A long time ago now…my friend Annabel was teaching a cooking class and invited me to be her prep cook. At that class, she made this delicious dish. And whenever I am feeling like I need a little love from Annabel, I will make it. It’s super healthy, hearty, and a perfect dish for a cold winter’s day.
Vegetarian Hamin
Recipe from Annabel Cohen
INGREDIENTS:
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 large onion, chopped in a small dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups chick peas (canned is fine), drained
2 – 10 oz packages frozen spinach (or collard greens) thawed, and drained
2 tsp. curry powder, or to taste
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/ tsp. allspice
salt and pepper to taste
golden raisins (optional)
RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS:
In an ovenproof large pot or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté until translucent. Add the chickpeas, greens, salt, pepper, curry powder, cinnamon and allspice. Stir until combined. Add enough water to reach half way up the mixture. Place in a 350ºF oven and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. The mixture should be slightly soupy. Adjust seasonings and serve alone with golden raisins OR over brown rice. Makes 8 servings.
December 11th, 2008
I love grilled cheese. I’m always trying to think of new and exciting combinations for this simple, yet delicious staple. Yesterday, while rifling through the fridge, I found some goat cheese that I needed to use. And staring me right in the face, was some 12-grain Brownberry bread. So…it just made sense to put the two together. I also had some fresh honey, and some pinenuts, and POOF! A sandwich idea was born.
Goat Cheese Grilled Cheese
Recipe from Julie Foxworthy
INGREDIENTS:
Any kind of soft goat cheese
Honey
Pine nuts
Butter
2 pieces of any kind of hearty bread (I prefer a heartier bread for my grilled cheese, so that it brings some texture into the mix)
RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS:
- Toast your pinenuts with the butter in a saute pan, until lightly browned. Drain them on a piece of paper towel to absorb extra butter.
- Spread a layer of goat cheese on your bread (whatever amount you like)
- Drizzle honey over the goat cheese to form a nice thin layer
- Sprinkle toasted pinenuts over cheese and honey, then cover with 2nd slice of bread.
- Preheat a small saute pan on medium heat, so you have a hot pan.
- Lay sandwich in pan, with butter side down, and gently butter the other side of the sandwich while in the pan.
- Grill each side until golden brown, and bread is crisp, not soggy.
I had mine with a little dollup of cranberry chutney. YUM.
See step by step photo instructions here.
December 8th, 2008
I work with this amazing bakestress. Her name is Raquel (aka ROK, because she DOES ROCK!), and she makes hands down the most delicious, creative homemade scratch cakes I’ve ever eaten.
See her website here
and
Her flickr page here.
Anyway, in addition to her amazing cakes, she’ll also just sometimes bake and bring in random treats. A week or so ago, she brought in these UNREAL yummy Mexican Chocolate Icebox cookies, and of course I just had to have the recipe. Be forewarned they are slightly spicy (but not crazy, just a little bit of heat, which you can adjust to your taste).
Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies
Recipe from Raquel Salaysay
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup quality dutch-process unsweetened cocoa (IMPORTANT-don’t use hersheys, get a good quality dutch cocoa for these)
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 – 3/4 tsp cayenne (here is where you can adjust to your liking)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
12 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS:
- Whisk flour, cocoa, cinnamon, cayenne, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Put sugar, vanilla, and egg into large bowl and beat with electric mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes.
- Add butter and continue to beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes more.
- Using your fingers, work flour mixture until dough is just combined. Don’t worry, it’s so supposed to be super sticky on your hands. Oh well, you’ll just have to lick it off.
- Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 9″ log. Wrap each log in parchment paper, twisting ends tightly to make a uniform cylinder.
- Freeze dough logs for at least 3 hours, and as long as overnight
- Preheat over to 350º. Unwrap dough and slice each log into 1/3″ thick rounds.
- Place rounds 1/2″ apart on parchment paper-lined (or silicon liner) cookie sheets.
- Bake cookies until slightly puffed and tiny cracks appear on surface, about 8-9 minutes.
- Transfer immediately to cooling rack, being careful not to crack cookies.
- Enjoy little bites of spicy chocolate heaven.
Thanks, Rok, for this super tasty recipe!
November 27th, 2008
Every so often, some friends and I get together and do little cooking classes. This time we did an Indian class at my Sheila’s house in Ann Arbor, on a beautiful game day Saturday afternoon! 🙂 FUN. My friend, Sangeeta, from back in the days when I worked at Organic, was teaching the class. It was great to see her again after so many years! We started out making a ton of different appetizers that all started out from the same potato/cilantro/spice mixture. We got to see how many variations of an Indian dish could be made from a simple base of potatoes. We also made some chicken dishes and some other vegetarian dishes and curries.
I love these days spent in the kitchen with great friends. It’s so completely relaxing, and eases the mind of all of life’s little stresses. We talk about love, and children, and work, and dreams. It’s just really special to have friends that share in your interests and your life, coming together to make an amazing meal together, and learn about foods that I could have never made from a recipe or a cook book.
Everyone should definitely try to get some of their good friends together, in a kitchen for a Saturday. It will for sure cure anything that ails you.
Masala Chicken
recipe from Sangeeta Khalsa
INGREDIENTS:
1 c chopped red onion
2 T olive oil
Garlic/ginger paste
Hot chili
3 tomatoes, chopped
½ t. turmeric
½ t. garam masala
½ t. cayenne pepper
2 t. coriander
3 T tomato sauce
Whole chicken, cut up into pieces
1 c. water or yogurt
INSTRUCTIONS:
Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot. Add the red onions, garlic, ginger (pastes) and hot chilies. Sauté in a pan until the onions caramelize, adding water or yogurt when necessary. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan, cover and let simmer for 1 hour or until chicken is done or pressure cook it (less than 15 minutes)
October 5th, 2008
I love baking up cute things for my niece and nephew’s birthdays. This past weekend was no exception. My niece, Heather, and her brother, Christian, celebrated their 9 and 10th birthdays this past weekend. They LOVE dogs, so I decided that these super cute pupcakes (from the book “Hello Cupcake!”) were definitely in order.
My only thought, was that it would have made things a whole lot easier to actually use a real piping bag with real decorating tip. The instructions in the book call for Ziplocs for everything…but I found them really difficult to use. But at the end of the day, they still came out pretty cute.
In fact, my six year old nephew jack, was so impressed that he shyly asked if he could take “the whole box of puppies home”…I asked him what price he would pay…and after a full couple minutes of deep thought, he answered…”twenty dollars.” I told him a kiss on the cheek and a hug would be payment enough. He seemed happy with that.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN AND HEATHER!!!
September 29th, 2008
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