About a year and half ago, Saveur magazine did an issue on Greek food and had a recipe for Rosemary Greek Chicken which has become a staple in our house. We don't always follow the recipe - sometimes we make a gremolata to rub into the chicken out of sea salt, lemon rind, crushed red and black pepper; sometimes we'll use oregano from our garden instead of rosemary - but the basic technique is the same: dredge in flour, pan sear until crispy and golden, add some wine and simmer until reduced by half, add water and stick the whole thing in the oven with a lid on it until moist, tender, and amazing. We've taken to adding a bit of cornstarch to the flour because we were batting 50% on getting a lovely gravy at the bottom of the pan when we pulled it out of the oven.
The version shown here is served with garlicky turnip greens (the first thing harvested this Spring from our garden), roasted organic potatoes (blue and yukon) with pearl onions, and of course, the pan drippings.

Frantic meal turned fabulous

Dissertation countdown: 17 days. After working on campus today (Sunday!) until 8 pm, we came home frantically hungry and a little bit cranky. We wanted food on the table and fast! Joe and I usually play tag team in the kitchen when we cook together - I contribute my dish then bow out and he contributes his. On the menu for this evening were turkey burgers and Veggies in a Thai curry, but we were too hungry to wait for the rice to cook so we decided to do the meal in two course. I threw some ground turkey in with a little finely chopped red onion, fresh cilantro and parsley, minced garlic, fresh ground pepper and sea salt and a beaten egg. While that was all cooking I sliced up some really ripe tomato and laid it out on a plate with some drizzled olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper. The piece de resistance (sp?) was this incredible orange ginger mustard from the mustard stand at the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto. Oh my god good. So good actually that we kind of forgot about the veggies cooking on the stove in Thai curry and that kind of all went to mush. (We were so hungry we ate it anyway). I have to say, the burgers were good enough that we didn't mind the spoiled course number two. The glasses of French Sauvignon Blanc probably helped with that too. It's funny how a little good food, wine and company helps put the stress of work back into perspective. Joe commented that the color didn't turn out right on the food and doesn't really do it justice. I'm inclined to agree. I guess we have a lot to learn about taking pictures of food (or pretty much anything). I suppose you'll just have to take our word for it that the food looked beautiful.

Summer Fruit

We topped some fresh berries, nectarine, mangos, and bananas with plain greek yogurt and a drizzle of local honey. This was made back in June at the height of strawberry season. Greek yogurt is really incredible (I always get the Fage brand) - it's thick like custard and doesn't have the sourness of a lot of American yogurts. I love these dishes. We got them as a wedding present from our good friends Paul and Deena. There are four in the set and each one is different. Unfortunately, one broke last time we used them, but I'd rather have enjoyed them fleetingly than have never enjoyed them at all. My mom get a set of china for her wedding and in the 22 years that my parent's were married, I recall my mom using those dishes once. She always said they were too nice to use and so they sat in a box in the unused portion of the basement collecting dust. I wish my mom had gotten more enjoyment out of them while my parents were still married.

Persian Red Lentil Soup

We made this last week with some stock from the freezer that we made out of turkey necks. This is a variation on a dish from Ruby's Restaurant on the Ave in Seattle, WA. I used to work there when I was a graduate student at UW. The food was really delicious, simple, and cheap. Here's my version of the recipe:
Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 medium onion
1 large carrot
1-2 celery stalks
2 cloves garlic minced
1 small bag red lentils (16 oz.)
small bag baby spinach
½ lb green beans – whole or halved
1 lg red bell pepper cut into slices
1 block tofu cubed
cumin seeds
sea salt or kosher salt to taste
fresh ground pepper
8 oz container plain yogurt
small bunch fresh mint chopped
1 lemon

Add minced garlic and cumin seeds to olive oil over medium heat until cumin becomes fragrant and garlic begins to turn slightly golden. Add finely chopped carrot, onion, and celery to pot. Saute for 5-10 minutes until onions are translucent and carrots become slightly tender. (If you add salt now, it will help bring out the flavor of the veggies. If you add it at the end, it just makes everything taste salty.) Add 6 cups of water or veggie stock, salt and lentils. Bring pot to a boil, then turn heat down to medium-low and simmer until tender. Lentils will take about 30 minutes to cook - after fifteen minutes add green beans, sliced pepper and cubed tofu or minced chicken thighs and ¾ of the mint. Stir the rest of the mint in with the yogurt and set aside. Place a handful of fresh baby spinach in each soup bowl. When soup is ready, pour over spinach, top with a spoonful of minted yogurt and serve with a wedge of fresh lemon. Mmmmmmm.

Artichokes are underrated!

We roasted baby artichokes tonight with sea salt, fresh lemon, and olive oil. They were so unbelievably good it made me want to cry and the astringency of the artichoke brought out the sweet strawberry quality of the Borsao Rose. Soooooooooooo good!