Moroccan Fruit Salad

According to Claudia Roden's Arabesque, a typical dessert to go after a hearty Moroccan meal is a light orange salad. I would love to say that I followed her recipe exactly to get the full experience, but the recipe in the book is so simple that my lack of orange flower extract left me with just sliced orange. So I experimented and added some things that I think stay true to the original concept and flavor profiles. This is a great winter dessert for when the stores are overflowing with all kinds of citrus!

Ingredients:

2-3 oranges
2-3 tangelos
4-5 clementines
1 pomegranente
lemon zest
almond extract
cinnamon
allspice






This is a super simple dish--but has an interesting flavor profile that transports you across the world! Peal and chop the citrus, taking off as much of the pith as possible. If you want to be fancy, you can cut it out in segments, getting all the pith out. For the larger fruit I cut off the peal and then sliced and tore the pieces apart. As I slice them I put them in a bowl, trying to collect the juice as well. Next get the pomegranate seeds out of the fruit--there are probably better techniques, but I just cut it in half and used my hands to get the seeds out. They get tossed in with the citrus as well.

I drained some of the juice into a small bowl and added a dash of cinnamon, a small grate of an allspice berry, a drop of almond extract, and a quick zest of lemon. You can also whisk in some powdered sugar if your citrus isn't sweet. That is tossed over the citrus and the salad is chilled.

The Verdict: The warm seasonings with the cool citrus, and the crunch of pomegranate really elevate this fruit salad. Plus healthier than the almond cookies I'd thought to make. Use whatever citrus you can find in the store, different kinds mixed together make a nice contrast!

Don't be Such a Chicken

The other day I ran out of Diet Coke, it was terrible! So on my way to water aerobics I stopped by the store to pick some up. In my caffeine-deprived, early morning fog, wearing ratty workout clothes over my swimsuit, I was approached by every single member of the store's management to say hi and chat--it was surreal. Anyway, as I searched blindly for the soda, I stumbled across a cooler full of whole chickens, for 99cents a pound. This has nothing to do with soda or swimming, but it seemed like a good deal, so I bought one. I've never cooked a whole chicken, nor even been around someone else cooking one--if you don't count the rotisserie at the grocery store. I did find the soda and get to aerobics, and now I'm trying to figure out this whole chicken thing!

Many of my cookbooks have recipes for roasted chicken, so many recipes it is overwhelming. Also they aren't that similar--different cooking times and temperatures, different preparations, and as many flavor profiles as one could expect. So of course, with too many to choose from I'm getting a little from one and a little from another. Mostly I'm following a recipe I found in a new cookbook I was putting away at the library, and found again online. It is a Coriander and Orange Chicken from Michael Symon. I watch him on the Chew and other food network shows, and so I can practically hear him read the directions. I may not be following them so well, but the flavors and technique are inspired by this.

Marinate Ingredients:
2 tbs Coriander Seeds2
 Garlic clove
1 chipotle in adobo
1 Orange (zest and juice)
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 tbs Honey
1 whole Chicken
1 bay leaf
Salt and Pepper

So the day before I planned on cooking this, I got out the chicken and got marinating. I love the idea of adding flavor, but I worry about the fact I can't taste it until after it has finished cooking. I zested the orange, grated the garlic, juiced the orange, minced the chipolte, and added the oil in with a good helping of salt and a fair amount of ground pepper. I put the coriander and the bay leaf in a frying pan and put it on medium heat, tossing frequently so they don't burn. When they were nice and fragrant, I added them to the rest of the marinade.

That done, I braced myself to tackle the chicken. It was not so bad--it only had a chicken neck inside, instead of all the gizzards I was expecting. I loosened some of the skin to get the seeds, garlic and zest up against the flesh. Then rubbed the whole bird, front, back, and inside with the liquid and placed the whole thing in a plastic bag where I can easily turn and rub the marinade into the bird. The whole thing went into the fridge, to be turned frequently, so the flavor can really get worked in.

Remaining Ingredients

4 medium Carrots
4 medium Parsnips
Small head of Cauliflower
2 yellow onions
Orange
garlic
leftover marinade
marinated chicken 
oil spray





So I peeled and chopped the carrots, parsnips, onions, and garlic into pretty big chunks and tossed them with leftover marinade and put them in the bottom of my dutch oven. I put the chicken on top and put it in an oven heated to 425.

Done on Top

Not done on bottom

The recipe says for 45 minutes, but after half of that time the top was very dark. I turned the temp down to 375 and let it cook for an hour. It wasn't ready so I let it cook for another half hour and the thermometer said 165, on the breast so I took it out to rest. Well it wasn't done, so it went back in for another hour. After that it still wasn't done, but I was ready to eat the dog, so I cut off a slice and microwaved it with the veggies until it was good and done.


The Verdict:
This was a disappointment in that the chicken never cooked through-- though I was able to use all the chicken by taking it off the bird and cooking again. The actual meat was quite flavorful, though it was a little over cooked by the time I ate the last in a taco with a whole bunch of veggies. The veggies that cooked under the bird were lovely and tender and so flavorful with all that fat and marinade! The best thing on the whole dish was the veggies, and I've finally had a parsnip that was really worth eating. I will tackle the whole chicken again, and I will overcome! My plan next is to cook a whole chicken in a crock pot--it wont get crispy skin, but it should cook through!

Popovers or Yorkshire Pudding?

My Grandma, I wish I'd understood her more.

 After I brought in the mystery cupcakes to work, I decided I needed to bring in some savory treats, since right now half of the staff have sworn off sugar. So when I found a recipe for "Rosemary Popovers, with Lemon Butter" in the Weight Watcher's 2005 annual recipe book, I was intrigued--a savory roll that didn't have baking soda or powder or yeast. Sounds easy enough, and I have most of the ingredients already, but I wasn't sure what a popover was supposed to be like. So I hit up the internet--and it turns out I do know the popover--as Yorkshire Pudding!

My grandmother was born and raised in Yorkshire before WWII and used to cook us Toad in the Hole, Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding, and once even liver and onions! Sadly, none of her recipes have been passed down to me--she said the secret to Yorkshire Pudding was something that couldn't be taught, and couldn't be captured in a recipe. The secret was the scorched and seasoned pan, crusty and black with years of puddings and roasts. I'm not sure what happened to her pans--she passed away several years ago. But instead of trying to capture that Yorkshire spirit, I'm going to attempt some popovers!

Ingredients:
3 tbs butter softened
1 tsp orange or lemon zest
1 cup milk or milks substitute
1/2 cup egg substitute or 2 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
cooking spray



Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, and get out the butter, milk, and eggs so they can get to room temperature. Put the pan in the oven to heat up for at least 5 minutes. Mix the butter and half of the lemon zest and set aside.

Once all of the ingredients are at room temperature put the milk, flour, egg, salt, and half of the zest in a large bowl and whisk until smooth. This is a lot like a crepe batter--very liquid. I went with orange zest, but these could be made with a huge variety of seasonings, sweet or savory. I let the batter rest for a little, about 5 minutes, though longer is better. In fact, like crepe batter, I bet the batter could be made in advanced and just whisked up and baked when needed.

I pulled the heated pan out of the oven, sprayed it with cooking spray, and divided the batter between the
pans. They went into the oven for 15 minutes, and then the oven was lowered to 350 for another 15 minutes. They came out of the oven toasty and popped up--though not really over the top. I think if I had used real eggs, and not the substitute, they may have popped more. I pulled them out of the pans to cool--I'd read online to poke a hole in the bottom to let the steam out, but most had holes in the bottom already!

The Verdict: These were eggy and addictive--I meant to try one hot out of the oven and then eat them with leftover chili for lunch. But before I knew it I'd inhaled 4 along with my bowl of chili. They have just a faint hint of orange, and could be savory or sweet. The recipe called for using the orange butter with them, but they were just as good without or dipped in chili. I can see how they would be better fresh, hot out of the oven, served along with something to dip or smother them. Next time I will make up a batch of the batter and make a few at a time as I need them, so I can have them fresh for lunch and dinner!