My Inner Spanish Obsession

Did I say inner obsession?  Meh.  I realize it may not be such a secret after all.  And, of course, you all know about my feelings toward the Minimalist.  Needless to say, when my two not-so-secret obsessions collided, my interest was piqued, to say the least.  The day this recipe appeared on Bitten, my roommate Diane and I put it on our calendars to try out ASAP.  I give you: Chickpeas and Chorizo!

I wish this picture were a bit less flashed, but hey, we ate late, Spanish-style.  It's all about the autenticidad with me.  Obviously.

Here's Mr. Bittman's.

 Fried Chickpeas With Chorizo and Spinach

adapted from Mark Bittman's The Minimalist column

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling

2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas, as dry as possible

Salt and black pepper

4 ounces chorizo, diced

1/2 pound spinach, roughly chopped (We used more like 3/4 pound baby spinach and there could have even been more.)

1/4 cup sherry

1 to 2 cups bread crumbs (We used way less than that, like maybe 1/2 cup?  No idea what he's talking about there.)

Method:

1. Heat the broiler. 

2. Put three tablespoons of the oil in a skillet large enough to hold chickpeas in one layer over medium-high heat. (I recommend heating the dry pan for a minute before adding the oil.)  When it’s hot, add chickpeas and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until chickpeas begin to brown, about 10 minutes, then add chorizo. Continue cooking for another 5 to 8 minutes or until chickpeas are crisp; use a slotted spoon to remove chickpeas and chorizo from pan and set aside.

4. Add the remainder of the 1/4 cup of oil to the pan; when it’s hot, add spinach and sherry, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook spinach over medium-low heat until very soft and the liquid has evaporated. Add chickpeas and chorizo back to the pan and toss quickly to combine; top with bread crumbs, drizzle with a bit more oil and run pan under the broiler to lightly brown the top. Serve hot or at room temperature.

This recipe came out pretty much awesome.  The chickpeas were really crispy, the spinach offset all the oil, and the chorizo basically flavored the entire thing.  It would be an AWESOME dinner party dish.

Now, I'm probably about to lose some street cred with a lot of you, but I highly recommend knowing where your oven's broiler is located before attempting this recipe.  Genius tip, I know.  I always knew that when you broil, then heat comes from above.  So I set the oven to broil, moved the top oven rack to the highest setting and let 'er rip.  After many minutes of absolutely no browning, I consulted Diane's friend, a culinary school graduate, who informed me that my broiler was actually below the oven.  Pardon?  You mean that shelf where I store pots and pans?  Turns out I had broiled the hell out of a shallow pot, but our chickpeas were not getting any browner sitting in a warmish oven.  PHEW.  And now you know.

I can't say that I often have chorizo in the house, so I had to rack my brain a little to come up with a good use for the leftovers.  I threw a little bit into a shakshuka, an Israeli dish that Joanna turned me on to in college.

 

Sorry, more ugly pics.  Shakshuka is not an attractive food, but I had leftover canned crushed tomatoes and one egg, and this chorizo, and it all just fell into place.  It's DELICIOUS.  Sometimes the ugliest foods really are the best, no?  I mean, seriously, have you ever looked at a brownie?  It's not winning any pageants.

With the rest of the chickpeas and chorizo, I put together an impromptu lunch the other day, drawing on inspiration from another Bittman creation (see "Best Repeat Recipe").

 

Fried Chickpeas and Chorizo Salad

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cooked or canned chickpeas

2 tsp olive oil

1 small clove garlic

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 oz diced cured chorizo

salt, to taste

veggie salad base (mine was baby spinach, thinly sliced red onion, and chopped red bell pepper)

Method:

1. Heat a small pan for about a minute, then add the oil and heat one more minute.

2. Add the chickpeas and stir around a bit.

3. About 3 minutes in, add the garlic and cumin seeds.  (You don't want to do this right at the start otherwise the garlic will just burn.)

4. After another minute or so add the chorizo and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the chickpeas are nicely browned and crispy and the chorizo is heated through.  (If it's cured, then it's already safe to eat as is -- it just needs to be warmed.)  Add salt to taste.

5. Prepare salad base and top with warm chickpeas and chorizo.

Voila!  A Freya creation.  So so so satisfying.  I really only needed a small portion because the flavors were so rich and there was probably a high fat content.  But it kept me full a while.  Yay creativity!

WASH YOUR HANDS!

No, this is not a commentary on hygiene, but I did I learn a lesson, and I will share it with you shortly.

At the suggestion of friends who had made this recipe, I decided to try my hand at chicken posole, or pozole, as my can of hominy spelled it.  The recipe was from Real Simple, which always wins me over.  And I have been struggling lately to fit protein into my diet now that I've more or less cut out tofu/soy.  I know, this is a big deal for the former VP Tofu of my group of friends.  My mom mentioned one day that she thinks tofu is kind of hard to digest, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that might be my problem.  Lord knows I eat (ate) enough soy...  So I've been eliminating it from my diet and I think it might be a good thing.  But it does make it hard to find quick vegetarian proteins!  Does anyone have suggestions?  Lentils may get old fast.

Have I mentioned my meat policy on here yet?  I am not a vegetarian by any means, but with my save-the-world-one-cow-at-a-time mentality, I have been trying to eat only socially responsible meats.  This obviously goes out the window when I go out to dinner (i.e.: the meat fest that I had at my birthday dinner at Alta, possibly my favorite restaurant... ever?), but I do my best at home, and to be honest rarely cook meat anyway.  And that, kids, is how I saved the world.  Or not.  But I'm trying!

Anyway, I have been dying to try meat from the farmers' market, so I finally got down to it last Saturday, and I bought a whole smoked chicken.  I won't tell you how much it cost, but that's because no one will want to save the world anymore after knowing that.  But it was pretty damn good and lasted me over a week, so perhaps wasn't so crazy in the end.

Hola, pollo.

I am not a fan of dealing with chicken bones, etc., but I did OK with this guy.  The white meat was a little dry, but the dark meat was pretty much perfect.  Most of it, however, went into my posole!

I did a lot of modifications on this recipe, and in the end I think it came out pretty well.  Always so proud when I do that!

Chicken Posole

adapted from Real Simple

So, I technically followed this recipe, but I think what I ended up making (and what I think my friends were telling me to make) was more like this recipe.  So, it's a hybrid.  Let's call it Prius Pozole.  (Wow, I'm such a nerd.)  The original recipe #1 requires making a chicken stock from scratch (hence the onion, celery, parsley, and raw chicken that it calls for).  I speeded this up by instead using broth from a box AND a pre-cooked chicken, which, as it turns out, is pretty much what recipe #2 tells you to do.  Also, this ended up being pretty spicy.  I LOVE spicy, so it was all good, but maybe only use one pepper if you need to tone it down for your taste buds.  OOOOOK.  Still with me?

Ingredients

1/2 small cooked (smoked, rotisserie, etc.) chicken, pulled (I realize this is a totally unhelpful way of putting it, but I didn't weigh or measure... I would say it was about 2 cups shredded chicken meat?)

6 cups vegetable or chicken broth

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 fresh jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1 fresh poblano (or any variety, really), seeded and chopped (I think you could also use a whole dried pepper -- just stick it in the pot whole and remove when the soup is done)

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 15-oz can of hominy ("pozole"), drained

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp dried oregano

chopped fresh cilantro, to taste

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

avocado, chopped, optional

tortilla chips, optional

radishes, sliced, optional

Method

1. Add 6 cups of broth to a large Dutch oven or stockpot and bring to a light boil.  While the broth heats, shred chicken into bite-size pieces and set aside.

2. Add onion, poblano, jalapeno, and garlic.  Return to a boil, and add the chicken, hominy, cumin, chili powder, and oregano.  Reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for about 20 minutes.

3. Before serving, stir in cilantro and lime juice. Serve warm and top with tortilla chips, chopped avocado, and sliced radishes, if desired.

Serves 4ish.

I served this with avocado, as suggested, a ton of cilantro (totally made the meal), and a beauuutiful salad.  I had never used hominy before.  They look like giant white corn kernels, but they have the consistency of a soft, chewy potato.  I'm not sure I made that sound appealing, but I really like it!

So, what lesson did I learn?  Hot pepper oils can stay on your fingers for a LONG TIME.  I managed to still have some on my fingers when I took out my contacts that night (after washing my hands at least 5 times), and my eyes stung for days.  Don't say I didn't warn you!

A Little Fishy

I am in love with the Green Market in Union Square.  So, it seems, are about 100,000 other people in NYC.  And they all like to show up just at the same time I do!  Imagine that.  Saturday afternoons at the best farmers' market in Manhattan are a mixed bag: local foods!  friendly farmers!  fresh bread!  the mushroom table!  And then suddenly I'm like a salmon swimming upstream and people's elbows are bashing into my arms/bags/face/carefully-selected-veggies.  Bah.  It's so much fun until someone squishes my fishes.  (Side note: there are actual results if you google "squish my fish".)

On that note, I bought fish at the market last week!  I am trying very hard to be as much of a locavore as possible, so I thought I'd finally check out the fish counter.  It was late in the day, so they didn't have a huge selection left, but I decided on a lovely piece of flounder -- enough to serve just one.

A few months ago, I bought this dry rub/seasoning at Whole Foods on a whim.  Someone was doing a cooking demo/sampler with it and I decided I could use a little something in my pantry to spice up my usual boring method of baking fish with minimal seasoning.  The WF seasoning is called Red and Green Bell Pepper Sprinkle, and it's just a dry seasoning mix of those 2 peppers, onion, parsley, and black pepper.  The demo cooker at WF  was pan-searing tuna with it, but it also went really well with my flounder, even though I had some doubts.

The process was pretty simple.  I rinsed and patted dry my flounder, rubbed a tiny drizzle of olive oil onto both sides of the fillet, and sprinkled a nice coating of the seasoning onto both sides.  Ta-da!

I prepared a side of broccoi rabe, which I wilted with a bit of water, then sauteed with garlic, salt and olive oil.  For the fish, I heated a bit of oil in a big non-stick pan, just enough so that the seasoning wouldn't just straight up burn, and cooked for about 3 minutes on each side.  And that was it!  It was SO fast, and so delicious!

You are also witnessing the best roasted veggie mix I've made in a while.  This was delicata squash, golden beets, parsnips, red onion, and garlic.  I actually just cut 2 garlic cloves in half and tossed them in with the veggies to infuse some flavor.  I removed them before eating, although Mrs. Nelson, my 8th grade home ec teacher would remind me that roasted garlic is a true treat.  Man, these are the times when I'm glad I don't have a boyfriend.  Why do onion and garlic taste SO GOOD?  Anyway, I was really pleased with my new additions to the roasting pan.  Added a lot of flavor!

I decided I needed a little vino and TV with dinner.  A Chardonnay from Argentina!  One of the last of my wine of the month club collection.  This one was just OK.  Good for a Chard, but not my favorite.

This meal may have been a little olive oil heavy, but good fats are, well, good!  And flounder isn't a fatty fish, so that kept some of the balance, I think.  I guess I could have steamed the broccoli rabe to save some cals?

Next up: more farmers' market experiments.  Always.  Happy Monday!

My Life Revolves Around Soup

I don't know why, but soup is pretty much always the first thing I think of whenever the question, "What's for dinner?" comes a-knocking at my door.  It's just the perfect little meal.  And I tend to make really hearty soups that might actually qualify as "warm bowls of stuff" rather than soup.  Brothy little numbers are good for what they are, as a side, as an appetizer, as a preliminary to "OK, so, um, what's for dinner?"  (Which, coincidentally, happens to be my dad's comment after finishing any vegetarian meal.)  But I just live for the kinds of soups that require nothing but a large hunk of bread and some roasted veggies.  Viva the warm bowls of stuff!

Last week I made an awesome soup/stew/warm bowl of stuff that came to me via Heidi, by way of Ileney.  Ribollita, according to Heidi, means "reboiled" in Italian.  And it's one of those meal in a bowl type of soups that I am obviously all about.  And I like any excuse to buy real bread, as opposed to high fiber sliced bread that I use for sandwiches and toast.

I tried using dried Great Northern beans, but I think I overcooked them because they were all falling apart, like so.

Actually, some were overcooked, and some under.  I will have to play around a little more because I like the idea of using dried beans.

 

One of these things isn't like the others... I had one random piece of yellow chard in with my batch of red.  Hm.

Ribollita

adapted from Heidi Swanson's 101cookbooks.com

Ingredients

3 tbsp EVOO

4 celery stalks

3 medium cloves garlic, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 medium red onion, chopped

1 14-oz can crushed tomatoes*

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 pound Tuscan kale, stems trimmed off and leaves well chopped (I used red chard and thought it was great, but I would be curious to see what flavor the kale adds, since it's a bit more bitter than chard)

4 cups cooked white beans

1/2 lb crustless loaf of bread

1 1/2+ tsp sea salt

zest of one lemon

lots of well-chopped oily black olives

Method:

In a large thick-bottomed pot over medium hear combine the olive oil, celery, garlic, carrot, and red onion.  Cook for 10-15 minutes sweating the vegetables (I finally understand what this means), but avoid any browning.  Stir in the tomatoes and red pepper flakes, and simmer for another 10 minutes or so, long enough for the tomatoes to thicken up a bit.  Stir in the kale (or chard), 3 cups of the beans, and 8 cups water.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the greens are tender, about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, mash or puree the remaining beans with a generous splash of water - until smooth. Tear the bread into bite-sized chunks. Stir both the beans and bread into the soup. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the bread breaks down and the soup thickens, 20 - 30 minutes. Stir in the salt, taste and add more if needed. 

Stir in the lemon zest.

Serve immediately, or cool and refrigerate overnight. Serve reheated, or "ribollita" meaning reboiled, the next day ladled into bowls. Finish each serving with a drizzle of olive oil and some chopped olives.

Makes a large pot of soup - enough for 10 servings.

*For the crushed tomatoes, I highly recommend San Marzano brand.  I should have known these were the real deal when Deb recommended them.  Seriously, I would follow this woman off the edge of any culinary cliff.  But no joke, I just started eating the leftovers straight out of the can.  Sweetest, freshest canned tomatoes I've ever tasted.

I made about 2/3 of the recipe and it was STILL so much food!  Like 8 servings?  Also, I wasn't paying attention and left the crust on the bread.  I recommend following the directions.  I ended up with lots of bread chunks that didn't break down well in the soup like they should have.

Pancakes Continue to Rule

In other news, I still really like pancakes.  And to be honest I can't stop thinking about the ones I had last week at Clinton Street Baking Co.  Jenna posted a link to this contest, and I couldn't resist.  Why is free food so tempting???  I have never actually won a single contest I have ever entered, but I am determined.  Check it out and win yourself some free food!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

It all started with a little snow.

And then it turned into quite a bit of snow, actually.  17 inches in Central Park!  Most snow we've had in the city for a LONG TIME.  Happy birthday to me?  Unfortunately Thursday was one of the grossest days I've seen in NY maybe ever.  Just slushy and wet and slippery.  It didn't turn into real snow until Thursday night into Friday.

But that didn't stop me from having a great day!  I started out with a little yoga at 7am at my favorite studio (read: the only yoga studio I've been to outside of the gym).  It was a great class and totally set the tone for my day.  I knew it would :)  I made sure to stay relaxed, focused, and balanced all day.

My mom called at 10:30 to see how I was doing.  I told her I was having a great day so far.  Without missing a beat she said, "So, what does that mean?  Coffee and oatmeal?"  Ding ding ding!  And yoga, I informed her.  What I did not tell her was that oatmeal involved a chocolate cookie on top.

Rolled oats in the microwave (I don't like regular oats on the stove) with almond milk, flax, cinnamon, 1/2 banana, dried cranberries, the best almond butter ever, a little sprinkle of my homemade granola, and 1/2 of a crumbled chocolate chocolate chip cookie on top.  :-D  It's my party and I'll eat what I want to!

Plus my favorite Java Girl Spanish roast in the French press with vanilla soy milk and my Cool Moose mug from Bridgton, ME.

I also used my favorite glass all day.

I heart Collegetown Bagels!  Speaking of CTB, I have a little surprise at the end of the post regarding my favorite place in Ithaca...

Right before I went out for my orthopedist appointment (turns out I have some very uncomfortable tendonitis in my knees, and I can't run my half-marathon in April :( ), these came to my door!

Thanks, Mom and Dad!!!!  This was SUCH a nice surprise.  They're a beautiful arrangement.

After a slippery walk home in my rain boots, I made a giant bowl of more-of-my-favorite-things for lunch.

Arugula, white sharp cheddar, chopped green apples, red onion, alfalfa sprouts, a few walnuts, a drop of olive oil, a drizzle of balsamic, and a drizzle of honey.  With a side of my favorite carb:

Spicy sweet potato fries!!!  Tossed before cooking with a tbsp of canola oil, and a sprinkling of cumin, chili powder, and paprika.  I tried to cut them thin so that they would brown quicker.  I always get impatient and take them out before they have a chance to really crisp up, but the thin method worked better.

I nibbled on some broken hamantaschen throughout the afternoon, and then headed out for a quick stop at a Cornell happy hour and then to dinner with my friends at heaven.  Oh, sorry, I mean Clinton Street Baking Co.  February was Pancake Month, during which they alternated between a few special pancake recipes that they added to their regular menu.  Yes, I had pancakes for dinner.  And yes, they were AMAZING.  I don't even know where to start.  I'm talking about light, fluffy, airy, sweet, buttery, crispy pancakes.

NOT the nicest picture, but use your imaginations.  Crunchy banana pancakes (bananas in the batter AND fried banana on top) with cinnamon chili chocolate sauce.  And maple butter.  And powdered sugar.  And I think there was a little bit of love in there somewhere.  Definitely some love.

I couldn't finish mine, although, to my surprise, they weren't as insanely huge as restaurant pancakes often are.  It seemed POSSIBLE to finish, just not desirable.  I also had a peach bellini with dinner.  Yum!  My friends got them to sing happy birthday and the waitress brought out a fudgy minty brownie with a candle in it.  At that point, approximately no one needed dessert, but I cut the brownie into eights so everyone could try a piece.  Also incredible.  Of course.

It was such a wonderful day -- thanks to all who made it that way!

And now, moving on to my big exciting CTB news: I have entered a sandwich design contest.  It's like it was MADE for me.  I can't really get competitive when it comes to sports, but give me a food challenge and I am in it to win it!  It's a Collegetown Bagels/ Cornell Hillel join contest for alumni to make a sandwich in the theme of Tub'shvat, the festival of trees, and it was suggested that we draw inspiration from fruit, nuts, spring, and Israel.  This was a toughie, as it seemed like those ingredients would make a better salad than a sandwich, but I put on my thinking cap and came up with the following:

Toasted multigrain bread with a nice shmear of goat cheese, alfalfa sprouts, red onion...

...sliced granny smith apples, fresh baby spinach...

...and the secret ingredient!

Berry hot strawberry jam!  SAY WHAT?!  CTB uses raspberry jalapeno spread on my favorite bagel sandwich, the San Diego, and, as one of its strongest supporters (long live the razz jalapeno!), I was determined for it to find its way into my sandwich creation.  This was the closest substitute I could find (gotta find out where they get theirs and start importing it... seriously), and it worked beautifully.  I did a very serious taste test experiment with both my mom and my friend Amanda, and this was deemed the best combination of all my efforts.  I'm not gonna lie, I REALLY want to win.  And I would be ok with not seeing goat cheese in my life for another few weeks.  I think I ate about 10oz of cheese in a matter of 24 hours.  Pretty sick.  But worth it.  Wish me luck!