Egg salad doesn’t have to be the same old egg, mayo, mustard, celery. You can make it Global anything! I happened to have leftover eggs, feta, harissa, and dukkah so this egg salad practically made itself. Instead of mayo or (what I normally use…Amora Dijon) I used tahini because I thought that would work well and I also needed to use it. I used my own recipe for the harissa that I make in batches and portion out and keep frozen in my freezer but you can use any harissa you like….I also always make dukkah and usually follow any Yotam Ottolenghi recipe for dukkah because that will always be like a 100 times better than what you can buy in a jar. But you can use what you want.
Ingredients for 4 servings
10 eggs – boiled 10 minutes, then ice bath till cool, then peeled, then rough chopped
2 slightly heaping Tablespoons tahini
4 Tablespoons harissa – split in half (or amount to taste….fresh made taste different than from a tube or jar)
1 lemon (just the fresh squeezed juice)
1 – 6.5oz small jar marinated artichokes – drained (mine was quarters and pieces that looked small. you might need a rough chop)
2 oz feta cheese either crumbled or sliced thin. (preferably a good quality that isn’t too salty and taste creamy not sour)
1 1/2 Tablespoons dukkah – Preferably a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe dukkah or purchased dukkah to taste.
3 Tablespoons – cilantro, parsley leaves, or a mix of the two – chopped
Optional – black or Aleppo pepper to taste (I don’t think you will need salt because feta cheese even mild is salty)
Directions
Mix the tahini, 1/2 the harissa, lemon juice together. Add the artichokes and mix. Gently mix in the eggs trying not to break them up much. Top with remaining harissa, cilantro and or parsley, feta, and dukkah. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. You might want to serve with pita bread.
Egg Salad with Artichokes, Harrisa, Feta, & Dukkah
Recently I made an Italian inspired style eggplant parmesan. I was gifted again with another 5 pounds of eggplant and I thought I’d make something sort of like eggplant lasagna……Anyways this is what I did.
The eggplants get about half the skin removed like this and get trimmed on the ends.
Then the eggplants get sliced into planks. Either 1/3rds or quarter planks depending on size.
Next they get slightly browned. You can broil, grill, pan fry, or put them on high rack in oven at 425F.
Now splash a big pan with tomato sauce.
The pan gets lined with eggplant planks.
Next a small amount of sauce.
Now you need cheese. Look I have a visitor!
Mix up some cheese filling. (around 2 cups ricotta (good natural quality or home made, a cup shredded parm, pinch nutmeg, a couple pinches ground white pepper, a pinch basil, an egg)
(this gets mixed)(spread the cheese around)
Top that with around 5 ounces of melty cheese like fontina or mild provolone.
Then you need a little more sauce.
Top that with slices of melty cheese like provolone.
You need a little more sauce.
Top that with around four crumbled Taralli Pugliesi crackers. (round circle Italian crackers)
This goes in a 375 F oven for around an hour. I prefer to let sit out till room temperature, then refrigerate overnight to set up and then I can cut it in servings.
I’ve heard of rose harissa but never have actually tasted rose harissa before. Then I came across a recipe for cabbage with rose harissa. The funny thing about finding that cabbage with made with rose harissa recipe was that it is by Ixta Belfrage who is a cook and cook book author and has worked for Yotam Ottolenghi in his Test Kitchen. The Cabbage with rose harissa in the ingredients for the recipe doesn’t have a rose harissa recipe to it. I guess you can purchase jarred rose harissa or find a recipe and make it yourself. I found Yotam Ottolenghi’s Master Class Recipe for Rose Harissa on www.Masterclass.com . I had the majority of the ingredients that this recipe needs but I had to make a few minor changes or substitutions. Rose petals was the only ingredient that I omitted. To my surprise Rose Harissa taste very different from regular harissa. You do taste rose in the background but it isn’t gross. The peppers are much more bold in rose harissa than from regular harissa. Regular harissa has a nice roasted pepper flavor enhanced with warm spices and some heat. Rose Harissa is deeper flavored and sort of smoky but also with a little heat.Serving size is difficult to determine. I don’t know if you want a small amount to spread on part of a pita or if you want enough to cover a kabab or a steak. This made enough to fill a small bowl. I’ll guesstimate around 8 servings.
Ingredients for around 8 servings
2 oz dried guajillo chilies
1 oz chili powder (I used mild)
5 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 Tablespoon coriander seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Tablespoon rose water – divided
4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 oz extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt (I used my homemade smoked pecan sea salt)
Directions
In a hot pan toast the chilies and garlic till charred. Put the chilies in a heat proof bowl.
Cover the chilies with boiling water. Let them soak 30 minutes. If you have a blender chop up the chilies after the 30 minute soak and blend. If you don’t have a blender you can scrape out the insides. You should discard the stem, core, and seeds. Set to the side.
Add the cumin, coriander, and caraway seeds to a hot pan and toast till fragrant. Either blend or use a mortar to the seeds when cool. Blend or pound the seeds with the chilies, garlic, tomato paste, paprikas, and sugar.
Add the lemon juice, half of rosewater, vinegar, oil, and salt. Add rest of rose water.
To preserve this you can add another 4 Tablespoons of oil if desired.
Rose Harrisa
ENJOY!!!!
A Special THANKS!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi and Master Class so I could come up with what I got here!
By accident I came up with an amazing finish to soy sauce eggs. I came across a recipe by the amazing Momofuku for Soy Sauce Eggs. I have made ramen eggs before and these are similar…BUT I had to make changes due to the ingredients I had that did differ. Long story short…these eggs came out tasting more like soy sauce eggs….and that is ok because that is what they are but I do prefer the taste of ramen eggs…so I added a few layers of flavors that make these eggs FORKING DELICIOUS.
Ingredients for 6 servings
6 large eggs
water to boil eggs
1/2 cup water
1 Tablespoon molasses
2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
ichimi togarashi – to taste
2 Tablespoons mayonaise
2 Tablespoons yuzu marmalade
1 heaping Tablespoon dijon mustard (or to taste because every brand does taste different I used Amora Dijon)
optional cilantro leaf or sliced scallions to finish
Directions
Put on a pot of water to boil. You need enough water to cover the eggs. Lower eggs carefully in the boiling water. They will need 6 1/2 minutes to 7 minutes to get jammy.
You need an Ice bath for the eggs. In a large bowl fill it halfway with ice and add some water. Let the eggs rest in there around 30 minutes.
While the eggs are cooling off…….In a small mixing bowl mix together the 1/2 cup water, molasses, sherry vinegar, and soy sauce. Set to the side.
In a small bowl mix together the mayonnaise, yuzu marmalade, and dijon. This gets set in the refrigerator because you won’t need this for four hours.
By now the eggs are chilled and you can peel them. Put the eggs in a Ziplock gallon bag and pour in the soy sauce mixture. Squeeze out air from the bag and refrigerate for four hours. You should turn the bag occasionally.
When ready to serve cut the eggs in half. Sprinkle a little bit of ichimi togarashi, add a little yuzu dijon mayonnaise and a cilantro leaf or sliced scallions.
Soy Sauce Eggs with Yuzu Dijon Mayonnaise and Ichimi Togarashi Soy Sauce Eggs with Ichimi Togarashi & Yuzu Dijon Mayo
I think everyone will enjoy these eggs. I do Thank Momofuku for inspiring me to come up with this!
Turkey Breast is very easy to prepare. Let me back track……I start off with whole turkeys that I buy from Trader Joes in November and freeze the turkey in parts for latter use. I buy turkeys from Trader Joes because they sell brined and dry brined (kosher) turkeys. Who has all that room to bother brining turkeys…….Anyways…….A brined turkey (either wet or dry brined) always comes out a billion times better than from a turkey that wasn’t brined. These turkeys always come out very flavorful and juicy moist. They are the closest to a foolproof turkey for everyone.
So I have a split boneless breast that was rubbed with my Italian Chili Crisp (recipe on site or you can buy this these days). I put some canola oil in my fry pan on medium high heat. The split turkey breast goes skin side down for 10 minutes with a sheet of aluminum foil loosely covering pan. After 10 minutes turn the turkey breast over and cook the other side. Add the loose foil again. After about ten more minutes the turkey breast will be down or next to done. If you pound it then I’m pretty sure it will be done) (It might need 1-2 minutes more you can check with a thermometer. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture the turkey needs to be 165 degree F to be safe to consume.
It should come out at least like this without pounding on both sides.
When you pound it the turkey cooks up faster.
Let it cool off on a cooling rack with a pan underneath or a baking sheet.
Don’t clean out your fry pan because you will add stuff to it.
Add two sliced onions and cook about 20 minutes on medium heat stirring occasionally. Later you add a pack of dried figs and a pack of chestnuts both lightly chopped. (the fig and chestnut packs were around 3oz each)
The figs with chestnuts only need a few minutes.
Then I added maybe two Tablespoons of tomato paste. Cooked that out a couple minutes and then added maybe a cup of water.
Italian Chili Crisp Turkey with Onion Tomato Chestnut and Fig Sauce
I thought I’d do something slightly different with turkey quarters. I do note that I buy turkeys from Trader Joes (they only sell them in November). I usually only buy turkey from Trader Joes because they sell brined, and dry brined or kosher turkeys. When you buy brined turkeys you are getting the most BANG for your buck because brined turkeys always come out flavorful and usually moist. They are the closest to the most foolproof turkey that you can buy. The way this came out for me….I got my usual flavorful moist dark meat but what came out different was the skin. The skin got thin and crispy with a really great taste to it.
Today I marinated the turkey quarters (each weighted about 1 1/2 pounds) I mixed up normal ingredients like soy sauce, sugar, garlic, and ginger. This mixture and the turkey quarters went in a gallon ziplock bag and marinated over night. The next day you blot the turkey quarters dry. You dump around 1/2 a cup of flour and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a gallon ziplock bag. Shake and add turkey quarters and shake and bake.
I discovered after I made the turkey quarters I had liquid gold in my pan and it couldn’t be wasted. It had an amazing aroma and taste. The only thing I had at home to use was a cabbage so there we go. After all the turkey quarters needed an hour to cool off anyway. Just rough cut a cabbage and an onion. Toss it around the liquid gold. Put it in the still hot 375F oven for a total of around 45 minutes stirring after around 30 minutes.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
2 preferably brined or dry brined turkey quarters (mine weighed around 1 1/2 pounds each. They can be any size but timing will differ)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar (I used dark)
1 large head garlic – ground to paste
1 inch ginger – fresh grated
1/2 cup flour – (around this you don’t have to measure)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cabbage – core removed, rough cut
1 onion – skin removed – rough cut or slice
salt – to taste
pepper – to taste
Directions
To a gallon zip lock bag (you could use a bowl to support the bag) add soy sauce, sugar, garlic and ginger. Squish around so it is mixed. Add turkey quarters. Squish the liquid all around the turkey quarters. This needs to refrigerate over night. Occasionally keep turning the quarters so they marinate on all sides.
Next Day –
Pull the turkey quarters out and let them rest around 30 minutes.
Set oven to 375 and pour the oil in your pan. Set the pan in the middle of your oven to heat up.
Take the legs out of the bag and blot them dry.
Put some flour salt and pepper in a clean gallon ziplock bag. Add the turkey quarters and shake, shake, shake.
Pull the pan with hot oil out of the oven. Add the legs.
In my oven on the middle rack mine took 65 minutes to be done……YOURS MAY DIFFER! So you really do need to use a thermometer. According to the U.S. Department of agriculture the turkey leg meat is safe to eat at 165 degrees F but in my opinion it isn’t good at 165 F. I like it more at 180F or even slightly higher.I like mine to fall off of the bone and melt up some stuff in that area. Most people will agree 165F-180F is what you must aim for.
After 65 minutes.
Then I noticed I was left with liquid gold. The turkey quarters need to rest an hour. Take them out of the pan and place on a tray or preferably cooling rack.
Rough cut one cabbage (with core removed) and rough cut or slice a peeled onion. They go in your liquid gold pan. Mix up the cabbage and onion in the pan.
This goes in your still hot 375F oven. After around 30 minutes some of it will be lightly charred but stir and put back in for the remaining 15 minutes.
Add a good quality sea salt and any pepper you like. I used my homemade smoked pecan sea salt and Aleppo pepper.
I was sort of gifted with a ton of tomatoes and a ton of zucchini. I removed the tomato skins and reduced the tomatoes around 8 hours and made home made tomato sauce and home made salsa. I got the idea to make a layered casserole with the zucchini with refried beans, the home made salsa and cheese.
Slice your zucchini long ways in planks. Cook them however you like…on a grill, broil, or fry, or in my oven on top rack at 425F works like a pretty good broiler. You want them slightly charred. Salt and pepper them lightly.
Line a big pan with the zucchini.
Lightly top the zucchini with small amount of a very good salsa and top that with refried beans.
Top with cheese. I used cheddar, pepper jack, and some home made queso sauce. Then finish with a little more salsa and some more cheese.
Mexican Inspired Zuchini Lasagna
Finish with some scallions.
Mexican Inspired Zucchini Lasagna
Something very tasty that isn’t too heavy..(If you used good salsa)
A found a recipe in Cook’s Country Magazine for Miso Black Cod that was developed from Nobuyuki “Nobu” Matsuhisa. He has 40 restaurants worldwide and also writes cookbooks so I thought that this should be a good recipe. I don’t have good fresh fish by my house so I picked up a bag of frozen sea bass that I hope is ok. It looked and smelled better than most frozen fish that I try. The Cook’s Country version broils the fish but I have an electric broiler that doesn’t cook evenly so I’m just roasting the fish. I also used less soy sauce because liked the flavors and wanted to cut the salt a little.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 cup white miso
2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup mirin
1/4 cup sake
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon roasted sesame oil
4 6-8 oz filets of fish – preferably with skin
optional – pickled ginger for serving
optional – sliced scallions for serving
Directions
Whisk the miso, sugar, mirin, sake, soy sauce and oil together in a medium bowl. Pat the fish dry and place the fish in a gallon Ziplock bag. Pour the miso mixture into the bag with the fish and squish the fish around the miso. squeeze out the air and seal the bag. Refrigerate 8-24 hours and turn bag occasionally.
Set oven to 350F on a middle rack cook fish until it’s at least 125 degrees F (around 15 minutes.
Or you can broil fish skin side down on a lightly oiled pan. 8 inches from broiler for 8-12 minutes.
You might want to finish with pickled ginger and scallions.
Miso Marinated Sea Bass
A Special THANKS!!!! To Cook’s County Magazine so I could come up with what I got here.
This is a slight twist on the tuna salad that I make most often. I put it together real fast and didn’t really measure but it extra easy to prepare. I didn’t have anything fresh green at home so I thought my Italian Chili Crisp would be really good here and WOW it really works! BTW- The Italian Chili recipe I used is on my site but I did notice that some jars of Italian chili crisp might be found in some stores these days. I made 4 servings.
2 – 6oz bags of drained light tuna
1 medium onion – skin removed, cut in half, sliced extra thin
1 medium apple – remove core, cut in wedges, slice each wedge extra thin
1 lemon – the fresh squeezed juice and fresh zest
1 small jar 6oz artichokes drained light chop if needed
small handful of olives (10-12) remove pits if there, rough chop
2 Tablespoons capers
1 slightly heaping teaspoon Italian chili crisp
1 can (around 15oz drained and rinsed three times beans (today I used canolini)
good splash extra virgin olive oil
good splash balsamic vinegar
Some scallions or chives – sliced thin
Directions
Everything goes in a large mixing bowl. Mix and serve!
Italian Chili Crisp Tuna Salad with Artichoke Apple & Beans
I came across a recipe for Persian Jeweled Rice. I thought that sounded interesting so I looked up 6 or 7 more recipes for Persian Jeweled rice and none of them were the same. But I did get ideas from all of them and I thought I could make a vegetable taste sort of like the Persian Jeweled Rice. I picked out the flavors that I thought would work the best with amounts that I guessed were good. One recipe called for rose petals. I happened to have rose water so I used a little bit of that instead. Somehow I guessed the amounts right because this came out really tasty. This recipe makes around 6 servings give or take.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 cabbage – remove core and rough chop
1 onion – rough chop
1 green bell pepper – remove stem and seeds – rough chop
1 red bell pepper – remove stem and seeds – rough chop
2 carrots – peel if not organic – slice on diagonal around 1/4 inch slices
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon rose water
1/2 teaspoon saffron (if you don’t have substitute ground turmeric )
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon cardamon seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 Tablespoon date syrup
3 garlic cloves – ground to paste
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup salted roasted pistachios – lightly crushed
1/4 cup dried barberries
1 Tablespoon dried mint (fresh is better but I didn’t have any if you use fresh mint mix with some fresh parsley to mellow out the strong mint)
1 orange – just the fresh grated zest
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
In a large mixing bowl combine the cabbage, onion, bell peppers, carrots and set to the side.
In a small bowl that you will lightly microwave or in a sauce pan that you heat on medium heat on the stove combine the butter, oil, rose water, saffron, cinnamon, cardamon seeds, date syrup, garlic, salt and pepper. Heat gently till the butter is melted and the contents are fragrant. (about a minute)
Pour the small bowl of liquid over the vegetables and mix till the vegetables are coated. The vegetables go on sheet pan(s) preferably on the middle rack. Roast until slightly charred and so the carrots are fork tender (about 25-30 minutes).
Finish with pistachios, barberries, mint, and orange zest.
