Fresh Herb Kuku

This is from New Food of Life, a beautiful Persian cookbook that my friend Laila gave me recently. The recipe can also be found online here.

Instead of a cup each of chives, dill, parsley and cilantro, I used a cup of chopped cilantro and two cups chopped arugula, and went very heavy on the crushed garlic. Instead of advieh I used equal parts cardamom, cumin and coriander. Instead of the tablespoon of dried fenugreek leaves, I used a teaspoon of ground fenugreek. I cut the oil by about a third.

It's baking now. I wonder how it will turn out?

Update: It's hard to tell when something is done when you haven't made it before and don't know what it's supposed to look like. The version of the recipe in New Food of Life calls for adding half the oil, then the egg mixture, then baking for 25-30 minutes, adding the second half of the oil on top, and then baking for 25-30 more minutes. As it turns out, 20 minutes per half seems to be totally adequate. The kuku is firm all the way through, golden brown on the bottom, and ever so slightly too brown on the sides.

As for the taste, it's way too salty and greasy, but otherwise tastes good. It might seem less greasy if eaten cold, and the saltiness might be okay if served with bread or yogurt as the book suggests. Next time I'll cut the salt in half and cut the butter even more than I did.

This was relatively quick to put together and came out of the oven slightly more than an hour after it occurred to me to make it.

Double Walnut Cookies

1. Mix in small bowl: 1 cup flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt.
2. Cream in larger bowl: 1 stick butter, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla.
3. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture and beat on low speed until a soft dough forms.
4. Add 1 cup of ground walnuts and 1/4 cup chopped walnuts.
5. Form into balls and place on parchment-lined cookie sheet.
6. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, or until balls are light brown on the bottom.
7. Roll in powdered sugar and allow to cool.

These are not very sweet, which is nice, but they're pretty high in fat. Next time I'll use less cinnamon and less salt. I made these for L&G, who seemed to like them all right, but the Chief Taster hasn't had the pleasure of trying them yet. I don't know if I'll make them again. They're okay, but not striking.

Italianate Greens and Pasta

1 bunch chard, stems and leaves, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound pasta, cooked
Basil and oregano to taste
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
4 canned artichoke hearts, chopped
1/2 cup pitted black olives, chopped
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp olive oil

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add chard stems and saute three minutes. Add garlic and 1/4 cup water and cook until softened. Add chard leaves and another 1/4 cup water and cook, covered, until wilted. Add basil, oregano, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and olives and saute briefly. Add parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta, topped with parmesan cheese.

The best way to make lentils

This is adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe for salmon with beets and lentils, but I made the lentil part on its own.

Mix 1/2 cup lentils, 1/2 cup water, 1 cup broth, 1 clove minced garlic, a chopped sprig or two of fresh thyme, and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes or until lentils are soft and liquid is absorbed. Add 1/2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, and 1/8 tsp pepper and toss. Serve warm.

The Martha Stewart version involved putting in an excess of liquid and then draining the cooked lentils, and removing the garlic and thyme sprigs (left whole in her version). This seems like a waste of flavor to me, so I cut the liquid and left the flavorings in. It's very easy and tastes wonderful. The vinegar makes the dish.

Chief Taster, perhaps unaware of the illustrious history of lentils, derided them as just another of "your exotic grains," but they are in fact a very utilitarian legume, beloved by millions. Yes, Virginia, they do come in cans, but the wonderful thing about lentils is that they cook so quickly that the canned version isn't necessary, unlike your tough, nasty chickpeas and black beans (which must be soaked overnight prior to cooking, if not canned).

Lentils, the kinder, gentler legume, don't tend to cause the intestinal distress that other beans inflict. They are higher in protein, at 25%, than any other plant food except soy, and form a complete protein when combined with rice as in many Indian dhal dishes. They are full of calcium and folate and fiber, and are also a great source of that underrated mineral, molybdenum. What's so great about molybdenum? It's an essential cofactor for three human enzymes: sulfite oxidase, xanthine oxidase and aldehyde oxidase. Sulfite oxidase turns sulfites into sulfates, handy for metabolizing sulfur-containing amino acids (and possibly that red wine we had last night), and the other two are important metabolizers of drugs and environmental toxins. It's very difficult to have a diet that's short on molybdenum and most people routinely ingest more than the RDA. Excesses of molybdenum can deplete copper, but lentils, fortunately, also provide around 25% of the RDA of copper.

Beet and Goat Cheese Salad with Pistachios

The recipe I used can be found here. The beets were very easy to roast in foil in the oven. I used only one color of beets since that's all I had. To dress them I used a couple of heads of garlic that I roasted in the oven at the same time as the beets, rather than shallots, which I didn't have (and which wouldn't have whisked as well). I used arugula instead of mache, which worked out fine. I didn't crumble the goat cheese, but formed it into disks instead. The pistachios didn't add much and I could make this again without them. I love beets dressed this way, and they seemed to go over well with everyone else, too.

Maamoul

I used the recipe found here. These turned out a little bit like mini mince pies; the filling is kind of spicy and the wrapper is a lot like pie crust. If I do these over again I would make the crust sweeter, I would use less ginger, more other spices (cardamom, cinnamon) and add ground pistachios or almonds to the filling. They were surprisingly quick and easy to make, despite the fact that the food processor needed to be washed between steps. The only tedious part was the construction, but since this recipe only makes 20 cookies it wasn't so bad. They aren't quite the rich, exotic dessert I was hoping for, but the MarnKonnoisseur really liked them.

Update: They're awesome on the second day. They can be rewarmed in the microwave, but they're fine at room temp too.

Totally Awesome Pork Chops

1. Dig four old 3/4-inch pork chops out of the back of your freezer. When you see that they are frozen together into a solid chunk of pigflesh, defrost them by soaking in hot saltwater.
2. Mix 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tbsp dried marjoram, 1/2 tsp allspice, and a shot of whiskey. Dab this onto each side of the defrosted pork chops with the back of a spoon and rub it in real good.
3. Chop up a couple of bunches of turnip greens and throw in some parsley or cilantro or what have you. Chop up half an onion and a couple of garlic cloves.
4. Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onion is soft. Throw in the chopped greens and cook lightly, covered, until the greens are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste and finish with a splash of cider vinegar.
5. Cook the pork chops on medium-high heat around 5 minutes per side or until juices run clear or until no longer pink inside or whatever. Remove to a plate.
6. To the pan drippings, add another chopped 1/2 onion and saute until soft.
7. Add 1/2 cup cranberries, 1 tsp thyme, and 3/4 cup wine. Bring to a boil and stir until reduced to a thick sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.
8. Pile a heap of greens on a plate, top with pork chop, and top pork chop with onion-cranberry sauce.
9. Soooo good!

Vestiges of planning

Dinner tomorrow will be this.

Chicken Salad

I needed a way to use up leftover roasted chicken from last Sunday, so I shredded the leftovers into a bowl and added chopped black olives, chopped sundried tomatoes, chopped cilantro and thyme, pine nuts, walnuts, and a sprinkle of dried cranberries. To dress it, I mixed 1/4 cup mayonnaise with a good splash of balsamic vinegar, a minced clove of garlic, a dose of dried basil and sage, and some salt and pepper. I put the salad on some lettuce and that was that. Next time I'll drizzle something other than chicken salad on the lettuce -- maybe some olive oil or something. I could have also used even more cilantro and maybe a tiny bit more mayonnaise.

I served this with the Braised Turnips, which it doesn't match at all by the way, and didn't really have any rice or potatoes or other carbohydrates at that meal. I was informed by the friendly local restaurant critic that carbohydrates are less important at dinnertime than at other times, so this lack was not missed - perhaps because there's less need for energy in the evening. Although this may be true, pilafs and pasta and other carbohydrate dishes are (1) cheaper than animal protein and (2) generally easier to prepare as one-dish meals than meals made of meat and vegetables. On the other hand, unsprouted grains (and especially non-whole grains) are probably the least healthy staple in the pantry, relative to the nice organic veggies and free-range chickens in there, so maybe I ought to cut back on the risotto. I'll think about it.

Braised Turnips With Leeks and Bacon

Saute three chopped leeks in olive oil and butter for one minute, then add two or three cloves of minced garlic and a chopped strip of bacon. Saute for ten minutes or until leeks have softened. Add half a cup of chicken broth and a pound or so of turnips cut into matchsticks. Cook, covered, for about twenty minutes or until the turnips soften and turn slightly translucent, depending on the size of your matchsticks. Add two teaspoons chopped parsley and a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, then add salt and pepper and serve. The recipe is from the Joy of Cooking.

I thought this was going to be a colossal failure until I realized I hadn't given the turnips enough time to soften up. The Eatwell newsletter keeps saying that they're great raw, but in this dish half-cooked turnips are terrible. These need to be eaten hot; they quickly get cold and unappetizing if they sit for long at all. Next time I'll be very sparing with the broth; it didn't evaporate much and contributed to the chilly wetness. Turnips are really best roasted, although it takes longer to cook them that way.