Sweet Potato & Chickpea Curry

My best friend makes this for Thanksgiving every year, but this year she was deep in roasting lamb, making brioche, and baking pies and brought the ingredients over with her recipe and said, “Here.” Well, not quite so peremptorily, but you get the idea. Knowing that her lamb is the most delicious dish that has ever existed on the planet, I was happy to help. Besides, my contribution was two pickled salads that I had made the day before so the brine could work its magic. This is a recipe that originates with Nigella Lawson and was printed in The New York Times years ago. It has been a tradition ever since.

• 2 med red onions, peeled
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 serrano pepper – don’t remove the seeds, you want the heat.
• 2-3 inches of ginger, peeled
• 3 TBSP canola oil

Chop onions, garlic, serrano pepper, and ginger. Sauté in canola oil over medium low heat for about 5 minutes until softened.

• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 2/3 tsp turmeric
• 3 cardamon pods, crushed
• salt to taste

Add spices, stir and mix. Let bloom by heating so the aroma fills the room. This releases the aromatic oils so they infuse more flavor.

• 3 med sweet potatoes peeled and cubed
• 1 3/4 cup coconut milk (light) (1 can)

Add sweet potatoes and stir until covered by spices. Add coconut milk. Raise heat to medium and simmer.

• 1 TBSP tamarind paste
• 2 1/4 cup vegetable broth (can use water if you don’t have broth)

Heat broth and stir tamarind paste in hot liquid until dissolved (You can use a microwave). Tamarin paste is super sticky, so you want to be sure it is completely dissoved in the hot liquid before you add it to you pan of simmering sweet potatoes. Keep simmering, partially covered for about 25 minutes. You want the sweet potatoes to be tender, but not soft.

• 4 to 5 cups cooked chickpeas

Add the chickpeas, stirring them into the sweet potatoes and making sure they heat through. Then remove.

• 2 TBSP chopped cilantro

Top with cilantro when serving.

This is a warm, slightly spicy dish rich in the hearty, warm flavors of fall with the beautiful browns and oranges of fall as well. It is delicious, hearty, and a great substitute for the traditional mashed potatoes and gravy.  It is a huge meal, serving 12, or great for leftovers. It just tastes even richer the next day.

 

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Pickled Brussels Sprouts, Carrots & Radishes with Anise Seed

Pickled vegetable salad is found in cuisines around the globe. I made the giardiniera from The Grand Central Market Cookbook the other day so it had a few days to marinate in brine for Thanksgiving. I decided to make a second salad to evangelize my love of anise with vegetables.  Believe me, anise seed does not make your food taste like licorice.

• 2 tsp anise seed
• 2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 serrano chile
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 TBSP sugar

To make this, I made the brine first because it must be cooled down before you add it to the veggies. I heated a saucepan over medium heat. I added anise seed and let it bloom a bit, heating it in the dry pan until the aroma scented the room. Then I added apple cider vinegar, a whole serrano chile with the stem removed, salt, and sugar. Heat this until the sugar dissolves, Remove from the heat and cool.

• 1 medium onion, sliced thinly
• 4 cups of brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
• 2 cups of carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
• 2 cups of radish, trimmed and sliced.
• Serrano chile, (removed from brine and chopped)

Chop the vegetables, add the brine. Let marinate for at least 12 hours. This is a crispy, crunchy salad with a bright flavor. This is my second pickled salad for Thanksgiving dinner and serves 8.

 

 

Pickled Strawberries

Pickled Strawberries with a few sliced almonds

• 3 cups white vinegar
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp red pepper flakes

I got 10 pounds of strawberries at Harvest Share and was trying to think how to use them quickly before they turned. I froze several packages, but ran out of freezer bags, so I was looking at all these strawberries that even if I ate them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I would not be able to eat them quickly enough. I had this wild idea of pickling them and googled for recipes to work from. I found one that sounded delicious, but I didn’t have mint or serrano chiles. So, I mailed it to a friend of mine who also went to Harvest Share and said, how about you make these and I will make some others and we can trade.

I decided to just run with a standard pickling brine with sugar and vinegar, adding some balsamic vinegar because I know strawberries and balsamic vinegar love each other. I tossed in some red pepper flakes because sweet and spicy make some of the most addictive flavors.

I cut off the tops of the strawberries and stuffed them in some jars with lids. I used old peanut butter jars. Meanwhile, on the stove I heared vinegar and sugar, adding red pepper flakes and balsamic vinegar after the sugar dissolved. I let the brine cool completely before pouring over the strawberries. I made sure they were completely submerged in brine and stuck them in the fridge, turning a few times. The next day they were ready…

Wow! These are dangerously addictive. They are spicy, but not uncomfortably spicy. The sweet and spicy flavor is perfect. They would be great served with pork. A friend brought over some espresso brownies last night and I cut one in half, putting a strawberry on each half. It was fabulous.

Far from being a recipe you might want to use up strawberries before they spoil, this is a recipe that would justify going out and buying a flat of them.

Brussels Sprouts, Black Beans, and Carrots

This was a quick and easy supper.

• ½ tsp anise seed
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 small carrots, peeled and cut into coins
• 8 oz. Brussels sprouts, cut off the end and then halve or quarter depending on the size so they are all the same size.
• 1 can black beans, thoroughly rinsed with water
• juice of ½ fresh lemon
• salt and pepper

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add anise seed until the aroma fills the room. Add carrots and salt and pepper. Sauté for about two minutes. Add Brussels sprouts and cook until warmed through. Be sure you don’t overcook to the point they are softened. Add black beans, rinse thoroughly so the juice from the can does not color the veggies. Add salt and pepper. When they are warmed through, squeeze fresh lemong juice and cover for 1 minute.

I love the flavor of anise and vegetables. It really does not taste like licorice. It marries vegetables perfectly. The black beans adds a bit of protein to balance the dish and give it the carbs that really make it satisfying.

Brussels Sprouts & Radish Salad with Candied Almonds

Yesterday volunteers spent a couple hours in the rain to distribute fresh produce to local residents. A project of the Oregon Food Bank, Harvest Share is open to everyone in the area. All they ask is your zip code and how many are in your household and if you have been there before. Food banks are dominated by nonperishable foods, lots of carbs, canned food, and frozen food. There’s very little fresh produce, so Harvest Share which is all about fresh produce is a wonderful option.

However, Harvest Share gives a lot of a few items, like about ten pounds of radishes and 6 pounds of Brussels Sprouts. Hmmm, time to think outside the box. I found a recipe by Jeremy Fox featured by Martha Stewart who has never released a bad recipe, but I didn’t have celery hearts, almond oil, or even an assortment of different radishes. It did sound like a good place to start, though. I like nutmeg with Brussels sprouts and I thought it would work with this recipe with a few alterations. Of course, I cut it in half as well to make it a single salad entree.

Make the garnish first because it must be cooled down first.

Garnish:

• 2 TBSP sliced almonds
• 1 TBSP sugar

Toss these in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook, shaking the pan so the sugar gets over all sides of the almond slices and cook until the sugar caramelizes. Removed quickly so it does not burn and let cool on some parchment paper. Break it up on the salad when it is cooled.

Salad:

In a cast iron skillet over medium heat, heat some freshly grated nutmeg until you smell its aroma. Add the butter and let it melt before adding the garlic. Cook about two minutes, softening the garlic.

The Brussels sprouts need to be broken down for salad. Cut off the ends and then cut away quarters from the center, discarding the core. Break it up with your fingers into leaves. Add to the garlic and butter and cook, stirring so all the Brussels sprouts are coated and let cook until warm, but not limp. Squeeze the fresh lemon juice and stir it in and transfer to your salad bowl.

Put the sliced radishes on top and then add the candied almonds.

• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 TBSP butter
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• Salt and pepper
• 8 oz. Brussels sprouts, broken down into leaves.
• 4 radishes, cleaned and sliced thin
• 1/2 fresh lemon, squeezed

The salad is delicious. There is something luscious about mixing savory and sweet, the garlic, the lemon, the candied almonds. It also has a lovely mix of textures, the tender leaves, the crunchy radish, and the crispy almonds. You could use a nut oil or olive oil instead of butter for a vegan option, but it would lose the richness of butter and garlic and lemon coming together in mouth-watering dressing.

Yum!

Blue Cornmeal Applesauce Breakfast Bars

• 2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1½ cup blue cornmeal
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tsp cardamom (optional)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 stick butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional)
• 1 cup dried figs (optional)
• sugar and cinnamon for dusting

Heat oven to 400 degrees Mix dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Cut in pieces of butter using a pastry blender. Add applesauce and sour cream and mix. The batter will be more solid than cake batter, but not stiff and dry like scone batter. Add optional nuts and dried fruit. You can experiment with different nuts and fruits, including currants, raisins, pecans, walnuts, or pepitas.

Roll into a log using parchment paper or wax paper. Then slice into  12 pieces and layer on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Bake 15 minutes at 400, remove for a moment, shake some mixed cinnamon and sugar over the top and return to oven, lowering temperature to 300 for 15 more minutes.

These are a nice moist, breakfast/dessert bars. They are toothsome, hearty, and slightly sweet. Goes well with coffee or tea. A good afternoon snack. They’re not as sweet as dessert bread, but not as “healthy” as corn muffins.

Ginger Chicken with Turnips and Pears

This is so delicious that I am going to make it again and again, though it would be nice to add some fresh parsley just to get a bit of green. We humans like a bit more color variety in our food, but the flavor is intensely varied. I was at Harvest Share and a woman from Somali who was in line ahead of me asked what she might make with turnips. I mentioned how much I like them in a salad with pineapple and onions, but we also were given a big bag of pears and I said the pears and turnips would go together in a soup or puree. When I got home, I was inspired by our conversation to come up with something tasty with turnips and pears.

I had a chicken breast thawed out for supper, so I decided to try something with chicken. I thought the piquant flavor of the turnip would go well with ginger, so I decided to focus on ginger and garlic for flavor. Wow, it worked out so well.

I heated a cast iron skillet to medium heat with about 1 TBSP of olive oil. I chopped up ¼ yellow onion, 2 garlic cloves, and about ½ inch of ginger root chopped fine and added to the skillet with some salt and pepper. As soon as the onions softened, I added the chicken breast. I might have cooked a whole breast, but I bought this bargain bag of chicken breast pieces, so I cut it up into bite-size pieces.

While the chicken browned, I peeled a turnip and cut into ½ inch size pieces. It was more than I wanted, so reserved half for something tomorrow and added half the turnip pieces to the skillet. I stirred things around and put the cover on for about 8 minutes, to the point where the turnip was close to tender.

Meanwhile, I peeled a mid-size pear and chopped into ½ size pieces. When the turnip was close to done, I added the pears and stirred, sauteeing for about 2 minutes since the pears just need to be warmed. I removed the food to a plate and added about 1 TBSP of water to deglaze the skillet. Stirring the juices in, I added a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and added the food back, stirring it into the sauce, making sure it is well-coated. I served it on a plate and sprinkled some sliced almonds on top.

This is so delicious, there is this wonderful umami from the chicken and onions, this fresh tartness from the ginger and turnips, and a delicate sweetness from the pears. It comes together in this rich flavor explosion.

I think I might toast the almonds next time. It might be interesting to try with pistachios, too. A sprinkling of fresh parsley would add some color.