Moroccan Coucous alla Cuenta

Its Friday :) and J is feeling much improved so I'm making real dinner this evening.  A tagine inspired from this post that I found while browsing at work on Thursday. 

I have to confess that I didn't really do any homework on the recipe and when I started I failed to note just how large a recipe it was.  Last minute modifications and quick fixes were in order, the jury is still out on how I did.

Moroccan Coucous alla Cuenta
adapted from A Ojo

Start with 4 onions, divided in half and cut into thin strips.

You also need 2 tomatoes, peeled and cut into chunks, seeds removed as best you can. (Check out this posting on how to quick peel tomatoes)

For the Onion Sauce:

In a saucepan heat 3 tbps (originally it calls for 1 cup!) olive oil and add half of the onions and a dash of salt.
Heat, stirring often, at medium-low for 5 minutes.

Add the spices: 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  1 teaspoon each: pepper and cumin
1 bay leaf
If you have them, substitute 1 teaspoon Moroccan spices and add 1/2 teaspoons of pepper and cumin.
Stir and cook for 30 minutes.

This is about when I realized that I had forgotten to halve the spices and olive oil when I halved the onions.  (The original recipe called for 4 onions) I also realized that I needed the tagine to cook the meat, so I made a quick trip to the sink to halve the liquid in the pan and switched to my cast iron skillet to finish cooking.  I also added about a 1/4 cup of water to help soften the onions.

Looks better huh?

After about 30 minutes, add a handful of raisins (J hates raisins and had a small fit when he found them - but poop on him they're important for flavor - at least that's what I told him!)

Set aside until the meat is done.

The Meat:

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in pan over high heat, add meat.  I used stew beef but lamb would also work.

Once the meat starts to brown, lower heat to low (see the pan swap?) and add the remaining onions and the tomatoes.

add all the spices:
1 teaspoon each: Black pepper, cumin and cinnamon
1 bay leaf and 1/4 cup water.

Stir and cover, cook for about 2 hours or until sauce has thickened and combined.

Mine at about 45 minutes.

Done, at just about 2 hours.

Don't forget the cous cous!

Grandpa shoes

The boy is sick, which means no fancy dinners or interesting treats this week, just soup and he's picky about his soups.  Last night I just gave up and went for take out miso soup and dumplings.  Since when does a soup, appetizer and one entree cost $20! at take out Chinese? We rarely indulge in take out, guess I know remember why.  

In other news, I've been obsessed lately with loafers.  It all started last summer when a random trip to DSW had me if-ing and oh-ing over a pair of navy Lauren by Ralph Lauren loafers that I loved, and yet just couldn't see on my feet - so I passed them up and then instantly regretted it and by the time I got back to the store they were all out.  Typical DSW style.  Lately, I've been coveting some vintage Etienne Aigner loafers and have been busy browsing Etsy like a crazy lady. 

After I missed the bus on Saturday, one of those I'm a half block away almost running, mentally yelling at myself that I knew I didn't have time to brush the dog, and I see it drive right on by..., I spent the 30 minutes til the next bus browsing at my local goodwill.  And tada!

A perfectly beat-up grandpa pair of Etienne Aigner loafers in my size.  I immediately snatched them up and then waited in line for what seemed like an eternity behind a woman with a FULL cartload of goodwill finds.  I was sure I was going to miss my bus again.  But I didn't. 

Fast forward 3 days later - and the second day of wearing the loafers:

Yeah, that's a huge chunk missing from the sole. :( My poor goodwill shoes.  

Never fear, I'm back to Etsy browsing.  

Mexican Pizza from Heaven

This week has been one crazy fella.   Last Saturday I finally succumbed to my local yoga studio's free first visit and had a fabulous Hot Yoga experience.  Which of course, prompted me to buy their 2 week unlimited plan for $25 - you don't find better yoga deals than that.    This led me to a week full of work, running home and tossing some sort of dinner together for the boy, then running out again for yoga, followed by some sort of late (9ish) dinner for me and then bed.  Add dog walking unto that mix as well.  I gave up on Wednesday after work kept me late and my stress level was at an all-time high.  So when 5 o'clock rolled around yesterday I had a plan.  No yoga but delicious dinner.  I give you Mexican Pizza from Heaven. 

Two things I feel I should share before I go further, I am in LOVE with tomatillos right now, and second, my camera was dead! when I started dinner last night so all my prep was done sans photos, sorry!

 

When I started thinking about dinner I knew I needed to use the tomatillos and poblano pepper that I had at home, I also knew I had leftover chicken in the fridge (from my previous post!). As always, I started with foodgawker.com and browsing found my inspiration in Dana Treat's blog with her Haunted by Pizza post.  Pizza sounded perfect and I recently found a new dough recipe that I'd been wanting to try on Kayotic Kitchen.  So, I ran home, made the dough, set it in the microwave to rise and went to walk the dog.  By the way, it was a fabulous 50 degrees here yesterday! So we celebrated by heading down and exploring the beach, now that some sand is visible again.  B was also in heaven :)

Mexican Pizza from Heaven
adapted from Dana Treat
 

Pizza dough

Poblano pepper puree

1/2 large red onion

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

3-4 tomatillos, husked and chopped into small pieces

1 package frozen corn (or about 2 cups)

3/4 of a can of Black beans, drained

about 2 cups shredded chicken

1/2 an avocado, sliced thinly

handful of chopped cilantro

Chop and assemble all the ingredients first, its easiest to put each into their own little bowl. 

Here is my chicken, shredded; my red onion, chopped into thin strips and my tomatillos, chopped and seasoned with salt and pepper. 

Clockwise from left: black beans, drained; lime; poblano pepper puree; avocado; cilantro and corn. 

For the poblano pepper puree:  Roast pepper under the broiler until skin blackens and starts to peel.  Cover pepper in bowl with saran wrap for 5 minutes (this helps with peeling), then remove the blackened skin and seeds.  Chop roughly and toss into a food processor with a little liquid.  I used tequila (because, why not!) but water or beer also works, and puree. 

Heat the oven to 500 degrees.  Toss in the pizza stone to heat if you have one (I must pick one up soon!)

Heat your saute pan, cast iron for me, over medium heat and add just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  

 When hot, add the onions.

Cook until the onions are tender, about 10 minutes.  

Meanwhile, oil your pizza pan (unless you're using a stone) and spread the dough. 

Drizzle a little oil over the dough and then spread the poblano pepper puree.  I ended up using all of the puree - poblano's typically arn't that hot but they have great flavor.  

Back to the onions, once tender, add the chicken to reheat.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Add a tad more oil and the corn.  Originally, I had only planned to use half the box of frozen corn, which is what you see here, but then realized that it wasn't near enough and added the entire box.  Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the corn is tender.

Add the black beans and mix.  Then remove and set aside to cool. 

Assemble your pizza!  I added the onions and chicken, followed by the corn and black beans. 

 

Then the tomatillos.   Bake until the crust is golden and crispy.  Depending on what pan you use, this could be 10-20 minutes.  We like our crust pretty crisp, I think it cooked for about 20 minutes. 

Once its out, top with cilantro and the sliced avocado.  I cut up a lime and squeezed that over my pieces too. 

No Mexican dish is complete without salsa, so I whipped up a batch of that as well and snacked on it while I was waiting for the pizza. (Recipe coming soon!)

Like I said, Mexican Pizza from Heaven, and just what I was craving for my mid-to-end of the week revival.  Tonight I'm off to yoga right after work! My lovely hubby is in charge of dinner  :)

Happy Friday!

The return of Tomatoes!

My husband's official NO ULCER report arrived fresh from his endoscopy doctor early last week and besides a brief fear of Celiac Disease (later ruled out) it has been some of the best news we've gotten in some time.  We've thought he's had an ulcer since early September and I've had to modify our diet drastically - most notably by cutting out all tomatoes and citrus. Boy have I missed them.  I tried to take it slow, I waited until Friday night to make fajitas (with homemade salsa!) and then on Sunday I pulled out this Moroccan Tagine that I've been eying ever since Christmas in The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden.  It might have just been the tomato craving but we devoured this dish.

Djaj Matisha Mesla - Chicken with Tomatoes and Honey

Recipe from: The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden

Ingredients:

 A 3-4 pound Chicken, cut into quarters - I used a whole, bone in chicken breast.

3 tablespoons oil

1 large onion, grated - grated? I just cut normally.

2 pounds tomatoes, peeled and cut into pieces

Salt and plenty of pepper 

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon crushed saffron threads or powdered saffron - I haven't located a good saffron that I am willing to buy yet (Penzeys Catalog is one the way!) so I used 1/2 teaspoon of Turmeric which I'm told is the "poor man's saffron" by Roden. 

2 tablespoons clear honey (Moroccans use up to 4 tablespoons)

3/4 cup blanched almonds, coarsely chopped, toasted under the broiler or fried in oil

2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

The instructions are pretty easy for this one, I started by blanching the tomatoes:

 Wash and remove all stems and stickers from the tomatoes

Boil a large pot of water, in batches add tomatoes - boil for about a minute, until skin cracks

 Once the skin cracks, remove from the boiling water and put into an ice bath for another minute.

 The skins should slid right off and they're ready to cut!

Add the oil to the pan and turn the heat to medium low. 

Cut, or grate? the onion and add it to the hot oil. 

Add the sliced tomatoes.

Mix in all the spices and stir, stir, stir. 

Add the chicken and cook, covered for 1 1/4 hours, or until the chicken is done.

This is at about 45 minutes, my breast was done in just under an hour. Remove the chicken when tender and continue to cook the sauce until its reduced to a thick, creamy mixture. 

To speed things up on my end, I transferred the sauce to a cast iron pan to reduce. Tagines can't take heat over a medium-low and it would have been hours before my sauce was ready. Even with the cast iron, it took another 30 minutes before the sauce thickened. 

Being careful to not let the sauce burn, add the honey.  The sauce should begin to carmelize.  

After I added the honey, I returned the sauce to the tagine and continued to simmer until it was nice and thick.  

Meanwhile, I toasted some sliced almonds and sesame seeds under the broiler - be careful!  My first batch I burned nice and black!  J isn't actually allergic to almonds but he's still not to interested in eating them.  I'm on a huge almond kick at the moment and jumped at the chance to try them out with this dish.  I also cooked up some couscous and we were all set!

Yay for tomatoes :)

Chickpeas with Turmeric

Eating all this chicken has really challenged me to find new and interesting recipes every night for dinner.  Yesterday's dinner of Chicken and Chickpeas with Turmeric really surprised me.  I figured it would taste pretty good, and turmeric isn't a spice I use all that often, but this was GOOD and the hubby gave his consent to add it to the "make often list."   I love when dinner is a success!

Chicken and Chickpeas with Turmeric, Couscous and Salad

This recipe came from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden and originally doesn't call for chicken, but I had half a breast leftover in the fridge and the boy won't accept a dinner without meat. So, I added shredded chicken. 

You will need:

1 large onion, chopped.

3 cloves garlic, mashed (this is my new favorite way to cook with garlic, its so easy! Just mash the clove on the side of your knife).

2 tablespoons olive oil.

1 can chickpeas, drained.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet or tagine, add chopped onion and cook until soft and starting to brown.

When the onions are ready, add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, then add 1/2 teaspoon turmeric.

Mix the turmeric into the onions and garlic, then add the chickpeas and about 3/4 cup of water.

Simmer the chickpeas for 20-30 minutes, or until they are soft and have absorbed all the liquid. 

While the chickpeas were simmering, I made a salad and cooked up some couscous. The hubby even helped by making some fresh salad dressing! 

Once the chickpeas are soft, add the shredded chicken and salt and pepper to taste. 

When the chicken is warm, mix in a large handful of chopped cilantro and cook for another 5 minutes. 

Paired with couscous, this is fabulous!  Enjoy!