Kitchen3N

Recipes and food fun from Apt 3N

#Baesic Roasted Salmon and Veggies

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It’s January and I know many of us are trying to find ways to eat healthy. I’ve had a little extra time on my hands so I’ve been coming up with different ways to eat healthy/less meat/fewer carbs. Not exactly low fat though. Kale caesar salad. Chana dal with veggies and coconut milk. Tomato soup. Today I whipped up this salmon and mixed vegetable sauté. Follow along for inspo on my Instagram!
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I’m calling this my #baesic salmon because even though it’s a basic way to cook it, it’s bae in my recipe book. I’ve tried cooking salmon just on the the stovetop, and it just burns on the outside before cooking through on the inside. If you lower the heat too much you don’t get the nice crust. This way, if you sear it on the stovetop, finish it off the oven, you get the best of both worlds. I wasn’t sure if it would be done actually, but when I dug into it, it was juuuuuuust slightly pink and rare in the middle. If you prefer it cooked well through, leave in for 2 more minutes.
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I know we all tryin’ to eat more nutritious food, less meat, fewer carbs. And I know salmon isn’t exactly the best option either. It’s overfished, not sustainable. But I for one need to change things up from beans, lentils and eggs. We still do chicken once a week or so. Red meat once a month maybe. Baby steps.
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Ingredients

For the mixed vegetable sauté:

  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 5 organic carrots (they’re smaller, so if using big carrots, use 3-4)
  • 1/2 large onion or 1 medium onion
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 12 oz cauliflower florets, or from 1 head of cauliflower
  • 12 oz broccoli florets, or from 1 large head of broccoli (I had two small heads of broccoli)
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  • more salt and pepper to taste

For the salmon

  • 2tbsp olive oil
  • 2tbsp unsalted butter
  • 12 oz salmon fillet
  • salt and pepper
  • a squeeze of lemon

Directions

  1. For the vegetable sauté: heat up oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add carrots, saute for 2-3 minutes, then add onions. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes more. Add the garlic, then broccoli and cauliflower florets. Add butter and more salt and pepper. If the veggies are starting to brown too easily on the bottom, reduce heat to medium. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally until veggies are crisp tender, 10-15 more minutes. Taste for seasoning.
  2. For the salmon: Preheat oven to 350F. Score the skin side of the salmon – about 3 slits diagonally. Season both sides with salt and pepper. Melt butter and olive oil in at least a 9in round french or other ovenproof skillet. When bubbling stops, add the salmon, skin side down. Don’t touch it for at least 2 minutes. When there’s a nice crust, it’ll lift off easily. Flip over carefully, minimizing splatter of hot oil, using two spatulas if necessary. And cook for an additional 2 minutes. Then insert in preheated oven for 7-8 minutes.
  3. Remove from heat, finish with a squeeze of lemon and let rest for a few minutes before serving. Serve alongside steamed quinoa or brown rice.

Umami Vegetable Soup

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If you follow my Snap or Instastories, you saw me make pull this soup together last night. I’ve been looking to finish up all the vegetables and herbs that I bought as a part of my Thanksgiving groceries, herbs that I don’t use very much apart from that day (sage, thyme, rosemary). In the version I made last night, I threw in the last of my turkey leftovers, but it didn’t add much to the soup, so the version here is without meat, and it’s delicious!

There is So. Much. Umami aka The 5th Flavor. From the rehydrated porcini mushroom stock, to the mushrooms, to the soy sauce. Hence the name. I didn’t want to just call it mushroom soup! There’s so much more! And then tang from the Ume Plum Vinegar – my FAVORITE ingredient these days to add flavor to pretty much anything. It just gives a nice fresh zip to foods, without overpowering like most vinegars.

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My vegetables were on the smaller side: the carrots, celery, even the size of the mushroom package. So 8 cups liquid in total worked for me. Currently the soup can feed 4 adults. If you want to stretch the recipe to feed 6 comfortably, use larger carrots, celery and onion. Add another potato and 2 cups liquid – either stock or water.

Can easily be made vegan by using all oil, no butter, and water instead of chicken or turkey stock.

Ingredients

  • 4 average dried porcini mushrooms
  • 4 cups boiling water
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 carrots, diced small
  • 2 celery stalks, diced small
  • 1 small onion, diced small
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced
  • 8 oz or 1 standard package cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 4 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • salt and pepper
  • 3 tsp ume plum vinegar
  • 1 large russet potato, cut into cubes
  • 4 cups chicken/turkey stock or water
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

Directions

  1. In a large glass measuring glass or bowl, place dried porcini mushrooms. Add hot water and allow to hydrate until ready for use.
  2. In a large stock pot, melt butter and oil over medium high heat. Add onion, celery and carrot. Cook 4-5 minutes until soft. Add mushrooms and garlic. Cook together for another 2-3 minutes. Tie the thyme and bay leaf together with kitchen string. Add to the vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste (I added about 1 tsp salt and half tsp pepper) and stir. Then place a wire mesh sieve over the pot and add the porcini stock, straining out the rehydrated porcinis (their flavor can be strong). Also add the vinegar and stock/water. Stir to combine.
  3. Cover, raise the heat to bring to a boil, then reduce heat so it simmers for 15 minutes. When the potatoes have cooked through the soup is done. Add parsley, adjust seasoning, and serve.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Quinoa Pilaf

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When was the last time you embarrassed yourself? Like reeally really embarrassed yourself? Well this recipe is from one such incident.

Let me take it back a few steps – have you ever been to a South Asian wedding? There are kids running around, loud aunties and uncles in technicolor outfits fighting over placement on the buffet line and general disorganization/mayhem.

Now – have you ever been to an American wedding? A Northeastern, Catholic wedding? Civilized, subdued, tasteful. Bride is in white. The events more or less stick to schedule. Not so many kids running around.

As a Bengali, this cultural difference just went over my head when I was invited to a friend’s wedding a couple of years ago. Not only did we show up to the wedding with uninvited kids in tow, we entered the church after the bride made her entrance. Afterwards, at the reception, the mother of the bride said to me, “So, you brought the kids” and then it dawned on me.

Oh. Shit. There weren’t chairs for them, so they sat on our laps until the venue could manage some. The reception was way past their bedtime so they were pretty much on meltdown mode the entire time. By the time we wrapped up dinner at 9 they were SO cranky we had to run out of there before my favorite part of any wedding: the dancing!

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Lesson learned. My husband and I attended another wedding this past summer, happy to report gaffe free.

What does this story have to do with roasted acorn squash with quinoa pilaf? Just that we had it for dinner at said Northeastern wedding reception and it was surprisingly so good, I’m amazed it took me this long to recreate it.

The recipe for the quinoa pilaf is an adaptation of the America’s Test Kitchen version. It’s tasty on its own with the addition of a tablespoon of lemon juice.

Ingredients

For the roasted acorn squash

1 acorn squash, scrubbed and rinsed clean
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dark brown sugar
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 to 1/4 ground black pepper
olive oil

For the quinoa pilaf

1 cup washed quinoa
1 small onion
2 tbsp butter
3/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 cup water
3 tbsp fresh herbs
1 oz goat cheese (optional)

Directions

1. For the acorn squash: Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the acorn squash down the middle, scoop out the seeds and fibrous parts with a spoon and discard. Place both halves on a baking sheet cut side up. Season with salt and spices then drizzle with oil. Rub the oil and seasonings all over the flesh. Bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour.
2. For the quinoa pilaf: In a medium saucepan, toast the quinoa over medium high heat, stirring frequently until quinoa is light brown and makes a popping noise. This will take about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
3. In the same saucepan, melt butter over medium low heat. Add onion and salt and cook until onions soften, about 5 minutes. Add the quinoa, increase heat to high and add water. Allow to come to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, uncover and fluff with a fork. Add herbs and mix together. Put the lid back and allow to continue to steam.
4. To serve, place one of the acorn squash halves on a plate, spoon some quinoa pilaf into the cavity, and top with goat cheese if desired.

Lentil and Bulgur Kofte

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My heart is hurting. The world is burning. There is no where I can go, or send my family members, that feels safe from natural disaster, disease or rampant violence. Perhaps this is the way it’s always been – just now we are hyper aware because we are hyper connected. The natural disaster stuff is not new. Climate change is. And as a Bangladeshi American, I worry about the effects of glacial melting for a sea-level country like Bangladesh. We already have climate refugees.

Disease is certainly not new (hello plague, small pox, measles and the like). But Planetary Health is. The deterioration of our forests and natural resources that previously acted as a barrier from infectious diseases rampant inside the wilderness.

And the violence. From mass shooters to terrorists to drone strikes. We’ve been killing one another since Cain and Abel. Yet for all our progress, our education, we can’t seem to teach one another empathy. We can be pro-life when it comes to matters of a woman’s right to make decisions, yet when it comes to the life of someone who looks a bit different from us, we only know to act in self preservation.

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What does this have to do with these vegan “meatballs”? I’m not sure, except it is a Turkish recipe. And if a certain small handed, orange hued, and even smaller brained individual had his way, contributions like this (both culinary and non-culinary), would come to a halt for a certain period of time. We cannot let fear come in the way of this country’s most powerful asset: our pluralism. We must use our propensity for innovation to tackle this challenge we’ve never faced before: an ideological war. One with no national border, rather the exploitation of the disenfranchised, the bored, the feeble minded.

A wonderful cook and long time associate, Keri Egilmez, shared this recipe with me. You may remember her from the Samboosa recipe I shared a while back. These are not meant to satisfy your cravings for dark, rich, savory meatballs. They work best as an appetizer – light and lemony and the perfect finger food. Also works well over a bed of greens as a light lunch. Afiyet olsen!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Red Lentils
  • 1/2 cup fine bulgur
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 Tbsp Red Pepper Paste (or tomato paste)
  • Juice of 1 lemon (or half if you like less sour)
  • 1/3 cup of parsley, finely chopped
  • 2 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 tsp crushed red chili flakes or pul biber (aleppo pepper) – optional

Directions

  1. Place the lentils in a medium saucepan and rinse under running water 2-3 times. Add 2.5 cups water and bring to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes or until all the water is soaked up. Add the bulgur to the pot, give it a stir, and cover until mixture is cool enough to handle.
  2. In a large skillet or wok, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and cook until softened – 4 to 5 minutes. Add cumin and red pepper or tomato paste. Stir until combined then remove from heat. Add this mixture to the lentil/bulgur mixture.
  3. Add the lemon juice, parsley, green onion and chili flakes, if using, to the mixture. Stir until everything is combined, then pinch off golf ball sized amounts and lightly press into an oblong shaped ball. Set aside. Continue until all of the mixture is made into kofte (balls).
  4. Enjoy as is or wrapped in lettuce with a squeeze of lemon. Afiyet olsun!

Ramadan Round Up

Ramadan is halfway over, but there’s still time to make some of my favorite recipes for this time of year! Going clockwise from the top left:

Citrus Quinoa Salad with Dates, Almonds and Mint – we consume a lot of dates during Ramadan. This recipe uses up any extra dates you may have in a salad you can feel good about eating at the end of a long fast!

Meyer Lemon Strawberry Lemonade – I know sugar is the devil. I know. But you have to try this lemonade. It is light years beyond any bottled strawberry lemonade you can find. Recipe adapted from Pioneer Woman.

Basil Smoothie – a surprising staple in many homes I’ve introduced this smoothie to. Basil, yogurt, sugar and ice makes for an unexpectedly refreshing drink.

Tandoori Chicken – an easy, make ahead dish. When you’re fasting, you’re low on energy. So the less time you have to spend on your feet in the kitchen, the better. These chicken legs get a quick marinade of yogurt and spices. Then about 45 minutes before eating, pop them in a hot oven. That is all.

Mint Limeade – aka virgin mojitos. The refreshing flavors of lime and mint make this the perfect compliment to your break-fast meal.

Haleem – a protein packed Ramadan must. It’s one stop, one pot iftar. Stewed meat, grains and lentils combine to make the most filling, comforting dish possible. Can probably make this in your slow cooker as well.

Fruit Chaat – refreshing and easy. Simply combine your favorite fruits – try to ensure varying textures and levels of sweetness. Try apples, grapes, kiwis. Or pineapple, cantelope, raspberries. Or mango, blueberry, nectarine. Leave the yogurt/chaat masala dressing on the side, or mixed in, for a variation of your favorite fruit salad.

Banana Date Nut Bread – another healthy way to use up dates. The potassium from the bananas and dates combined with the fiber from the whole wheat make this bread great to have on hand when you’re short on time for your pre-dawn meal. Can bump up the fiber content with flax seeds, chia seeds, etc.

Aloo Chop (Fried Mashed Potato Balls) – not the healthiest thing on the list, but a comfort food must for many of us South Asians. Mashed potato balls stuffed with bits of hard boiled egg, breaded and fried. Yum!

My Go-To Suhoor (Sehri)

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When you were a kid did you have curry for suhoor?

Let me take a few steps back here. Ramadan Kareem everyone! The blessed time of year when Muslims around the world abstain from food & drink (yes, even water) from dawn til dusk. Not just a physical fast, Muslims (healthy, adult) are to abstain from sex, violence and cursing. Particularly trying for those at northern latitudes where the days are long (16+ hours for us in NY), we need to make the most of our pre-dawn and fast-breaking meals. That means nutritious food that will keep our bodies busy breaking down complex carbs and proteins. Just as important: staying hydrated!

So if you’re South Asian, you probably had white rice along with veggies and some hearty curries for your pre-dawn meal (suhoor/sehri). And they probably left you feeling awesome, especially after your post-fajr nap.

Not. They always left me feeling queasy and hungry after a few hours. Don’t get me wrong, hunger pangs are going to strike regardless. It wouldn’t be a fast without the experience of hunger – to humble us, to remind us of our blessings, to connect us to those less fortunate, and to remind us constantly that we are doing it for the sake of God. But in eating whole foods, super foods, foods that are full of complex carbs and hunger abating protein, we can put our best food forward while going about our day to day jobs in non-Muslim countries. Otherwise, it can be challenging, functioning on reduced and disjointed sleep (late night prayers + a meal in the middle of the night) with a lower blood sugar throughout the day making your mental processing faculties a bit foggy.

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So here I present my go-to spread for suhoor: overnight oats with fruit and nuts, two hard boiled eggs, toast with peanut butter, banana and chia seeds, coconut water, and water. I may not have all of these items every day, depending on how much time I have on my hands, but the overnight oats and hard boiled eggs are a must. I prepare the oats around the same time that I’m making iftar so it has a good 8 hours to soak in the fridge. When you read the recipe below, you might be turned off to the fact that it’s made with water instead of milk. But if you’ve ever struggled with downing oatmeal because the gummy texture turned you off, you must try it with water. Of course you are free to make it with almond, soy, rice, hemp or coconut milk instead.

Recently, I’ve been topping it with the raspberry compote from my Eton Mess. I don’t want to say it’s divine or anything in case that’s sacrilege – but it’s really really really good.

Combine the complex carbs from the oats with the protein and good fats from the eggs – you are good to go. The potassium from the coconut water and bananas (or dates!) well keep you running. The chia seeds provide a nutritional boost as well given they’re packed with Omega-3s, fiber, and protein. Sometimes I just munch on them as is. They have a wonderful crunchy/chewy texture.

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Here are my tips for hard boiling eggs:

  • Bring a generous amount of water to boil.
  • THEN add the eggs.
  • Set the timer for 8 minutes eggsactly (had to).
  • When the timer is up, drain the water. Let cool. Don’t peel them ahead of time as they’ll dry out.
  • Just before eating, crack them on a surface and roll around. You’ll find these eggs are the easiest to peel.

And here’s my go to recipe for overnight oats (from Quaker):

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
  • 1/2 cup water (or enough to cover the oats)
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tbsp fresh fruit or fruit compote
  • 1 tbsp chopped walnuts (optional)
  • 2 tbsp yogurt (optional)

Directions

  1. In a mason jar, or recycled jam jar, combine oats, water and salt. Close the lid and give it a shake. Let it sit in the fridge overnight (6-8 hours).
  2. To serve, top with fruit, nuts and yogurt, if using. Enjoy immediately. And be generous with the fruit! One of the perks of summertime fasts are the glorious fruits available, particularly at your local farmers market.

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.