falafel pitas

I wish I was eating this right now...

Moroccan-style slow-cooked beef stew

For New Year's Eve, my fiance and I made a delicious Moroccan-style beef stew inspired by the lamb stew made by Michael Chiarello on a recent episode of Easy Entertaining. We started by searing the beef (we used boneless chuck) on the stove with a little flour, salt and pepper. We pulled the beef off and stuck it in the crock pot. In the same pan, we sauteed a mix of cippolini/yellow onions and carrots (both from my family's Pete's Greens Good Eats Localvore CSA) with gourmet baby yukon golds. We threw in paprika, chili powder, cumin, coriander, parsley, and cinnamon. We tossed the veggies in with the beef and deglazed the pan with some delicious cabernet sauvignon. We added the wine to the beef and veggies along with some chicken stock, a giant rosemary sprig and a few tablespoons of thick pomegranate sauce (Narsharab from Azerbaijan), and let it go for the rest of the day (maybe 6 hours?). The result was a deliciously fragrant stew -- perfectly tender veggies and melt-in-your-mouth beef.
We served the stew alongside an Israeli couscous salad with chickpeas, celery, and quick-preserved lemons, dressed with extra virgin olive oil and fresh-squeezed tangerine juice. We mixed the salad in as we ate and the combination was fabulous. The only pitfall here was that our crockpot is small. =)

moroccan-inspired mini lamb-ball soup

Last year for Christmas, my parents gave me Casa Moro, the second cookbook from Moro Restaurant in London, UK. I was flipping through meat recipes, trying to get inspired (I had a package of ground lamb that was begging to be cooked). I came upon a dish of lamb seasoned with (what we Americans typically consider to be) sweet spices. This is what I love most about Middle Eastern and North African dishes -- the combination of the sweet and the savory.

My interest in this type of cuisine was sparked by this post on Heidi Swanson's 101 Cookbooks. The combination of savory flavors with the fresh sweetness (and pucker) of pomegranate was just sooo intriguing! I can't describe to you how much I love cold salads, especially ones that are laced with so many different textures.

Anyway -- back to my lamb! I started by sautéing onions and garlic in a little olive oil, then adding vegetable stock and bringing the whole pot to a boil. I mixed some milk-soaked bread, diced garlic, chopped parsley and spices (including smoked paprika, black pepper, cumin, cinnamon, and allspice) into the lamb and then made bite-sized meatballs. Once the broth came to a boil, I tossed in my mini meatballs and some chopped kale. As the pot bubbled away, the spicy flavors from the meatballs infused into the stock, creating a delicate broth.

This soup is light, but packed with flavor!

burcu's savory cornmeal cake

On the mission to find a recipe for cornmeal cakes, I came across a blog -- Almost Turkish Recipes. I just took their savory cornmeal cake out of the oven, and man! It is tasty! Feta and olives add saltiness to the cake, parsley adds a little green, and red pepper flakes add some heat. Check out the post here.

Chick Peace

For those of you who have not yet visited the Burlington Farmers' Market, you are missing out. I have written before about the cheeses and produce you can find there, but I have not yet written about Chick Peace. They are most famous (at least at the market) for their tasty hummus creations.

I stopped by their booth last weekend in the stifling 90-something degree weather... In that kind of heat, it even seems like a chore to eat. Let me tell you, though, I had absolutely no trouble finishing off a small container of their tabouli (their chalkboard says "Armenian Tabouli" but the label says "Mock-Kreyma"). The tabouli is zesty, perfectly spiced, tomato-y and slightly sweet from the onions. It is truly a great summer dish.

Check it out next time you're at the market!

mini-bite :: Maoz

Had lunch @ Maoz Vegetarian (Calle Mayor, 4, and Calle Hortaleza, 7) on Thursday. Delicious falafel sandwich with my choice of toppings (they have lettuce, couscous, carrots, tomatoes & cucumbers, cauliflower, a slaw-type veggie thing, tapenade-type olive thing, onion relish, tzatziki and some other sauces). You can get it with or without hummus (I recommend it!), and with feta, too. The pita is good, but they also have a salad box. You can get tasty chips (fries -- see pic!) with your pita or salad, and they also have dishes of cracked olives and pickled skinny peppers (kind of like pepperoncini) scattered around the little eating area. Click here to see a menu, but keep in mind prices are shown only in £.

Tasty Tabouli Bowl

I just came across this picture from the fall, and I remembered just how much I miss tabouli and fresh garden veggies. In this tabouli bowl, I started with a salad of fresh garden greens and parsley, then added lemony tabouli with tomatoes. I also added some chunks of feta and freshly picked radishes (from a friend's garden!). Just looking at this picture makes me hungry! I love tabouli and cold salads because they are so refreshing. I think I'm in a veggie deficit...