Palestinian Maftoul (Couscous) Salad

Adapted from Laila Yasin, serves 4-5

Date made: 3/16/2011

1/2 lb maftoul

1/4 c olive oil

1/2 c raisins

1 green onion, diced*

1 bunch parsley, diced*

1 tsp Za'atar

juice of half lemon

salt and pepper, to taste

In a small saucepan bring 2 cups of water and dash of salt to boil.
Meanwhile, saute maftoul in 1 Tbsp of olive oil.  When water has begun to boil, add maftoul to water, reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 10-15 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed.

Fluff with a fork and transfer to a tray to cool.

Add a 1/2 cup of water to raisin and simmer for 10 minutes.  Drain and let cool.

Add maftoul, 1/4 c olive oil, raisins, parsley, onions, and lemon juice to a serving bowl and mix well.  Add Za'atar, salt, and pepper, to taste.

So the majority of this dish isn't really local, but I've been meaning to make it ever since I got back from Israel/Palestine and Canaan Fair Trade.  I really love this salad; it's really fresh and healthy, and I feel that it tastes so much better after experiencing the culture and the land from which it originated.

I didn't have all the ingredients that the original recipe from Laila called for, so in addition to the above, you can add a 1/2 onion (diced and sauteed) and one diced cayenne or chili pepper, if so desired.

I brought the salad to a party with some co-workers, and it was all gone by the end of the night.  Although there were far more people present than the recipe yield, I'd like to think that it's still pretty good.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Poblano Soup

Adapted from Mii amo Spa, serves 6
Date made: 3/20/2011

2 lbs sweet potatoes*
3 large green onions (or 5 small), chopped, white parts only*
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 poblano pepper, deseeded and diced
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
4-6 c vegetable broth
2 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

optional garnish:
3/4 c low fat sour cream
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp maple syrup

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into half-in cubes.
Toss with 1 Tbsp oil, salt, and pepper.
Roast in pre-heated 375-degree oven until for tender and lightly browned, about 25 minutes.  Heat remaining oil in large sauce pot over medium.
Add onion, garlic, and pepper.  Sweat over medium heat for minutes, occasionally stirring.  Add sweet potatoes, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.
Sweat another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add about 4 cups of broth and simmer for 10 minutes.  Blend will with immersion blender or standard blender.
(If using standard, return to pot when complete).
Return to simmer, adjust consistency with remaining broth.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Optional garnish: combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix, and add dollop to each soup serving.


I REALLY LIKE THIS SOUP!  Thanks to Mary Chapman for the recipe!

I'm trying to follow the mantra of "use what you have", so I replaced the yellow onion from the original recipe with the white parts of the green onion and allspice with the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, adapted from ehow.  I neglected the coriander since Google searches yielded several recommendation to not attempt to substitute coriander.  Maybe next time if I remember to get ground coriander at the grocery store.

I'm glad that I didn't cut back on the poblano pepper in order to keep the recipe in proportion because I really like the hint of spice in the soup.  If I had cut back to a half of a pepper or two small peppers, I don't think it would have been strong enough.  Since I don't have any sour cream, I also opted out of the garnish, but the maple syrup addition sounds really good!

Yum, yum, yum -- I love to cook!

Turnips with Swiss Chard

Adapted from cdkitchen, serves 2-4
Date made: 3/15/2011

3 turnips, halved and sliced*
1 bunch swiss chard, roughly chopped*
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp olive oil
lemon zest of one lemon
juice of half of a lemon
salt and pepper to taste

In large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and saute garlic until it starts to brown.  Remove garlic and set aside.
Add turnips and saute until it starts to brown, about 5 minutes.
Raise heat to medium-high and add garlic, swiss chard, and lemon zest and saute for 2 minutes.
Turn the heat off and cover skillet.  Allow to steam for about 5 minutes.
Season with lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.


So it's been about a month since I posted my last recipe.  It's been busy, starting the new job with AmeriCorps and everything.  February/early March was a really bad month for cooking with PSO and then Mardi Gras I ate out a lot more than I should have.  Now that the new job is starting to set in and my bank account balance is starting to decline, I'm going to get better at cooking in and trying new recipes!

On Saturday, I did make a variation of Collard Greens and Turnips using kale and beet greens instead.  Jason said it turned out pretty tasty, and I thought it was a good use of the produce, so I think I'm going to continue to revert to this recipe for an easy meal when I'm short on time and don't feel like cooking.

Poor Man's "Beef" Stroganoff

Adapted from Joy of Cooking, serves 4
Date made: February 13, 2011

1 lb ground turkey
3 1/2 Tbsp butter
1 c chicken stock
1 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp sour cream
1 Tbsp honey dijon mustard
12 oz pkg wheat noodles
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pint cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced*
1 tsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Cook wheat noodles in per package directions.
Season ground turkey with salt and ground pepper to taste.
Melt 1 1/2 Tbsp butter in small saucepan over medium heat.
Add flour and stir with a whisk until smooth.
And chicken stock and whisk constantly to prevent lumps from forming.  Heat slowly and allow to simmer until smooth and thickened.
Set aside and keep warm.
Melt remaining butter in large skillet over medium heat.  Add turkey and crumble into small pieces.  Add onions and cook until turkey is browned.
While the turkey is cooking, heat olive oil in a skillet over high heat.  Add mushrooms and toss constantly until mushrooms begin to color.
Add garlic and parsley and cook for another minute.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Remove onion from meat and discard.

Transfer meat onto a warm dish and set aside.

Stir in sauce with juices from cooked meat and heat without boiling.
Stir in sour cream and mustard, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Add meat and mushrooms to the sauce and mix well.  Serve over the wheat noodles and enjoy!

This recipe follows the 1997 version of the Joy of Cooking cookbook.  I ended up saving the onions and using it to make a soup with the leftover chicken stock and some barley from the Winter Borscht.  In hindsight, I would have done something more along the lines of what's posted on the The Joy Kitchen, but it still turned out well considering it was my first time making this.  It's one of those dishes that I associate with my childhood, although I remember not really liking it much until I started liking mushrooms.  Also, I'm a huge fan of the Mix 'n Chop, courtesy of Pampered Chef.  I think that every kitchen should have one.

Brown Butter Pasta with Tatsoi

Adapted from Appetite for China, serves 4
Date made: 2/8/2011

1 box wheat penne
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 bunches of tatsoi, stems removed*
1/4 c parmesan cheese, grated
1 Tbsp dried sage
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta al dente in salted water with a tablespoon of olive oil.
When pasta is almost done, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
Swirl it in the pan as it foams.  When it begins to brown, add pasta and coat well with the butter.  Salt and pepper to taste.
Add tatsoi and sage and cook until slightly wilted, about 3 minutes.  Add parmesan cheese, mix well, and serve.


"What the hell is _______?"  I find myself saying that to myself every now and then when I go to Hollygrove, and last week I filled in the blank with tatsoi.  Some Asian green or something or other, but it's pretty tasty.

Also, I found my first produce bug ever in the tatsoi leaves.  Another cooking adage I've learned to heed: always wash your produce before using.  I became a little squeamish, but I was reminded of Kristin Kimball's The Dirty Life and the little anecdotes about eating produce with the dirt still clinging to the skin, unwashed, but fresh from the earth from which it matured.  Often we are so disconnected from our food and where it comes from, we don't realize that it is processed and handled to the point that it no longer is the food that was harvested from the ground.  This probably sounds tree-huggerish, but I began to see the bug as a reminder of that connection to the land that nurtured this food that came to my kitchen.  So I simply rinsed the little guy off of the tatsoi leaf, inspected and washed the other leaves, and went along my merry way.  I'm still alive and didn't come down with any GI issues, so no harm, no foul.

Radish (and Turnip) Saute

Adapted from Hollygrove Market, serves 4
Date made: 2/9/2011

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 bunch of radishes, quartered and greens washed*
1 large turnip, chopped*
1-2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil is skillet over medium heat.  Add radishes and turnips and cook, stirring constantly, until tender, but still crisp.  Transfer to a bowl to cool.
Place greens in a skillet with wash water still clinging to the leaves.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it starts to wilt.
Turn off heat and add vinegar and radishes and turnips to skillet.
Stir well until combined and season with salt and pepper.


I'm starting to learn how to apply that adage of "use what's in your cupboard/fridge/freezer".  Since we didn't have any lemon juice from the original recipe, I substituted it with white wine vinegar.  And I got four huge turnips in my box last week, two of which were used in the mustard greens recipe, and the remaining have been sitting in my fridge, anticipating the day I'd find a culinary reason to take them out.

Crock Pot Red Beans and Rice

Based on a lot of experimentation, serves 4-6
Date made: 2/7/2011

1 lb red kidney beans, sorted*
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
Cajun brown rice*
Salt, pepper, Tony's, cumin, thyme, to taste
1 lb andouille sausage, sliced or chopped, optional

Place beans in a pot and cover with water.  Soak overnight.
Add more water to cover the beans and bring to a boil.
Boil for about 10 minutes and then transfer to crock for the slow cooker.
Add veggies and herbs/spices.  Cook on low heat for 10 hours.
Add sausage about 20 minutes before serving (while you're cooking your rice).
You know how to do the rest...


Before I got this new Crock-Pot for Christmas, I'd been using my mom's old slow cooker from, like, 20 years ago.  The first time I made red beans and rice in the Crock Pot it turned out disastrous since I cooked it on low and the beans didn't cook through AT ALL, even though they were there for 12 hours.  Mind you, I also consulted several slow cooker recipes online that made no indication that this might happen.

I thought the culprit was a defective low setting since I tried to make slow cooker corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day, which yielded similar results.  Thus, I've been making red beans and rice on the high setting to avoid further culinary embarrassment.  When I got this new Crock-Pot, I figured my low heat setting woes were a thing of the past, so I attempted to make chili a couple weeks ago over low heat.

This story is probably predictable, so I'm sure you can guess what happened -- crunchy chili.  Lo and behold, when I consulted my handy-dandy Crock-Pot manual (which I had the foresight not to throw out, though I guess there's always the internet), it explicitly states that you have to boil the beans beforehand, especially if you're adding any acid (aka tomatoes) since apparently it acts as a hardening agent.  Thank you, internet home cooks for not bringing this to my attention.

At least I got a sweet Crock-Pot out of it.  Thanks, Mom and Dad.