Doing Dinner Moroccan Style - 3-16-10

After a brief break in weekly dinners while I recovered from a business trip and the ensuing madness, I decided to do a Moroccan-themed dinner last week.

It went over extremely well. Yum. I will definitely be visiting these recipes again.

Hummus
from my friend Adrian
-1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinzed and drained
-1/2 c. plain fat-free yogurt
-2 T lemon juice
-3 garlic cloves, crushed (or 1 t jarred minced garlic)
-2 t olive oil
-1 T water
-1/2 t salt
-1/2 t. cumin
-1/8 t pepper

Purée in food processor until blended but still slightly chunky.

Okay... so this didn't seem to have much flavor in my opinion. I think I added too many chickpeas because I was confusing the amount of chickpeas in the hummus with the amount in the chekcen stew. So I ended up adding more liquid, and it wasn't very flavorful. Lesson: read the instructions while making the dish. Don't rely on memory.


Moroccan Chicken Stew
-8 chicken thighs, skinned
-1 T vegetable oil
-1 large onion, chopped
-2 large garlic cloves, minced
-1/2 t turmeric
-1/4 t cinnamon
-1/8 t red pepper (I used 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes)
-4 whole cloves (I omitted, just because I thought I had them in my pantry and didn't realize I was wrong until it was too late to go buy them)
-2 bay leaves
-4 c chicken stock
-16 oz. canned whole tomatoes, quartered, with juices
-1 medium green pepper, sliced into 1-inch pieces (I did about 1/2-inch dice)
-2 carrots, sliced (thinly!)
-1/2 t. salt
-19 oz chickpeas, drained
-4 cups cooked couscous
-1/4 cup raisins
-1/4 cup sliced almonds

1. Pour the oil into a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook about 2 minutes until onion is soft but not brown.
2. Add turmeric, cinnamon, red pepper, cloves,and bay leaves. (At this point your kitchen will smell amazing!)
3. Immediately add chicken and stock. Cook over medium-high heat until liquid boils.
4. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 25 minutes.
5. Add tomatoes, green peppers, carrots, chickpeas, and salt. Cook for another 10 minutes or until the chicken and vegetables are tender.
6.Ladle stew over 1/2 cup cooked couscous. Sprinkle with raising and sliced almonds.

Soooooo good. One thing I would change, though, is to do something to add more flavor and color to the chicken. Maybe browning the chicken for a few minuteswith some garlic, onion, salt, and red pepper flakes before transferring it into the pot with everything else... it was cooked through, but just didn't have as much flavor as everything else.


Moroccan Lemon Cake
I don't really know what about this is Morocco-specific, but it was yummy, so I'm sure I'll make it again.

-4 eggs
-1.5 c sugar
-1/2 c vegetable oil
-2 c flour
-4 t baking powder
-1/2 t. salt
-1/2 c milk
-2 T fresh lemon juice (I would double this)
-zest from 1 or 2 lemons (definitely 2)
-1 t vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.
2. Grease and flour a small bundt or tube pan (I used a fluted tube pan).
3. Zest and juice your 2 lemons.
4. With electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs until thick. Gradually mix in the oil.
5. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt, then milk.
6. Beat until smooth, then stir in lemon juice, zest, and vanilla.
7. Bake for 40 minutes until tests done.
8. Let cool for 7-10 minutes. Loosen the cake from the sides of the pan with a spatula, turn onto a rack to cool. Serve.

The flavor of this cake was very subtle, so I would double the lemon juice and zest next time I made it. It was still tasty, but I want a stronger flavor.

Mahi-Mahi with Citrus Tomatoes - 2/4/10

Once again, I forgot to take pictures. So I'm relying on the websites of the magaines from which I tore the recipes. (And I have assigned two regular Supp-ers to remind me to take a picture of my own plate each week.)

Halibut with Citrusy Tomatoes and Capers

from Real Simple, November 2009

-1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon olive oil

-2 cloves garlic, sliced

-1 pint grape tomatoes, cut in half
-1/2 cup fresh orange juice
-1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped*
-2 tablespoons capers

-salt and pepper

-4 6-oz pieces boneless skinless halibut fillet, or some other firm-fleshed white fish

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, orange juice, parsley, capers**, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and simmer until some of the tomatoes begin to break down, 4 to 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the remaining teaspoon of oil in a large nonstick skiller over medium-high heat. Season the fish with salt and pepper. Cook until opaque throughout, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Serve with the tomatoes.

*The recipe doesn't call for chopping the parsley. After making this dish, I will definitely chop it in the future. Otherwise the parsley sort of clumps together, and taking a big bite of parsley just isn't tasty to me.
**If you don't like capers, I think the tomato... relish?... would be great without it. I go back and forth with capers, but in this case, the tomatoes were slightly too caper-y for my taste, so I would reduce the number of capers by 1/3 to 1/2, or rinse them and add them in the last minute of simmering so their flavor stays localized more instead of infusing the whole mixture with caperiness.


Grilled Vegetables with Basalmic Dressing

from Shape magazine, issue unknown

-1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

-1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

-3 garlic cloves, minced

-1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped

-1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

-Salt and pepper to taste

-1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges

-2 zucchini, quartered lengthwise

-2 yellow squash, quartered lengthwise

-12 ounces asparagus, trimmed

-1 roasted red bell pepper, cut into strips

-1 1/2 cups lightly packed arugula, chopped*

-1 cup mixed baby greens*

-2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped*

1. In a medium bowl, whisk first 4 ingredients to make the dressing. Gradually whisk in oil. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Heat barbecue or indoor grill to medium high. Brush onion, zucchini, yellow squash, and asparagus with 1/2 of the balsamic dressing. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill vegetables until just cooked through, turning occasionally (8 minutes for onion, zucchini, and yellow squash; 5 minutes for asparagus). Allow to cool slightly, then cut vegetables into bite-size pieces and place in large serving bowl.

3. Add roasted bell pepper, arugula, and greens; toss with enough remaining dressing to coat. Season with salt, pepper, and parsley.*

*didn't do it.

So... I really strayed from the recipe on here, because the original was more of a salad-y presentation. I just wanted the veggies. So basically we just brushed them with the dressing, grilled them, and served them as-is. Yum-o. We forgot to toss them with additional dressing, which would have been even better.


Easy ice cream cake
From Real Simple, issue unknown

-1 cup heavy cream

-2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)

-6 ice cream sandwiches (3.5-4 oz. each)

-2 1.5 oz. candy bars or ½ cup chocolate chips, chopped

1. Line and 8.5x4.5-inch loaf pan with a piece of wax paper*, allowing it to hang over on both long sides.
2. In a large bowl, beat the cream and sugar until stiff peaks form.
3. In the bottom of the pan, arrange 3 of the sandwiches in a single layer, cutting them to fit as necessary. Spread with half the whipped cream. Repeat with the remaining sandwiches and whipped cream.
4. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the chopped candy bar. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until firm, at least one hour and up to one week.
5. Holding both sides of the paper overhang, lift the cake out of the pan and transfer to a platter. Discard the paper, slice the cake, and serve.

*I would recommend plastic wrap instead of wax paper. The wax paper tore to bits as I was trying to pull it off from around the corners of the cake. Yuck.


Overall, I don’t think I will make this cake again. Maybe for little kids, but the texture of it was just too dry and crumbly for me. It was easy, though, so that’s definitely a bonus.