TESTING A CLAY POT

I finally got around to cooking a meal in a clay pot, meals I love when I'm out but had never tried at home. My friend Amber gave me a Romertopf for my birthday, and it's lovely to look at and hold. To cook in a clay pot you must first soak the pot for at least 15 minutes in cold water and then when it's filled, place in a Cold oven. This allows the pot to slowly absorb the heat as it rises to the designated baking temperature.

Two great things about clay pot cooking are the convenience and ease of preparation. You simply add the ingredients to the pot as you would a crock pot and then sit back and relax as the pot performs its magic.

I took what I had in the fridge to make my first clay pot dinner.  Here's what happened.

ON THE CUTTING BOARD:



Organic chicken thighs, onions, baby potatoes,
mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, onions, garlic, green
pepper, fresh tumeric, ginger, dandelion greens,
sugar snap peas, lemon, red chilies, oyster sauce,
organic chicken stock and spice mix* (Use whatever
you'd like as a spice mix. I'm leaving this one totally
up to you. The variations are practically
endless!)

STEP ONE:





Cut a medium onion into large chunks,
mash about 6 garlic cloves, cut half a
green pepper into thin strips, add 8-10
potatoes, 8-10 cherry tomatoes, about
a cup of mushrooms, a dozen red chilies
and grated turmeric (1 and half-inch
piece) to the pot.

STEP TWO:





Take the chicken thighs and cut off any
excess fat and dredge in the spice mix (can
do this about an hour earlier to allow the
flavors to penetrate the meat). Add on top
of the vegetables in the clay pot. Add a quarter
cup of the chicken stock. Place pot in a COLD oven
and set to 425 degrees.  Cook for 30 minutes after
oven reaches target temperature and then check the pot.
Continue cooking for another 25 minutes, the last
10 minutes or so with the top removed to brown the
chicken, check for doneness (no pink in the chicken)
and remove from the oven.

STEP THREE:



Heat a wok with about 2 tsp. grape seed oil (or
canola or a high heat olive). Carefully add a large
bunch of dandelion greens and stir-fry for a couple
of minutes. Add a couple of minced garlic cloves and
an inch of minced ginger.  Continue to stir fry for another
minutes and add a cup of snow peas and one T. of
oyster sauce.  Cook until greens are wilted and peas
are still firm.  Adjust seasonings, squirt some lemon
juice on top and add some freshly ground pepper.

STEP FOUR:





Arrange chicken, vegetables and greens on a platter
and serve onto individual plates. Enjoy a meal that
is fork tender and delicious, having cooked in its own
steam. Healthy too!

*An organic mix of vegetables, fruits and herbs called
Wurzfee Streuwurze and Gemusebruhe, brought back from
Berlin by my friend Herta who talked so much about
it in her own cooking I asked for some when she visited
Germany recently.  It contains carrots, celery, onions,
turmeric, shitake mushrooms, parsley, apples, sunflower
seeds and sea salt.  You could use almost anything to flavor
this dish. I was thinking a good spicy mix of cumin, coriander,
chili powder, green chili paste and sesame seeds would be
good too.

I love my clay pot and will continue to experiment with
it.  It's an incredibly easy, quick and healthy way to cook.
Next time I'll try a whole fish and see what happens.


ALLA VOSTRA SALUTE!

Quick, Easy Midweek Porkchops

Good pork chops are hard to find. They are tough when pan fried and not very flavorful.  The best solution is to buy Iberico, but it's very expensive. The next best thing is to buy organic pork. I shop at The Organic Butcher near my home, and I'm never disappointed. They have fantastic fish too along with various eclectic items like vinegars, sauces, dandelion greens and fanciful ice cream flavors from small producers. The people who work there are very friendly, and I can tell they love to be there. So do I!

I had a lot of the onion greens left from the bunch I bought at an Asian market along with potatoes and some tomatoes, so I used them for this meal with the pork. I also found some dill that looked really sad and scared all by itself in the bottom drawer of the fridge. It was still fresh enough to use with my beans, so I threw it on the cutting board too. A mixed green salad complemented the dishes and a satisfying dinner was created in a flash.  Here's the recipe:

ON THE CUTTING BOARD:

Pork chops (bone in), fresh garlic,  onion
bulbs with the greens (can use baby leeks or scallions),
small potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, red chillies, dill,
Boston lettuce, avocado.

STEP ONE:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees




Lightly coat the tomatoes, potatoes, and onion bulbs with
olive oil, a little sea salt and a generous grind of pepper.
Roast potatoes first for about 15 minutes and then add
the tomatoes and onion bulbs. Continue roasting for
about 15 more minutes, stirring once or twice.

STEP TWO:



Heat a cast iron skillet (if you have one) on high with a
little sea salt inside.  Cast iron conducts, distributes and
holds heat very well. I love my cast iron skillet. I've had
it for many years. You can sometimes find them at yard sales
for next to nothing. Big score!

Pound the pork chops between sheets of plastic wrap with
a mallet and rub with a fresh clove of garlic.  Place in the
hot skillet and sear the chops on each side. Let cook for 4
minutes and then transfer to the oven for about 8-10 minutes.
Pork should be a light pink color inside. Let rest under a
foil tent while you cook the beans.

STEP THREE:



Heat a couple tsp. of oil in a skillet and when hot, add
the green beans with about 12 red chillies.  Don't cut the
chilies unless you're a sucker for punishment!  They're
meant to add heat and should not be eaten either. Can add
some chopped, fresh garlic to the beans as well as a little
splash of tamari and some pepper. Sitr fry until done --
about 6 minutes. Chop the dill and scatter on top.

STEP FOUR:





Done! Serve with a mixed green salad and enjoy!

ALLA VOSTRA SALUTE!

Norouz is the Persian New Year that Celebrates Spring!

Last night my husband Sadegh and I celebrated Norouz with a great symbolic meal and appreciation for all the good things we have in life. Norouz starts on the first day of Spring and lasts 13 days. A table (the Haftseen) is set with seven symbolic items, all starting with the letter S: Seeb (apple), Sabze (green grass), Serke (vinegar), Samanoo (a meal made out of wheat), Senjed (a special kind of berry), Sekke (coin), and Seer (garlic). Some Haftseen tables also include a book of poetry (Rumi is a favorite of friends),  a mirror and candles (reflecting into the future), a goldfish swimming in a bowl (representing life), painted eggs (fertility) and sweets and fruits. Each item is a symbol of Spring and renewal.

Norouz has been celebrated in Iran for over 3,000 years and is rooted in the traditions and rituals of the Zoroastrian (religion of ancient Persia before the arrival of Islam). It is the biggest holiday of the year in Iran.



An example of a "Haft Seen" courtesy of iranchamber.com

I surprised Sadegh when he came home with a busy kitchen and a happy cook -- me!  For this special post, I went to the market and bought most of the ingredients I needed for the meal. I would normally serve this dish with traditional rice with tahdig (golden-crust) but this time made a sabzi polo (herbed rice) to honor Norouz and served it with the fish which is a traditional combination on this day.  I decided to be brave and post the photo of the finished meal even though the rice looks way too dark. This is because of the vast amount of fresh herbs incorporated into the rice. Usually, the rice on top is golden brown. I used yogurt in the rice with this recipe which I normally don't do because the top usually isn't crispy enough for me when I cook it with yogurt. Maybe I need to experiment more. The rice is from the same NY Times recipe adapted by Samin Rosnat.  In a later post, I'll show how to cook Persian rice both ways, and you can decide for yourself which way you prefer.

There's lots of work involved with the chopping of fresh, beautiful herbs, shallots and garlic, the grinding of walnuts and the citrus juicing, and although it takes a while to make, the longest part is waiting for the rice to finish. It's all worth it though. Delicious!  Here's the recipe for the fish, courtesy of Samin Rosnat and the NY Times:

ON THE CUTTING BOARD:

:

Trout, 2 shallots, 4 cloves garlic, 2 scallions, 1 small
bunch chives, 1 cup fresh parsley, 1 cup cilantro,
2 sprigs tarragon, 1 cup dill, 3 clementines, a lime,
1/2 cup finely ground walnuts, 2 T. pomegranate syrup,
4 T. olive oil

STEP ONE:

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.






Finely chop all the fresh herbs, shallots, scallions
and garlic and set aside.  Finely process walnuts
(I love my NutriBullet!) and set aside.

STEP TWO:



Place 2 T. olive oil into a
skillet and fry 2 finely chopped shallots until golden.
Add 2 T. olive oil to pan and add the herbs and walnuts, stir
and saute for about 5 minutes. Add salt to taste.

STEP THREE:



Juice the 3 clementines and zest one to collect 1/2
tsp. Juice the lime and add all three to a small bowl.
Add 6 T. of juice to the herb mixture and let it cook
for about 4 minutes until the liquid is almost gone.
Add 2 T. pomegranate molasses and stir.  Cook for
another couple of minutes and then take off the heat
to cool. I found pomegranate molasses at my local
grocery store in the international section.

STEP FOUR:


Sprinkle sea salt inside and outside the fish. Open the
fish further with a sharp knife to butterfly and drizzle
each with a T. of the remaining juice mixture. Place
about a quarter cup of herb/shallot/garlic mixture
inside each fish.  Close the fish with kitchen twine in
three places and place on a baking sheet that has been lightly
coated with olive oil.  Place in the hot oven for about
20 minutes. Fish should be very golden brown and may
look a little charred on the tail.



Serve with rice and salad.  Persian rice with tahdig
(that golden crust) is the best way to serve this along
with a Persian salad. Traditional ones are cucumber,
radish, tomato, feta cheese and an olive oil and lemon
juice dressing.  As I stated above, these will be the subject of
another blog post!

And a parting gift:

An excerpt from Rumi's poem "Moving Water"

How could we know what an open field of sunlight is?
Don't insist on going where you think you want to go.
Ask the way to the spring. Your living pieces will
form a harmony.

There is a moving palace that floats in the air with balconies
and clear water flowing through, infinity everywhere, yet
contained under a single tent.


ALLA VOSTRA SALUTE AND HAPPY SPRING!

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VEGETARIAN PAELLA IS DELICIOUS

Paella is such a satisfying dish and surprisingly easy to make.  The most labor intensive part is cooking the risotto -- not hard, just a little time-consuming. This paella is even easier since it is a vegetarian variation. And it's just as delicious.  Besides wanting to eat more vegetarian meals, we had a friend to dinner the other night who is vegetarian.  I received a copy of Ina Garten's Cooking for Jeffrey for my birthday and found a vegetable paella in it.  Sounded perfect. I adapted the recipe by substituting vegetable stock for the chicken stock and adding the vegetables I had on hand along with some tofu for added protein. It came out great!  Here's the recipe:

ON THE CUTTING BOARD:



Porcini risotto, red, yellow and orange peppers,
2 baby eggplants, vidalia onion bulbs, cherry tomatoes, black olives,
sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, baby celery
root, 1 red and 1yellow onion, garlic, smoked paprika, fresh thyme,
olive oil, saffron, Manchego cheese (or parmesan), black olives.
Pictured is some chicken stock which I put in to show that stock is used.
For this particular dish, I used pound spice, a specialty spice from St.
Croix. I mixed one T. with 3.5 cups of water.  Pound spice looks like this:



Use any vegetable stock you like.  The recipe also
called for a Spanish paella rice, but I used risotto.
I used vidalia onion bulbs instead of scallions and
celery root instead of fennel. Use what you have!

STEP ONE:



Cut the eggplant into 1/2-inch rounds and cut in half. Cut
onions into thick slices and cut in half. Cut the celery
root into 1/2-inch rounds and cut in half.  Toss with peppers
(I used whole, small ones) and three T. of olive oil. Sprinkle
with a pinch of sea salt and a grind of pepper and roast in a
425 degree oven for about 35-40 minutes. Make sure the
vegetables start to get a nice char.  Cook the mushrooms in
a little oil or butter until they are nicely browned and aromatic.

STEP TWO:















Heat 3 T. of olive oil in a paella pan or skillet and add
the chopped yellow onion. Cook until translucent and then add 6
cloves finely chopped garlic and 1 tsp. of saffron threads. Cook
for about a minute and then add the chopped vidalia onion greens
or scallions. Stir and let cook another minute. Add 2 cups of rice
and stir to coat with the olive oil.  Puree the jarred red peppers
with 1 tsp. smoked paprika and add to the rice.  Pour in 1 cup of
heated stock to the pan and stir. Let cook until liquid is nearly
absorbed and then add more stock (about 10 minutes).
Heat should be on medium.  Add about 1 tsp. of fresh thyme.

Keep adding stock until the risotto is al dente.

STEP THREE:








Add the cherry tomatoes to the pan along with about
3 T of sliced sun dried tomatoes. Stir. Carefully fold
in the tofu. I used soft tofu because I'm not too fond of
the firm one in terms of flavor and texture. Add the roasted
vegetables and sautéed mushrooms and stir. Remove
the paella from the heat.

STEP FOUR:



Add the black olives (recipe calls for Manzanilla or
Cerignola) and the cheese. Grate according to taste.
Check for salt. The pound spice has quite a lot, so I
didn't add any extra except for a little on the roasted
vegetables. If you used a no- or low-salt stock, you
might want to add some.

STEP FIVE:



Spoon into shallow bowls and enjoy!

ALLA VOSTRA SALUTE!

MINESTRA DI PASTA E FAGIOLI

Several years ago, I brought a cookbook back from San Francisco for my father who is of Italian descent.  It was from the restaurant Fior di'Italia, touted as America's oldest Italian Restaurant, established in 1886.  He gave it back to me a few days ago because he told me I'm cooking so much these days I should try some of the recipes and bring them over for him and my mother to try!  It was sitting on my desk the other day and I opened it up. I came across a recipe for a hearty Italian soup, and true to my mission to use what I have on hand, checked out my cabinets, fridge and basket to see what I had in stock.  I had pasta, anchovies, olive oil, parmesan cheese, some stalks of kinda old celery, cans of diced tomatoes and cannellini beans, stock, onions and garlic. I just needed to run out for some fresh sage and pancetta.

I had some swiss chard and the remains of a large bag of Chinese spinach (lasts a long time if stored in a plastic bag, unwashed, in the fridge drawer), so I took that out to add to the recipe.  Here's the recipe:

ON THE CUTTING BOARD:



Pasta, onions, garlic, celery, fresh sage, olive oil, organic beef stock,
diced tomatoes, cannellini beans, parmesan cheese, anchovies,
pancetta, swiss chard (Chinese spinach was an afterthought), butterleaf
lettuce and an orange bell pepper for a salad.

STEP ONE:



This recipe calls for a lot of chopping. I found it easier
to get it out of the way up front.  So...finely chop 2 onions,
3 stalks of celery and 6 garlic cloves (the recipe called for
4, but I added more!) and sage. Chop the pancetta and
anchovies.

STEP TWO:



In a large, heavy soup pot, heat 2 T. of olive oil
over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook,
stirring, for 1 minute.  Add the celery and onion
and cook until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes.
Add the anchovies, garlic and sage and cook for
another couple of minutes.

STEP THREE:





Add the stock and tomatoes and bring to a boil,
then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add
the pasta that has been cooked to barely al dente
and cook for another 5 minutes. I had corkscrew
pasta on hand. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

STEP FOUR:





Heat a T. of oil in a wok (olive, grapeseed or
canola) and when it's very hot, throw in some
hot red pepper if you like the heat and add the swiss chard
and spinach (or any greens actually) along with a
few cloves of smashed garlic (I had a bunch of
barberries on hand, so I threw some of those in too).
Stir fry on high heat until barely wilted. Turn off the heat
and squeeze the juice of half a lemon on the greens and
douse with a generous grind of black pepper. Throw in
a pinch of seasalt and toss.

STEP FIVE:





Ladle the soup into bowls. Top with grated parmesan
cheese and a drizzle of good olive oil.  Top with the
greens and serve with garlic bread and a salad.

Enjoy this low-fat, healthy meal that takes under an hour from start to finish!

ALLA VOSTRA SALUTE!

A LOBSTER HANGS WITH A SAUSAGE AND SOME HORSERADISH LEAVES

They walk into a bar...sounds like the beginning of a joke, but there's no joke with this dish! I saw the lobster and bought the lobster, took it home and then looked in the fridge and the cabinets to see what I could make with it.  I had been doing some shopping at an Asian market called The Great Wall and found horseradish leaves. What a score! Never had these before. They tasted similar to arugula. This is what happened:

ON THE CUTTING BOARD:



Two lobster tails, a chicken sausage, noodles, cauliflower,
red pepper, Chinese spinach, red chillies, horseradish leaves,
scallions, garlic, lemon, ginger, dill, black bean sauce.

STEP ONE:



Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake lobster for 20 min.
accompanied by about 10 cloves of garlic soaked in olive oil.

Cook sausage in a small skillet.

Cut cauliflower into florets.

Chop the red pepper, scallions, garlic, ginger and horseradish
leaves (after defrosting -- they were frozen). Roughly chop the
Chinese spinach. Throw everything but the garlic and spinach
into a wok that's been heated with about a T. of canola oil.  Stir
on med-high heat.

STEP TWO:



Add spinach and hot chilies to wok with the garlic
and stir. Add two T. black bean sauce (or to taste). Mix well,
turn up heat and stir-fry for a couple of minutes. Turn heat
down.

NOTE: the hot chiles are there for heat and color.
DO NOT EAT THEM (unless you're a die-hard hot chili
fanatic)

STEP THREE:






Remove lobster and garlic from oven and take the
meat out of the shells.

STEP FOUR:


Add the lobster meat and cubed chicken sausage to the
wok and mix well.

STEP FIVE:



Ready to serve. Squeeze the juice of one lemon
into the wok and top with chopped dill.  Can serve with
noodles, rice or any grain. I served with noodles again
because I have a lot on hand and need to use them.

ALLA VOSTRA SALUTE!