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.

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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.

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I’ve been running for most of my life. I started training for the cross-country team when I was 13 and never stopped. Ten miles a week, 52 weeks a year, and 15 years later I’ve run at least 8,000 miles. Probably more like 10,000 when you factor in the long runs, the half marathons, the heavy training periods.

When we were in high school, our coach used to read aloud to us from Once A Runner, to psych us up before races. I’ve never actually read the book, but the title echoes through my head all the time – it resonates. Running is such an essential part of who I am. It’s when I’m running that I feel most like myself, most in tune with my own thoughts. It’s my quiet time, the time when I allow my thoughts to spin unstructured through my mind and let them sort themselves out. When I’m angry I come back calm, and when I’m tired I come back reinvigorated. I’ve made my most difficult decisions in the space of 4 miles without even realizing I was making them.

Running has also taken me to corners of the world where I’d never find myself otherwise. Sunrise runs in Dublin along the quiet banks of the grand canal, past medeival cathedrals and castles. Hot, impossibly humid runs in Hong Kong along an elevated running track in the jungle, looking straight into the tops of skyscrapers. Just a month ago, we set out from Evora into the Alentejan countryside and found ourselves on a dirt path, running through olive and cork groves. It’s the most amazing way to explore somewhere new.

Don’t get me wrong – there are times when running is an absolute slog. When it’s hot and hard to breathe and I heave myself around the streets feeling like I weigh 100 pounds more than I do. But it’s not those times that keep me coming back. It’s the times when it’s cool and quiet and I feel strong and light. It’s the feeling of strength in my legs as my feet bounce repeatedly off the pavement. The sound of my breath in my chest, even and heavy, condensing in clouds around my face when it’s cold. The moment when I hit the second mile, which is always faster, looser than the first.

That steadiness, that strength and clarity, that feeling of self is why I keep running. It’s why I pull on fleece-lined leggings when there’s a wind chill of 0°F. Why I groggily lace up my shoes before dawn and run through the sunrise before my mind is even awake. Why I push through the awful runs and anticipate the great ones. Like they say, once a runner.

I’m writing this as part of my #EatSmarterMoveMore resolution this year. The “eat smart” part is so important to being able to feel good on a run. Running requires fuel – a mix of protein and carbohydrates – and nothing too heavy or rich. My parents used to host dinners for our team the night before we raced, and the living room would fill with skinny teenage girls who ate bowl after bowl of soup and homemade bread. Now that we’re getting into spring running, when the sidewalks are free of ice and my fingers don’t freeze during the first mile, I’m craving light, bright flavors as fuel. So I put together a falafel salad, dressed up for spring with bright, crunchy asparagus and carrot pickles, pistachios, feta and a green herb aioli.

I’ve posted falafel recipes before – it was one of my first posts ever, and I shared this healthy Baked Herb and Pistachio Falafel from Green Kitchen Stories. But to be honest, baked falafel is just not the same. I don’t deep fry mine, I just pan fry them in a little olive oil, which works beautifully. I’ve also started using a 50-50 mix of fava beans and chickpeas, which gives the falafel more flavor and heft.

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Spring Falafel Salad

Serves 4.

• 5 oz. baby spinach leaves
• 3 oz. swiss chard leaves, torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1 recipe Fava Bean and Chickpea Falafel, recipe below
• 1 cup roughly chopped Spring Pickles, recipe below
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 3/4 cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup Fresh Herb Aioli

1. Mix spinach and chard leave together and divide between four bowls. Top each bowl with 4-5 pieces of falafel, 1/4 cup of spring pickles, 2 tablespoons of feta cheese, and 3 tabplesoons of chopped pistachios. Drizzle a few tablespoons of aioli on top of each bowl and serve.

Fava Bean and Chickpea Falafel

Adapted loosely from Epicurious. Serves 4.

• 1/2 onion, peeled and cut into chunks
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 c. cooked chickpeas
• 1 c. cooked fava beans (originally dried)
• 1 cup fresh parsley leaves
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 TBS flour
• 1/4 cup olive oil, for frying

1. Add onion, garlic, half of the chickpeas, half of the fava beans, and the parsley leaves to a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is finely and evenly chopped, but not quite a paste. Add the remaining chickpeas and fava beans to the food processor, and pulse a few times more – most of the mixture should be smooth with a few larger pieces of bean left intact.
2. Scrape the bean mixture into a bowl and stir in the ground cumin, ground coriander, sea salt, and baking powder until evenly mixed. Add the flour and stir. Form a small ball of dough with your hands – if the dough comes together easily without sticking to your hands, it’s ready. If not, add another 1 to 2 TBS of flour. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
3. When ready to cook, heat the olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Form the falafel dough into balls roughly the size of a golf ball. Add 5 or 6 of the falafel to the pan and fry until deep golden brown on each side, using tongs to gently turn them as each side cooks. Each batch of falafel will take 5-7 minutes to cook completely. Use tongs to remove the falafel to a paper-towel lined plate. Repeat until you have cooked all of the falafel. Serve immediately.

Spring Pickles – Asparagus, Carrot, Radish, and Swiss Chard

Adapted from Splendid Table. Makes 2 quarts of pickles.

• 10 thin spring carrots
• 20 pencil-thin stalks of asparagus
• 8 swiss chard stems
• 10-12 radishes
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 1/2 cups of white wine vinegar
• 2 1/2 cups of water
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup of kosher salt
• 1 TBS dill seeds

1. Bring a large pot water to a boil. Thoroughly clean two quart-size canning jars and fill with very hot water. Set aside.
2. Cut the greens from the carrots and discard or reserve for another use. Wash the carrots. If the carrots are thinner than a sharpie marker, leave whole (cutting in half cross-wise only if they are taller than your pickling jars). If they are much thicker, cut them in half lengthwise. When the water is boiling, add the carrots to the water and blanch for 1-2 minutes, then drain them and run the carrots under cold water for 1-2 minutes.
3. Wash the asparagus stalks and cut in half cross-wise. Wash the chard stems and slice in half length-wise. All of your long vegetables (carrots, asparagus, chard stems) should be roughly the same length and width. Wash the radishes and cut in half.
4. Empty the canning jars of the hot water. Divide the vegetables between the two jars, standing the long vegetables up inside the jars and filling the gaps in with radishes. Add some of the garlic slices to each jar. Pack the jars as full as you can, and make them pretty!
5. Add the white wine vinegar, 2 1/2 cups of water, honey, kosher salt, and dill seeds to a small saucepan. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and simmer for 1-2 minutes, then remove from the heat. Using a funnel if you have one, pour the hot pickling liquid into the jars over the vegetables. The pickling liquid should come all the way to the top of the vegetables. Let jars cool on the counter for 20-30 minutes before capping and refrigerating them. Refrigerate for at least 2 days before serving.

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Labor Day is a bittersweet moment – it’s a sign that summer is winding down and instead of summer firsts (“the first swim of the summer! The first BBQ!”) everything becomes the last. The weather is still warm and the summer produce is still abundant, but the days are decidedly shorter, and there’s a chill in the air in the evenings. It’s actually a beautiful time of year, but the prospect of having to wait 8 long months until the season returns is saddening. So we soak up the last warm days, storing memories of sunshine, salty water, and grill smoke to get us through the cold dark ones we know are ahead.

Grilling is one of summer’s great pleasures, and it’s how people all over the country will be closing out the season. Together with La Crema, I’ve put together an indulgent, Greek-American inspired cookout for you this Labor Day. We’ve got lamb burgers, we’ve got Greek-style sweet potato fries, we’ve got gooey roasted tomato and feta dip, and we’ve got baklava ice cream sandwiches. You’re going to be full and happy after this one.

The appetizers set the tone for any party, and this is a casual, friendly feast, so our first course is a Roasted Tomato and Feta Dip, the kind of thing that’s a little messy and requires you to reach over your friends to dip into one big bowl. I didn’t want this roasted tomato feta dip to be fresh – I wanted it to be indulgent, spreadable, and addictive. So I whipped some cream cheese and high quality feta together, and spread it on top of the cherry tomatoes before popping the whole thing in the oven. The end result was hot gooey cheese hiding sweet and garlicky roasted tomatoes underneath. This dip would pair equally well with La Crema’s Monterey Pinot Gris or Monterey Chardonnay, although I have a slight preference for the chardonnay – buttery chardonnay and creamy cheese is one of those combos I just can’t resist. (Find the dip recipe on the La Crema blog , here!)

For the main event, burgers and fries, because there’s no greater crowd-pleaser on a languid summer night. A solid burger with crispy, steak-cut fries is one of my all-time favorite meals – it’s tied with spaghetti bolognese as my answer to the “last meal” question – but it’s a combo that is strangely underrepresented on this blog. So here’s one small step towards remedying that. The burger is simple – just ground lamb, salt, pepper, and a pinch of cumin, so that all the wonderful, gamey lamb flavor comes through. It’s topped with a creamy lemon-garlic aioli and a few delicate slices of red onion, sliced as thinly as you possibly can. The fries are thick-cut wedges of sweet potato, tossed with oregano and olive oil before getting roasted to crispy perfection, then finished with the “Greek-style” treatment – a shower of grated cheese, lemon juice, and fresh parsley. Both the burgers and the fries pair beautifully with a bottle of La Crema Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, which has just enough earthiness to complement the grilled lamb. It’s a lovely wine, pleasantly tart and light-bodied enough to feel right at home at an end of summer, outdoor gathering. (Find the lamb burger recipe here and the sweet potato fries recipe here.)

And for the grand finale, Baklava Ice Cream Sandwiches. Admittedly, us Bostonians will eat ice cream even on the coldest day of the year, so ice cream isn’t exactly seasonal. But I would argue that ice cream sandwiches and popsicles and other frozen treats that you eat on the porch so that all the sticky drips running down your arms can be rinsed down with a hose, are very seasonal. So for a last summer hurrah, fancy ice cream sandwiches, with smooth pistachio gelato sandwiched between two skinny layers of homemade baklava. The flaky crunch of the baklava, sticky with rosewater-perfumed syrup, makes a delicious wrapper for the sweet and mildy nutty gelato.

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by La Crema. All opinions are honest and my own.

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Baklava Ice Cream Sandwiches

Baklava recipe adapted from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food and Serious Eats. Makes 8-10 ice cream sandwiches.

• 2 c. sugar
• 1 c. water
• 2 cardamom pods
• 1 1/2 tsp rosewater, divided
• 1 1/2 c. shelled pistachios
• 1/2 c. blanched sliced almonds
• 2 TBS powdered sugar
• 1 stick + 2 TBS butter
• 3/4 lb. phyllo dough, defrosted for 8 hours in the fridge
• 1 pint pistachio ice cream

1. To make the syrup: combine sugar, water and cardamom pods in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer and simmer until sugar is dissolved and syrup is thick, about 3-4 minutes. Remove cardamom pods from syrup and discard. Stir 1 teaspoon of the rosewater into the hot syrup. Let syrup cool to room temperature, then chill in the fridge until cold.
2. To make the pastry: preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the shelled pistachios, sliced almonds, powdered sugar, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of rosewater in a food processor. Pulse until the nuts are very finely chopped. Set nuts aside. Melt the butter in the microwave and keep warm. Remove the phyllo from it’s packaging and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap followed by a damp paper towel, to keep it from drying out. Brush a cookie sheet with melted butter than place one sheet of the phyllo dough on top, letting any extra dough push up over the sides. Brush generously with butter, then top with another sheet of phyllo. Repeat until you have used 6 sheets of phyllo. Spread the ground nuts evenly on top of the phyllo, then continue the phyllo-butter layers to use 4 more sheets of phyllo. Brush the top sheet generously with butter. Place any extra phyllo dough in a sealable plastic bag and place in the freezer. Use a sharp knife to cut the baklava into rectangles, being sure to press through all the layers of the phyllo to make a clean cut.
3. Bake the baklava for 30 minutes, until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and pour the cold syrup over the hot baklava, particularly along the cut edges. You can use anywhere from half to all the syrup, depending on how sweet you want your baklava to be. Let baklava cool completely.
4. Remove ice cream from freezer and let soften just enough so that it is spreadable. Spread a thick layer of ice cream on top of one of the baklava squares, then quickly top with another baklava square, pressing down gently to adhere. Immediately place in a plastic tupperware or wrap with plastic wrap and place in the freezer. Repeat until you have used all the ice cream. Let ice cream sandwiches freeze for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight. Just before serving, you can use a paring knife to trim the edges of the ice cream into a neater square. Serve immediately.

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The Book: If you’re even a little bit of a Francophile, or have ever found yourself daydreaming of a vacation in France punctuated by long dinners in the countryside, you’re going to want to get yourself a copy of Hungry for France. A cross between a memoir, a travel guide, and a cookbook, with all three components tied together by a love of French food, this book will have you planning your next vacation and tomorrow’s dinner at the same time. The book covers 13 regions in France, alternating notes about the best inns and restaurants in each region with recipes inspired by memorable dinners in those same establishments. As a result, the recipes are hyper-local to their particular corner of France, with hearty dishes like Cheese and Bacon Tarts from the Alps, and fresh, warm-weather seafood dishes like Roasted John Dory with Tomatoes and Olives from Cote d’Azur. By separating the recipes into these regional sections, the author highlights the wonderful variety of French cuisine – from delicate cream-filled pastry, to rich duck confit, to grilled seafood dishes, to hearty alpine stews, it’s all here. I love the recipes that are included in the book – they present slightly unexpected but still traditional flavor combinations that sound highly craveable, the kind of dishes I’d order from a restaurant in a heartbeat. They aren’t the French “basics,” – they’re modern and interesting, but still quintessentially French. There are as many recipes for sweet dishes as savory, which is good, because the French do both so well that it would be a shame to leave either one out. Although I haven’t nearly finished reading all the notes about different restaurants and destinations, what I have read perfectly captures the romance and magic of travel, expertly intertwined with practical advice about where to eat, sleep, and drink in France.

The Food: The night I planned to test a recipe from Hungry for France for this review, I came home from work completely exhausted and almost defaulted to plain spaghetti for dinner instead, until Trevor rescued the evening and said he’d do all the shopping and cooking if I could stay awake long enough to take pictures. I readily agreed, and very happily sat at the kitchen counter enjoying a glass of Chardonnay while Trevor made a lovely dinner for us. This Pistachio-Stuffed Chicken with Parmesan Cream Sauce was relatively quick to pull together, but it had lovely, nuanced flavors from all the herbs and different liqueurs used, and made for a very elegant, restaurant-quality dish. We served it with a warm orzo and pesto salad for a perfect little dinner (and the leftovers were just as good for lunch the next day). I particularly liked that the recipe used both vermouth and grappa in it – all the alcohol cooks off, but the flavors remained distinct. It will definitely be a repeat dinner dish in our house, and I can’t wait to try other recipes from this book.

Recipe Shortlist: Green Asparagus with Chorizo Vinaigrette; Nanterre French Toast with Honeyed Nectarines; Golden Endive and Chard Gratin; White-Wine Steamed Mussels with Andouille Sausage; Curried Pork in Cider Sauce; Hot Buckwheat Rolls; Hazelnut-Crusted Goat Cheese with Rhubarb-Raspberry Compote; Hot Chartreuse Souffle; Truffled Eggs en Cocotte with Prosciutto Toasts

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Disclaimer: I received a review copy of Hungry for France free of charge from Rizzoli, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Pistachio-Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Parmesan Cream Sauce

Recipe from Hungry for France. Serves 4.

•  1/4 c. milk
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• 1 thick slice white bread, crust removed
• 3 TBS olive oil
• 4 shallots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/4 c. dry vermouth
• 1/4 c. finely chopped roasted, salted pistachios
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 boneless chicken breasts, trimmed of excess fat
• 2 TBS grappa
• 1 c. chicken stock
• 1/4 c. heavy cream
• 3 TBS grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 TBS butter
• fleur de sel (or sea salt) for finishing
• chervil sprigs, for finishing (optional)

1. In a small saucepan, heat milk with thyme, bay leaf, and garlic over medium heat, just until bubbles appear around the edge, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and strain into a shallow bowl. Add the bread and let stand for 10 minutes, turning once. Drain and squeeze dry, then finely chop and transfer to a medium bowl.
2. In a medium frying pan, heat 1 TBS of the olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in vermouth and cook until nearly evaporated, about 2-3 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Scrape  half of the shallots into the bowl with the bread, and add the chopped pistachios. Reserve the other half of the shallots for later.
3. Using a sharp knife, cut a slit lengthwise into the side of each chicken breast. Use a spoon to stuff a few TBS of the bread and pistachio filling into the slit of each breast, and pinch together to seal.
4. In a large frying pan, heat the remaining 2 TBS of olive oil over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or until hot. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then add to the hot pan and cook until browned, about 5 minutes on each side. Check to be sure chicken is cooked all the way through by cutting into the center of the fattest breast. However, try not to overcook the chicken as it will dry out fairly quickly. Remove the chicken breasts from the pan and set aside.
5. Add the grappa to the reserved shallots in the medium frying pan and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Very carefully tilt the pan and use a long match or lighter to ignite the vermouth. When the flames subside, add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer, cooking until reduced to half a cup , about 4-5 minutes. Add the heavy cream and simmer until reduced to half a cup, about 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the parmesan cheese and butter until both are fully melted. Transfer to a blender and process until frothy.
6. Ladle the sauce into the bottom of 4 bowls and top each with a piece of chicken. Finish with a sprinkle of fleur de sel and a few sprigs of chervil.

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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.

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I’m pretty pleased with how these Monday morning resolutions are going. What I started on kind of a whim I’ve actually been able to stick with!  I haven’t eaten a single piece of chocolate from the chocolate box at work for 5 weeks now (huge accomplishment), and I haven’t skipped a day of walking the extra 15 minutes to my office in at least one direction, rain or shine. I’ve been slightly less consistent with some of the eating stuff – getting four green salads in per week has been surprisingly difficult. But what I think I’m proudest of is the strength training. Although I got off to a rough start during Thanksgiving week, over the past two weeks I’ve actually started to look forward to my daily 10 minutes of strength and stretching, and some nights, I’ve even managed to do 20 minutes. While I haven’t lost any weight in pounds, I definitely feel stronger and more flexible – last night I did 25 push-ups in a row (probably an all-time high for me), and I’ve been holding my balances much longer in ballet. It’s really encouraging.

So, as promised, I’m sticking with it. This week’s new resolution is inspired by Hannah of All Things Lovely‘s comment last week: to have a hearty, healthy breakfast at home each day. To kick things off, I made a batch of healthy whole wheat muffins from Maria Speck’s Ancient Grains for Modern Meals. With dates, apricots, orange, and pistachios, they remind me very much of Christmas sugarplums (which I need to make a batch of soon…).  They’re packed with good stuff, and have plenty of natural sweetness and flavor, but I did find them a little dry. I’m going to tinker around a bit with adding buttermilk or Greek yogurt to see if that moistens them a bit – until then, I’m leaving you with the original recipe. Let me know if you try it out! And as usual, please share your resolutions in the comments if you want to play along.

That’s all for now. I’ve got a bunch more Christmasy recipes to share with you over the next few weeks, so stay tuned! Also, Trevor and I are halfway through this year’s gingerbread house (see last year’s model of the Zakim bridge, and 2010’s gingerbread treehouse to get a taste of what your’e in for). I’ll hopefully be back with pictures of the finished product by the end of the week!

P.S. Other healthy breakfast recipes from Katie at the Kitchen Door:

• Apple Quinoa Cake
• Baked Eggs with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Kale
• Breakfast Polenta with Honeyed Yogurt
• Carrot and Apple Muffins
• Shakshuka (Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce)

Healthy Orange-Date-Apricot Muffins with Anise

Adapted slightly from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals by Maria Speck. Makes 12 regular muffins.

Note: As mentioned above, I found these muffins a little bit dry as written. I’m still tinkering with the recipe, but the original (below) still makes a very healthy muffin with great flavor and natural sweetness. I’ll update the recipe below if I find a way to make them less dry. Also, Maria calls for a topping made of 2 TBS sugar, 1/2 tsp ground anise, and 3 TBS chopped pistachios – I opted to top these with pistachios only.

• 2 c. white whole wheat flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground anise seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c. chopped dried dates
• 1/4 c. chopped dried apricots
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/2 c. honey
• 1/3 c. olive oil
• 2 tsp freshly grated orange zest
• 3/4 c. freshly squeezed orange juice (from ~2 medium navel oranges)
• 1/2 c. + 3 TBS chopped roasted pistachios

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a standard-sized muffin tin with muffin cups or grease the pan itself.
2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, anise, and salt. Add the chopped dates and chopped apricots and stir briefly to coat the fruit with flour.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs. Add the honey, olive oil, orange zest, and orange juice, and whisk until smooth. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Use a spatula to fold the two together until just combined – do not overmix. Stir in the 1/2 c. chopped pistachios, and add a heaping 1/4 c. of batter to each muffin cup. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the remaining 3 TBS chopped pistachios. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until domed and golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack.

The post Monday Morning Resolutions: Healthy Christmas Muffins appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Did you know sugarplums are a real thing?  That they’re more than just a name for a delightful fairy in The Nutcracker?  That you can make and eat and admire them and that they really are worthy of visions dancing in your head?  That they might actually be both the most Christmasy and the healthiest treat I’ve made for the holidays?  Yeah, me neither, at least until a week ago when I picked up a copy of Gourmet Gifts by Dinah Corley, and flipped to a page with tiny sparkly plum-resembling treats titled sugarplums.  And man am I glad to stand corrected, because these things are good.  But let’s back up a little.

Last weekend I went to my very first Boston Brunchers’ brunch.  The Boston Brunchers are a lovely group of food bloggers/writers/enthusiasts that get together once or twice a month to network and share blogging stories and, well, brunch.  Last weekend’s event was hosted by Harvard Common Press – a huge thanks to them for hosting and feeding us! – an independent publisher specializing in cookbooks and parenting books.  While there we ate brunch treats from several of their cookbooks (all delicious – especially the strata and the cranberry coffee cake), chatted each other up, and heard a presentation from the publishers themselves on the process of going from blog to cookbook.  The presentation was filled with new information for me, and convinced me to finally jump on the twitter bandwagon, something I’ve been avoiding for ages.  (Feel free to follow me @Kitchen_Door: I’ll be posting updates on great recipes I don’t have time to blog about, the upcoming gingerbread extravaganza, my beginner gardening attempts, learning to make homemade cheese, and more.  Rest assured that I’m highly opposed to constant communication as I think it can drive people insane, so I promise to use it in moderation.)  After the presentation, they announced that the cookbooks decorating the tables were a freebie for us bloggers – which was a bit like announcing to a candy store full of children that everything was free and then handing them paper bags.  Mild adult chaos.  Anyway, I snagged a copy of Gourmet Gifts, because it seemed seasonally appropriate and it had a pretty cover… and I usually judge books by their covers. Not kidding.

I’m cheating a little bit in posting this review as December’s cookbook of the month, since I’ve only made the sugarplums, and my self-imposed rule is to make at least three recipes from a book before allowing it into the ranks of the cookbook of the month club.  However, I really wanted to share these sugarplums before Christmas, because they’re just so pretty and delicious and … Christmasy!  With that noted, I’ll just give a preliminary review of the book, with updates to come as I explore it a bit more thoroughly.  So far I think the most valuable parts of this book for me are the decoration and delivery ideas – with every recipe comes detailed instructions for how to wrap and present that gift, and the ideas are really quite creative.  I bookmarked several pages just for photography and styling ideas – painting a cutting board with chalkboard paint and using it as a labeled cheeseboard?  Genius!  The recipes also seem very solid.  A few ideas are slightly worn out in the food blog world – spiced nuts, macarons, etc. – but most are novel and intriguing.  High on my list are the kumquat-cognac punch (if only it didn’t have a 6 week infusing time! Next year…), the rose petal vinegar, and the cute little cakes baked into eggshells.  There are ideas for all seasons, and many recipes for portable dishes that might be a great contribution to the next party you attend.  All in all I’m glad I grabbed it, and I’m looking forward to trying out a few more recipes.

And now it’s time to bring it back to the sugarplums, the first trial recipe from this book, which was a huge success.  The gist of the recipe is this: blend dried apricots, dates, figs, pistachios, Christmas spices, apricot jam and brandy to a sticky, chewy paste.  Let sit.  Shape into adorable little plums and roll in sanding sugar.  Pop into your mouth and be really, really surprised by how much you like them.  And how completely they taste of Christmas.  Easy and quick, these are definitely worth giving a try before the big day – especially since your guests will be impressed by how pretty they look on a platter.  Just be sure that your food processor is ready for a workout – I think this may have been the last straw for my little Ninja processor.

FTC disclaimer: I received a copy of Gourmet Gifts for free but was not asked to write this review, nor was I compensated for doing so.  All opinions are my own and reflect my honest impressions of the book.

Pistachio Sugarplums

Recipe adapted slightly from Gourmet Gifts by Dinah Corley.  Makes about 30 pieces.

• 2 c. pitted dates, chopped
• 1 c. shelled pistachio nuts
• 1/2 c. dried apricots, chopped
• 1/2 c. dried figs, chopped
• 3 TBS brandy
• 2 TBS apricot jam
• 1/4 tsp orange oil, or 1 TBS dried orange peel
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground mace
• 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 30 whole cloves (for the stems!)
• 3/4 c. large crystal sugar (sanding or turbinado sugar)

1. Place all ingredients except whole cloves and sanding sugar in food processor and rapidly pulse until mixture is evenly ground and forms a sticky paste.  If your food processor is too small to do all this at once, process the dried fruit and nuts in batches, then add them all back in (each ingredient should shrink in volume as it is processed) with the remaining ingredients until they are evenly mixed and blended.  Knead the dough/paste for 2-3 minutes then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2-3 hours or overnight.
2. Pull off tablespoon sized balls from the refrigerated dough and roll into small oval shapes between your hands (to resemble plums).  Roll in sanding sugar, then stick a whole clove into the end to make a stem.  Lay the sugarplums out on a baking sheet and allow to firm up in a cool, dry place overnight.  Store in single layers in airtight containers at room temperature.

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