Lightly flour a work surface. Using your fingers or heels of your hands, stretch the disks out to 10-inch shapes.

More pizza? Try these recipes:
Asparagus and Prosciutto Pizza from TasteFood
Peach, Basil, Mozzarella Pizza from Two Peas & Their Pod
Sweet Pepper, Salami and Basil Pizza from TasteFood
Lemony Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza from Smitten Kitchen
Broccoli Rabe, Potato and Rosemary Pizza from TasteFood

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Posted in Main Course, Pizza

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Salmon Wrapped in Kale Leaves with Harissa

Posted on March 22, 2012 | 14 Comments

Salmon Kale
~ Salmon Wrapped in Kale with Dill and Harissa ~

In this latest installment of Cooking for your Health, the focus is on promoting health and weight loss without sacrificing the pleasure of good food. Low-fat, nutrient-rich diets do not need to be boring or tasteless. This recipe for Salmon Wrapped in Kale Leaves with Dill and Harissa proves just that. It’s a healthy and delicious meal which will nourish your body and provide essential vitamins, nutrients and protein.  It’s also an easy recipe to prepare, yielding elegant, dinner-party results which will be enjoyed by all, whether they are on a diet or not.

Salmon is a top protein choice low in saturated fat, rich in vitamins B and D, minerals and Omega-3 amino acids. Teamed up with kale, a cruciferous superfood packed with cancer-fighting antioxidants, you have a dream meal that is a nutritional powerhouse and tastes great, too. The earthy kale leaves pair beautifully with rich and buttery salmon. A squirt of harissa and a few frizzy dill sprigs crown the wraps with vibrant heat, color and spice. Eating for your health doesn’t get any better than this.

Baked Salmon and Kale Wraps with Dill and Harissa

A spoonful of homemade harissa brightens this simple recipe. Sriracha may be substituted for the harissa. Serves 4 as a dinner course or 8 as a light lunch.

16 large kale leaves
Salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large bunch dill sprigs with stems
1 lemon, halved
4 thick salmon fillets, about 8 ounces each, halved
Freshly ground black pepper

Harissa or Sriracha sauce

Remove and discard the tough stems and ribs from the kale, leaving the leaves in tact. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add kale leaves, and blanch briefly, 15 seconds. Transfer to ice water to cool. Drain and dry thoroughly on a kitchen towel.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat bottom of a baking pan with olive oil. Select 8 large dill sprigs without stems and set aside. Scatter remaining dill sprigs with stems over bottom of pan. Brush salmon filets with olive oil. Squeeze 1/2 lemon over the salmon. Lightly season all over with salt and pepper. Place salmon on kale leaf. Wrap leaf around salmon. If necessary, use another kale leaf to sufficiently cover.  Arrange the the kale-wrapped salmon over the dill in the baking pan, seam side down. Repeat with remaining salmon and kale. Brush olive oil and squeeze more lemon over the fish. Sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper. Bake in oven until salmon is cooked through, about 30 minutes. Serve warm, garnished with a spoonful of harissa.

If you like this, you might enjoy these TasteFood recipes:
Roasted Salmon with Green Olive Tapenade
Sriracha Baked Salmon and Cauliflower
Kale and Carrot Salad with Pecans and Cranberries
Mushroom Barley Soup with Miso and Kale

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Posted in Cooking for Your Health, Fish and Shellfish, gluten-free, Main Course

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Kale Gratins

Posted on March 19, 2012 | 14 Comments

~ Kale Gratins ~

It takes a village. I consider myself lucky to be connected to an abundant group of friends whom I’ve met over the past few years through my blog and various food communities. These talented cooks and writers have become colleagues and pals whom I also consider like-minded souls. In this era of the far reaching internet, some of these friendships remain virtual (yet they feel so real) while others have luckily manifested into get-togethers and family dinners.

Which brings me to this lovely little side dish. The inspiration came to me this week from a post by my friend Steve who writes the wonderful blog Oui Chef. I haven’t met Steve in person yet, but I feel like we go a long way back, sharing similar food and travel interests, and a passion to feed our families well while sharing in the pleasure of cooking. He posted this cozy recipe for Creamed Kale that had my attention the minute I read it. Blame it on the rain that day, or just the fact that I adore kale, but I wanted to eat it right then and there. Steve dedicated this recipe to another good friend of ours, Liz, who authors the blog Liz the Chef. A while back Liz posted a phenomenal recipe for Spinach Gratin on Food 52 (which is where these friendships began – thanks Food52!) Liz and I have had the good fortune to meet a number of times, sharing meals at our dining table and connecting at food blog events. Her spinach gratin has been on my mental to-do list since the moment I saw it. And when Steve’s recipe popped up, I had all of the inspiration I needed to make these little Kale Gratins – thanks to my village of food-loving friends.

Kale Gratin

I served these as an accompaniment to steaming bowls of Cioppino Stew this weekend. Makes 6 individual gratins or one large gratin.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped, about 1 cup
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano cheese, divided
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 bunches kale (I used a combination of curly and Tuscan), ribs removed, coarsely chopped – about 10 cups

Preheat oven to 350 F. Heat butter in a deep skillet or wide saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent, 2 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring, until bubbling and golden, about 2 minutes. Whisk in milk and cream. Simmer, stirring, until thickened. Whisk in 1/4 cup cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Remove pan from heat and add kale. Stir to completely coat the kale leaves; they will begin to wilt. When the kale is thoroughly coated and slightly wilted, divide between gratin dishes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Transfer to oven and bake until the tops of the gratins are golden brown and bubbly, about 25 minutes. Serve warm.

If you like this you might enjoy these TasteFood recipes:
Roasted Yellow Beet and Ricotta Tian
Potato Gratins
Root Vegetable Gratin

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Posted in side dish, Tians and Casseroles, Vegetables and Salads, Wine

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Irish Beef Stew

Posted on March 16, 2012 | 15 Comments

I admit that I usually don’t get all hyped up about St. Patrick’s Day, but I do get excited about unique ingredients for cooking. So, as promised, here is the second post inspired by a bottle of Guinness Stout (that we somehow managed not to drink this week) which is a wonderful excuse to cook an Irish-themed meal for St. Patrick’s Day. Irish Beef Stew with Guinness is a no-nonsense kind of stew that you would expect from your mother or grandmother. Fortified with stout beer and sturdy root vegetables, this hearty no-frills stew will warm and comfort you – just like a woolen fleece on a misty grey day.

Irish Beef Stew

As most stews go, this is a humble and forgiving recipe. Add your favorite root vegetables and serve with mashed potatoes. Serves 6.

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 pounds beef chuck, excess fat trimmed, cut in 1 1/2 inch pieces
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup tomato paste
2 cups beef stock
1 1/2 cups stout beer
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 bay leaves
3 large carrots, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 large yellow onion, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 large rutabaga, cut in 3/4-inch pieces
1 large parsnip, cut in 3/4-inch pieces

Preheat oven to 325 F. (170 C.) Heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat in an oven-proof pot or Dutch oven. Season the beef all over with salt and pepper. Add beef in batches to pot in one layer, without overcrowding. Brown on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining beef. Return beef to pot and add the garlic. Saute 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and cook stirring, one minute. Add stock, beer, thyme, bay leaves, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper. The meat should be just covered with liquid. If not, add additional stock or beer to cover. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Transfer pot to oven. Bake until meat is tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
While the meat is cooking heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a deep skillet or large pot over medium heat. Add vegetables and lightly sprinkle with salt. Saute the vegetables until they brighten in color and begin to take on a golden hue, 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove beef from oven. Skim any fat on the surface of the liquid with a spoon. Add vegetables to the beef, stirring to combine. Return beef to the oven, uncovered. Bake one hour, stirring once or twice, until the sauce is slightly reduced, the vegetables are tender and the meat is fork-tender. Remove and taste for seasoning. Serve hot with mashed potatoes.

If you like this, you might enjoy these recipes:
Cassoulet from TasteFood
Senegalese Lamb Stew from Leite’s Culinaria
Pork Stew with Prunes and Armagnac from TasteFood
Polish Hunters Stew from Simple Recipes
West African Chicken and Peanut Stew from Kalyn’s Kitchen

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Posted in Main Course, Meat, one-pot, Soups and Stews, Uncategorized

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Chocolate Stout Pound Cake with Whiskey Cream

Posted on March 14, 2012 | 13 Comments

~ Chocolate Stout Pound Cake with Irish Whiskey Cream ~

When life hands you lemons you make lemonade. When life hands you lemons and Guinness Stout, I’d ignore the lemons and drink the stout. But be sure to save a bottle or two, because you can use any extra beer to make Irish Beef Stew and a decadent Chocolate Stout Pound Cake, which I’m including in a double post series this week in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. And just in case life has, in fact, been handing you lemons lately, I will post the dessert first. Simple things like chocolate, stout, and the phrase “dessert first” are guaranteed to make things better.

Chocolate Stout Pound Cake

Makes one pound cake – recipe adapted from Real Simple.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup stout beer
1/4 pound (120 g) dark chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a loaf pan. Line with parchment paper and butter the parchment paper. Dust with cocoa powder, shaking out excess.
Combine butter and stout in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until butter melts. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and stir until smooth.
Beat eggs and brown sugar in bowl of electric mixer until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add chocolate and sour cream and mix to combine. Whisk remaining ingredients together in bowl. Add to the chocolate. Stir to combine without over-mixing. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake until set and a wooden skewer inserted in center comes clean, about 50 minutes. Cool in pan on rack 5 minutes. Turn pound cake out on the rack and cool completely. Cut in 1/2 inch slices. Serve with Irish Whiskey Whipped Cream.

Irish Whiskey Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons Irish Whiskey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat cream in the bowl of an electric mixer until traces of the whisk are visible. Add remaining ingredients. Continue to whip until soft peaks form. Transfer to a bowl. Serve with Chocolate Stout Pound Cake.

If you like this, you might enjoy these TasteFood recipes:
Coriander Spiced Pound Cake with Strawberries
Orange Pound Cake
Lemon Bars 

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Posted in Baking, cake, Christmas, Desserts

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Cooking for your Health: Greek Couscous Salad

Posted on March 11, 2012 | 19 Comments

For the latest installment of Cooking for your Health, which nicely coincides with the Meatless Monday initiative, I present you with this recipe for Greek Couscous Salad. It’s still winter in this part of the world, although the weather is behaving more like spring. Hefty winter salads are a healthy, satisfying and an economical way to get our daily dose of vitamins and nutrients during the cold season, while providing light yet substantial sustenance. This recipe looks to the Greek salad for inspiration. Chopped cucumber, onion, sweet peppers and fresh herbs, rich in Vitamins A and C, are tumbled with whole wheat couscous and protein-rich chickpeas, then topped with a sprinkling of feta cheese. Boosted with lemon, garlic and cayenne, this salad is at once healthy and ridiculously good. I like to serve it simply as-is or scooped into pita bread with a dollop of tsatsiki and harissa. Healthy and meatless don’t get better than this.

Greek Couscous Salad

This salad is very forgiving in its ingredients. The couscous may be substituted with another favorite grain such as farro or quinoa. Feel free to add more or less of the vegetables to the couscous to your taste. The important thing is to have a variety of texture and lots of crunch. Serves 4 to 6.

1 1/4 cups water
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1 1/2 cups whole wheat couscous
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 scallions, green and white parts thinly sliced
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and diced, cut in 1/4 inch dice
1/2 small English cucumber, seeded, cut in 1/4 inch dice, about 1 cup
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped, about 1/4 cup
1 small red jalapeno or Fresno pepper, seeded, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 – 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup Italian parsley leaves, chopped, plus extra for garnish
1/2 cup mint leaves, chopped
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon Tabasco, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Black olives (kalamata, oil-cured or niçoise) for garnish

Bring water, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Stir in couscous and lemon juice. Cover and let sit until all of the liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Fluff with fork and transfer the couscous to a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Gently mix to thoroughly combine. Taste for salt and seasoning. Serve warm or at room temperature garnished with olives.

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Posted in Breads, Pasta, Rice, Grains, Cooking for Your Health, salad, side dish, Vegetables and Salads, Vegetarian

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Blood Orange Crostate with Salted Caramel Sauce

Posted on March 5, 2012 | 13 Comments

~ Blood Orange Crostate ~

When it comes to baking, I like my desserts messy. This is not to say that I like dirty dishes or wayward, disfunctional stand-mixers. It means that I like desserts that are free-form, imprecise and often referred to as “rustic.”  Thank goodness for the generations of country kitchens which devised homey, family-style and fabulous tasting desserts. Often involving fruit and usually containing folksy and forgiving words such as crumble, slump, crisp and fool, these desserts revel in imprecision, delightfully embracing dribbles, lopsidedness and even mistakes. Sure, some technique is involved, but the overriding rule is a relaxed unfussiness with a big helping of simplicity. Bring on the mess.

Which brings me to these slightly dissheveled crostatas (actually, I believe that’s crostate in the plural). Citrus is rampant in the markets right now, and with that comes the ruby blood orange. Sweet and tart, yet more complicated than the run-of-the-mill navel, this fruit has a unique flavor which borders on murkiness. If an orange can brood, then it’s the blood orange. I must have been in the mood for brooding when I stuffed a brown bag full of them, with the plan to make a dessert for a dinner this weekend. Scanning the web for inspiration, I found this recipe on the Kitchn, and, right away, I knew these crostatas were the dessert for me: brilliantly hued, cute as can be, and appropriately messy in a rustic free-form kind of way. I tweaked the recipe a bit to my taste and included a salted caramel sauce as an accompaniment.

Blood Orange Crostate with Salted Caramel Sauce

Makes 8 – 4 inch crostatas

For the crust:
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled, cut in cubes
1/2 cup sour cream

For the filling:
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
3 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 blood oranges, skin and pith cut away, sliced crosswise, seeds removed
2 navel oranges, skin and pith cut away, sliced crosswise
1 egg beaten

Make the crust:
Combine flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Briefly pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse to achieve a crumbly consistency. Add sour cream and pulse a few times until the dough just begins to stick together. Turn dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into a disk. Wrap and refrigerate at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Whisk mascarpone, 3 tablespoons sugar and vanilla in a small bowl to lighten and combine.
Remove dough from refrigerator. Divide into 8 equal portions. Roll out each portion in a circle about 6 inches in diameter and 1/4-inch thick. Place a tablespoon of mascarpone in the center of the dough, spreading it slightly, while keeping one inch clear around the edge of the dough. Place a navel orange slice in the center. Dot with blood orange sections. Sprinkle the oranges with a little sugar. Fold the exposed edges of the dough in around the oranges, shaping and pinching to create a rim of crust. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment. Repeat this process with remaining dough. Brush pastry dough with the egg and sprinkle the dough with a little more sugar.
Bake crostatas until crusts are firm to the touch and golden brown, about 45 minutes. Remove and cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with a spoonful of the remaining mascarpone cream.  Drizzle with Salted Caramel Sauce (recipe below).

Salted Caramel Sauce
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons European-style unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon Maldon sea salt

While you are making the caramel be very careful, as the mixture will be extremely hot. Make sure that all of your ingredients are in place before you begin, since the sauce will come together very quickly. Use a high-sided heavy bottomed pot, since the caramel will foam up as it cooks. Be sure to use the best quality unsalted butter that you can find.

Add the sugar to a heavy-bottomed pot (3-4 quart) over medium-high heat. Cook until the sugar melts, whisking occasionally and swirling the pan to ensure even cooking. When the sugar is the color of dark amber, remove the pan from heat. Add the butter, taking care as it will foam. Stir until it’s melted into the sugar. Pour in the cream (it will foam again) and whisk until smooth. Add the salt. Cool the sauce completely. Makes about 1 cup. Store in a mason jar for up to two weeks.

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