Kitchen3N

Recipes and food fun from Apt 3N

Citrus Quinoa Salad With Dates, Almonds, and Mint

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Ramadan is coming up! I figured I should add a few more Ramadan friendly recipes to the blog, for those of us who are looking to depart a bit from the usual fried foods iftars. During these long summer days when we’re denying ourselves food and liquid for 15 hours straight, we need to treat our bodies well! This is a dish you can feel good about eating, that’s not going to make you crash before the long night of ibadah (prayers) you have lined up.

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This recipe is based on one from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table. I know a quinoa salad is not the first thing you think of when you consider French cuisine, but she’s filled her cookbook with things she makes for her family, without strictly adhering to a particular cuisine. In our hyperconnected world, it’s kind of impossible to resist influences from other regions. She’s got a Moroccan Tagine and carrot salad, small plates from her American upbringing, French pastries and traditional stews from her current residence. And she’s kind of an authority when it comes to food so I trust her with my quinoa!

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I’ve taken a lot of liberties with her recipe though. First was to change the prep method for the quinoa. For some reason the package directions always tell you to cook it covered over low heat for about 15 minutes. That always gave me soggy quinoa. My way gives perfectly cooked and fluffy quinoa every time. Second, I nixed the ginger powder for cinnamon since I hate ginger and thought cinnamon would compliment the citrus. Third, I increased the fruit to nut ratio for my sugar loving palette. She suggests using any kind of dried fruits, nuts and herbs. I combined the dried fruits, nuts and herbs I thought would work best (dates, almonds and mint). You could also do raisins, pine nut and parsley. Or apricot, walnut and cilantro. It’s a vibrant, tasty way to prepare your quinoa that uses up the plethora of dates we often have lying around during Ramadan.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups quinoa
  • 1 cup medjool dates, pitted and diced small (about 7 dates)
  • 1/2 cup slivered almonds
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
  • salt and pepper
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • juice of 1 orange
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (recommended: Trader Joe’s California Estate EVOO)

Directions

  1. In a small saucepan, bring 3 cups of water to boil. Add quinoa and lower the heat to medium low. Cook for 12 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally. After the 12 min are up, turn off the heat and put the lid on. Let steam for 3 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Set aside.
  2. Toast the almonds on a dry skillet over medium heat. Stir occasionally. When the nuts are light brown and fragrant, take off the heat and let cool.
  3. Chop the mint and combine with the dates and nuts in a large bowl.
  4. Make the vinaigrette: combine the orange juice, lemon juice, cinnamon, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and olive oil in a jar. Put the lid on and shake vigorously.
  5. Add the quinoa and vinaigrette to the large bowl. Combine everything and taste for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper as needed.

Creamy Less Cheesy Mac and Cheese

IMG_5206Anyone else find themselves questioning their life choices? First world problems, right? I’ve got a roof over my head, food to eat, a wonderful family – so much to be grateful for. But I’m feeling sorry for myself because I haven’t “made it” yet or didn’t pursue one of the more conventional paths of engineering, medicine, or law (not that I have a litigating bone in my body). Of course this comes at a time when most of my high school and college classmates are receiving their secondary degrees and the grass is looking greener on the other side. But I’ve been trying to embody the saying I’ve read recently, “The grass is greener where you water it”. I love my family and would be so empty without them. But I need to reach my professional goals as well. Would love to grow this blog or my little side hustle (custom cakes) but I feel like I’m lacking some guidance. Is it my content? My outreach? Help me out, guys!! Granted I have two little ones, one who is isn’t in school yet, so my resources are limited.   IMG_5195Speaking of little ones, for years I lamented that despite my efforts to make mac and cheese from scratch, my kids preferred the stuff from the blue box. Relieved, since dinner could be ready in a snap if I had the blue box on hand. Affronted, as well. So I sought a solution. The problem was the traditional mac and cheese recipes I followed were quite cheesy. Resulting in a strongly flavored and thick sauce.IMG_5196So, I thought I’d make a bechamel sauce, add in a little bit of cheese at a time until it had just enough thickness and was mildly flavored enough for my kiddos, and voila! I made something that my 3 1/2 year old would lick clean off the plate.   IMG_5199This comes together so quickly, you’ll be like, blue box, who? Granted you have pre-shredded cheese. I use the Trader Joe’s blend of mozzarella, cheddar and jack cheese. It’s wonderful in omelettes, grilled cheese, etc. IMG_5200Throw in some frozen peas with the pasta during the last minute of cooking to make it a complete meal. Or shredded beef/chicken. The sky’s the limit. I just keep the chicken broth on hand in case it gets too thick. IMG_5205  IMG_5215Make this once and you’ll never go back to Panera’s mac and cheese! Feel free to double the recipe if you have more mouths to feed!

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp all purpose flour
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup grated cheese (cheddar or I use a combo of mozzarella, cheddar and pepper jack)
  • 3/4 tsp salt plus more to taste
  • dash black pepper
  • dash cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 pound elbows or small shell pasta

Directions

  1. In a medium to large pot, heat about 4 quarts of water over high heat. Let it come to a boil while you prepare the other ingredients.
  2. When it comes to a boil, add a teaspoon of salt and the pasta to the water. Give it a stir and set the timer to 8 minutes (check the time on the box for shells since I used elbows).
  3. Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk together. Allow to cook for 1-2 minutes. Next, slowly pour in the milk, while whisking. Continue whisking, taking care to get all the bits of flour and butter from the bottom of the pan. Lower the heat to a simmer a let cook for 5 minutes. It won’t thicken fully at this point. Make sure the mixture is not boiling otherwise the cheese will curdle*. Turn off the heat (and the heat of the pasta if the timer is up). Add salt and pepper and stir to combine.** Add cheese and stir – now the sauce should be sufficiently thick to coat the pasta.
  4. Strain pasta and add it to the cheese sauce. Serve immediately.***

*I learned this the hard way after ruining two batches during our suite’s Thanksgiving potluck in college.

**Congratulations, you’ve just made bechamel sauce!

***To reheat, add a bit of chicken broth to a saucepan and warm over medium low heat until heated through.

Mustard and Chili Mashed Potatoes and a Giveaway!

IMG_4482There’s a lot going on in today’s post. IMG_4449Firstly, we’re talking vegetable peelers and a giveaway! My good friend’s husband has started a company selling premium kitchen products, with their first being this awesome curved Japanese blade vegetable peeler! Using mine was a breeze – the sharp blade made for smooth cuts and the design definitely required less pressure from the hand doing the peeling. The sprout remover on either side helped get those little “eyes” out. I tackled these buds in no time. I will say, though, if you are used to the vertical peelers, it may take some getting used to. But as with any sharp edge, take care to curl the fingers of your supporting hand away while using!IMG_4453Because this is such a great product and think you guys would love it, too, we are giving one away! To enter, simply comment on my FB page responding to this question: What’s the first thing you would use ChefBasix Vegetable Peeler for? Good luck!IMG_4448IMG_4454IMG_4459Secondly, we’re talking about ghee – clarified butter that South Asians use to cook (some dishes) with. It doesn’t have the milk solids of butter, so it has a higher burning temperature. This picture shows how it happens. After melting the butter over low heat, you keep it on until it attains this golden color, not the amber color you would look for while making browned butter. We are just looking for the milk solids in the butter to toast up to give the ghee a nice nutty flavor. You don’t want to get to that light brown stage, otherwise you will lose too much moisture. Once you’ve gotten the right color, take it off the heat. You can let it cool in the pot, but I poured it into this bowl to show you what was going on. The milk solids sink to the bottom so you only spoon off the fluid on top. Left to cool long enough it will congeal and resemble the store bought ghee. This last step is not totally necessary in today’s dish, as we are not cooking with the ghee. It’s more for aesthetic purposes so you don’t have bits of brown running through the mashed potatoes (don’t toss it, though! spoon it over toast for a snack!).   IMG_4460 IMG_4465Finally, we are talking about aloo bhorta (mashed potatoes)! It seems like potatoes are a universal comfort food. When coming back from a family trip, or on days when we were low on groceries, dinner looked like this: steamed rice, aloo bhorta, an omelette and daal. South Asian immigrant parents have an almost militant attitude toward eating out. Take out was a non-existent concept. As newcomers, our parents had to reign with frugality. Though we were brats about it and whined about wanting pizza or burgers, our parents did the hard work of making every single meal from scratch. The aloo bhorta and omelette were studded with pieces of raw onion and slivers of green chilis. Most of my time during those meals were spent picking out the aforementioned bits to get to the good stuff. I was never a part of the set-my-mouth-ablaze-to-enjoy-my-meal set. IMG_4466So now, since I’m in charge of my kitchen, I’ve started to substitute scallion for the raw onion and dried red chili for the fruity spice of the green chili (or Thai chili as it’s known to some). The dried red chili still has some heat – just not as explosive as its green counterpart.

Traditionally, the potatoes are mixed by hand with mustard oil, salt, the onions and chilis. Individuals will later add as much or as little ghee atop the potatoes as they like to their portion. However, my many years of making and eating American style mashed potatoes would not allow me to serve a butter-barren bowl of spuds. It just needs the silkiness that butter imparts! IMG_4470Definitely mix by hands to achieve the full effect. I wore gloves, though, to protect my eczema prone hands from the heat. Though these are mustard and chili mashed potatoes, the mustard that’s used is in the form of oil, rather than the paste. I’ve never made it with the paste, but if you have trouble locating mustard oil, definitely feel free to use the powder or paste (starting with a 1/2 tsp and working your way up).

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs Russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 2 1/2 tbsps mustard oil
  • 1 tsp salt (plus more to taste)
  • 3 scallions, sliced thinly
  • 2 dried chilis (3 if you like it HOT)

Directions

  1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Carefully lower the potatoes in and let cook for about 20 minutes. Drain in a colander and set aside.
  2. While the potatoes cook, add the butter to a small saucepan and cook over low heat until melted and the butter becomes golden and fragrant. Turn off the heat and let cool.
  3. In a dry non stick skillet or cast iron skillet, toast the chilis over medium high heat for 2-3 minutes. You should see the oil on the surface and the aroma emerge. Set aside.
  4. Add the cooked potatoes to a large bowl. Season with mustard oil and salt. Mash together with a potato masher. Add the scallions, chilis, and 4 tbsps of the clarified butter. Mix by hand, using your fingertips to break apart the chilis, until everything is uniformly distributed. Taste to see if the seasoning is just right. Serve with an extra dollop of the clarified butter.

Strawberry Rhubarb Hand Pies

IMG_4519I gave into peer pressure, guys. When the first ramps popped up in my instagram feed, I rushed to the Union Square Green Market to pick some up. Not too long after, I picked up some rhubarb without much idea about what I was going to do with it. I am all about eating seasonal foods, local, humane, natural, sustainable, etc. But sometimes the thing that’s in season isn’t exactly worth all the hype. Ramps are great and all. If you are less familiar with them, they are a green leafy vegetable available for a few short weeks in spring. They are sold leaves, stalk, bulb and all and have a lovely mild onion flavor. I loved them first time I used them, as a topping on my homemade pizza. More recently, I chopped them up and stewed them with some tomatoes. I even bought a ramp pesto that works wonders on a tomato mozzarella panino.

IMG_4486But I thought part of the point of seasonal foods was that they would be a bit more affordable? Because of their limited availability these items can be incredibly marked up. I vow for next year (and for later on this year), to wait until the end of a crop’s season to buy them. After the hype dies down, so does the price. And that, my friends, is how I internalize Supply and Demand (take that AP Microeconomics). IMG_4488I’m not posting an original recipe here today. I worked off a Smitten Kitchen recipe and am sharing my experience as a novice in hand pie assembly. This is after all a Web-Log. I am logging my forays into new foods and techniques.  IMG_4489Observation 1: Mamma mia that’s a lot of butter. 3 sticks. That’s an amount usually reserved for Ina’s Pecan Bars or the frosting for a 2 layer cake.

Observation 2: It was a pleasant salty, tangy, sweet and savory flavor experience. I thought the tartness of the rhubarb would be off-putting, but it worked well with the buttery-ness of the crust. I am so used to inundating my tart fruits with sugar (see Lemon Yogurt Cake) that my aging palette appreciated the change of pace. I actually misread the recipe and used 1/4 cup sugar for the filling as opposed to 1/3 cup. Oops. I did, however, intentionally add 1/4 tsp of salt. I ALWAYS need plenty of salt on my tangy fruits.

Observation 3: Make sure you have a good stainless steel saucepan to make this compote in. You have to leave it in the pot for 15 minutes, covered, so it is essential that it doesn’t stick to the sides or bottom. Do not try this on your Mother’s or Mother In Law’s 100 year old Imusa pot. Next time I might try it with black pepper or balsamic vinegar added to the fruit compote. Mmmm….IMG_4490IMG_4511I got to use my pastry blender for the first time. Or as my kids like to call it, The Monster. I had to resort to my salad bowl for mixing. You need a nice, big, wide bowl to work the dough in.  IMG_4514Although I regretted not making this with store bought pie dough (because of the million other things I had to do that in preparation for our weekend beach getaway), I can comfort myself by saying that a store bought pie dough would not have been made special with buttermilk and grapefruit zest. Small comforts when you’ve got fried chicken grease splattered all over your kitchen, a cold dough to work until flat, and a suitcase that just won’t pack itself!IMG_4516Pardon my cutting board’s appearance. It’s close to retirement.IMG_4517I think I should have gotten them thinner than I did. The directions were to roll to 1/8 of an inch but this was the best I could do. Is it ghetto to roll out your dough on a cutting board rather than the counter? I don’t trust myself to clean the counter well enough to roll out dough onto it. Maybe it’s a desi thing. And given my limited counter space, I wouldn’t gain a whole lot by nixing the board. IMG_4524Directions also stated a cooking time of 15 to 20 minutes. I needed to go a bit beyond the the 20 to ensure a nice golden color on my hand pies. IMG_4529Enjoy the season, folks, and all that it has to offer (but maybe wait a week or two ;)).

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

Ingredients

  • 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp grated orange or grapefruit zest
  • 1 1/2 tbsps granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) cold, unsalted butter
  • 1 cup cold buttermilk
  • 3 cups chopped rhubarb and strawberries (I used two cups rhubarb, one cup strawberries. Cut off the leaves and any tough parts of the rhubarb)
  • 1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar (depending on how sweet your strawberries are, but if you’re using all rhubarb, go with 1/3 cup)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 egg

Directions

  1. Make the dough: mix the flour, citrus zest, sugar and salt in a large bowl with a whisk. Add the butter and work with a pastry blender, fork or your fingers until you have pea sized bits of flour encrusted butter running throughout. Then, slowly add the buttermilk and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon to incorporate. When all the buttermilk has been added, knead a few times with your hand to get it in the shape of the ball. Divide the ball in four and flatten each into a disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and stick them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
  2. Make the filling: combine the fruit, sugar, and salt in a medium to large stainless steel saucepan. Turn on the heat to medium low, cover and cook for 15 minutes. You don’t need to stir during this time. Enough liquid emerges from the fruit to self baste. After the 15 minutes are up, uncover and cook for an additional 15 minutes at medium low. Stir occasionally to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom, particularly towards the end. After these 15 minutes are up, pour onto a plate to let cool.
  3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Generously flour your surface and rolling pin. Roll out one of the disks until 1/8 of an inch thick. Do this with a swift back and forth motion, rotate the dough 45 degrees, then repeat until it is sufficiently thin. Take your time with this, young Jedi. Trim off the edges with a pizza cutter or sharp knife and cut to make 4 squares or rectangles. In a small bowl, beat the egg with a dash of water. Brush two of the squares with the egg wash. These will be the bottoms (hehe). Spoon a teaspoon of the cooled fruit compote onto the two squares. Place the adjacent squares a top the squares with filling, pulling a bit to ensure the edges line up. Crimp the edges with a fork. Brush the top with egg wash and cut a slit to let the steam out while they are in the oven. Place the two completed hand pies on a baking sheet and sprinkle the tops generously with sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes. While those bake, work on rolling out the next quarter of dough and assemble the next two hand pies in the same fashion. I alternated by sticking the second batch in the oven as soon as it was ready and calculating the extra time required when the first timer went off, but it really browns best when there’s only one baking sheet in the oven at a time. Continue with the rest of the dough. Let cool a few minutes before moving onto a wire rack for complete cooling.

Over the Muffin Top Blueberry Muffins

IMG_3893 I wasn’t planning on posting anything anytime soon. I’ve been swamped with work and caught in a whirlwind of Pre-K applications. If some of you have read my previous posts, you know I had been planning on homeschooling my kids. I felt I could provide them with a much more tailored education than could be provided at a public school – supplementing my kids’ homeschooling with extracurricular activities like soccer or dance classes, for the socialization, discipline, and physical outlet.

IMG_3889  But the extracurricular activities aren’t exactly panning out. My kids (ages 4 and almost 3) have such intense stranger/separation anxiety that they don’t want to participate. That’s not the only thing. As parenting young children evolves, it goes from becoming a physically demanding endeavor to an emotionally taxing one. As my days are less and less filled with diaper changes, bottle prep, washing, rocking to sleep, etc. those pockets of time are increasingly filled with

  • negotiations – how many times can you re-wear the same old tutu? when IS bedtime really?
  • refereeing – who deserves that toy? how do you ask patience of an almost 3 year old when you are running out of it?
  • cleaning up spilled milk/juice/paint – i literally cry over spilled milk

IMG_3897 So, we’ve made the decision to enroll our daughter in Pre-K, and my son, when he is ready, next year, God willing. I think it will be good for me – and by extension, the kids. I’ve found in my conversations with other moms (full time workers, part time workers, and stay at home homeschooling mothers) that mothers who work part time have the best of both worlds. They have an outlet in the form of work – using their intellect, getting tangible rewards, conversing with other adults, etc. Plus, they get to spend a good amount of time with their kids afterschool or whenever. There are obviously exceptions to this. I can’t imagine my previous boss allocating any less time from her profession, or rather, her mission in life, to anything else. On the other end of the spectrum I’ve seen some homeschooling moms who just have it together and are getting it done!  IMG_3900 But until my baby girl starts her long, arduous journey of education, she will continue helping me out in the kitchen. Somehow both kids helped with making these (from sifting the dry ingredients, to scooping batter) and despite it all – they came out decent looking! These started off with good intentions – part whole wheat flour, part almond flour. But ended up getting a sprinkling of butter/brown sugar/cinnamon that – you guessed it – sent them over the muffin top. It’s got that nice sugary crust that bakery style muffins have. Everyone is crazy about brown butter these days and I am, too. But not so much browning butter, then adding it to the batter. I like when the food cooks in the butter (pancakes, toast, you name it), so that the browning happens at the surface, where it can impart a crunch when possible and elevate the whole flavor profile of said food.

Try these crunchy, nutty, fruity, delicious muffins. Recipe adapted from Food.com.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup almond meal (if you don’t have this, then you can use all purpose flour, but it won’t be the same!)
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • zest from 1 lemon
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • half pint of blueberries
  • 1/4 cup butter, diced
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line muffin pan with 18 muffin liners.
  2. Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda together in a bow. Add the whole wheat flour, almond meal, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Stir with a whisk (if you try to sift the latter 4 ingredients, I’ve found that it just doesn’t pass through the mesh).
  3. In a separate large measuring cup or bowl, combine eggs, buttermilk and vegetable oil. Beat with a fork or whisk until well combined. Add to the dry ingredients, incorporating everything slowly. Take care not to over mix as that will toughen your muffins. Add the blueberries and carefully fold into the batter (you don’t want to mush the berries!).
  4. Using an ice cream scoop, evenly distribute the batter among the muffin pans. In a separate bowl, combine diced butter, brown sugar and cinnamon with your fingers. Dot the tops of each muffin with the butter/brown sugar mixture and bake for 20-30 minutes in preheated oven.

Fettucine with Mushrooms and Leeks

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I have been using a dastardly amount of heavy cream in everything. Coffee – splash of cream. Pie – whipped cream. Fruit – sweetened AND whipped cream. Pasta – cup o’ cream.

I have a officially regressed from my diet of quinoa salads, eggs, oatmeal, and fruits/veggies. Size 2 – it was nice knowing you!

IMG_3652 But let’s talk about the shrooms here. People can get downright militant when it comes to mushrooms: Don’t wash them!! Don’t crowd the pan!! Don’t season them too early!! All advice I’ve taken to heart many a time. And as much as I love properly sautéed mushrooms with bits of brown butter speckling the surface and all the right caramelization in all the right places, these mushrooms fare perfectly fine all in one pan, with leeks and all!   IMG_3654  And not just “fine”. How can I explain to you how well mushrooms and leeks pair without going into a series of clichéd analogies? Let’s try some non-clichés. Mushrooms are to leeks as

Going off on a tangent here. Reign it in, Naureen. Reign it in.

IMG_3660 What is key here is to not skimp on the black pepper. Of course the pasta itself, the mushrooms and leeks have to be properly season. But reminiscent of the classical Roman dish, Cacio e Pepe, the flavors of this dish shine with a balanced contribution of Parmigiano Reggiano and Parsley, but with much stronger addition of ground black pepper. This coming from a girl who HATED black pepper growing up. Oh, how we change!

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 leeks, rinsed and sliced (if you don’t have leeks, you can use half a yellow onion, diced, but try to add green onions or chives at the end for that verdant, mild onion flavor)
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1/2 lb cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, cleaned with a damp paper towel and sliced
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup of heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat leaf Italian parsley
  • 1 lb fettucine

Directions

  1. In a large pot, heat 4 to 6 quarts of water over high heat.
  2. While the water is coming to a boil, prep your veggies. When veggies are cleaned, sliced, and ready, heat oil in a large sauté pan or wok over medium high heat. Add the leeks and cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes.
  3. By this point, the water should have come to a boil. Add salt, and a drizzle of oil (fettucine tends to stick together!) and let cook for 12 to 13 minutes (follow the instructions on the box. Barilla is my pasta of choice.)
  4. Back to the pan: move the leeks off to the sides and add the mushrooms to the center of your pan (or wherever the hot spot is on your burner). Add garlic, salt and pepper (start out with 1/2 tsp each at first). Sauté with the leeks until cooked down and moisture has evaporated, about 10 minutes. Moderate the heat so the veggies don’t burn. Add cream and let cook for 1-2 minutes. Then add cooked pasta, using tongs to transfer from the pot to the pan. Toss well. Add grated Parmigiano and parsley and combine well. Add up to 1 cup of the pasta cooking water if it’s looking too dry (start out with 1/2 cup). Check for seasoning.
  5. Serve with an extra grating of Parmigiano and black pepper.

Mughlai Paratha

IMG_2977Mughlai paratha is a traditional flatbread they serve in Bangladesh. It’s a rich dough, stuffed with eggs, cilantro, onions, chili peppers and sometimes ground chicken. It’s pretty hard to track down a recipe. This post is a culmination of verbal consultation with my mother, taste testing at Bengali fast food joints, and YouTube research. It’s a little bit ridiculous, I know, because it’s not exactly a 30 minute meal. There are several steps, practice and patience required. But I figured with the upcoming holiday weekend, we all might have some extra time to get in the kitchen (it’s cold outside!), roll up our sleeves, and maybe even involve the kiddies (my little ones LOVE getting their hands on the rolling pin and dough whenever they can). Also, there will no doubt be lots of leftovers that would work perfectly as a filling for these guys. IMG_2957This baby has been in the pipeline for a looooooong time. I’ve been meaning to make it for ages. I’ve been experimenting recently, since I’ve been getting to know my rolling pin a bit better (hello, pie season). I’ve tried making it with pizza dough (which was delicious but resembled more of a calzone than a traditional mughlai paratha) and all kinds of ghee to flour ratios and cooking techniques (shallow fry, deep fry). And this is the glorious, delicious result! IMG_2958 Yes, that is my Fresh Tinted Lip Balm on my kitchen counter. Where else would it be? IMG_2968 I would love to add more filling. It would make the paratha even more delicious. But I err on the side of less filling just to avoid leakage and it running all over the pan. You, though, are at liberty to experiment with as much filling as you’d like!IMG_2969For those of you who aren’t familiar with ghee, it’s delicious. It’s butter that’s been melted, milk solids removed. You do that by melting a stick (or two) of butter in a small saucepan, allowing the solids to drop to the bottom, then utilizing the melted fat on top. It’s slightly nutty and has a higher burning temperature than regular butter, which is what makes it so great for this recipe (among others: pancakes, mashed potatoes, and so on). So I hope you guys give this recipe a try! And don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t come out super thin the first time. Practice makes perfect!

P.S. I utilized the leftovers from my last Roast Chicken.

P.P.S. How great is this manicure? It’s not gel and it still looks great 1 week later! Check out Primp and Polish at their pop up shop on Crosby street, right next to Bloomingdales.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 tbsps ghee (that’s clarified butter – preferable) or oil plus more for the pan
  • 2 tsps salt
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 small red onion, diced
  • 1 green chili or jalapeno, minced (or more if you can handle the heat)
  • a handful of cilantro or parsley, minced (cilantro is preferable)
  • 3/4 cup chicken or 1 chicken breast, diced
  • a pinch of salt

Directions

  1. In a large bowl or stand mixer, combine both flours, ghee or oil, salt and water. Combine with hands or with paddle attachment at low speed until combined. If it looks wet, don’t worry. You’ll be adding more flour when rolling it out. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest while you prepare the other ingredients (20 minutes to 2 hours).
  2. Whisk eggs, onion, green chili or jalapeno, cilantro and chicken together in a separate bowl.
  3. Sprinkle a handful of flour onto a clean surface for rolling out the dough. Grab a handful (baseball size) and roll it around in the flour. Pat with your hand to flatten to a disk. Grab  your rolling pin and aggressively roll back and forth a couple of times. Rotate 90 degrees and repeat. Do this about two more times. Then, get it really, really thin by rolling outwards on all sides. You’re supposed to get it to look like a rectangle but I am hopeless. Thin and oblong is good enough for me!
  4. Warm a tsp of ghee or oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add two tablespoons of the chicken/egg mixture on top of the paratha. Pull the far side towards you, covering the filling halfway. Pull the bottom side up to meet and slightly overlap the first side, like an envelope. Fold over the right and left sides. Ensure the paratha is sealed. Place in hot skillet. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, adjusting the heat as necessary. Increase cooking time if your paratha is not as thin as it should be.
  5. Serve with a salad, pico de gallo or Sriracha.

 

Homemade Ricotta (and a lasagna, too!)

IMG_2763Why on earth would you make your own ricotta? Because it’s delicious that’s why! Also, for these reasons:

  • Unlike homemade chicken stock, you don’t need 98765432 ingredients. You need 4.
  • It doesn’t take 3.5 hours. It takes 0.5 (and you don’t even have to stand watch over it for the majority of that time).
  • You don’t need any special ingredients/equipment (screw cheesecloth! I used a papertowel!)
  • It is awesome over toast (or fruit) with a drizzle of honey and slivered almonds (that is, unless almonds trigger your eczema). Breakfast all week!IMG_2739 Use it to kick your lasagna up a notch! The recipe I’ve used all these years advised defrosting frozen spinach, mixing it with some ricotta, eggs, and seasonings and adding it as a single layer. It was my least favorite layer.  IMG_2743So, this time, I heated up minced garlic and oil in a saucepan/wok. I cooked the spinach in it, seasoned it with salt, pepper and nutmeg, then added it to my homemade ricotta, decreasing the ricotta to spinach ratio quite a bit. No egg. It was divine.  IMG_2747 I didn’t think this process through very thoroughly. I boiled all the lasagna sheets. I just kept adding layers while I had stuffing/noodles. The top layer didn’t receive its due (read: I ran out of sauce). I’m sorry top layer. I still loved your nutty, cheesy contribution. And now I have leftover cooked lasagna noodles in my fridge. Roll ups next week? IMG_2752 Another thing to make with your fresh ricotta – lemon (or in my case lime) ricotta cookies! Not pictured: the tangy, sweet glaze that goes atop these lovelies. And hopefully, your baking powder isn’t out of date, like mine was, and yours more resemble fluffy clouds rather than lemon disks. IMG_2753

For the Ricotta (recipe courtesy of Ina Garten – surprise!)

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups whole milk
  • 2 cups cream
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsps white wine vinegar

Directions:

  1. Heat milk, cream and salt in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil.
  2. Turn off the heat, add vinegar, and stir. Let sit 3-4 minutes while mixture curdles.
  3. Place a mesh sieve over a big (preferably deep) and line it with cheesecloth or a paper towel. Carefully pour mixture in and allow the whey to separate from the curds for 20-25 minutes. Voila! You have ricotta cheese.

For the Lasagna (warning: did not measure – approximations below)

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 lb ground beef
  • olive oil
  • 1/2 large onion, diced small
  • 2 carrots, peeled, diced into about 1/4 in pieces
  • 2 celery sticks, chopped small (if you don’t have carrots or celery, don’t let this stop you from making this meat sauce!! use peppers, or more onions if you need to!)
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3/4 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp chili flakes
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 28 oz can crushed tomato
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • about 2/3 box lasagna noodles (about 15 sheets)
  • 16 oz frozen spinach
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 cup of ricotta cheese
  • about 7-8 oz mozzarella cheese
  • 1 1/2 cups freshly grated parmigiano reggiano (sorry, no shortcuts allowed for this step)

Directions:

  1. For the meat sauce: brown meat in lightly greased skillet or wok over high heat, breaking up the meat and cooking until meat is no longer pink and has a nice crusty exterior. Remove from pan using a slotted spoon. Set aside on a plate. Add a bit more oil, then onions, carrots, and celery. Sauté until translucent (about 5 min). Add garlic, oregano, chili flakes, and about 3/4 tsp each of salt and pepper. Mix to combine. Add crushed tomato, bay leaf, sugar. Stir then cover and reduce heat to low. Let simmer for about 20 min, stirring occasionally. At the end of 20 min, turn off heat and check for seasoning (it should taste GOOD – if not, add 1/4 tsp more salt). Set aside.
  2. In a medium skillet/wok, heat 1 tbsp oil or butter over medium high heat. Add 1 clove of garlic, minced. After about 30 seconds, add frozen spinach. Stir to break down clumps of spinach. Add about 1/2 tsp salt and pepper and 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Cook down until spinach is warmed through and flavorful (4-5 min). Set aside.
  3. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add a tbsp of salt and lasagna noodles and cook according to package directions (6-8 min). Drain, then drizzle with oil to keep from sticking. Set aside.
  4. Assemble the darn thing: preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Add 1/3 of meat sauce to the bottom of a casserole or lasagna dish. Add one layer of lasagna noodles (3 of the traditional barilla noodles). Then add 1/2 of the ricotta/spinach mixture. Top with 3 more noodles. Then add another third of the meat sauce – spreading to distribute evenly.  Top with half of the mozzarella cheese (shredded or sliced). Top with 3 more lasagna noodles. Add remaining spinach/ricotta mixture. Add 3 more noodles. Top with remaining meat sauce. Add 3 final noodles. Top with remaining mozzarella cheese and grated parmesan.
  5. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes. Uncover, then stick back in the oven for 10 more minutes. It should be bubbly and the parmesan should just be starting to brown. Let cool before slicing unless you want messy, gooey pieces like the one pictured here =).

 

 

Salsa all’Amatriciana

IMG_2587It’s Ramadan. The days are long. Brain cells hardly get enough glucose to function throughout the day. You would think after breaking our fasts in the evening, we get a second wind and can be productive. Not the case here. Usually after iftar, my husband and I try to make the most of the 20 or minutes we have together post-kids-bedtime and pre-taraweeh (nightly prayer). Yet even after he leaves for the masjid, I find myself completely unable to do ANYTHING productive. That includes the dishes. I don’t know why this year’s fasts has left my brain and body completely depleted (any md’s/rn’s/nutrionists feel free to chime in). IMG_2538But my dear friend Amreen has been requesting this recipe from the very first time I made it for her back in college. And I, being the jerk friend that I am, have neglected to share it until now. So, on Friday, with bacon, tomatoes and sidekick Moury in hand, whipped up this old favorite.  IMG_2546This recipe is actually from my very first cookbook purchase in high school: Giada’s Everyday Italian. I know I’m always singing Ina’s praises and yes, her show really informed my current culinary outlook. But it all started with Everyday Italian. From Giada, I learned how to make my very first marinara sauce. Shrimp Fra Diavolo. Balsamic Roasted Chicken. Eggplant Caponata. Favorites that I use time and again – and they all come from this book. I can’t say as much for her follow up cookbooks, but this is definitely one I can vouch for. IMG_2557Any Roman reading this will gasp at my bastardization of their beloved Amatriciana sauce – a pancetta/onion/garlic/tomato sauce  except with halal beef bacon in place of the pancetta. I’m sorry! This is just the best we can do! The fat from the bacon balances well with the sweetness/acidity of the tomatoes. So you neither feel like you’re eating a really greasy pesto, nor a flat lined marinara (let’s face it, marinara just isn’t that exciting unless doctored up with some crushed red chili flakes). 
IMG_2576My old, and I mean old (seriously, friends for 13 years now?), friend Moury was with me in the kitchen. And contrary to our last cooking experience, I wasn’t a total tyrant. She took all these photographs for you guys. And since I haven’t been doing any day time eating, these are the only photographs I could manage for this post. IMG_2586So, bacon and pasta lovers rejoice! The perfect marriage of the two is in this dish.

Recipe from Giada De Laurentiis’ Everyday Italian

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 6 ounces pancetta or slab bacon, diced
  • 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves (I used 3), minced
  • pinch of dried crushed red pepper flakes (I would go with a generous pinch)
  • 1 (28 oz) can tomato purée (I used just over 1.5 lbs fresh tomatoes, blanched then peeled)
  • 1/2 tsp salt plus more to taste
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper plus more to taste
  • 1/2 cup grated Pecorino (I had none, so I just added some julienned basil)

Directions

  1. In a large, heavy skillet heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the bacon or pancetta and cook until the fat is rendered – about 8 minutes. Add the onion and cook for an additional 5 min. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  2. Add the tomatoes, salt and pepper and reduce the heat to medium-low. Allow the sauce to cook, uncovered for 15 minutes. Stir in the cheese (if you have) and salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Serve with 1 pound of cooked pasta (spaghetti or bucatini).

Banana Date Nut Bread

IMG_2408I bought quinoa a week ago. I still don’t have the guts to prepare it, out of fear of what happens to unfortunately too many of my experiments in healthy-food-ness. Make it. Eat some the first day. Then a day goes by: everyone opts for the other options in the fridge. Another day goes by: my mom brings over a vat of chicken curry. Another day goes by: take out time! By day 4, no one will be eating what they hadn’t eaten the past 4 days (my chia seed pudding is currently suffering that fate)! So while I procrastinate on the quinoa, I tried to make some healthier substitutions in my usual banana bread. After going through Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I was all like “yeah! butter! if french people can douse their food in it, why can’t we?”. Then I read an article that scared the pants off of me about saturated fats. So what to do?! There’s got to be a balance between the Paula Deen fried mac’n’cheese-wrapped-in-bacon death on a plate and quinoa/kale/green smoothie diet.IMG_2403So, here is my answer. Banana bread. I know bananas have a bad rap for the amount of sugar in them, but hey, they have potassium. That’s important, right? Personally, I’d rather eat natural foods with natural sugars (like coconut water) and vitamins/minerals than an artificially flavored protein shake to curb my appetite! So, on to this bread. Does it have sugar? Yes. But there’s fiber from the date and whole wheat flour. Does it have fat? Yes. But it’s coconut oil and supposedly the saturated fat in that is better for you. And nuts! Good fats that keep you full longer! I cut the amount of sugar from the original recipe by a 1/2 cup. If you’re rolling your eyes at me at this point, I’m ok with that. This isn’t a cake baked in a loaf pan that you can call a breakfast. It’s hearty. It tastes good. And you don’t have to feel guilty for having a slice. Have it with a glass of milk for a snack, or with coffee for breakfast.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 5 medium bananas, smashed
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 cup chopped, pitted dates
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

  1. Bring the buttermilk and eggs to room temperature: set the half cup of buttermilk out and let it come to room temperature while assembling the rest of the ingredients. Place the eggs in a bowl with lukewarm water (cold ingredients will cause the coconut oil to congeal).
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9x5in loaf pan with non-stick spray (or grease with butter).
  3. Combine coconut oil and sugar in a stand mixer and beat on medium speed until combined (or use any electric mixer) for about 2 minutes. Add the bananas, eggs, and buttermilk, one at a time until combined.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add to the wet ingredients with the mixer running, until combined.
  5. Turn off the mixer. Add the dates and pecans. Stir with a spatula or wooden spoon to combine (scraping off the sides and bottom).
  6. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour 15 minutes (start checking with a toothpick at 1 hour 5 minutes. It should come out dry).