Extra Schmaltz!

My wonderful siblings got me a cookbook in Morocco that is both inspiring and idiosyncratically translated. The quantities are along the lines of "heaping coffeespoonful" and "one teaglassful". Many of the dishes have combinations of sweet and savory, fruit and meat, which intimidate me. I should try out more of these recipes than I do, but I thought this relatively simple one would be a good start. Moroccans must be quite fertile, as these recipes often begin with "take 2 whole chickens, add 11 pounds of tomatoes...", so I scaled this one back for our 2-person family. The result was a deeply hearty, warming, satisfying stew, and I am finally reconsidering my dislike of sweetened meat dishes. A thoughtful gift from Alex and Melanie for a food-obsessed person like me! This dish has a wonderfully mellow, warming character. Almonds are supposed to be whole and blanched, but I couldn't find those. 1 whole cut-up chicken 1 stick butter 1 ...

This is a very simple and easy recipe for when you either have lots of leftover rice, or when you have almost nothing fresh in the house but a full pantry. It's a traditional, cheap Egyptian dish, and while I still haven't visited Egypt, I'm told I make it pretty close to the original. It's a pretty complete meal, it's tasty, and it makes a lot with little effort. I'm giving the recipe as if you're making it from scratch - if you already have one of the ingredients leftover, just add it in towards the end, so it can absorb some of the heat from the other ingredients. Ingredients: 1 c. brown lentils 1 c. white rice 1 c. elbow macaroni (Optional: 1 can chick peas, cooked a little to soften further OR use Chana Masala for extra spice!) 1 large can diced or crushed tomatoes (28oz) 2 Tbsp diced garlic 2 Tbsp white vinegar Crushed red pepper to taste S&P (Optional: squirt or two of  vodka to bring out the flavor of the tomatoes) 1 large onion...

Call it chicken parmesan, parmigiana, or parm, most of the time this winds up being a soggy, insipid dish. BUT--never fear, dear readers, I have improved it! The trick is to put the chicken (or veal) cutlets on top of the sauce, which keeps the breading from getting soft. I keep the cutlets small so that they have more crispy surface area and I use noodles instead of spaghetti, so it serves like a casserole. Overall, it helps to use high-quality ingredients for maximum flavor--the ones listed below are ideal, but you can use block mozarella, canned sauce, etc... Cutlets 1.5 lb. chicken breasts 1.5 c. flour 3 eggs, beaten 1.5 c. panko crumbs Salt and pepper Oil for frying Sauce 1 large can plum tomatoes 1 large can diced tomatoes 1/4 c. olive oil 2 tbsp. tomato paste 1 medium onion, minced 3 cloves + 2 cloves garlic 1/4 c. red wine 1 Tbsp. oregano 2 tsp. dried basil or a handful of fresh 1 tsp. black pepper 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes 2 bay leaves Salt to taste + m...

I synthesized this from a couple of recipes. It turned out pretty well, and we could use some more Indian recipes on the blog. Ingredients 1/2 pound paneer or tofu 1 red and 1 green bell pepper, cut into 1.5-2" squares 1.5 Tbsp coriander seeds 2 dried red chilies 4-6 cloves garlic, minced 4-6 medium tomatoes (depending on desired sauciness), peeled by immersing in hot water 1/4" slice of fresh ginger, skinned 1/2 tsp turmeric 1 tsp cumin seeds 2 Tbsp chopped fenugreek or celery leaves Salt Preparation Fry coriander seeds and chili peppers in about 2 Tbsp oil until the seeds start to brown slightly, then add garlic and cook until golden brown, taking care not to burn the coriander seeds. Combine the stuff in the pan, the tomatoes, and the ginger in a food processor or blender. Puree well. Fry the paneer in oil until browned. In the same pan, fry the bell pepper, taking care not to overcook them since they'll be cooked more later. Drain on a paper towel. In the same pan, if...

I have learned a lot about making pasta in the last 2 years or so; it is not a coincidence that this overlaps with my having very little time to contribute to the blog. I'd like to illustrate what I now know about the "true" italian approach to pasta with a dish from the menu of the restaurant where I currently work, Delfina . This dish has, approximately, 4 ingredients. It is also one of the signature dishes of a well-regarded restaurant which has served dozens of them every single day of its 12 year history, which should indicate that the devil is going to be in the details. It is officially listed on the menu as "Spaghetti with plum tomatoes, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and peperoncini" Ingredients: Spaghetti: This is a dry pasta dish. Texture-wise, the sauce adds little more than mouth-feel, so everything depends on the noodle itself. The industry standard for Italian dry pasta is Rustichella d'Abruzzo . I think you can find it retail at fancy-p...

This is a favorite of Melanie's and is definitely an example of something that is greater than the sum of its parts: Cucumbers, skinned and diced Tomatoes, skinned, de-seeded and diced as well White vinegar Vegetable oil Salt Combine. Enjoy.

Edit: I just re-tested this recipe 9 (!) years later and made a few changes: There's a time for thick, doughy pizzas and a time for thin, crispy pizzas. This is for when you have a hankering for the latter. It takes some forethought, since the dough rises overnight in the fridge, but is well worth the patience and planning. I got the dough recipe from this site and it works great if you follow the recipe just the way it's written (makes 2 pizzas). The sauce recipe is my own. The day before: 1 lb. high protein unbleached white flour (ie bread flour) 3/4 c. warm water (or more*) 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil 1 1/2 tsp. dry yeast 1 1/2 tsp. sugar 1 tsp. salt Combine all the ingredients and mix by hand or with a stand mixer. The dough will be extremely stiff and a bit lumpy. Do not knead any more than necessary to combine the ingredients. Place the dense dough ball in a lightly oiled bowl and allow to rise for 24 hours in the refrigerator. It will not get much bigger, but ...

There's a zillion recipes for bolognese sauce, but this one worked well for me. Some people add cream at the end, but I find I don't like that as much. This one's really good if you can find hot pepper paste (usually associated with Hungary, but I have a Peruvian brand that's excellent). You can make it entirely un-spicy if you like, too. 2 large cans whole tomatoes, ideally Red Gold brand (or you can use 1 can puree and 1 can crushed if you don't have a blender) 1 lb ground beef 1 c. red wine 1/2 c. beef broth 1 onion, minced 1 tsp. red pepper flakes 2 tsp. oregano 1 tsp. dried basil 1 tsp. ground black pepper 1 tsp. fennel seeds (optional) 3 Tbsp. salt 3 Tbsp. olive oil 2 Tbsp. red pepper (or tomato) paste 2 Tbsp. flour 1/2 c. water from boiling pasta 2 cloves garlic, crushed Brown the ground beef and chop it up with your stirring device so that it's finely textured. If you have a pressure cooker, add 1/2 c. red wine and the 1/2 c. beef broth and cook for 15 m...

This soup is from my good friend Artemis who I met in Jordan. It's a seriously delicious lentil soup, much more than the sum of its parts. I've copied and pasted the recipe from an email, hence the narrative style. Ingredients: Red Lentils 5-6 cloves garlic, WHOLE Onion 4-5 juicy tomatoes Veggies Oregano Broth Lemons Start with a relatively deep layer of olive oil in the bottom of the pan on a low flame, add several(As many as 5 or 6) whole cloves garlic(they're going to get super sweet anyway, so don't skimp)(don't chop them, but if you really want, you can squish them a tad. DON'T BURN THEM!). Cook garlic until it's fairly well cooked, then add onions. Cook onions for a while. Now here's the trick to the whole thing- get several tomatoes(3-5), the rounder hothouse shape, not roma, and cut the stems out, and then in half. No more cutting, just in half. Then put them _cut side down_ in the pan, and let them cook for a while, until they get really cooked ...

So I realize that this is very similar to Lillian's previously posted Lamb Kibbeh Hotdish , however, this it is different enough that I figured it warranted a new entry. The Arabic name actually, literally means, "Meat in a Pan." It's relatively easy, but needs about an hour or more to cook. I originally learned this from Reem, so the credit is due to her, though in Syria you just get the meat pre-spiced from the butcher. You'll need: Potatoes Tomatoes Ground meat Parsley Garlic Arabic spice mix (or equivalent) Ground red pepper Salt Pepper Heat oven to 350. Get out a large iron skillet, or round baking dish with high sides. Skin and cut enough potato to cover the bottom of the pan in a single layer, in 1/4-1/2" slices. Put the potato in the oven while you do the following steps, unless you have a microwave, in which case you can give them a quick zap and then it'll go a bit faster. Mix ground meat with spices to taste. The flavor of the meat is what real...

If you're anything like me, you have more green beans than you can deal with right now. Even if you don't, this is an easy and versatile dish that can either be a vegetarian side-dish or a meaty main entree. You can even use frozen green beans, so this would be a welcome taste of summer when you're raiding the freezer for vegetables in the middle of winter. I first had this dish in Jordan, and was pleased to find the recipe at Summer Bahrain's wonderful Mimi Cooks Middle Eastern food blog. I followed her instructions pretty closely, so you can view the recipe there, but I will re-post it here for convenience. If you want to make this a heartier meaty main-dish, add some ground beef, lamb or beef cubes, or kufta meat balls. It's delicious with rice or as a side-dish. Many of the ingredients are optional, so just make it how you like. ~1 lb. green beans, trimmed and cut into 1.5" pieces 2 Tbsp. cooking oil 1 large onion, chopped 1 chili pepper, chopped (optiona...