summer kofta.

 

Kofta is one of my favorite dishes. I've made this dish countless times before, but this time around, I wanted to change things up a bit. I decided to experiment with adding some sun-dried tomatoes and feta to the mix and adjusted the seasoning a little bit. 

This turned out wonderful! Nice and tangy from the tomatoes and feta and gave a different spin on the kofta. Served with a nice tzatziki, some creamy hummus, tomoato salad, fluffy couscous, and some soft naan, this made for a delightful meal!

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Sun-Dried Tomato and Feta Kofta
(adapted from Lady and Pups and The Moveable Feasts)

For the Meatballs:

1 lbs ground lamb

1 lbs ground beef

3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup pine nuts

3 oz. soft-dried sun-dried tomatoes

Handful of Italian parsley

1 medium red onion, quartered

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp dried mint

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp everything seasoning 

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/8 tsp nutmeg

4 oz. crumbled feta cheese

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more to drizzle

1/4 to 1/2 cup pine nuts

1 tbsp dried mint

1 tsp caraway seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup finely chopped italian parsley

In a food processor, combine and coarsely chop garlic, nuts, tomatoes, parsley, and onion. Transfer to a large bowl then add egg, cornstarch, oil and spices. Stir to combine. Crumble in lamb and beef, until just mixed. Add the feta cheese then mix again,, careful not to overwork the meat. Adjust seasoning as needed by cooking a small sample then form into 1 to 1.5 inch sized balls. Set aside.

In a large nonstick pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil on medium-high heat. Add meatballs and brown them nicely all over. Remove ball from pan. Add the pine nuts, caraway seeds, and fennel seeds to the pan. Toast until golden brown, being careful not to let them burn.

Add the minced garlic, dried mint, and parsley. Cook for about 30 seconds, return balls to the pan, then season with salt and pepper as needed. Cook for another 30 seconds, tossing the balls gently to coat.

Serve with hot naan, tzatziki, hummus, cucumber-tomato salad, shredded lettuce, and caraway-flavored rice or couscous.

Makes about 6 to 8 servings.

easy moroccan.

Just a quick and easy dinner: Morrocan marinaded chicken with lots of garlic and a hint of honey then served with some boxed Parmesan couscous fancified with oil-cured olives, jumbo golden raisins, sun-dried tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese, and a good amount or peppery arugula. Dinner is served!

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Easy Moroccan Chicken
(makes 2 servings)

1 tbsp Moroccan spice
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp honey
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
4 bone-in chicken legs and/or thighs

 
Combine spice, olive oil, honey, and garlic. Place chicken in a Ziploc bag and add marinade. Massage marinade into the chicken then leave in the fridge overnight.

The following day, remove chicken from Ziploc bag and place skin-side down on a foil-lined baking pan. Set oven to broil and cook chicken for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken so that it's skin-side up and continue cooking for another 10 minutes or until juices run clear.

you're doin' this, caprese?

Surprisingly, when I made marinara the other day, I was sort of at a loss to what I wanted to do with it. Sure, I could do the pasta route or have it with some ravioli, but that didn't seem grand enough for what I had envisioned when I made this sauce.

What to do?

I flipped through a bunch of my cookbooks and decided that I wanted chicken as my main protein. I love chicken. It's easy, versatile, and an ingredient that I was comfortable experimenting with. Then, since I was working with a sauce that was Italian-themed, it made sense to base the ingredients off of classic Italian flavors.

So, I thought i'd do a play on caprese salad. But, instead of serving it as a starter, I thought I'd stuff it in the chicken. Mozzarella, basil, and tomato . . . perfect! I decided to also top the chicken with some oregano-spiced panko to add some interest. Paired with the marinara sauce, this was a killer dish!

As a side, I made ratatouille on the fly, garlic butter pasta for the hubby, and soft polenta for me. I am such a glutton for punishment! It was like having a chicken with it's head chopped off . . . a mad rush from one spot to the other. On hindsight, this turned out to be heavier than I expected, so I'd probably cut out the ratatouille next time. All in all, not too bad. :)

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Stuffed Chicken Caprese with Marinara Sauce
(Makes 2 servings)

2 skinless boneless chicken thighs
2 slices fresh mozzarella
3 leaves basil, julienned
2 pcs sun-dried tomato, chopped
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 tsp dried oregano
garlic powder
onion powder
paprika
salt and pepper
olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup marinara sauce
chopped parsley, for garnish

 
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Combine panko breadcrumbs and dried oregano then set aside.

Drizzle chicken with some olive oil then season with garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and pepper, to taste. Transfer chicken to a lightly sprayed, foil-lined baking pan, top-side down. Place a slice of mozzarella on a chicken then top with half the basil and sun-dried tomato. Fold the meat over, tucking securely under to make sure stuffing is mostly covered and repeat for the remaining thigh. Top with panko mixture until evenly distributed.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Let rest for 5 minutes. Serve on a bed of marinara sauce and garnish with parsley.

meat.

I'm not a big red meat eater. Most of the stuff that I make tend to be poultry based. For me, whenever I eat red meat, I end up feeling heavy afterwards. The hubby, however, is definitely a meat eater.

When I went grocery shopping last week, I had picked up a steak for him but had no idea what to do with it. A quick search on pinterest resulted in this recipe that didn't seem too hard to make. And as an added bonus, I had everything that was called for. So, I went ahead and made it. If I do make this again, I think I would do the pan juices as suggested as my steak came out a little dry. Well...I also can't cook steak so there's that too. Practice, practice, practice!!

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Flank Steak Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Goat Cheese, and Basil
(from Elly Says Opa!)

10 oz. (ish) flank steak
2 oz. goat cheese, brought to room temperature to soften
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, drained and chopped
3 Tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Optional pan sauce:
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. white wine

 
Preheat the oven to 400.

Butterfly the flank steak, and then pound is to flatten it slightly. Sprinkle both sides of the steak with salt and pepper.

In a bowl, combine the softened goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, basil, a few grinds of pepper. Spread the mixture on top of the flank steak, and then roll it up to form a log. Secure the steak with kitchen twine or toothpicks.

Heat a large, ovenproof skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the flank steak and brown it on all sides. Place the flank steak in the oven to finish cooking to your desired level of doneness (about 12 minutes for me). Place the steak under a foil tent to rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.

If you want to make a pan sauce, put the same pan you cooked the steak in over medium heat on your stovetop. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the browned bits (and, whatever you do, don’t touch the handle without an oven mitt). Reduce the sauce slightly and then season to taste with salt and pepper if necessary. Strain and serve over the flank steak.

roasting for the rain.

today was a cold day. the rain fell in hard little drops and the crispness of the air signaled the start of fall in our normally temperate city. what better way to welcome the season than a nice roasted game hen? :)

this recipe for the cornish game hen was really killer. savoury and tasty...the kind that you just want to keep on eating until you couldn't eat anymore. the flavor of the garlic and soy suace with a light lemon finish really stayed in your mouth. we ended up doubling the recipe as the hens we got were on the smaller side.

my sister and i paired it with tarragon glazed carrots and a coucous to balance everything out. the sides we chose were a great accompaniment to the hens and everything just worked together to create a perfect fall meal. next time i do the couscous though, i'd make it a tad more tomato-y and add less butter. we also adjusted the recipes to serve two people.

Cornish Game Hens with Lemon and Garlic
(from What’s Cooking America)

1 Cornish Game Hen*
Coarse sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
3 to 4 minced garlic cloves
Juice from 1 to 2 lemons (to taste) (we only had bottled, so guestimated)
2 tablespoons butter

* Have your meat cutter cut one (1) Cornish game hen in half. Remove inside bag from each half prior to preparing.

Place non-stick aluminum foil on baking sheet. Salt and pepper both sides of the Cornish game hen.

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine soy sauce, garlic, lemon juice, and butter. Heat in microwave until butter has melted and you can smell the garlic. Carefully remove from microwave.

Baste both hen halves, on each side, with the prepared marinade and place on the prepared baking sheet. NOTE: The hens can now go back into the refrigerator until cooking time. Remove 1 hour before cooking to allow hens to come to room temperature.

Heat the broiler of your oven and move oven rack up to the second notch below the broiler element. Broil hens on one side until you see the marinade start to bubble and the skin starting to brown; baste again, turns hens over, baste, and broil until starting to brown. Using oven mitts, remove Cornish game hens from the oven.

Turn the oven to 375 degrees F. Move oven rack down to roasting position.

Place the partially cooked Cornish game hens back in the oven (cut side down), and baste again. Roast until the hens, are done, or until a thermometer registers an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. (juices will run clear when cut with the tip of a knife). Baste frequently with accumulating juices.

Remove from oven and baste again with the remaining juices that have browned nicely on the foil. Cover cooked Cornish game hens loosely with a piece of aluminum foil for about 10 minutes. Baste again on both sides, and place on individual serving plates.

 

Herb and Tomato Couscous
(from Honest Fare)

About 10-12 sun dried or roasted tomatoes (used sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil)
Olive oil
Handful of fresh sage and oregano (used dried and eyeballed it, maybe 2 tsp each?)
Salt
Black Pepper
1 small clove garlic (trippled this and used roasted garlic instead)
1/4 red onion (doubled this cuz we love onions :D)
2 shallots (i subbed chopped scallions and added it in the end)
1 1/2 cups dry couscous (we used boxed whole wheat couscous)
1/4 cup pine nuts (feta crumbles as sub.)

1. Dice up herbs, tomatoes, shallots, red onion and garlic (set a small amount of fresh herbs aside for later). Saute it all on medium heat in about 4 tablespoons of olive oil until onions are tender. Add a teaspoon of salt and some cracked black pepper. Keep partially covered for about half the time so all the juice doesn’t evaporate.

2. Prepare couscous: you’ll need 1 ½ cup dry couscous per 2 cups of water. When water boils, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, ½ a teaspoon of salt and the grain. Remove pot from burner right away. Keep covered for 5 minutes. Fluff when fully absorbed. If you use a box, just follow those directions. (followed box directions)

3. Toast pine nuts: cover the bottom of a pan evenly with pine nuts (no oil is required). Cook on medium low heat (no higher!) and keep tossing them around until they’re browned on both sides. Don’t take your eyes off them too long or they’ll burn…and that sucks.

4. Add herb and tomato mix to the couscous. Crack a little extra pepper and hit it with another dash of salt and/or olive oil if you like. Toss REALLY well to remove all clumps. Top with pine nuts or feta cheese and the fresh herbs you set aside in the beginning. Toss again and serve. (next time, i would probably put the herbs and use the oil from the tomatoes together in the pot of couscous while it's cooking. this would pobably make the dish a little bit more flavorful.)

 

Tarragon Glazed Carrots
(from A Teaspoon of Happiness)

8 carrots, sliced
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh tarragon (used dried, about 1-2 tsp)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. In a large saucepan or skillet, cover carrots with water and bring to boil - keep pot covered.

2. Reduce heat and continue simmering for about 10 - 15 more minutes or until carrots are tender.

3. Drain water from the pot.

4. Stir in the remaining ingredients and allow to cook for 2 more minutes or until butter is melted.

rusticky ham and veggie tart.

ah, tarts! one of the best ways to use up veggies going bad and little bits and pieces of other random stuff in the kitchen. :) this was a spur of the moment kind of thing and since i was home sick, cooking was an excellent make-me-feel-better activity. :D



let's start with prepping some pretty veggies. i decided to use three different kinds of onions for this one and caramelizing them before going into the tart. figured i'd add some basil and some sun-dried tomatoes to give it a little kick as well.



in to the pan the onions went with a little bit of garlic while i prepped the egg base. looking in the fridge, i spied a couple of leftover slices of canadian bacon and that was put into the mix as well. i was worried that the tomatoes would be too chewy so that was hydrated in olive oil for a few minutes. then all were mixed together with some salt and pepper and into the oven it goes!


tasty! and pretty to boot. :D i paired this up with a side of baby spinach and arugula topped with a little bit of balsamic vinaigrette for a nice lunch. mmm....perfect! definitely love when spur of the moment works! :D