Ah, the first recipe from the most recent Eating Well — the one with the asparagus on the cover. Except there’s no asparagus in this one. It’s a Moroccan-influenced pork ragu. This even included a special trip to Pasta Works (which has kind of become my go-to place when I need an imported, out of the ordinary, ingredient). In this case it was preserved lemons.

This really cooks pretty quickly, so I guess it’s a cheater’s ragu as I think normally it’s something you would cook for hours and hours. You’d also, because of that, use tougher meat. But the pork chops the original recipe calls for and the cubes of pork tenderloin that I used, both are very tender and don’t need to cook for hours.

I changed a couple of things from the original recipe — added a bit more olive oil, sauteed the veggies, used tenderloin instead of chops since that’s what I had in the fridge and doubled up on the butternut squash.

Moroccan Pork Ragu
2 lemons
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon plus 1 pinch ground ginger, divided
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork chops (1 inch thick), trimmed of fat, cut into 1-inch cubes (or 1 pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat and cut into cubes)
14 oz chicken broth
2 cups diced butternut squash
1 cup sliced carrots (1/2 inch thick)
1 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup diced tomatoes (canned or fresh)
2 tbsp chopped rinsed preserved lemon (optional — if you can’t find it just leave it out)
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce, such as Tabasco (or a bit of chili paste)
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground allspice
6-8 leaves of fresh spinach, sliced into strips

Chopped preserved lemon

Zest and juice the lemon(s) to get 1 tablespoon zest and 2 tablespoons juice; reserve the zest. Combine the juice, 1 tablespoon oil, paprika, turmeric, coriander, cumin, pepper and 1/4 teaspoon ginger in a medium bowl. Add pork; stir to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.

Heat the remaining oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook, stirring, until no longer pink on the outside and beginning to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the pork to a plate. There should be a nice coting of the pork marinade in the pot — leave it in there and cook everything else in that.

Add the squash, carrots, garlic and onion. Saute for about five minutes and then add the broth chickpeas, tomatoes, preserved lemon (if using), tomato paste, hot sauce or chili paste, cinnamon, allspice, the reserved lemon zest and the remaining pinch of ginger to the pan. Whew! A lot of stuff, but it mostly goes in at once.

Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally; reduce heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Next, stir in the pork, return to a simmer and cook, stirring, until the pork is just cooked through, 5-8 minutes more. The kitchen will smell all fragrant and you will be hungry. Call it done and get some bowls.

We had this over some rice. I thought it looked very orange so I garnished it with a little spinach. Very pretty. Oh I also added a dollop of yogurt to the top because that’s just like something I’d do. jwa was a little skeptical at first. He gave it a few sniffs (as he’s apt to do with new meals), tried a bit and decided that he liked it very much, as did I. We both had leftovers for lunch the next day. So there you go. It’s quite tasty!

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Here it is 2007 and it’s time to start eating healthy. Really. I mean it this time! So, it was very good fortune that the theme of this month’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge is stew. And it’s the perfect time of year around here for a warm and comforting stew. No snow, but our lows have been in the 30’s. Brrrrrrr.

Since I am thinking about low-fat, healthy meals right now (huh — good thing I won’t be posting about those homemade refried beans I made tonight until later in the week), I chose a vegetarian stew. Moroccan Style Chick Pea Stew from the cookbook, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. It’s chock full of chick pea, vegetables and spice. It makes the house smell so amazing. Also, it’s a very easy recipe to substitute ingredients. I had no carrots, green beans or peas on hand when I made this. Not a problem. I used some defrosted frozen spinach and lima beans instead and it all turned out just great.

Moroccan Style Chick Pea Stew
1 tbsp olive oil
3 shallots, chopped (or 1 small white onion)
1 large carrot, chopped (alternatively, throw in about 1 cup defrosted and drained frozen spinach)
1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced (up from the one the recipe calls for)
1 tsp peeled and minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp turmeric
8 ounces green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces (or, use some lima beans, frozen and defrosted — about 1 cup)
1 can chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained
1 can diced tomatoes (or whole works too, just break them up a bit)
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
dash of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed (I omitted)
1/4 cup dried fruit, chopped (I used dried mangoes and golden raisins)
1/4 cup green olives, pitted and chopped (mine were stuffed with feta)
Garnish: chopped parsley and/or garlicky yogurt

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots, carrot, bell pepper and garlic. Cover and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, cumin, cinnamon, paprika and turmeric, and cook, stirring about 30 seconds to bring out the flavors.

Next, transfer the mixture to a crock pot. Now, you just start layering. Add the spinach (if using), chick peas, tomatoes, stock, red pepper flakes, lima beans (if using) and lemon juice. Add a little salt and pepper.

Stir, cover and cook for 6-8 hours on low.

About 20 minutes before serving, add the peas (if using) and dried fruit. When ready to serve, stir in the olives.

Adjust seasonings and ladel into bowls. Top with a little garlicky yogurt if desired. Perhaps a sprinkle of parsley? We had this on top of some pistachio couscous — (scroll down for recipe). So, so good.

Thanks again to Sara at Weekend Cookbook Challenge and this month’s guest host, Shaun at Winter Skies, Kitchen Aglow.

This is a recipe I found on Epicurious about a year ago, emailed it to myself and then forgot about it. While cleaning my recipe folder out last week I came across it. Good things happen when you tidy up your email folders, people!

While the lentil soup was good, the meatballs make it awesome. In fact, a great appetizer would be to whip up a batch of the meatballs and serve them with some cherry tomatoes, chunks of cucumber and kalamata olives. Oh, okay, throw in some feta cubes, the yogurt and flat bread too. You could also impale the meatballs, cucumber and olives on wooden skewers and pretend you are Sandra Lee (but, you know, with actually appetizing and edible food).

Epicurious says that this recipe is adapted from Wolfgang Puck, “Adventures in the Kitchen”.

Lentil Soup with Lamb Meatballs
This makes 8-10 servings, so halve it if needed. That’s what I did and it worked fine. Just beat an egg first, then divide that in half.
Soup:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped red onion
1/2 cup diced carrot
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 celery stalk
1 branch fresh parsley
1 branch fresh thyme
1 pound golden lentils (or regular lentils, if not available)
10 cups chicken stock or store-bought chicken broth (or turkey stock!!)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Pinch chili pepper flakes

Meatballs:
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1 pound ground lamb
1 cup blanched almonds, toasted and ground
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup raisins, coarsely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling

Garnish:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp honey
Pinch salt

Start with the soup. In a large saucepan, heat up the olive oil. Add the onion, carrot, garlic, turmeric, and cumin. Saute over high heat until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, make a bouquet garni by tying together the celery, parsley, and thyme, and add to pan.

Stir in the lentils and the chicken stock, season lightly with salt, pepper, and chili flakes, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. Skim as necessary.

Meanwhile, prepare the meatballs and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, soak bread crumbs in milk. In a mixing bowl, combine the lamb, almonds, soaked bread crumbs, onion, raisins, egg, garlic, parsley, cilantro, and chili pepper flakes. Season lightly with salt and
pepper. Drizzle olive oil on the platter you will place the meatballs on and rub oil into the palm of both hands. Form meat mixture into 40 golf ball-size meatballs, each approximately 1-inch in diameter.

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet or saute pan. Arrange the meatballs in 1 layer in the pan, quickly sear meatballs over high heat, and then place in the oven. Cook until the meatballs are well
browned and firm to the touch, 8 to 10 minutes.

Prepare the yogurt garnish. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Refrigerate until serving time.

Now, return to the soup. Remove the celery bouquet. With an immersion blender, lightly blend soup (you want it to still be a little chunky).

Alternatively, transfer 2/3 of the soup to a blender. Blend until smooth and return to the saucepan. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Ladle soup into 8 or 10 soup bowls. Divide the meatballs evenly among the soup bowls and drizzle the yogurt mixture over. Serve immediately. Mmmm!

Okay. Now, it’s time to make more cookies!

Yeah, I know, I typically have a title picture of the finished meal but I couldn’t resist this one — my little lamb meatballs. They were so photogenic and pretty. The recipe is from Mediterranean The Beautiful Cookbook. You know, one of those huge, over-sized books with all the pictures that make you want to take a vacation to all the locales photographed within the pages. I came across it at the Borders in Beaverton on clearance for…I think it was under $10. I couldn’t pass that up.

While paging through the book, this recipe was one of the first that really caught my eye. This soup combines the meatballs, yogurt, egg yolk, mint, onion, garlic and noodles — some of my favorite things. In addition, I added some spinach to the meatballs and some bell pepper and tomato to the soup. I also used more noodle-product than the original recipe called for because, well, I like the noodle-product (gemelli, to be exact).

The soup goes great with some grilled flat bread or toasted baguette slices and a nice side of mixed olives.

Tutmac Corbasi: Yogurt Soup with Lamb Meatballs & Noodles
Meatballs:
1/2 lb ground lamb
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup defrosted spinach, drained of excess water and chopped (after you drain it, you’ll have less — probably more like a 1/4 cup — trying to remember this morning exactly how much spinach I used and I believe this was more like it)
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp paprika (I used smoked paprika)
2 tbsp olive oil

Soup:
3 cups plain yogurt (I used 1 cup regular yogurt and 2 cups low fat yogurt)
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp AP flour
2 cups lamb or chicken stock or water
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dried egg noodles or ziti, casarecci, or gemelli pasta
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 small tomato, diced
2 tbsp dried mint, crumbled

Start by making the meatballs. In a bowl, combine the meat, salt, pepper, paprika and drained spinach. Mix well. Form into tiny meatballs, about 1/2 inch in diameter.

In a frying pan over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the meatballs and fry, turning, until lightly browned on all sides, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside on a paper towel lined plate when done cooking. These will smell really good. Do your best to only try two to three meatballs while they are sitting to the side. They will call to you but be strong — remember, you need them for the soup.

In a bowl, whisk together the yogurt, egg yolks and flour until well blended. Place in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring slowly to a simmer. Add the stock or water and the garlic and bring to a boil. Add the noodles and reduce the heat. Simmer 10-12 minutes, until noodles are tender. Add the salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper.

While the soup is simmering, add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to a small pan. Add the onion, bell pepper and dried mint. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 8-10 minutes. Add the diced tomato to the pan, as well as the meatballs. Toss to combine.

Add the vegetables and meatballs to the sauce. Stir and let everything combine and come to temperature. Taste and adjust salt and pepper. Serve right away with the bread of your choice.

Whatever happened to IMBB? The last one I saw was the soy one (which kind of fizzled out during the recap). Does IMBB go on Summer vacation or is it broken? Anyone know?

This is an amazing recipe out of the March issue of Saveur. I saw it at the store and was immediately intrigued by what I thought was a big block of hard Irish cheese on the cover alongside some dark bread. It is, you see, an issue devoted to the foods of Ireland. Upon further contemplation at home, however, I have come to the conclusion that the block of pale yellow to the left of the bread is some butter. A little disappointing, but I’m sure the bread and butter are still good. Although, if I had done the cover, the bread and cheese would have been accompanied by a pint of Guinness.

Anyway, while leafing through the magazine, I saw a recipe and article (on page 20), not for an Irish delicacy, but a Turkish one. “Mad for Manti: These Turkish Dumplings Prove Highly Addictive.”

Why, yes, they do.

This dish is most prevalent in Anatolia, a region of Turkey with huge archaeological importance, including the site of Çatalhöyük. This, besides being a Neolithic settlement dating from about 7500 BC, is a really fun word to say. (Ca-tal-ya-hook). It was an active site up until the Bronze Age and had a smaller settlement during the Byzantine Empire. This is a good book if anyone is interested.

But, let’s get back to the dumplings. I took a shortcut with my stock and used packaged, free range chicken broth that I simmered with a cinnamon stick and a few cloves. I thought this worked well, but I’ve summarized the recipe to make your own stock at the end of this post. I also added some chopped tomatoes and caramelized onions to my version.

Manti — Turkish Lamb Dumplings
(from the March Issue of Saveur)
1 package (about 3.5 - 4 cups) chicken broth (Imagine or Pacific are good brands)
4 black peppercorns
3 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
1 2/3 cups flour (I used AP)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb ground lamb
1/2 a white onion, diced
2 tbsp chopped, fresh parsley
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp butter
2 tomatoes, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
salt
2 cups thick, strained yogurt (or Greek style yogurt)
1/4 cup chopped, fresh mint
1 tbsp Urfa chili flakes (or crushed red pepper flakes)
Olive oil

Add the stock to a large pot and add the peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Remove cloves, cinnamon and peppercorns and reserve stock.

Dumplings:
Put the eggs, flour, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 cup water in a bowl and mix until a ball forms (1-2 minutes). Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. Divide dough into 4 balls and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Let rest 30 minutes.

Sauté onion in a pan over medium heat, with one teaspoon olive oil. Let cook for about 20 minutes, until onions are caramelized and golden.

Meanwhile, combine lamb, parsley, remaining salt and pepper in a bowl. Cover and set aside.

Roll one ball of dough out to a 11 X 11 inch square. Okay, so my dough was more of a rectangular shape. I think the main thing here is to roll it out, keep it kind of thin, and trim the edges so that you have a clean shape, be it a square or rectangle.

Cut the rolled out dough into 1 ” X 1″ squares. Put about 1/8 - 1/4 tsp of filling in the center of each square. I found it helpful to divide my lamb mixture into 4 equal sections, so that I knew how much filling to use for the four original balls of dough.

Pull (and stretch a little) the opposite two corners of the square to the middle. Pinch to seal.

Now, fold the other two corners to the middle and pinch those to seal as well. You should now have a little dumpling! Repeat this process for the squares you have rolled out. Then roll out the other three balls and repeat. I piled all of my dumplings in a single layer, on a big plate. I ended up getting about 12 dumplings from each roll — so, my total was about 48.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a casserole dish and place dumplings into a single layer. Cover with sautéed onions. Bake until dumplings are golden, about 30 minutes.

Pour stock over dumplings and onions, cover with foil, and bake until much of the stock has been absorbed, about 25-30 minutes.

Combine yogurt with a pinch of salt and minced garlic cloves. Set aside. When dumplings are done, place some chopped tomato in each serving bowl. Cover with some dumplings and sauce. Add a scoop of the garlicky yogurt and a drizzle of olive oil. In the original recipe, they drizzled clarified butter over the dumplings instead of olive oil. Sprinkle each dish with some of the chili flakes and mint to complete the dish.

Sit down and enjoy!

To make your own stock
Combine 1 lb. skinless chicken pieces, 1 carrot, celery rib, 1 leek, 1 onion, chopped, 2 sprigs parsley, 4 peppercorns, 3 cloves, 1 cinnamon stick and 1 tbsp of rice in a pot with 9 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 2 hours. Season to taste with salt. Strain and reserve about 4 cups of the stock for this recipe.

Well, now that I can actually think about falafel (the tasty Middle Eastern chick pea snack) without shuddering or laughing, it sounded like a good pick for dinner. I really like falafel. I used to get it on the Stanford campus for lunch sometimes (at a place by the coffeehouse) and it brings back memories of when I worked there and would walk around campus.

At home, I usually prepare falafel-in-a-box. My new favorite kind is al fez. They’re based in England but you can find the falafel mix at Cost Plus stores. Instead of deep frying, I put my little falafel balls on a cookie sheet that I brush generously with olive oil and then bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, flipping them over after five minutes.

My presentation is more Greek than Mideastern but, you know, that’s just the way I like it. If you’re a purist, omit the feta and yogurt and use tahini sauce.

Falafel:
1 box falafel mix, prepared and set aside
4 pieces flat bread or pita bread, warmed in a dry, hot skillet
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cup lettuce leaves, spinach or any mixed greens work well
1 small cucumber, diced
1/3 cup crumbled feta
1/4 small sweet onion, diced finely
1/2 cup yogurt
2 garlic cloves, minced

Mix yogurt and garlic Set aside.

Lay greens on top of bread and follow with 2-3 small falafel patties. In a small bowl, toss tomato, cucumber and onion to combine. Spoon tomato mixture over falafel and top with feta crumbles. Drizzle with yogurt and enjoy.

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I also need to add that I just read about IMBB23 and I am so excited! I already have my dish picked out and everything…