As a teenager, I spent what felt like entire summers babysitting for the kids across the street. There were three of them, aged 4-10, and they were a handful. But they also had a pool and they paid well, so it was a good job all in all. The kids used to love eating pastina, basically tiny little pasta stars, with masses of butter and that shakeable powdered parmesan cheese. I rarely had to cook anything for them (their mom was a great cook and there was always tons of food in their house), but I made pastina once or twice. It was perfect comfort food for kids, no spice, all warmth and simplicity.

Fast forward 15 years. Trevor and I just started a major kitchen renovation (!) and the house is full of dust. It’s still cold and snowy, and it’s that time of year where you’re just on the edge of being sick all the time. We’re ready for spring and it’s not here yet. Comfort food is in order pretty much every day. A few weeks back (before the renovation started!), in this late winter state of being, I was staring forlornly inside the fridge, hoping for inspiration to strike from a handful of leftovers. I was in a bad mood. I was tired. And there was really very little in the fridge since we’d been proactively cleaning it out. So I dumped half a container of homemade kitchen stock in a pot and boiled some Israeli couscous in it. I added a huge amount of freshly grated parmesan cheese and some cracked black pepper. I plopped it unceremoniously in a bowl and took a bite. And it turned out to be the most perfect thing – creamy, savory, comforting, cheesy – and just like pastina with butter, but all grown-up.

I’ve finessed this recipe a little bit to share with you, but it really is very simple. Use the best chicken stock you can as that’s where all the flavor comes from. Don’t be shy with the parmesan or the pepper or the parsley. Your reward for 10 minutes of effort will be a bowl of super delicious pasta to get you through these last few weeks of winter.

Israeli Couscous “Pastina”

A super simple, super comforting pasta, rich with the flavors of chicken broth and parmesan cheese.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door

Ingredients

• 2 cups high quality chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 1 cup Israeli couscous (also sold as pearled couscous)
• 3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Add the chicken stock to a small saucepan and bring just to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, add the Israeli couscous (don’t wait as your stock will evaporate and there won’t be enough left to fully cook the couscous). Let stock return to a simmer. Simmer the couscous, stirring occasionally, until the couscous is tender and the chicken stock has been almost completely absorbed, about 7 to 8 minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the heat. Don’t drain it – the couscous will continue to absorb the stock, and it should have a slightly loose, creamy texture. Add the 3/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, a generous amount of black pepper, and the chopped parsley. Stir until the cheese has melted into the couscous. Serve immediately, topped with additional parmesan and black pepper if desired.

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This post is sponsored by La Crema Wines. All opinions here are my own. You can find the companion recipes over on the La Crema blog. 

Over the past two years, I’ve developed a series of dinner menus with La Crema, each one featuring the flavors of a different country. For most of the dinners in this series – Japanese Izakaya, Italian Seafood, Provencal Rose – my inspiration has been firsthand. But for this one, featuring the warming spices of Morocco, I’m an armchair traveler. An armchair eater maybe? So I can’t tell you if these recipes taste just like they would if they were eaten outside the bustling Medina or in the cool courtyard of a riad. All I can promise is that they evoke warmth and vibrancy, two things I find myself craving as the days shorten and darken.

As usual, this menu contains an appetizer,  a main course, a side dish, and a dessert. The first three courses are all over on the La Crema blog, and you can find the dessert recipe – for Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies – below. The appetizer this time is a Spiced Moroccan Carrot Dip, served with fresh pita bread. It’s a surprisingly flavorful and vibrant appetizer, made bright with a bit of lemon, tahini, and pomegranate molasses. I found myself craving it after work the day after I made it, which is pretty rare for snacks that are mostly made of vegetables.

The main course is Moroccan-Braised Lamb Shanks, served over what I’ve decided to call Royal Couscous – couscous with lots of delicious mix-ins like apricots and pistachios. The lamb is a rich, slow-cooked dish flavored by sweet dates, Pinot Noir, tomatoes, stock, and warming spices. After two and a half hours in the oven the lamb should be meltingly tender. Spooned over couscous mixed with apricots, pistachios, chickpeas, apricots, parsley, red onion, and preserved lemon it makes a meal fit for a feast. Especially with a bottle of La Crema’s Monterey Pinot Noir  served alongside it! Lamb is great with lighter-bodied, fruity, yet spicy red wines like Pinot Noir.

And for dessert, Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies. There is a traditional Moroccan dessert called a m’hanncha, commonly translated as snake cake. As far as I can tell, it’s an impressive rolled and coiled version of baklava. I thought about making this massive dessert for this post, but thought it might be a bit much for Trevor and I to tackle eating in the next few days. And also, I really wanted a cookie. It’s that time of year, you know? So I took the flavors of the m’hanncha and translated them to something more bite-sized: Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies.

They’re not the world’s prettiest cookie – although that little drizzle of white chocolate helps! The lovely green color I was imagining was instantly lost when I added a tablespoon of cinnamon the filling mixture. But – they are really delicious! The filling has such a lovely hint of rosewater in every bite. They are easy to make and the flavors are unexpected. The cookie base is a simple, soft sugar cookie that I adapted from these thumbprint cookies on Epicurious. It comes together really easily and rolls nicely without any chilling or finesse needed. Since the nut filling is fairly sticky, it’s easy to get the filling to adhere to the cookie.

Enjoy, and don’t forget to head over to the La Crema blog via the links above for the other recipes!

Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint cookies with a rosewater-scented pistachio and almond filling. Inspired by the traditional Moroccan “snake cake” called M’hanncha.

Cookie dough recipe adapted from Epicurious.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 18-24
• Category: Cookie

Ingredients

For the filling:

• 2/3 c. shelled pistachios
• 2/3 c. raw almonds
• 1/2 c. powdered sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 TBS rosewater
• 2 TBS honey
• 1 egg

For the dough and topping:

• 1 1/2 sticks butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 c. AP flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3 oz. white chocolate broken into small pieces

Instructions

1. To make the filling: Place the pistachios, almonds, powdered sugar, and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse several times, until the nuts are very finely chopped and the sugar is evenly mixed in with the nuts. Add the rosewater, honey, and egg to the food processor and pulse several more times, until the filling is evenly damp. It should be a thick, sticky mixture, almost paste-like. Set aside.
2. To make the cookie dough: Cream the butter and the sugar together on medium speed (or vigorously by hand) until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until it is evenly incorporated. Add the vanilla to the dough and beat to combine. Add the flour and baking soda and beat until just combined (don’t overmix). The dough should be smooth and easy to roll into small balls.
3. To assemble and bake cookies: Preheat the oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll the cookie dough into small balls, slightly smaller than the size of a ping pong ball. Space the balls evenly on your prepared cookie sheet, then use your thumb to make a deep impression in the center of each ball. Fill the thumbprints with the nut mixture, pressing the filling gently against the sides of the cookie to help it adhere. Bake the cookies until they are just starting to turn golden brown on the top, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
4. If you’d like to decorate with a white chocolate drizzle, place the white chocolate in a metal bowl. Bring a small pot of water to a simmer, then place the metal bowl on top of the pot. Gently melt the chocolate, using a spatula to stir it and encourage even melting. As soon as all the chocolate is melted, remove the bowl from the heat (use pot mitts – the bowl may be hot!) and use the spatula or a spoon to drizzle white chocolate on top of the cookies. Let chocolate harden before serving.

The post Moroccan Dinner with La Crema: Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I recently discovered two things. First, Cara Cara oranges. Have you ever had one? They’re amazing. Whoever invented orange-flavored candies was definitely inspired by these guys. They are so much sweeter, juicier, and just more wonderful than regular oranges, and they’re a beautiful pink color inside, too. Although I usually associate citrus with January and February, Cara Caras seem to just be hitting their peak season now. At least, Wholefoods is full of them: no ramps or fava beans, just a lot of oranges. Although to be honest, I think my expectations for the seasonal produce that should be available in April have always been a little out of touch with reality. It was snowing two weeks ago, after all.

Writing the above paragraph has sent me down an internet rabbit hole looking for orange trees online. Because wouldn’t a Cara Cara orange tree be the perfect addition to our collection of trees that you probably shouldn’t try and grow in Boston? Our impulse-tree-purchase rate is way up this month anyways – last weekend alone we bought an olive tree and a coral bark Japanese Maple. What would harm could one more citrus tree do?

The second thing I discovered is that I’ve been cooking asparagus wrong. My standard cooking method for most vegetables is this: douse liberally with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, roast at 400°F until nicely charred. I like my roasted vegetables to be borderline carcinogenic. Especially brussels sprouts – I love the way the leaves get translucent and crunchy. Unfortunately, this method has left me unsatisfied when it comes to asparagus. If you roast asparagus even a little bit too long, it becomes stringy and mushy. So I recently tried a recipe in Diana Henry’s Simple which calls for you to lightly steam the asparagus by putting the thick ends in an inch or two of simmering water and pushing the tips just below the edge of the pot, without putting the whole stalk underwater. You only cook the asparagus for a few minutes, until they’re bright green, then drain immediately. This method resulted in asparagus that was fresh, tender, and perfectly cooked without being limp or mushy or stringy. Success!

In this recipe I’ve brought these two April delicacies together in – surprise! – a bowl. I just like things better when they’re in bowl form, OK? It’s a trend that makes me eat my vegetables. I’ve built on the Diana Henry recipe I mentioned above, which served the steamed asparagus with goat cheese and lemon butter, to build a warm bowl that screams spring. The base of the bowl is Israeli Couscous tossed with butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest while the couscous is still warm. Adding spinach, steamed asparagus, goat cheese, the lovely Cara Cara oranges, and shelled pistachios makes a healthy spring dinner that is complete and satisfying.

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Lemony Israeli Couscous with Asparagus, Oranges, and Goat Cheese

Inspired by Simple. Serves 2.

• 1 cup of uncooked Israeli couscous
• 2 TBS butter
• zest and juice of half a lemon
• black pepper
• 1/2 pound of asparagus
• 3 oz. of baby spinach
• 1 Cara Cara orange, peeled and supremed (cut into segments)
• 3 oz. soft goat cheese, cut into slices
• 1/4 cup of shelled pistachios

1. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over medium heat (the pot should be slightly less wide than the length of your asparagus stalks). Add the couscous to the boiling water and stir. Cook until tender and chewy, about 5-7 minutes, then drain. Transfer to a bowl and add the butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, and black pepper while couscous is warm. Stir until the couscous is evenly coated with the lemon butter and set aside.
2. Add about 2 inches of water to the pot and return to the stove. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Prepare the asparagus by snapping or trimming off the thick woody end of each stalk, usually about the bottom 1 inch. (You can gently bend the asparagus to find the natural breaking point as a guide). Place the thick end of the stalks in the simmering water in the bottom of the pot. Gently bend the asparagus so the tips are resting just inside the pot but aren’t submerged in the water, so they will steam but not boil. Cook the asparagus in this way until bright green, which should take about 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness of your asparagus. Remove from the heat, drain, and run under cold water for 60 seconds to stop the cooking process.
3. To assemble the salads, divide the couscous and spinach between two bowls. Top with asparagus, orange segments, goat cheese, and pistachios. Serve warm.

The post Lemony Israeli Couscous with Asparagus, Oranges, and Goat Cheese appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

People ask me all the time what my favorite thing to cook is. Once they find out that I’m a food blogger, it’s one of the first questions I get. For a long time, I didn’t know how to answer. Having a favorite thing to eat is one thing, but a favorite thing to cook? Do people have just one favorite dish to prepare? What if my favorite thing to cook changes weekly?

After years of thought, I have an answer: soup. Making soup is methodical and creative and easy. There’s something ritualistic and comforting about preparing it. It almost always starts with the same few steps – chopping an onion and sauteing it in olive oil, peeling and dicing vegetables, pulling out my favorite spices and flavorings. But from there, soup allows infinite creative possibilities. If I’m feeling healthy I’ll make a soup of lentils and vegetables and wholesome broth. For particularly cold days, a chili with lots of meat and beans and plenty of cheddar cheese is my go-to. Pureed vegetable bisques are elegant and great with fresh bread, and when I’m sick nothing but homemade chicken broth with egg noodles will do. I rarely use recipes, and the result is almost always good. And so, soup is my favorite thing to cook.

I’ll eat soup at any time of year, but it appears on our table most frequently during the winter months. From December until March you’ll find me making homemade chicken broth on the weekends, then experimenting with different soup recipes during the week. My most recent experiment resulted in a soup I loved so much that I immediately recreated it to share with you. It’s a Spicy Chorizo Soup with Israeli Couscous, made with fresh Mexican-style chorizo sausage, white beans and carrots and fennel seeds. But the real secret to this soup is a spoonful or two of mole sauce stirred into the soup just at the end. The mole gives the soup a little more heat and a lot more flavor – a bit of sweetness, some chocolatey notes, and a little nuttiness.

I just happened to have extra mole sauce in my freezer after making this Mole-Roasted Chicken, but I know that’s not a particularly common ingredient to have laying around. If you don’t have any, substitute another spicy chile paste, preferably one with some sweetness and depth of flavor. I think harissa would work well. Get ready to feel warm inside and out after a bowl or two of this!

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Craving more soup recipes? Here are a few favorites:

Black Bean Soup with Roasted Poblano

Sweet Potato and Coconut Milk Soup with Brown Rice and Lentils

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Spicy Chorizo Soup with Israeli Couscous and Mole Sauce

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe.

• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1/2 lb fresh Mexican-style chorizo sausage
• 1 medium onion, peeled and cut into small pieces
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 3/4 cup Israeli couscous
• 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch round slices
• 1 cup cooked cannelini beans
• 6 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 1 TBS plus 1 tsp cheater’s mole sauce or other spicy chile paste

1. Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the fresh chorizo to the oil, removing the meat from its casings by squeezing it out with your hands into the pot. Use the back of a wooden spoon to break the sausage up into small pieces. Cook until the chorizo is browned all over, about 6-8 minutes, then add the onion and fennel seeds. Saute, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the couscous to the pot and stir to coat with the oil and chorizo juices. Toast in the oil for 1-2 minutes, stirring, then add the carrots, cannelini beans, and chicken stock to the pot. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook until the carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Just before serving, stir in the mole sauce or spicy chile paste. Taste and add more chile paste if desired. Serve immediately.

The post Spicy Chorizo Soup with Israeli Couscous and Mole Sauce appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

This blog has not been getting a lot of love lately, and I feel bad about it. Not bad in a guilty way, per se, more just frustrated because I don’t have the energy or time to put into something I love. Between everything going on at work, my increasingly insane travel schedule, and our frenetic search for a house (alongside seemingly every single other young couple in Boston) my mind/energy is pretty-well consumed. Still, I’m here today, and on sunny mornings like this one where spring seems like a real possibility instead of just a daydream, the light at the end of the tunnel feels closer.

Although I’ve been home from my last trip to Latin America for a little over a week and at this point, my next trip is closer than my last one, I feel like I’m just getting reoriented to life at home. I’m still craving almost all of the things I was when I got off the plane: spending as much time as I can with Trevor, a few lazy mornings spent in a bed that is gloriously familiar, and food that is not some variation of steak, fried plantains, fried eggs, or more steak. Thankfully, I’m no longer craving clean laundry – that, at least, I took care of right away.

It’s a bit tricky to get back into the kitchen after a two-week hiatus. It doesn’t help that the fridge is usually a wasteland. The first thing I reach for are leftovers, tucked away in the freezer for times when I’m really not sure what to cook. After that, I make things that are familiar and simple and that utilize the pantry staples we always have on hand – omelettes, pastas, soups, big bowls of grains and lentils. It takes a few days for my own creative juices to get flowing again, and therefore for me to remember how to blog. Add to that the fact that it’s still unseasonably cold and snowy in Boston, making it hard to focus on healthy cooking and eating when all I want is chicken pot pie and creamy pastas. Still, on Thursday I started envisioning a middle-eastern chickpea stew, something packed with vegetables to help me recover from two weeks of overeating, but still warm and comforting enough to help us deal with the freezing weather. Yesterday we finally made it to the grocery store to restock our fridge, and last night, the stew became a reality. Really it’s somewhere between a stew and a vegetarian tagine, with sweet dried apricots plumped up from the rich broth, hearty chunks of sweet potato and cauliflower, and a thick, sweet-and-sour, almost sauce-like broth. Pomegranate molasses, preserved lemon, cinnamon, coriander, harissa, cumin, and nutmeg are the flavor base, making for a sweet and warming dish. Served over a big bowl of Israeli couscous, it’s a keeper recipe.

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Middle Eastern Chickpea and Cauliflower Stew

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe. Serves 4-6.

• 1 c. dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in cold water
• 5 TBS olive oil, divided
• 2 small yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced small
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp dried harissa
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 4 c. chicken stock
• One 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 TBS pomegranate molasses
• 1 c. dried apricots, cut in half
• 1/2 preserved meyer lemon, seeds removed and finely minced
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 head cauliflower, chopped into small florets
• 1 TBS butter
• 2 c. dried Israeli couscous
• 1/2 c. finely chopped parsley

1. Drain and rinse the soaked chickpeas, then set aside. In a large pot, heat 3 TBS of the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the sliced onions and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and golden brown all over, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and carrots and cook for another 5 minutes, then add the cumin, coriander, harissa, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir spices into vegetables and cook until very fragrant, about 5 minutes more. Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, cinnamon stick. and chickpeas. Bring to a simmer and simmer until chickpeas are becoming tender, about 1 hour. As the stew cooks, add water as necessary to keep the stew from burning – consistency should be thick but still runny.
2. Add the pomegranate molasses, apricots, and meyer lemon to the stew. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Toss the sweet potato with the remaining 2 TBS of olive oil and sea salt and pepper, then spread out on a baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes, then remove, add the cauliflower, and toss the cauliflower with the sweet potatoes to coat with olive oil. Continue roasting for 20 minutes, until sweet potato is tender and cauliflower is charred in places. Remove from the oven.
3. While the sweet potato and cauliflower are roasting, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the couscous and cook in the butter until toasted in places, about 2 minutes. Add 2 1/4 c. hot water to the couscous and bring to a boil. Cook until tender and water is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Stir the chopped parsley into the couscous and set aside.
4. Serve the stew over the cooked couscous, topping the stew with the roasted sweet potato and cauliflower.

The post At Home // Middle-Eastern Chickpea and Cauliflower Stew appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’m writing this after a particularly frustrating run because I need to give myself some perspective. It’s a cold Tuesday night at the end of March, and I’ve been cranky since my miserable WWE-fan filled train ride back into the city from Andover. I really don’t want to go for a run but I still have 10 miles left to meet my March goal, and only five days to complete them in, so I talk myself into going with the old “I promise you can stop after two miles” trick, which works every time, surprisingly. I start out, and I feel OK, if a little cold, and at about a quarter mile shy of my two mile mark, I realize that I’m going fast enough that I’m within striking distance of my 5K PR, and I pick up the pace and go for it. Eight minutes later, I stop, wheezing like I haven’t since high school cross country races, and look at my iPod. Ten seconds short of my 5K PR. Eight seconds short of my 1 mile PR. I’m incredibly frustrated, in pain, and in an even worse mood than when I started. The wine is poured as soon as I walk in the door.

As frustrated as I am, I know in the back of my mind that I’ve made a ton of progress this month, and I need to take a minute to recognize that. My mile time tonight was 7:13, and my 5K time was 23:50. My fastest mile in February? 8:24. And 8:37 in January. Earlier this winter it was even slower. That’s a big improvement. Last Saturday I ran 5.3 miles, which is more than I’ve run in one go since my half-marathon training two years ago. I’ve really been pushing myself this month, in large part because of this 40 mile goal I’ve set, and it’s paying off. I’m faster and stronger, and (bonus!) I’ve lost 7 pounds since January, which feels like the first meaningful weight loss I’ve had in years. So despite nights like tonight, I’m sticking with these monthly goals!

Writing the above a few weeks ago was really empowering – it’s the kind of thing I need to write down so that I can go back to it as I encounter the inevitable fitness frustrations the future will bring. Later that week I did beat my 5K record, and I managed to run 43 miles in total in March. A big success, and a goal that really made me focus on what I wanted to achieve.

My goal for April is to take 8,000 steps a day, at least on all the days when I’m not traveling (you don’t really have full control over your activity levels when you spend an entire day on a plane). I’ve been using the Moves app as a pedometer in my phone since January, when I decided I wanted a FitBit but wasn’t sure which model. A few Google searches and I came across the free app which serves my purposes very adequately, negating the need to buy a new device. As I did my research, I also came across the “10,000 steps” goal that most pedometer users strive for – it was mentioned on almost every website I read. I consider myself a pretty active person, so I wasn’t expecting reaching 10,000 steps to be hard, but I was sort of shocked by the low numbers in my first few weeks of tracking. To be fair, I don’t bring it with me when I’m running, but still, I don’t run every day, and it was particularly eye-opening to see that on most weekend days, I barely take 1,000 steps out of the house. Since I’ve only gone above 10,000 a handful of times, I decided that 8,000 would be challenging enough to do every single day, and if I can hit that, I can move up from there.

This month is off to a bit of a rocky start, as I whiffed on the 8,000 number last Sunday, racing to the grocery store in the dark after a long day in the garden, trying to get those last 3,000 steps in before our friends came over. I only made it to 6,000 that day, but in a way, that means I’m setting goals that are hard enough. On weekdays it’s fairly straightforward to hit my goal – I just replace my subway transfer with a 15 minute walk through the park on either end of my commute, a pleasant addition to my day now that it’s finally warm. But those weekend days are hard! So wish me luck with the next few weeks.

As for this month’s healthy recipe, I’m celebrating the return of green to the world by packing as many green spring vegetables and herbs as I can into one bowl of couscous. I mentioned last week that I had caved and bought some of the not-local-at-all fava beans and asparagus I’ve been seeing at the grocery store, and my consumption of spring greens hasn’t slowed down at all since. This salad is mostly vegetables, dressed lightly with lemon, herbs, and salt. You can add as much or as little couscous as you want – just a cup or two and you’ll have something akin to a tabbouleh; the full amount listed below and it will be more like a pasta salad. The ingredients are good in almost any ratio, so feel free to interpret the recipe loosely and incorporate whatever spring greens are currently inspiring you.

Past Fitness Challenges

January: 10 Visits to the YMCA; Recipe: Gluten-Free Olive-and-Feta Corn Muffins
February: One vegan meal every day; Recipe: Pakistani Chickpea Pulao with Sweet-Hot Date-Onion Chutney
March: Run 40  miles in 20 days; Recipe: Chocolate-Dipped Almond Butter Cookie Bites

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Herb-Flecked Spring Couscous

Serves 8-10.

• 1 1/2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 1/2 c. couscous
• 2 TBS basil olive oil or regular olive oil
• sea salt to taste
• 2 c. shelled fresh fava beans (from about 2 lbs. in their pods)
• 1 c. shelled fresh English peas
• 1 c. very thinly sliced asparagus rounds, from about 1/3 lb. asparagus stalks
• 1/3 c. finely minced fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 c. finely minced fresh parsley leaves
• 1/3 c. finely minced fresh chives
• juice from 1 lemon

1. Bring chicken stock to a boil over medium heat in a medium saucepan. As soon as it reaches a boil, add the couscous, cover with a lid, and remove from the heat. Let stand, covered, for 10 minutes, then remove the lid and fluff the couscous with a fork. Add the basil olive oil and stir to coat the couscous, then season to taste with sea salt.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the shelled fava beans and the peas, and blanch until peas are bright green, about 3-4 minutes. Drain and rinse the beans and peas in cold water, then drain again. Remove the skin from the fava beans by slitting one end with your thumb and popping the bright green bean out by squeezing the other end. Roughly chop the fava beans, and place in a large bowl with the peas.
3. Add the asparagus rounds, the basil, the parsley, the chives, and the lemon juice to the bowl with the favas and peas. Stir to mix. Add the couscous to the greens and stir to coat. Season to taste with sea salt. Serve room temperature or chilled.

The post Monthly Fitness Goals: April // Herb-Flecked Spring Couscous appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Olives, Lemons, & Za’atar: The Best Middle Eastern Home Cooking

The Book: This spring has seen a lot of Middle-Eastern themed cookbook releases, including Istanbul, Flavors of the Middle East, and Under the Shade of Olive Trees. The first one to grace our bookshelves is Rawia Bishara’s Olives, Lemons, and Za’atar. By the chef-owner of Tanoreen restaurant in Brooklyn, it’s a book filled with recipes that feel both modern and traditional, an elevated but still accessible take on a rural cuisine. Rawia does not treat her family’s cooking style rigidly, but rather lets it grow and evolve based on inspiration from her travels throughout Europe and her years in New York. Many of the resulting recipes are loaded with summer produce, which feels a little bit like torture right now, but is also filling me with inspiration for what to do with all those eggplants and peppers we’ll have come August. I especially can’t wait to try the Eggplant Napoleon, a stack of fried, pesto-marinated eggplant slices served with a slather of baba ghanouj, fresh tomatoes, and more pesto. I’m also drawn toward the big family dinner and feast dishes that she shares – big platters of meat and grains and vegetables, all heavily spiced and sauced – they feel festive and complete and make me want to gather friends around my table more often. The bright flavors that Rawia presents are echoed heavily in the book’s clean design and photography – the pictures in the book are wonderfully colorful and energetic, immediately transporting me to a warmer climate where food and color are abundant. It’s a book filled with light, flavor and summertime, for sure.

The Food: So far, we’ve made two dishes from Olives, Lemons, and Za’atar, and both were probably more appropriate for a grand feast than for dinner for two, but I have no regrets about either of them. Featured here is Maftool, the word for Palestinian (better known as Israeli) couscous, but that also refers to a traditional feast dish that uses the couscous as a base. This recipe adorns the couscous with chicken, chickpeas, and pearl onions, all beautifully spiced with a mix of caraway, allspice, cumin, coriander, and other warm spices. I really liked the technique for this dish – after spice-coating and browning the chicken, you add the chickpeas, onions, and several quarts of water to a pot with the chicken to simmer until the chicken is very tender, simultaneously making a gorgeous spiced chicken broth. Then, when it’s time to cook the couscous, you ladle the broth out of the pot onto the couscous, meaning the whole meal is infused with the flavors of the broth and spices. I cooked the couscous just a moment too long, leaving me with a crunchy, caramelized layer on the bottom of the pot – but after trying those crunchy couscous bits, I wouldn’t cook it any other way. The meal is served on one platter – couscous topped with the chicken pieces, lightly shredded, the chickpeas, and the pearl onions. It’s an aromatic, filling, and wholesome dish, perfect for serving a crowd in the winter. As an aside, the recipe headnote states that this dish makes enough for four, but we got at least eight servings out if it – it really makes an obscene amount of food. Plus as a byproduct, you have a delicious pot of chicken and chickpea soup, which I quickly stashed in the freezer for my next cold. The other dish we tried was a braised lamb shank dish which Trevor prepared, served with potatoes and a fresh tomato sauce. Again, the meat was beautifully spiced, and the addition of a cup of basil made it smell like summer. I think we’ll be cooking from this book for a while.

Recipe Shortlist: Brussels Sprouts with Tahini, Pomegranate Molasses, and Panko; Za’atar Bread; Cauliflower Salad with Tahini and Pomegranate; Sweet Pea and Kafta Stew; Eggplant Napoleon; Smoked Wheat with Lamb; Garlic Sauce for Roasted Chicken; Flower-Scented Custard with Pistachios

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Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Olives, Lemons, & Za’atar free of charge from Kyle Books, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Maftool: Palestinian Couscous with Chicken, Chickpeas, and Pearl Onions

Recipe adapted slightly from Olives, Lemons, & Za’atar. Serves 8.

• 2 TBS ground caraway seeds
• 1 TBS ground allspice
• 1 TBS ground cumin
• 1 TBS ground coriander
• 1 TBS sea salt
• 1 TBS freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 chicken (2 1/2 to 3 pounds), cut into 8 pieces
• 8 TBS olive oil, divided
• 2 lbs. fresh pearl onions, peeled (blanch first to make peeling easier)
• 3 yellow onions, roughly chopped
• 1 lb. dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, then boiled until tender; or 2 (15 oz.) cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 lemons
• 2 lbs. Israeli couscous

1. In a small bowl, combine the first 9 ingredients, stirring to mix. Rub half of this spice mixture all over the chicken pieces. Set aside the other half of the spice mix.
2. Add 4 TBS of olive oil to a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot. Heat over medium heat, then add the chicken pieces in batches, skin-side down, being careful not to crowd the chicken. Brown the chicken for 6-8 minutes per side, until golden brown. Use tongs to transfer the chicken pieces to a plate. Repeat with any remaining chicken pieces.
3. Add the pearl onions and chopped yellow onions to the olive oil and saute until they begin to brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Return the chicken pieces to the pot and add the chickpeas and 3 quarts of water. Raise the heat and bring to a boil, skimming any foam from the surface of the pot. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the chicken is falling off the bone, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon, and remove from heat.
4. About 20 minutes before the chicken is done, add the remaining 4 TBS of olive oil to a large saucepan and heat over medium heat. Add the couscous, stirring to coat with the olive oil, and saute until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add the reserved spice mixture and stir to coat grains, then saute for 1 minute. Ladle 6 cups of the broth from the chicken pot into the couscous and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the couscous is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes.
5. To serve, spoon the couscous onto a large platter and top with the chicken pieces, chickpeas, and onions. Reserve any leftover broth for another use (or it makes a delicious soup on its own with some of the extra chicken in it).

The post Book Club: Olives, Lemons & Za’atar // Palestinian Couscous with Chicken, Chickpeas, and Onions appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Just another quick hello and a recipe for a simple, summery, one-pan meal of the variety I think many of you are looking for at this time of year. Oftentimes August feels a bit like a warning month, reminding us summer is ending, enjoy it now! Even as the best produce of the year starts to ripen, we don’t want to be too beholden to our kitchens, and quick nutritious dinners with plenty of leftovers ensure that you can still enjoy these warm sunny afternoons. As corn and tomatoes flood the markets and (hopefully!) your gardens, it’s easy to throw them together into just about everything you make – salads, pastas, tacos, etc. This is one more good option for using up these two sweet summer veggies. By letting the couscous, milk, chicken, tomatoes, corn and garlic all simmer together at the same time, not only do you cut down on dish-washing, you end up with a risotto-like dish with all the flavors of summer blended together. Sprinkle some crisped bacon and a handful of shredded basil on top to take it one step further, eat, and then get back to enjoying your summer.

Creamy Summer Chicken with Corn, Tomatoes, and Bacon

Adapted from Martha Stewart. Serves 3-4.

• 1 lb. of boneless, skin-on chicken breasts
• 2 TBS olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 slices bacon
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 10 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
• 3/4 c. Israeli couscous
• 2 1/2 c. whole milk
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 1/2 c. frozen corn
• 10 leaves basil, chiffonaded

1. Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Place the chicken in the pan, skin-side down, and brown until golden, then flip and brown the other side. Remove the chicken to a plate and set aside.
2. Lower the heat on the pan to low, and let cool for a minute, add the bacon and cook until crisp on both sides, flipping once or twice. Remove the bacon to a paper-towel lined plate (different from the chicken), and set aside.
3. Add the onion and garlic cloves to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, until translucent, then add the couscous and cook 2-3 minutes longer, or until couscous is toasted and golden. Add the milk, thyme, chicken, and cherry tomatoes, and scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release any browned bits. Carefully bring the milk to a simmer, then lower heat and cover, cooking until cherry tomatoes are softened and chicken is cooked through, about 15-20 minutes. Check doneness of chicken by cutting into the fattest breast – if there is no sign of pink left in the middle, then the chicken is done. If your temperature is too high, milk may curdle, but it’s not the end of the world – it won’t be as pretty but you can still eat it.
4. Remove the lid and add the corn to the pan. Cook for another 5 minutes, until corn is warmed through and liquid is mostly evaporated. Remove from heat, and crumble the cooked bacon over the top. Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of the basil chiffonade.

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I had every intention of writing a few blog posts while I was on vacation. Really, I did. Since I know the next two months are going to be crazy, I’m highly aware of the risk of unintentionally abandoning this space. But I got too wrapped up in relaxing, swimming in the lake, spending time with my family, and exploring Maine, and blogging fell by the wayside. I don’t regret it one bit, but I am finding it a little bit hard to get back into the swing of things in my non-vacation life, including blogging.

Tonight, though, I managed to make myself an actual meal for the first time since getting back. This particular recipe turned out to be just the thing to ease me back into cooking, for a number of reasons. One, the weather has been oscillating between hot and rainy and really hot and sunny, so the minimal amount of stove-time and large amount of fresh, cooling veggies in this dish was quite appealing. Two, on vacation I ate a lot more spaghetti, ice cream, and cheese than I normally do, and I replaced my daily green smoothie with a daily half bottle of wine. I needed something fresh and healthy to help reverse the damage, and this  completely fit the bill. Three, I’m generally feeling a little stressed out and short on time, so the fact that I could make this from start to finish in under 30 minutes, including photographing it, was a major bonus. Four, it was delicious. And it had watermelon.

I’ve been thinking about watermelon an abnormal amount over the past week. While we were in Maine, we got a big one that I blended up into watermelon margaritas. Then BuzzFeed featured one of my watermelon recipes from last year in their “How To Eat Nothing But Watermelon All Summer” article last week. And I really can’t get these gorgeous Chili Lime Cucumber Noodles with Salted Watermelon that Laura made out of my head. There’s just something about watermelon in July – it’s so emblematic of a wholesome American summer, grabbing ice-cold slices stacked high from a plate and eating them barefoot in the grass, juice dripping from your elbows, before running off to play some more. So I grabbed a just-enough-for-one-person-sized chunk of melon at the grocery store on the way home yesterday, in part to continue the feel of vacation. After thinking about what to make with it all day at work, my mind finally settled on a Greek-inspired couscous salad. The combination of watermelon and feta is all the rage, so I took it one step further and added a few more Greek elements – kalamata olives, cucumber, and a tangy vinaigrette. It was just right.

Greek Couscous Salad with Watermelon and Feta

A summery couscous salad with fresh watermelon, feta cheese, and olives. Great on hot days!

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. dry couscous
• 2 c. water
• 1 medium cucumber, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 1/2 c. cubed watermelon
• 25 pitted kalamata olives, sliced in half
• 3/4 c. feta cheese
• 1 medium shallot, peeled and finely diced
• 1 1/2 TBS red wine vinegar
• 4 TBS olive oil
• salt
• 6–8 sprigs of mint, finely chopped

Instructions

1. Combine the couscous and the water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then immediately remove from heat and cover with a lid. Let sit for 5-10 minutes, until couscous has absorbed all of the water.
2. Toss the cucumber and watermelon cubes with the feta and olives in a large bowl. Fluff up the couscous with a fork, then mix that into the cucumber-watermelon mixture.
3. Whisk together the shallot, red wine vinegar and olive oil to make a vinaigrette. Season to taste with salt, then add to the couscous and stir to coat evenly. Sprinkle the top with chopped mint. Serve cold or at room temperature.

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In the past two years I’ve participated in several recipe development challenges hosted by Marx Foods, an online company that sells specialty meats (think alligator, kangaroo, and frog), truffle products, mushrooms, unique pantry goods, and lots of other culinary goodies.  The first challenge I participated in was the four-part “Ridiculously Delicious” challenge they hosted last winter, for which I made dill and feta stuffed cucumber cups, spicy cherry-chocolate souffles, and a trio of wasabi-centric recipes using fresh wasabi.  Then, this summer, I participated in the dried chile challenge, and made a smoky-sweet adobo and corn frittata, which I very much enjoyed.  And now it’s time for another challenge!  This time around the challenge is to make a sweet recipe using fregola – an ingredient I’d never even heard of until this month.  I have yet to win one of these challenges, but maybe this will be my lucky recipe.

Fregola is a toasted Italian pasta, similar in size and shape to Israeli couscous.  I could eat couscous all day every day, so I was super excited to try another version of it.  To be honest, I didn’t like the fregola as much as I like regular old couscous – it’s very chewy and has an almost tapioca-like consistency – but it was still an interesting new addition to my kitchen.  Along with the sample of fregola, Marx sent a handful of other goods to inspire a sweet fregola creation – whole vanilla beans, star anise, and saffron.  The contestants were required to use at least one of the extra ingredients along with the fregola.  Almost immediately upon signing up for this contest I knew that I wanted to create a fregola fritter, something that played on arancini – the delicious cheesy fried risotto balls made with leftover risotto which I seem to be eating a lot of lately.  So I made a fregola pudding using milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, and vanilla, and then, after a brief rest in the fridge, fried it up into fritters.  To cut the grease and add another level of flavor, I made a batch of Gourmet’s grapefruit and star anise salad.  My mom and I make this salad every year on Christmas morning, and it’s my favorite part of Christmas breakfast without fail.  Even when there’s vanilla bean coffee cake, maple-turkey sausage patties, and pomegranate mimosas – that should tell you something about how delicious it is.  It was the perfect complement to the slightly sweet, chewy fritters, and the syrup soaked right into them.  I’ll be enjoying the leftovers for breakfast for the next few days (and not even feeling that bad about it – thank you, grapefruit).  I think this is the original recipe that I’m most proud of – I guess there’s something to be said for keeping it simple.

Sweet Fregola Fritters with Star-Anise and Grapefruit Compote

Grapefruit compote recipe from Gourmet.  Makes 5 large fritters.

• 1 c. fregola
• 3 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 c. honey
• 1 vanilla bean
• canola oil for frying
• 2 grapefruits
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 3 whole star anise

1. In a large saucepan mix together fregola, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and honey.  Scrape out seeds from vanilla bean and add to the mixture along with the pod.  Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, stirring frequently (be sure to scrape any milk skin off the bottom to prevent from burning) for 20-30 minutes, until pasta has just a bit of chewiness left and milk has boiled down to create a thick fregola pudding.  Remove the vanilla bean pod and refrigerate mixture for 1 hour, or until cool.
2. In a small saucepan, dissolve sugar in water, and add the star anise.  Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 5 minutes to create a thin syrup.  Peel the grapefruits and remove their segments, placing in a medium bowl.  Squeeze any excess grapefruit juice into bowl as well.  Add the star anise syrup to the grapefruit mixture and set aside.
3. Heat a 1/2 inch of canola oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat.  When oil is hot, form the fregola pudding into 5 patties about 3 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick, and gently fry for 5 minutes on each side, until golden brown.  Fregola mixture should stay firmly together when formed into patties by hand.  Drain fritters on a paper towel and serve warm, with the grapefruit compote served on the side.

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Apple picking is a great activity.  It’s fun, it’s wholesome, it’s New Englandy, it’s outside, it promotes local food, and if you go with someone you secretly don’t like you can throw apples at them and write it off as “all in good fun.”  (I didn’t actually go with anyone I don’t like, but I can imagine doing this.  Especially to my brothers, who I actually like, but it’s always fun to throw things at your siblings.  Sorry, tangent.)  If you live somewhere where there are good apples, you should go – the flavor of a store-bought apple, even a local, organic store-bought apple, pales in comparison with the flavor of one fresh off a tree.  However, be prepared to make a lot of apple-y things afterwards.  Lately, it seems like everyone I know is trying to figure out what to do with all their apples.  The standard story is this: “we went apple picking and it was so much fun that we picked a whole bushel.  And now we have 78 apples for 2 people.”  Once they’ve had a few crisps, pies, and bowls of applesauce, they want to branch out.  So I thought I’d share one of my favorite non-pie apple recipes: curried apple couscous.

This is one of the first recipes I ever made, and I still make it all the time.  It comes from 101 cookbooks, which also happens to be the first food blog I ever read.  Couscous has always been one of my very favorite foods – I think it’s a combination of the texture and the ease of cooking which makes me like it so much.  I almost never go to the trouble of cooking couscous in a pot – the beauty of couscous is that all you need to cook it is boiling water.  So I heat up the tea kettle, pour the boiling water over a bowlful of dry couscous, eyeballing the amount I think I need, cover the bowl with a small plate to let it steam – and voila!  Delicious hot lunch with no dishes to wash.  I’m happy.  This recipes takes a touch more effort, but it’s still quick enough to throw together and get the dishes done in ten minutes, which is the time limit for me if I’m going to make something for lunch before work in the morning.  It’s also not unhealthy (although I won’t say it’s truly a health food because of the butter and processed grains), and the contrast of flavors and textures is perfect.  You can vary the ingredients based on what you have in the fridge, add cheese, change the nuts, and it will probably still be good.  Right now I’m imagining a curried pear version with goat cheese and walnuts.  But since everyone’s currently in “use up all your apples” mode, I’d try this version first.

Curried Apple Couscous

Adapted slightly from 101 Cookbooks.  Serves 1.

• 1 apple, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 TBS curry powder
• 2 scallions, sliced into rounds
• 1/3 c. slivered almonds, toasted
• handful of fresh mint, chopped
• 3/4 c. couscous
• about 1 1/4 c. boiling water
• coarse sea salt

1. Heat 1 1/2 TBS butter in medium pan over medium heat.  When melted, add curry powder and cook for one minute, stirring, until butter foams.  Turn down heat to medium-low and add apples.  Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until apples are softened.  Remove apples from pan and set aside.  Add remaining 1/2 TBS butter to pan, along with scallions.  Cook for 2 minutes, then set aside with apples.
2. Place the couscous and chopped mint in a heatproof bowl.  Pour boiling water over to cover by about 1/2 inch.  Place a plate or other cover on top of the bowl and allow couscous to steam for 5 minutes.  Remove the plate and fluff with a fork.  Test for tenderness.  If couscous is still hard, or there is too much water left in the bowl, microwave for 30 seconds to complete the cooking/evaporate some of the water.  Mix in curried apples, scallions, and toasted almonds.  Sprinkle with coarse sea salt to taste.  Serve warm or cold.

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