I found this fabulous book for only $5.99. List price is $14.95 even on their website currently so I’m not quite sure how I got it for this very nice price.
This is technically a cookbook, but as the blurb on the front says “More than a cookbook, it is a humor book and a self-help book and a security blanket and a kind of a Bible.” (quote from Elizabeth Berg, NPR interview)
Beat This! book cover
The book is called Beat This!
(written by Ann Hodgman with a foreword by Elizabeth Berg)
Now you may be wondering — Why, dear Tromp Queen, is this blog worthy? Most of you already know that I own plenty of cookbooks (read about it here in Confessions of a Chronic Creative Collector). I love to look through them for new recipes and read about different cooking techniques and cultures. Really. I do. And I really can’t help looking at cookbooks on the sale tables. Really. I can’t.
The blurb on the front enticed me. I grabbed the book. Then I wandered around until I found the cozy couch area so I could sit in comfort to take a peek inside the book.
I instantly fell in love with the author’s humor. The chatty (sometimes snarky) asides sprinkled throughout the book caught my interest:
detail aside from Beat This! Cookbook by Ann Hodgman
detail aside from Beat This! Cookbook by Ann Hodgman
detail aside from Beat This! Cookbook by Ann Hodgman
detail aside from Beat This! Cookbook by Ann Hodgman
detail aside from Beat This! Cookbook by Ann Hodgman
detail aside from Beat This! Cookbook by Ann Hodgman
detail aside from Beat This! Cookbook by Ann Hodgman
detail aside from Beat This! Cookbook by Ann Hodgman
I love her recipe names! Descriptive and humorous
There are recipes for “A Really Great Stuffing with Sausage In It,” “Vaguely Thai-Like Beef Salad,” “Magnificent Ultra-Turkey,” and “Powerfully Better Than Any Other Pot Roast.” The first sentence of that last recipe reads like this: “A well-made pot roast is one of those noble, time-honored dishes that — oh, sorry, I forgot I wasn’t writing the lyrical kind of cookbook.”
I haven’t made anything from this cookbook yet, but I’ve gotten enjoyment out of it already. I have high expectations that when I DO make something out of this book; it is going to be fabulous.
*I did make the apple crisp recipe and it was very delicious! We ate it all in one go.*
This little story in the foreword sealed the deal for me: (Yes, I did read the foreword!)
My next door neighbors did something nice for me and so I did something nice for them, which is to say I made them Ann’s Very Controversial Apple Crisp (page 23). The next day, the wife told me, “You know my husband never eats desserts, doesn’t like them. He could not stop eating that apple crisp.” Another friend told me that when she first made it, she and her husband stood at the stove after it came out of the oven and ate the whole dang thing.
(She’d halved the recipe, but still.)
–from the foreword, written by Elizabeth Berg
So, if you are looking for a gift for yourself or for a friend, or you just have chronic cookbook collector syndrome — I highly recommend this book!
Note: This post was previously published on my “regular” blog: The Tromp Queen. I thought it might be good to repost it here in case some of you don’t follow there.
I saw this recipe posted on a friend’s wall. I shared it with my husband because it looked like a pretty easy recipe that he and our daughter would like. I am not a big fan of smoked sausage (the kind that comes in a tight plastic wrapped ring), so I would be happy if they ate it sometime when I wasn’t home.
Well, one night this week — we were all home. We happened to have the ingredients to make this recipe so I gave it a try. Here is the recipe:
Oven Roasted Smoked Sausage and Potatoes
1 package of smoked sausage, sliced into rounds 1 large onion, peeled and chopped 6 or more large potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch cubes olive oil sea salt or kosher salt freshly ground black pepper smoked paprika (or any kind of paprika — I used Spanish Smoked Paprika from Penzeys) dried thyme (or any blend of herbs that includes thyme — I used Bouquet Garni from Penzeys) 1 cup of good quality grated sharp cheddar cheese
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking tray (with sides) with several sheets of foil, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Spread the oil out over the pan. Set aside.
Put the sausage rounds, onions and potatoes onto the foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and season to taste with salt, pepper, paprika and dried thyme (or other herbs). Toss together with a wooden spoon (or your hands) until everything is evenly distributed.
Place into the heated oven and roast for 45 minutes to 55 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so, until the potatoes are golden brown and tender. Turn off the oven. Scatter the cheese over top of the cooked meat and potatoes, Pop back into the oven a few minutes to melt the cheese. Serve immediately.
We had a bag of baby spinach leaves, some fresh parmesan cheese and some kalamata olives so I made a quick little Greek-Ceasar salad to fill out the meal.
Our daughter made pumpkin bread (using a Trader Joe’s mix) for dessert.
It was a not too time consuming, delicious, and fairly reasonable clean up.
Every liked it. Even me.
Overall: FIVE forks!
This recipe is adapted from one published by The 205 Tavern of Church Point, LA on their Facebook page. If I ever get to Louisiana, I would love to look up this place and have a bite to eat there. It looks like they specialize in Cajun food and it all look delicious!
I got this recipe from a family of food-lovers. (Thank you, Schoonovers!) If you like chili but are in the mood for something a little different from the traditional chili (tomato-meat-beans), then I hope you’ll give this recipe a try.
I have made it a couple of different ways. It works really well in a crock pot. I also sometimes make it on the stove top. Either way, it is quick to make and delicious to eat.
Of course, I always make a few changes to most recipes, so I’ll make note of those changes.
Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
1 T. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (I used the kind in a jar. Use more or less to taste. I use more.)
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 lb. total), chopped (I prefer chicken thighs. You could also use leftover chicken or meat from a deli roasted chicken.)
2 cans (14 oz) chicken broth (I like the 32 oz. boxes of broth, especially Trader Joe’s organic broths. YUM.)
1 can (4 oz) chopped green chilies
2 t. ground cumin (If you aren’t sure how much spice, you could cut down on this. As always, I use Penzeys spices.)
2 t. dried oregano
1 1/2 t. cayenne pepper (I used only about 1/2 t. of cayenne for my family. The last time I made this I used 1 1/2 t. of regular chili powder instead and it tasted great.)
3 cans (14-1/2 oz each) great northern beans, drained and rinsed (Look for a large jar or can that has close to this total amount to save time opening cans.)
*oh — smash one can of the beans with a fork or potato masher before added them to the soup pot. This will thicken the soup nicely.
salt and pepper to taste
optional garnishes:
shredded cheese (A good sharp cheddar, colby-jack, or pepper jack would be tasty)
chopped jalapeno pepper (I haven’t done this one. You could even use the pickled, jarred or canned jalapeno.)
cilantro (Always!)
sour cream
crushed taco chips
Procedure:
The easy way is to put all the ingredients in the crock pot, turn it on and walk away for several hours.
I’ve used bone-in chicken to make this, even in the crock pot. I dug it out of the crock pot shortly before serving time, took the meat off the bones and threw the meat back into the pot. It was not a big deal.
On the stove top, I’ve browned the chicken and sautéed the onions and garlic in olive oil, then added the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for 20 min. or until you are ready to eat.
This is good with corn bread or with crunchy cheese quesadillas. A nice salad is always a good thing, too.
I am fortunate to live near a Half-Price Books bookstore. I love books, stationery, music, cards, CDS and LPs — you name it — this store seems to have it.
I tend to browse the cookbooks at this store, even though I already have a HUGE collection of cookbooks at home. (I also have a really good Goodwill store nearby, too. Hardback books, including cookbooks, are only $1.79.)
I have a combination of three part-time jobs right now, so cooking dinner has become a somewhat rarer activity than it was previously.
I decided to try this recipe because you can only eat out so many times in a week before you get tired of
food that involves deep-frying
food that involves a drive through
food that begins to all taste the same
food that has no vegetables in it
Ingredients: *I tweaked a few ingredients and amounts so this isn’t exactly like the recipe in the book
1 pound of spaghetti noodles (or Chinese egg noodles if you can find them) 2 T. toasted sesame oil
1 whole roasted deli chicken
1 cucumber peeled, quartered, seeded, sliced and diced 4 scallions, sliced (white and green parts) 1/3 dry-roasted salted peanuts cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic 1 one-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeeled (I grated mine) 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter 1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari 2 T brown sugar 1 T rice vinegar 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes 1/4 c hot water (I used the pasta water as it was cooking)
Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water. Drain and toss with sesame oil
While the pasta is cooking, prepare the garnishes and sauce.
Also de-bone the deli roasted whole chicken. Cut the meat off the bones; save the “runnin’ gears”– the bones, skin and carcass — to make some quick chicken stock for future use. Keep the meat warm until the pasta is ready.
Garnishes: 1 cucumber peeled, quartered, seeded, sliced and diced 4 scallions, sliced (white and green parts) 1/3 dry-roasted salted peanuts cilantro, chopped
Mix the ingredients (listed below) in a blender and blend thoroughly. Toss this mixture with the pasta. 1 clove garlic 1 one-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeeled (I grated mine) 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter 1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari 2 T brown sugar 1 T rice vinegar 1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes 1/4 c hot water (I used the pasta water as it was cooking)
Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain. Put it in a large bowl and toss it with the 2 T of sesame oil.
While the pasta is cooking, combine the ingredients for the sauce in a blender. Blend. Add this mix to the sesame oiled pasta.
Also while the pasta cooks, de-bone the deli roasted whole chicken. Prepare the garnishes.
To serve: Put pasta on a plate. Top with desired amount of chicken plus generous garnishes of cilantro, peanuts, scallions, and cucumber.
Image by Madeleine via Flickr CC license This image is not the actual recipe I’m posting. It looks very similar to this, though.
REVIEW: This recipe was quick to fix. It has very good flavor and was delicious. I happened to have nearly all the sauce ingredients on hand, so it was not a huge amount of items to buy at the grocery store — basically just a deli chicken, a cucumber and maybe some spaghetti, cilantro and scallions if you happen to have none of those things at the moment. I liked the fact that it tasted a little Thai and a little Chinese — but that it wasn’t overly spiced in either direction. You could definitely bump up the crushed red pepper if you need more heat or add Siracha sauce at the table.
This could easily be made vegetarian if you leave out the chicken. You could add tofu.
I think it would be good with grilled shrimp instead of the chicken. If you have them, fresh bean sprouts would give a nice crunch as well. You could use honey instead of brown sugar in the sauce. I grated my ginger into the blender because I didn’t want to chomp down on an unblended chunk of ginger. I would add more garlic next time, too.
It would be nice to add some toasted sesame seeds. I didn’t have time or energy for that, but it would be good.
FULL FORKS for this one! FIVE FORKS! Go fo it! Please let me know if you try this recipe and how you like it.
This Rachael Ray recipe for basic Carbonara is quick and easy.
I’ve made just a couple of tweaks, but it is still pretty much her original recipe (which you can see HERE.)
About 3 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 pound pancetta or bacon, small dice
5 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine (could use stock if you don’t have wine handy)
3 large egg yolks, separated. Get rid of the egg whites in another recipe — you don’t need them for this.
Salt and pepper
1 pound pasta such as linguine, spaghetti or egg tagliatelle. I like the wider pasta for this recipe.
Grated Pecorino Romano and/or Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
PREPARATION
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for pasta.
Heat olive oil, 3 turns of the pan, in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add pancetta or bacon, brown 3-4 minutes, then add garlic and some black pepper, and stir 2 minutes more. Add wine and reduce heat to low. Whisk up egg yolks and season with salt and pepper.
Add pasta to salted boiling water and cook to al dente.
Add 1 full cup of starchy cooking water to egg yolks in a slow stream to temper them. Reserve an extra half-cup starchy water in case the pasta gets too tight when you toss it. Drain pasta and add to pancetta and garlic, remove from heat and toss with egg yolks and handfuls of grated cheeses, parsley, adjust salt and pepper to taste.
That’s it. If you are the kind of person who always has bacon and parsley on hand, you could make this and be eating it in less than 1/2 hour.
Review:
Be careful when browning the bacon or pancetta. It can easily burn since you are frying such small pieces. Likewise, watch the garlic carefully when you add it. With the already hot bacon grease, the garlic needs much less time than usual to get overly browned.
I didn’t read the recipe carefully enough at first and nearly whisked up the egg whites, too. That would not work out very well, so don’t do that! Also, DO take out the pasta water and keep out at least as much as she recommends. Mine got pretty thick so I added a splash of milk, which may or may not be the Italian way. I have no idea. It worked in a pinch. Have everything ready for the end — the cheese and the parsley. It comes together in a flash. Also — DO use the fresh flat-leave parsley if you can. It really adds a nice fresh flavor.
Follow the steps for tempering the egg yolks carefully. You don’t want the eggs to cook too soon. They melt into the sauce and thicken it with the cheese.
The down side of this recipe is all the grease. You don’t drain the bacon grease and that PLUS the olive oil adds up to quite a bit.
I suppose you could experiment with draining most of the bacon grease (maybe leave 1 T or so) and then add more water or cheese or something at the end.
I think a little lemon flavor and maybe some green onions would be nice in this.
It might also benefit from a dash of crushed red pepper flakes.
I might try some more variations in the future. I will let you know when I do!
Overall:
FOUR out of FIVE FORKS!
Really quick and easy, but a little overboard on the oil/grease in my opinion.
Even my very picky nearly 16-year-old daughter ate it (after picking around all the “green stuff”).
Enjoy! And, as always, please let me know if you try this recipe, how it turns out for you, and how you like it!
image via Flickr CC by cookbookman17; Fresh Parsley — A bunch of fresh hand picked parsley. This parsley is bursting with flavor and ready for use.
The best Falafel sandwich I have ever had was near the British Museum in London. There was a little sandwich shop just around the corner from the main entrance. The falafel was declicious, but the “fixins” were wonderfully fresh, crisp and flavourful. (Spelled it the British way for good measure, there!)
I looked at Google maps in that area around the British Museum and the best possibilities are Salt and Pepper (5 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3QE, England) or Bimbimbab Cafe (37 Museum Street, London WC1A 1LP, England). The menu and reviews at Salt and Pepper remind me more of the cafe, but the photo of Bimbimbab’s interior also looks familiar. It was not a Korean restaurant at the time if that is indeed the place we had falafel. It was 2008, so it is not likely I can solve this mystery now (unless someone in London can shed light on my memory!)
I’ve looked for a good recipe to try to recreate this memorable sandwich. The closest so far is a recipe from Rachael Ray.
My daughter and I made Rachael Ray’s Falafel Burgers recipe for dinner tonight.
We tweaked the recipe a bit so I thought I’d share our results and thoughts here.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. We used about 1 t. salt and 1/2 t. black pepper.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil for frying.
Combine these ingredients (above) in a large food processor. You might need to do 1 can of chickpeas and 1/2 the other ingredients at a time, then blend it all together in a bowl. We found the full amount to be too much for my Cuisinart. If the mixture seems too dry to hold together, add a little more olive oil. If it seems too wet — don’t even add the olive oil and/or add more flour.
Divide the chickpea mixture into 8 parts. Form into patties. Dredge lightly in flour.
Heat plenty of extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet. You need 1/4 c. or so of oil or sometimes more depending on how large your skillet is.
Fry the falafel patties about 3-4 min. on each side or until lightly browned and heated through. You can use more oil and completely deep fry them, but I think pan frying tastes good and uses so much less oil
To make the sauce combine the following in a small bowl:
1/4 cup tahini paste
2 tablespoons water (or more if needed)
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Prepare the “fixins” for serving:
4 sandwich-size whole wheat pita pockets (cut in half, warm in oven or toast lightly)
1-1 1/2 cups romaine lettuce, shredded
1/2 English (seedless) cucumber; peel, de-seed, quarter, slice and dice
chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; a large handful
2 vine-ripe tomatoes, sliced or garden fresh cherry tomatoes (cut into halves or fourths)
(In the street falafel photo below, I see he is offering radishes, jalapeno slices and lemon wedges, and possibly baby spinach, too. It is difficult to see — but I think the idea is toppings galore and whatever you crave!)
To serve:
Fill 1/2 a warmed pita with fixins, sauce and falafel. Have plenty of napkins ready. Sometimes I end up eating it with a fork.
image by Daniel Roy, via Flickr CC; falafel stand in Aleppo, Syria.
REVIEW:
I’ve made this recipe several times. The biggest issue is getting the consistency right so the falafel doesn’t fall apart in the skillet.
The fixings are important. Use fresh and local if possible; organic always tastes better to me, too. Maybe that is just in my head, though.
The original recipe calls for twice as many spices and several quite expensive ones. I have used 1/2 the amounts in the RR recipe and it was good. This is the first time we used the Sweet Curry instead of all the cumin, coriander and turmeric. Feel free, of course, to adjust the spice levels to your taste.
OVERALL: FIVE OUT OF FIVE FORKS!!
Highly recommended.
Please let me know if you try this recipe, how it turned out, and if you enjoyed it.
Cilantro Lime Chicken with Corn and Black Beans photo by TTQ creative commons 4.0
Cilantro Lime Chicken w/ Corn and Black Beans
Ingredients:
olive oil
1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs or any boneless, skinless chicken pieces
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp. Arizona Dreaming (from Penzey’s)
2 minced garlic cloves
1 small onion, diced (can use red if you have it)
1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn
Juice from 2 limes
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
Heat the olive oil in a good skillet. Chop the chicken into bite sized chunks. Add to the hot pan, season it with salt and pepper but don’t go crazy at this point. Brown the chicken til nearly done. Meanwhile you have chopped the onion and garlic (or opened the jar of chopped garlic you have in your fridge). Throw the onion and garlic in the pan. Add the cumin and Arizona Dremaing now. Smells good! As the onion softens, throw the bag of corn in the microwave to steam (that is the kind I buy). Or you can just zap it halfway and let it finish cooking in the skillet. Open your can of beans, drain and rinse. Add that to the skillet as well. Chop the cilantro and juice the limes. Throw those items in at the very end.
I chose to use this chicken mixture to fill corn tortillas which I warmed with a little olive oil in a skillet til they were hot, pliable and just beginning to brown. I added sour cream and some sliced jalapenos from a jar.
This was a great tasting, healthy, quick to fix meal!
FIVE FORKS!
You could also serve the chicken/corn/bean mixture with tortilla chips and other toppings such as guacamole, salsa, and cheese. I don’t think it needed any of that, though.
Arizona Dreaming contains ancho chili pepper, black pepper, onion, garlic, paprika, spices, cumin, citric acid, Mexican oregano, cilantro, lemon peel, chipotle pepper, red pepper, jalapeño, cocoa, natural smoke flavoring.
Recipe inspired by: Over the Big Moon, SixSistersStuff.com; then also further revised and re-adapted by The Tromp Queen! (me).
I have tried a few times to make salsa without a recipe. “How hard can it be?” I asked myself. I have eaten many baskets of chips at Mexican restaurants with many little bottles and bowls of various kinds of salsa — so I thought of myself as somewhat of an expert. Surely, I could just whip some up.
Well, it didn’t work out so well. Mine came out runny and tasteless. I had garden fresh tomatoes and cilantro and onion, clearly the essentials — but somehow the texture and the taste was all wrong.
image via Flickr CC Jordanmit09
I looked about for an actual recipe. I have two of the Pioneer Woman cookbooks now. I have been very happy with her recipes, both in the books and online. I tried watching her show, but it just isn’t my style. I like her writing and her recipes, though, very much. I think her photography is pretty spectacular, too. The cookbooks are beautiful to look at and to read. Every recipe I’ve tried of hers has been very good.
You can read about the most recent Pioneer Woman Cookbook: (read about it in her blog post here)
There is a point to all this. Back to the salsa issue. In the newest cookbook, Ree has a delicious looking salsa recipe in the Cinco de Mayo section that I just had to try. Even in Wisconsin in the middle of winter, I could get all the ingredients quite easily. I whipped it up in a very short time in my food processor. The best part is: it tastes delicious!!
Since this cookbook is pretty brand new fresh off the presses, I could not find the new salsa recipe posted anywhere online. I don’t want to get into copyright trouble with PW, so I am going to post the salsa recipe she already HAS on her website and suggest revisions so that you can come close to (okay exactly!) replicating the newer recipe. If that doesn’t make sense, just skip it and go on to the yummy food part.
image by Charles Williams via Flickr CC
Here is the Restaurant Style Salsa recipe from the Pioneer Woman website:
1 can (28 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes With Juice (or two 14 oz. cans)
1 can (10 Ounce) Ro-tel (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)
1/4 cup Chopped Onion
1 clove Garlic, Minced
1 whole Jalapeno, Quartered And Sliced Thin
1/4 teaspoon Sugar
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/2 cup Cilantro (more To Taste!)
1/2 whole Lime Juice
For the complete recipe and directions, please refer to PW’s website.
To update this version, make these adjustments:
Use two cans of petite diced tomatoes instead of the large can of whole tomatoes. I drained my cans of tomatoes.
Use a whole onion instead of 1/4 c. Cut it into chunks before putting it in the food processor.
Add 1 or 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. These come in little cans in the Hispanic food aisle in grocery stores. I added one and a half.
Add 1 teaspoon of cumin instead of the lesser amount.
Add 1 teaspoon of salt instead of the lesser amount.
Add 1 teaspoon sugar instead of the lesser amount.
Use a whole bunch of cilantro (tear off the stems).
Use 1/4 c. lime juice (or more to taste).
That is it. You can make either version or a combo of both. I think you could experiment with using two cans of Ro-tel and one can of petite diced. You could add garlic. You could use green onions instead of the white. You could use red onion. Be sure to drain the cans of tomatoes, but don’t drain the Ro-tel.
This is what my salsa looked like! YUMMMMMM.
My salsa! Made following PW’s Chipotle Salsa recipe in her new cookbook. Image by The Tromp Queen.
I was so desperate to try this salsa that I had to make my own tortilla chips. I had bought the ingredients for the salsa, but forgot to get tortilla chips! Since Wisconsin seems to be in an eternal Polar Vortex lately, I didn’t want to go back to the store for just one item. I did, however, have some extra corn and flour tortillas in the fridge. So I heated up a stainless steel pan with about 1/2 to 1 inch of oil (canola, veg, peanut whatever you have), cut the tortillas in half and then each half into wedges, and quickly fried them til brown on both sides (you have to flip them over with metal tongs or a fork — don’t use plastic!). Drain on paper towels and salt with kosher or regular salt. De nada!
While we are on the chips and salsa topic, Pioneer Woman’s Pico de Gallo is absolutely delicious!! I highly recommend it. Basically her recipe is equal parts of chopped tomato, onion and cilantro. Add a couple of jalapeno peppers (or just one, de-veined and de-seeded), lime juice, and salt and pepper to taste. It is so good! I love this on fajitas, tacos or just with chips. If you make guacamole (the recipe is in that same link) you can mix the Pico de Gallo and guac together, too. Yes. Now we all need a margarita.
Overall Recipe REVIEW:
The recipe is quick, easy and delicious. The ingredients are easy to obtain: there is nothing fancy here. I really enjoy the balance of flavors. This tastes as good or better than most of the restaurant salsas out there. This recipe would be easy to adapt for personal tastes, though — more or less spicy, more or less lime juice, etc. I highly recommend all the recipes in this blog post!
5 out of 5 forks!!
Enjoy!
Please let me know you how your recipes turn out if you try any in this post. I’d love to hear your results.
I love to try new recipes. I find them in many places: online, on TV, in cookbooks, in magazines, from friends, etc. I make new recipes sometimes several times a week so I thought a new feature for this blog could be for me to report how the recipes turn out for me.
I haven’t thought about a rating system, but I will give that some thought. Spoons or forks up instead of thumbs up? Coffee cups instead of stars? I’m open to suggestions here!
Sometimes I turn on the TV when I am folding clothes or when I am eating lunch. One day, I discovered a cooking show on the Food Network called “10 Dollar Dinners.” I watched enough to know I wanted to make all the recipes featured on the show that day. I set the DVR to record it, and then looked up the recipes online.
Get ready for some Moroccan flavors!
It took me a few days to gather all the ingredients, because one was something I had never heard of before.: lemon confit. Basically lemons are preserved in salt with a few spices and left to sit for about 30 days. The lemons get very soft and salty (of course). I didn’t want to wait 30 days to make this recipe so I searched for a quicker solution. I found a method and improvised a bit to make it fit my needs. I think it worked, but since I don’t know what lemon confit is supposed to taste like I guess I’m not totally sure. The meal was delicious, at any rate.
The three-hour recipe was getting close, but I only had about 2 hours. So this is what I did: I cut 2 organic lemons into fourths and put them in a small saucepan with 3 T. of kosher salt. I added just enough water to cover the lemons. I boiled it and then simmered it until I needed it. I did let them cool a bit before I chopped 4 of the quarters up for my chicken tangine.
First I started on the Carrot and Cauliflower Soup. Since it is January in Wisconsin, I decided to serve it warm not chilled.
Here is the recipe for the soup. Please follow the link to read the whole thing. To whet your appetite though, the ingredients needed for the soup are: olive oil, onion, carrots, cauliflower, red pepper flakes, cumin, lemon zest, chicken or vegetable stock, salt and pepper, and plain yogurt, and a green onion for garnish if you wish.
This is what mine looked like:
Carrot and Cauliflower Soup made by The Tromp Queen following Melissa D’Arabian’s recipe
Mine is little chunky because my pan was too big and when I tried to use my wonderful Cuisinart immersion blender in the pan, the soup was splurting about quite a bit. Also I wasn’t careful after I added the yogurt and it got a bit curdled. (This bowl was reheated for my lunch today, so it is a little more curdlier, too!).
I started on the chicken after I got the vegetables going and simmering. The recipe for Chicken Tangine, the main dish, is here.
The ingredients are: chicken thighs and drumsticks, salt and pepper, butter and olive oil, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, garlic, wine, chicken broth, lemon confit, olives (I used both kalamata and green), cilantro, and parsley. I only used drumsticks because they were on sale this week. I think you could leave out the parsley, frankly. I don’t think you really have to use the wine, either, though I happened to have some so I did. The lemon confit does add a distinct flavor but it you have to substitute I would add lemon juice and lemon zest and a bit of extra salt. It won’t be the same, but it would help in the right direction.
Here is what mine looked like (leftovers for lunch today!):
Chicken Tangine made by The Tromp Queen following Melissa D’Arabian’s recipe from Food Network
The final component to the menu is the couscous you see served under the chicken in the photo above. The recipe is here. The ingredients needed for Melissa’s Couscous with Peas and Mint are: frozen peas, couscous (I used whole wheat), butter, mint, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
I used Trader Joe’s whole wheat couscous in a box. I only used 1.5 cups, but you could probably use less. We had way TOO much couscous even with cutting the recipe down. You decide what is best for your folks, but 2.5 cups of couscous that the recipe calls for could feed a neighborhood pot luck. I followed the direction on the box of couscous to scale down the amount. If I remember correctly the amount of couscous is equal to the amount of water, so it is pretty easy to scale up or down. I kept the other ingredients about the same.
The Review:
Overall: I thought the meal was delicious. I would not describe doing all three at the same time EASY, though. Maybe do just the chicken and the couscous one time, and do the soup another time til you get the hang of what needs to be done. The colors and aromas of the meal are beautiful and incredibly appetizing.
Soup: I think it had very good flavor. I used about 1/2 the amount of red pepper flakes and it was still noticeably spicy. I like it, but both my other family members thought it was still too much spice. My husband did not like the texture of the creamy soup and wondered if I could leave more vegetable chunks the next time I make it. I liked the texture of the creamy soup, so I will have to mull that idea over a bit. I am also curious what it would taste like cold as the recipe calls for. It was very good warm (hot, really). I didn’t figure out the calorie count, but from years of Weight Watcher experience I think this would be a very low point soup.
Chicken: The main dish has interesting, complex flavors. My only experience with Moroccan food is from Epcot in Disney World, so I don’t have much real world experience to compare to. I thought it was delicious. I love olives, lemon and cilantro. The spices used were not overpowering at all. I might make it next time using just lemon zest and juice to see if the trouble of making the lemon confit is worth it. I will definitely make this dish again. I might consider using chicken off the bone next time to make eating it easier. You could easily use boneless, skinless thighs cut into bite sized chunks and get nearly the same effect. The bones add flavor, granted, but it was a little messy to eat.
Couscous: Given the fact that the chicken dish is so complex and flavorful, I’m not sure the couscous needs quite so much going on. I would use fewer peas next time and not use fresh squeezed lemon juice. I forgot to add the mint! I didn’t have any fresh and would have used dried. Again, I’m not sure it needs anything extra, though. The couscous is really there to soak up all the delicious liquid from the Chicken Tangine.
Overall: I would make this meal again. 4.5 out of 5 forks!
The Tromp Queen COOKS! 