Chicken Bstilla

This turned out way more beautiful than I expected, which is one way of saying it's easier than it looks. We also had a whole team of people putting this dinner together, and some handy tools like a food processor and one of those fast-chopping things from TV infomercials. We made a chicken version and a vegetarian version, but a real Bstilla is made with pigeon (or squab-- believe me, it's the same thing-- but which would you rather order in a restaurant?). For the vegetarian version, we used leftover rice and tofu, and made vegetable stock in place of the stewing liquid. This recipe is adapted from Claudia Roden's excellent The New Book of Middle Eastern Cooking.

inside the veggie bstilla

3lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs

3T oil

2 large onions, finely chopped

s&p

1t grated ginger

1/4t powdered saffron (optional)

2t ground cinnamon & more to garnish

6 eggs, lightly beaten

1c chopped flat-leaf parsley

1/2c chopped cilantro

1 1/2c blanched almonds

2T sugar

1/2c oil

14 sheets fillo pastry

powdered sugar to garnish

a slice of the chicken bstilla

Clean chicken and brown in oil. Add spices and onions and cook until onions are translucent. Add water just to cover and simmer about 30 minutes, until chicken is soft. Remove chicken and shred with a fork.

Reduce stewing liquid to 2/3 c. Pour in eggs and whisk gently until mixture is creamy & nearly set. Stir in parsley & cilantro, season with salt and pepper.

Coarsely chop almonds & fry in 1T oil, stirring and shaking pan to brown evenly. Toss with sugar & 1t cinnamon.

Brush a baking dish with oil. Fit a sheet of fillo so ends fold well up the side and overlap the edges (or use overlapping sheets, like we did). Lay 6 sheets on top of each other, brushing between each layer.

Spread chicken over pastry. Pour on egg mixture. Lay another 4 sheets on top, brushing with oil. Sprinkle almonds mixture on top, then bring the overhanging bits up and fold over the almond mixture. Cover with remaining fillo (we had 4 sheets left), brushing with oil (don't brush top layer). Tuck top sheets down inside pan, underneath pie.

veggie bstilla, just out of the oven

Bake in preheated 400 deg oven for 30 min, until top is crisp & golden brown. Turn carefully onto baking sheet & bake 15 min until brown. Serve hot, turned upside down onto platter.

chicken bstilla, decorated

Dust with powdered sugar and make a pattern of criss-crossing parallel lines with cinnamon.

We served it with Fattoush,

an Israeli/Arab-style (chopped veggies) salad

with crispy pieces of pita bread.

Smoked Trout and Wheat Berry Salad

This is a great summer salad that (if you precook the wheat berries) involves no cooking whatsoever, so it's perfect for nights when it's simply too hot to be in the kitchen. I used smoked trout from Verbrugge's in Oakland; they smoke it themselves and it's not as salty as what you normally find. If you're using particularly salty trout, some croutons might be nice to cut the salt. I use Castelvetrano olives because they are particularly mild, but you would want something more pronounced if your fish is stronger in smokiness or saltiness.

You'll need (serves 3):

1 smoked trout, about 1lb

6 large leaves of red leaf lettuce, cut into small pieces

1c wheat berries

1/4c tahini

juice & zest of 1-2 lemons

1T olive oil

1/4c Castelvetrano olives

1/2 red onion

Cook 1c wheat berries in 3c water & 1t salt until tender (they'll still be al dente), about 1 1/2 hours. Drain, toss with olive oil, and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, beat tahini with lemon juice and zest. If the mixture gets too thick, add some hot water to thin. It should be thick like soft-serve ice cream.

Toss wheat berries in tahini mixture. Mince red onion and add to wheat berries. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Arrange lettuce on plates and place a scoop of wheat berry salad in the center. Surround with trout and olives. Serve with bread.

Vegetarian version: dress salad with roasted eggplant instead of trout.

Easy Herbed Lamb Chops

These little loin lamb chops are so good that you don't even need the marinade, but it's an easy way to dress them up a bit. You can barbecue these or put them under the broiler.

You'll need (serves 4):

8 loin-cut lamb chops

5 cloves garlic

2T herbes de provence (rub in your hands to break up the dry herbes)

1t cumin

1t coriander

1/2t cayenne pepper

2T olive oil

Crush and chop garlic to a paste with some kosher salt (this will help keep the garlic from sticking to the knife). Place in a dish large enough to hold the chops in one layer. Add spices.

marinating lamb chops

Clean chops (I remove all the fat; if you're barbecuing, this isn't necessary) and dry well. Place in spices and turn to coat. Drizzle with olive oil until spices just form a paste; massage into lamb. Let sit for 2-3 hours in the refrigerator. Take it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking to allow for meat to return to room temperature.

Wipe marinade off lamb and broil in preheated broiler 4-5 minutes per side for medium.

Serve with quinoa and green beans with pine nuts.

Green Beans with Pine Nuts

If you usually saute green beans with shallots, try this for a change of flavor. The pine nuts are a fantastic complement to the crunchy green beans, and the lemon ties everything together.

You'll need (serves 4):

1lb green beans

1/4c pine nuts, toasted

1 lemon (juice & zest)

red pepper flakes

Cut green beans into bite-sized lengths. Saute very briefly over high heat in olive oil with salt and pepper flakes. When they turn bright, pour in lemon juice and toss. After 5-7 minutes total cooking (they should still be crunchy), pour into a bowl and toss with lemon zest and toasted pine nuts.

Chipotle Corn Chowder

This is a creamy, hearty soup perfect for summer colds (like mine this week). It's easy and quick to make, and very adaptable-- you can turn it into a creamy chowder or leave it unblended; you can add crab, shredded chicken or tofu to turn it into a main meal; you can adjust the level of spiciness as you like.

You'll need (serves 6 appetizers or 4 main courses):

5 ears of corn

2 medium leeks

1 onion

3c milk

1-3 chipotle chilies in adobo

1 8oz bottle clam juice (optional)

2T butter

1 bay leaf

2T tomato paste

2c chicken stock or water

Cut corn kernels off cobs with a large sharp knife. An easy way to do this is to break the ears in half and place one half cut-side down on a cutting board; then angle your knife slightly towards the cob and cut down.

Place the shorn cobs in a pot and cover with milk. Add clam juice, if using, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then simmer, stirring often.

In the meantime, clean and thinly slice leeks. Slice onion. Melt butter in a large skillet. Add onion and leeks and salt and pepper. Cook about 5 minutes, until leeks turn bright; then add corn and cook 10 more minutes, stirring often. Add tomato paste and chipotle chiles and cook 5 more minutes.

Remove corn cobs and bay leaf from milk. Add corn mixture. Cook about 5 minutes.

Blend soup in batches and return to pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Thin with chicken stock, water, or milk.

Warm Tomato Dressing

This is a nice change from the classic vinaigrette, and a great way to use up any over-ripe cherry tomatoes.

You'll need:

cherry tomatoes

olive oil

kosher salt & pepper

balsamic vinegar

Toss tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a small oven-proof dish or skillet at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, until they pop.

Smash with balsamic vinegar.

I used this dressing on a salad of baby gem lettuce, roasted eggplant, radish, avocado, and feta cheese.

Extra Creamy Baked Ziti

I haven't posted in quite a while because I've been away, eating delicious things like Brazilian mariscada at Muqueca in Cambridge, dim sum at Perfect Team Corporation in Flushing, and a bucketful of creamy carbonara loaded with crispy bacon cubes for breakfast (yes, breakfast) at Prune in Manhattan. Since coming back to the Bay, I've been busy preparing to teach a new course, and have been making mostly old standbys that I've already posted or that don't particularly deserve a post.

But my latest rendition of Baked Ziti, based on my old recipe already featured here, might merit another posting. This time, I did a few things differently:

1. I made an enormous amount of bechamel, using an entire container (~4c) of 1% milk and copious amounts of mozzarella and parmesan. The result was an especially creamy, cheesy finished dish.

2. I used turkey sausage, which cuts down on the fat. I also browned the sausage meat separately and then drained it well in a strainer before mixing it with the tomato sauce I'd already prepared. Taking out the extra grease here helps the sauce stick to the pasta.

3. I mixed the pasta with the meat sauce, and put about half in the pan. Then topped that with half the cheese sauce; then the rest of the pasta & sauce, then the rest of the cheese sauce. Keeping the pasta and the bechamel separate is key here: it prevents the pasta from soaking up all the bechamel, so that the finished dish has distinct layers of cheesy goo. Yum.

Steamed Fish with Szechuan Noodles

This is a fast, healthy, and very flavorful meal that you can probably make from things you have around the house-- I use broccoli and pea shoots here but any vegetable would work (peas, carrots, green beans, etc). If you don't have szechuan pepper, get some. It's amazing stuff-- peppery, tingly, and basically fantastic. It really changes the flavor of this dish. If I didn't have it, I'd probably put ginger in the sauce instead.

You'll need (serves 2, but doubles easily):

2 fillets of ocean perch or any other firm white fish

1/2lb fresh spelt pasta (we used Phoenix Pastificio's) or buckwheat/soba noodles

broccoli, cut into small florets

pea shoots

6 cloves garlic

4 scallions

1/4c soy sauce

2T mirin (rice cooking wine)

1T rice wine vinegar

sriracha, to taste

1t cracked szechuan pepper

Crush 4 cloves garlic. Slice scallions. Place in small bowl with soy sauce, mirin, vinegar, sriracha, and peppercorns.

Cook pasta until barely al dente. Drain and set aside.

Salt and pepper fish. Place in skillet with tight-fitting lid. Add 2T prepared sauce and 1/4c water. Cover and cook on low about 10 minutes, until fish flakes.

Steam broccoli in a large skillet; drain and set aside. Slice 2 cloves garlic. Add a little oil to the skillet and add pea shoots and garlic. Return broccoli to skillet with cooked pasta and prepared sauce. Cook until pea shoots wilt and noodles absorb sauce, about 2 minutes.

Remove fish from pan and reduce remaining sauce. Pour sauce over fish and serve with noodles.

Warm Caprese Sandwich

Although the weather staunchly refuses to admit that summer is near, I am starting to long for summer staples like fresh heirloom tomatoes, herbs and salads. I wanted a caprese salad today, and had all the ingredients ready, but the blustery wind made me crave a warm lunch. Here's what I put together. It was really good, both in flavor and texture-- the rich creamy mozzarella was offset nicely by the tangy, sweet tomatoes, and the radishes add a satisfying crunch.

You'll need:

1 handful cherry tomatoes

1t olive oil

1/2t salt

dried herbs, optional (I used herbed cooking salt)

1t balsamic vinegar

1 handful fresh basil leaves

4 slices fresh mozzarella

2 radishes

bread-- I used a "baguette piece", basically a small baguette roll, from the Cheeseboard

Cut tomatoes in half and cook in a small skillet over medium heat, along with olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs/spices, for about 5 minutes, until wilted and mushy. Their liquid should start to thicken. In the meantime, cut basil into chiffonade and thinly slice radishes. When tomatoes are cooked, turn heat to high and add balsamic vinegar to deglaze. Cook 30 seconds until thick. Turn off heat and add basil.

Heat bread in oven, then slice in half.

Layer cheese and radishes.

Top with tomato mixture. Serve open-face.

Couscous & Sundried Tomato Salad

This is a great dish to bring to a potluck, because it's transportable, can easily be made vegan, and highlights any fresh summer flavors you care to include. It's also easy to make in enormous quantities. The recipe below fed two separate BBQs; adjust accordingly, but it stays good in the fridge for a day or two, longer if you don't use cucumber.

You'll need:

3c couscous

3c water

1t salt

2T butter or olive oil

1 jar sun dried tomatoes packed in oil

1 bunch mint

1 large or 2-3 small cucumbers

1 small red onion

feta cheese (optional)

1 large lemon (or 2 small)

olive oil

Boil water. Pour couscous into a large bowl; add butter or oil and salt. Pour boiling water on top. Stir and cover for 5 minutes. Remove cover and fluff well with a fork.

Chop mint (you can use a food processor) and set aside in serving bowl. Chop tomatoes, reserving their oil, or pour the whole jar into a food processor and process for a few seconds (you don't want a paste). Add tomatoes and their oil to serving bowl. By hand, finely chop cucumber and red onion and add to serving bowl. Add couscous a little at a time, stirring well with a fork to combine. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper, and olive oil. Toss to combine. Taste and season with more salt and pepper and lemon juice if necessary.

Top with feta cheese, if you want.

Stuffed Zucchini

This is my grandmother's recipe, except she doesn't use recipes, so it's an approximation. If you don't like zucchini you can stuff bell peppers, tomatoes, Italian eggplants, or pretty much any receptacle-shaped vegetable. This is also a lot easier than it looks.

You'll need:

6 zucchini (you can use the normal long ones but I like the round ones, because you can put more stuffing inside, and obviously the stuffing's the best part)

1 onion

2-3 cloves garlic

a few tomatoes or a 1/2c or so of tomato sauce

juice from 1/2 lemon

mint for garnish

stuffing:

1/2lb ground beef or lamb

1/3c white rice

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

a few tablespoons tomato sauce

spices-- I used tomato flakes & baharat

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Start with the stuffing. Chop onion & garlic. Saute in olive oil with spices-- cumin-based flavors are good here-- until caramelized, about 10 minutes. Pour cooked onion into a large bowl. Add raw meat. Rinse rice until it runs clear. Add rice. Add some olive oil and tomato sauce to moisten, and generously season with salt and pepper. Mix well.

Chop the end of the zucchini (small end if you're using rounded ones) and remove the insides with a corer or a spoon. Discard insides. Don't cut all the way through to the other side. You should have zucchini shells now. Stuff them will the stuffing but don't fill all the way (the rice will expand).

Heat olive oil in a large skillet (the same you used for the onion is fine). Chop onion and garlic; saute until translucent. Add zucchinis to pan and oil if necessary; saute briefly on all sides. Add tomato sauce and a bit of water if sauce looks very thick. Add lemon juice.

If you have extra stuffing, make little meatballs and add them to the sauce too.

Cover pan and cook in oven until rice is done, about 45 minutes. You can reduce the sauce on the stovetop, uncovered, if necessary at the end.

Serve garnished with mint.

Roasted Asparagus

I used to hate asparagus. Now it is my favorite vegetable. This is the recipe that converted me. It takes 15-30 minutes and works with thin or thick asparagus stalks. 

You'll need:

asparagus

olive oil

minced shallot

red pepper flakes

lemon zest

kosher salt

pepper

Mix oil, shallot and spices in a bowl. Trim asparagus. Toss with dressing. Spread on a cookie sheet and roast in a 400 degree oven until just soft enough to bite. 

Garnish with grated parmesan.

Chicken in Creamy Morel Leek Sauce

This is an easy but decadent dish, and can be made with skinless boneless breasts as well (just cut down on the cooking time). If you can't find fresh morels use dried ones, and use the reconstituting liquid in place of the broth.

You'll need (serves 4):

8 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin and fat removed

1c flour

2-3 leeks

1/2lb fresh morel mushrooms

1/4c Pastis, Ricard, or vermouth

3/4c chicken broth

1/4c heavy cream

2T canola oil

1T butter

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet big enough to hold all the chicken in one layer. Dredge the chicken in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Brown thighs over medium heat, smooth (former skin) side first, until dark golden brown. You can do this in batches. Remove browned thighs and set aside. 

Clean and trim leeks. Quarter and then slice thinly horizontally so you have small half crescent moons. Clean and trim mushrooms. Slice in half and remove any dirt or bugs.

Wipe any burnt bits from the pan. Add butter. Add leeks and saute about 7 minutes until translucent. Add mushrooms and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Deglaze pan with Pastis.

Return chicken to pan, smooth side up. Add broth and bring to a boil (this should happen fast as the pan's pretty hot at this point). Lower to a simmer. Cover and cook 45 minutes.

Remove chicken from pan. Add cream. Bring to a boil, then simmer to reduce. Return chicken to pan and heat through.

Serve with a grain to absorb all the yummy sauce!

Silky Cauliflower Soup with Fresh Porcini Mushrooms

This soup has a remarkable texture, and is very versatile: you can make it simple, with cauliflower and water instead of stock, or you can use the cauliflower as a base for other flavors.

You'll need:

1 head cauliflower, broken into florets

6c stock, water, or a combination

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2T butter

fresh porcini mushrooms for garnish*

*I put a few mushrooms in with the cauliflower but I don't think it added much. Keep them as a topping.

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring, about 10 minutes, until very soft. Don't let the onions brown.

Add cauliflower and salt (more if you're using water or no-salt broth). Add liquid to cover; bring to a boil, then simmer gently until cauliflower is soft (about 10 min). 

Puree in a blender (I tried using a hand blender but it didn't get the silky consistency) until frothy and smooth. 

Slice porcini mushrooms and saute in butter and salt. Serve soup garnished with mushrooms. I sprinkled Aleppo pepper on top as well. 

And we're back!

Spot Prawns ready for the fire!

Since I blogged last, I've been busy reading, writing, and generally working more than ever before. But now! exams are over and I can't wait to get back to cooking. We just got back from a celebratory vacation to Vancouver and Vancouver Island, and I'd like to share a few great meals we ate while there. If you ever find yourself (or are lucky enough to live) in BC, check out these restaurants.

Honorable mention, Seattle (we flew to Seattle, then drove to Vancouver)

Paseo: Cuban sandwiches. 

Yum. Meat-filled goodness. And that corn on the side was seriously delicious.

Vancouver

Guu with Garlic: Izakaya-style (like Japanese tapas) means you get to keep eating and ordering all night long (and it's cheap!). Some highlights: chopped octopus and seaweed wasabi salad with nori chips, panfried kimchi pork udon, shatteringly crisp calamari, small cubes of barbecued eel, and my first Oden-- a tasty broth with various floating foods (the fish cake was the best).

Gyoza King: also Izakaya-style, maybe better than Guu but a tiny bit more expensive. Their panfried udon was delicious. My favorite dish here (which I plan to try to recreate) was a terrine-shaped tower of avocado, fresh raw salmon, and a raw quail egg on top, with yuzze (reduced shoyu) dressing and nori strips on the side for rolling. Of course the gyoza (we got pork & veggie) were fantastic too. We got bbq'd eel here too, and it was delicious. One of the most surprising dishes was the spinach with sesame sauce, cooked and pressed into a cube so that all the moisture came out and it was just crunchy and flavorful.

Go Fish: 

We went here two days in a row for lunch. It was that good. It's basically a fish shack on the Vancouver seawall (which I recommend biking). The first day, I had a seared scallop sandwich with chili mayo; J had a half pound of spot prawns, which are the sweetest, most delicious prawns ever (more on them later):

The second day, we had incredibly crispy, moist halibut fish n chips. Even the fries were good.

Bin941: J went here last time he was in Vancouver, twice. We would have gone back twice if we'd had more money and time. It was fantastic. The best part was sitting at the chef's counter and getting to see them make all the food! Highlights: navajo frybread (crispy and fluffy) with goat cheese sun dried tomato terrine; crispy pork belly and scallops; balsamic-pepper shoestring fries; cape gooseberries for dessert! (oh how I wish we could get those here!)

Vancouver Island (one of my new favorite places)

smoked salmon at Goats on the Roof

Shelter (Tofino): This was surprisingly good. It looked like a "fancy" chain-style restaurant but the service was warm and the food delicious. We both got the spot prawn risotto with seared salmon. It was creamy and sweet and the salmon was perfectly cooked.

Wildside Grill (Tofino): 

The perfect lunch spot. We went here twice. The first time we both got the Cod Club (shrimp, cod, bacon, avocado): 

The second time J got fish n chips (which he said were better than Go Fish's) and I got the salmon sandwich-- a large, seared salmon fillet with corn tomato relish and avocado.

Markus' Wharfside Restaurant (Sooke): This was probably the best meal of the trip. J had the soup of the day and the risotto of the day (yes, they have that). The soup was creamy sunchoke with a duck confit goat cheese quenelle. This might have been the best soup I have ever had. Ever. I had seared scallops with double-smoked bacon and then a Tuscan-style seafood stew, which was delicious-- the broth was intensely flavorful (cooked for 6 hours!) and the seafood was perfectly cooked (I'm always wary of seafood in soups because it's usually overcooked, since, for example, shrimp takes less time than mussels and clams). We had a Rioja that was simply fantastic-- Marques de Riscal Rioja Reserva, 2003. Get it if you can.

The Edge Restaurant (Sooke): This opened days before we went. We actually tried to go for dinner but they hadn't gotten their liquor license yet, so they were only open for lunch. We told them about the soup at Markus' and they gave us a cup of theirs-- lightly curried cauliflower soup with pulled pork and green olives. The pork was a perfect pairing, both flavor and texture wise, for the thick soup. J got a homemade sausage sandwich; I had the "kitchen sink"-- a cilantro broth with noodles, clams, mussels, halibut, and homemade sausage. It was fantastic, but the real highlight here was the bacon (on J's side cesar), which came from the chef's farm's pigs and was smoked for two days straight. It had an intense flavor and crispy, almost spongy texture. It was so good that J ordered a slice for dessert.

Lest you think that our trip was all about food, I should say, we did do other things. We smoked Cuban cigars. Also, by the time we were in Tofino, we were so in love with spot prawns, that we built a campfire in the firepit outside our door, on the rocky banks of the Clayoquot Sound, and roasted spot prawns and scallops on the open flame:

 If you *ever* see fresh spot prawns, get them! I even had one raw from a market on Granville Island. Delicious.

We also visited a Pocky Store that had expired Pocky on clearance. I overheard someone saying they must be ok to eat or they wouldn't sell them. I'm not sure about that.

We also ate mangosteens!

A Crab Dip to hold you over...

Though you've probably guessed by now, I haven't been blogging lately; I have been, and will be, studying for my qualifying exams, which doesn't leave much time for blogging, or even cooking. Here's a hot crab/spinach/artichoke dip to hold you over:

1 tub whipped cream cheese
1 large handful spinach, chopped
8 oz artichoke salad, chopped (we used Genova's. you can make it fresh or use frozen artichoke hearts)
1t red pepper flakes
black pepper
4oz cheese of your choice, grated (we used pepperjack)
1/3lb fresh crab meat [omit for vegetarian version]
1/4c grated parmesan
fresh bread crumbs (we used herbed bread crumbs I made earlier)
1t olive oil

Preheat oven to 400.

Mix cream cheese, spinach, artichoke, red and black pepper, cheese, crab, and most of the parmesan in a large mixing bowl, folding gently. Fill ramekins with mixture. Sprinkle remaining parmesan on top. Bake until bubbly, about 20 minutes.

Mix bread crumbs with olive oil. Top cooked dip with bread crumbs and place under broiler until toasty on top.

Serve with toasts made from baguette.

I'll be back in May! Stay tuned.

~purplecook