Harissa Roasted Vegetables

One of the books I've recently read was Blood, Bones and Butter by chef Gabrielle Hamilton. The book inspired me to make harissa hummus, which I adored. Funny thing--I really don't think the point of the memoir was to inspire people to cook. Oh Well.

In a late chapter, Ms. Hamilton laments how redundant meals of eggplant become while vacationing in Italy. She makes iteration after iteration of eggplant dishes. Though eggplant is not a veggie I adore, this vignette made me crave eggplant. When she mentions harissa and eggplant, I bolted to the market to buy my 1st eggplant of the season.

Because I was hoping to make a meal, rather than a side, I tossed a bunch of vegetables together, and here's what happened.

Listening to: She & Him Radio on Pandora

Harissa Roasted Vegetables (serves 6)

• 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 15-oz can white beans, drained
• 1/2 medium cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1 small zucchini, cubed
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 Tbsp olive oil 
• 3 Tbsp harissa
• salt & pepper 
• 1 C vegetable broth, plus extra 

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a heavy roasting pan, combine all above ingredients until well-mixed.  Place in oven.
2. Every 10 mins, stir, and add additional broth if mixture becomes dry. Roast about 45 mins or until vegetables are tender. Serve as a side or as a meal over rice, pasta, or with crusty bread.


Verdict? I really wanted to love this. Gabrielle Hamilton made harissa eggplant sound so very, very appetizing. Probably because she has an MFA in creative writing. This meal certainly wasn't bad, but it disappointed me. The harissa was a bit lost, and not surprisingly, the veggies didn't cook evenly. I'm debating whether or not to transform the leftovers into a soup.

Harissa Hummus

The weather cooperated long enough today that I was able to go on a picnic with a couple of friends. Yesterday, the temperature reached 100 degrees. While picnicking it was 72. I'm embarrassed to say I was cold.

I had to work a bit today, so I didn't have times to make anything elaborate for the picnic (nor should picnic food BE elaborate, but I digress). I pulled together some hummus featuring the harissa I made yesterday.

                                                Packed up and ready to go on a picnic

Harissa Hummus (makes about 2 cups)

• 1 can chick peas, drained (~15 oz )
• 1 heaping Tbsp tahini
• juice of 1 lemon
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp toasted cumin seeds, ground
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp harissa (or more, or less)

1. Combine all ingredients except for the harissa in a food processor, pulse til smooth.
2. Taste, add additional seasonings if needed, add harissa. Blend again. Taste, adjust again as needed.


Kitchen Notes: Don't try making this hummus without the harissa. It's too bland by itself, but well seasoned with it. For me, this hummus was initially very hot. When I served it later, it had mellowed significantly. If not serving immediately, taste again to ensure additional harissa is not needed.


Verdict? A yummy, spicy hummus. For this however, I wish I had a milder version of the harissa. This hummus is very good, but it more or less tastes like spicy hummus, it doesn't have a lot of the harissa flavor. A milder harissa would really transform the hummus into something a bit more unique.

Ancho-Tabasco Harissa

So, I like spicy foods. And salty foods. And foods with cumin. Inexplicably, the delicious North African condiment called harissa had alluded me until I tried it at the Schlafly Taproom in St. Louis. Their harissa, likely laced with mayo, took the spotlight from the sandwich it came with. This stuff was so good, I actually abandoned the malt vinegar I usually douse my fries with for it.

I can't find a consensus about what kind of dried chilis to use. I used what was available to me, and what I felt would compliment each other well--tabascos and anchos. The recipe that mine is based from, by Saveur, used guajillo chilis and New Mexico chilis.

Harissa (makes about 1 C)

• 0.5 oz dried tabasco chilis, stemmed (seeds removed if you want less heat)
• 1 oz dried ancho chilis, stemmed (seeds removed if you want less heat)
• 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp whole caraway seed
• 1/2 tsp whole coriander seed
• 3 Tbs olive oil, plus extra if needed
• juice of 1 lemon
• 5 cloves garlic
• salt to taste

1. Place the chilis in a medium bowl. Pour boiling water over them, cover. Let stand 20 mins. or til soft.
2. Place the cumin, caraway, and coriander in a small skillet over medium heat. Shake the skillet often. Heat til fragrant. Grind the spices.
3. Drain the peppers and place in a food processor. Add the spices, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt to taste.
4. Puree until smooth. Add additional olive oil and salt if needed. Use sparingly as a substitute for many hot sauces. 

                                                      Love the smell of toasted spices!

Kitchen Notes: You have a lot of flexibility in the peppers you choose, go go based on what you like, and how much heat you prefer. This version is very spicy as I didn't remove the seeds. The original version called for half as much cumin, but I enjoy the flavor tremendously.

Verdict? I was questioning my choice of the tabasco and ancho chilis, but they complement each other well. The ancho has a mildly smoky flavor, the tabasco a sort of woodsy flavor. The garlic is very assertive. For someone who is not a raw garlic fan, roasted garlic would probably be good, though the flavor entirely different. I plan to incorporate into some hummus, and I'll report in.

Long Beans with Chili-Garlic Sauce

Wandering the farmer's market, we stumbled upon something called Chinese long beans. I'd never seen them before, and since I'm usually enthusiastic about most produce, I thought I'd give it a go. When I say long, I mean long. See here:

Be forewarned: this veggie does not achieve the esteemed status of asparagus or broccoli in my opinion, but the sauce it's stirfried in is quite yummy. The recipe for the sauce comes from the March-April 2010 issue of Cook's Illustrated. The recipe has been mildly tweaked. The original recipe calls for broccoli, which I highly recommend.


Long Beans with Chili Garlic Sauce (serves 3 as a main dish)

• 1 1/2 lbs Chinese long beans, washed, trimmed and cut into inch-and-a-half pieces
• 1/4 C vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 Tbs dry sherry
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• heaping table spoon of chili-garlic paste
• 2 garlic cloves, very finely minced
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes or red pepper powder
• 1 tsp, plus 1 Tbs vegetable oil (peanut would probably work well too, but be advised that you may taste the peanut a bit)
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• Cooked rice
• Chopped green onion for garnish

1. Whisk together the broth, sherry, soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, and chili-garlic paste.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the  garlic, red pepper, and 1 tsp oil.
3. Heat the remaining Tbs oil in a wok on high heat. When just beginning to smoke, add the beans and sprinkle with the sugar, stirring constantly. Cook for about 3 mins, until the beans begin to wither but maintain their crispness.
4. Add the garlic mixture, incorporate well, cook for <30 secs. Don't let the garlic burn. 
5. Add the broth mixture, stir constantly, as broth thickens, about 45 secs. 
6. Serve over rice and add green onion for garnish.

                                                 This was not an easy dish to photograph!

Kitchen Notes:BE CAREFUL INHALING WHEN MAKING THIS DISH! It is very spicy, and will make you cough. I like my food spicy, but this meal will still have a lot of flavor if you half the heat. I used basmati rice, simply because I had some to use up, but I don't recommend it, as the gentle flavors of the rice get lost in the heat of the sauce. I think that yaki soba noodles may be beautiful here, and will probably do that with some of the leftovers. The raw beans have a bitter smell when cut, so I imagine the sugar sprinkling is an important step to limit bitter flavor in the finished product.

Verdict? I am not usually texture averse, but the beans were too chewy and squeaky for me. I think they'd work better in a meal where they weren't the focal point, but mixed with many other vegetables. The flavor of the sauce, is terrific, and I can say from experience, goes great with broccoli. I think that typical green beans would work fine too--the beans absorbed the sauce perfectly.

Dinosaur BBQ Jalapeno Cornbread

I'd been craving cornbread since I made blueberry butter. Then, my husband had planned to go to Dinosaur Bar B Que in NYC, which is the sister restaurant of the wildly popular original in Syracuse, NY. We used to go there when I was in school, and it's an egalitarian paradise. It's where bikers, professors, and students co-mingle. And it's a great spot for vegetarians. I'm not kidding.

I had the pleasure of meeting the owner of the Dinosaur empire when they catered an event at the Syracuse U bookstore and he bought some books from me. But I digress. My husband's planned trip to Dinosaur in NYC convinced me to make something from the Dinosaur Bar B Que cookbook, and cornbread it was.
 The cookbook's called Dinosaur Bar B Que: An American Roadhouse by John Stage and Nancy Radke.

Dinosaur BBQ Honey-Jalapeno Cornbread (serves 9-12)

• vegetable shortening
• 1 1/2 C yellow cornmeal
• 3/4 C flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 C buttermilk
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 C butter, melted
• 2 jalapenos, finely diced
• 1-2 Tbs honey

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8 x 8 baking dish with the shortening. Pop the dish in the oven while the oven heats up.
2. Mix together the dry ingredients: cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and melted butter. Once mixed well, stir in the jalapenos.
4. Mix together the dry and wet ingredients until just moistened. 
5. Pour the batter into the baking dish. Cook for 25-30 mins (took 20 in my oven). Bread is done when a toothpick comes out clean.
6. While the bread is still hot, drizzle the honey on the bread, and brush the honey over the top. After the bread has cooled 10 mins, it's ready to cut and enjoy. 


 Kitchen Notes: I had never made cornbread before, so I didn't deviate from the recipe. Now I'm ready for mix-ins. I'm thinking: cheddar, chipotle, chopped chives, or caramelized onions.

Verdict? The cornmeal I used came from a local farm, Moore Family Farm, and its ground was a lot coarser than cornmeal I've seen before. As a result, this is a slightly gritty, earthy tasting cornbread, but it works. The jalapenos don't add a lot of spice, but do contribute to the earthiness of the cornbread. It's not a very sweet variation, but the honey glaze adds a lot of depth. The vanilla is a crucial element of the flavor.

A Trio of....Cucumber Salads, Part III: Korean Spicy Cucumber Salad

 Welcome to part III of cucumber salads! Occasionally I get very ambitious and make the Korean dish bi bim bop. This little salad is a mix in or banchan for this dish. This salad, while delicious, it rather spicy and super garlicky. Just a few slices will do. If you do incorporate it into bi bim bop, the flavors will soften considerably.

This recipe comes from a favorite of mine, the cookbook Dok Suni, by Jenny Kwak and Liz Fried. I would check it out from the library for months at a time. I finally broke down and bought it.


Spicy Korean Cucumber Salad (Oye Moochim) (serves 4 or more)

• 1 cucumber, prepared as written here 
• 1 1/2 Tbs red pepper flakes, or more
• 1 Tbs rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame salt
• 1 tsp very finely minced garlic
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• pinch brown sugar
• salt

1. Mix together the red pepper flakes, vinegar, sesame salt, garlic, sesame oil, and sugar so that it makes a paste. Combine with the cucumber, Mix thoroughly. Serve chilled. Keeps fresh for a week. Will actually keep longer, but won't taste as yummy.  

                                                 Served with my rescued noodles
Kitchen Notes: I've seen sesame salt defined two ways: 1) a combination of pulverized sesame seeds and salt; 2) Pulverized toasted sesame seeds. Truthfully, this time around I didn't feel up to grinding the sesame seeds, so I omitted it. I've included a graphic of the red pepper flakes below. They are used a lot in Korean cooking. I keep mine refrigerated as they seem to get moldy very fast.

Verdict? Little goes a long way. Strong bite from the garlic. Strong heat from the red pepper. Refreshing cukes. Give it a try.

Orange Saffron Rice & Onion Relish

Along with the scrumptiousness that was my tandoori chick'n, I made orange saffron rice with onion relish for sides. The rice recipe comes from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics, and the relish recipe comes from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant. In case you have more culinary amnesia than I do,  here's a photo of the rice as a reminder:

                                                              Wow! That's yellow!

Orange Saffron Rice

• 1 1/2 C basmati rice
• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• zest of 1 orange
• 1/3 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp salt
• generous pinch of saffron
• 2 1/4 C water
• 1/2-1 tsp whole toasted cumin 

1. Rinse the rice in a colander
2. Saute the rice with the oil, zest, turmeric, cardamom, salt, & saffron for a couple mins over medium heat, stirring constantly
3. Add water, bring to a boil
4. Reduce heat, cover and cook on lowest setting for 15 mins. 
5. Fluff rice and serve


Fiery Onion Relish

• 1 C minced onion
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne (I used chili powder)
• seasoned salt to taste

1. Combine the above. Let sit for at least 30 mins before serving. Enjoy!

Verdict?  The rice, while beautifully colored, was a bit bland for my taste--it really needed the relish to wake it up. If I make this again, the amount of cardamom will be reduced to 1/3 tsp or less. Lackluster by itself, the rice would make an excellent base for an Indian fried rice, and I'm intrigued to conform the leftovers into some sort of rice pudding. The relish, on the other had, was fantastic. It takes 3 mins to make, and really saved the rice. I'll be keeping it in the fridge--it'll incorporate well into stir-fries, and  my husband can use on burgers or hotdogs.

Ingredient Elimination: Greek Yogurt & Tandoori Chick'n*

We had a large container of Cabot plain Greek yogurt in the fridge. The 3/4 C left in the container was taking up precious real estate in the fridge. Wanting to grill, I decided on a tandoori chicken recipe from one of my absolute favorite cooking blogs, Closet Cooking . Click on the link for the original recipe. I love this blog. I admire his persistence, he posts a new recipe nearly every day, and his ability to transform leftovers.

With many recipes, I don't believe in providing exact amounts with spices. If you need more specifics, just ask. The recipe here is by Kevin Lynch, of Closet Cooking, with modifications by me. Because I'm vegetarian, I used Quorn chicken substitute, however, I am sure conventional chicken would be delicious, shrimp, even better.

                                              The Challenge: the orphan 3/4 C yogurt 

                                                       

 Tandoori Chicken

• 3/4 C plain Greek yogurt
• 1-2 Tbs lemon juice
• 1/2 onion finely diced
• 1-2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 Tbs grated ginger
• 1 generous tsp grainy mustard
• garam masala to taste
• turmeric to taste
• paprika to taste
• cumin, toasted & ground, to taste
• coriander, toasted & ground, to taste
• salt to taste 
• 4 Quorn naked cutlets or 1 lb boneless & skinless chicken cut into 1-inch pieces 

1. Mix all ingredients together except chicken, taste, adjust seasonings as needed.
2. Allow to marinate in fridge for at least 1 hour. 
3. If using Quorn: grill over medium-high heat for ~5 mins on each side til lightly charred. If using chicken, skewer and grill for 3-4 minutes or until done. I don't mess with cooking chicken so you'll have to figure that one out yourself. 




I served this with grilled zucchini and orange saffron rice with onion relish. The recipes for the orange saffron rice and onion relish are forthcoming. See picture below:

Verdict? I get tired using the same marinades repeatedly in the summer. This one is outstanding--a welcome addition to the rotation. The chick'n didn't become dry at all, and the flavor of the marinade was nicely concentrated. I highly recommend this recipe, and welcome any variations of it!

*Ingredient Elimination posts include an ingredient that I have way too much of, one that's on the verge of expiring, or an ingredient that has been hanging out unused in my pantry far too long. They are personal challenges of using the ingredient in a way that discourages waste.