I got a beautiful leek from Singh Meadows so I had to do something special with it. Today I roasted the leek. I thought a little sprinkle of corn and zhoug would go well with the leek ( zhoug is a Yemenite spicy cilantro sauce that is hand chopped and not blended) and instead of something like tahini that is a classic with zhoug I thought the cashew butter would be similar but also tasty. Today I used Micheal Solomonov’s recipe for zhoug. I ate at his restaurant Zahav and it was one of the best meals that I have had in my life. This recipe make far more zhoug than you need……but if you think you like zhoug than it is worth making…..I used some zhoug last week on grilled eggplant with date syrup that was very good. You can quarter that amount of zhoug and you still will have more zhoug than you need for this recipe.
Ingredients for two servings (plus extra zhoug)
1 cup parley leaves – hand chopped – fine chopped – zhoug
1 cup cilantro (fine stems ok to use) – hand chopped – fine chopped – zhoug
2 Tablespoons lemon juice – zhoug
1 Tablespoon cardamon – ground – zhoug
1 Tablespoon sea salt – zhoug
20 serrano peppers – chopped – zhoug
4 garlic cloves – fine chopped – zhoug
1 cup canola oil – zhoug
1 leek (mine was a large leek) – cleaned cut in half long ways
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup (or more) cooked corn
2 Tablespoons cashew butter
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F.
Oil a baking sheet with a little olive oil or non stick spray.
Oil the leeks all over with the olive oil. The leeks go cut side up on the baking sheet. They roast for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes shut the oven off but leave the leeks in for another 10 minutes. (throw the corn in the oven to warm up.)
During this time you can make the zhoug.
Make the zhoug. In a large bowl combine the parsley, cilantro, lemon juice, cardamon, salt, peppers, garlic and oil. Set to the side or refrigerate.
Take the leeks out and dress them with the corn zhoug and cashew butter.
Roasted Leeks with Corn, Zhoug and Cashew Butter
Enjoy!
A special THANKS!!! to Micheal Solomonov for his amazing zhoug recipe.
The recipe called Honey-Mustard-Braised Radishes and Mustard Greens arrived in my inbox from Food and Wine Magazine today. I was drawn to the recipe because it sounded flavorful and I could make it work with what I had at home. I didn’t change too many things. I did add the pickled mustard seeds….Actually I added the mustard seeds because Food and Wine Magazine has the recipe on-line without the mustard seeds in the recipe. Instead of mustard greens I used baby bok choys. I also added the crispy radishes. I must note that I really didn’t think that this sauce would work out but it did….It looked like it was breaking and would never reduce or get together BUT IT DID!…………it just takes MUCH longer than written but it’s worth waiting for as it taste marvelous. My idea of a serving size might differ from your idea of a serving size. This makes between 4-6 side servings.
Ingredients for around 4 side servings
2 Tablespoons mustard seeds
2 Tablespoons pickled pepper brine (preferably home made) or substitute apple cider vinegar
1 stick unsalted butter
4 oz prepared hot horseradish
3 garlic cloves – ground to paste
2 shallots – fine chopped
1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons white vinegar
2 Tablespoons honey
1 1/2 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard
2 cups water
12 radishes – cut in quarters
2 radishes – sliced very thin
1 lb baby bok choy – cut in half long ways
fresh crushed sea salt – to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons chives – chopped
neutral oil to fry the radishes with
Directions
Directions make pickled mustard seeds at least 6 hours before you make this recipe. Toast the mustard seeds on low heat for around 5 minutes. Remove seeds from pan and put in a small container or dish. Pour the brine or apple cider vinegar over the mustard seeds. Put it in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Put around an inch of oil in a sauce pot on slightly over medium heat. When the oil is hot starts frying up the radish slices until they are crisp but not burnt. They need to drain and cool on either a cooling rack or a baking sheet lined with paper towels.
In a sauce pot add the butter, horseradish, garlic, shallots, vinegar, honey, mustard, and 2 cups of water. Bring this to a simmer on medium high heat stirring occasionally. You need this to reduce to at least half. After it’s reduced to half add the radishes and cook them till fork tender (timing will differ) Mine took around 5 minutes but depending on size and freshness they might take less time. Remove the radishes when done and then add the bok choy root side down in pot. The root needs to cook around two minutes. After two minutes stir the bok choy around for a few seconds to wilt the leaves. Remove bok choy on to a platter for serving. Season with salt and pepper to taste. At this point I wanted to reduce my sauce even more so I let mine reduce more and then I put the plate together.
Bok Choy is on the platter. Add the braised radishes. Add more sauce. Finish with crisp radish slices and chives,
Butter Honey Mustard Horseradish Braised Bok Choy and Radishes with Crispy Radishes and Pickled Mustard Seeds
A special THANKS to Star Chef Grant Achatz for sharing his FORKING Amazing recipe with Food & Wine Magazine so I could come up with what I made here.
Harissa that you buy in a jar or tube will never taste as good as harissa that you make. There are many different styles of harissa just like there are different styles of salsa. I make really good harissa so today I thought that apricot harissa would be great on roasted carrots and it is. I made the harissa first before I made the carrots. I made way more harissa than I used but can use it later on something else. You will have maybe double the amount of harissa than you need for the recipe. Ingredients are for around 4 servings plus extra apricot harissa. I do note that the harissa will thicken as it chills.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
4 oz dried soft apricots – chopped (harissa)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (harissa)
1 teaspoon caraway seeds (harissa)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (harissa)
3 garlic cloves – ground to paste (harissa)
1-2 hot red peppers – fine chopped (harissa)
1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice (harissa)
1 Tablespoon white vinegar (harissa)
1 Tablespoon tomato paste (harissa)
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (harissa)
1 lb carrots – peel if not organic – cut in any shape you like but cooking time will differ
4 Tablespoons apricot harissa (that you just made)
2 Tablespoons butter – melted
2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
2 oz feta cheese – crumbled or cubed
1 oz pistachios – crushed
2 Tablespoons parley leaves – chopped
optional a sprinkle of Urfa Pepper for finishing
Directions
Make the apricot harissa. Blend together the apricots, cumin, caraway, 2 Tablespoons olive oil, garlic, hot peppers, lemon juice, vinegar, tomato paste and black pepper.
Set oven to 450 degrees F.
In a large bowl combine 4 Tablespoons of the apricot harissa, butter, 2 Tablespoons olive oil, cumin seeds, salt, and Aleppo pepper. Mix well and now toss the carrot in and mix well. This gets spread out on a baking sheet. Timing will differ because the size of your carrots will be different from mine. Your carrots will probably take between 15-30 minutes. My carrots were very large and I put mine in for 15 minutes and they were still a little hard so I then covered the pan after 15 minutes and mine needed another 15 minutes. Yours might need less unless you Got big old carrots like mine.
In a small bowl mix together the feta, pistachios and parsley.
Pull them out when the carrots are fork tender. Top them with the feta mixture. If you have Urfa Pepper top them with a little bit of that too.
Roasted Carrots with Apricot Harissa Feta Cheese and Pistachios
This is one of those recipes where I got the idea from a chef on the internet but his recipe didn’t work out at all so I had to figure out on how to make it because it did sound interesting to me. I figure that much of the recipe was missing because I had to figure out a lot and I had to change almost everything including the meringues. But in the end meringues are GENIUS and do taste marvelously GREAT on bok choy with black bean sauce. I think the meringues are actually better if you break them up over the bok choy and sauce……Ingredients for around 4 servings. (you might end up with more meringues than you need but they stay fresh for a long time.)
Ingredients for around 4 servings
2 egg whites
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1/3 teaspoon granulated ginger
1 1/2 lbs bok choy (I got three in my bag) – cut in half long ways
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon peanut oil
1 garlic clove – ground to paste
1/2 teaspoon granulated ginger (fresh is better here butI didn’t have any)
2 Tablespoons black bean sauce
1 Tablespoon sherry
1/4 cup scallions (to finish)
Optional mushrooms (around 5 ounces go well with bok choy and these flavors)
Directions
Preheat oven to 185 degrees F.
Use silicon lined baking sheets.
Whip egg whites to firm peaks. Whip in sugar. Slowly stir in soy sauce and ginger. Give it a little whip if it needs it. Put mixture in a pastry bag and squeeze out little mounds until you are out of mixture. (they spread slightly so leave a little room). They stay in oven till crisp. Timing will differ because size will differ. This will take maybe one hour – 1 1/2 hours.
Fill a sauce pot with water around three quarters high and add a teaspoon of sesame oil. Bring this to a medium boil. Carefully place the bok choy in bulb sides down into the water and let it cook around 2 minutes. Shut off heat and dip the leaves in so they cook slightly. Then remove the bok choy from the water and drain. Put the bok choy in a serving dish. Put to the side. Dump the water out of the pot.
(cook mushrooms if you are adding optional mushrooms)
The pot is still hot so just use it to whip up the sauce. Add a teaspoon of peanut oil. Then add the ginger, garlic, black bean sauce, and sherry. Pour it over the bok choy. Add Meringues and scallions.
Bok Choy in Black Bean Sauce with Ginger Soy Meringue
I was reading about Cabbage Tacos with Celeriac and date barbecue sauce by Yotam Ottolenghi. I was very intrigued and wanted to do his recipe. I thought I was reading a story about that dish but found out that I was just reading an ad for the Flavor Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi. That recipe is not (as of yet) posted anywhere on the internet. I had some Brussels sprouts that I had to cook so I thought that the sauces and seasonings from the Ottolenghi recipe would be delicious with Brussels sprouts and they are. My GOSH they really are darn scrumptious! I don’t have the Flavor Cookbook (yet….) But I was able to find the ingredients for the Yotam Ottolenghi recipe from an on-line recipe grocery shopping site that I found by accident. I figured out something a little different but close to his recipe so I must give Yotam Ottolenghi some credit for this amazing recipe. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 pound brussels sprouts – cut in half
canola oil to fry Brussels sprouts
sea salt – to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 shallot fine chopped
2 garlic cloves – ground to paste
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes
2 ounces balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 ounces dates – chopped
3 Tablespoons black garlic
3 ounces water (maybe a little more)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 red chillies – chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons chives – chopped
1/2 cup feta cheese – crumbled or cubed
Directions
Make the black garlic date bbq sauce.
In a fry pan on medium high heat add about a teaspoon of canola oil. When it is hot add the shallot and cook till soft. Then add the garlic, chili flakes, vinegar, smoked paprika, cumin, dates and water. Cook briefly. Take off heat and add the black garlic. Blend this up and add some water to get to the right consistency. Put to the side.
Make the seasoned oil. Blend together the olive oil, red chillies, coriander and chives. Pour this over your crumbled feta cheese and put to the side.
Fry up your Brussels sprouts. Put around a quarter inch of canola oil in your fry pan and put the heat on medium high. When the oil seems hot put the Brussels sprouts into the pan cut side down. Fry them till they have some color on them. Put them on a baking sheet that is lined with paper towels.
Plate it out and serve. Brussels sprouts topped with the seasoned feta cheese and spoon on some black garlic date bbq sauce.
Brussels Sprouts with Black Garlic Date BBQ Sauce and Seasoned Feta Cheese
Enjoy!
A Special THANKS!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for his recipe for this inspiration.
I thought that I knew what Peruvian Potato Salad was after I had some from a Peruvian Restaurant. I made up my own recipe on here that was very similar. After researching many recipes I’ve found that Peruvian Potato Differs even more than American Potato Salad. I think after reading many recipes my conclusion is that texture is an important factor. The other important factor might be less or no mayonnaise. So this is what I came up with for Peruvian STYLE potato salad today. Texture is important so I boiled, mashed and fried the potatoes to give three different textures. Instead of mayonnaise I made a spicy yellow pepper and cilantro sauce to flavor the mashed potatoes and latter got drizzled over the top to add more flavor. OH and I added those Peruvian sweet drop peppers because they are essential here. Serving size might be slightly different. This makes 4-6 servings depending on portion size. This recipe will make more spicy cilantro sauce than you need but it is so delicious that you won’t mind keeping some in your freezer.
Ingredients for around 6 portions
1 onion (or a few small onions like one white and one red or a shallot) sliced thin but kept in half moons if you can. – onion salsa
1 garlic clove – ground to paste – onion salsa
Yellow Peruvian dried chili to taste – substitute any chili that you like – onion salsa
1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice – onion salsa
sea salt to taste – onion salsa
black pepper to taste – onion salsa
2 teaspoons cilantro – torn or chopped – onion salsa
Put potatoes in a sauce pot on medium high heat and cover with water and add a Tablespoon of salt. This needs to boil until potatoes are tender. Timing might differ but this usually takes 15-20 minutes. Peel the potatoes when cool enough to handle. Save the peelings for frying.
Make onion salsa – onions get laced out on a baking sheet. They get sprinkled with the garlic, pepper flakes, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Top with some fresh cilantro. Put to the side.
Make cilantro sauce. – Blend together the cilantro, peppers, soy milk, garlic, lime juice, oregano, salt, dijon, honey cumin and olive oil. Put to the side.
Around half the potatoes get mashed with 6 Tablespoons cilantro sauce, lime juice, olive oil and salt and pepper. The other half of peeled potatoes get cut into bite size shapes (salt and pepper them lightly)
Get a sauce pot on slightly over medium heat with around an inch and a half of oil and when the oil is hot fry up the potato skins. When they are crisp take them out of the oil and put them on a drying rack or a paper towel lined baking sheet. Hit them with some salt and pepper to taste.
Now put it all together.
On the bottom goes the onion salsa. Next is mashed potatoes topped with boiled potatoes, topped with crispy fried potatoes. Add Peruvian peppers. Serve with extra cilantro sauce.
cilantro saucePeruvian Inspired Purple Potato Salad with Onion Salsa and Spicy Cilantro Sauce
Optional additional Peruvian style toppings are cooked eggs, feta cheese, carrots, radish, corn, peas, tomatoes, avocado and olives (preferably Peruvian Black Cured Olives)
The supermarket had an amazing sale on Asparagus and eggs so this is what I came up with. Frying the breaded eggs is very easy and quick to do. They are so tasty that you might want to make a few extra eggs.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
4 eggs
1 egg – lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon dijon
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup panko
canola or vegetable oil to fry with
1 bunch asparagus (around one pound) woody ends removed
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts – lightly crushed
1 lemon just the zest
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
3 Tablespoons olive oil
sea salt to taste
black pepper to taste
Directions
Make the vinaigrette. In a small bowl add the dijon mustard, vinegar and oil. Mix well and set to the side.
Put a pot of water on to a medium high boil. Once the water is boiling add the four (or more if you want extra) eggs and shut the heat OFF. Leave the eggs in the water for 6 minutes for a loose center or up to ten minutes if you want a hard center. Then take the eggs out of the water and put them in a bowl of ice water to cool.
Put oil in a sauce pot around thumbs length high with oil. Turn the heat up slightly past medium.
In a small bowl mix together the beaten egg and the dijon.
Put the flour in a small bowl.
put the panko in a small bowl.
Now peel the eggs.
Dip eggs first in flour.
Next coat eggs with egg/dijon mixture.
Then roll them in the panko.
The oil should be hot now and start frying the eggs. They get done very quickly. After eggs are fried set them on a cooling rack or a baking sheet lined with paper towels to absorb oil.
Boil water in a sauce pot and cook the asparagus till tender. Drain the asparagus.
Assemble
Put the asparagus on a platter. Pour on vinaigrette. Add hazelnuts, lemon zest and fresh thyme. Add eggs.
Asparagus with Hazelnuts, Dijon Vinaigrette and breaded fried egg
I had to use up a butternut squash and I came across this amazing recipe for butternut squash and fondue with pickled chiles by Yotam Ottolenghi on the internet. It wasn’t my plan or intention to change the recipe but I didn’t have puff pastry so I made my own pastry. I didn’t have white wine either so I guessed that the amount of rice wine vinegar might be a similar taste. Also didn’t have Fresno chiles (I pickled baby bell pepper slices in jalapeño brine) at home so I made something slightly different. This pie does come out delicious but it is rich with lots of cheese and a thin delicious crust. I think it is most suitable as either a slice for breakfast or an extra small slice as an appetizer. So serving size is difficult to judge. It makes as least 8 servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
1 cup flour – pastry
1 stick unsalted butter (8oz.) – pastry
1/4 teaspoon sea salt – pastry
1/4 teaspoon baking powder – pastry
1/4 cup cream cheese – pastry
optional 1 teaspoon sour cream – pastry (only use if dough is too dry)
non stick spray
1/2 cup jalapeno brine (preferable home made or substitute apple cider vinegar with big pinch of salt)
6 smaller peppers or chiles – sliced thin in rings
1 smaller butternut squash – peeled, seeds removed cut in 1/2 inch 1/2 moons
1 Tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 3/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 onion – peeled and cut into 5 slices
1 Tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
6 garlic cloves ground to paste
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves + a few sprigs to finish
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg + 2 yolks – slightly beaten
1 Tablespoon corn starch
4 1/2 oz gruyere cheese – grated
4 oz raclette cheese – grated
optional 1 egg beaten for egg wash
optional 2 Tablespoons everything bagel seasoning
Instructions
Grease and line spring form pan with non stick spray . Set to side.
Make pastry. All dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder,) go in a large bowl. Use a medium size grater and grate the butter into the dry mix. Add the cream cheese and knead it a little bit. Usually this is enough. One time it was still too dry so I added a teaspoon of sour cream. Wrap the dough up with plastic wrap and either set to the side or chill in the refrigerator. The dough will get very hard in the refrigerator and will need a while to warm to room temperature when you need it.
Set Oven to 450 degrees F.
Make pickled peppers. Brine or vinegar (with pinch of salt) goes in a small bowl or container with pepper rings. Set to the side.
In a large bowl add the butternut squash, oil, Aleppo, black and white peppers, cinnamon and 1 Tablespoon and 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Combine and mix well. (don’t clean mixing bowl.The squash go on a parchment lined baking sheet in one layer.
In the same mixing bowl add another 1 Tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Mix the oil up well with the remaining spices sticking to the bowl. Dip each onion slice on both sides into the oil ring to keep the slices together. The onion slices also go on a parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer.
Put the baking sheets in the oven. Butternut squash baking sheet on middle rack and onion baking sheet on lower rack for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes carefully turn all the butternut squash over and all the onion slices over. They go back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Take them out of the oven and reduce the heat to 375 degrees F.
Next – In a large mixing bowl combine the garlic, vinegar, thyme leaves, heavy cream, 1 egg + 2 yolks, cornstarch, and cheeses and mix well. Put to side.
Roll out the dough as thin as you can. It goes into the spring form pan. You might need to mold the sides up a little bit. Add around three of the onion rings to the bottom and then add around three quarters of the butternut squash. Fill next with the cheesy liquid. Add remaining squash and onions last.
Put filled spring form pan on a lined baking sheet because it might leak some.
This stays in the oven 30 minutes. Then it comes out and it is very hot so be careful. You need to release rim of pan and remove it and side lining papers and place this back into the oven for 20 minutes. It is optional that you might want to brush the pastry with egg and pat bagel seasoning on it……Cut out a round of parchment paper to stop the top from browning more.
Let it sit out to cool some. Serve at room temperature or slightly heated.
Butternut Squash and Fondue Pie with Pickled Peppers
ENJOY!
A Special THANKS to Yotam Otttolenghi for sharing his Forking Amazing recipe so I could make this!
Every now and then I like to stuff a pepper and wrap them with a potato string crust. Never did a hot dog before so that is what I did today.
I got Anaheim peppers today and removed the core inside and stuffed each one with one hot dog and very thinly sliced onions. A few of the hot dogs didn’t fit in perfect so I had to cut them some to make them fit…and managed to get a whole hot dog in each one. I was one Anaheim short so I used a half hot dog each in smaller yellow chili peppers.
I got out my Paderno spiral cutter and did a potato.
Then I wrapped some potato around each pepper. I sprayed my baking sheet with non stick spray and sprayed the potatoes with the non stick spray. They went in a 450 degree F oven for 30 minutes.
My peppers got done at all different times. I turned the heat down to 350 and just left peppers in till done. some needed 10 minutes and two needed 20 more minutes.
I had a head of cauliflower that I had to use up and a few bell peppers, some homemade pickles and home made pickled serrano peppers. It seemed like Giardiniera was what I had to prepare. Since I used my already home made pickled serrano peppers my Giardiniera isn’t super spicy hot but does have heat to it. If you want your Giardiniera to be really hot you do need to use fresh hot peppers or a combination of fresh and pickled. After a few tastings I wanted the giardiniera to be a little spicier so I added a split hot banana pepper and in one day I thought it was a just right spicy. You are going to have to play around with the peppers the way I did to figure out how spicy hot you want this. This recipe make A LOT of Giardiniera….If you don’t can it then it will keep around 3 months in the refrigerator.
Ingredients for 30 servings
1 cauliflower – break into small florets
5 carrots – peel and slice
5 celery ribs – slice
1 red bell pepper – short slices
1 yellow bell pepper – short slices
2 home made pickles – cut into chunks
6 cloves garlic
1 cup home made pickled serrano peppers (or hot fresh peppers to taste) – sliced
4 cups. white vinegar
4 cups water
3 bay leaves
1/3 cup kosher salt
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon celery seeds
1 Tablespoon dried crushed red pepper flakes
Directions
The vegetables (cauliflower, carrots, celery, peppers, garlic) all get mixed together and either go into jars or sterilized containers.
The vinegar, water, bay leaves, salt, oregano, mustard seeds, celery seed, red pepper flakes go in a sauce pot and you bring it to a boil. Reduce to simmer for 5 minutes and pour the liquid over the vegetables. Leave out on the counter till it gets to room temperature. Then jar or refrigerate.
This will be ready to enjoy in about 1/2 a day. If you want it spicier add a split hot banana pepper will do the trick!
