Je Mange la Ville » Middle Eastern

Grilled Moroccan Carrot and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

mlb — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:38:24 +0000

This is going to be a very short intro for this recipe. Mainly, because I’m tired but also, because it’s a grilled sandwich and really, is there a lot to say about that? Not really. There’s cheese and it melts, so you know it’s delicious.

The original recipe called for making your own green olive tapanade, but hell, if you want to just buy some, I won’t tell anyone. That’s actually what I did. And the sandwich was still great!

I’m trying to post more but I’m busier for the next couple of months*, so it’s going to be a little difficult. I will (hopefully) get my French Fridays with Dorie post up on…Friday!

Anyway, here’s some spiced carrots, goat cheese, arugula, green olives and mozzarella. Mmmm!

Grilled Moroccan Carrot and Goat Cheese Sandwiches
adapted from Gourmet Magazine
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
4 medium carrots
4 slices good-quality sandwich bread
2 tbsp store bought (or homemade) green olive tapanade
a handful of arugula or spinach leaves
2 oz soft mild goat cheese
2 slices mozzarella cheese
Olive Oil for grilling

Prepare carrots:
Whisk together sugar, lemon juice, spices, salt, and oil in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved. Halve carrots crosswise and then chop into 1/2-inch pieces. Cook carrots in a pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about a minute. Drain well in a colander and immediately toss with dressing.

Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, then marinate, covered and chilled, at least 4 hours and up to overnight. I just made my carrots the night before.

Make the sandwiches
Spread tapenade on two slices of bread and goat cheese on the other two slices. Top the goat cheese sides with some of the greens and then the carrots (you will have some leftovers) and the slice of mozzarella. Now, you may be asking yourself, “Do I really need two kinds of cheese on this sandwich?” Well, yes. Yes you do.

Turn the olive tapanade side on top of the mozzarella and heat up a heavy skillet. Add a little olive oil to the pan and grill each sandwich, pressing down a bit with a heavy lid or another pan (kind of like you were making a panini). It’s no big deal if you skip that step, but kind of nice if you do have something to press it down with a bit.

Grill until each side is golden and mozzarella starts to melt. Slice them up and you have dinner for yourself and a friend. Perfect! And we had our leftover carrots the next day for lunch with some fish, which worked out perfectly.

Mmmmm…melt-y cheese!

* One of the reasons I have been so busy lately is that I am taking a pottery class Thursday nights. It’s handbuilding (which I’ve always liked way more than wheel throwing).

I’ve been spending some of what would normally be blog-posting time, making odd chicken pots in the basement. Up next? Hopefully a pig pot.

FFwD: Braised Cardamon Curry Lamb

mlb — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:48:44 +0000

Oh geez, I have been so lazy. I’ve made a couple of really nice meals lately and been out to dinner twice and I’ve blogged about none of these things. I need to get my act together here. Let’s kick that off with this week’s French Fridays with Dorie, shall we?

I am a huge fan of lamb but almost every lamb stew I’ve attempted I’ve been disappointed with…until now. I loved this! I’m not sure even why this is the one lamb stew to rule them all, but it was. It just worked for me, you know? I used my sweet curry powder from Penzey’s and also ground cardamom seeds (I ground them in the coffee grinder), so the cardamom was very fresh tasting. I also added a pinch of dried ginger and extra garlic. Oh and a dash of cayenne for a little heat. Oh, now that I’m thinking about it, I only added one diced apple. Mainly, because it was a fairly big one.

We had this over some cooked bulgur (normally, I would have gone the rice route, but I had bulgur in the fridge). I also served some garlicky yogurt and toasted flat bread on the side.

We’re not supposed to post the recipe for FFwD, but I found it online here, so knock yourself out: Scrumptious Seattle.

Okay, here are links to everyone’s posts and here are my pictures!

Mint ready to be de-leaved and stems tied together.

Onions, spices, plus I added a chopped yellow bell pepper to the mix.

Diced lamb added in. With all the other stuff in the pan, it didn’t sear that well, but it seemed to work out fine in the end.

A fig. Calimyrna to be exact.

Everything added and ready to braise.

Fresh mint leaves on top, about to dish up.

Perfect for Fall: Moroccan Chicken Pot Pies

mlb — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 03:24:01 +0000

The flavor of these chicken pot pies is really deep and delightful and I took the advice of a lot of the posters on epicurious and doubled up on the spices. I also opted to use puff pastry as I had some in the freezer and this seemed like as good of a use as any. These turned out so well that I made then twice in one month.

As with any topping application of puff pastry, I’ve learned it give it a few minutes head start on a baking sheet, then flip it over and top it on whatever it’s a lid for. You only need to bite through uncooked, doughy puff pastry once before you develop a workaround.

This is like a really fragrant, tasty tagine topped with puffy, golden dough. How could it not be delicious?

Moroccan Chicken Pot Pies
Recipe adapted from Bon Appétit magazine — makes four individual pie or one large one.
1 lb skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 lemon
3 tbsp butter
1 large onion, diced (I used a red onion)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, cored and diced
1 cup imported green olives, pitted, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup golden raisins
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup low-salt chicken broth
1 sheet of Puff Pastry, defrosted

Preheat oven to 425°F. Mix chicken cubes with paprika, cumin, and cinnamon in large bowl to coat. Sprinkle chicken generously with salt and pepper. Let sit about 20 minutes at room temperature.

Cut lemon in half; squeeze juice and add to chicken mixture; stir to blend.

Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, olives, garlic, bell pepper and raisins. Sauté until onion is almost tender, about 4 minutes.

Add chicken mixture and stir 1 minute. Sprinkle flour over; stir 1 minute. Add broth and bring to boil, stirring occasionally.

Transfer filling to four individual oven-proof containers or a 9-inch-diameter deep-dish glass pie dish.

From the puff pastry sheet, cut out puff pastry lids for your individual containers (or trim a large circle for a single pie dish). If you have lids you can trace around do that, otherwise you can cut around the containers before you fill them. Also, remember there will be pastry shrinkage. I always seem to forget about that…

When I am using puff pastry for a topping like this, I like to give it a head start. It’s a lot easier to get it cooked all the way through this way. Lay your puff pastry out on a parchment-covered baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes alongside the vessels of Moroccan chicken goodness.

Then take it all out and top the pot pies with the semi-puffed pastry, sprinkle the tops with a little extra paprika, return to the oven and continue baking for about 20 more minutes.

Serve with perhaps an arugula salad on the side? Yes, I think so.

It’s also really delicious served with a little garlicky yogurt on the side that you can stir into the pot pie as you eat it!

Sesame Ice Cream

mlb — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:10:47 +0000

This was a revelation in my ice cream making adventures. You see, I already had the cream but I also had only fat-free milk at home. And I was too lazy to go to the store and get some whole milk. Well, I thought, it might be weird anyway because of the sesame oil, so I should just make it with fat-free milk and see what happens. It’ll be an adventure!

Because it was an adventure, I chose to make a half recipe from the original recipe I came across in Food & Wine Magazine. I also halved it because that recipe used 8 egg yolks, which I have a problem with on a completely non-rational level. Eight egg yolks = crazy. A half recipe using only 4 egg yolks = sensible. I have no idea why.

That all said, wow, was this delicious! I didn’t miss the extra fat from the milk at all. And, truth be told, I did kind of monkey with the ratios a bit and used half cream to milk, instead of a quarter cream to milk as called for originally. But still, this was so smooth and creamy. I loved it. I think I will use my crazy half cream to half fat-free milk mixture for ice cream from now on.

Oh and sesame ice cream? Awesome! I really liked (almost peanut butter-ish) the flavor and there were these delightful, tiny, jellied-like sesame oil pieces throughout the ice cream. At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about them, but by the third spoonful I pretty much loved them.

Sesame Ice Cream
Adapted from Food & Wine Magazine. Recipe halved from the original. As written, this will make just under a quart of ice cream.
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup fat free milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks with 2 tbsp of the sugar.

In a large saucepan, combine the milk, cream and the remaining sugar and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Gradually whisk the warm liquid into the egg mixture, then return it all to the saucepan.

Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until the custard is thickened slightly, about 4-5 minutes. Do not bring to a boil. Pull the custard from the heat before it reaches 200 degrees F (I pulled mine around 188 degrees F.)

You should be able to pull the wooden spoon up, run your finger across it, and create a path through the custard on the spoon.

Strain the custard into the bowl and stir in the sesame oil, vanilla and salt. Let cool and refrigerate until well chilled or overnight.

Pour the custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours.

The original recipe is here: halvah sesame sundae. It includes a mix of whole milk and cream and tasty assorted sundae toppings reminiscent of sesame-seed candy.

Marinated Salmon with Moroccan Chickpea Salad

mlb — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 15:09:55 +0000

Here’s a recipe that I remember making multiple times last Summer. Why didn’t I blog about it sooner? Who knows, but here it is now. I made this last week and instantly remembered why I made it so much last year. It’s really good. I love the salad. But, keep in mind, imho, the salad is best the day you make it because of the torn up, toasted pita. So try to eat it all the day you make it or at least eat all the pita pieces before you save it.

The original recipe called for sturgeon but I substituted salmon. Use what you have. I imagine the spices and flavors here would be good with most fish and probably even chicken.

I have no idea why I didn’t take any photos of the salmon cooking. I used my grill pan.

Marinated Salmon with Moroccan Chickpea Salad
From Bon Appétit magazine
1/2 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tsp coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp dried crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil

1 tbsp olive oil
2 (6- to 7-ounce) salmon fillets

2 large red bell peppers
2 flatbreads (such as pita bread)
1 15 1/2-ounce can chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup diced seeded peeled cucumber
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup raisins
2 tbsp drained capers
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

For the spice mix (charmoula):
Combine first 5 ingredients in spice grinder and process until finely ground.

Transfer to blender. Add parsley and next 4 ingredients to blender. With blender running, gradually add oil and blend until coarse puree forms. Season to taste with salt.

Place fish on large plate. Pour half spice-olive oil mixture over fish, turning to coat. Cover and refrigerate fish at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Cover and refrigerate remaining spice-olive oil mixture to use as dressing for salad.

For Moroccan Salad:
Char bell peppers directly over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides.

Transfer to paper or small plastic bag and seal tightly; let stand 15 minutes. Peel, seed, and chop peppers. Toast flatbreads directly over gas flame or in broiler until crisp and charred in spots on both sides. When cool enough to handle, tear into bite-size pieces.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place peppers, torn bread pieces, chickpeas, and next 5 ingredients in large bowl. Add reserved spice/oil mixture; toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish with marinade still clinging to surface and cook until done about 4-5 minutes per side. Serve fish with salad on the side.

***

So, hey, I got invited to a pre-opening restaurant event tonight. My first! I am so excited! I’ll take pictures and post later in the week.