Moroccan Sausage and Chickpeas

When I saw Food Floozie's chickpeas with chorizo, I knew that I had to make my own version of the dish. I had Moroccan sausages in the freezer, so I was pretty much ready to go. This version wasn't going to be vegetarian or using pork. I don't associate the flavour of pork with Moroccan cuisine - probably because most Moroccans I've met are either Jewish or Muslim.

I had originally thought about using some Merguez (lamb) sausage, but I had found the "Moroccan" sausage in the freezer. The Moroccan sausage isn't one of my favourites, but it holds a special place for me as it's the sausage my grandfather and father make at family events. The (kosher) butcher who makes them packs them with a significant amount of fat, so they practically swim in the pan, or, result in two-foot-high flames on your grill. Good times.

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Moroccan Sausage and Chickpeas

by Daniel Saraga May-25-2012

A tasty combination of sausage, chickpeas and cous cous

Ingredients

• 1 tsp oil
• 1 lb Moroccan sausages
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced
• 3 small onions, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 large (28oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 tbsp paprkia
• half lemon, juiced
• 1/2 cup white wine
• to taste pepper
• 6-7 servings cous cous

Instructions

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Brown sausages for 3-5 minutes and break them into chunks using the sharp end of a spatula.2. Add the garlic and onions and continue to saute for 5-10 minutes, until onions are soft.3. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.4. Turn heat down to medium and let simmer, covered, for 10 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed.5. Serve with cous cous.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 45 mins Yield: 6-7 servings

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Berry Crumble Pie

With friends coming over for dinner on a Friday in March, and the dinner being one of our standards, Meredith felt that it was time to try out an experiment she had been mulling over for a while. She had the basics for a graham cracker pie crust and was working an idea for a berry filling as well.

It came together, and stayed together incredibly well, and tasted amazing, of course. Unfortunately, I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of a slice of the pie (it didn't last long enough) so you'll have to just believe me that the pie didn't fall apart.

Berry Crumble Pie

Part 1: Crust

1-1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup oats
1/2 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 375-degrees.
2. Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and oats.
3. Add butter and mix in until crumbly.
4. Press mixture into a 9-inch pie plate bake for 6 minutes.

Part 2: Filling

3 cups mixed berries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp lemon juice

1. Combine berries and half of the water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 2 minutes stirring frequently.
3. In a small bowl, stir together remaining water, cornstarch and lemon juice.
4. Gradually stir cornstarch mixture into blueberry mixture and continue stirring blueberry mixture for about 30 seconds or until mixture thickens.
5. Pour filling into pie crust.

Part 3: Topping

2 tbsp oats
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter

1. Mix all ingredients together until it reaches a crumbly texture.
2. Sprinkle on top of filling.
3. Bake pie for an additional 15 minutes.

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Peanut Salad Dressing

I forgot to take a photo of the salad before we ate,
however, we used the dressing as a dip as well.

A short while ago was National Peanut Butter Day.

While my son decided to have a fluffernutter sandwich for dinner (that's marshmallow fluff and peanut butter for the un-initiated), we decided to use the peanut butter elsewhere in our meal.

I prepared a salad with shredded carrot, snow peas, a few other vegetables and some sort of dried/puffed noodles and whipped together a salad dressing loosely based on one I saw at Our Best Bites. The original recipe was Thai, however, we omitted the Siracha sauce, cilantro (we didn't have any) and swapped out the lime for lemon among other changes. I still would like to try the original recipe as I imagine it tastes excellent as well.

There was quite a bit of dressing in the end, and it was pretty thick, so we ended up adding extra water compared to the original recipe, and, after using it for salad on a second day, we used the dressing as a dip for vegetables. It was excellent.

Peanut Salad Dressing


1/2 cup peanut butter

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp honey

2 tsp garlic puree

1 tbsp ginger puree

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

1. Place all ingredients except water in a blender and puree until smooth.
2. Slowly add water as required to reach the desired consistency.

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Mulligatawny Soup

Soup season is definitely here. There's no doubt about it, and here's another restaurant soup from my past.

Years ago, I attended a franchise presentation for a small chain of Indian fast-food restaurants. It was a very interesting concept, as all of the food was prepared off-site and managed in a manner that made it easy to prepare and serve quickly.

Anyway, their website had a recipe for Mulligatawny, a soup that was made famous in North America by TV's Seinfeld. I made it at the time and it was quite tasty. When I decided to make it again, I was surprised to find that the website no longer existed. Fortunately, the Internet Archive had a copy of the page and I was able work from there.

The recipe on the website had a few errors in it, and I never bothered to write the authors for a correction, so I winged it in a few places. Fortunately, that's the nature of the soup - most of the ingredients vary wherever you go. Some variations use meat, some don't. Some use coconut milk, others use milk and cream.

Another tasty looking variation can be found at Foodland Ontario. Unlike their Moroccan Chicken recipe, I'd probably attempt the Foodland Ontario soup by following their directions.

Mulligatawny Soup

Phase 1

2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 crushed garlic clove
1/4 cup red pepper, chopped
1 cup tomato sauce
4 cups water
1/4 cup chopped basil
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
1-1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup cream
2 tsp sugar

1. In a pot, heat oil on medium and sauté onions and cumin seeds until onions are translucent.
2. Add garlic, red peppers, and tomato sauce stirring continuously.
3. Add water, basil, lemon juice, cayenne pepper, curry powder, salt and pepper, and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce to medium and cook, covered for 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
5. Transfer mixture to a blender.
6. Add milk and puree the mixture.
7. Return soup to the pot and stir in cream and sugar.

Phase 2

2 tbsp canola oil

1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
1 bay leaf
1 potato, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/4 cup eggplant, peeled and diced
1/4 cup green peas
salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine all ingredients in a deep pan over medium heat.
2. Let vegetables simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until cooked.
3. Pour mixture into pot from phase 1 and let simmer for at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

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Apple Pie

In September, our friend Penny, of Sweet Sadie's Baking, entered a pie baking contest at Chudleigh's apple farm. Meredith assisted preparing the crust and we all pitched in to peel and core the apples.

A Ginger Gold apple at Chudleigh's.

Penny prepared for a long night of pie baking.

Meredith's pie wasn't as refined (we bought a prepared crust), however, she based her filling on Penny's method.

Apple Pie

2 prepared pie crusts
Apple Filling
4 medium Ginger Gold apples
4 medium Macintosh apples
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground allspice
2 tbsp butter
1 egg white, beaten lightly
1-2 tbsp sugar, for topping

1. Combine 3/4 cup sugar, salt, allspice, cloves and cinnamon in small bowl.
2. Peel, core, and cut apples into 1/2-to-3/4-inch slices and toss with lemon juice, then add sugar mixture and toss again. Let mixture sit for 30 minutes. Drain and boil juices with 2 tbsp butter for 5 minutes to reduce. Pour 1/3 cup of these juices back over apples.
3. Remove dough from refrigerator. If it is still stiff and very cold, let it stand until the dough is cool but malleable.
4. The pie is baked on the oven floor. If you have a pizza stone available, place it on the oven floor and cover it with foil before preheating the oven.
5. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
6. Gently press dough into sides of 9-inch pie pan (glass, foil, or tin) leaving some crust hanging over the lip of the pie plate.
7. Empty the fruit mixture, including juices, into the chilled pie shell and mound slightly in centre of the pie.
8. Place the second dough round over the filling. Trim the top and bottom edges to one half-inch beyond the pan lip and tuck the rim of dough underneath itself so the folded edge is flush with the pan lip. Flute edging or press with fork tines to seal.
9. Make a 1-inch hole in the top crust in the centre of the pie. Cut four slits at right angles on the top around the centre hole. Brush egg white onto the top of the crust and sprinkle evenly with remaining tablespoon of sugar.
10. Reduce oven temperature to 425-degrees. Place pie on the floor of oven or the pizza stone and bake for approximately 25 minutes, until the top crust is golden.
11. Reduce oven temperature to 375-degrees and continue baking for an additional 30-35 minutes, until the juices bubble and the crust is deep golden-brown.
12. Transfer pie to wire rack; cool to almost room temperature, at least 4 hours.

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Grilled Baba Ghannouj with Chinese Eggplant and Zucchini

I was contacted by the people at Three Farmers in Saskatchewan (Canada) asking if I'd like a sample of their new oil from a seed called camelina. Rarely do I turn away free stuff, so I agreed, and several weeks later, a teeny, tiny package arrived at my door:

Clearly, this must be some hot stuff if they only sent me about a half a cup's worth of the stuff. I imagine it's related to the amount of processing required to render a high-quality cold-pressed oil. It's only available at high-end retail outlets such as Pusateri's and The Cheese Boutique. You can check their website for other places in the GTA and across Canada.

Camelina is what's referred to as an aincent grain. The oil itself is rich in omega fatty acids, has a slight nutty flavour and an earthy smell (Meredith: "it smells like dirt, but the food tasted so good with it!")

According to the Wikipedia article on camelina, the seed has been busy in areas like biofuel production and animal feed as well, so it's clearly starting to pick up again in terms of popularity, even if it's not in the human consumption department.

Three Farmers has some good ideas behind it - a small collective of farmers working together to make a specialized product. Neat from a technical standpoint: each bottle comes with a QR code to help geographically locate where the seeds were harvested from.

Anyway, the day the oil arrived, I was already preparing Meredith a nice meal of grilled vegetables and fish. With the addition of the oil, I decided to do something different using those ingredients. To use more of the oil, I decided to turn the vegetables into a baba ghannouj, and I also used the oil on the fish before grilling to help the spices stick around.

Salmon served with the baba ghannouj, a baked potato and
some of the Haggis and Herring's famous salad with
balsamic vinaigrette.

Both dishes turned out spectacular. The oil wasn't overpowering and blended well with the flavours.

Grilled Baba Ghannouj with Chinese Eggplant and Zucchini

3 Chinese eggplants, cut into 1/2-inch rounds
1 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch rounds
1 tbsp camelina oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
sea salt to taste
3 tbsp tehina
1/4 cup camelina oil

1. Toss the sliced eggplant and zucchini in 1 tbsp oil
2. Grill the eggplant and zucchini until soft on the inside and a bit crispy on the outside
3. Quickly puree lemon juice, garlic and salt in food processor.
4. Add tehina and camelina oil and puree again.
5. Add eggplant pulp and puree until smooth.

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Linked to Jane Deere's Fusion Fridays

Grilled Poached Salmon with Lemon

It's very important to cook with good ingredients. Not everything on sale is really worth the purchase.

Near the end of August, I found some salmon fillets on sale at the local grocery store. It wasn't until I got it home and had a good look at it that I realized that the fish didn't look very good. It looked a little freezer burnt and when I defrosted it, it wasn't very pink or very firm.

You get what you pay for.

The final result wasn't as tasty as I would've liked, however, I know that it would've tasted much, much better if I had a decent piece of fish. I also should've sliced some onions on top as well to add additional flavour.

Grilling some yellow zucchini and peppers. The salmon is to
the right. I took this photo with a new phone app I'm having
fun with, so the photo wasn't actually snapped in 1982.

Grilled Poached Salmon with Lemon

1 side salmon
1/2 lemon, squeezed
3 small pats of butter
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced
1 small onion, thinly sliced (recommended, but not pictured)
salt
pepper

1. Preheat grill on medium.
2. Place salmon on a long stretch of double-thickness (or two sheets of) foil (3-4 feet).
3. Cut the salmon into portions using a sharp knife, being careful to not cut the skin.
4. Squeeze 1/2 lemon over salmon. Arrange butter, sliced lemons and optional onions along the top of the salmon and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Fold foil over fish and turn up edges to create a poaching packet and palce on grill for 15 minutes or until flish flakes easily with a fork.

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Curried Hummus (Curry in a Hurry)

When I saw a curried hummus recipe at Bitter Sweet, Bitter Sweet's recipe was a basic hummus mixed with a Madras curry powder. I have my own hummus recipe and I've made a Madras curry before, so it should be quite easy. I knew I had to make my own version. I guess it's called curry in a hurry because it's simple and quick.

The result was great. Meredith loved it and we ate it on pita with some felafel. Tasty.

Curried Hummus (Curry in a Hurry)

Spice mixture:

1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ginger powder

Remaining ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup tehina
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
water

1. In a small container, combine all ingredients for the spice mixture and shake until thoroughly mixed. Set 1/2 tsp aside for garnish.
2. Reserve 1-2 tbsp chickpeas for garnish.
3. Combine remaining chickpeas, spices, olive oil, tehina and lemon juice all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Add water to reach desired consistency if necessary.
4. Garnish with remaining chickpeas, a splash of olive oil and curry powder.

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Secret Recipe Club: Grilled Sweet Potato Curry Fries

For the August edition of Secret Recipe Club hosted by Tina of Moms Crazy Cooking, I was assigned Steak and Potatoes Kinda Gurl. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm the polar opposite – I'm an anything but steak and potatoes kinda guy. If I was going to do this, I was doing it my way. I just had to find some inspiration.

I did.

I found the inspiration when we went to the Evergreen Brickworks, on the site of the old Don Valley Brickworks. Jacob made some pottery for a community project and helped organize a garden. The guy manning the garden was also making sweet potato fries in a cast-iron pan over a fire. They weren't bad, and they gave me an idea for Secret Recipe Club. I remembered seeing a recipe for garlic oven fries.

Jacob posing by the newly planted section of garden
at Evergreen Brickworks.

With my apologies to the Steak and Potatoes Kinda Gurl, I ran with the idea of fries, and mostly left reality from there. I decided to use curry powder instead of garlic salt and basil, and opted for a sweet potato instead of the standard fry potato. Oh, and I didn't use an oven either. Instead, I used my recently repaired barbecue.

Does that still count? I hope so!

I was sure to use SPG's method of partially cooking the potatoes in boiling water first - I think that's a very important step for good roasted potatoes, and it's a method I only recently picked up. What a difference it makes!

It was my first time grilling sweet potato and it turned out really well - not as crispy as I would've liked (I'll cut them thinner next time), but even our nine-month-old devoured them.


Grilled Sweet Potato Curry Fries

• 1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced into 1cm-thick fries
• 2-3 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp curry powder

1. Boil a pot of water and let potatoes cook for five minutes while the grill heats up to medium.
2. Remove potatoes from water and gently dry with a paper towel.
3. Combine oil, lemon juice, and curry powder and coat potato slices.
4. Grill potatoes for about fifteen minutes, turning every 3-4 minutes so all sides are crispy.

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Chicken on Rice with Creamy Dill Sauce

Photo courtesy of Simon's smartphone. Our camera
went AWOL during picture time!

It all started with an article I read about street meat in Manhattan. The dish sounded good, but the recipe was off. A little vague, mostly in the method, how to cook the chicken, etc -- and I could tell right away: this isn't how it's prepared at a vendor's cart.

I still didn't care because the ingredients sounded great and I could just do my own thing with it - and I did. Our friends were over for dinner as taste testers and it was a hit. Simon called the sauce "magic." I think that says something. 

Chicken on Rice with Creamy Dill Sauce

• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 8 cloves, ground or 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• dash salt
• ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 1+2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed (or 8-10 thighs) 
• 1 recipe Creamy Dill Sauce (Magic Sauce)

1. Combine the turmeric, cumin, coriander, cloves, paprika, curry powder, salt, pepper, garlic, lemon juice and 1 tbsp oil in a medium bowl and whisk in yogurt.
2. Transfer mixture to a large zipper bag, add onions and chicken and seal bag. Shake bag to coat chicken and let marinade overnight.
3. To cook chicken, heat 2 tbsp olive oil on high in a large pan. Add chicken and onion mixture and cook for 15-25 minutes, stirring occasionally until the chicken is cooked through and most of the liquid is gone.
4. Serve with rice and creamy dill sauce.

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Tandoori Chicken

Another Friday, another chicken.

Still wanting to try more Indian dishes, I found a recipe for Tandoori chicken that looked interesting. This particular recipe used milk instead of yogurt, but in my opinion, could use more masala for the marinate, so I swapped out the dairy for yogurt and adjusted the amount of dry spices up to the amount of sauce.

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Tandoori Chicken

by Daniel Saraga May-20-2011

This Tandoori dish is easy to prepare and easily marinates.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp ground corriander
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 1-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3 tbsp garam masala
• 5 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 kilo chicken legs and/or thighs
• 1/2 cup whole-milk yogurt
• 6 tbsp lemon juice
• 6 tbsp canola oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp ginger, minced

Instructions

1. Combine masala spices (coriander, cumin, turmeric, cayenne pepper, garam masala, sweet paprika and salt. Divide mixture into two separate containers.2. Sprinkle the first container of masala on the chicken, covering all sides.3. Place chicken in a large ziplock bag and set aside.4. In a small bowl, whisk together milk, lemon juice, canola oil, garlic and ginger.5. Pour liquid mixture into the ziplock bag, remove air and seal. Shake contents to evenly distribute mixture and refrigerate for one to eight hours.
Baking the chicken:
1. preheat oven to 400-degrees.2. Place chicken on a baking rack with a foil-lined baking pan underneath.3. Sprinkle the remaining masala on the chicken (both sides).
Note: I had some leftover masala.4. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is tender and skin is crispy.
Grilling the chicken:
1. Preheat the grill to medium-high.2. Sprinkle the remaining masala on the chicken (both sides).
Note: I had some leftover masala.3. Grill until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees, rotating the chicken every four minutes.

Details

Prep time: 8 hour 15 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 9 hour Yield: 3-4 servings

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