I ended up with a surprise pomegranate in one of my recent produce baskets, so I picked out this meal to use it up since I also had some pork chops in the freezer that I was hoping to find a use for. The pork chops and brussels sprouts were both quite good, and a few accordion potatoes rounded out the meal.

I appreciate how quickly and easily this meal came together and that it only requires the use of a single pan. I ended up having to substitute pine nuts for the pistachios. I normally keep a bag of pistachios on hand in the freezer, but I must've used them all up at some point and forgot to get more. I think the pine nuts worked well, but pistachios would've been even better.

Sadly, the Kidlet wasn't a big fan of the brussels sprouts -- which actually ended up being a combination of brussels sprouts and cabbage for us because I didn't have as many sprouts as the recipe called for -- but she was a fan of the pork.

The original recipe calls for cooking the pork chops in oil, but I had a jar of bacon grease in the fridge, so I ended up using that instead. I highly recommend this approach if you have any bacon fat kicking around. And I bet lard would also work great. If you don't have either of those, then I'm sure any neutral oil will do just fine.

One-Pan Pork Chops and Brussels Sprouts

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2019

Ingredients

• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, divided
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. ground cayenne or Kashmiri chilies
• 4 bone-in pork chops (~250g each)
• 2 Tbsp. bacon fat
• 680g brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
• 1/4 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar¹
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. fresh pomegranate arils/seeds
• 2 Tbsp. pistachios, toasted and chopped

directions

1. Grind 3/8 tsp. of the salt with 1/4 tsp. of the peppercorns and mix in the ground chilies.²
2. Pat the pork chops dry and sprinkle them with the salt mixture on both sides.
3. Melt the bacon fat in a large pan over medium-high heat.
4. Add the pork chops (cook in batches if necessary) and cook until nicely browned on both sides and cooked all the way through (10-12 minutes), flipping every 2 minutes. Internal temperature should register 60°C (140°F).
5. Remove chops from pan and set aside. (Optionally tent with aluminum foil to help hold the heat.)
6. Pour off all but 2 Tbsp. of fat from the pan.³
7. Place the brussels sprouts in the pan cut side down.
8. Add the water and remaining 3/8 tsp. of salt.
9. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook for 4 minutes.
10. Uncover and cook for another 5 minutes.
11. Give sprouts a good stir and cook for 1-2 minutes longer.
12. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar, remaining 1/4 tsp. of pepper, pomegranate, and pistachios.
13. Serve sprouts and chops together along with your favourite starch (rice, potatoes, etc.).

---

¹ Whoops! I just realized that I totally misread this line of the recipe and only put 2 teaspoons of vinegar rather than 2 tablespoons! Oh well... it was still tasty. ^Back
2 The pork chops were great with just the little bit of salt, pepper, and cayenne called for in the recipe, but it occurred to me while doing this write-up that it might be fun to experiemnt with a more complex spice rub like the one I used for my barbecued chicken a while back. I believe that rub was concoted with pork in mind, in fact. I'm not sure how it'd do in a pan on quick-cooking chops as opposed to on the grill on slow-cooked ribs, but I'd be interested to find out! I think my main concern would be burning the sugar. But I'm sure that the right pan at the right temperature could help avoid that. ^Back
3 If you're not confident eyeballing the amount of fat left in the pan, you can always pour off all the fat and then measure out 2 Tbsp. to add back in. ^Back

I'm used to hearing this style of potato called "hasselback" after the restaurant the first started serving them this way. Aaron, however, calls them accordion potatoes. And I've kept the name as I figure this is a good way to disambiguate his rendition from the European version as I believe the seasonings are significantly different even if the preparation is largely the same.

I really like the seasoning mix for these potatoes! The combination of Parmesan, sugar, and gochugaru makes for a wonderful flavour. I found Aaron's cooking times and temperatures needed a lot of adjusting to avoid mostly raw potatoes for dinner, but the flavours were great!

I'm still fiddling with the recipe to figure out the best oven settings. The first time I made this I followed Aaron's recipe exactly and cooked my potatoes at 160°C (325°F) for 30 minutes. My potatoes were almost completely raw at that point, so I upped the temperature to 180°C (350°F) and put them back in. After an additional 30 minutes they still weren't fully cooked, but we were tired and hungry so we ate them anyway. This time I tried setting the oven to 200°C (400°F) and turned on the convection fan. I pulled them out after 40 minutes because dinner was already running late. They seemed to be mostly cooked through at that point, but I think they probably could've done with another 5 or 10 minutes. I might try bumping the temperature up by another 25°F next time and see how that goes. These latest settings did at least produce acceptable results though, so that's nice.

Accordion Potatoes

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• potatoes (however many you'd like)
• 1-2 tsp. butter per potato, melted
• 5 Tbsp. grated Parmesan (or Parmesan cheese powder)
• 1 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp. gochugaru
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground

Directions

1. Wash the potatoes and cut a slice off of one side (so that they will lie flat and not roll around).
2. Working with one potato at a time, place it cut-side-down and place a chop stick on either side of the potato. Then thinly slice the potato almost all the way through. (The chopsticks will act as guard rails to help prevent your cuts from going all the way through the potato.)
3. Place the potatoes in a bowl of cold water and leave to soak for 10 minutes (to remove excess starch).
4. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200-220°C (400-425°F).
5. Drain the potatoes and brush all over with melted butter. Try to get butter into as many of the cuts as possible. Get between all the layers!
6. Bake at 200-220°C (400-425°F) for 30-50 minutes.¹ Use a convection fan if you have it.
7. While the potatoes are cooking, combine the Parmesan, garlic powder, gochugaru, sugar, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and mix well.
8. Once the potatoes are finished cooking, sprinkle with the seasoning blend.
9. Serve hot.

---

¹ Apologies for the wide range of temperatures and times. As noted above, I'm still dialing this recipe in. I think 50 minutes at 200°C (400°F) would've been about right, but I'd also be curious to try it at a slightly higher oven temperature at some point. However, a higher temperature will likely necessitate a shorter cooking time. Hence the range. ^Back

I'm not sure why I was suddenly overcome with the desire to bake a batch of Parker House rolls, but... it happened.

This was my first time making them from scratch, although I do have some vague memories of making them with readymade Pillsbury dough as a kid.

They were easy enough to make. It's an enriched dough with a truly alarming amount of butter. The dough was very soft, but not at all sticky and it rose well producing light, buttery rolls. Sadly most of my rolls came unfolded, so I didn't end up with the characteristic Parker House shape. But they still tasted lovely regardless.

Parker House Rolls

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2020

Ingredients

• 550g all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 tsp. instant (rapid-rise) yeast
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 1/4 c. whole (3.25%) milk, tepid
• 12 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, divided
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp. sugar

Directions

1. Combine flour, yeast, and salt and mix well.
2. In a large measuring cup, combine milk, 8 Tbsp. of the melted butter, egg, and sugar and mix well.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.
4. Gradually incorporate the flour, working from the centre outward.
5. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
6. Knead until smooth and elastic.
7. Return to bowl, cover, and let rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes.
8. Knock back and divide into 24 equal portions: first divide into two equal portions, then shape each portion into a log, and divide each log into 12 equal portions.
9. Cover dough pieces.
10. Working with one at a time, carefully round each one: stretch and pinch dough to the bottom to form a smooth, taut gluen sheet on top; then roll on the work surface, creating a bit of pressure and friction to get it nice and round and smooth everything out.
11. Set rounded dough lump aside, cover, and move on to next dough lump.
12. Let rounded dough lumps rest for 10-15 minutes.
13. Working with one ball at a time, press into a flat disc 6-7mm thick. Press the handle of a wooden spoon along the centre of the disc to form a trough/crease. Brush with melted butter. Then fold along the crease and press firmly. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover.
14. Once all the rolls have been shaped, make sure they're covered and allow to proof for 45-60 minutes.
15. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
16. Uncover rolls and brush tops with remaining melted butter.
17. If you have a spray bottle, spritz them with a little water just before putting them in the oven.
18. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes.
19. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

I love pie pumpkins. They're just so cute and bright and they always feel special because they're so seasonal. You can get butternut squash all year round, but pie pumpkins are only available for a fairly narrow window in the fall.

The fact that they'll only be around for a limited time makes me really want to make the most of pumpkin season and get a bunch and cook lots of delicious pumpkin things. But I haven't been very good at it the last couple of years. And the only thing worse than missing your chance to get a pie pumpkin during pumpkin season is getting one and letting it go to waste because you couldn't get your act together enough to do anything with it.

I was reluctantly intending to abstain for getting any pumpkins this year because I didn't trust myself to use them up before they went bad. I've been having a lot of trouble staying on top of food and meal planning this year. But then I dropped the ball on one of the produce baskets and we ended up with a pie pumpkin anyway. I've spent the last few weeks alternately forgetting it existed and trying to figure out what to do with it. Pie is, of course, always an option, but I kind of wanted to try something different. And, after flipping through a few different recipes, I settled on this cayenne-pumpkin cupcake recipe.

I wasn't sure what the Kidlet would think of the cayenne in these cupcakes, so I dialed it way back. Having tasted the cupcakes, TF thinks I probably should've put the full amount in after all. With 1/2 tsp. of cayenne, I find it makes a gentle but noticeable impression. TF and the Kidlet both say they can barely taste it. I've called for 3/4 tsp. of cayenne in the recipe below, but feel free to use a bit more or a bit less according to your tastes. (The original recipe called for 1 1/4 tsp.)

Cayenne-Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Slightly adapted from C&C Cakery

Ingredients

Cupcakes

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 3/4 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. allspice berries, ground
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 c. yogurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 c. mashed roasted pumpkin

Icing

• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 c. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a muffin tin (or line with papers).
2. Sift baking powder and baking soda into flour.
3. Add salt, cinnamon, ginger, cayenne, nutmeg, allspice, and pepper and stir to combine.
4. In a separate bowl, cream butter with the sugar and mix until light and fluffy.
5. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
6. Add half the flour mixture and stir until mostly combined.
7. Stir in the yogurt and the vanilla.
8. Add the remaining flour mixture and stir until almost combined.
9. Add the pumpkin and mix until just combined.
10. Spoon into prepared muffin wells. (I had more batter than would comfortably fit into twelve 5-cm wells.)
11. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until toothpic/skewer poked into centre comes out clean (~20 minutes or a bit more if you overfilled your pans like me).
Let cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

Icing

1. Beat cream cheese with butter until mixed well.
2. Beat in the vanilla.
3. Mix the cinnamon with 1/2 c. of the flour and add it to the cream cheese mixture.
4. Continue adding icing sugar to the cream cheese mixture, half a cup at a time until it's all been incorporated.
5. Once the cupcakes are completely cool, spoon a big dollop of frosting on top of each one.

A quick and easy Hello Fresh recipe, this got a "super favourite" ranking from Alex. The recipe lists shrimp as an optional inclusion, cooked with the peppers; I think chicken or perhaps ham would also be tasty, if more protein is desired.

Creamy Rosé Tortellini with Bell Peppers

Hello Fresh

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp butter (or 2 tbsp butter + 2 tbsp olive oil)
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 large bell peppers, roasted and chopped into ~1cm pieces
• 2 tbsp flour
• 400mL crushed tomatoes
• 240mL heavy cream
• 1 bunch chives, finely chopped
• 700g tortellini
• 360mL mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions

1. Heat butter (and oil, if using) in a large, oven-safe skillet or pot over medium heat.
2. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, ~30 seconds.
3. Add peppers and cook until heated through and softened, 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add flour and stir until peppers are coated.
5. Add tomatoes, cream, and chives. Simmer, stirring often, until sauce thickens, 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and adjust seasoning as needed.
6. Meanwhile, cook tortellini (al dente if possible) and drain, reserving 160mL (⅔ C) cooking water.
7. Add pasta to sauce. Gently stir to combine.
8. Cover with cheese.
9. Bake at 450°F until cheese is golden brown and bubbly, 5-8 minutes.

I found this recipe a bit tricky to work with. There were no instructions given, just a chart of ingredients and their weights. I'm pretty okay with that most of the time. I know how to make bread. So I just mixed it by my preferred method, autolysing the flour, making the dough, and then working in the inclusions between the bulk ferment and the shaping.

My bread turned out okay in the end, but getting there was a bit hairy.

The dough started out incredibly stiff. But since others had complained of the dough getting too wet and sloppy once the fennel got mixed in, I figured this would be okay. I didn't bother soaking the raisins, but instead let them sit in the colander with the blanched fennel to soak up some of the extra moisture there. This seemed to work reasonably well, so I was feeling pretty good about my decisions up to this point. But then, my dough still got very wet and threatened to fall apart once I started mixing the inclusions in.

I ended up adding a 1/4 c. of gluten flour just to try to hold everything together. This seems to have worked out okay, but there was definitely a point when I thought I was just going to end up with an unfortunate wheat slurry.

I'm wondering if maybe next time I should try to work the fennel in from the get-go. Or perhaps just reduce the quantity of inclusions: 250g of inclusions is A LOT when you're not even using 400g of flour!

I'm not going to bother writing out instructions for this loaf since the person who posted it didn't provide any and my method didn't work so great. Feel free to experiment with your own breadmaking techniques. (And possibly tweak the recipe slightly.)

Fennel-Raisin-Pine Nut Sourdough

Slightly adapted from Sourdough Companion

Ingredients

• 80g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 90g all-purpose flour
• 85g fine semolina flour
• 25g cornmeal
• 30g gluten (vital wheat) flour
• 122g water
• 165g fed (active/ripe) sourdough starter at 100% hydration
• 5g coarse sea salt
• 45g pine nuts
• 150g thinly sliced and chopped fresh fennel, blanched and drained
• 60g golden raisins

Ontbijtkoek (Dutch Spice Cake)

I've been scrambling to use up sourdough starter over the last couple days. I mixed up some bread dough yesterday and another small batch today, but I still had starter to use and was feeling in the mood for something in the cake/muffin/quickbread family. My original intent had been to make a gingerbread cake. I knew I'd seen a recipe kicking around on Northwest Sourdough blog a while back, so I figured I'd give that one a go. Rather than searching the blog for it though, I just googled "sourdough gingerbread". And that did indeed turn up the recipe I was looking for. But it also turned up a gingerbread cookie recipe on a blog I'd never heard of before. But with a name like "Bubbling Starter", I figured I had to check it out!

It didn't take me long to stumble across this ontbijtkoek recipe. (No, I don't know how it's meant to be pronounced.) The recipe looked interesting: rye flour and lots of spices and brown sugar. And it used sourdough discard, so I was sold!

According to the author this is a classic Dutch breakfast cake and is usually served topped with butter and/or Gouda. As far as I can tell, the name actually literally translates as "breakfast cake". I decided to buck tradition and have a bit for dessert and oh my goodness, is it ever delicious! I will definitely be making more "breakfast cake" in the future!

If I have one small disappointment with the recipe it's that the cake fell in the centre. I know it wasn't underbaked, because it was already sunken before I took it out of the oven. And I didn't open the door or peek at it during baking, so that's not the culprit either. My best guess is that maybe there was a bit too much leavener in it. I thought 1 tsp. of baking soda seemed like a lot for the amount of batter, especially considering that it already contained 2 tsp. of baking powder. The cake is still delicious! No issues there. But I'll probably try scaling the bicarb back to just 1/2 a tsp. next time to see if that helps at all.

Ontbijtkoek

Slightly adapted from Bubbling Starter

Ingredients

• 120g (1 c.) all-purpose flour
• 120g (1 c.) rye flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods)
• 1/8 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1/8 tsp. anise seeds
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 125g sourdough discard
• 3/4 c. milk
• 120g (1/2 c.) brown sugar
• 1/4 c. molasses
• 1/4 c. honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F) and grease and flour a loaf pan¹.
2. Combine the flours and sift in the baking powder and baking soda.
3. Add the salt, cardamom, coriander, peppercorns, and anise seeds to a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder (or use a mortar and pestle).
4. Stir in the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
5. Add the spice mix to the flour mixture and stir to combine.
6. In a separate bowl, combine the sourdough discard, milk, brown sugar, molasses, honey, and vanilla and mix well.
7. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until just combined.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake at 150°C (300°F) for 1 hour.
9. Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes.
10. Turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.
11. Serve with butter and/or Gouda cheese. (The cake should be sliced thin and the butter spread thick!²)

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Variants

Vegan Version

Ingredients

• 120g (1 c.) all-purpose flour
• 120g (1 c.) rye flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods)
• 1/8 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1/8 tsp. anise seeds
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 125g sourdough discard
• 3/4 c. nut or soy milk
• 120g (1/2 c.) brown sugar
• 1/4 c. molasses
• 1/4 c. golden syrup, corn syrup, or agave syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

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¹ The recipe didn't specify the size of loaf pan. I ended up going with an 8.5x4.5" pan. I might try an 8x4" (20cm by 10cm) pan at some point just to see how it compares, but I think either one is probably acceptable. ^Back
2 Although I won't judge you if you also want to slice the cake thick. ^Back

I've been trying to work my way through all the khliî recipes in the book while I have a bit of khliî substitute on hand. This one made a very nice, if somewhat thick, soup.

Khliî, Chickpea, and Pasta Soup

Slightly adapted from the Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 3/4 c. dried chickpeas
• 1/4 c. split, peeled, dried fava beans¹
• 8 c. water, divided
• 1/3 c. brown lentils, rinsed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2/3 c. khliî or 1 c. khliî substitute
• 2 Tbsp. fat from khliî or substitute
• 1/2 c. diced tomatoes²
• 1 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne or ground Kashmiri chilies
• 3/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric³
• 1/2 tsp. ras el hanout
• 1/8 tsp. saffron threads, crushed and mixed w/ 2 Tbsp. hot water
• 2 Tbsp. crumbled dried aged goat cheese⁴
• 280g mhamsa or small Italian pasta (acini di pepe, orzo, bird's tongue, etc.)⁵
• 150g chopped kale⁶ (optional)

Directions

1. Soak the chickpeas and fava beans in separate bowls. Allow to soak for ~12 hours.
2. Drain the fava beans and transfer them to a pot with 3 c. of the water.
3. Bring fava beans to a boil and cook for 30 minutes, skimming as needed.
4. While the fava beans are boiling, soak the lentils for 30 minutes.
5. Drain the chickpeas. (Wolfert recommends peeling them at this point, but I never bother.)
6. Toss the onion with the salt and fat from the khliî and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.⁷
7. Shred the meat and add it to the pot.
8. Add the tomatoes, parsley, chickpeas, drained lentils, pepper, paprika, cayenne, ginger, turmeric, ras el hanout, saffron water, and the remaining 5 c. of water.
9. Reserving the cooking water, drain the fava beans.
10. Add the cooked fava beans and 1 c. of their cooking water to the soup.
11. Add the cheese.
12. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook over low heat for 45 minutes.
13. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and set a steamer over it. Steam the pasta, partially covered, for 10 minutes.⁸
14. Add the kale (if using) and the steamed pasta to the soup and simmer for a few minutes.
15. Serve hot. Goes nicely with a bit of extra cheese on top and buttered toast on the side.

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¹ I didn't have any fava beans on hand and I didn't want to go out and get a bag just for the 1/4 c. that I needed for this recipe, so I just tossed in an extra 1/4 c. of chickpeas instead. ^Back
2 The original recipe calls for grated roma tomatoes, but I didn't feel like faffing around with a grater and I had some diced tomatoes in the fridge that needed used anyway, so I just tossed them in. ^Back
3 The original recipe calls for 1/3 of a tsp. of turmeric. Who uses thirds of teaspoons?! I just bumped it up to 1/2 tsp. and called it good. ^Back
4 Wolfert recommends Cypress Grove Midnight Moon. I've never seen that cheese for sale here and I doubt I could order it from the States, so I searched for alternatives. I ended up using a nice goat beemster. I think a high-quality, well-aged goat cheddar could also work. I recommend getting a bit more cheese than you need and sprinkling more onto each portion as you dish up the soup. It's very tasty that way. ^Back
5 I had ~250g of stellette pasta left over from an earlier recipe, so I just tossed that in. I think that was plenty of pasta for this amount of soup. But feel free to experiment with putting in the full amount if you like. ^Back
6 The original recipe doesn't call for any greens, but I really felt like a bit of kale would go nicely with the tomato and legumes. We actually ended up topping our soup with some leftover kale and beans and I think that wonderfully so, in the future, I think I'd be inclined to just add some kale directly to the soup. ^Back
7 Because my khliî substitute ended up shredded rather than sliced, I have found it fairly difficult to separate the fat from the meat. I ended up just using 1 c. + 2 Tbsp. of it for this recipe and putting it all in with the onion. I figured that since the next step was to add the meat anyway, it wouldn't make that much of a difference. ^Back
8 I steamed my pasta for nearly 30 minutes and it still didn't seem cooked yet. Also, it ended up clumping together in the steamer. I don't know if the issue was the style of steamer I had or the shape of the pasta or what, but it was definitely not done after 10 minutes. Or 30, for that matter. I ended up just dumping the partially cooked pasta into the soup and letting it finish cooking in there. Unfortunately doing this caused it to suck up most of the broth. I think it probably would've been better to drop it into the boiling water that I already had going below the steamer. Let it finish cooking in there, then drain it and transfer it to the soup. Oh well... ^Back

Carrot Pudding

This was a fun one. I started out browsing Cooking in the Archives looking for a vegetable side dish. I ended up settling on a carrot pudding that they did a write-up for a while back. But the original recipe was damaged and there were a few words at the edge of the page that had become illegible. Here is a transcription:

To make Carrot Pudding
Take Six Carrots not to large Boyle them well & as many pip[pins]
w^th y^e juce of one Lemon & four Sugar Rouls Beat them very
well in a Marble Mortor Mix with these a pint of Cream
& three Eggs Sweeten it to your tast Bake it in a Dish w^th pa[xxx]
& put in Cittern & Candid Oringe

The recipe looks pretty straight-forward overall, but not knowing what that missing word was was driving me nuts! The ladies over at Cooking in the Archives transcribed it as "pu[xxx]", but after staring at it for a while I started wondering if the second letter might actually be an "a" and the missing word might be "paste" -- as in "pastry".

I ended up calling in TM's help on this one. After staring at it for a while and comparing it to similar recipes, the best guesses we could come up with were either some sort of crust or some sort of fat. (We looked at another early modern carrot pudding recipe that called for a large quantity of melted butter to be added to the custard just before baking.)

I think this pudding would work nicely as a sort of tart or pie. It's basically a carrot custard and we put pumpkin custard into pie shells all the time! I think it would make a lovely pie. That said, I ended up making it without the crust this time. Mostly because six carrots, six apples, three eggs, and nearly half a litre of cream makes A LOT of custard and I didn't want to deal with either a stupidly huge pie or lots of smaller ones. So I just did one big, crustless pudding this time around. I think it would be fun to experiment with combining this custard with different pastries though. My go-to would probably be shortcrust, but I think a nice flaky/rough puff could also be nice.

I really enjoyed the citrus flavours with the carrots in this. Honestly, it was really good just as it was. But it could also be interesting to try adding different spices. Cinnamon and orange came up in other early modern recipes. And, although I didn't see any that called for ginger, I think that would also be really nice.

TM also pointed out that it's possible that the "sugar rouls" in this recipe are meant to be fresh breadcrumbs or something similar rather than sugarloaves as I'd originally assumed. And, based on what seems to have been the typical size of a sugarloaf -- 3-5 lbs. -- I think TM probably had it right. Four 3-lb. sugarloaves would be an insane amount of sugar. I ended up using 200g of sugar for my pudding. And, based on similar recipes (and my tastebuds), 100-225g seems to be about right for this amount of carrots. I think it'd be interesting to try it with breadcrumbs at some point, but I was really feeling the custard-y approach today, so I left out the starch this go 'round.

Carrot Pudding (Custard-y)

Adapted from Ms. Codex 631 [Recipe Book] by Judeth Bedingfield

Ingredients

• 6 carrots
• 6 apples
• juice of 1 lemon
• 200g sugar
• 2 c. table (18%) cream¹
• 3-4 eggs²
• 40-50g candied citron and/or orange peel and/or mixed peel

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a casserole dish.
2. Peel and chop the carrots and apples and place them in a pot with enough water to cover them.
3. Bring to a boil and cook until very tender.
4. Drain and purée the carrots and apples.³
5. Blend in the lemon juice, sugar, cream, and eggs.
6. Pour the custard into the prepared dish and sprinkle in the citron/orange.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~2 hours or until just set.

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¹ I ended up using whipping cream (35%) for my pudding, but I think table cream probably would've been more appropriate. ^Back
2 The original recipe only called for three eggs, but that didn't seem like very much egg to set that amount of custard. I had an extra egg white left over from making a pie, so I tossed that in. I'm not confident that it would've set up without the extra white. Some of the other recipes called for even more egg. I think I'd lean toward using four eggs in the future. ^Back
3 I decided to try mashing my carrots and apples this time, just to see how the pudding would come out. It was delicious, but I think it would've been even better with puréed custard for a smoother texture. ^Back

Shortcut Khliî Substitute

My understanding is that real khliî involves marinating and then sun-drying meat. This meat is then cooked in a mixture of fat and oil at which point it is dried again. Prepared this way, khli&icric; can be kept for up to two years without refrigeration.

Wolfert offers a faster alternative to making authentic khliî. It is still a somewhat lengthy process, but skips the drying steps which expedites things a great deal. Sadly, this means that it doesn't have the same impressive keeping qualities of genuine khli&icric;, but it's still very tasty and will keep for several weeks in the fridge.

Shortcut Khli&icric; Substitute

Slightly adapted from the Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 1.13kg bone-in lamb shoulder or 680g flank steak + 450g short ribs
• 1 head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds
• 1/2 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 1/8 tsp. ground cayenne
• 2 Tbsp. vinegar
• 3/4 c. olive oil, divided
• 200g chopped suet
• 2 c. hot water, divided

Finishing Spices

• 1/2 Tbsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. la kama spice mixture
• 1/4 tsp. ground cayenne
• salt & pepper

Directions

1. Rinse off the meat and place it into a enameled cast iron Dutch oven or casserole.
2. Combine garli, salt, coriander, cumin, and cayenne in a blender and blend to a paste.
3. Add the vinegar and 1/3 c. of the olive oil and blend until smooth and well-combined.
4. Pour garlic mixture over the meat and let stand for 1-2 hours.
5. Add the suet and 1 c. of the hot water to the unwashed blender and blend until smooth.
6. Pour suet mixture into a pot.
7. Add remaining hot water and 1/4 c. of the olive oil to the pot with the suet mixture and set it aside.
8. Warm the meat (with its marinade) over low heat.
9. Meanwhile, bring the suet mixture to a boil.
10. Pour the boiling suet mixture over the meat.
11. If the meat is not entirely covered, add enough additional hot water to do so.
12. Cover with a sheet of parchment paper, reduce heat to low, and cook for ~3 hours.
13. Lift out the meat and set the casserole aside.
14. Remove and discard any bones and gristle from the meat.
15. Slice the meat¹ and toss it with the finishing spices.
16. Pack the sliced -- or in my case, shredded -- meat into a clean, dry 750mL jar.
17. Boil down the cooking liquid until almost all the water has evaporated.
18. Strain the cooking liquid into a deep bowl and allow to sit, undisturbed, until the fat rises to the top.
19. Spoon the fat over the meat.
20. Use a thin skewer to allow the fat to penetrate to the bottom of the jar.
21. Top off the jar with a layer of fresh olive oil.
22. Cool completely, then cover and transfer to the fridge to store.
23. To use, remove from fridge and allow to warm up slightly. (It will be very hard and difficult to extract otherwise.) Carefully remove the desired portion with clean tongs or chopsticks and then top off with more olive oil to keep the meat completely covered.
24. Meat should keep for 3-4 weeks in the fridge.

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¹ I wasn't able to slice my meat. It was so tender that any attempt to slice it or manipulate it in any way resulted in it shredding itself. This seems to be fine for most applications, but it means that I ended up with a jar of shredded beef rather than beef slices. ^Back

Khboz Bchehmar with Khliî (Beshmar Bread with Khliî)

My original dinner plans for tonight fell through, so I decided to try making these flatbreads instead. The filling was extremely tasty, but I think I would have just as soon had it on top of a plain flatbread as made into a stuffed one.

If you don't have any khli&icric; (or khliî substitute) on hand, then this can also be made with a mixture of finely diced beef or lamb and grated suet. I opted for the preserved meat version because I had some on hand that needed using up.

The shaping instructions for these stuffed breads were somewhat ambiguous. I took my best guess based on what made sense to me, but feel free to try something different if you'd like.

Khboz Bchehmar

Slightly adapted from the Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

Filling

• 1/3 c. khliî or 1/2 c. khliî substitute
• 60g fat from khliî (or khliî substitute)
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 3-4 Tbsp. fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. harissa
• 1 tsp. tomato paste
• 1/2 Tbsp. sweet paprika
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon (preferably Ceylon/true cinnamon)

Dough

• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. extra-fine semolina flour
• 1/2 Tbsp. instant (rapid-rise) yeast
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3/4 c. warm water, divided

Directions

Filling

1. Combine the meat and fat in a bowl.
2. Rinse the onion and squeeze it to expell any excess water.
3. Combine the parsley, onion, cumin, coriander, and salt in a molcajete or large mortar and pound it into a paste.
4. Mix in the harissa, tomato paste, paprika, pepper, and cinnamon.
5. Add the paste to the meat mixture, cover, and set aside.

Dough

1. Combine the flours, yeast, and salt and mix to blend.
2. Gradually add 1/2 c. of warm water and mix to form a stiff dough. (You may need to add an extra Tbsp. or two of water to get the dough to come together.)
3. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes.
4. Turn out the dough and gradually work in the rest of the water while kneading. You may need a Tbsp. or two more or less than called for. Work the dough until it is smooth and supple with just a hint of tackiness to it.

Assembly

1. Divide dough into four equal portions.
2. Shape each portion into a ball.
3. Working with one portion at a time, stretch and roll the dough to form a rectangle (or oval) ~20cm by 30cm.
4. Spread 1/4 of the filling in the centre of the dough.
5. Fold the dough in thirds crosswise (letterfold).
6. Press the dough flat. (Wolfert says to press and stretch it back to its original size, but I couldn't see any way to do this without the whole thing falling apart.)
7. Sprinkle with a little extra semolina flour and perform a second letter fold perpendicular to the first.
8. Press and seal the dough again.
9. Prick several times with a fork, then flip over and prick the other side with a fork as well.
10. Cover and set aside to rise for 45-60 minutes.
11. Heat a pan or griddle over medium heat.
12. Add one or two breads to the hot pan. As the bread heats up, the fat/suet will melt and run out the holes in the dough, allowing the bread to fry in its own fat.
13. Cook for ~7 minutes on each side.
14. Serve with butter and/or harissa.

I never would have thought of radish in a fruit salad, but it works really well with the orange! This salad is sweet and refreshing. The recipe calls for a pinch of cinnamon; I went fairly light on it, but after trying it symbol thinks it would benefit from a heavier touch with the cinnamon next time.

Orange and Grated Radish Salad with Orange Flower Water

From The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert (p.64)

Ingredients

• 225g (~8 oz) red radishes, trimmed and coarsely grated
• 1½ tbsp sugar
• 2 navel or temple oranges
• 2 tbsp juice (from the oranges)
• 2-3 tsp orange flower water
• 1½ tbsp lemon juice
• salt to taste
• a pinch of cinnamon
• 3-4 mint leaves, shredded

Directions

1. Toss the grated radishes with the sugar. Let stand 15 minutes, then cover and store in the fridge. (The recipe calls for draining them; we forgot to and the resulting salad was still tasty, but very soupy!)
2. Peel the oranges. Cut away all the pith, leaving bare flesh. Cut the flesh into discs; squeeze the pith bits to get 2tbsp of juice for the dressing. Store in the fridge.
3. Whisk together the orange juice, orange flower water, lemon juice, and salt in a serving bowl.
4. Unwrap the radishes and toss them with the dressing. Add more lemon juice to sharpen the flavour if needed.
5. Top with orange slices, cinnamon, and mint.

I picked up some smoked salmon on sale a little while back, tossed it in the freezer, and kind of forgot about it. I recently remembered it existed and figured I'd give this salmon tart a go. I was dubious about using cucumbers in a cooked pie, but it actually worked really well! I love the cream cheese in the custard.

Scottish Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Cream Cheese Tart

Slightly adapted from the Book of Old Tarts by Elizabeth Hoder

Ingredients

• 175g shortcrust pastry
• 1 English cucumber, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 250g smoked salmon, broken into large pieces
• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 150mL heavy (35%) cream
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill¹
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 tsp. peppercorns, ground

Directions

1. Line a shallow 25cm (10") tart tin² with the pastry and blind bake it³.
2. Toss cucumber with salt, place in colander, and place a plate and a heavy object on top. Set aside to drain for 30 minutes.
3. Pat cucumber dry and toss with salmon.
4. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
5. Blend cream cheese, eggs, egg yolk, cream, chives, dill, lemon zest, lemon juice, and pepper.
6. Place cucumber-salmon mixture in pie crust.
7. Pour the cheese mixutre over the filling.
8. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 30 minutes.
9. Serve warm or cold with vegetable side of your choice.

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¹ I didn't have any fresh dill, so I ended up using an extra 2 Tbsp. of chives + 1/2 tsp. of ground dill seeds. ^Back
2 The original recipe called for a 9" tart tin, but I've had issues with having too much filling for pies in this book before, so I decided to go up one tin size. ^Back
3 Line with parchment paper and fill with pie beans and bake at 400°F for 15 minutes, then remove paper and beans, prick with a fork, and brush with egg white, then return to oven and bake for another 5 minutes. ^Back

Wolfert describes this dish as "soupy". And Wikipedia describes it as either a soup or a dip. My byssara did not come out soupy. The instructions say to cook it down to a "nice thick consistency" and I think I may have overshot a bit. Don't go for "stand a spoon in it" thick when you're making this because it will thicken up even more as it cools. My byssara ended up sliceable!

Byssara

Slightly adapted from the Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 2 c. split dried fava beans¹
• 6 c. water
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 6 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 lemon (optional)
• 1/2 Tbsp. sweet paprika
• 1/4 tsp. ground cayenne or Kashmiri chilies
• extra olive oil, to serve

Directions

1. Soak the fava beans overnight in 6 or 7 c. of water. Discard any beans that float.
2. Wash and drain the beans.
3. Bring the water to a boil.
4. When the water is boiling, add the beans and reduce heat to medium-low.
5. Cook, uncovered, for 1 hour, skimming as needed.
6. Add the garlic and 2 Tbsp. of the oil and cook for another hour or two. (Aim for thick soup, rather than hummus consistency.)
7. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
8. Combine the cumin seeds and salt and grind to a powder.
9. Add half of the cumin-salt mixture to the beans and reserve the other half for garnish.
10. Press the beans through a fine sieve and beat in the remaining 1/4 c. of olive oil.
11. Add salt and lemon juice to taste.
12. Garnish with the cumin-salt blend and a bit of paprika and cayenne.
13. Serve with olive oil and toasted bread.

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¹ In other recipes, Wolfert calls for "split dried peeled fava beans". Here she simply calls for "split dried fava beans", no mention of peeling. I couldn't find split fava beans, so I got a bag of whole (unpeeled) fava beans. Since this recipe refers readers to a note explaining that unpeeled favas require longer to soften, I figured that whole, unpeeled beans would be fine. But once the beans had soaked, I realized how thick and tough the skins were and ended up peeling them anyway. Next time I'd just seek out skinned split fava beans. Zehr's didn't have them, but it turns out that Ethnic does! ^Back

Fagioli all'Uccelletto (Tuscan Baked Beans)

We were in a bind for dinner last night and I had to throw something together last minute. We had some sun-dried tomato and mushroom risotto mix that I'd gotten at the farmers' market a few weeks ago, so that gave us a starting point for the meal, but it definitely wasn't going to be enough on its own. Originally I had been contemplating making some meat-stuffed Moroccan flatbreads, but that still left us short on veggies. I consulted Cooking from an Italian Garden for ideas on how to round out the meal. In the end I opted to make this white bean dish along with a saucy green bean dish to add some protein and vegetables to our risotto dinner. It worked out pretty well! Although I would be tempted to add more tomatoes next time.

Fagioli all'Uccelletto

Slightly adapted from Cooking from an Italian Garden by Paola Scaravelli and Jon Cohen

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. flour
• 1 1/2 c. dried white beans¹
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3-4 fresh sage leaves (or ~1 tsp. dried sage)
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2-3/4 c. diced tomatoes

Directions

1. Mix the flour into 1L of water and add the beans. Soak for 8-12 hours.
2. Drain and rinse the beans.
3. Place the beans in a pressure cooker with enough water to cover them and pressure cook for 20 minutes.
4. Allow a 15-minute natural release and then drain the beans (reserving the cooking water for soup if desired).
5. Heat the oil over medium heat.
6. Add the garlic, sage, pepper, and salt and cook for ~1 minute.
7. Add the beans and cook for ~5 minutes.
8. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.²

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¹ I used navy beans because that's what I had on hand, but cannellini beans (white kidney beans) would probably be the best choice here. ^Back
2 I reversed the order of these last two steps. I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes in practice, but I'll probably try it the other way around next time to find out. ^Back

Salsa d'Olive con capperi (Olive-Caper Sauce)

This is a delicious sauce! And not too difficult to make either.

I found a suggestion in the back of the book to serve it with steamed string beans. (We ended up using thawed frozen green beans, so that's almost the same.) The preamble to the recipe also suggests serving it with mixed fried vegetables, savoury soufflés, vegetable puddings, or on toast. I suggest making a double batch and serving it on everything!

Salsa d'Olive con Capperi

Slightly adapted from Cooking from an Italian Garden by Paola Scaravelli and Jon Cohen

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 Tbsp. butter, divided
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 c. black olives, minced
• 3 Tbsp. capers, rinsed and minced
• 1 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 Tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. flour

Directions

1. Heat the oil and 2 Tbsp. of the butter over medium heat.
2. Add the onion and cook for ~5 minutes.
3. Add the olives, capers, and parsley and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the water and vinegar and cook for a minute or so.
5. Add the flour and stir until thickened.
6. Remove from heat and add the remaining 1 Tbsp. of butter.
7. Serve on toast or with steamed or fried vegetables (or as a topping for vegetable soufflés or puddings).

This recipe may need a little tweaking. I wasn't super enthused about how the coconut oil behaved when added to the other wet ingredients. I had melted the coconut oil, but it froze again when the milk and eggs were added. This led to having big chunks of solid oil in my batter. I know it would probably behave somewhat better if I'd let my milk and eggs come to room temperature beforehand. But coconut oil is still pretty solid even at room temperature (at least at the temperatures my kitchen generally is). So, I worry that it would have issues anyway, even with warmer wets.

I think, in the future, I'd prefer to use an oil with a lower freezing point instead. I think corn or canola oil would work well.

I also think it needs more spices. I've added some vanilla and cloves to the recipe here, although I haven't had a chance to try it with these additions yet. Experiment with it and see what you like!

Sourdough Carrot Muffins

Adapted from Everyday Healthy Cookbook by Dana Jacobi

Ingredients

• 120g whole wheat flour (hard or soft)
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 100g brown sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 c. dried currants (or golden raisins)
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 1 1/2 c. finely grated carrots
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 250g sourdough discard (unfed starter)
• 1/3 c. neutral oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• seed sprinkle topping (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease wells of a muffin tin (or line with papers).
2. Sift baking powder and baking soda into flour.
3. Mix in the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
4. Add the currants, walnuts, and carrots.
5. In a large measuring cup, mix the buttermilk, sourdough discard, oil, egg, and vanilla.
6. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
7. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin.
8. If desired, add some seed sprinkle topping.
9. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~20 minutes.
10. Cool in tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

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Variations

Vegan Version

Ingredients

• 120g whole wheat flour (hard or soft)
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 100g organic brown sugar¹
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 c. dried currants
• 1 c. chopped walnuts
• 1 1/2 c. finely grated carrots
• 1/2 c. nut milk + 1 tsp. vinegar
• 250g sourdough discard (unfed starter)
• 1/3 c. neutral oil
• 1 flax egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• seed sprinkle topping (optional)

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¹ Some sugar is produced using bone char. But it is not used in organic brown sugar. At least not in North America as far as I know. ^Back

I haven't been great at keeping up with recipe write-ups lately. I still have recipes from Thanksgiving that need written up. Plus some curries, breads, and soups. But I'll start with today's recipe and work my way through from there.

Recipe-as-written this was meant to be a Swiss chard (silverbeet) dish. But I didn't have any Swiss chard and TF doesn't like it anyway, so I opted to make it with kale instead.

I quite liked this. So did TF. Sadly, the Kidlet wasn't a fan. But she liked the last kale dish I made, so she just had some of that with dinner instead.

Chopped Greens with Lemon and Anchovy

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 400-450g kale or Swiss chard (silverbeet)
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 3/4 c. chicken or vegetable stock, divided
• 2 oil-packed anchovies
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• pepper, to taste
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 c. diced tomatoes

Directions

1. Cut the leaves from the stems of the kale.
2. Cut the kale leaves into ribbons (chiffonade) and set them aside.
3. Cut the stems crosswise into 1cm chunks, discarding the tough end pieces.
4. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the oil over medium heat.
5. Add the stems and cook for ~5 minutes.
6. Add 1/4 c. of the stock and cook for another 4 minutes.
7. Push the stems to one side of the pan and add the anchovies to the other side.
8. Cook and mash the anchovies until they break down.
9. Mix the stems with the anchovies.
10. Turn off heat and stir in the lemon juice and mix in freshly ground pepper to taste.
11. Stir around in the hot pan for a minute or so, then transfer to a serving dish.
12. Once the pan has been thoroughly scraped out, return to medium heat and add the remaining 2 Tbsp. of oil.
13. Add the onion and cook for 6-7 minutes.
14. Add the chopped leaves one large handful at a time.
15. Once all the greens have been added and slightly wilted, add the remaining stock along with the tomatoes.
16. Cook, stirring occasionally, for ~10 minutes.

I picked up a bunch of cookbooks in a Humble Bundle a while back. I'm not really used to using digital/PDF cookbooks, so it's taken me a while to get around to using them. But I was in a cookbook browsing mood the other day, so I decided to crack one open and take a look.

This recipe is from the Vegetable of the Day Cookbook. It's organized like a calendar with one recipe for each day of the year.

I'm not really interested in trying to cook each recipe on the day it's assigned to in the book. But I do appreciate the collection of varied and somewhat seasonal vegetable recipes.

I thought about trying to start with a November recipe (for maximum seasonality) or trying to find something that looked like it would match thematically with the rest of the dinner. But, in the end, what I really felt like, was just starting at the beginning of the book and working my way though. So that's what I ended up doing!

The January 1^st recipe was for "spicy sautéed kale and chickpeas". I didn't have any tinned chickpeas on hand though and I didn't feel like cooking dried ones from scratch, so I decided to use cannellini beans instead. The creaminess of the beans actually worked quite well with the kale and chili flakes, so I think I will just default to using them for this dish from now on. I'm sure the chickpeas would also be good, but I think I prefer the cannellini beans here.

Spicy Sautéed Kale and Beans

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 3-4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 450g black kale, coarsely shredded
• 1 (540mL) can cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/8-1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Warm garlic and oil over medium-low heat and cook, stirring often, until softened (~7 minutes).
2. Add ~1/2 of the kale to the pan, cover, and cook for ~2 minutes.
3. Add remaining kale and toss to coat with oil.
4. Cover and cook until tender (~15 minutes).
5. Uncover and stir in beans, pepper flakes, and salt.
6. Increase heat to medium and cook until the beans are heated through (~5 minutes).

I'm very tired and I was seriously tempted to just post this recipe as a list of ingredients with baker's percentages. That would be sufficient for most wheat breads. But I'm not super confident with rye yet. So it probably makes sense to try to document exactly what I did. So, here we go!

Sourdough Rye

Slightly adapted form Sourdough Companion

Ingredients

• 188g (100% hydration) starter
• 200mL water, plus a bit extra for kneading
• 122g all-purpose flour
• 122g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 122g rye flour¹
• 11g olive oil
• 11g molasses
• 7g coarse sea salt
• 4g carroway seeds

Directions

1. Feed up your starter and get it good and active.²
2. Mix the water, all-purpose flour, and whole wheat flour, cover, and let sit for at least an hour.
3. Spread a little of the rye flour on your work surface and turn the dough-like flour-water mixture out onto it.
4. Add the starter on top of the dough and knead it a few strokes to begin working the starter into the dough.
5. Once the starter and flour on the work surface have been incorporated, add the oil and continue kneading.
6. Add a little more rye flour to the work surface under the dough and add the molasses and salt on top of it. Knead to work it in.
7. Add a bit more flour to the work surface and add the carroway seeds on top. Knead to incorporate.
8. Once the carroway seeds have been worked in, wet your hands.
9. Continue kneading, wetting your hands every few strokes, until the dough begins to get sticky.
10. Add the rest of the rye flour to the work surface and continue kneading to work it in.
11. If the dough starts to seem tight or dry, wet your hands and add more water, a little at a time.
12. Once the dough seems to have reached a good consistency and is pleasantly supple, return to bowl, cover, and allow to rest until well risen³.
13. Wet your work surface slightly and turn the dough out onto it.
14. Press the dough flat and fold in thirds (letter fold).
15. Fold in thirds the other way.
16. Roll up jelly-roll-style and place seam-side-up in a well-floured banneton.
17. Cover and let rest until well-risen. (Timing will depend on temperature.)
18. Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
19. Grease a baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal.
20. Place a pan of boiling water on the bottom rack of the oven.
21. Turn the loaf out onto the baking sheet and slash as desired.
22. Bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes.
23. Carefully remove steam pan from oven and reduce temperature to 180°C (350°F) and bake for another 20 minutes.
24. Turn off heat and let bread sit in hot oven for 10 minutes.
25. Remove from oven and transfer bread to wire rack to cool.

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¹ I usually grind my own rye flour fresh. If you're using store-bought rye flour, look for "dark" or "whole" rye if possible. That said, any rye flour should work for this recipe. ^Back
2 I like to start with 10g of starter 24-36 hours before I want to mix the dough. I add 20g each of flour and water to the starter and let it sit for 8-16 hours. Then I give it a second feeding of 70g each of flour and water and let it sit for another 12 hours or so until it looks nice and bubbly. The flour and water for the dough can be mixed any time during this second feeding/fermentation. ^Back
3 The original recipe calls for ~3 hours of rising at room temperature, but this will vary with your room and the activity of the starter. I didn't want to have to deal with mine until the next day, so I put it in the cold room overnight and it still didn't seem quite ready to go yet 16 hours later. Use your judgement (and your fingers) to determine when your dough has finished rising and is ready for the next step. ^Back

This Hello Fresh recipe was a quick build. Symbol and I both liked it; the Kidlet liked it so much that she had it for lunch several days in a row!

Black Bean & Corn Stew

Hello Fresh

Ingredients

• 30mL (2 tbsp) oil
• 740mL (3 C) black beans, tinned, with their juice
• 30mL (2 tbsp) enchilada spice blend
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 360mL (1½ C) vegetable broth
• 2.5mL (½ tsp) sugar
• 2 bell peppers, diced
• 480mL (2 C) tomato salsa
• 250g corn kernels
• ~120mL cilantro, chopped
• ~120mL (½ C) guacamole
• 1 lime, wedged
• tortilla chips or toasted pita wedges, for serving

Directions

1. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add the oil, beans (with their tinning liquid), enchilada spice blend, garlic salt, and black pepper to taste.
3. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium, and cook until heated through and beans soften slightly, ~4-5 minutes.
4. Carefully mash most of the beans, leaving some whole.
5. Add broth, sugar, cilantro, corn, and peppers.
6. Simmer until peppers are tender, 8-10 minutes.
7. Garnish with guacamole and lime squeezings. Serve with tortilla chips.

Lamb is a popular meat in Morocco and mechoui is one of the most famous lamb preparations. It involves spit-roasting a whole lamb over hot coals and basting it liberally with butter. This is an approximation of that dish. Since spit-roasting a whole lamb is not exactly accessible for the average home cook, Wolfert presents this recipe that involves roasting a lamb quarter in the oven.

I'm really happy with how this came out overall. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. And I think the leftovers actually tasted even better the next day! I'd love to try the real thing done with a whole lamb sometime. Although that's definitely not something I could do at home.

I served this as the centrepiece of my Thanksgiving dinner this year. It ended up being a pretty nice spread. I cooked lamb, purslane salad, couscous, harissa, red pepper sauce, eggplant zaalouk, byssara, tagine bread, and poached pears. My brother brought a great cucumber-tomato salad with tahini and pitas. And my mom did some lovely Moroccan-spiced squash and made a delicious orange cake for dessert.

Getting the lamb ended up being a bit of an adventure, but I managed to get it sorted out eventually!

Roast Forequarter of Lamb

From The Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 1 lamb forequarter (4.5-5.5kg)
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 2 Tbsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. sweet paprika
• coarse sea salt and ground cumin, for serving

Directions

1. Make a deep incision under the foreleg and along the breastplate of the lamb.
2. Combine the garlic and sea salt in a mortar or molcajete and grind to a paste.
3. Combine the garlic paste, olive oil, butter, coriander, cumin, and paprika and mix well.
4. Rub the buttery spice mix into the meat and let stand for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 250°C (475°F).
6. Place the lamb (fatty side up) on a large roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet.
7. Place on the middle shelf of the oven and roast at 250°C (475°F) for 15 minutes.
8. Reduce heat to 150°C (300°F) and continue to roast for 4-5 hours, basting thoroughly with the pan juices every 15 minutes. You should be able to easily pull the meat from the bones with your fingers when the lamb is done. It will be very tender with a crispy outer layer.
9. Serve with bowls of salt and cumin.

This makes a tasty topping for many baked goods. Decide whether to use the chile flakes and/or salt based on what the mixture will be going on.

Seed Sprinkle Topping

Slightly adapted from Everyday Healthy Cookbook by Dana Jacobi

Ingredients

• 20g sliced almonds
• 2 tsp. raw pumpkin seeds
• 1 tsp. chia seeds
• 1 tsp. sesame seeds
• 1/8 tsp. red chile flakes (optional)
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Heat a pan over medium-low heat.
2. Add the almonds and cook for a minute or two.
3. Add hte pumpkin seeds and cook for another minute or so.
4. Add the chia and sesame seeds and cook until almonds and sesame are light golden. Be careful not to burn them!
5. Remove from heat and stir in chile flakes and/or salt, if using.

It's been a while since I've made anything out of our Cook's Country magazines and I was feeling at a bit of a loss for dinner inspiration, so I figured maybe it was time to browse the recipe list again. This chili looked easy and tasty and I already had most of the ingredients on hand, so it seemed ideal. Not least of all because it would let us use up a little more ground beef, which we have in abundance at the moment.

The original recipe involved cooking the rice in the skillet and then keeping it warm in individual serving bowls while you cook the chili in the same skillet you used for the rice. I appreciate that this avoids dirtying a second cooking vessel. But I wasn't crazy about cooking the two components sequentially and bringing the oven into the mix, so I opted to use the InstantPot for the rice and let it do its thing while TF helped me put together the chili.

Skillet Chili Bowls

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2020

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro, divided
• 2 tsp. grated lime zest, divided
• 2-3 Tbsp. lime juice, divided
• 450g ground beef (preferably 90% lean)
• 2 Tbsp. water
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt¹, divided
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1 Tbsp. bacon fat
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 chipotle in adobo, minced
• 450mL tomato sauce
• 2 c. cooked black beans²
• 1 c. frozen corn
• grated Cheddar, to serve (optional)
• pickled jalapeños, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Combine sour cream, 2 Tbsp. of the cilantro, 1 tsp. of the lime zest, and half the lemon juice and mix well. Set aside and chill until ready to use.
2. Mix beef with the water, baking soda, 1/4 tsp. of the salt, and pepper and let rest for 20-30 minutes.
3. Cook the rice by your preferred method with 1/2 tsp. of the salt.³
4. Once the rice is done, stir in the remaining lime zest, lime juice, and cilantro.
5. Melt the bacon grease over medium heat.
6. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook for ~7 minutes.
7. Add the beef and cook for another 6-7 minutes.
8. Add cumin, garlic, and chipotle and cook for 1 minute.
9. Add tomato sauce, beans, and corn and cook for 5 more minutes.
10. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
11. Serve chili over rice and topped with Cheddar, jalapeños, and/or crema (the cilantro-lime sour cream mixture).

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¹ The original recipe called for a whopping 2 tsp. of salt! 1/4 tsp. in the beef, 1/4 tsp. in the crema, 1/2 tsp. in the rice, and 1 tsp. added to the chili in the last 5 minutes of cooking. That seemed like way too much to me. Especially since we were using tinned beans and tinned tomato sauce (both of which the recipe specifically calls for). If you are cooking your own beans from scratch and making your own tomato sauce, then you might find you need to add a little salt at the end of cooking, but taste it first! ^Back
2 I forgot to get my beans cooking ahead of time, so we didn't have any black beans ready to hand for the chili. My second and third choice would've been kidney or pinto beans, but we didn't have any of those pre=cooked either. I ended up tossing in a tin of cannellini (white kidney) beans. They actually worked pretty well! Although I do think it would've been even better with black beans. ^Back
3 For me this means a 1:1 ratio of rice and water in the InstantPot on high pressure for 18 minutes (for long-grain brown rice) with a 10-minute natural release. ^Back