Grilled Chicken with Tomato Chutney Chickpeas, Cucumber Radish Salad, and Tahini-Yogurt

there's a tiny pocket of commerce in the middle of our residential neighborhood called "tangletown" where you can find one, and only one, of pretty much everything. one pub and brewery, one coffee shop, one doughnut joint, one sushi restaurant, one dentist, one general market, one dive bar, one chiropractor, and, oddly enough, one kingdom hall are a part of our little hood. (it makes our area feel just like small-town america, until you head a couple of blocks south and catch views of the towering seattle skyline.)

tangletown also has one nice restaurant, and, since 1) we can walk to it and 2) we consistently have great seasonal food and drinks there, it's the seattle restaurant we refer to as "favorite." it's called Eva, and one of their characteristics is that all of the elements on the plate are great, but when they are compiled into one bite, the dish is pretty perfect. a few weeks ago i had a dish of roasted duck with tomato–garlic chickpeas, tahini yogurt, and a salad of cucumber and radish with sumac. i was blown away by this dish. i rarely try to recreate restaurant dishes at home, but this one was so impressive and flavorful, yet fresh and unfussy, that i decided with a couple of modifications we might be able to pull it off. 

it WORKED! first modification--chicken breast instead of duck. it's a completely different texture and flavor, but i am in no way ambitious enough to cook duck. besides, eva does it so well i'll just let them cook it for me. also, i couldn't find sumac anywhere! there are a couple of specialty spice shops around town i'll hit up when i have the chance, but for this dish the sumac was just left out. i found recipes for the components of the dish on various websites, and hoped that when they all came together on the plate they would feel at home with each other. the components went together beautifully, but each is awesome on its own, so mix and match!

for chickpeas with tomato chutney
from quick tomato chutney on mistress-of-spices.com
*vegan *gluten-free

1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp mustard seeds (i used yellow)
1/4 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp chopped ginger
3 medium tomatoes, chopped (i used some from our garden that i'd frozen whole at the end of the season last year. thawed for a few minutes and the skins slipped right off!)
1 Tbsp ketchup
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
15 oz cooked chickpeas

heat olive oil over medium heat in a small pan. add mustard seeds. when seeds stop popping, add onion and ginger. saute 3-4 minutes.

add tomatoes and ketchup. stir and cook until tomatoes thicken and reduce. add spices and continue to cook over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens up quite a bit. you want it to cling to the chickpeas. when thickened, add chickpeas, stir to combine, and warm through.


for cucumber-radish salad
from avocado & bravado
*vegan *gluten-free

2 medium cucumbers
4 radishes
1/2 cup diced sweet onion
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp mint, chopped
chopped parsley to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

peel cucumber (i usually leave on about a quarter of the peel), slice into thin coins, then chop into small pieces. using a mandoline, slice the radishes thin and the chop into strips. (you can slice the radishes by hand, but a mandoline makes it so much easier...) combine cucumber and radish with diced onion in bowl.

whisk the vinegar with the olive oil and pour over the veggies. toss together with the herbs and taste for seasoning. add salt and pepper to taste, and more vinegar or herbs to your liking.

for chicken with mediterranean marinade
from the wannabe chef
*dairy-free *gluten-free

3 Tbsp balsamic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp herbes de provence (can substitute other italian herbs)
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin (not super-duper thin, just pounded out to be a fairly consistent thickness)

combine first 8 ingredients well. put chicken in ziploc bag and pour in marinade and close bag. refrigerate. normally i like to marinate chicken overnight, but this time it only sat for 3 hours and was super flavorful.

here's where it gets tricky--i don't know exactly how we cooked it. rob grilled it, and every time we fire up the grill we do quick web searches for how long to cook chicken, to what temperature it should reach to be safely cooked, then we toss it on the grill, turn it after a few minutes, check it a few minutes after that, and pull it off the heat when we're happy with it. this time i think we cooked around 5 minutes on each side? (again, the chicken had been pounded out a bit so didn't take very long.) so, i'll say this--cook your marinated chicken however works for you!

for tahini-yogurt sauce
from food & wine
*vegetarian


1/8 cup tahini paste
juice of 1/4 lemon
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup whole milk plain yogurt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

blend tahini paste, lemon juice and olive oil in food processor. add yogurt and blend to mix thoroughly. scrape into bowl and add pepper. taste and add salt, if desired.

to serve
serve chicken, chickpeas and cucumber-radish salad drizzled with yogurt sauce and sprinkled with plenty of chopped cilantro. 

sources:
chickpas from alzarez organic farm
tomatoes, cilantro, and mint from our garden
radishes and onion from stoney plains farm
cucumber from river farm

grilled cheese with mozzarella, kale, and proscuitto

i essentially doubled my cookbook collection a couple of weeks ago. food magazine editors are sent a lot  of cookbooks for promotion, and, lucky me, i happen to know one who had acquired enough of them that she'd created a "free" box that i was invited to pilfer. i came home with 11 shiny new cookbooks, and food and gardening books. SCORE. 

one book that seemed at first as though it had no reason to exist is called grilled cheese, please! i wasn't convinced that the humble (and, let's face it, already mastered) grilled cheese needed 148 dedicated pages, but i took it anyway. and it's spectacular. 

the author, laura werlin, states in her forward that grilled cheese has "grown up." certainly, reading through the recipes she offers, i have to agree. she's using a range of rustic to fancy-pants cheeses and breads, and incorporates tons of other ingredients, including meats, fruits, veggies and pickles. some are dipped in jams or topped with relish. there are plenty of exciting, and a few downright weird, combinations. 

we started with the mozzarella with crispy proscuitto and broccoli rabe recipe, substituting kale for the rabe since we have some growing in our backyard. we talked about this sandwich for days! things like, "i can't believe how much i liked that sandwich!" "yeah, i was just thinking that!" use good fresh italian bread and whole milk mozzarella and you can't go wrong. the recipe calls for crisping up the proscuitto in a skillet before assembling the sandwich, but it doesn't seem necessary to me. crunchy, crispy, gooey, salty, creamy yumminess!

grilled cheese with mozzarella, kale and proscuitto

from grilled cheese, please!

makes 2 sandwiches

4 thin slices proscuitto

olive oil

1/2 bunch kale, rough chopped

dash of red pepper flakes

4 sandwich-size slices italian bread

4 ounces mozzarella cheese, drained and sliced if water packed, otherwise coarsely grated.

heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. add kale and saute until wilted but still bright green. stir in red pepper flakes, if using. (if your mozzarella is really mild, you may want to add a dash of salt to the kale as well.)

to assemble: brush one side of each bread slice with olive oil. oil side down, add half of kale to two bread slices, then proscuitto, then mozzarella. top with remaining bread. you may need to compress the sandwiches with your hand or spatula if the cheese is piled high.

heat skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes. lower sandwiches in pan, cover, and cook for about 3 minutes. (i know covering it seems weird, but laura insists it's the best way to get the cheese to melt before the bread has a chance to burn.) when browned, flip and cover and cook a minute or so more, until other side browned and cheese is melted. 

jerry traunfeld's spiced chickpea salad

i first heard about this recipe last fall when i attended a "holiday preview" of sorts at interbay whole foods. they had invited a group of foodie folks to sample their new thanksgiving dinner offerings and, la-di-da, i got to go because jill lightner, the editor of edible seattle, gets invited to this kind of thing and sometimes invites me to come along. at this particular event, food photographer, writer, preparer, eater (not sure what her professional title is, but she seems to do pretty much everything when it comes to food!) myra kohn, who writes the "recipe box" column for edible seattle, came by our table to chat with jill. they talked about recipes she was testing for upcoming issues of the magazine, and one that sounded particularly exciting was a chickpea salad from chef jerry traunfeld. i had to wait until the may/june issue to try it out, but it was worth the wait. 

these chickpeas get a super-yum rating. some even call them addicting. they are spiced but not hot, creamy but not heavy, and are a perfect side dish for spring and summer meals. they also come together really fast. try them as an alternative to potato salad at your next barbeque if you want to serve something deliciously unexpected! 

jerry traunfeld's chickpea salad

from edible seattle, may/june 2011

2 cups cooked chickpeas
2 tablespoons peanut oil, or other vegetable oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1/4 teaspoon ajwain seed, or substitute fennel seed or celery seed (i used celery seed)
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 cup whole milk yogurt (i've tried with low-fat and whole milk yogurt, and the whole milk was definitely better!)

put chickpeas in a bowl.

pour oil in small skillet over medium-high heat. when oil is hot, add the mustard seed, cover the pan (the seeds will sputter and pop and be launched out of the pan otherwise), and turn heat to low. when the seeds stop sputtering, uncover and add the cumin, ajwain (or fennel or celery seeds), and chili flakes and cook for about 10 seconds, until spices are fragrant and browning. immediately pour the oil and spices over the chickpeas.

add the lemon juice, salt, cilantro, and green onion and toss to coat. stir in yogurt. serve immediately, or refrigerate and bring to room temperature before serving.

sources:

chickpeas from alvarez farms

baked manicotti--for my dad, on father's day

remember when you were a kid and a special occasion would roll around for which you'd get to choose what you had for dinner? those were exceptionally special days--no asking "what's for dinner?" and dropping your head in disappointment after hearing "goulash" or, even worse, something involving large slices of stewed onion. no, this was your birthday, and you were in complete control over what would be on your dinner plate. for my brother and me, the answer was always the same--"MANICOTTI! manicottimanicottimanicotti MAAANICOTTIII!" we were absolute fools for the stuff, and our father would dutifully indulge us, every time.

my dad's manicotti wasn't only for for the immediate family. my cousins remember dinners at their aunt noopy and uncle micky's house before my brother and i were born where they would be served a pan of the cheese-filled pasta and a salad presented by lazy susan. there were baby shrimp for the salad. they tell me it was a real treat.

it's always a treat when someone cooks something special for you. there are tons of ways to say "i love you," but a meal prepared with love feeds body, mind and spirit. i know i always feel closer to people i've cooked for, as we sit down to eat. it feels like, "hey, i made this for you. it's food, it'll help you stay alive a little while longer. and it's important to me that you do just that!" 

rob and i made a manicotti together last week. it was good. definitely good. but not as good as my dad's! we went by the recipe for baked manicotti from saveur and made a couple of changes, including adding toasted pine nuts to the cheese filling--rob's inspired idea. 

but, the point here is not so much the dish as it is the association. ever since the recipe landed in my inbox from saveur, i looked forward to trying it, all the while thinking about my father. "daddy used to cook this for us, yay!" and as we stuffed the noodles with cheese, i noted what a pain in the ass it is, and appreciated even more what he was signing up for every time my brother and i got to name our special occasion dinner. 

so, this one is for you, pop/daddy/uncle robert*! thank you for cooking for us, we love you!

my father, master griller and hole-in-one'r extraordinaire, and my mother, accomplished hostess who can set a table that would make martha weep with envy, living it up on a mcminnville, oregon, rooftop 

*"uncle robert" requires some explanation--when i was 4, my parents took me to the beach. playing in the hotel pool i made a friend with some kid about my age, and when his parents said to me, "your dad is calling you," i soberly replied, "oh that's not my father. that's uncle robert." my mother was understandably mortified that her daughter had basically announced to the poolside gathering, "i'm on vacation with my mommy and her boyfriend." to this day we call him "uncle robert," and still have no idea where my little proclamation came from. kids.

deviled eggs with sorrel-pistachio pesto

i was never much of a deviled egg person. i realize that either my southern roots or the 37 summers i've spent on planet earth should have changed my distaste for them, but neither has. a few weeks ago, something shifted. i was reading through the recipe list on edible seattle's website and found a recipe for deviled eggs with sorrel-pistachio pesto. i was definitely intrigued by the idea of the pesto, not to mention finding out what "sorrel" was, but it wasn't just that. somehow, the idea of a boiled egg with the chalky yolk scooped out and mixed with creamy fat and then mounded back in the gelatinous, hard-cooked white actually sounded good to me. it sounded like a couple of bites of creamy, savory protein, and i suddenly wanted it. 

these are wonderfully delicious, and just writing this post makes me wish i had more in front of me right now. they are indeed savory, not like the traditional sweet pickle treatment, and the pesto is super bright and tangy. sorrel is a very lemony herb, and the pesto of roasted pistachios, sorrel, lemon juice, garlic, parmesan, and olive oil is pretty rich. i tend to love rich, creamy, tangy flavors, so this recipe is great for me. however, if you would miss the sweetness of the relish in some traditional deviled eggs, this recipe may not be the best one for you. either way, using 1 part mayo and 2 parts low-fat yogurt in the yolk mixture is brilliant for lowering the fat and calorie levels!

deviled eggs with sorrel-pistachio pesto

from edible seattle spring 2008

1 large clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup toasted pistachios
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 ounces fresh sorrel leaves (about 2 packed cups)
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup (lightly packed) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
6 eggs
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt
1 tablespoon mayonnaise

for hard-cooked eggs:

(my facebook friends recommended this method, and it worked like a dream.) put the eggs in the pot and cover with cold water. bring to a boil. cover pot, turn the burner off and let it sit on the burner for 11 minutes. remove eggs from pot and drop them into an ice water bath for a few minutes to stop the cooking. (remember that greyish-green color you've seen around some hard-cooked yolks? this method avoids that.)

for pesto:

process the garlic, pistachios, and 1/4 tsp salt in small food processor until chopped. add the sorrel and a bit of fresh cracked pepper and process until a green paste. add the olive oil and process again until blended. remove pesto mixture to a bowl and stir in the parmesan cheese. season to taste with salt and pepper.

for assembly:

when eggs are cooled, peel, half, and scoop out yolks into a bowl. add the mustard, yogurt and mayo and stir to blend. season with salt and pepper. mound the yolk mixture into the egg white halves and top with some of the pesto. 

you'll likely have some pesto leftover which the original recipe says is great spread on sandwiches or grilled fish.

sources:

eggs from stokesberry farms

spaghetti alla puttanesca

like this time last year, i have a glut of fruits and veggies in the freezer from last summer's preservation. i counted many, many containers of tomatoes in there recently, and figured since i have 10 tomato plants outgrowing their half-gallon pots and waiting impatiently for me to put them in the ground, it won't be that long before handfuls of cherry and salad tomatoes are coming in from the garden. time to rev up the pace on using the frozen ones!

i found this recipe for spaghetti alla puttanesca and figured it would be a great light pasta dish. it was thoroughly delicious, only i committed a common culinary sin, one that i thought i'd outgrown a long time ago--i seasoned before i'd added all of the ingredients. since i was using my frozen, plain diced tomatoes rather than canned as the recipe called for, i thought i had some salty room to spare. however, capers, olives and anchovies added quite a good bit of salt, and the result was the kind of great that would have been excellent if i'd been a little bit more patient with the seasoning. as rob diplomatically put it, "it's great! i mean, it did get a little salty towards the end..."

so, the lesson is learned one more time--taste and add salt at the end of cooking, especially when ingredients that are nearly pure salt are involved, like anchovies and olives.

speaking of anchovies, leave them out for a vegetarian version of this dish.

spaghetti alla puttanesca
adapted from bon appetit, january 2008

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
30 ounces diced tomatoes (frozen, canned or fresh)
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, halved
3 anchovy fillets, chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp drained capers
1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano, or 1 tsp dried
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
whole wheat pasta
chopped parsley
grated fresh parmesan

heat oil over medium heat in heavy saute pan and cook garlic, stirring, until fragrant, about a minute. add tomatoes, kalamata olives, chopped anchovies, capers, oregano, and red papper flakes. simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, about 10 minutes (depending on how juicy your tomatoes are). taste, then season with salt and pepper.

while sauce cooks, cook pasta to al dente.

serve immediately over cooked spaghetti with parsley and parmesan cheese.

goat's milk cheese for dinner: finally, a sign of spring!

this spring has been terrible. it's been the coldest spring in seattle on record, and as a result, spring crops are painfully slow coming in from local farms. we've been cooking soups and stews from ingredients in the freezer, waiting, waiting, for asparagus, spring peas, fennel--anything to make it seem like seattle spring really is different from seattle winter. eventually, i ran out of meats in the freezer, so on a relatively dry saturday we headed out to the u district farmers market for some ground beef so we could continue on with our maddeningly snores-ville diet of chili.

but guess what? goat's milk has its highest fat content in spring, during kidding season, and that makes for some pretty decadent fresh cheese. so when we saw the port madison goat farm and dairy booth, we thought, oh yes--cheese plate dinner.

we brought home two amazing cheeses from port madison--a fresh chevre and their short-season spring cheese. the chevre was bright white, incredibly creamy, and had a barely-there texture. the flavor was wonderful, and relatively mild. the spring cheese is a goat's milk cheese that is aged two months, with a great springy texture (its name seems to describe it in two ways) and a fantastic mild goat flavor. the spring cheese can only be made during the first couple of months of the milking season, so spring and early summer are the times to look for this one.

also on our plate were honey hazelnut crackers from beecher's in pike place market, stewed dried apricots from pipitone farm, hazelnuts from holmquist (because they are THE BEST), and vanilla rhubarb preserves. by combining cracker, cheese, and fruit, we quickly made a welcomed observation--each bite tasted like cheesecake!

super simple stewed dried apricots below, from deborah madison's book, seasonal fruit desserts. this is a truly stunning book, and anyone into fruit or dessert should have this on their shelves.

dried apricots stewed with vanilla and honey
adapted from compote of dried fruit, seasonal fruit desserts by deborah madison

3/4 cup honey
1/2 vanilla bean, or substitute high-quality vanilla extract
2 cups dried apricots, or mix of dried fruits
3 cups water

combine water and honey in saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring. scrape vanilla bean seeds into pan and add pod, or add vanilla extract. add fruit, reduce heat to low, and cook until apricots are soft, about 10-15 minutes. (could be longer if using mixed fruit.)

when fruit is cooked, remove from the pan with a spoon, leaving the syrup in the pan. simmer syrup for a few minutes to thicken, then pour over fruit.