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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Last weekend, I had such a lovely, rejuvenating visit with my best college girlfriends, as always. The four of us try to get together for a long weekend at least once a year (this year we’ve actually managed three!). It’s the easiest sort of friendship – one where you know everyone so well that you don’t have to worry about what you say or how weird you sound. We spend a lot of time snuggling and a lot of time talking and laughing and last, eating. We love to eat. Obviously, eating is very important to me, so it’s great to have friends that are on the same page. But it can get a bit heavy, particularly at this time of year. I have a lot of dinners out coming up in the near future, and I’m looking forward to all of them, but I’m also trying to eat lighter at any meal that is not a celebration. I’ve been craving vegetables and whole grains and other things that leave me feeling light and fresh in between eating fests, so it was perfect timing to receive a copy of Diana Henry’s newest cookbook, Simple.

I’m a big fan of Diana Henry – I have four of her books, all of which are in heavy use in my kitchen. I love her books first and foremost because she is a whiz with flavors, and I love her food, period. But I also love that all the books have the same clean, appealing design and colorful, casual photography. The books are inviting – they remind me what it is I love about food. As is perhaps obvious from the title, this book focuses on simple food – the kind of thing you can throw together on a weeknight with what you have in the fridge. It’s basically an ode to the way I cook when I’m only feeding myself, full of vegetable roasts and fancy nourishing toasts and quick but healthy pastas. There’s even a special two page section dedicated to fillings for baked potatoes! Seriously, Diana is a woman after my own heart. This is the book I’m going to recommend to friends who love food and want to learn to cook but don’t know where to start. It has all the simple recipes and techniques that you need to learn when you first learn to cook for yourself, but still feels creative and balanced.

The first recipe I made is an adaptation of Diana’s Roast Cauliflower with Pomegranates, Green Olives, and Chickpea Puree. I love crunchy roasted chickpeas, so rather than blending the chickpeas into a hummus, I roasted them with the cauliflower and used the other hummus ingredients to make an addictive tahini dressing. I tossed everything together with a generous amount of fresh parsley leaves and juicy pomegranate seeds and it was amazing, exactly what I want to be eating in between plates of Christmas cookies. And bonus: about halfway through the bowl, I realized that this recipe was naturally gluten free and vegan.  This is not a very frequent occurence in my house – we love cheese and we love bread. So when I don’t even realize a recipe has neither? That’s a win.

Recipe Shortlist: Huevos Rotos; Baked Merguez Sausage with Beans, Eggs, and Feta; Smoky Couscous; Salmon, Fennel, and Potatoes en Papillote; Roast Maple and Mustard Spatchock Chicken with Figs; Spanish Spiced Pork with Sherried Onions; Baked Sausages with Apples and Cider; Butternut Squash Strata; Roast Apple, Blackberry, and Whiskey Trifles

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Disclosure: I received a review copy of Simple from Mitchell Beazley, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Roast Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad with Pomegrante, Green Olives, and Tahini Dressing

Adapted from Diana Henry’s Simple. Serves 3-4.

• 1 large head of cauliflower, cut into florets
• 3 cups cooked chickpeas
• 6 TBS olive oil, divided
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp sea salt
• black pepper
• 1/3 cup walnut halves and pieces, toasted in a dry pan for 3-4 minutes until lightly browned
• 1/2 cup pitted, chopped green olives
• seeds from 1 pomegranate
• 3 TBS minced fresh parsley
• 1 small garlic clove, peeled and finely minced or crushed
• 3 TBS tahini paste
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spread the cauliflower florets out on one rimmed baking sheet and the chickpeas out on another rimmed baking sheet. In a small bowl, whisk together 4 TBS of the olive oil, the cayenne pepper, the cumin seeds, sea salt, and black pepper until evenly combined. Pour half of the oil over the cauliflower and half over the chickpeas. Use a spatula to flip the ingredients to coat with the olive oil.
2. Place pans in the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes. The cauliflower is done when it is tender all the way through and caramelized on the edges. The chickpeas are done when they are crunchy and golden brown. Add roasted chickpeas and cauliflower to a large bowl. Add the toasted walnuts, chopped olives, pomegranate seeds, and chopped parsley to the bowl and stir together.
3. To make the dressing, whisk the remaining 2 TBS of olive oil together with the minced garlic, the tahini paste, the lemon juice, and the cumin until smooth and thick. Taste and adjust balance of ingredients if desired. Add the dressing to the bowl and stir to coat the ingredients. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The post Book Club: Simple // Roast Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad 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.

Falafel is kind of a health-food poser. Sure, it has nutritious ingredients like chickpeas and herbs, and healthy fast-food chains like Pret a Manger and Sweetgreen put them on top of salads, but really, eating falafel feels kind of indulgent. It’s certainly better for you than a grilled cheese sandwich or pasta carbonara or fried dough or a lot of other things, but at it’s heart, it’s fried street food. Delicious. Just not that good for you.

However, falafel can be easily transformed into something healthier – just nix the oil and trade the soft, floury pita for a crunchy cabbage wrap, and your craveable Middle-Eastern snack has become downright virtuous. David and Luise of Green Kitchen Stories have done just that with their Baked Herb and Pistachio Falafel, a flavor-and-nutrition-packed recipe from their book, Vegetarian Everyday (one of my favorites). These falafels are about 50% chickpeas and 50% pistachios, a combo that gives them a wonderful and unexpected creamy sweetness. Baked instead of fried, nestled into a crisp leaf of cabbage, drizzled with lemon-honey tahini sauce, and topped off with bright pink beet and turnip pickles, they make a filling and delicious meal that’s vegan and gluten-free. And you’d never know from the taste how much your body will thank you for giving it all those good things.

P.S., one of my first posts ever was about falafel, too. 2010! So many years ago! Does having been a food blogger for four years mean I’m getting old? Also, reading that post reminds me that those polka dot plates that I kind of hate are also four years old, and it really would not be a crime if I got some newer, more attractive ones. They have been used well, and served their purpose. I’m totally just trying to justify that I might spend a good portion of my snow day online shopping for kitchen things. I mean working.

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Baked Herb and Pistachio Falafel

Recipe adapted slightly from Vegetarian Everyday. Makes about 24-30 falafels, serves 4-5.

• leaves from 8 sprigs of mint
• leaves from 8 sprigs of parsley
• 2 c. shelled raw pistachios (8-1/2 oz.)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 medium onion, peeled
• 3 TBS olive oil
• 2 c. cooked chickpeas (or drained, canned chickpeas)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 TBS buckwheat flour (or another gluten-free flour)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• sea salt
• 1 small head green cabbage
• lemon-honey tahini sauce (recipe below)
• quick spicy beet-and-turnip pickles (recipe below)

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the mint and parsley leaves in a food processor and process for about 30 seconds. Add the pistachios, garlic, onion, and olive oil and process until all ingredients are well minced and combined, about 30-60 seconds. Add the chickpeas, cumin, flour, and baking soda and blend for about 15 seconds at a time, stopping to scrape the mixture down the sides of the processor as needed, until the mixture is fairly uniform but not smooth – you want the mixture to still have some chunks of chickpea and pistachio in it.
2. Remove the mixture from the processor and season to taste with salt. Form the mixture into 24-30 small balls, about the size of a ping pong ball. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the falafel balls on the sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes, using tongs to turn the balls over every 5 minutes so that they brown evenly.
3. Slice off the end of the cabbage with a sharp knife. Remove the large outer leaves and rinse them individually. Pat them dry, then fill with the baked falafel. Serve with lemon-honey tahini sauce and spicy beet-and-turnip pickles. Baked falafel balls are also delicious tossed with a green salad with some avocado and feta cheese.

Lemon-Honey Tahini Sauce

• 3 TBS tahini
• 1 TBS honey
• juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 1/4 c. water

1. Stir all ingredients together in a small bowl until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Quick Spicy Beet and Turnip Pickles

Technique adapted from Eating Well and Cook for Good. Makes two 1-pint jars of pickles.

• 1 medium turnip, peeled
• 1 medium beet, peeled
• sea salt
• 1/2 medium red onion, peeled and very thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeno, stem and seeds removed, thinly sliced
• 1 c. white wine vinegar
• 1 c. water
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 20 whole  black peppercorns

1. Cut the turnip and the beet into quarters, then slice each quarter as thinly as you can (use a mandoline if you have one). Layer the slices in a colander, with a sprinkling of sea salt between each layer. Place over a bowl and let sit for 10-15 minutes, then toss and squeeze with your hands to remove some of the excess liquid. Repeat this process until the vegetable slices feel a bit limp, about 30-45 minutes. Rinse the slices under cold water to remove the salt and then drain.
2. Toss the beet and turnip slices with the sliced red onion and sliced jalapeno. Divide the vegetable mixture between two clean glass pint jars.
3. In a small pot, mix vinegar, water, sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, and peppercorns. Heat over medium-low heat, bringing just to a gentle simmer. Stir to dissolve sugar and salt, then remove from heat and pour through a funnel into the two veggie packed jars. Cover the jars with lids and shake a few times to distribute the brine. Put the pickles in the fridge and let sit for at least 3-4 hours. Will keep in the fridge for up to two weeks.

The post Baked Herb and Pistachio Falafel appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

To so many, Paris is the ultimate destination – timeless, elegant, romantic and confident in its own charms. It’s the city of lights, the city of love and, one might argue, the ultimate city of food. Centuries of tradition have defined French cuisine as the haute cuisine, with dishes such as duck a l’orange, boeuf bourguignon, and chocolate souffle being practically synonymous with fine dining for many years. But classic French cooking doesn’t have to be intimidating and stuffy. As Rachel Khoo shows us in The Little Paris Kitchen, French food can be simple, wholesome, and yet still remain effortlessly chic.

Rachel is an all-around food personality – she has a pastry degree from Le Cordon Bleu, has written three cookbooks, and been the star of a cooking show. She’s more of an European personality than an American one, but I think the release of a US version of The Little Paris Kitchen, may change that. The book is a little glimpse into Rachel’s life in Paris, as shown through the food she makes to feed herself and her friends.

The recipes included are universally appealing, not in a way that made me think “Oh, I’d love to make that someday,” but in a way that made me add three recipes to my weekly menu after only 20 minutes flipping through the book. The fact that the food is simple but also interesting makes it easy to visualize incorporating into your everyday routine. Recipes such as Tartiflette Muffins, Onion Creme Brulee, and Cassoulet Soup with Duck-and-Sausage Dumplings are examples of the hearty, soul-warming food in this book that will probably be on my dinner menu soon. There are plenty of lighter, more elegant recipes that caught my eye as well – Champagne Sabayon with Strawberries and Cherry Tomatoes, Rosemary, Lavender, and Chevre Fougasse, and Cherry-Tomato Vanilla Jam are a few. In general, there’s a nice balance.

I should mention – this book has lots of pictures. And they’re beautiful pictures. In fact, every single recipe is accompanied by a full-page color photograph, a cookbook characteristic that I love – it makes it so much easier to decide what to cook when you can see the end result. There are also a lot of pictures of Rachel – Rachel shopping, Rachel riding her bike, Rachel holding a glass of wine and looking pensively into the distance, Rachel having a picnic with her attractive Parisian girlfriends. I think perhaps this would have stuck out less to me if I already knew more about her; as I didn’t, I found it a touch over-done. Just a personal thing. I will say that, along with the curly font and the pink text, the pictures of her out and about in pretty dresses definitely contributes to the overall girliness of the book’s style. It’s not over the top, but it’s definitely not gender neutral.

To test out the food, I started with two recipes – a roast vegetable salad with goat cheese mousse, and a chicken-dumpling soup. I’ll share the salad later this week, but for now let’s focus on this soup, which was even better than I was expecting it to be. The dumplings, also called quenelles, are made from ground chicken, soft white bread, and cream, and are then simmered for just a few minutes in a pot of chicken broth. The only other ingredients are a handful of just-cooked carrots and mushrooms and a sprinkling of fresh parsley. The result is a lovely bowl of super-comforting soup filled with soft, fluffy, deeply savory dumplings, the kind of soup that you wish someone would make for you every time you’re feeling down. (Solution: make some for yourself when you’re feeling good, then stick a bunch in the freezer for those days that you need to feel loved). It reminded me of matzoh-ball soup, but richer and more chicken-y (well, duh Katie). I loved it. I made a double-batch of the dumplings, and I’m saving the rest for the suggestion Rachel includes at the bottom of the recipe – broiling the poached quenelles with bechamel and grated cheese.

The bottom line: The Little Paris Kitchen is a book that makes classic French cooking an everyday affair. It’s a bit girly, and the author, Rachel, is strongly featured throughout the book (a la Giada or Rachel Ray), but the recipes are solid and the photography both beautiful and abundant. I can see this book quickly becoming a weeknight go-to for me with plenty of recipes that are quick and satisfying.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of The Little Paris Kitchen free of charge from Chronicle Books. I was not otherwise compensated and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Chicken Dumpling Soup / Bouillon de Poulet avec Des Quenelles de Volailles

Recipe from The Little Paris Kitchen. Serves 4.

• 6 1/2 c. chicken stock
• 2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 7 oz boneless skinless chicken breast or ground chicken
• 3 1/2 oz. white bread, no crusts (I used burger rolls)
• 6 1/2 TBS of half and half
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp salt
• a pinch of pepper
• a pinch of nutmeg
• 5 button mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1/2 bunch of fresh parsley, leaves roughly chopped

1. Bring the chicken stock and chopped carrots to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Boil for 10 minutes, or until carrots are tender.
2. In a blender, combine the chicken, bread, half and half, egg, egg yolk, salt, pepper and nutmeg, and blend until you have a smooth and sticky paste. Use a spoon to form the paste into dumplings of about 2 TBS apiece, and drop the dumplings into the boiling broth. Cook the dumplings for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the mushrooms and cook for 1 minute longer. Check the inside of a dumpling just to make sure it is cooked all the way through. Serve the soup immediately, with a generous sprinkling of chopped parsley stirred in.

The post Book Club: The Little Paris Kitchen // Chicken Dumpling Soup appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Last Tuesday, when it was rainy and gray and I wanted nothing more than to snuggle up in bed with a bowl of soup, well, that’s what I did.  Mushroom and farro soup, to be specific.  And as I was making the soup, which only dragged me away from Up All Night for 10 minutes, including dish-washing, I thought “Why haven’t I done more soups for Greatist?”  Seriously, soup is the perfect quick, healthy food.  It can taste amazing with only a handful of ingredients, and after making a few batches while following a recipe, you’ll likely have it figured out to the point where you can take whatever you have in the fridge and throw together a comforting, veggie-centric dinner.

Speaking of veggies, mushrooms are one of the vegetables I find myself wanting all of a sudden once the cool weather hits.  I have a feeling this soup – which, by the way, is maybe one of the best-smelling soups I’ve made in years (it also tastes great, but the smell really got to me) – is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the mushroom recipes I’ll be making this season.  Since mushrooms are a pretty healthy choice, what with their immune system benefits, cardiovascular protection, and low-calorie-but-fill-you-up benefits (come on, you know what I mean…), this is good news for my taste buds and my skinny jeans.  While it’s on my mind, I thought I’d do a quick round-up of mushroom recipes – both those I’ve featured here in the past, and those from elsewhere that I hope to be making in the near future!

Check out the recipe for this soup over at Greatist, and get inspired for more mushroomy meals below!

More mushroom recipes from here…

• Mushroom and Olive Veggie Burgers
• Ricotta Gnocchi with Mushrooms, Corn, and Sage Butter
• Mushroom and Lentil Pot Pies
• Hungarian Mushroom Soup
• Chicken and Mushroom Fettucine in Mustard-Cream Sauce

…and around the blogosphere:

• Crusty Chicken Thighs with Mushroom Sauce – from Ezra Pound Cake
• Lemony Mushroom and Pine Nut Stuffing Muffins – from Bon Appetit
• Mushroom Lasagna – from Picture Perfect Meals
• Mushroom Biryani – from Ami’s Vegetarian Delicacies
• Creamy Prosciutto and Porcini Penne – from Every Day with Rachel Ray
• Mushroom Pierogi – from Sabrina: A Food Blog

The post Greatist Collaboration: Mushroom and Farro Soup appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Gardening  season is winding down.  Our raised bed is barely getting 3 hours of sun a day, the last few tomatoes are ripening, and while I’m still hoping for the brussels sprouts to actually produce their sprouts, I’m not holding my breath.  It’s a little bit sad, but we’re already taking notes and daydreaming about everything we’re going to do next year.

This first year of gardening has been a roller coaster, if you can believe me that gardening qualifies as something in which I have a large enough emotional investment to describe it as a roller coaster.  It’s had extremely fulfilling moments – snacking on super-sweet sun-ripened grapes on my way out the door in the morning; moments of defeat – pulling the umpteenth San Marzano off the vine with more blossom rot; and moments of triumph – a flush of new growth on my lovely lemon tree, despite it having been close to death from a mealybug infestation a month before.  Our most successful crop was probably the cucumbers, which took over the raised bed, climbed up and over the 8 foot fence, and produced at least a dozen mammoth cucumbers.  Our least successful?  The broccoli, as it was the only crop that produced nothing at all, despite some hopeful moments early on.

Success or failure, I think it’s safe to say that both Trevor and I derived a lot of satisfaction from the whole experience.  So much satisfaction, in fact, that we’re upgrading.  My dad has (so nicely!) agreed to share the cultivation of his “back 40” with us.  There’s already a sizable vegetable plot, a dozen or so fruit trees, a raspberry patch, well-established grape vines, and blueberries, with plenty of sunshine and room for expansion.  Since my family spends the majority of the growing season in Maine, having us around to take care of the garden means they might get more than one measly peach and a glut of over-sized kale each year, and for us, well… owning land is not something that we are close to accomplishing, so having a spacious plot to play around with is the equivalent of winning the garden lottery.  Needless to say, we’re excited.

We’ve spent the last 7 or 8 Sundays at the Andover garden, getting a handle on things and caring for a fall crop of beans, peas, beets, and carrots.  Spending a few hours outside working in the dirt – sometimes dripping sweat as you shovel and rake, sometimes peacefully pulling weeds from between the carrots – is deeply satisfying.  It’s also a great way to be with Trevor, working quietly side by side, each with our own task but the same ultimate goal.  I’ve wondered once or twice if gardening is just a fad for me – will I still be this enthused next year? – but it seems so natural to work with the earth that it’s hard to imagine moving on.

Plans for next year are a constant source of conversation – should we add a melon bed?  What structures need to be replaced?  Do we want to add more fruit trees? – but for the time being we’re mostly concerning ourselves with clean up and harvest.  In particular, we’ve had a bumper crop of eggplants (which is in no part due to our efforts, as my dad put them in long before we showed up), and I’ve been struggling to eat my share.  I’ve had my eye on a recipe for Lamb and Eggplant Stew with Farro, Parsley, and Harissa in Sunday Suppers at Lucqes for a while now, but every time it comes down to it, I’m just too busy to put together the multi-day recipe.  Instead, I used the flavors of that dish and a little inspiration from Tender to put together this quicker, vegetarian version.  Eggplant gets roasted with a chile-garlic oil, then added to nutty wheat berries, parsley pesto, and a bit of whipped goat cheese.  It’s balanced in both flavor and texture, and makes an interesting and healthy vegetarian main course.  Feel free to play around with the components – would feta be a better counterpart, or perhaps a traditional basil pesto?  Should the wheat berries be dressed in a chile-paste to amplify the heat? – to see what works for you.  And let me know if you try any variations!  Or if you can think of a better name than I could…

Roast Eggplant, Parsley Pesto, Goat Cheese, and Wheat Berries

Serves 3-4.

• 2 large globe eggplants
• 1/3 c. + 1/4 c. olive oil
• 7 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1/2 tsp harissa or chile powder (may need more or less depending on the heat level of your chile powder_
• sea salt
• 2 c. uncooked wheat berries, cooked according to these directions
  
• 3 c. fresh parsley leaves
• 1/4 c. pine nuts or walnuts
• 4 oz. soft goat cheese
• 1/2 c. heavy cream

1. Wash and dry the eggplants, then slice into 1 inch thick rounds.  Salt both sides and set on a baking pan for 15 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 425°F.  In a food processor, blend 6 cloves of the garlic, 1/3 c. oil, and harissa until a smooth paste is formed.  Use a paper towel to wipe salt and liquid from the eggplant slices, then cut the slices into 1 inch cubes.  Brush the eggplant with the chile-garlic oil, coating all pieces, then sprinkle with salt.  Roast for 40 minutes, stirring eggplant pieces about half way through.
3. Cook your wheat berries while the eggplant is roasting according to directions in link.
4. Make the pesto: In a food processor, blend 1/4 c. olive oil, remaining 1 clove garlic, and nuts to form a paste.  Add parsley and blend until fully combined.  Taste and season with salt if desired.
5. Place the goat cheese in a bowl and use a whisk or fork to break it up.  Add the heavy cream, and whisk together until a smooth, thick cream is formed.
6. Place a scoop of wheat berries in each bowl.  Top with a few spoonfuls of pesto, a scoop of roast eggplant, and a dollop of whipped goat cheese.  Serve hot.

The post Garden: Roast Eggplant, Pesto, Whipped Goat Cheese, Wheat Berries, appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Recently, a good friend of mine sent me an email asking for a few recipes she could use for a dinner party she was hosting with friends.  She wanted two to three recipes, preferably with a theme, and easy enough to prepare with friends on the spot.  She and her friends wanted to use the party partially as a way to learn to cook better, as well as just a chance to catch up and eat good food.  A simple enough plan.

Two catches – one, she’s one of the least kitchen-savvy people I know – cooking is just not really in her interest set.  (Illustration: she once asked me if sauteeing onions in olive oil was one of those fussy things that only I did while we were making soup.)  Two, she’s a health nut.  Like, super fit, eats primarily superfoods, drinks only green tea and water, will only eat one bite of dessert ever kind of healthy.  Actually, I’m a little bit jealous of her self-control and love for vegetables – if I loved leafy greens like she does, I’d probably be 3 times as energetic as I am now.  Anyway, knowing that nothing could be too fancy and that I couldn’t sneak any cheese or butter or cream or bacon (all my favorite ingredients, noooooo!)  into the meal made it a bit more challenging to come up with recipes for her.

As I thought about it, I realized that this was the perfect situation for a Greatist post.  Greatist is all about trying to make making healthy choices easier and more fun, and dinner parties are pretty fun, right?  I imagine there are plenty of people out there looking for simple, healthy recipes to use when entertaining that will still impress their friends.  So, as I was sending recipes back to my friend, Greatist Dinner Party was born.

For this first dinner party, I chose Middle Eastern recipes as the theme, partly because many Middle Eastern recipes manage to pack tons of flavor into a dish with very little fat – that’s the beauty of herbs and spices!  Also, the recipes I chose – baked chickpea burgers with tzatziki, traditional tabbouleh, and strawberry-rosewater-buttermilk lassis – are all dishes that are easy to make ahead and stash in the fridge until go-time.  In terms of health, it’s a super balanced meal – tons of herbs and veggies, protein from the chickpeas and the Greek yogurt, a manageable amount of carbs from the tabbouleh and pita/burger bun, and fruit and cultured dairy from the lassis.  Even though I wasn’t having friends over, I prepared everything as if I was and sat down to a very delicious lunch Sunday afternoon, so I can attest to the fact that this menu is easy and relatively quick to prepare and super, super delicious.  My favorites were the chickpea burgers (so flavorful, and baked to boot!) and the tzatziki (the garlic really kicks it up a notch).  Got leftovers?  Crumble a chickpea burger into a tupperware with leftover tabbouleh and drizzle with tzatziki and you’ll have a filling to-go lunch that will give you something to look forward to all morning.

Head on over to Greatist for the chickpea burger recipe, and see below for all the yummy accompaniments, as well as a little schedule I put together if you need help planning out your prep time!

P.S. My friend reported back that the dinner party was a success – they made and enjoyed all of the recipes.  So maybe she’s not as kitchen-impaired as I thought :-)  Next time, you’re getting a challenge, girl.  xo.

Greatist Dinner Party – Middle Eastern

Dinner party plan of attack (I think I’ve been fairly generous with the time you will need as a single person preparing the meal – with friends, you could easily divide and conquer and take less than an hour overall.  As far as cooking implements, you will need – 1 cutting board, 1 knife, blender, food processor, 1 saute pan, 2 large bowls, fine-mesh colander, 2 medium bowls, utensils/measuring implements):

• 5:00 – peel, chop and salt cucumbers, leave to drain in colander.
• 5:05 – prepare tabbouleh ingredients: slice/chop/mince tomatoes, scallions, parsley, mint, mix together with spices, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Set aside in a large bowl.
• 5:20 – make smoothies: wash, hull, and quarter strawberries, blend with other ingredients, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
• 5:30 – remove cucumbers from colander, pat dry, and add to food processor with dill, garlic, and lemon juice.  Process until smooth, mix with yogurt, season to taste, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
• 5:40 – rinse bulghur in colander, let drain 5 minutes, fluff with fork, then add to other tabbouleh ingredients.  Mix together, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
• 5:45 – preheat oven.
• 5:50 – clean up break: wash blender, colander, and various utensils/measuring items.  Rinse out food processor.  Rinse off cutting board and knife.
• 6:00 – peel and chop onion.  Saute in pan with olive oil for 5 minutes, then place in large bowl.
• 6:10 – prepare chickpea burgers: peel and chop carrot, peel garlic, pulse remaining ingredients in food processor.  Mix with breadcrumbs and spices.  Prepare baking sheet, form into patties, brush with olive oil.
• 6:30 – cook chickpea burgers.  While waiting, clean up remaining dishes, wipe down counters.
• 6:45 – remove other items from fridge.  Toast hamburger buns.
• 6:50 – dinner is ready!

Traditional Tabbouleh

I’ve shared a tabbouleh recipe before (actually, it was another Greatist post…), but it was a souped-up all-in-one version with lentils and feta cheese to make it a complete meal on it’s own.  This version is a more traditional version, heavy on the herbs with just a bit of bulghur wheat – although I chose to use a bit more than David recommends to make it a more substantial salad.

Adapted from David Leibowitz.  Serves 4 as a side.

• 1/4 c. bulghur wheat
• 20 grape tomatoes, finely diced
• 4 scallions, roots and dark green tips removed, thinly sliced
• large bunch parsley – about 3 c. packed leaves
• 20 large stalks of mint – about 3/4 c. packed leaves
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• kosher salt, to taste

1. Wash herbs, shake or spin dry, and remove leaves from stalks, leaving as little stalk as possible attached to leave.  Discard stalks.  Gather herbs in a bunch and finely slice into thin slivers, working with a handful at a time.  Add to a large bowl, along with diced tomatoes and sliced scallions.
2. Place bulghur wheat in a fine-mesh colander and rinse under cold water for about 1 minutes.  Let drain over a bowl for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.  Sprinkle bulghur wheat over salad.  Stir in cinnamon, allspice, lemon juice, and olive oil and check for seasoning.  Salt to taste.  Refrigerate until serving.

Tzatziki

This is hands-down the best tzatziki I’ve ever tried.  Usually, I go the lazy route and just toss some cucumbers and a bit of dill into a bowl of yogurt, but the slight extra effort required for this recipe is 100% worth it – the finely blended garlic, lemon juice, dill, cucumber, and salt makes this a totally addictive and healthy dip.

Recipe adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen.  Makes about 1 cup.

• 1/2 small cucumber, peeled, and seeds scooped out of center with a spoon
• kosher salt, to taste
• 1/4 c. dill fronds, thick part of stems removed
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• black pepper, to taste

1. Finely chop cucumber, and place in colander over bowl.  Sprinkle with a small amount of salt, and let sit for half an hour.  After half an hour, pat cucumber dry with a paper towel, and add to food processor with dill, garlic, lemon juice, and a bit of black pepper.  Process until smooth, then stir into yogurt.  Season to taste with salt, and additional pepper if needed.  Refrigerate until serving.  Will keep in fridge for a few days.

Strawberry and Rosewater Lassis

Adapted from Pairs Well With Food.  Serves 4.

• 1 1/2 lbs fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 1 1/2 c. cold buttermilk
• 3-4 TBS honey, depending on sweetness of berries
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 1/2 tsp rosewater
• 1/2 c. ice
• chopped pistachios for garnish (optional)

1. Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and frothy.  Taste for sweetness and add more honey if necessary.  Serve cold, with chopped pistachios if desired.

The post Greatist Dinner Party: Chickpea Burgers, Tabbouleh, and Strawberry Lassis appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.