Something New: Recipe Reviews!

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.

I found various recipes for making lemon confit:

Here is one that takes 48 hours.  

This one is very thorough but it takes 2 weeks.  (I learned that preserved lemons are the same things as lemon confit).

This one takes a month.

This one bakes in an oven for 3 hours.

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.

Here is the link for the whole dinner menu:
Melissa’s Ten Dollar Moroccan Chicken Dinner.

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!

Linguine Carbonarish

Linguine Carbonarish by quirkyjazz aka The Tromp Queen

Carbonara usually has eggs and bacon included in the ingredients.  This one doesn’t so I’m calling it “Carbonara-ish” or Carbonarish for short.

I have delicious sliced leftover in the freezer from Christmas.  I was looking for an idea to use it in a quick dinner tonight.

In one of my cookbooks I saw a recipe for “Hay and Straw.”  Number 1:  I don’t like the name.  Not very appetizing!  2nd:  It was kind of plain.  But I took the idea, tweaked it quite a bit and made this really good dinner.  I declare the recipe “share-worthy” now.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (16 oz) linguine, cooked al dente
3 cups cooked ham, julienned (I used leftover spiral sliced ham.)
1 T. olive oil and 1 T. butter
1 pkg. cook in the bag in the microwave frozen peas
1 1/2 cups shredded good quality Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. heavy cream (could use half and half)
8 oz. white button mushrooms (sliced)
2 t. butter and 2 t. olive oil
1 t. minced garlic (from a jar is fine or use powder — probably 1/2 t.)
1 t. thyme (or to taste)
salt and pepper to taste as well as additional Parmesan for topping

1.  Put a pot of water on for the pasta.  Add salt.  Turn it up on high.  Throw the peas in the microwave, but set it to undercook them slightly.  (i.e.  4 min. instead of 5 min. — they will cook later on some more).  When the water boils, add the pasta, set the timer for al dente and turn the heat down enough so it doesn’t boil over.

2.  I cooked the mushrooms separately because we have a mushroom hater at our house (SARAH!).  But I actually think it worked really well in this case, and would probably do it again this way.  The last four ingredients are what you need here.  In a medium skillet, heat the butter and oil (you don’t have to measure it, but you don’t need a gob).  Slice the mushrooms.  I admit I rinsed mine off even though I know it isn’t good for them.  Tough.  I don’t like all that dirt looking stuff hanging on there.  Anyway, throw the mushrooms in the hot skillet.  Hat the garlic and thyme.  Stir everything around and let this cook for the rest of the time you have.  Mine got really nicely browned and were very yummy.  Be careful not to burn them, though.  Stir them every once in a while, but let them sit long enough to get a little brown.

3.  While the pasta cooks, dig the ham out of the fridge.  Hopefully you remembered to take it out of the freezer yesterday!  (YAY!  I did!)  Slice off any huge blobs of fat, stack the slices and julienne the heck out of it.  If you are a precise person you can measure 3 cups of ham slices.  If not, just cut up how much you think everyone will eat that night.  It’ll be fine!

4. The peas are probably done.  Just let them hang out in the microwave until you are ready for them.  Get the cheese and cream ready, because it comes together in a flash here at the end.

5.  Drain the pasta.  Remember to stop it at al dente if you can.  Pasta that has no texture is not great to eat.  BLAH.

6.  You can either use your pasta pan or a very large skillet.  Melt the 1 T. butter with the 1 T. olive oil.  Add the julienned ham.  Stir it around til it is hot but not so long that it gets dry and yukky.  Just heat it through.  (You can work on the ham while the pasta is cooking if all goes well, but I had a small gray cat trying to poke her head up onto the table, and I had already dropped a mushroom earlier which was still rolling around under the table, and then …. well, you get the idea).  Grab the peas and add them to the ham in the skillet.  Throw on the shredded parmesan (save some for on top or use extra).  Pour in the cream.  Stir it all together and mix it as well as you can.  I used my wonderful stainless steel pasta fork.  It will not be an easy job, but hang in there.  Everyone can stir it again when they serve themselves so don’t get obsessed.

7.  Yell, “Dinner’s ready!”

Ideas to make it healthier:  Add more kinds of veggies.  Use whole wheat pasta. Make a roux and thicken milk to use instead of the cream.  Use less cheese.

The whole thing from start to finish took less than 30 minutes.  I’m ready for my TV show!