Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Little Meat Cookies (Safiha)

Recipe Source: Bsisu, May S. The Arab Table. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2005 pp. 81 – 3.

I love cooking for the people I get to cook for on Sundays. Not only are they a great bunch of people, they are very adventurous eaters. I burned this recipe. That made me sad. Even the little meat pies that weren't scorched didn't exactly look pretty. When I brought out the plate, though, none of that mattered. The guests said, "Ooo! Ooo! Little meat cookies! Brilliant!" and devoured them. That always makes a girl feel good, doesn't it?

I made a few changes, as I usually do. I omitted the pine nuts. Ordinarily I would probably have substituted another type of nut, but today I was in a hurry and decided that the dish didn't really need them after all. I used the Lebanese variation given in the book, but I used more coriander and more pomegranate molasses than called for in the original. I did this because I really like both of those flavors, especially the pomegranate. The result was indeed as tasty as my friends made it sound, even though some of them were burned.

Safiha (makes 50 little pies; approx. $0.23/ea.)

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

½ teaspoon sugar

5 cups flour

2 tablespoons powdered buttermilk (I had never heard of it either, but my little grocery that has nothing exotic carried it.)

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

2 eggs

1 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons Greek yogurt

2 onions, finely chopped

3 tablespoons ground coriander

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon ground allspice

¼ cup butter

1 pound ground lamb

1 pound tomatoes, finely chopped (mine came from the garden; I used 8 but they were of varying sizes. That's why I'm giving you the weight.)

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 pinch Aleppo pepper

3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

Equipment:

• Large bowl
• Stand mixer with dough hook attachment
• Baking sheets

1. Combine the yeast and sugar in the measuring cup you're using for the water. Set aside until the mixture is frothy.
2. Combine the flour, powdered buttermilk, baking powder and salt in the stand mixer's workbowl.
3. Add the eggs and the olive oil. Mix well with a wooden spoon or similar implement.
4. Add the yeast mixture, yogurt and ½ cup more water. Stir manually.
5. Use the dough hook and mix on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
6. Raise the speed to high. Mix until the dough is smooth and elastic.
7. Set aside, cover loosely and set aside until doubled in size (about an hour.)
8. Preheat your oven to 400 ̊.
9. Combine the onions, coriander, allspice, black pepper and salt in the bowl. Mix with your bare hands until the onions have absorbed the spices.
10. Add the butter, lamb, tomatoes, cayenne, Aleppo pepper and pomegranate molasses. Mix well.
11. Pull off a chunk of dough about the size of a walnut and roll it into a ball.
12. Make a little depression in the middle of the ball and scoop about a tablespoon of the meat filling into the center. Place on a baking sheet. Repeat until all the dough is used.
13. Bake about 15 minutes. Rotate the pans and bake another 15 minutes.
14. Serve.

Recipe: Shrimp and Squash Soup

Recipe Source: Hsiung, Deh-Ta with Becky Johnson and Sallie Morris. Thai & Asian. Anness Publishing, London, 2009 p. 204

I really did not expect to feel satisfied by this soup. The picture in the book made this dish look very light, more refreshing than hearty. The description did say that it was "something of a cross between a soup and a stew," but all the words in the world can't change the fact that this looked quite light. However, when I ate this I found it to be quite filling indeed. Filling and delicious, really – just what I wanted that day.

I made a few changes, of course. The vegetable stock that I used was Lemony Vegetable Broth. I added a chili. The dried banana flower was omitted as I hadn't any dried banana flowers and wouldn't even recognize one if it bit me. I couldn't get any shrimp paste, so I substituted minced ginger for the paste. Before you get all up in arms about that, I am very aware that it is not the same thing. It did however provide the necessary moisture to the paste, added a great flavor and made up some of the volume. It was really very easy to make.

Shrimp and Squash Soup (serves 4; approx. $4.08/serving)

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes

4 cups Lemony Vegetable Broth

1 cup green beans, cut into 1" pieces

1 tablespoon fish sauce

½ pound raw shrimp

1 bunch fresh basil

4 ounces shallots, sliced

1 tablespoon green peppercorns

2 Serrano chilies, chopped

2 tablespoons minced ginger

Equipment:

• Mini-prep miniature food processor
• Saucepan

1. Combine the shallots, peppercorns, chilies and ginger in the mini-prep and process to a coarse paste. Set aside.
2. Heat the Lemony Vegetable Broth gently in the saucepan.
3. Add the chili paste. Mix well to combine.
4. Add the vegetables and bring to a boil. Cook 15 minutes.
5. Add the fish sauce, shrimp and basil. Simmer 3 minutes.
6. Serve.

Recipe: Eggplant, Tomato and Sumac Salad

Okay, this was originally intended to be the Eggplant, Tomato and Sumac Salad from page 236 of Jane Lawson's The Spice Bible, but it isn't. At the end of the day, I ran out of time and was rushing to get things done. This resulted in my not having time to go find the book. I had to wing it. So I apologize to Ms. Lawson. At the end of the day, this was still good. People still liked it. I know I still liked it. It was also a lot simpler than the original, or at least I perceive it as being much simpler than the original. I also had the benefit of using both eggplants and tomatoes from my home garden, which greatly reduced the cost per serving. I used a lot more sumac than I really intended, but it turned out okay. Of course, I like sumac…

Eggplant, Tomato and Sumac Salad (serves 12; approx. $0.31/serving (note: if you buy tomatoes and eggplant your CPS will be higher.))

4 medium-sized eggplants, sliced

5 tablespoons olive oil, divided

About 15 tomatoes (most of ours were cherry tomatoes, but we had a good wide variety so just use enough tomatoes to increase the volume and taste good.)

2 red onions, thinly sliced

5 tablespoons lemon juice

4 ounces sumac

Equipment:

• Broiler pan
• Pastry brush

1. Brush the eggplant slices with a very small amount of oil. You should only really go through about 2 tablespoons, although if you use more that's fine.
2. Preheat your oven's broiler. Working in batches, broil the eggplant slices until they are tender. Allow to cool until you can touch them comfortably. Alternatively you can certainly use an outdoor grill; none of mine were available at that point or I'd have done it myself.
3. When you can touch the eggplants, cut them into chunks. Transfer them to the serving vessel.
4. Chop the tomatoes. Put them and the red onion slices into the serving bowl.
5. Top the vegetables with the sumac and pour the lemon juice and oil over the lot. Toss to coat.
6. Serve.

Recipe: Chocolate Macadamia Mud Cupcakes

Recipe Source: Floodgate, Lauren. 500 Chocolate Delights. Sellers Publishing, South Portland, 2007 pp. 114 and 129

Huh. Yet another recipe I apparently forgot to photograph. Oh well. It happens. Except I am absolutely positive that I took a picture, which just means that it got filed away somewhere stupid like pictures of bees or something and I will never see it again. Unless of course I'm looking for pictures of bees, in which case I will edit this entry and post it for you.

Anyway, these cupcakes didn't have the kind of molten center they promised in the picture, but they were still pretty darned good. I doubled the recipe, used salted macadamias and added about half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to these treats. The result was a delicious dessert that all the guests enjoyed. I'm not sure what makes them "mud" cupcakes. "Mud" cupcakes sounds like something Chris Lewis and I used to get in trouble for on Sunday mornings when I was a kid. But they were delicious.

Chocolate Macadamia Mud Cupcakes (serves 24; approx. $0.98/serving)

2 cups dark chocolate chips

2 2/3 cups butter

10 eggs

1 1/3 cups sugar

1 ½ cups self-rising flour

1 ½ cups salted chopped macadamia nuts

Equipment:

• Cupcake tins, whatever combination thereof gives you 24 cups
• Cupcake liners
• Double boiler (I like to use a bowl set over simmering water, but if you have something fancier go for it.)
• Stand mixer

1. Preheat your oven to 325 ̊.
2. Line your cupcake tins with the liners.
3. Combine the butter and chocolate chips in your double-boiler and melt, stirring to prevent burning. Set aside.
4. Combine the eggs and sugar in the stand mixer and beat until pale and thick.
5. Fold in the flour.
6. Stir in the chocolate mixture and the macadamia nuts.
7. Portion out the batter into the cupcake tins.
8. Bake 20 minutes.
9. Serve hot.

Recipe: Shirazi Baked Saffron Polow

Recipe Source: Batmanglij, Najmieh. Silk Road Cooking. Mage Publishers, Washington DC, 2004 p. 160

This was the first of my two recent attempts to make a Persian-style rice casserole. It did not work as well as the second attempt, which I posted a few days ago. In hindsight, if I had plated the dish on a plate instead of into a bowl maybe it would have worked better. Then again, maybe not. I was really disappointed with it, but the reason I was disappointed was the appearance. The taste was fine. I got a lot of compliments on the flavor, and my husband was exceptionally fond of the crust on the top. (There is a word for it, but I can't remember it. The important thing to remember is that it is supposed to be there.)

I made a few changes, although I can't say they were huge. I increased the garlic and the cumin, because there should always be more garlic and cumin is one of my favorite flavors. I used soy milk for the milk, because that's what we keep on hand. I omitted the orange peel because I don't care for candied fruit. I also did not have a Pyrex dish big enough to make this, so I used a regular old dish.

Shirazi Baked Saffron Polow (serves 10; approx. $3.03/serving)

2/3 cups olive oil

2 onions, thinly sliced

8 garlic cloves, crushed

2 teaspoons ground cumin

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 pound fresh baby spinach, chopped

1 jar prunes, pitted (I think this was a 16 oz. jar, but I made this over the summer so I might misremember.)

1 cup toasted pine nuts

3 cups basmati rice

8 cups water

2 tablespoons kosher salt

3 eggs

2 cups plain Greek yogurt

½ cup soy milk

1 ½ teaspoon saffron dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

Equipment;

• Large baking dish – I think I used a springform pan
• Large wok or deep skillet
• Large saucepan
• Colander
• Bowl

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in the wok over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and fry until golden brown.
3. Add the garlic and cumin. Sauté one minute.
4. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg and spinach. Cover and cook until the spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes.
5. Add the prunes and pine nuts. Set aside.
6. Wash the rice.
7. Bring the water and the 2 tablespoons kosher salt to a boil.
8. Add the rice to the pot and boil 6 minutes.
9. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
10. Preheat your oven to 420 ̊.
11. Combine the eggs, yogurt, milk, saffron water, remaining salt and pepper in the bowl and beat 1 minute.
12. Add half the cooked rice to the yogurt mixture. Mix gently.
13. Pour ¼ cup of the olive oil into the baking dish, making sure you cover the bottom and sides well.
14. Add the yogurt rice mixture.
15. Spread the spinach mixture over the top of the rice.
16. Top the spinach with the remaining, non-yogurt rice.
17. Pack down with your bare hands. Drizzle the remaining oil over the rice and cover with foil or a lid.
18. Bake 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hours.
19. Remove the dish from the oven and allow to cool, still covered, 15 minutes.
20. Loosen the edges with a rubber spatula, then invert the casserole onto your serving platter.
21. Serve.

Recipe: Green Herb Rice (Sabzi Pollo)

Recipe Source: Ramazani, Nesta. Persian Cooking. Ibex Publishers, Bethesda, 2000 pp. 121-2

I've been wanting to make a Persian-style rice dish for a while, but I've always held back. Well, not always. At some point in the near future I will post a different attempt at a Persian-style rice dish that did not work out as well as this one did. Anyway, the process always looks so complicated. I wouldn't say that I've been intimidated, but I've certainly been put off. Well, when I made this dish for a Sunday dinner I finally did it and got it to work out the way I wanted.

I made a few changes. The first change is that I used brown rice instead of white. Brown rice is usually the bane of my existence, but here it didn't give me a problem. I'm not sure what I did right here – I did add some water to the dish, maybe that helped. I also increased all of the herbs, but I increased the proportion of cilantro to parsley. This I did out of personal preference. The result was a tasty treat that went over very well with my guests.

Sabzi Pollo (serves 8; approx. $0.88/serving)

4 cups brown rice

8 tablespoons kosher salt

2 bunches scallions, thinly sliced

¼ cup butter

1 cup fresh dill, chopped

1 cup fresh parsley, chopped

2 cups fresh cilantro, chopped

Equipment:

• Large saucepan

1. Fill the saucepan with water and bring to a boil.
2. Add the rice and salt. Stir once.
3. Boil 10 minutes then drain. Rinse well with cold water.
4. Wipe out the pan. Melt the butter in the pan.
5. Layer ¼ of the rice on the bottom of the pan. Add 1/3 of the greens on top of that. Repeat until all the ingredients have been added to the pan, ending with a rice layer on the top.
6. Add some water. Wrap the lid of the saucepan in a dishtowel, cover, and steam over low heat for 35 minutes.
7. When you're done with the steaming, remove from heat. Wait at least 5 minutes.
8. Remove the lid. Replace it with your serving tray, which should be inverted over the top of the saucepan.
9. Turn the pot upside-down to unmold. Serve.

Recipe: Ricotta Cheesecake

Recipe Source: Orsini, Fr. Giuseppe. Italian Baking Secrets. St. Martin's Press, New York, 2007 p. 143

Yes, my cheesecake cracked. I don't care. People really liked it. They didn't seem to notice that there was a crack. If they don't care, I don't have to care, right? Of course right. Moving on.

Seriously, I've never been much of a fan of cheesecake. I'm not sure why, I just never developed a taste for it. However, I don't have any particular objection to ricotta, and I very often enjoy desserts made with ricotta. I know a lot of people really like cheesecake, so I figured that I would give this one a shot.

I did make a few changes. I used dark chocolate chunks. I reversed the proportions of the extract and I omitted the candied fruit. I just don't like candied fruit. I added a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg because the spirit so moved me, and I used half sugar and half honey instead of all sugar as called for in the original. As I said, people really liked it and said lots of nice things, which made me smile.

Ricotta Cheesecake (serves 12; approx. $0.44/serving)

3 pounds whole milk ricotta

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup honey

6 eggs

1 generous tablespoon whole wheat flour

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ cup (approx.) bread crumbs

1 cup dark chocolate chunks

3 teaspoons almond extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

Equipment:

• Stand mixer
• Springform pan

1. Preheat your oven to 350 ̊.
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer, use the whisk attachment to combine the ricotta, sugar and honey until smooth.
3. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until absorbed.
4. Add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, chocolate chips and extracts. Beat until smooth.
5. Use cooking spray to generously grease the sides and bottom of the springform pan. Add the breadcrumbs – you may need more or less breadcrumbs than ¼ cup – and swirl around to lightly coat the sides and bottoms. Tap out any excess breadcrumbs.
6. Fill the pan with the ricotta mixture. Bake 1 hour.
7. Open the oven door and allow the cake to rest, in the warm oven, 25 minutes.
8. Remove and allow to cool at room temperature at least 2 hours.
9. Serve.

Recipe: Chipotle Mushrooms and Zucchini

I was planning to make a Rick Bayless recipe with these ingredients. It was going to be a vegetarian taco kind of dish and we were going to eat it during the week. However, events kind of got away from me. We got a much larger turnout for Sunday dinner than we were expecting and I needed more vegetables. I decided that the tacos could wait and came up with this dish. It was certainly tasty – there weren't any leftovers – and certainly different. I'd highly recommend this for a buffet or even a main course.

Chipotle Mushrooms and Zucchini (serves 12; approx. $0.69/serving)

4 zucchini, thinly sliced

18 ounces mushrooms, chopped

Kosher salt to taste

2 ½ canned chipotle peppers, plus some of their sauce, chopped

1 onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, crushed

4 tablespoons olive oil

Equipment:

• Large sauté pan or wok

1. Heat the sauté pan over medium heat.
2. Add the oil. Heat until warm.
3. Add the onions, garlic and salt. Sauté until softened.
4. Add the chipotle peppers and zucchini. Sauté until the zucchini are softened.
5. Add the mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms have given up their liquid and are softened.
6. Serve.

Recipe: Pasta with Roasted Peppers and Greens

Recipe Source: Kasper, Lynne Rossetto. The Italian Country Table. Scribner, New York, 1999 pp. 78-9

When we host our Sunday dinners we're usually serving people who have been working out fairly heavily. We also never know just how many people to expect. Both situations call for carbohydrate-intensive dishes. This is one that we served one Sunday. I thought it sounded interesting – I can't remember ever having roasted dark green leafy vegetables. I made it and it went over very well.

I did make a few changes as usual. I used pomegranate balsamic vinegar because that's what I usually keep on hand. I substituted tarragon for the mint because my husband is allergic to mint. I increased the amount of red onion because I didn't want to keep half an onion hanging around and onions are supposed to be very good for you. I increased the garlic. I used dandelion greens instead of the "mixed organic greens or mesclun or washed and dried curly endive" because I couldn't find endive that week and I really, really like dandelion greens. I increased the amount of capers (my husband loves capers!) and used whole wheat penne for the pasta.

Pasta with Roasted Peppers and Greens (serves 10; approx. $1.49/serving)

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons pomegranate balsamic vinegar

3-4 oil-packed anchovy fillets, rinsed

½ cup chopped fresh basil

1 bunch fresh marjoram, leaves only

½ package chopped fresh tarragon

2 ½ tablespoons olive oil

5 red bell peppers, cored, seeded and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces

2 red onions, cut into 1 ½" wedges

8 garlic cloves, crushed

½ bunch fresh dandelion greens, chopped

4 tablespoons capers

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

2 pounds whole-wheat pasta, such as penne

Equipment:

• Large roasting pan
• Small bowl
• Large bowl

1. Combine the anchovies and the vinegar in the small bowl and set aside.
2. Slip the roasting pan into the oven and preheat to 450 ̊. Really, this will make sense when you actually do it. It helps to keep things from sticking to the roasting pan and believe me, that will be important when you clean up.
3. Combine the herbs with 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil the peppers, onions, garlic, greens, capers, Aleppo pepper and kosher salt and pepper to taste in the large bowl. Let stand about 30 minutes.
4. Toss the anchovy mixture with the pepper mixture and the remaining olive oil.
5. Spread the mixture out in the roasting pan. Roast 45 minutes.
6. Prepare the pasta according to package instructions.
7. Combine the vegetables and the pasta in a serving vessel. Toss and serve.

Recipe: Mildly Spiced Lentils (Yekik Alich’a)

Recipe Source: Mesfin, D. J. Exotic Ethiopian Cooking. Ethiopian Cookbook Enterprises, Falls Church, 2004 p. 191

This dish had been on my menu for weeks – literally weeks – before I made it. I'm not sure why it kept getting pushed back because I clearly wanted very much to make it. For whatever reason it just kept not happening. Eventually though I made it and I'm really glad that I did. It was delicious and even the non-vegetarians that week really enjoyed it. If you make it with olive oil, as is done here, you can serve it either hot or cold. If you choose to use butter – I didn't – serve it only hot.

I made a few changes as usual. I reduced the amount of oil by a lot, which may make it somewhat less authentic but makes the dish so much healthier. I increased the garlic and the ginger as well. When the option was given I used red lentils because I had so many of them on hand.

Yekik Alich'a (serves 6; approx. $1.14/serving)

2 cups red lentils, washed

4 cups water

2 red onions, chopped

8 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons minced ginger

8 cloves garlic, crushed

4 jalapeno peppers, sliced

1 pinch kosher salt

1 teaspoon fresh-ground cubeb

Equipment:

• Medium saucepan
• Colander
• Bowl
• Sauté pan or wok

1. Combine the lentils and the water in the medium saucepan and boil until soft. Red lentils cook up pretty fast, so this shouldn't take an obscene amount of time. Skim the surface if need be.
2. Set the colander over the bowl and drain the lentils into it. Reserve the water.
3. In the sauté pan, heat the oil and add the onions. Season with a pinch of kosher salt.
4. Cook the onions until softened. Add the lentils, garlic, ginger, cubeb and reserved cooking water. Simmer, stirring frequently but gently, 20 – 30 minutes.
5. Transfer to the cooking vessel. Top with the sliced jalapenos and serve.