Best Ever Muffins

I've adapted a muffin recipe to make it healthier, with the added result that putting wheat bran in gives these muffins a sweet, crunchy crust. Ideally this is with fresh cranberries, but I can't find them now that it's spring, so you can use dried cranberries, raisins, or blueberries instead. These are very quick to make.

Best Ever Muffins

1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cups wheat bran (not wheat flour, but wheat bran)
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped fresh cranberries (or 1 c. dried)
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup melted Smart Balance organic spread
1 teaspoon grated orange peel (or lemon)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg


Preheat oven to 400°. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add cranberries. In a separate bowl, combine milk, butter, orange peel, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just enough to mix. Spoon batter into 12 greased muffin cups. Bake at 400° for 18 minutes. Remove muffins from pan; place on a wire rack.

Sour Orange Marmalade

We have a normal orange tree and a tree that gives sour oranges... and after devouring every single one of the oranges from the sweet tree, we are always at a loss as to what to do with the fruit from other one. My mother helped me to make orange marmalade-- we improvised using her canning knowledge (she makes pear jelly every year), and quantities from a pectin package. Looking up recipes on the Internet (with fancier titles like "Valencia Orange Marmalade), I was deterred by how elaborate they were, but she had some good short cuts, so we didn't need muslin or a canning set-up to boil the jars later. With some homemade Moroccan bread Nour baked up at the end of the day, our marmalade ended up delicious, one of those glad-to-live-in-Florida experiences. I probably wouldn't make these without organic oranges just out of nervousness for all the chemicals, but since our trees have nothing on them, it's safe. For future reference, here's how we did it:

Sour Orange Marmalade

7 sour oranges
1 sweet navel orange
10 cups sugar (slightly less than a 5 lb. bag)
2 packages of sure-jell pectin (one box had 2 packages in it)
1 package canning wax (available at most grocery stores)
Assortment of jelly jars (also available at grocery stores, or Target)
Large pot, Dutch oven size

Using a vegetable peeler, remove just the orange part of the peel from the oranges. Chop up into small pieces, place peels in Dutch oven. Add 1 1/2 cups water and 1/8 tsp. baking soda, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, peel off the white part and throw it out. Squeeze the juice into a large bowl, then chop up the orange pieces, removing seeds, and throw the orange pieces into the bowl too. After peels have simmered 20 minutes, add the orange pieces and juice from the bowl, simmer 10 minutes.

You can stop here and do the rest another day if you want, putting it all in the fridge. The final steps: canning. It's not as difficult as it sounds. Wash your jars in hot, soapy water, rinse and drain. Take the lids and put them in a pot with boiling water for a few minutes, drain that.

Now find out how many cups of the juice/peel mixture you have. For six cups of the juice/peel mix, you need 10 cups sugar. We had 7 cups of juice/peel, so we measured out 11 cups sugar. Stir all the sugar into the juice/peel mixture, then bring to a full rolling boil. Stir in both packages of pectin. Return to a full, rolling boil and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Ladle jelly into jars, leaving about 1/2 inch at the top. Wipe the inside of the jar rim with a clean, wet paper towel to make sure no juice is left on the inner rim. In a saucepan, melt the block of wax. You'll do two stages of pouring wax on top of the jelly-- this preserves it so you don't get sick. (If there's one jar you're going to eat right away, you don't need to do the wax with this one). After jars are filled with jelly, pour wax on top, leaving about 1/4 inch. Let it set-- could take 30 minutes to an hour. When it's obviously set (it appears white), melt some more wax or re-melt what you might have in the saucepan, and pour this on top of the other wax layer. Let this set, too-- another 30 minutes or so. When it's also dry, squeeze the lids on tightly. And that's all there is to it.

Baked Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

I first had enchiladas with salsa verde in Madrid in 1996. It was my first encounter with tomatillos, and since then I often order them at Mexican restaurants. I've tried my hand at elaborate recipes that involve making your own tomatillo salsa, but lately, as time seems in shorter and shorter supply, I've been looking for shortcuts. This is a good one.

Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup cilantro
2 minced garlic cloves
1 7-ounce can salsa verde (can be found at any Mexican grocery store, or even in supermarkets)
1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded (poach 15 minutes with an onion, peppercorns, and parsley)
1/3 cup cream cheese
1 cup chicken broth
Package of flour tortillas, small or large
1/4 cup monterey jack cheese, with jalapenos, or queso fresco
1/2 tsp. chili powder

Preheat oven to 425.

Combine onion, cilantro, garlic and salsa verde in food processor, process until liquid. Mix shredded chicken and cream cheese, stir in 1/2 cup of the green salsa mixture, reserving the remainder.

Place about 1/4 cup chicken mixture on a tortilla, roll up and place in greased 11x7 baking dish. Repeat with remaining tortillas, pour salsa mixture over all, sprinkle with cheese and chili powder. Bake 18 minutes or until cheese is nice and bubbly.

Ina Garten's macaroni & cheese with gruyere and tomatoes

This one, from the Barefoot Contessa on the Food Channel, is worth the splurge on gruyere, which makes it so much more elegant and rich than normal everyday macaroni and cheese. And the tomatoes add something special too. I divided the recipe in half, which would have easily served four...

1/2 pound macaroni
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups Gruyere, grated
1 cup extra-sharp Cheddar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
dash ground nutmeg
2 small fresh tomatoes
3/4 cup fresh white bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Cook macaroni acc. to package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan just until hot. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. While whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Remove from heat, add the Gruyere, Cheddar, 1/2 Tblsp. salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the cooked macaroni and stir well. Pour into a square baking dish.

Slice the tomatoes and arrange on top. Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, combine with the fresh bread crumbs, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the macaroni is browned on the top.

Vietnamese summer rolls...

I've seen two recipes for Vietnamese summer rolls recently and thought about tackling them-- they seemed intimidating somehow, but as soon as Mark Bittman (The Minimalist column in the NY Times) described their preparation as basically like rolling up a burrito, I thought I could handle it. We have an Asian grocery store close to our house, and they had all the ingredients I'd never bought before-- including rice paper rolls (burrito-sized, comes in a round plastic box), rice vermicelli, and fish sauce... All much cheaper than in a regular grocery store.

I've made them several times now, along with a peanut sate dipping sauce I like (Bittman has another dipping sauce, included here, which is also good-- but I prefer peanut-y flavors). These are not difficult to make at all-- the recipe makes enough for a small dinner party (he says 4 servings), but you could also reduce it and just basically throw some things in a roll and it will be a delicious snack.

Vietnamese Summer Rolls with Two Dipping Sauces

16 6 inch rounds rice paper
8 leaves lettuce, washed, dried & torn
2 cups cooked rice vermicelli, rinsed and drained
1 cup shredded peeled carrots
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup basil leaves
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
32 poached shrimp, split lengthwise (or slices pork)

Dip a rice paper round halfway into a bowl of very hot water for 2 seconds. Turn it and dip remaining section, then lay on DAMP TOWEL (important, or else it sticks). Put a little lettuce, rice, carrots, mint, basil, cilantro, and shrimp in the bottom third of the round. Roll up as if rolling a burrito, fold ends over before reaching the top, then roll up all the way.

Peanut Sauce:

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/8 cup soy sauce
1 tsp. red chili paste (also available at Asian groceries)
1 Tblsp. brown sugar
juice from one lime
1/4 cup hot water

Mix in food processor or blender, scraping down sides.

Bittman's dipping suace:

1/2 cup fish sauce (nam pla)
1 Tblsp. sugar
1 Tblsp. minced ginger
1 tsp. red chili paste
salt & pepper

Mix in a bowl with a fork...

Dip and enjoy!

Chipotle-lime Black bean hummus

I invented this recipe for Fourth of July and am feeling proud of myself...

Chipotle-lime Black Bean Hummus

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 generous tablespoons of tahini paste
Juice of one lime
1 tsp. cumin
3-4 canned chipotle peppers (use less if you like them less spicy)
salt & pepper to taste

In a food processor or blender, mix together all ingredients, and adjust seasonings. Take to a party and serve with tortilla chips. Divide recipe in half if it's just for two or three people.

My favorite place to get Middle Eastern ingredients here in Orlando is Abu Maher International Foods, on Hanging Moss Road off Forsyth, between Forsyth and 436. I've recommended them to a number of people. You can always buy tahini paste at Whole Foods or Publix, but it's somewhat more expensive, and Abu Maher also has other fun stuff like pita bread, dried apricots, full-fat yogurt, and spices...

Fettucine Alfredo (lowfat)

Here's one I make all the time-- a good standby when you can't think of anything else.

Fettucine Alfredo

1 tablespoon butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 1/4 cups grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
2 tablespoons lowfat cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups hot cooked fettuccine (8 ounces uncooked pasta)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Cracked black pepper


Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in flour. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk. Cook 6 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Add 1 cup Parmesan, cream cheese, and salt, stirring with a whisk until cheeses melt. Toss sauce with hot pasta. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and chopped parsley. Salt and pepper to taste

Serves 4, supposedly, but I'd double it to REALLY serve four.

Bulgur Wheat Salad

I had this at a lunch party a few weeks ago, and the recipe comes from the classic Silver Palate Cookbook. Good to take to summer barbecues or to have on hand for a weekday lunch. Make half the amount for 4 people.

4 cups water
2 cups bulgur wheat
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup dried currants
4 Tblsp. chopped parsley
1 Tblsp. olive oil
grated zest of one orange
salt and pepper, to taste

Cook bulgur in water, bringing to a boil, then simmer, covered, for 35 to 40 minutes, until water is absorbed and wheat is tender. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate. When cool, add pecans, currants, parsley, olive oil orange zest, salt and pepper. Add a dash of orange juice for extra flavor. Mix well and serve at room temperature or chilled. Serves 8.

Fettucine with Butternut Squash and Gorgonzola Sauce

Another one I've made a few times and want to write down for posterity... This makes a really big recipe, could feed 8 if you have a substantial salad and other side dish. Divide it in half for two very hungry people, or four peckish ones...

Fettucine with Butternut Squash and Gorgonzola Sauce

1 tblsp. butter
3 cups sliced onions
3 cups 1" pieces of butternut squash
1 1/4 tsp. salt, divided
1/2 tsp. black pepper
2 minced garlic cloves
3 cups lowfat milk, divided
3 Tblsp. flour
1 1/2 cups crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, divided
1 lb. uncooked fettucine
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup toasted and chopped walnuts
1 tsp. grated lemon rind.

Cook pasta in boiling water. Meanwhile, melt butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, squash, 1/4 tsp. salt, and pepper, saute until tender-- taste until squash is ready, 6-10 minutes. Add minced garlic, cook one minute. Turn off heat.

Bring 2 cups milk to boil. Combine remaining 1 cup milk and flour, stirring well until there are no lumps. Add to boiling milk, reduce heat to medium, stirring constantly for 5 minutes or until a little thicker. Add 1 cup cheese, mix until smooth.

Mix together squash, pasta, and cheese sauce. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. salt, mix well. Place on plates, decorate with parsley, walnuts, lemon rind, and remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Serve immediately.

The mother of all breads...

My favorite food writer, Mark Bittman, has done it again. His recipe for No-Knead bread is so amazing and out of this world that I made it three times in four days. It tastes like bread you'd buy from an expensive bakery-- a perfectly crisped crust, a center with large, satisfying air pockets. I haven't tried it yet with wheat flour, or with little pieces of black olives (another idea I had), but I bet it would be terrific. I've made it both with the eighteen hour version and with only letting it rise for six hours (but using a whole teaspoon of yeast)-- both were excellent...

No-Knead Bread

Here is the recipe for no-knead bread. (Can somebody forward this to Andrew? I don't have his email.) Tastes best if you make the dough the night before and cook it the next afternoon or evening, but it will do well with slightly more yeast (a teaspoon) and about six hours of rising time... Don't be alarmed by how sticky it is. Crucial steps include placing the Dutch oven in the oven to heat, also covering bread for first 30 minutes of cooking time (steam=good crust). No need to grease the Dutch oven; the bread won't stick to it.

No-Knead Bread

3 cups flour
1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp. salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, stir until blended. Will be sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

Dough is ready when surface is dotted with bubbles. Flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle flour over and fold it over on itself once or twice. (It will be very sticky). Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest 15 minutes.

Coat a cotton towel (not a terry cloth one) with cornmeal or wheat bran. Scoop dough into ball and place on towel, sprinkle with more cornmeal or wheat bran. Let rise another 2 hours.

At least half hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 and place a Dutch oven or other heavy covered pot (cast iron, enaml, Pyrex, or ceramic) in oven as it heats. After 30 minutes, slide your hand under towel and pick up dough, turning over into pot. Shake pan once or twice to evenly distribute dough. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes. Remove lid, bake another 15-30 minutes (15 works for me) until browned. Cool on rack.

grilled chicken burritos

I had the chance to visit both China and Mexico this summer, China along with a group of professors from my university and Mexico to give a paper at a conference. Both trips were great. Everyone says that real Chinese food in China tastes nothing like what we have here in the States, but if that's the case, the Chinese are now making remarkable concessions to American tastes. Everything I had vaguely resembled something I'd had before in the States, only better. Much better. Fresher ingredients, nothing soggy or congealed, a lot of vegetables. There were some familiar dishes-- staples like kung pao chicken, only better than any kung pao chicken I'd ever had in my life...

It was also my first trip to Mexico, and the two best meals I had were at a restaurant in San Miguel de Allende called El Correo (some kind of spicy pork dish) and in a village in the countryside outside San Miguel, a lunch that was entirely vegetarian, with fresh salsas, refried beans, something that resembled spinach, and some other tasty things.

Now it's back to school, and to celebrate the end of the first week, I decided to experiment with this week's installment from the Splendid Table, the NPR feature on food that I get delivered to my email inbox. After making these grilled chicken burritos, I'm thinking of making a big donation to the program. What made this so awesome was not taking any shortcuts-- marinating the chicken in a mixture of cumin, lime juice, garlic, and cilantro for a few hours, actually GRILLING it (Nour's job), carefully preparing the guacamole (which turned out much better than the usual stuff I slap together with a smashed avocado and some lime juice and salt) and the green tomatillo salsa. I also made refried beans-- I don't think the canned ones taste as good as the recipe claimed. Then you cook your tortillas on the grill, spread with refried beans, the sliced chicken, cheese, the guacamole and salsa, and you have something really and truly amazing... I don't know about "weeknight kitchen" though, unless you happen to have a few hours to spare for marinating, a pound of tomatillos, some Mexican queso blanco, and some charcoal on hand.

Recipe adapted very slightly from the Splendid Table, Lynne Rossetto Kasper

The Chicken:

1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 Tblsp minced garlic
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Mix ingredients together. Marinate chicken in plastic bag for at least three hours. When it's time to grill, grill 5 minutes per side, let stand 5 minutes, then slice diagonally.

Accompaniments I used:

Flour tortillas
2 cups refried beans, heated
2 cups queso blanco or Monterey Jack
2 cups Guacamole (recipe follows)
2 cups Tomatillo Salsa (recipe follows)

Guacamole (adapted for what I had on hand)
Makes 2 cups

3 ripe avocados, peeled and diced roughly
1/3 cup chopped plum tomatoes
1 Tblsp. minced jalapeno pepper,
1 Tblsp. chopped cilantro
3 Tblsp. lime juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
3 dashes Tabasco

Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Smash the avocados to keep a bit chunky. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Tomatillo Salsa:

1 lb. tomatillos, coarsely chopped
1 roasted jalapeno, peeled and seeded
1 cup chopped tomato
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 Tblsp. lime juice
1 Tblsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste

Combine all ingredients, mix well, chill until ready to use.

Once chicken is grilled, let stand 5 minutes, then slice diagonally. Grill tortillas 30 seconds per side, spread with refried beans, cheese, chicken, salsa and guacamole. Num, num.

Agave field, Jalisco, Mexico

Erhai lake, Dali, China

blueberry coffee cake

This is a recipe I keep making since seeing it on Paula Dean's show last year on the food network. It's an unusual blueberry coffee cake that is also very decadent, with buttery, sugary layers between crunchy oatmeal and buttermilk biscuits, good right now when blueberries are so cheap. I've made a few minor adaptations, such as cooking time and the amount of sugar used.

1 12 ounce can buttermilk biscuits (I can never find this, so I get the 16 ounce can & leave two out)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter (this could probably be trimmed slightly)
1 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 375, grease a 9 inch square baking dish. Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon, melt butter. Take 12 oz. of biscuit dough and cut each biscuit into four pieces. Dip each biscuit piece into butter, then sugar/cinnamon mixture, then place in pan. On top of these, sprinkle half the oatmeal. Combine blueberries with sugar and spread over oatmeal and biscuits. Top with remaining oats, then drizzle remaining melted butter over all. Bake for 45 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm.

broiled salmon with marmalade-dijon glaze

This salmon is something I made last night from the latest issue of Cooking Light. I was afraid it might be cloying, but it's not at all-- the mustard tempers the sweetness of the marmalade. It's good and easy for those nights of coming home from work exhausted, chopping up a couple potatoes and tossing them with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and rosemary, and roasting for an hour at 375, then cranking up the oven to BROIL and making this salmon... The second recipe, for balsamic-roasted asparagus, is one I keep making again and again, and I want to have it in one place so I don't have to keep searching for it.

Broiled Salmon with Marmalade-Dijon Glaze
1/2 cup orange marmalade
1 Tblsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. ground ginger
4 6 ounce salmon fillets

Preheat broiler. Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl. Place fish in jelly roll pan coated with cooking spray. Brush half of marmalade mixture over fish, broil 6 minutes. Brush fish with remaining marmalade mixture, broil 2 minutes or until fish flakes easily.

Balsamic Roasted Asparagus
1 lb. asparagus
1 Tblsp. olive oil
1 Tblsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Snap off ends of asparagus, place in roasting pan. Drizzle with oil & vinegar, sprinkle with salt, garlic & pepper, toss to coat. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes, 4 servings.

Chicken curry with fried onions

I'm slowly making my way back into my kitchen... which starts not with experiments but with old favorites, things I make again and again. I have several different curry recipes I keep returning to, but the only problem is that while I always have chicken and yogurt on hand, I often don't have almonds, and many of the curry recipes I've used call for that. Here's one that doesn't, adapted from a Madhur Jaffrey recipe, and which I made last night, along with potatoes sauteed in turmeric, cumin and mustard seeds, basmati rice, and a green salad. Fairly easy-- maybe 45 minutes of active time?

Chicken curry with fried onions
2 lbs. boneless chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces
4 onions, peeled
1.5 inch chunk fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled
4 Tblsp. vegetable oil
1 Tblsp. ground coriander
1 Tblsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/4-1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
4 Tblsp. plain yogurt
2 1/2 cups water
2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garam masala


Chop 2 of the onions coarsely and throw into food processor. Ad ginger and garlic, puree until mixture forms a paste.

Slice the other two onions in half and then into thin slices. In cooking oil in a nonstick skillet, fry and stir until reddish-brown. Remove from pan. Add onion paste to skillet, stir and fry until brown, 3-4 minutes. Add spices, stir once. Begin adding yogurt, 1 Tblsp at a time, until all is incorporated. Add chicken, stir for one minute until pink. Pour in water, tomatoes, and salt. Bring to a simmer, cook covered for 20 minutes. Uncover. Add garam masala (can be purchased in small quantities at stores like Whole Foods) and fried onions. Cook, uncovered, until sauce thickens, may take 20 minutes. Serve with white rice.

sorry for not posting

I'm in the whirlwind of an extremely busy second semester, plus visits from family in Morocco, who have, amazingly, been doing all the cooking. I thus have no discoveries to report but hope to return to cooking (and posting) soon...

new ways with mac & cheese, part II

I had a dinner party last night. It was one of those dinner parties where everything comes together, where every recipe turns out wonderfully and everyone's having a good time, talking for hours. Good food can definitely facilitate that. The menu: mustard-and-herb chicken from this month's Food & Wine, balsamic-roasted green beans, the crusty macaroni and cheese recipe from the NY Times, a salad with walnuts & pear dressing, and for dessert, molten chocolate cakes (I've made these before-- sometimes they unmold beautifully, sometimes they don't, but they always taste delicious).

The two recipes that I will absolutely 100% make again were the macaroni & cheese and the mustard-and-herb chicken. Amazing. The mac & cheese recipe, the second from the NY Times article on the perfect macaroni and cheese, blew the creamy recipe out of the water. (Actually, after making this one, I am pretty sure I will not return to the other recipe). This recipe was not grainy but flavorful, crunchy, creamy inside, a hint of spice... in short, unbelievable. There were two kids at our dinner party, a 6 and 9 year old, and they loved it, too, which impressed me because I've seen so many American kids who will only eat the stuff from the box.

The original article commented that American cheese has superior meltability, so the recipe is a mix of sharp cheddar and American. I couldn't find the American in the Publix supermarket, so I was shocked when I asked and discovered it was in the nonperishable food aisle-- not refrigerated at all. Okay, no big deal. It does melt perfectly. Basically this recipe is just cooked macaroni mixed with a ton of cheese, placed in a pan, milk poured on top, and cheese sprinkled over, then baked for a very long time until it develops a crust both on top and on the bottom.

The mustard-herb chicken thighs are prepared in a skillet that can go into the oven (my new cast iron skillet is wonderful-- very affordable at Ross Dress-for-Less). You saute them first, flip them over, smear them with mustard and place a breadcrumb coating on top, then bake in the oven for 15 minutes. The recipe directions are firm that you should use fresh breadcrumbs, not the stuff in a can, and in this case you really must do this. Yum, yum, yum. Here are the two recipes:

Crusty Macaroni & Cheese
3 Tblsp. butter
12 ounces extra sharp cheddar, coarsely grated
12 ounces American cheese, coarsely grated
1 lb. elbow macaroni, cooked and drained
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
salt to taste
2/3 cup lowfat milk (using lowfat did not make a difference here)

Heat oven to 375. Coat 9 x 13 pan with 1 Tblsp. butter. Mix together the grated cheeses and set aside two cups. When pasta is cooked, toss in a large bowl with the rest of the cheese, cayenne, and salt. Place in baking dish and pour milk over top. Sprinkle reserved 2 cups of cheese on top, dot with remaining butter, and bake, uncovered, 45 minutes. Raise heat to 400 and bake another few minutes until crusty. (Recipe said 15-20 minutes of extra baking, but mine was already well-browned after 5.). Serves 8.

Mustard-and-Herb Chicken (Serves 2-- double for more people)
2 1-inch slices of country bread, torn
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan or pecorino romano
1/4 cup olive oil
4 boneless chicken thighs
2 Tblsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tblsp. butter
1 small onion, thinly sliced
Pinch sugar
1 Tblsp. fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400. Pulse bread in food processor until finely shredded. Add garlic, rosemary, parmesan, season with salt & pepper to taste and combine. Add 2 Tlbsp. of olive oil and pulse just to moisten crumbs.

In an ovenproof skillet, heat 2 Tblsp. olive oil over medium-high heat. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper, saute on one side until golden, about 6 minutes. Turn over, smear Dijon mustard over skin, and spoon bread crumbs on top, patting with back of spoon. Place skillet in oven and roast for 15 minutes or until crumbs are golden and crunchy. (I left mine in the oven, which I switched off, while I finished the rest of the dinner, and with thighs I don't think they dry out, although breasts would).

Sauce: I made this but the chicken really would have been fine on its own, without it. Saute onions in butter with sugar for 6-7 minutes until soft. Add lemon juice, cook until evaporated, about 2 minutes. Spoon onions onto plate, top with chicken.

new ways with macaroni & cheese

One of the "most emailed stories" in the NY Times this week was an article from this past Wednesday's food section, about a quest for the perfect macaroni cheese, one made neither from a box nor with a flour-water white sauce. Like the writer of the article, macaroni and cheese was not around much in my childhood household, either, so when I went away to school and discovered the Kraft stuff, I was hooked. I don't like the Kraft box version much anymore, especially since I learned about how many weird chemicals and preservatives are in it, but it's good to know there are organic box varieties out there that are even better and not much more than $1.50 each (The article also does an extensive review of those, and I can vouch for Annie's being tasty).

But I was most intrigued by the author's search for the perfect recipe, and she included two, one that professed to be creamy, the other crusty. I could hardly see how the creamy recipe would not also be crusty, since it involved uncovered baking time, which is guaranteed to put a crunchy layer of cheese over the top. What I was really curious about was the fact that she baked the uncooked macaroni right there in the pasta, and that it also featured cottage cheese placed in a blender to remove its consistency.

I tried this one the other night, using all the high-fat ingredients required just so I could get the whole effect. Next time I'll try it with lowfat ingredients and see if it works. A colleague of mine made it with low-fat ingredients and commented that the final texture was "grainy." This was a little bit true of this recipe, but it didn't strike me as grainy in a bad way. The entire pound of sharp cheddar was delicious and decadent, it did have a crunchy crust, and the noodles perfectly absorbed all the creamy goodness of the cheeses. I would definitely try to make this again, but my next move will be to tackle the second NY Times recipe, for "crusty macaroni and cheese."

Creamy Macaroni and Cheese

2 T. butter
1 cup cottage cheese (not lowfat)
2 cups milk (not skim)
1 tsp. dried mustard
Pinch cayenne
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 pound sharp or extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 pound elbow pasta, uncooked

Heat oven to 375. Using one tablespoon of the butter, grease a 9" round or square baking pan, or gratin dish. In a blender, puree cottage cheese, milk & spices. Set aside 1/4 cup grated cheddar. In a large bowl, mix pureed milk mixture with the rest of the cheddar cheese & uncooked pasta. Pour into pan, cover tightly with foil, and bake 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, uncover pan, stir gently, and scatter remaining cheese over all, dotting with another tablespoon of butter. Bake, this time uncovered, for another 30 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

pears poached with mascarpone

After the gluttony of the holidays, here's a simple dessert recipe that you can make that won't feel excessive... The mascarpone cheese is creamy without being overbearing, almost like a whipped cream or creme fraiche.

Pears poached with mascarpone cheese
2 Bosc pears, peeled, halved, & cored
2 Tblsp. lemon juice
1 cup water
1/2 cup white wine
6 Tblsp. honey
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
2 tsp. sugar

Toss pear halves with lemon juice & set aside. In a saucepan, combine water, wine, & honey, scraping in seeds of vanilla bean. (If you don't have a vanilla bean lying around, add 1 tsp. vanilla.) Heat until honey dissolves, add pears & simmer on medium low until pears are tender, turning halfway through cooking, 15-20 minutes.

Remove pears to a bowl and boil liquid until reduced to 3/4 cup. Cool syrup & pour over pears, cover & refrigerate. The recipe said to refrigerate at least 8 hours but I only did it for three-- it was really good, but perhaps would be even better if I'd waited longer... Remove vanilla bean.

Beat mascrapone cheese & sugar until smooth, add 1/4 cup of the chilled poaching syrup and whisk until soft peaks form. Place pears on plates, pouring syrup over, and add scoop of mascarpone cream into middle of pear half. Serve & enjoy...

spinach & asiago strata

Last weekend, we went to see the mildly amusing new comedy The Family Stone. In one scene, Sarah Jessica Parker's character was fussily making a strata (one that later ends up on the floor and all over Ms. Parker), and I remembered that strata was something I enjoy that I haven't had for a couple years. Was it one of those trendy dishes that people used to make, or has it always been in style and I just forgot about it? I decided to make one-- my parents had arrived, I'm off from work, and it seemed like a festive thing for the holidays. Strata is a lot like quiche-- you can improvise a great deal around a basic recipe. You could add mushrooms or zucchini to your saute, or use different cheeses. I like it that this version is meatless, and also that it involves spinach, so at least you're doing something to offset all the cheese. It sits in the refrigerator all night, absorbing the eggs and milk, and when you bake it, it puffs up delightfully. I adapted this from a Gourmet recipe to make it, to my mind, slightly healthier.

Spinach & Asiago Cheese Strata
1 10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1 Tblsp. butter
1 Tblsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
7-8 cups French bread, chopped into 1 inch cubes
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated asiago cheese (or use whatever cheese you want)
3/4 cup finely grated pecorino romano (or parmesan)
2 1/4 cups lowfat milk
4 eggs
1 cup Egg Beaters egg substitute
2 Tblsp. Dijon mustard

Cook spinach in microwave for five minutes, squeeze out as much water as possible. Finely chop spinach. Meanwhile, saute onions in butter & olive oil mixture until soft. Add 1/2 tsp. of the salt salt, 1/4 of the pepper, and all the nutmeg. Add spinach, mix well, and remove from heat.

Spray a 3 quart gratin dish or casserole with cooking spray; layer 1/3 of the bread cubes on the bottom. (They may not cover the entire area.) Top with 1/3 of spinach mixture. Sprinkle with 1/3 of each cheese. (Strata! The word calls to mind rock layers, and geologic time.) Repeat layers two more times, ending with cheese.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, egg substitute, milk, mustard, and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper. Pour over strata evenly, cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate overnight.

The next morning, remove strata from your refrigerator thirty minutes before you plan to start cooking it. Preheat oven to 350. After 30 minutes, place strata in middle of oven and bake for 45-55 minutes. Mine looked ready at 45 but was still wet in the center, so 55 was more like it. Serves about 8 people, or 6 very hungry ones...

spinach-artichoke dip

Yay! Exams are finished, grading is done. Grading is the worst part of being a professor. Otherwise, I love teaching, even though it can be exhausting. But now I have some extra time in front of me, and I can work on other projects-- namely research, which is necessary for getting tenure. But hopefully cooking and the reading of lots of good fiction, too.

Spinach-Artichoke Dip is a good one to take to holiday parties, when there are often so many desserts that people need something savory. I've made it twice in the past week. This version has a bit of heat to it, and I like it that it's got both spinach AND artichokes, to make you feel as if you're doing something healthy. I lightened it too, by using fat-free sour cream and light mayonnaise. (There is also a more decadent adaptation, below). I'm sure it's good for you. ;)

Spinach-Artichoke Dip
1 10-ounce package chopped spinach
2 14 ounce cans quartered artichoke hearts, drained
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1 cup percorino romano cheese, grated
1 cup monterey jack cheese with jalapenos (if you don't like spicy, just use plain monterey jack)
Dash of nutmeg
Dash of red (cayenne) pepper
Dash of black pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Microwave spinach for 5 minutes, then drain well, squeezing out excess water (a salad spinner does a good job of this). In a food processor, chop up the artichoke hearts. In a large bowl, mix artichoke hearts and spinach with all other ingredients except monterey jack. Spread in a 9" baking dish and sprinkle monterey jack cheese on top. Bake at least 30 minutes, or slightly longer so that top is golden brown and bubbly. Serve with tortilla chips or pita chips.

*Slightly more decadent version: add another 3/4 cup monterey jack to the spinach-artichoke mixture itself, keeping the other 1 cup for spreading on top.

back from DC

My trip to Washington, DC to give a paper at the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association started with French ravioli smothered in gruyere (depicted here-- at DuPont Circle's Bistrot du Coin) and ended with a bad cranberry scone in the Washington National airport... In between were many delightful repasts, highlights of which included the Lebanese Taverna (in Woodley Park, where the conference was) and a trip to a new cafe in the neighborhood of Howard University, Busboys and Poets, where I had a tremendous burger with melted havarti and avocado. This was a neat cafe with high ceilings, lots of comfortable lounge chairs, and a bookstore that appeared to specialize in books about African-American history and architecture. There was a trip to the Love Cafe for cake from the Cake Love bakery and Moroccan mint tea. There was also the antipasto platter at Me & You, a Mediterranean-themed place in Georgetown.

There were also some not-so-exciting meals-- forgettable Thai, boring burritos. The Indian restaurants in the neighborhood of the conference (again, Woodley Park metro), were pretty bland affairs, but I was heartened when I returned home with two of my colleagues and, on the way home, had an excellent lunch with Nour & friends at a vegetarian Indian restaurant right here in Orlando called Woodlands. Crisp samosas with perfectly spicy potato and pea filling, creamy malai kofta, potato & cauliflower curry, spinach & paneer, and a luscious eggplant baigun bhartha. Excellent gulab jamun, doughnuts served in a hot syrup, (a contrast to the refrigerated, desiccated nightmare of the gulab jamun I'd had in DC). That had me feeling pretty good about central Florida, in addition to the fact that it was 75 degrees and sunny.

I was amused by the gingerbread house they were building in the lobby of the Marriott where the conference was held. I watched the hotel staff put up a giant plywood house and then glue what looked like cafeteria cookies and graham crackers to it little by little. You can see at the top the half-plywood, half-graham crackered house. The employees looked less-than-thrilled at having to complete this arduous task.

I'm going into exam/grading mode for a few days and there may be no food-related dispatches until I'm finished... but the semester is drawing to a close, which is a great feeling...

what to do with leftover turkey

I posted the picture of this beautiful pumpkin flan I made purely for the aesthetic value-- it was not a big hit at the Thanksgiving table. From this month's issue of Gourmet magazine, the pumpkin flan had a spicy pumpkin seed topping (which would make a great appetizer on its own), but the final product tasted suspiciously like pumpkin pie filling without the crust. Oh well. I'd wanted to try one challenging new thing, alongside the requisite turkey and stuffing, gravy and mashed potatoes. But although it turned out perfectly well, it wasn't a flavor any of us were crazy about. The picture merely documents the labor-intensive work involved in making this.

Also labor intensive, but well worth the effort, and something you could also do with leftover chicken, is this recipe for turkey croquettes. Crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside, the consistency of Spanish salty cod croquettes. I think you have to deep fry them, as there's no comparable healthy shortcut. Made with considerable help last night from Nour, who has more skills with deep frying and also did a nice job preparing the final product for its photo shoot.

Turkey Croquettes
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 teaspoons grated onion
1/8 tsp. or more of spicy red pepper
Dash of pepper, paprika, and nutmeg
Salt to taste
4 cups minced leftover turkey
1 cup or more fine bread crumbs
1 beaten egg plus 2 tablespoons water (I had to use double this amount)

In a saucepan, melt butter and mix in flour. Add milk and chicken broth, simmer until thick. Remove from heat, stir in lemon juice, parsley, onion, and spices. Adjust to taste. Place in a large bowl with 4 cups turkey. Cool in refrigerator for one hour.

With wet hands, form croquettes into little balls. Roll in breadcrumbs. Roll into a cone shape, dip in egg, and dip again in breadcrumbs. You may need extra egg or breadcrumbs as necessary. Place on a plate. When ready for frying, heat up enough oil to cover the croquettes. When it's ready, deep fry without crowding, about three minutes each. Drain in a colander and keep warm in the oven.

two novels about friendship

Just finished Anita Brookner's novel The Rules of Engagement. Didn't love it, although it was well-written and flowed nicely. The entire story is told from the first person perspective of a woman who has lived a timid and rather bleak existence. Most of the story focuses on her lifelong friendship with another woman whose experiences of life are less measured and more adventuresome, but nonetheless the unreliable narrator pities her. Classic case of the camel that can't see its own hump, but it is never clear the camel sees anything at all, which I found both annoying and depressing.

A much better book that I also read over this vacation week, and really enjoyed, was Mary Gaitskill's Veronica. Also told from the perspective of a first person narrator, and also the story about a friendship, Veronica is a novel about beauty and ugliness, and the most unlikely places to find them. This narrator, Alison, in contrast to the Brookner narrator, embraces life to the point of self-destruction, and when the book begins she is already at rock bottom, a former model fallen victim to hepatitis who now cleans houses for a living. How she got there, and the story of a friendship experienced years before that still haunts her (with an AIDS sufferer), is the novel's story. Equal measures of beauty and ugliness, redemption and despair, this was a book that was easy to get lost in, with some particularly stunning moments of writing to alight on for a second before flying on.

swordfish, orzo & chocolate souffles

I am still "learning" to like fish, something I disliked immensely as a child (with the exception, I'm embarrassed to say, of Mrs. Paul's fish sticks). In college I started liking sushi of all kinds, but I still had issues with cooked fish. Now in addition to sushi, I love shrimp, tuna, salmon, particularly when well prepared. There's a baked Moroccan fish tagine with chermoula marinade, potatoes and peppers that is out-of-this world. But my efforts to prepare fish recipes that rely on the unadulterated flavor of the fish itself never seem to amount to much. I always feel like I'm dutifully eating the final product-- last night, a lackluster swordfish with orzo. I've had wonderful swordfish before, but I can't remember where. I'm wondering if it's the condition I buy the fish in. At the grocery store the swordfish was just sitting there in the case looking kind of pathetic, along with the other bottom dwellers, the obligatory tilapia, and the frozen shrimp. It's all been pre-frozen, even though we live an hour from the ocean. I've been told of a real fish market in town, which I hope to check out, but I haven't been happy with what's on offer at the grocery stores.

At any rate, I baked this with a lemon and olive oil dressing. Eh. The accompaniment was really nice-- I cooked some orzo, sauteed garlic and a few cups of spinach, mixing it with the orzo, some halved cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and olives. Spicy red pepper to taste. Feeling deprived, I decided to make a chocolate souffle with pistachios, a lightened version that is good if you're trying to be good and not eat too much (Nice with new "lowfat" Haagen Dazs, which is actually delicious). This was on my old website when The Barbecue was at a different address. Now, back by popular demand...

Chocolate Souffles with Pistachios
6 Tablespoons sugar
1 ounce semisweet chocolate
4 1/2 teaspoons butter
2 Tblsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 Tblsp. flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup lowfat milk
3 large egg whites
4 teaspoons chopped pistachios

Spray 4 ramekins with cooking spray and scatter a teaspoon of sugar over it lightly. Melt butter and semisweet chocolate over low heat, adding three tablespoons sugar until dissolved. Whisk in cocoa, flour and salt, then add milk little by little until thick, about three minutes, stirring all the time. Remove from heat and cool. I do this by putting the mixture in a metal pan and sticking it in the freezer briefly.

Beat eggwhites over high speed in a mixer until foamy. Add three remaining tablespoons of sugar one by one and beat until eggs form stiff peaks. Fold egg white mixture into chocolate mixture in four equal additions, being careful to blend it without losing the air. Then divide souffles between ramekins, sprinkling pistachios on top. In a 375 degree preheated oven, cook for 20 minutes and remove. Serve with ice cream.

Hemingway's

My aunt was in town for a conference, down in the "resort area," the area around Disney World/Universal Studios that often seems a world away from where I live a half-hour north. I hadn't seen my aunt in a few years, so it was nice to catch up and hear about how her family was doing. She was staying at the Hyatt Grand Cypress, a huge hotel with a very elaborate network of interconnected swimming pools set into artificial "caves," with cascading waterfalls and jacuzzis tucked away in little nooks. On the other side of the hotel was a lake with a little beach, and if you landed there in a helicopter you would never guess that you were less than a mile away from a sea of neon signs, fast food, and Florida souvenir emporiums. I was very impressed with the hotel, even more impressed at how the tourist industry creates these pockets of unreality.

What was really a treat was that my aunt took us out to dinner in the hotel at one of Orlando's top restaurants, Hemingway's. I would never have been able to go there on my own, and I enjoyed every minute of our dinner. I had a seared tuna entree that was out-of-this-world, accompanied with savory mashed potatoes baked with a crust on top. Seared tuna! Barely done on the outside, rare yet warm on the inside, dipped in a soy-wasabi sauce... mmmm. Nour tried their coconut shrimp, and my aunt had crab cakes. For dessert, we shared an excellent key lime pie with a baked meringue topping.

Living in a general state of American isolation, adrift on a peninsula with no relatives within eight hours of us, it was also nice just to be reminded that I have a family.

Persian Spinach & Yogurt Dip

It was a particularly good weekend for spinach, which is tied with orange squashes for my favorite good-for-you vegetable. Last night I decided to make an Indian vegetarian dinner, and I tried another Bittman recipe, this time for saag paneer, spinach with cheese. Bittman recommends using tofu in place of the cheese, and since I had some on hand, I followed his advice. I bought some whole milk yogurt at the Indian grocery store that was amazingly good, and this was one of the principal ingredients, along with spices and half-and-half. Really, really good. I also made channa masala, a tomato-chickpea curry, from this Indian-themed food website. I went on a wild goose chase for the channa masala spice, finding it not at the Trinidadian Indian grocery store but at another Indian grocery store that also had the aforementioned succulent yogurt.

Today I made Persian Spinach and Yogurt Dip, from this month's issue of Cooking Light, which has a motherlode of good recipes this month (I have already made the date bars, Lyonnais potatoes, and Chicago-style steak with mushroom sauce, all of which were excellent). Ali Baba, a Middle Eastern/Persian restaurant in Orlando, has a similar spinach dip that I like very much, so I was excited when this recipe yielded similar results.

I need to figure out how to archive recipes by category on Blogger, anybody out there know how?

Persian Spinach and Yogurt Dip
1 10 ounce package fresh spinach, chopped
2 tsp. butter
1/3 cup finely chopped sweet onion
1 minced garlic clove
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup plain, fat-free organic yogurt (I went with the full-fat natural yogurt version)
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Cook chopped spinach for one minute, then drain well, squeezing out excess water. In a skillet, melt butter, saute onions and garlic until translucent. Remove from heat, stir in spinach and salt, and cool.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix spinach mixture with yogurt, pepper and cinnamon. Let stand at least 30 minutes before serving, chill afterward. Serve with pita bread, carrots, etc.

B'stilla

B'stilla is a Moroccan savory-sweet chicken pie. It was once made with pigeon, and my husband claims it as a dish that originated in his hometown of Fes. It is a dish fit for royalty-- crisp layers of phyllo dough, savory chicken slow-cooked in broth and spices and shredded, and a crunchy layer of toasted and ground almonds, cinnamon, and sugar.

In one of the classes I teach about the Middle East, my students wanted to do a potluck supper/movie watching session. Understandably for a class involving food, it was one of the most successful classes all term. The students went all out-- they made feta cheese dip, Middle Eastern carrot cake, tabbouleh, cauliflower-potato curry, hummus and chips, and one student brought samosas and a huge box of baklava. (Not all the dishes were strictly Middle Eastern, but that didn't matter much). We stuffed ourselves and watched a Tunisian film, "A Summer in La Goulette."

For my contribution, I spent the entire evening before making a vegetarian harira (spicy lentil soup) and this chicken b'stilla. I started out following Mark Bittman's version in The Best Recipes in the World, but aside from following the quantities I abandoned much of his technique, since it was different from what my in-laws do. Nour helped me put it all together, because phyllo isn't the easiest thing to work with.

B'stilla
2 Tblsp. canola oil
2 minced garlic cloves
1 finely chopped onion
2 lbs. boneless, skinless thighs (although you can use regular thighs and just de-bone them after they cook-- then use maybe 3 pounds)
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 tsp. ground turmeric
1 tsp. ginger
3 cups chicken stock
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup skinless almonds
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1-2 Tblsp. sugar
1/2 pound phyllo (12 sheets)
8 Tblsp. (1 stick) melted butter
Confectioner's sugar

Defrost your phyllo dough. Read the box instructions for how to do this.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium. Cook garlic and onion until soft, about 3 minutes. Add chicken, parsley, turmeric, saffron, ginger, and stock. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer 20 minutes. Remove chicken from the pot to cool.

While stirring the stock, pour the eggs in slowly. (They will cook, but if you keep stirring they stay pretty separate, which is what you want). Simmer the stock, uncovered, until reduced by half (about 10 minutes). Shred chicken and return to stock, keep simmering until there is no more liquid. Remove from heat.

Here's where Bittman and I part ways. Toast the almonds in hot oil until they turn golden brown, remove to paper towels to drain. Grind in a coffee grinder but leave some chunky almond bits for consistency. Mix with cinnamon and regular sugar. Try one tablespoon first and taste. If you like it sweeter, add another tablespoon.

Preheat your oven to 425.

Get out the phyllo dough, making sure you followed the box instructions for defrosting, otherwise it will crack easily. Unroll phyllo dough carefully and have a damp towel ready to place on top. In a 9" pie pan using a pastry brush, brush butter on the bottom and sides of the pan. Place one sheet of phyllo dough in the pan, brush quickly with a little butter, place another on top, brush again, etc. Dough will be hanging over the sides, brush the sides too. Do 4-5 sheets this way. Cover the extra dough with cloth. Then add the chicken mixture. Cover chicken with the almond-sugar mixture (see photo). Fold the dough layers that were hanging over the side over the top and add a few more sheets, each brushed with butter, if you like. You may have extra butter or dough left at the end. An egg yolk brushed over the top is also optional. Bake 20-30 minutes, keeping an eye on the pie to see when it turns golden brown.

Remove from pan if you like, or if you're concerned about keeping it in one piece, leave it in there. When finished, sift a generous layer of powdered sugar over the top. Tap out cinnamon in a criss-cross pattern, as shown. Slice it up and enjoy. It's very elaborate but it's my favorite Moroccan dish-- very unusual and complex, served generally as a first course at weddings. My students loved it. Colleagues who tried a piece said they'd never tasted anything like it.

Another big success at the potluck class session was the Feta cheese dip some of my students made. I believe the source might be Middle East food expert Claudia Roden. Take 1/2 pound feta, the juice of one lemon, 2 Tblsp. vegetable oil, and 1 Tblsp. olive oil. Mash the feta with everything else using a fork until smooth. I asked for the recipe and will definitely make this dip again as well.

Tasting your way into another culture is one of the best ways to experience it.

Pasta with Winter Squash

I tried two more recipes from Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World. Pad Thai and Penne with Pumpkin or Squash.

Before I made the Pad Thai, my father was asking me why I liked to attempt ethnic dishes that involve paying for a lot of ingredients you never use again. I disagreed, saying that once you build a repertoire of spices, if you're interested in cooking these types of dishes you'll keep using the ingredients. Things like fish sauce, green curry paste, or cardamom pods, for example. I make some type of curry dish at least once a week, and Bittman is right, once you have the spices (which you can buy cheaply in small quantities at grocery stores like Whole Foods), making almost any Indian dish is usually simple. I also told my father that if the recipes are from a good source, you can guarantee good results most of the time.

Well, although I still stand by this assertion, this didn't happen for me with Bittman's Pad Thai. I have tried countless recipes for Pad Thai and never been able to make it taste like it does in a Thai restaurant. For this one, I bought fish sauce (nam pla), which was no great expense-- a little more than a dollar. I couldn't find the rice noodles at the grocery store. I went home, thought about using fettucine, then actually called up an Asian market several miles away and drove there to buy rice noodles. They were still the wrong shape, but I took them home, only to discover a little later that the bag was filled with insects. Grr... I then drove to Whole Foods and found the right kind of noodles there, but things continued to go downhill. I had every single ingredient required for the dish, but it still lacked those flavors I wanted to recreate. It was good, but it was something else. Won't be making that again.

I have a weakness for any squash with orange flesh. Pumpkins, butternut, acorn, you name it. Last year I discovered my dear friend Amy shared the same obsession for orange foods. We did many a lunch exchange at work of butternut squash lasagnas, soups, etc. Today, thinking of Amy, who no longer lives in Orlando, I decided to try Bittman's "Penne with Pumpkin or Squash" in her honor. I used only the finest ingredients, hoping to convince my husband of the subtle yet undeniable delight one derives from the consumption of orange foods. I grated fresh nutmeg, had a new wedge of Pecorino Romano (the recipe called for Parmesan), and cooked down the butternut squash into a textured, clinging sauce. It was awesome. Nour partook of seconds.

Preparation was very simple. I had a butternut squash that weighed a couple pounds, so I chopped it in half and peeled it, using only a pound of the squash. Then I cut up that one pound of squash in chunks and gave it a workout in the food processor until it looked grated. I put some water on to boil. In a frying pan, I placed a tablespoon each of butter and olive oil, and when the butter melted, I added a minced garlic clove and the squash mixture, stirring it around for a second before adding 1/2 cup water. I cooked it on medium heat for about 10 minutes, continuing to add water as the mixture got dry. I didn't want it to get too watery. In the meantime, I also boiled about 12 ounces of penne pasta.

At the end of the cooking time, I added 1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg, a generous dash of cayenne pepper to make it spicy, and salt to taste. I reserved a half cup of water from the pasta water and drained the rest, then dumped the pasta in with the orange sauce, adding a little of the reserved pasta water to make it just slightly saucy and not too dry (I love that culinary trick). I mixed it all with 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano, and man, was it good. Only differences from Bittman were the cheese and the addition of a minced garlic clove, but I think I managed to convince my husband of the superiority of orange foods. If only Amy were here!

With the other half of my squash, I think I will try a recipe I found here for habanero squash soup...

Pollo con Salsa Verde

Ramadan ended Wednesday night, so to celebrate I prepared a somewhat unorthodox Mexican dinner of Pollo con Salsa Verde (Chicken in Green Sauce), Mexican rice, and refried beans, all of it from scratch. I was most excited to prepare this because it involved using my new cookbook, Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World, which I'd been eagerly awaiting from Amazon. I am a huge fan of Bittman's Minimalist column in the NY Times, which I've read religiously for years, and his How to Cook Everything, which is an extremely useful cookbook. But this new cookbook promised to be even more thrilling, especially since it has lots of Moroccan recipes and recipes from many of my favorite ethnic cuisines-- Indian, Thai, Japanese, and even old standbys like French and Italian. I trust Bittman implicitly-- I've probably made several hundred of his recipes, 90% of which have turned out to be dishes I'll make again.

So the aforementioned Mexican dinner came entirely from the new cookbook. It involved making refried beans from scratch, doing a quick soak of small red beans and then preparing them with epazote, a Mexican spice that thankfully is sold at a local vegetable stand about a half a mile from my house. Also sold at the local vegetable stand are hulled pumpkin seeds and tomatillos, two essential ingredients in the Mexican chicken dish. The rice involved frying dry rice in oil and then cooking it with broth and a mixture of pureed tomatoes, onions, and garlic. It was pretty delicious too-- had a texture I wasn't used to with rice, but I liked it fine. And the Chicken in Green Sauce was terrific.

I will never forget the first time I had green enchiladas-- in a Mexican restaurant in Madrid called El Cuchi, back in 1995. (The restaurant was very theatrical-- waitresses served tequila shots accompanied by a hard hat to be placed on the customer's head and rapped on after the customer kicked back a shot while the waitress also rang a hand-held siren.) But I loved the enchiladas. The tomatillo-cilantro flavor was so unlike anything I'd ever had before, and it's one of my favorite things to order at Mexican restaurants. Mark Bittman's recipe is more complex and nuanced than any green chicken I've made before, partially because of the addition of pumpkin seeds and scallion. I would definitely make this again, and I plan to continue making and reporting on lots of new recipes from this cookbook.

Pollo con Salsa Verde
1/3 cup hulled pumpkin seeds
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 cup coarsely chopped scallion
1 cup husked, cored, and sliced tomatillos
1 jalapeno, stemmed and seeded
Chicken stock
3 Tblsp. lard or neutral oil (I used canola)
2.5-3 lbs. chicken parts, trimmed of fat (I used legs)
salt & pepper

Toast pumpkin seeds in a dry skillet, stirring frequently, until they begin to brown and pop (less than 5 minutes). In a blender, puree them with cilantro, scallion, tomatillos, and enough stock to make a thin paste.

In a skillet or casserole, brown the chicken in oil on all sides, turning occasionally, about 10-15 minutes.

Add salsa verde to the pan with another 1/2 cup of stock, the pieces may not be quite covered and the mixture will be soupy. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Cook 30 minutes, turning pieces occasionally, making sure sauce reduces and thickens somewhat. Serve with rice and beans.

Lemon Pound Cake

I've been thinking about cake this week. I watched a special on the Food Network about the founder of Cake Love, a bakery in Washington D.C. that my friend Mara introduced me to on my last visit. The owner dropped his law career to create a bakery, one that places more emphasis on taste than looks-- in some of the cakes, the filling is bursting out of its lovable and misshapen contours. But who cares? The desserts are delicious. And there's the name -- Cake Love-- which sounds like some sort of supportive, hippie religion dedicated to the worship of baked goods. I went there more than once on my last visit to DC to sample cupcakes and other delights. When I go back this December for an academic conference, Cake Love will definitely be on my list of places to go, along with Ben's Chili Shop, Lebanese Taverna, and Bistrot du Coin in DuPont Circle...

Although I have a wonderful family recipe for pound cake that is called "Crust Cake," which develops a sweet and crunchy crust, it is somewhat heavy and therefore the kind of thing I only like to make once a year or so. This recipe is a little lighter, brighter, and less heavy. It's from the magazine Cook's Illustrated, which I love for their thorough testing of recipes in search of perfection. I knew this would be a winner, and it was-- sweet yet tart, moist yet not gummy, delicate yet substantial. I will definitely make this again.

Lemon Pound Cake
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 Tblsp. grated lemon zest plus 2 tsp. lemon juice
4 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Lemon Glaze
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 by 5 loaf pan with 1 Tblsp. softened butter, dust with 1 Tblsp. flour and tap out excess.

In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.

Melt the butter on the stove and stir it up to make sure it's mixed. In a food processor, process sugar and zest until combined. Add lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla until combined. Keep machine running and add melted butter, remove mixture to large bowl. Sift flour mixture over eggs in three batches, mixing just to combine after each step. Pour into breadloaf pan and bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 and bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes more. When toothpick comes out clean, it's ready. Check after 35 minutes, but I found mine took another 5-7 minutes longer. Cool for 10 minutes, turn out onto wire rack, brush Lemon Glaze onto top and sides with a pastry brush.

Lemon glaze: bring sugar and lemon juice to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low, simmer 2 minutes until thick.

Ramadan breakfast

We had guests over last night for a traditional Moroccan "breaking of the fast." On normal nights, breaking the fast is a much less elaborate affair, though we try to always have one or more of the following elements. We started the meal with a spicy bowl of harira, a hearty soup made with tomatoes, lentils, meat, and chickpeas, hard boiled eggs flavored with cumin, salt and pepper, dates and figs, a banana milkshake, lemon pound cake, and the famous "pancake with a thousand holes," also known as "bghrir." (This intriguing pancake is made with semolina and yeast; the batter rises for two hours and then when it's fried up it gets little bubbles all over the surface-- hence its name). All of these items might be found on a Moroccan table, even the lemon pound cake, known in my husband's family as mskuta although there, not flavored with lemon. After stuffing ourselves full of tasty carbs, we waited for awhile and then served chicken tagine with lemon and olives, along with fresh, round loaves of Moroccan wheat bread.

Nour and I spent almost six hours preparing, although for him the preparation was considerably more difficult because he was fasting AND the air conditioning system was broken (welcome to Florida, 85 degrees yesterday, and a hurricane on the way). I was thrilled with the way everything turned out, and each recipe was a keeper, particularly the chicken and olive tagine and the lemon pound cake. Our guests, one of whom was Moroccan, raved about the tagine. Nour made the harira, which was terrific, although I didn't write down the quantities yet so I can't report how it was made. I will write about the terrific lemon pound cake on another day, but for now, here's how to make an authentic (and easy) Moroccan chicken tagine that will leave your guests fainting with happiness... Moroccans eat tagines with bread-- couscous would not be served with this, although you can really do whatever you want if you feel you need a side carb.

Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Lemon & Olives
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
3 pounds chicken pieces, cut up
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. pepper
10-14 ounces green olives without pits (with pimiento is fine; although not traditional, it doesn't affect the taste too much)
Juice from 1 lemon
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro

In a Dutch oven, saute garlic in a generous slug of olive oil over medium heat until beginning to turn golden. Add tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes more, until softening. Add chicken, turmeric, and pepper, and cook uncovered for 15 minutes over low heat, turning occasionally.

Add about a cup of water to almost cover the chicken, then add olives. Cover and simmer 30 minutes, turning occasionally. Add lemon juice and cilantro, uncover and cook 15 minutes more, reducing the sauce so that it thickens slightly. Serve with crusty baguette for dipping.

Chocolate Butter Creams

It was a fairly forgettable week for cooking, mostly because I was so busy at work I only had one night where I attempted anything dramatic. I made a Pakistani chicken curry and potato-spinach patties, but both turned out to be forgettable and therefore not worth reporting. (I was checking out some sample recipes from a new Indian cookbook, but I probably won't buy it since Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking, along with a few books by Madhur Jaffrey already have me covered...)

Which brings me to the week's one culinary success: butter creams. My mother often made these. She said her favorite way to spend her birthday as a child was to get to eat butter creams all day and read comic books. These are decadent and impressive, rich dark chocolate coating a creamy, buttery center-- it's like making your own chocolates and will impress everyone, though it's not at all difficult. The only drawback is that they stick to the plate, and I haven't figured out a way around that-- I tried putting these on a plate coated with Pam, but to no avail. They have to be pried up with a sharp knife, or if you take them out of the refrigerator for a few minutes, they usually are soft enough to pull off more easily. But they are worth it.

Chocolate Butter Creams

1/2 cup butter (one stick), slightly softened
4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tblsp. Condensed milk
Semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate-- a couple ounces

Cream butter using electric mixer, sift powdered sugar gradually into it, incorporating little by little. Add vanilla, mix everything well and form into balls by rolling in the palm of your hand. Place in the refrigerator on a plate for one hour to harden.

I then took a bar of Ghiradelli's semisweet baking chocolate and melted it over low heat with a couple squares of unsweetened baking chocolate (the bitter contrast is nice with the sweetness of the interior). Once melted, I took out the butter cream balls and used cooking tongs to quickly dip and coat each ball with chocolate, removing and placing on perhaps a greased cookie sheet. Cover and return to refrigerator to chill for another half hour or so, then eat and enjoy, or serve to guests. Decadent.

Egg

This is really, really exciting-- one of my oldest friends, George, has been written up in the New York Times for his new restaurant,
Egg.

I wish I still lived in New York... If you happen to be there, go check it out. I am certain, from many a fine dinner prepared by George himself, that this place must be good.

Afghani Chicken with Pistachios and Caramelized Onions

When I used to live in Baltimore, there was a terrific Afghani restaurant called the Helmand. (I believe there is also a branch in San Francisco). I often went there for special occasions and it was wonderful-- unique dishes that reminded me of Turkish and Indian food yet which were very much their own thing. Dumplings stuffed with meat and leeks and drizzled in yogurt sauce, delicate dishes involving spiced pumpkin puree. The Helmand was owned by the Karzai family-- the very same family of the President of Afghanistan.

A few months ago, my friend Delia made this recipe for her book club when they were reading Khaled Hosseini's bestselling novel The Kite Runner. The recipe originally appeared in Cooking Light. At the time she recommended the dish, I filed the recipe away, and last night I finally made it.

It was amazing. Delicate, subtly spiced rice, tender chicken, and the perfect blend of salty and sweet. The rice is not very sweet, despite the orange peel and the sugar. The caramelized onions and saffron make this dish outstanding, and I love the different textures, particularly the crunch of pistachios on top. It's not hard to make, so I'll definitely be making it again.

Afghani Chicken with Pistachios and Caramelized Onions

6 pieces of chicken, bone-in, your call which type (I used legs)
2 cups vertically sliced onions
1/4 tsp. saffron threads, crushed
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 Tblsp. sugar
2 tsp. grated orange peel
2 1/4 cups no sodium added chicken broth
1 1/2 cups uncooked basmati or other long grain rice
2 Tblsp. raisins
6 Tblsp. chopped pistachios

Salt and pepper chicken pieces. In a large Dutch oven, melt 1 Tblsp. butter. Brown chicken on all sides over medium-high heat (about 5-7 minutes). Remove chicken from pan.

Melt another tablespoon of butter in same Dutch oven, saute sliced onions over medium heat until golden brown, 10-12 minutes. Add saffron and garlic, cook one minute, stirring constantly. Add orange peel and sugar, stir again for another minute. Add broth, rice, raisins, and salt to taste (1/4 tsp or more). Place chicken pieces back in rice and cover with lid. Cook 25 minutes, turning once, check to make sure the chicken doesn't dry up. You may need to add a bit more broth or water. Taste to see if rice is tender and adjust seasonings. Sprinkle with pistachios and serve. Serves 6. I divided this in half and managed to polish it off with only 2 people.

Sopa (Moroccan Vegetable Soup)

It's the month of Ramadan now, which means that my husband is fasting during the day. I tried fasting before when we lived in Morocco-- I made it about two weeks before finally giving up. It's incredibly difficult. Now I just like to try preparing nice things for him to break the fast with. The most common breakfast we had back in Fes would be a big bowl of harira-- a tomato-based soup with lentils, chickpeas, meat, and spices-- with dates, lots of honey pancakes and pastries. I made a huge pot of harira last week, but after eating it for a few days my husband gets tired of it and wants something else. So today I made something his mother calls sopa, a vegetable soup that is a lot lighter than harira. (If only the humid 90 degree Florida temperatures would agree with all this soupmaking.)

His family eats sopa as a light meal at night, particularly in the winter, often with a "tortilla"-- actually a Spanish omelette with potatoes. They sometimes make it with leftover chicken and other times with no meat at all-- it really doesn't need it for the flavor. I was looking at Hajar Lahouifi's recipe for chorba, which looks very similar, but this is our version from Fes:

Moroccan Vegetable Sopa (For 2 people-- can be doubled to serve 4)
3 carrots, diced
1 large potato, diced
2 celery sticks, diced (they would use the leaves but I don't find them in supermarkets here)
1-2 large tomatoes, whole (You can use 3 smaller canned whole tomatoes if you like)
1 onion, whole
a handful of parsley, finely chopped
a handful of cilantro, finely chopped
a tiny dash of turmeric
salt and pepper to taste
1 soup spoon olive oil
Green peas, a generous handful
a small bundle of vermicelli noodles
1 beef boullion cube - I like Better than Boullion (Vegetarians could probably use a veggie cube)

Place carrots, potatoes, celery, whole tomatoes, whole onion, parsley and cilantro in a small pot or pressure cooker. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Add turmeric, salt, pepper and oil, then cover. Cook for fifteen minutes in a pressure cooker or one hour in a normal soup pot. Remove tomatoes and onion and blend in a blender or food processor, returning this to the pot. Taste and adjust seasonings, then in last few minutes of cooking time add noodles and green peas (which I don't add until the end because I use frozen ones).

Challah Bread

Maybe because it’s Rosh Hashanah, maybe because the NY Times had a big article last week about different varieties of kugel, which sounded intriguing though I’ve never tried it, I’ve been curious about the traditional foods eaten at this holiday. My friend Carol is going to bring a kugel her mother used to make into the office on Friday, so I’m looking forward to that. But last night I was having a craving for bread, and remembering how good challah French toast is, I decided to try my hand at the bread itself.

Surprisingly, it is not at all difficult to make, and the results turned out perfectly. The end result is very impressive, with a golden-brown, puffed up loaf, crispy on the outside, soft and dense and fragrant on the inside. For my recipe I chose to follow Mark Bittman’s in How To Cook Everything, which my friend Beth refers to as the “Bittman Bible.” (I refer to it seven to ten times each week). I decided to divide the recipe in half, both because Bittman recommended not keeping it for more than a day and also because my food processor is too small to process five cups of flour, and I love using the food processor to make bread.

2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Rapid Rise yeast
1 Tblsp. Honey or sugar
1 1/2 eggs (this was a stretch—I used a single egg and 1/8 cup egg beaters)
Milk, warmed in the microwave, midway between 1/2 and 3/4 of a cup
Coarse salt to taste

First I put the flour, salt, and yeast in a food processor, whirring them to blend. As the machine was running, I added the honey, eggs and milk. I processed the dough for 30 seconds, and its consistency was supposed to be barely sticky and a well-defined ball, so I had to add a few more tablespoons of flour until it came out like this. Then I kneaded it for about thirty seconds on a floured surface and turned it into a mixing bowl coated with cooking oil.

For an hour and a half the bread rose in the inferno that is the Florida garage. By this point I was getting hungry, so I cut short Mark Bittman’s recommended time to do these other steps. I punched the dough down into three equally sized balls, then let them sit five minutes (rather than the recommended fifteen). I rolled them out into three ropes about 10 inches long and placed them on a greased baking sheet, connecting them at the top. I simply braided them and connected the dough again at the bottom, (they were supposed to sit in this state for 30 minutes but I couldn’t wait), brushing it with egg yolk and sprinkling coarse Kosher salt on top. In a preheated 375 degree oven I cooked the small loaf about 30 minutes, until it was golden brown and made a hollow noise when I tapped it on the bottom. Mmm. Great with dinner, can’t wait to have it again for breakfast…

Experimenting with Quinoa

I was interested to read that quinoa (pronounced "kin-wa"), a grain from Ecuador used since the time of the Incans, was so high in protein-- up to 12 grams in a serving. It also has fiber and vitamins A & C, making it a kind of super-grain. I bought some from Whole Foods and decided to start experimenting with recipes. The first recipe I tried was a slight improvisation based on a recent article in Runner's World. It was kind of a quinoa pilaf that has a lot of vitamins and protein in it. I made it as an accompaniment to London broil, but it could have stood on its own as a filling veggie lunch.

First I heated a bit of olive oil in a saucepan, then sauteed 3/4 cup quinoa until it was golden and toasty. I covered this with 1 1/2 cups chicken broth and cooked it for fifteen minutes, while in another pan I sauteed a few tablespoons of onion and two garlic cloves in olive oil. At the end I added about three cups of fresh spinach and a diced plum tomato, along with a dash of salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. When the spinach had reduced in size and the quinoa was cooked, I mixed everything together along with 1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese.

Results: I really liked the consistency, which was crunchy and fell somewhere between bulgur and couscous in appearance. The quinoa also tasted delicious. BUT-- it had a slightly weird smell to it that reminded me of cauliflower-- not entirely appealing. Sometimes I smell things that aren't there (ancient head injury, long story), so it could have been in my imagination. And my husband loved it. So I will keep experimenting and report tasty quinoa recipes as I find them, since obviously it's really good for you.