This recipe is based on Ottolenghi Test Kitchen’s “Charred Green Beans with Anchovy Dressing and Seed Dukkah Recipe. I didn’t have green beans so I used a cauliflower. I also used my own pickled baby bells instead since I had them. Mine are pickled in the brine from my home made pickled jalapeños but I’ll give you the Ottolenghi pickled pepper way because it is far less complicated. This came out delicious. I bet you can use this same recipe on many different vegetables. This makes around 4 servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1 red chile pepper – cut in thin slices (pickled pepper)

2 lemons – just the juice (pickled pepper)

1/2 teaspoon sugar (pickled pepper)

1/2 teaspoon salt (pickled pepper)

2 sprigs fresh oregano (pickled pepper)

1 cauliflower – break down to florets

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

sea salt – to taste

ground black pepper – to taste

1 Tablespoon of anchovies and include the oil (dressing)

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (dressing)

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste (dressing)

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (dressing)

2 Tablespoons of pepper brine (from the pickled peppers) (dressing)

2 teaspoons whole coriander – toasted (seed dukkah)

2 teaspoons sesame seeds – toasted (seed dukkah)

1 teaspoon nigella seeds (also called black cumin) (seed dukkah)

1/4 teaspoon sugar (seed dukkah)

1/4 teaspoon flake sea salt (seed dukkah)

1 teaspoon Alepo pepper (seed dukkah)

1/4 c fresh basil torn or chopped (fresh oregano is also suggested but I didn’t use)

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F.

Make pickled peppers. Combine in a small bowl the red Chile slices, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and oregano. Set this to the side.

Cook the cauliflower. Spread out the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet. Give them a good spray of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Place them in the preheated oven on the middle rack. They need to stay in till slightly charred. Timing may differ….(mine took 35 minutes) *****I toasted my coriander (for the seed dukkah) for 5 minutes on a sheet tray when I put in the cauliflower.

While the cauliflower is in the oven make the anchovy dressing. In a small sauce pan on medium high heat….heat up the anchovies, oils, oregano and garlic for 2 or three minutes. Take off heat and add the two tablespoons of pepper brine.

Make the seed dukkah. Combine the coriander, sesame seeds, and nigella seeds in a mortar and break them down a little with a pestle. Then add the sugar, salt and Alepo pepper.

SERVE

Plate the cauliflower, sauce over or under the cauliflower. Top with a sprinkle of seed dukkah, pickled peppers, and fresh herbs.

A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!!! To the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen so I could do what you see here!

I came up with this recipe after doing someone else’s recipe that didn’t work out as well as it should have. Instead of taking 3 & 1/4 hours to bake…With different cooking temperature and different ingredient formula, and different flavors I brought the baking down to two hours. I baked this in a 9 inch springform pan. For me this made 8 servings but you might like slightly bigger wedges and then it could also be 6 servings for some people.I don’t mean to brag but this came out a bunch of times better than that other one.

Ingredients for around 8 servings

1 cup flour – crust

4 oz. unsalted butter – room temperature – crust

1/4 teaspoon sea salt – crust

1/4 teaspoon baking powder – crust

1/4 cup cream cheese – crust

1 Tablespoon sesame seeds – crust

1 teaspoon poppy seeds – crust

1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds – crust

neutral non stick spray

5 oz Swiss cheese – grated – filling

5 oz Greek feta – crumbled – filling

1 oz green olives stuffed with pimentos – chopped – filling

1/2 cup scallions – sliced thin – filling

1/2 cup heavy cream – filling

1 cup Greek yogurt – filling

4 eggs – lightly beaten – filling

8 oz spinach – chopped – filling

1 potato – skin removed – sliced very thin on a mandolin – filling

1/4 teaspoon sea salt – filling

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper – filling

1 garlic clove – ground to paste – filling

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (if you have fresh thyme that would be better) – filling

Directions

Set oven to 350F degrees and spray your 9 inch springform pan with non stick spray.

Make the crust.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the flour, butter, sea salt, baking powder, cream cheese, sesame, poppy and fennel seeds together. Pat this mixture into your springform pan as thin as you can.

This goes in the oven for ten minutes on the middle rack. Take it out after 10 minutes. Don’t worry if it’s not completely done.

TURN UP OVEN TO 425F Degrees.

Mix up the filling.

In a large mixing bowl combine the cheeses, olives, scallions, heavy cream, yogurt, eggs, spinach, potato, salt, pepper, garlic, and thyme. Mix well. Get it in an even layer on top of your crust.

Cover pan loose with foil.

Bake on middle rack for one hour at 425F.

After one hour turn the heat down to 350F and bake another hour.

Let it sit out on the counter till it hits room temperature. Then you can refrigerate it.

Decide on how big you want your wedges. Mine reheated in a covered pan at 350F and took 30 minutes.

It’s FORKING DELICIOUS!

Enjoy!!!

This cheesy potato pie is my inspired version of some famous chef’s recipe that didn’t work out for me…..I do a lot of substitutions that so far have always worked out and sometimes with a few minor changes the recipes come out even more delicious……After a lot of thought and another try with a different formula and different flavors. I figure the reason it didn’t work is because I screwed up the recipe by using russet potatoes instead of king Edward potatoes that are different……King Edward potatoes are the original and finest potato. They look pretty in photos and I read that they have a thin skin, a fluffy texture and are amazing as mashed potatoes……I didn’t know that the type of potato used would be key to the recipe.

Anyways-

The pie is suppose to get done in a hour……but it didn’t. I must also admit that I did made a few substitutions and rounded the ingredients slightly. Instead of using puff pastry all around the filling I made my own open shell…..That shouldn’t change things much. Instead of gruyere cheese I used Swiss. Instead of creme fraiche I used Greek yogurt. AND I CUT THE FILLING RECIPE IN HALF…..HALF so HALF should take LESS time in the oven…but it didn’t…….. After all this trouble it still came out tasting delicious but it took 3 & 1/4 hours instead of one hour.

Ingredients for around 7 servings

1 cup flour – crust

4 oz unsalted butter – room temperature – crust

1/4 teaspoon sea salt – crust

1/4 teaspoon baking powder – crust

1/4 cup cream cheese – crust

neutral non stick spray

4 oz shredded Swiss cheese

4 oz Greek feta cheese – crumbled

1 oz green pimento stuffed olives – chopped

1/4 cup parsley leaves – chopped

1/4 teaspoon dried mint (you can use a Tablespoon of fresh mint if you have it)

2 large russet potatoes – peeled- sliced thin on a mandolin

3 eggs – lightly beaten

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup greek style plain yogurt

heaping 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

Set oven to 350 F and spray a 9 inch springform pan with non-stick spray and set it to the side.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, butter, salt, baking powder, and cream cheese. Press this mixture into the springform pan with it going up the pan around 2 inches. Bake this for 10 minutes the middle rack so you don’t get a soggy crust. After 10 minutes it might not be all the way done.

In a large bowl mix the filling together. The Swiss cheese, feta cheese, olives, scallions, parsley, mint, potatoes, eggs, cream, yogurt, salt, and pepper.

Put the filling in your partially baked crust. (you might want a sheet pan underneath because springform pans leak sometimes). The directions said to bake at 350 F for 60 minutes…..I did that covered with loose foil that was sprayed with non stick spray on the inside facing the pie so it wouldn’t burn….I thought it was going to be done and removed the foil and let it brown up a little for another 15 minutes.

I didn’t know until I cut a slice that the potatoes were still hard.

So I covered it back up and thought maybe this just needs a higher temperature so I put it in a 425 F oven for another hour…….after an hour it still wasn’t done…so I repeated another hour.

So after the recommended 60 minutes at 350……and I added 15 minutes for browning.

Then I added another 2 hours at 425F I wound up with this. It doesn’t look as nice but it sure does taste very good……Even the crust has a delicious taste.

There is an easy solution to fix the problem with this recipe. You need to pre-cook the potatoes some if you can’t find king Edward potatoes. If you do that then the cheesy potato pie should work out. I know this because I gave it another try with a different formula and different flavors. On my second one the formula was 33% improved for using russet potatoes….also came out delicious but took two hours for my potatoes to soften instead of the 3 1/4 hours. If I ever get the idea to make up another one of these pies made with russet potatoes I will certainly pre-cook the potatoes some.

It’s good to poach chicken. You get a lot of homemade broth and a lot of pulled chicken. I also got a lot of crispy skin without adding any seasoning or oil. The skin got seasoned from the broth and the chicken skin juices……..I just peeled off the skin off my poached chicken and placed it in a single layer on a baking sheet at 350 degrees F.

Some pieces took a little more time than others. I think most were done by 30 minutes.

ENJOY!!!

Not sure how I wound up on Anthony Bourdain’s site called www.ExplorePartsUnknown.com but I noticed a few recipes there that sounded interesting. One of the recipes there was something called Chraime by Shay Levi. On the Explore Parts Unknown site this recipe was described as a traditional North African Recipe. I looked Chraime up on other sites and it was also described as Moroccan and also Libyan and I also found it as a Sephardic Jewish Recipe……Anyways…..The recipe is very simple and sort of taste close to harrisa-like in taste. So if you are a fan of the taste of Harissa then you should enjoy this recipe. I made only slight changes due to what I had to use up at home. I also held back on adding roasted red bell peppers that would have added a nice taste. From what I read Chraime should be more of a fish stew but for me this worked out to be fish in a very tasty sauce tonight. The next night I did use more of the sauce and it was more stew like. It is recommended to cook a mild white fish in the sauce in a pan………I cooked mine in the oven because I didn’t want to break up my from frozen fish but you can cook the fish anyway that you like. If you live near a store that sells fresh fish you might want to cook the fish in the pan with the sauce. If you don’t have fresh fish and have to use frozen fish like me this might work out better with your thawed fish done in the oven and just add the sauce……. This recipe makes around 4 servings. You might get more or less depending on how you use the sauce….and also how thin you make the sauce……I got 4 servings and I also used some of the sauce on plain spaghetti squash that was topped with Greek Feta cheese and it was delicious with the fish.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

4 mild white fish filets (something like cod would work well)

1 onion – diced

2 cups crushed tomatoes

1 cup water (maybe more depending on how thin you want)

8 garlic cloves – ground to paste

2 Tablespoons hot paprika

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil +plus more oil to roast fish (about 1/4 cup)

1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

sea salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin

1/4 cup cilantro – chopped

Directions

If you are using frozen fish set your oven to 350 degrees F and oil a baking sheet with olive oil. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and LIGHTLY season the fish with salt and pepper. The nice thing about thawed from frozen mild white fish is that they come out usually perfect in 15 minutes when you place them on a middle rack.

The sauce cooks up real fast.

Add olive oil to a sauce pot on medium high heat. Add the onions when the sauce is hot and cook till the onions are translucent. Then add the crushed tomatoes, water, garlic, hot paprika, salt, cumin, and caraway, Simmer for around 10 minutes and then add the lemon juice. Decide if you want to thin down more with more water.

Serve on your fish.

Garnish with some scallions and cilantro if you have any.

ENJOY!!!!

A Special THANKS!!!!! To www.ExploreParksUnknown.com and Shay Levi for their really delicious recipe so I could make what I got here.