Feeling virtuous...

In my heart, I would love to be one of those incredibly virtuous and clever people who manage not to have any waste food. In actual fact, my family seems to throw away stupid quantities of food, whether it is mouldy blocks of mystery cheese that fell down the back of the fridge, bunches of spinach that wilted slowly in the fridge before anyone could think of a purpose for them, or packed lunches that were rejected and left in a hot car to the point that they cannot be redeemed (and in some cases, it feels like the car might be a right-off too... I have nightmarish memories of what I believe used to be a ham sandwich, which I discovered in horror one afternoon underneath the backseat. It wasn't pretty, and it smelled pretty bad too). Moreover, with the amount of food my family seems to consume, it pains me to throw anything away. Sigh.

Sometimes though, I get it right and do something that reminds me of that person I would like to be, and makes me feel that maybe it is not a totally unreachable goal after all. Last night was one such night. I say this because I managed to cook some vegetables to go with the main dish which were not only good enough to be completely snaffled up, but also used the greens from the tops of the vegetables in the main dish. No waste! And the leftovers from the main dish were eaten by four out of five of us for lunch today - no waste! In fact, since I doubled the recipe below, at least one of us will be lunching on this again tomorrow. See, I have my ecologically-sound moments! Give me a moment while I rest gently on my laurels...

And as if I needed another reason to feel good about last night's meal, I was also kind of proud that it came from a part of the world whose cuisine we don't often see around these parts - namely North Africa. One of my favorite cookbooks is Slow Cooking From Around the World by Carolyn Humphries. Breaking out of one's comfort zone is another thing I wish I did more often, and which makes me feel great when I do. This is the kind of book that makes it easy to expose yourself and your family to unusual flavors and combinations of flavors. The side recipe that follows comes from one of those "Gosh, baby turnips, aren't they cute!" moments, followed by a "what the heck do I do with these?" moments. I honestly don't know what people did before google. One search for baby turnips, turned up the recipe below, which I tweaked only because I needed to use up some delicious purple carrots and asparagus as well.

Oh, and did I mention that the main dish is high in fiber too, with lots of barley? Sheesh, I'm on a roll here, people!

Barley Pilaf with Chicken and Feta
Serves 4

2 TBSP olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
12 oz chicken breast, cut into strips
2 zucchini (courgettes), cut into chunks
8oz pearl barley
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
2/3 cup tomato sauce (passata)
good pinch of ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
salt and ground black pepper
1/2 cup (4oz) feta cheese, cubed/coarsely crumbled
2 cups turnip greens /tops, coarsely chopped (if you are cooking the side dish below as well - you could always use spinach as an alternative)
2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley

1. Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic and chicken and sauté for a few minutes until chicken is getting browned. Add zucchini and then stir in the barley until it is glistening. Tip all of this into the slow cooker stoneware.
2. Add stock and tomato sauce/passata to the same skillet and bring to the boil. Pour into the slow cooker.
3. Add the cloves and cinnamon, and a little salt and pepper to taste, then stir everything together to combine.
4. Cook on High for 2 1/2 hours.
5. Stir in the feta and the chopped turnip greens, then cover and leave for 5-10 minutes so that the greens wilt.
6. Serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.

Roasted Vegetables with Parsley-Mustard Vinaigrette
from Food and Wine

1 TBSP white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp whole grain mustard
1 green onion (spring onion), finely chopped
1 1/2 TBSP chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
1 bunch baby turnips, peeled and halved (larger ones, quartered)
1 bunch purple carrots, peeled and cut into 1" lengths
1 bunch asparagus, woody lower stems removed, and rest chopped into 1" lengths

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, whisk together vinegar, mustard, green onion, parsley and 1/4 cup of the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Toss the chopped root vegetables (not the asparagus) with the remaining oil on a large rimmed baking sheet, and season with salt and pepper.
4. Roast the vegetables for 10 minutes.
5. Remove and add the asparagus, tossing to coat in the oil.
6. Return to the oven and roast for a further 10 minutes.
7. Tip the vegetables on to a large platter and drizzle the vinaigrette over the top, tossing gently to coat. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Tamarind or tamarin. Spelling matters!

I love that if you search for info on what a tamarind is, the Wikipedia entry starts with "This article is about the tropical plant. For the South American monkey, see Tamarin". For the record, I was not looking for a monkey for culinary purposes. Although I did watch a great episode of the new drama Black Box, the other day where a guy tripping on magic mushrooms opens his fridge and has a hallucination that there is a monkey in there. There are no monkeys in my fridge, and there are never likely to be :-) I was actually seeking enlightenment, realizing that I have used tamarind paste a few times, but have no idea what a tamarind actually is. Ignorance makes me uncomfortable. So, it turns out that the tamarind is a pod-like tree fruit native to Africa but grown widely there, in Asia, Oceania and South America, and that it is used most often in South Asian and Mexican cuisine. The taste is described as 'sweet and sour'. So there you have it, ignorance be gone. Needless to say, Wikipedia being what it is, there is a lot more details to savor there. However, it contains words like indehiscent, acidulous and sepals, so I kind of glossed over that. Knowledge is golden, but there is a limit.

Why was a prompted to make this little excursion into Wikipedia, you ask? Well, because the other night we enjoyed a dish where one of the main flavorings was tamarind paste. And a tasty dish it turned out to be. It isn't your average chicken dish for sure, and the flavor of the tamarind is an unusual one, but all five of the Farrars ate a sizeable portion, so it is one we seem to be willingly incorporating into our repertoire.

The recipe comes from Sara Lewis's Slowcooker Easy, which is in itself a reason to give it a try, since you know how much I love my slowcooker, and the word 'easy' is also a personal favorite. So stay clear of monkeys, cook up some rice and ladle a dollop of this on top, and dinner is sorted.

Tamarind Chilli Chicken
Serves 6-8

6 large skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1" cubes
2 TBSP canola/sunflower oil
2 onions, chopped
2 red bell peppers, chopped
2 red chiles, seeded and finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 TBSP tamarind paste
2 TBSP dark brown sugar
2 tsp turmeric
4 TBSP all purpose (plain) flour
900ml chicken stock
salt and pepper
cilantro leaves (coriander leaves) to garnish
rice to serve

1. Heat oil in a large skillet and sauté the chicken until beginning to brown. Transfer to slow cooker stoneware.
2. Add onion to the same pan and fry until lightly browned. Stir in red bell pepper, chiles and garlic, and cook for 2 minutes. Mix in tamarind paste, sugar and turmeric and cook stirring for a further minute. Mix in the flour, and then gradually add the stock. Season to taste and bring to a boil.
3. Pour sauce into slow cooker and mix together with chicken. Cook on Low for 8-10 hours, or High for 5-6 hours. Serve over rice, garnished with chopped cilantro.

An offer you can't refuse...

With the title of this post, I'm going all out here and suggesting, nay implying, nay claiming beyond a reasonable doubt, that even pasta-haters will eat this dish. I say this on the basis of extensive research with a number of subjects. (The number, in case you're wondering, is one. But hey, it was youngest son, and although he initially expressed doubt, he did polish off a sizeable plate of this.)

Moreover, I am suggesting, nay implying, nay out-and-out claiming that even arugula-haters will partake of this dish, and in fact that they probably won't even work out that there is arugula (also called rocket) in it, despite the fact that there is an entire bag of the stuff in there. This is partly because they are shoveling it so quickly into their mouths that the only remaining evidence to examine will be the sauce stains down the shirt-front; there will certainly be nothing left on the plate. Why so convinced, I hear you ask? Well, because my pool of a large number of test subjects put away two plates of this dish and then had the leftovers for lunch today. The large number, in case you feel like asking is again one, but it is oldest son, who is large, has a large appetite, and is an arugula-hater for sure.

So, all that remains for the chef is to rest comfortable in the knowledge that she (or he) got one over on two out of three kids, a worthy achievement for sure, and to worry about whether there will be enough left for her.

Rotini with Sausage and Arugula
Serves 6-8

1lb rotini
olive oil
1lb sweet Italian sausages, casings removed
1 7oz pack fresh arugula/rocket, coarsely chopped
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 tsp dried oregano
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
salt to taste
grated parmesan cheese

1. Cook rotini according to directions until al dente, then drain, reserving 2 cups of the cooking liquid. Set aside.
2. Heat a large skillet over a medium-high heat and add sausage to pan. Cook for about 5 minutes, breaking the sausage up, until it is beginning to brown.
3. Add the onion, 2 cups of the chopped arugula, oregano and garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add the reserved cooking liquid, crushed tomatoes, sugar, pepper and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, then add the pasta and stir to combine.
5. Cook for a further 2 minutes, then stir in remaining arugula.
6. Serve topped with grated parmesan.

The world tour continues...

It's pretty amazing how cosmopolitan we are these days in our palates. The availability of cheaper (well, moderately cheaper), faster means of travel, large-scale worldwide immigration and resulting mixing of cultures, and the ubiquity of media reflecting many different cultures have all helped broadened the variety foods we regularly consume. I have no doubt that this cultural and culinary melting pot leads to dishes which could hardly be described as authentic, or true to the originals on which they are (probably very loosely) based, but it certainly adds to the deliciousness on offer! Earlier this month, I blogged about two chicken dishes, one hailing (at least faintly) from India, and the other from France. Today, it is the turn of Vietnam to provide the inspiration. And to further compound the melting-pot metaphor, I clipped the original recipe for this dish from a British magazine called Good Food. Californian immigrant family enjoys south-east Asian dish developed by British food writer. Get your head around that. And when you have done so, cook it, and you'll hopefully enjoy it just as much as we did, whatever your ethnic and cultural origins and current locale!

Vietnamese Pork Salad
Serves 6-8

2 tsp golden granulated sugar
juice of 4 limes
1 1/2-2 fresh red chillis, deseeded and finely chopped
1 cup cilantro stems or roots, roughly chopped
2 TBSP toasted sesame oil
4 TBSP light soy sauce
2lbs pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat
canola/vegetable oil
1/2 large hothouse/English cucumber, cut into matchsticks
10oz shredded green cabbage
4 green/spring onions, finely sliced
4 stems of lemongrass, tough outer layers peeled away and discarded, then finely sliced
zest of 2 limes
1 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1 cup mint leaves, chopped

1. Put sugar and lime juice in a glass jug with 2 TBSP of water and microwave for 30 seconds or so to dissolve the sugar. Pour into bowl of a food processor. Add chillis and cilantro stems, then pulse until smooth. Add sesame oil and soy sauce and process briefly some more to incorporate. Set aside until needed.
2. Heat a griddle pan or outside grill/BBQ. Brush pork with oil, and then grill until cooked through. Thinly slice the meat against the grain, then tip into a large bowl and pour over half of the dressing from the food processor. Allow to cool.
3. Toss the remaining ingredients in a large bowl with the remaining dressing. Pile onto a platter and top with the pork, spooning over any remaining juices.

Going nuts over chicken

This post is what I like to call a 'twofer', as in a 'two for one' deal. No, I am not offering you twice as many tubes of toothpaste as you actually wanted, so that you can put the second tube in the back of a drawer and forget you have it next time that you run out. Nor am I offering a bottle of laundry detergent twice the normal size, and sooooo large in fact, that it is impossible to lift it to dispense the liquid, thus rendering any financial savings completely pointless. No, what I am offering you lucky people is two chicken recipes, both of which distinguish themselves not only by being tasty, but also by including nuts in the sauce.

Other than that, the two dishes are quite different. The first is an Indian-style Korma curry (note the use of the word 'style' there, as I know it probably is not even close to authentic!), for which the grainy texture of the sauce is achieved by using cashew nuts, ground up in a food processor. It satisfies my family's requirement that Indian food is spicy, whilst not being hot, and it satisfies my requirement that it be reasonably healthy, since the recipe uses yoghurt rather than cream, and since cashews, whilst being high in fat, are high in the good kind of fat (meaning, you can still eat that cupcake afterwards and feel relatively OK about it!). The original recipe came from a magazine called Clean Eating.

The second recipe is about as far from Indian as you can get. It is a rustic French-style dish and yet another piece of slow cooker genius from Judith Finlayson, featured in her brilliant book The Healthy Slow Cooker. Here the grainy texture of the sauce is achieved with ground walnuts. The sauce also has a wonderful green color from copious quantities of fresh parsley which is ground up with the walnuts.

According to Judith (so it must be true), "Numerous studies show a strong link between the consumption of nuts and reduced rates of coronary artery disease." So there it is, people. Go nuts. It's good for you.

Chicken Korma
Serves 6

1/2 cup unsalted cashews
3 TBSP canola oil/sunflower oil
2 large onions, sliced
2 TBSP fresh ginger, grated, or finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tsp curry powder
2 tsp turmeric
2 1/2lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1" cubes
1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup tomato sauce (passata)
1 tsp salt
1 cup plain low fat Greek yoghurt
4 tsp cornstarch
5 cups cooked basmati rice

1. Place cashews in a small bowl and add 1/2 cup boiling water. Let stand for 15 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add onions, ginger and garlic and cook stirring for 3 minutes. Stir in curry powder, and turmeric and cook for a further 30 seconds. Add chicken and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in broth, tomato sauce and salt. Simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. In a food processor, blend cashews with soaking water and yoghurt until smooth. Add to skillet and simmer for 2 minutes.
5. Blend cornstarch with 2 TBSP water and stir into skillet. Cook for 1 minute or until thickened.
6. Serve over cooked rice.

Chicken with Leeks in Walnut Sauce
Serves 6-8

1 TBSP olive oil
4 leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
4 stalks celery, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 TBSP all-purpose (plain) flour
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp salt
3 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts or thighs
1 cup walnut halves
1 cup loosely packed parsley leaves
1 clove garlic, minced
1 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP red wine vinegar

1. In a skillet, heat 1 TBSP olive oil for 30 seconds. Add leeks and celery and cook, stirring, until softened (about 5 mins). Add garlic, tarragon and black pepper and cook for a further 1 minute.
2. Add flour and cook, stirring for 1 more minute. Add stock and bring to the boil. Cook stirring for about 2 minutes or until slightly thickened. Season to taste (add about 1/2 tsp salt).
3. Arrange chicken pieces evenly over the bottom of a slow cooker and cover with the leek mixture. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours, or HIGH for 3 hours. By this time, the chicken should be fully cooked.
4. Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine walnuts, parsley and garlic and process until finely ground. With motor running, gradually add oil and then vinegar, processing until smooth.
5. Add walnut mixture to stoneware and stir well. Cover and cook on HIGH for 15 minutes, until walnuts are heated through.
6. Serve with boiled potatoes tossed in parsley and a little butter and whatever veggies you choose :-)