Lebanese Lentils, Rice and Caramelized Onions (Mujadara)

This is a Lebanese dish with lentils, rice and Caramelized onions. 

Ingredients

1 cup brown or green lentils (not lentils du Puy), sorted for debris and rinsed

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns

3 medium red onions, thinly sliced

Kosher salt

3/4 cup basmati rice

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 (1-inch) cinnamon stick

2 tablespoons pine nuts, optional

Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Greek yogurt, for serving, optional

Directions

Throw the lentils into a medium saucepan. Fill with enough cold water to cover the lentils by about an inch. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn down to a simmer and cook until the lentils are tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, as the lentils cook, grab a large skillet. Pop it over medium-high heat and add the oil. Allow the oil to warm for a minute, then drop in the cumin seeds and cracked peppercorns and cook, shaking the pan once in a while until the cumin seeds darken a touch, about 1 minute.

Add the onions, sprinkle with a dash of salt and cook until they turn dark caramel brown, stirring often. This will take about 15 minutes. Splash the onions with a little water if they stick to the bottom of the pan. You'll know they're done both by their deep chestnut color and by the slight crispiness developing on some of the onions.

Using a slotted spoon or spatula, remove about half of the onions to a paper towel-lined plate; these are for garnish later. Sprinkle in the ground cumin, cayenne and then add the cinnamon stick; saute about 1 minute.

Add the rice and cook, stirring often (but gently so you don't break the rice!) until some rice grains start to brown. Quickly, add the cooked lentils, 3 cups of water and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt; bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low so that the pan is at a simmer, cover and cook 30 minutes. The water should be completely evaporated and rice should be tender. (If there's still too much water in the bottom, put the lid back on and cook for another 5 minutes.)

Turn off the heat, keep the lid on, and allow the rice to steam undisturbed for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts, if using, in a small skillet over medium-low heat, shaking often, about 5 minutes.

Taste the rice for seasoning. Serve with the reserved caramelized onions, toasted pine nuts, if using, and a little squeeze of lemon juice. I also like to serve this with some dollops of Greek yogurt.

Roasted Eggplant Salad (Baingan Bharta)

This is a Lebanese Roasted eggplant salad. You can add the greek yogurt or leave it out. It adds a creamy richness to the dish while still keeping it healthy. This dish has a wonderful amount of light heat that will surprise you.

Ingredients

2 large eggplants
2 tablespoons peanut oil, plus more for eggplant
1 medium white onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small serrano pepper, seeded (if you wish less heat) and minced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves and soft stems, minced, plus more picked leaves for garnish
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, plus more for sprinkling
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups Greek yogurt, beaten until smooth

Directions

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet with foil. Make 3 slashes in each eggplant, from top to tail, equally distanced around the eggplant. Rub the eggplants with a little peanut oil. Sit them on the baking sheet and roast until soft all the way to the center and the skin is brown, about 45 minutes, rotating the pan and flipping the eggplants halfway through. Remove from the oven and cool.

Once cool, skin the eggplant. Chop the flesh until it's relatively smooth but not mushy.

In a large skillet, warm the peanut oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the onion and saute until it turns golden brown. Add the eggplant flesh, garlic, chile and cilantro leaves. Cook 2 minutes. Add a splash of water if it begins to stick.

Add the turmeric, cumin, and 2 teaspoons of salt. Stir and cook another 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat. Add the yogurt and stir to combine. Taste for seasoning, and garnish with cilantro leaves and a sprinkle of ground cumin. Serve either warm or slightly chilled.

Per serving: Calories 293; Total Fat 19 grams; Saturated Fat 10 grams; Protein 11 grams; Total Carbohydrate 23 grams; Sugar: 10 grams; Fiber 11 grams; Cholesterol 20 milligrams; Sodium 161 milligrams;

Spicy Sesame-Soy Soba & Sliced Steak

This is a great easy dish for folks new to soba noodles. Make sure you have a really big pan because once you add the beef and soba back into the veggies it can be unwieldy to toss and manage. 

Quick note: If your soba noodles are in Japanese and you don't know the cooking time just remember it's FAST and you don't want them mushy. Just taste test after a couple minutes. 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds petite filet or flat-iron steaks
• 12 ounces soba 
• 3 tablespoons high temperature/stir-fry oil, divided
• 1 tablespoon Ancho chili powder
• 1 inch grated ginger
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 bunch scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 cup daikon, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 to 2 tablespoons Harissa or chili paste
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons Tamari
• 1 1/2 cups beef stock
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 3 tablespoons toasted sesame or black sesame seeds
• 1 cup shiso leaves or 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, coarsely chopped

Yields: 4

Preparation

Place the steak in freezer for a few minutes to firm it up for thin slicing.

Boil a large pot of water to cook soba or pasta; cook at a rolling boil to package directions to al dente.

Very thinly slice meat against the grain with sharp knife.

In large round-bottomed pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the stir-fry oil over high heat. Add meat, season with chili powder and brown 2-3 minutes; remove to plate. Cook in 2 batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding the pan. Add remaining oil and stir-fry the ginger, garlic, scallions, daikon and stir-fry to tender-crisp, 2 minutes. Sprinkle the sugar over the pan and stir in chili paste, Worcestershire, Tamari and stock. Add beef back and season with sesame oil. 

Drain soba and add to pan. Toss noodles with beef and sesame seeds, and serve.

Kale Salad

This is my friend Thaedra's Kale Salad recipe.

Just chop up a bunch of kale, drizzle a little olive oil sea salt, and juice from half a lemon on the kale and massage the kale until it is a little wilty (one or two minutes).  Then I added some toasted pine nuts, currants, chopped green onion, and shredded parmesan cheese.  I made a dressing on the side of juice from the other half of the lemon, some honey, pepper and about and whisked in an equal amount of olive oil and then dumped it in the kale.

Pecan & Chocolate Muffins

Pecan & Chocolate Muffins

Our dear friends the Petro's have a newborn baby. It's hard to make our usual dinner parties with the babies schedule so we made a date for Sunday brunch. 

This week I have been assigned to clean out the freezer. A shockingly large portion of our freezer is filled with Costco sized bags of nuts. So pecans were an inspiration for the menu; Carrot Quinoa Pecan pancakes, parfaits with fruit and pecan granola and pecan muffins! =) 

These little muffins turned out delicious!!

I keep several bags of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips on hand. (I try to stock up on them if I see them go on sale in the grocery store.) For the chocolate in this recipe I just chopped up the chips. This gives them a more even consistency through the muffins. 

Sifting the flour, baking soda and salt together. I put my sifter on top of a large bowl add the ingredients, then stir it around with a fork so the baking soda and salt  evenly distributed throughout the flour. Then I keep running the fork in circles until everything is sifted into the bowl. 

After you make up the batter. I use a big spatula to fold in the chocolate. 

I don't actually own a regular sized muffen pan. I usually make these mini loafs of different banana bread but, it works great for big muffins too. 

As a taste test I left a couple of the muffins without pecan topping. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/2oz pecans, finely ground
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter, melted
3 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into very small peices
chopped pecans, to decorate

Tools

mini baking loaf pan (bake 25 minutes)
or
12 cup muffin pan lined with paper cups (bake 18-20 minutes)

Instructions 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, then stir in the ground pecans and sugar. Put the egg, maple syrup mixture into the dry ingredients, then fold in the chocolate pieces.

Spoon the muffin mixture into your pain or caper cases, and sprinkle the surface of each muffin with the extra chopped pecans.

Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until risen and golden. Let cool in the pan for 1 minute, then turn out onto a wire rack. Eat warm. The muffins should be eaten within 24 hours or left to cool, then frozen for up to one month.

Don't toss the Ginger

I always buy too much ginger at the store and end up tossing it before I can use it all.

Here are two great tips for storing and keeping your ginger around for months.

Ginger Ice Cubes

1. 8oz fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2. Puree ginger with 3.4 cup water. Pour into mini ice cube tray. When frozen pop cubes out of tray and store in freezer bag. Add to drinks, soups, sauces or stir-fries

Freeze it Whole

1. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and put it in a zip lock bag
2. Each time you need ginger just take it out and saw off as much as you need then thaw it out.  

Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients 1 1/2 cups Arborio Rice 1.4 cup evoo 1 tbsp garlic, minced 1/2 cup onion, diced 1 1/2 cups wild mushrooms, sliced 1 cup white wine 4 – 6 cups chicken stock, low salt 1 cup thawed frozen peas 2 tbsp butter 1/2 cup 1/2 lb Asiago Cheese, grated Pepper to taste Simmer chicken stock on medium low heat on stove top In a large saucepan, heat the evoo and saute the onions, garlic, and mushrooms until lightly browned Add the Arborio Rice into the pot and toast for a couple minutes until toasted Add the white wine and let it burn off the alcohol for a couple minutes before adding the 1 cup of your chicken stock.  Stir Stir Stir... stir until the stock becomes incorporated into the rice then add another cup of chicken stock.  Keep watching the consistency if its dry keep adding stock.  When it's the correct consistency and incorporate the cheese and stir until melted.  Add the frozen peas and stir for five minutes.  Top with the butter and incorporate