Author: westyn

Moroccan Zucchini and Chickpeas over Couscous



When I lived in Paris, I basically ate one of two things: Moroccan food or a baguette and a hunk of brie. I think it’s only because we walked everywhere that I stayed skinny, but man, I miss that 21 year old metabolism. This zucchini and chickpea blend has enough of that Moroccan spice to it that it makes me feel like I’m back in Paris again – plus it’s delicious, super quick to make and pretty healthy for you, too. AND, it has the bonus of being made with stuff you probably have in your refrigerator right now. LET’S MAKE IT!!


MOROCCAN ZUCCHINI AND CHICKPEAS OVER COUSCOUS (serves 4-6)
– 1 vidalia onion, sliced
– 2 zucchini, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
– 2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
– 1 tbsp. butter
– 1.5 cups chicken broth
– 1 cup chunky crushed tomatoes
– 4 diced garlic cloves
– 2 tbsp. lemon juice
– handful chopped parsley
– 1/2 tsp. paprika
– 3/4 tsp. ground cumin
– 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
– 1/4 tsp. ground tumeric
– 1 tsp. kosher salt.
– 1 box of couscous, cooked (leave this out if you want to make this gluten-free)

1. In a french oven (ooh, la la) melt the butter.  Cook the onion over medium heat until translucent, approx. 5 minutes.

2. Add garlic and cook approx. 90 seconds, until fragrant. 

3. Add paprika, cumin, oregano & tumeric and cook for 30 seconds.

4. Add broth, tomatoes & salt. Bring to a simmer and  cook, covered for 10 minutes.

5. Add chickpeas & zucchini and cook, covered, until zucchini is just done (approx. 12 minutes longer). Make the couscous during this step so everything’s ready at the same time.
 

6. Add parsley & lemon juice, season to taste and serve over couscous.
Congrats to everybody who ran the inaugural Scranton Half Marathon this past weekend – what a great day!


Dressed-up Balsamic Vinaigrette

 Seriously, if you’re still buying salad dressing, why not give making your own a shot? I think DIY salad dressing recipes are so much tastier, simpler and versatile than being stuck with 10 bottles of partially-used salad dressing bottles clogging up your refrigerator. This one uses rice vinegar, which I loooove. Add that to a little balsamic, a bit of chopped shallot and a dab of Dijon mustard to bring it all together. I’d eat this on just about anything.


DRESSED-UP BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE
– 1 tbsp. good balsamic vinegar
– 1 tbsp. rice vinegar
– Dab of Dijon mustard
– 4 tbsp. EVOO
– ½ small shallot, diced
– Kosher salt & pepper to taste
 1. In a mason jar, add the vinegars, then add the shallot. Let it sit for a little bit to kind of mellow out & absorb the flavors. Add the Kosher Salt & pepper, shake it up a bit to react with the vinegars.

2. Add the mustard and the EVOO. Shake it up.
3. Top a fresh salad with the dressing and enjoy. We had this with ham & my dad’s famous mashed potatoes. My fav.

Shaved Apple & Fennel Salad with Lemon and Toasted Walnuts over Arugula

Oh, Gwyneth Paltrow. She seems to get a lot of shade thrown her way for the Goop blog, the way she can do things like ask her celeb friends not to do interviews with a magazine that’s threatening to expose her, her kids’ names, her “conscious uncoupling”…etc. I get it to some degree, but come on – she’s freaking Gwyenth Paltrow. She’s been in serious relationships with Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck and Chris Martin. She’s an Oscar winning actress. Her mom is Blythe Danner and her godfather is Steve Spielberg. She’s run in some pretty heavy circles probably since she was born, so can we really blame her for thinking it’s normal for everyone get a wood-fired oven in their backyard? I think  her ‘I am who I am” attitude is judged as not apologetic enough, but honestly, if I were her I wouldn’t be apologetic for what I grew up in and what things I enjoy either. I think she just is who she is, and frankly, that seems pretty cool. To summarize: Get it, girl. Now, Anne Hathaway, on the other hand…  Anyway, the recipes on Goop are awesome – super super clean, healthy and delicious. This salad is adapted, and I’m going to be making it alllllll the time. Brendan even said it was the best salad he’s ever had.


SHAVED APPLE AND FENNEL SALAD WITH LEMON AND TOASTED WALNUTS (serves 2-4)
– 1 bulb fennel, top parts cut off (but leaves saved), core removed.
– 1 tart apple
– Juice and zest of 1 lemon
– toasted walnuts, approx. 1/3 cup
– approx. 3 tbsp. EVOO
– kosher salt & pepper
– Arugula (optional)

1. With either a julienne slicer or a Cuisinart food processor with a slicer attachment, shave the fennel bulb and the apple into paper-thin slices (this really makes a difference in the overall salad). Put into a bigger bowl.


2. Over medium heat, toast the walnuts, shaking the pan every minute or so and making sure they don’t burn.


3. Zest and juice the lemon, then add to the bowl with the apple and fennel shavings. Add kosher salt & pepper, mix well to combine.


4. Add EVOO and walnuts, mix. Top with the toasted walnuts and a couple fennel leaves.

5. If using arugula, I just arranged some on a plate, juiced a little lemon over it, then added the apple/fennel salad on top of the arugula leaves. The apple/fennel dressing will work as enough dressing for the arugula.

6. We had this with salmon burgers with a simple lemony dill sauce on avocado toasts. So good.   

Roasted Chicken in “Lemon Gold”

Bear with me as I walk you through a hodgepodge of a recipe that will create – not kidding – the best chicken you’ve ever eaten. Don’t get nervous about roasting a chicken in milk. And lemon. And cinnamon. Still with me? Good. This totally bizarre-sounding recipe requires a little bit of faith but the end result….oh, man. The end result. This recipe makes your house smell completely unbelievable – sort of warm, and fragrant, and savory all at once – the chicken is the juiciest I’ve ever had, and the sauce – how in the world can little curdles of milk and lemon and cinnamon be so amazing?? Most of the dinner (with a guy who’s probably the best conversationalist I’ve ever dated) consisted 80% of talking about how incredibly great this was. Make sure you have some good bread on hand, too, otherwise you’ll basically be drinking the sauce out of the bowl. This is the bomb. 

CHICKEN IN “LEMON GOLD” (serves approx. 6) – adapted from Jamie Oliver’s “Chicken in Milk”
– 1 whole chicken (I used a 5 lb. one)
– 4 tbsp. butter 
– 2 tbsp. EVOO 
– 2 lemons, zested 
– Juice of 1.5 lemons (save the other half to put in the chicken cavity) 
– Pretty good-sized handful of fresh sage 
– 9 garlic cloves, peeled 
– 2 cinnamon sticks 
– 1.5 cups milk 
– Kosher salt & pepper 

1. Preheat oven to 375° 

2. Ugh, this is the worst part. Always. Rinse your chicken well, then dry it really well, too. I was a vegetarian for a while, and every time I have to clean a chicken it reminds me why. Just steel yourself and keep your eye on the prize! Stuff the cavity with the half of the lemon that you left unjuiced and some of the sage leaves. It helps if you have everything set out beforehand, so you don’t find yoruself needing some salt while you have all chicken-y hands.

 

3. In a french oven, melt the butter and the EVOO over medium heat. 


4. Season the chicken well with kosher salt & pepper. 

5. When the butter/EVOO mixture is frothy, carefully add the chicken and let it cook for approx. 4 minutes on each side. You can use tongs or two sturdy wooden spoons to turn it over. Let it get really golden and don’t skip this step, because this is where a lot of flavor and color develops. 

6. Remove chicken from the pot and put it on a clean plate. Pour the excess butter/oil from the pot into a heat-proof little dish and set aside – don’t throw this away. What’s left in the bottom of the pan is perfect for cooking the chicken. 

7. Put the chicken back in the pan (I roasted this breast-side up, but next time I’m definitely roasting it breast-side down so it absorbs the max amount of the sauce flavoring) and add the lemon juice, milk, sage leaves, garlic, and cinnamon sticks. Scatter the top of the chicken with the lemon zest. Cook for approx. 1 hour 45 minutes, or until the chicken reaches 165 degrees internally. The lid should be on for the first hour, then off for the last 45 minutes.

8. Baste this “when you remember” (I swear, that’s an actual cooking direction). The lemon juice will kind of curdle the milk, but oddly enough, not in a bad way?? It gets kind of rich and flavorful and…right. How great your house smells about halfway through this cooking is nothing compared to how great this is going to taste when it’s ready. 


9. When chicken is done, carefully remove it and set on a plate and let it sit for about ten minutes. 


10. Make the “lemon gold” sauce from what’s left in the french oven. I fished out most of the garlic cloves (some of these will full-blown melt into the sauce) and gave them to Brendan, but I’ve read about people spreading these cloves on good bread they use for sauce dipping, which sounds awesome. I also threw out the cinnamon sticks and most of the sage leaves from the sauce. Then, because the consistency looked a little too dodgy, I blended this really, really well with a hand blender. 

Lemon Gold sauce, pre-blended

— We had this alongside roasted baby potatoes and wilted arugula, put sauce all over everything, and I added a new dish to the rotation. Hope you like this as much as you weren’t expecting you would!

Sesame Edamame, Avocado and Mozzarella Salad with Cilantro and Scallions

When I took the first bite of this, I didn’t know if I was crazy about it, and then I kept taking bites as I was making other things, and all of a sudden it just got delicious. I think the flavors really need to meld together with the dressing, so dress it at least 30 minutes before serving. Look at how pretty all that green is!

SESAME EDAMAME, AVOCADO & MOZZARELLA SALAD W CILANTRO & SCALLIONS (serves 4)
– 1 bag frozen edamame, shelled
– 2 avocados, diced
– 1 cup mini mozzarella balls, if you can find them, otherwise you can just use pieces of a regular ball of mozz
– handful of cilantro
– 4 scallions, sliced
– 1 tbsp. sesame seeds

Dressing:
– 1.5 Tbsp sesame oil
– 1.5 Tbsp. Rice Vinegar
– 1 Tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
– Kosher Salt & Pepper, to taste.

1. Cook the edamame according to package directions. Add to a medium-sized bowl and set aside to cool while you make the dressing.

2. Get a mason jar, and add the balsamic & rice vinegars.  Add the kosher salt & pepper so they react with the vinegars, and shake it up a little.

3. Add the sesame oil to the vinegars, shake well to combine.

4. Chop some cilantro and slice the scallions.

5. To the bowl with the edamame, add mozzarella, cilantro, scallions, and sesame seeds.

6. Cube avocados. The easiest way to do this is to cut an avocado in half, get rid of the pit, then cut a grid into the avocado. Run your knife around the perimeter of the gridded avocado, and you should be able to squeeze out the avocado cubes.

7. Gently fold the avocado into the bowl with the edamame mix.  Add the dressing and mix well to combine. 

Olive Oil-Poached Eggs with Thyme

I kind of couldn’t believe how awesome these turned out. Poaching these eggs in olive oil means an almost-fried egg with that great runny center of a poached egg, which was fantastic. You end up using a bunch of olive oil that you have to throw out afterwards, which is kind of a drawback, but the thyme infuses it with this really light, savory flavor that was perfect. We topped avocado-feta toasts with these and had them with some heart-shaped fruit salad for a full, healthy, protein-filled breakfast.

OLIVE OIL-POACHED EGGS WITH THYME
– Eggs (2 per person)
– EVOO approx. 1.5 cups
– Thyme sprigs
– Kosher salt & pepper

1. In a small saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. You’ll know when it’s hot enough because you can dip a wooden spoon into the olive oil and the bubbles will kind of cling to it. Add the thyme bundle to let that flavor start infusing into the olive oil.

2. While EVOO is heating, get the eggs out, but only crack 1 at a time to add to the olive oil.

3. When EVOO is hot enough, add individually cracked eggs, 1 at a time, to the oil. Let it cook for approx 45 seconds on one side, then gently flip over and cook for approx. 1 minute on the other side while floating in the olive oil, or until the white is set.

4. With a slotted spoon, remove poached egg and set aside. When ready to serve, top with kosher salt and pepper.

Avocado Feta Toast

This has the double benefit of being really great for you and also totally delicious. I would eat avocados and feta at just about every meal and on just about everything, so anytime I can combine those two things, plus get a filling breakfast, I’m down.

AVOCADO FETA TOAST
– Good bread (this makes a difference, you want something a little hearty that will stand up against the avocado-feta mix). I used an organic rosemary-olive oil loaf this time.
– Approx. 1/4 avocado per toast slice
– Crumbled Feta, approx 1 tbsp. per toast slice
– Kosher salt

1. Mash the avocados, then add the feta. Blend well and add Kosher salt to taste.


2. Spread on good toasted bread. Top with olive-oil poached eggs for a full heart-healthy fats and protein kind of  breakfast.

Herbed Butter

Let’s say you started cooking a sauce, then realized you didn’t have any canned tomatoes in the house (ahem), but the butter you were using had basically already started to melt. Do you A. throw it out and keep craving pasta or B. take that melted butter, chop up some basil, and make basil butter C. Make basil butter, then go to the store to get pasta anyway?  I chose C. You can use whatever fresh herbs you like – honestly, if I’d had thyme in the house, I probably would have used that since it’s more versatile – but basil butter looked pretty, smelled awesome and tasted really good, too. This looks way more impressive than it actually is. 

HERBED BUTTER

– Softened Butter
– Whatever herbs you want, chopped (make sure these are fresh, not dried)

1. Soften the butter (or in this case, pull it out of a saute pan when it’s half melted) and add to a little bowl.

 2. Chop up whatever herbs you’re using, then add to the butter.
3. Blend well, then let sit for a little while to harden partially.


4. Wrap butter into whatever form you want in parchment paper. Seal the ends of the parchment paper and refrigerate until ready to use.

Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Lemon, Toasted Almonds, Basil and Shaved Parm

 

I honestly couldn’t believe how delicious this was. It’s so light and pretty, the toasted almonds give it that added little crunch and substance, the julienned basil is lovely, and a simple lemon and EVOO dressing brings the whole thing together. Brendan took one bite and said, “I don’t even like raw zucchini, but this is amazing”. Ummm…agreed. I have a feeling I’m going to be making this a lot this summer. 

 ZUCCHINI RIBBON SALAD WITH LEMON, TOASTED ALMONDS, BASIL AND SHAVED PARM (SERVES 3-4) 
– 4 medium-large zucchini, shaved into ribbons with a peeler (approx. 1 zucchini per person) 
– 5-6 large leaves basil, julienned 
– ¼ C. toasted almond slices (I like slices instead of slivers, I think the crunch is just enough) 
– Shaved curls of fresh parmesan cheese 
– Juice of ¾ a lemon 
– 1.5 Tbsp. EVOO 
– Kosher Salt & Pepper 

1. Wash the zucchini, then peel into ribbons with a vegetable peeler. I tossed the very first peels that were all green, but kept the rest of them with some green on the sides for a little color. I also stopped when I got down to the seeded middle part, so that the ribbons looked nicer. Add zucchini ribbons to a large bowl. 


2. Squeeze a lemon over the zucchini so that it really soaks in. Add the kosher salt and pepper, then use tongs to gently mix it all together. Let it sit and absorb while you make the rest of the salad. 

3. Bring a small sauté pan to medium heat, then add almond slices. Shake the pan a couple of times and keep a close eye on these so they don’t burn. They should be toasted in 2-3 minutes, tops. Add almonds to the bowl with the zucchini. 

4. Julienne some basil. You can chop it, but the ribbons of basil look so pretty with the ribbons of zucchini. All ribbons, all the time! To julienne, stack the leaves on top of each other, roll them into a little cigar-like shape, then slice from the top down. Throw the basil in with the zucchini and almonds. 


5. Drizzle EVOO over everything, use the tongs to mix together. 

6. Top with some curls of parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Earl Grey Whipped Cream

 
This ended up being the second batch I made, because I forgot that the key to whipped cream is to make sure everything is as cold as possible. So basically, don’t infuse the tea with the heavy cream, let it cool a little bit while you wait impatiently, then try to whip it into cream before it’s super cold. You’ll get a separated mix of water and little chunks of butter, and who wants to use that for a fruit topper?  Not me! The second batch was much better. I actually used “Lady Grey’s Garden” tea from my favorite teahouse in America, Boulder’s Dushanbe Teahouse, but any kind of black tea you want to use will work here.

EARL GREY WHIPPED CREAM
– Earl grey tea
– 1 C. heavy cream
– 1/3 C. confectioner’s sugar

1. In a small sauce pan, add the cream and warm it up over medium heat. Add the earl grey tea bag and infuse it for approx. 5 minutes. Remove the tea bag and set aside.

2. Add confectioner’s sugar to the earl grey heavy cream. Taste and adjust – what it tastes like now is what the end whipped cream result will be.

3. Let it not just cool, but get cold, as cold as possible.
4. Using an immersion blender or a blender with a balloon whisk attachment, beat the cold heavy cream until it starts to turn light and fluffy. Once it starts changing form, it moves pretty fast, so keep an eye on it and don’t over-beat it. 

5. Top fruit or desserts with this – it’ll keep about a day.