Crispy Lentils with Lamb

The combination of lamb and lentils is not one I would have easily come up with, but I love cumin so when I saw this featured on food52, I immediately tried it.  I've made this dish now several times and have adapted it to suit our family composition of two omnivores and one vegetarian (although Maddy has asked that I no longer refer to her as Veggie Girl, the moniker remains oh-so-fitting).  It's an easy weeknight dinner and even possible to make, as I do, in two pans simultaneously.  I will explain how I do that below, for any of you likewise mixed families.

But first, a couple of tips.  This dish is equally tasty made with ground beef, and, I have to come clean, with pre-coooked lentils from Trader Joe's refrigerated section.  When I used the pre-cooked lentils, I deglazed the pan with white wine left over in the fridge instead of the lentil water called for.  I serve with large leaves of lettuce in which to wrap a few spoonfuls of the mix and with some warm pita and yogurt or labne (please, please try Rivka's which is delicious and save for a little advance planning, incredibly simple to make.  I use 2% Greek yogurt for this).  For a vegetable side dish, roast some cauliflower  or diced eggplant on an oiled pan in a 425 degree oven for about 30 minutes or so.

I make this in one larger pan and one smaller one, using the smaller one for a lentil only version.  In the smaller pan, I skip the lamb and just put the lentils in with a little olive oil.  I use about 1/3 of the lentils for the vegetarian version and 2/3 for the one with lamb.  In step 2, I add the spices and garlic and wine proportionally to the two pans and watch and stir both.  Both versions taste great!

Photo credits: Maddy Bazil

Aging and Advil

Aging is hard.  I don't mean to state the obvious, but as we get past a certain magic number in years, it really does seem that, physically, the road is just more challenging.  While exercise and eating well can hopefully keep us relatively healthy for years, the body does not behave as it did when it was 20.  Or 25.  Or 30.

Complaining about this seems petty, what my daughter would call "first world problems." Obviously, if we are complaining about things like plantar fasciitis, bunions, lower back pain, herniated discs, rotator cuff injuries, tennis elbow, or even a stomach ulcer from too much Advil taken for a wrist injured while playing tennis, we are lucky enough to bear the marks of an active life, not a life threatening ailment.

Nonetheless, it does seem that as one approaches a certain age, the body must be coddled a little bit more.   We might need insoles in our shoes or maybe different types of shoes entirely, different tennis rackets or different stringing tension, a better mattress, better posture, better diet and lots of Advil.

There's the rub.  What to do when the Advil you've taken for years becomes the cause of an entirely new pain?  One that feels like someone's lit a match under your breastbone every 3 or 4 minutes.  Well, what you don't do is eat tomatoes, garlic and onions.  I speak not from personal experience here, but as official cook to the Advil wounded. 

Here's what you do eat: oatmeal, eggs, bread, potatoes, grilled chicken.  Notice a color pattern here?  A little splash of orange from carrots, sweet potato and salmon. 

This is what Maddy and I ate one night, while Paul was enjoying his skinless rotisserie chicken with a baked sweet potato:  Turkish style pasta with a sauce of Greek yogurt and ground pistachios and garlic.  This recipe could not be easier to make and was surprisingly delicious for such simple flavors.  I have now tried this with whole wheat spaghetti combined with regular Greek yogurt, and, despite the recipe writer's admonition,  2% Greek yogurt with traditional pasta.  It was delicious both ways.  In future I will probably go with whole wheat or farro pasta and 2% yogurt.  I might even try fat free yogurt just to see how it turns out.  The first time I made this recipe, my garlic cloves were particularly pungent and made the dish a little too garlic-y, so when I reheated the leftovers I added a little more yogurt and pasta.  I recommend you start with 2 small cloves of garlic and taste the sauce while it's still in the food processor.  You can always add another one or two, as the recipe says "to taste."

This is perfect with a simple salad (we used a dressing of hummus thinned with lemon juice and a touch of olive oil) or would also be terrific with some roasted chunks of eggplant and maybe some green beans for color. 

James Beard Awards

I just found this post in my draft file and I'm not sure why I never completed it when it was timely.  Though the James Beard awards were back in May, I found after reading my notes, that my thoughts are still relevant even months after the event.   So here is what I wrote back in May (with just a few current edits!):
   

Soon after the awards, Jane Lear, writing in her blog, noted the incogruity of the James Beard award for best cookbook going to Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking at the same time that Laurie Colwin's Home Cooking and More Home Cooking were inducted into the Cookbook Hall of Fame (I wrote about Colwin and her books here).  This is providing me with the impetus to marshall my helter-skelter thoughts on the subject, something I've been wanting to do for a while but just haven't been disciplined enough to do. 

While an occasional, very special and very costly dinner is all well and good, it is the day to day cooking that most interests me.  I'm much more about how one keeps dinners coming night after night, for family and friends who also have opinions about what they like to eat, and keep everyone happy, healthy and well fed.

I don't hate science, but let's just say that with cooking, as with most aspects of my life, I am much more intrigued with art than science.  I don't even like to bake much as it smacks of method and rules. I feel like I should write up a lab report if I try to experiment a little.

I don't like being reigned in by cooking that gives you too many rules.  Maybe this is why in addition to avoiding any real baking, I don't even like to can the jams I make.  I love the creative part of the process - putting together fruits and flavors - but I'm not much for the scientific-feeling follow-through of the actual canning process.   There is too much at stake if I get it wrong.

I wrote, a while back, about chef Sara Jenkins' explanations that although she is proud of what she cooks in her restaurant, it is home cooking that really turns her on. I've eaten in her restaurant and it is what you'd cook at home if you were a trained chef and everyday was Sunday.  However, this is still not molecular gastronomy.

I love Jose Andres' restaurants here in Washington, and as a chef and businessman, he seems never to take a wrong step. He is a leader and yet his food in most of his restaurants is completely accessible. I have even attempted to recreate some of his dishes at home. Yes, he trained with Ferran Adria, one of the fathers of molecular gastronomy, but he saves his edgier preparations for his smaller, experimental restaurants and chef's tables. 

I've long been puzzled by the visceral and vituperative attacks on Rachael Ray in online recipe fora. On food52's "hotline", for example, many participants write diatribes against her brand of corner-cutting home cooking.  I don't really see what's wrong with someone taking the time to help others feel that cooking at home is not as intimidating and time consuming as many think.  Why hate? Don't we want more people cooking at home?

The James Beard awards celebrate the chef, the pinnacle, the cutting edge of cooking, and maybe that's how it should be.  But I am thrilled that Laurie Colwin's little books of wisdom and great home cooking were also honored. 

Hummus, With or Without Preserved Lemons

So much to say today!  First, for any DC people who love to eat and also love to help others, here's a great opportunity to do both simultaneously.  Bring your appetites and your wallets to the lobby of the Washington Post offices at 1150 15th Street, NW, on Thursday, April, 26 from 2 - 6 pm,  where I, along with about 30 other DC area food bloggers, will be holding our local sale for Share our Strength's Great American Bake Sale to end childhood hunger in America.  Share our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign works to surround kids facing hunger with nutritious food where they live, learn and play.  There will be baked goods, both sweet and savory, made by some fabulous local cooks.  Spread the word to your family and friends who work in the area!

Onward!  Recently, I wrote about Sara Jenkins, whose cookbook, Olives and Oranges, I love, and while in NY recently, Maddy and I had a delicious dinner in her East Village restaurant, Porsena. We agreed that her wilted leek appetizer, which was a special that night, was the standout of the evening. We did not have dessert there though, as we headed further east on E. 7th street to the brick and mortar Big Gay Ice Cream Shop. One "Salty Pimp" (a cone filled with vanilla soft serve, dulce de leche, and sea salt and then dipped in chocolate coating) later we rolled ourselves back over to the subway at Astor Place.

We ate a lot of vegetarian meals and even found a local vegetarian and vegan restaurant in Middletown, CT.  We've also been eating many more vegetarian meals at home.  One of Maddy's favorite foods, which she did not even care for until about a year ago, is hummus. 

I've been working on my hummus recipe for a while, experimenting with different chickpea (garbanzo bean) packaging (for you purists, I am sorry to say that I have not used dried, only packaged).  In trying to get away from BPA in cans, I have tried not only canned, but shelf-stable boxed and frozen.  I found these, as well as no salt added canned beans in my local organic market.  So far, I've only seen one brand of organic frozen beans and one brand of boxed, so naturally, they are not cheap.  I hope that as more companies provide BPA free packaging, the prices will come down.  I've also played with preserved lemons in lieu of regular lemon juice so if you have some, here's another way to use them. 

I found that both the frozen beans and the boxed have their uses.  I think that for a nicer presentation, a salad for example, the boxed wins out.  Although the frozen chickpeas did get a little mushier as they thawed, and more of their skins pulled away and required more time to remove, they got pureed in hummus so it didn't matter.  I found that a 17.6 ounce box yielded 9 ounces of chickpeas after draining, while the frozen, which has no liquid, is the full 16 ounces marked on the package.  With so many different brands of cans, the yield will vary, but I am estimating that the contents of the boxed is almost the same as that of a 15 ounce can. 

This is a very loose recipe that you should adapt to your taste.  Consider these amounts suggestions or starting points and taste the hummus after all the ingredients are in.  If it is too thick, it might need more olive oil or lemon juice.  Even a tablespoon or two of warm water.  If it is to bland, a little more tahini, lemon or salt might be in order. 

Many thanks to Maddy for the photo!


Hummus

(makes a bowlful with enough for many to snack or to provide a side dish or light lunch for at least 4)

1 17.6 ounce box or 15 - 19 ounce can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained ( If you can find frozen and would like to use them, use a little more than half of a 16 ounce bag - 9 ounces if you want to weigh them- and thaw before using)

1/2 cup tahini (I have been using fresh tahini from a local Mediterranean market and it is much more delicious than the packaged stuff )

1/3 to 1/2 of a preserved lemon (use more if it's a small one)

2 Tablespoons lemon juice and 2 Tablespoons warm water if you are using preserved lemon (otherwise use 1/4 cup lemon juice)

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon cumin

salt and pepper to taste


Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth.  Taste, obviously avoiding the sharp blade at the bottom of the bowl of the food processor, and add lemon juice, olive oil, salt, etc. as I described in my narrative about the recipe.  I like to drizzle a little olive oil over top and then a sprinkle of ground sumac or paprika.  Enjoy with pita, crackers or vegetables such as carrots, celery or cucumber. 

Life is Funny That Way

It might have seemed strange that after months of blog silence, I filed two posts in quick succession without any explanation. It was just easier to jump back in if I didn't get myself bogged down in explaining why I haven't been posting. I guess I am a chicken and not a real writer, for if I was not so much the former and more of the latter, I'd have shared more of my last four months.

The not-so-terribly interesting reason is that I've not been cooking much new and exciting. The effort and anxiety associated with low-grade chronic pain, medications and visits to various doctors, sapped my creative juices, my focus and my energy. I have been cooking, but mostly old favorites that I could make in my sleep, which it sometimes seems I'm doing.

While I'm fortunate to be free of anything life-threatening, I am, nonetheless, still not myself. However, while I can't control my muscles and nerves, and the unwanted side effects of the various medications I am given, I decided that it is more than time for me to better control my attitude. Not so easy, I find. And so I continue to take a long walk each day, both to remain sane and to increase blood flow at the back of my head, go through the motions of my normal life and try to find my way back to cooking more creatively.

One piece of exciting news that I can report is that Trader Joe's finally signed the Fair Agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers so the boycott is off! I am now officially a Trader Joe's shopper once more. We are now replete with dark chocolate covered almonds!

Just the other day, a beautiful sunny, almost 60 degree day, I remembered it's been too long since Maddy and I made Irish soda bread. So, in light of the upcoming St. Patrick's Day, here is my favorite, very easy and relatively healthy recipe. It's from Merrill Stubbs over at food52 and it has a great consistency and flavor. The only change we make is to add 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar after the other dry ingredients. Serve with a very thin skimming of really great butter, some smoked salmon or your favorite jam. It's also delicious with dry cheeses.

Many thanks to Maddy for spending the afternoon making soda bread with me and for her lovely photos!

Kale and Farro in One Dish - and You'll Love It!

Two of my favorite foods, that are not two of my family's favorite foods, are kale and farro. They do not actively despise either, but neither gets them excited, particularly kale. Kale is usually something that I blend into a dish, often with a little spinach, rather than feature. This dish, however, is one that my kale challenged family can really get behind.

I've been making this for some time, probably since I first purchased Olives & Oranges, a terrific cookbook by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox. Sara Jenkins is a chef in NY and the daughter of well known food writer Nancy Harmon Jenkins. Sara grew up all over the Mediterranean and absorbed the food culture highlighting simple preparations using fresh ingredients. Her recipes are not fussy and chef-y, but rather, homey and comforting with a simple elegance. In fact, in an article in the Atlantic, she bemoans how many people, "foodies" in particular, equate restaurant food with the best food. She asserts that in an effort to make their food taste "exquisite," many chefs overuse butter, salt and stock. She admits that in her restaurant, she does this too, but then says "as proud as I am of the food I put out professionally, I know the best food of mine you can ever eat is what I serve you at my home table."

This recipe is most definitely home cooking. Apart from sourcing farro which I now find in most stores, there is nothing remotely exotic about this recipe. Put a fried or poached egg on top and serve with some fabulous bread and you will have a delicious dinner that is both easy to prepare and filled with healthy vegetables and whole grains. And, please don't leave off the egg. Once you cut into the yolk, the creamy golden goodness oozes out into the soup and makes a richer, and more flavorful sauce to sop up.


Just make sure you buy semi pearled or in Italian, demi-perlato so that the cook time is correct. I've written about farro quite a bit over the years, but anyone new to this blog, check out my first farro post if you'd like some background.

This recipe is so straightforward and elegantly simple as written, that there is little I do to change it. I'm giving it to you as written, with the permission of the publisher. One little change I make is that I rarely put the vegetables into the food processor. I almost always just dice more finely than coarsely and use them as is. Saves a step and saves on clean up.


In the headnote, the authors suggest that a Tuscan farmwife might add a little prosciutto to the onion mix or a a little diced potato in with the farro. I do neither (without the prosciutto this is a vegetarian dish) but I have been known to add some already cooked (or canned, drained and rinsed) cannellini beans to the dish.


Farro and Kale Soup Recipe excerpted from OLIVES AND ORANGES, (c) 2008 by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

(The authors say this makes 8 servings. In my experience, this might serve 8 as a starter but more like 4 -5 as a hearty dinner)

1 leek, white and light green parts only

2 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

1 large carrot, coarsely chopped

1 small onion, coarsely chopped

1 garlic clove

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Medium coarse sea salt

6 cups water

2 teaspoons tomato paste, preferable double concentrate (look for the kind in the tube)

1 1/2 cups farro

3 bunches lacinato kale, stemmed and chopped into 1/2 inch wide strips (my note: this is also called Tuscan kale. When I buy this in the supermarket the bunches are so huge that I only use 1 or 2! Also, stemmed just means to cut out the stems.)

Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese for serving

Coarsely ground black pepper

-Cut leek lengthwise in half and rinse well; coarsely chop. Pulse leek, celery, carrot, onion, and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped.

-Heat oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add chopped vegetables and a generous pinch of salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables start to soften, about 4 minutes. Add 1 cup water and tomato paste, and stir to dissolve paste. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid has almost evaporated, about 20 minutes.

-Add remaining 5 cups water, farro, and kale, and bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until faro and kale are tender and flavors have blended, 20 to 25 minutes. Season to taste with salt.

-Serve with a drizzle of olive oil, a little grated cheese, and a sprinkle of coarse salt and pepper.

Mardi Maigre?

For some of us, Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is not what we really need, healthwise. That's why I came up with my slightly healthier version of a New Orleans favorite, Jambalaya. I'm turning Mardi Gras into Mardi Maigre. This version cuts back on the fat, uses brown rice and tastes quite as good as the authentic version. It's even been vetted by a New Orleans native with whom I correspond on food52 and was recently declared a Wildcard winner by the powers that be at food52!

Here's the link to my post last year this time for Jambalaya-ish, and here is the link to that same recipe, with comments and Wildcard winner banner, on food52.

For those of you not as fortunate as my sister-in-law and son who will be in New Orleans to partake in some local cooking, give this one a try! Laissez les bons temps rouler!

I have Nothing For You but a Reminder

It's been about six weeks since I last wrote and though time generally flies, this time has not. I had a busy week or two at the end of August after my mother fell during a blackout caused by Hurricane Irene. She is OK now and comfortably resettled in a new place with many more eyes on her, hands able to help her and activities that she both enjoys and that stimulate her.

It's the period after that that really rankles. I feel like I fell into a haze of dizziness, medication and headaches that has lasted for over a month now. What began as a viral inner ear condition causing dizziness, turned into weeks of headaches which are only now starting to be under control. At least I can drive some, and sit at the computer without seeing cross eyed. I still feel like there's an alien living in my head some of the day (and night) and by 9 pm I'm exhausted.

I think I've turned a corner, because after weeks of just-get-it-on-the-table dinners, I made a favorite from food52 last night, alongside some roasted local rockfish and some pasta for my non-fish eating daughter. This morning I slow roasted some tomatoes to freeze for the winter and roasted a piece of salmon to use tomorrow in some easy salmon cakes. To top it all off, I even broke out the wok and used up some vegetable odds and ends and some leftover rice and actually made myself some fried rice for lunch!

So, instead of further whining and complaining that I have no new recipe for you yet (I hope to get to that point soon:)), I'd like to remind you of a terrific recipe I linked to last year at this time. These are great cookies, easy to make and not too terrible on the health scale for a cookie that is truly a treat. Head over to Coconut and Lime to check out these pumpkin oat chocolate chip cookies! You can also read my post from last year on these cookies here. Just a thought - I use white whole wheat flour to great effect in these.

Happy Halloween!

Chiles and More Chiles

We just returned from a trip to New Mexico where we ate chiles everyday, often at every meal. Green chiles, red chiles and sometimes, a ladle of the sauce of each, side by side, which is known there as "Christmas." We enjoyed a string of casual, local meals including huevos rancheros, enchiladas, chile rellenos, and burritos, punctuated by sides including posole, polenta, and blue corn muffins. We feasted on carne adovada, blue corn and pinon pancakes, migas, and blue corn muffins.


In Chimayo, a town along the High Road to Taos, we bought some local chile powder after visiting the Santuario. I'd been to Chimayo 21 years ago, and though there are many more people coming through now, Vigil store is still there selling chiles. I bought some ground, sun dried red chile powder and some ground green chiles as well. We were days too early for the fresh New Mexico chiles, though they seem to be becoming available as I'm writing. They also sell local pinons, but there were also none to be had yet, as harvest is still a couple of months away, and there were virtually none last year.



It's funny, I took the same picture of Vigil Store 21 years ago!

.


Many thanks to Maddy for her lovely photos!

I used some of my red chile powder to make this chorizo. Don't get scared off - this is no more complicated than making meatballs! No need to stuff the meat into a sausage casing as Mexican (or New Mexican, in this case) is often used outside of the casing anyway. This style of chorizo is not cured and dried like the Spanish type of chorizo. It's left raw until cooked for your recipe.

I used most of this batch in this delicious recipe of Pati Jinich's, and then used the rest for a New Mexico style breakfast of scrambled eggs with green chiles and chorizo.

I'm also thinking that this would be great using ground chicken if you don't eat pork. I will try it soon and report back. I use pork from locally raised, grass fed pigs so I'm not sure there's much fat differential between the two meats.

Also, please notice that there is virtually no salt in this recipe and you will not miss it!

New Mexican Style Chorizo

(with thanks to Mrs. Wheelbarrow, and several New Mexican cookbooks)

1.5 pounds pork shoulder, coarsely ground (you can ask your butcher to do this for you - Whole Foods' in-house ground pork is shoulder meat - or you can grind it yourself if you are so inclined. If you'd like to grind the pork shoulder yourself, I recommend checking out Mrs. Wheelbarrow's advice)

1 small white onion, minced

1 fat garlic clove, minced

2 Tablespoons New Mexico ground red chile (I know that most of you do not have this, so sub 1 Tablespoon sweet smoked paprika and 1 Tablespoon hot smoked paprika. Do not use commercial chili powder!)

3/4 teaspoon cumin seed (or sub 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin)

1 Mexican cinnamon stick (or sub 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 whole cloves ( or sub two pinches of ground clove)

10 whole black peppercorns (or sub a few grinds of fresh black pepper)

pinch or two of salt

1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 - 4 Tablespoons water, as needed


1. If you are using the whole spices, not ground, toast the cinnamon stick, cumin seed, cloves and peppercorns in a dry pan over medium heat. Shake the pan frequently until you can smell the spices, about 2 or 3 minutes. Don't walk away - you don't want them to burn!

2. If using the whole spices, grind the spices in a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle.

3. In a bowl mix the spices with the meat and add a pinch of salt, the oregano and the vinegar. Mix using a large spoon or your hands until everything is well combined. If it feels very dry, add the water a little at a time.

4. Heat up a skillet and make a tiny little meatball out of your mix. Cook it until cooked through so that you can taste for spice. If it is not as spicy as you like, add a pinch or two of cayenne or some more hot paprika.

5. Keep refrigerated for one day for flavors to build, but use within the next day or so. You can freeze the chorizo for a month or so as well.

Loss and Cooking and Peanut Butter Pie

I don't really know Jennifer Perillo, though I met her briefly during Eat, Write Retreat, and there heard her speak from the heart about blogging. But, I feel I know her much more intimately than that limited contact, as I've read her blog for years and she's a person who shares herself on her blog, much more than I tend to do. I've made her recipes (she cooks everything from scratch) and I've read her posts about her family: her challenging relationship with her now deceased father, her two sweet little girls, and her husband, Mikey, and how his love has helped heal her childhood wounds.

I feel all the more involved in her life since Monday morning when I learned via Twitter, that her husband had died the night before, of a sudden heart attack. It was, as she put it on Twitter, a "sucker punch." I felt for her, for the loss of the man who helped her so, whom she loved so deeply and with whom she had every expectation of spending the next 30 or 40 years.

I haven't inserted my story into any notes that I've sent her or posted on food52 or Twitter as this is her pain and it's not about me. I don't presume to know how she feels as everyone's grief is different and every unique person handles grief differently. And I haven't lost a husband, in my thirties, with two little girls who've lost their very special dad. What I do know is the kick-in-the-gut shock of an unexpected loss that changes your life. Sitting on a kitchen stool eating lunch on a sunny afternoon, still in the no longer sweaty exercise clothes from earlier in the morning, when a phone call comes and it's like the Towers fell right in your house. Worrying how other loved ones will react, cope, worrying how your children will react.

And Jennie's loss brought me right back there, to a place I remember with a physicality that surprised me. The teary eyes, the constant weight on the chest, the effort it requires to take each breath. And yet, amid her grief, Jennie paused to write on her blog, a tribute to her husband and a regret that she had not yet had time to make his favorite, peanut butter cream pie. She asked that others make this pie today, Friday, the day of his memorial service, in support of her and her girls, and as a symbolic gesture of carpe diem love and appreciation for loved ones.

Though I didn't make that pie, I did cook for my family, as I do each day, with the same love and as mindfully as I ever have. Hundreds of other bloggers made, photographed and blogged about that pie. There are links to posts on CNN, food52, Food Network and all over Twitter and Facebook. Jennie's post was a reminder to show our love and live fully every day, the blogging community has shown that it heard her and that for most of us, we show our love through sharing our food.

How Jennie was able to write, let alone think up such a lovely tribute to her husband and a reflection of her love is astonishing and a testament to her strength. I can only thank her for her most meaningful message and hope that this community outpouring helps buoy her through this time.