my sister has always had trouble with cooking. try as she might, everything that she does is either under-seasoned or just plain off. in an effort to boost her cooking skills, she looked to her favorite food for inspiration: mediterranean food.
maybe it's something about the rice...or maybe the meat...or maybe even the wonderful mix of spices that this cuisine offers...whatever it is, mediterranean food has always been her favorite. every time that we have "ethnic" night for dinner, it's been her go-to for dining out. but after a while, she started to want to be able to cook as well as she was eating. it's been a tricky journey for her to learn how to taste her food and knowing the basics of preparing the ingredients that she loves. and with the help of her newly found favorite cookbook, tonight she made us a meal worthy of all her efforts.
Chicken With Caramelized Onion and Cardamom Rice
(from Jerusalem, c/o The New York Times)
Time: 1 hour, plus 30 minutes’ cooking and 10 minutes’ resting
Yield: 4 servings
3 tablespoons sugar (40 grams)
2 1/2 tablespoons barberries, or use currants (25 grams)
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced (2 cups/250 grams)
2 1/4 pounds skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (1 kilogram), or 1 whole chicken, quartered
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
10 cardamom pods
Rounded 1/4 teaspoon whole cloves
2 long cinnamon sticks, broken in two
1 2/3 cups basmati rice (300 grams)
2 1/4 cups boiling water (550 milliliters)
1 1/2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley leaves (5 grams), chopped
1/2 cup dill leaves (5 grams), chopped
1/4 cup cilantro leaves (5 grams), chopped
1/3 cup Greek yogurt (100 grams), mixed with 2 tablespoons olive oil (optional)
1. Put the sugar and scant 3 tablespoons water in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat, add the barberries, and set aside to soak. If using currants, you do not need to soak them in this way.
2. Meanwhile, heat half the olive oil in a large sauté pan for which you have a lid over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion has turned a deep golden brown. Transfer the onion to a small bowl and wipe the pan clean.
3. Place the chicken in a large mixing bowl and season with 1½ teaspoons each salt and black pepper. Add the remaining olive oil, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon and use your hands to mix everything together well. Heat the frying pan again and place the chicken and spices in it. Sear chicken for 5 minutes on each side and remove from the pan (this is important as it part-cooks the chicken). The spices can stay in the pan, but don’t worry if they stick to the chicken. Remove most of the remaining oil as well, leaving just a thin film at the bottom. Add the rice, caramelized onion, 1 teaspoon salt and plenty of black pepper. Drain the barberries and add them as well. Stir well and return the seared chicken to the pan, pushing it into the rice.
4. Pour the boiling water over the rice and chicken, cover the pan, and cook over very low heat for 30 minutes. Take the pan off the heat, remove the lid, quickly place a clean tea towel over the pan, and seal again with the lid. Leave the dish undisturbed for another 10 minutes. Finally, add the herbs and use a fork to stir them in and fluff up the rice. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. Serve hot or warm with yogurt mixture if you like.
Mixed Bean Salad
(from Jerusalem c/o The Guardian)
If you can't get yellow beans, just double the amount of french – it won't be a "mixed" bean salad, but it'll still be damned tasty. Serves four.
280g yellow beans
280g french beans, trimmed
2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into 0.5cm strips
2½ tbsp olive oil, plus 1 tsp extra
50g capers, rinsed and patted dry
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
10g roughly chopped tarragon
20g picked chervil (or a mixture of picked dill and shredded parsley)
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Salt and black pepper
Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Bring a large pan of water to a boil and add the yellow beans. After two minutes, add the french beans and cook for four minutes more. Refresh under cold water, drain, pat dry and place in a large bowl. Toss the pepper strips in a teaspoon of oil, spread on an oven tray and roast for five minutes, until tender. Remove and add to the beans.
Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Add the capers (be careful, as they'll spit) and garlic, fry for 20 seconds, then add the seeds and fry for another 20 seconds. The garlic should by now have turned golden. Remove from the heat and immediately pour over the beans. Add the spring onion, herbs, lemon zest, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and some black pepper, and toss to combine. This salad will keep well for a day.
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