Recipes

Maple Oat Bread

March 3, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Since I had a jar of maple butter I decided to make a great bread to go along with it. This bread has a really nice maple flavor that makes the kitchen smell great while it’s cooking. Maple syrup is used in the dough and the loaf is topped with rolled oats and brown sugar. This is a yeast bread so it takes a little more time to prepare. It’s also important to incorporate the flour gradually so the dough can rise properly. The bread was really tasty fresh out of the oven and even better with the maple butter.

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Maple Butter

March 1, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Maple butter can be made two ways..with a candy thermometer and boiling syrup or with a mixer. I went with the mixer which is a somewhat simpler method. The result was a fluffy, whipped butter with a strong maple flavor. Use real maple syrup, not the artificial stuff. This butter is perfect as a spread on breads, scones, or muffins.

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Olive & Dill Deviled Eggs

February 29, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

I am a big fan of deviled eggs and there are so many good recipes to choose from. For lunch, I made a batch of black olive and dill deviled eggs which turned out to be really good. The key to making good deviled eggs is a properly cooked hard-boiled egg (which is harder than it seems). The yolk should be moist on the inside, have a smooth uniform color, and not be too flaky. Use older eggs, not fresh eggs for hard-boiling. I had success cooking the eggs on a low boil for 5 minutes, turning off the heat, and running them under cold water/refrigerating them for 15 minutes to cool off. Cooling the eggs in the refrigerator allows for easier peeling and it helps prevent the eggs from cooking after they are removed from the water. After the hard part is over, the fun part can begin–choosing the ingredients to use in the deviled eggs. The standard is mayonnaise and dijon mustard with a dusting of paprika. You can add bacon, pickles, chives, etc. Basically the possibilities are endless with deviled eggs.

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Pulled Moroccan Chicken Sandwich with Roasted Red Peppers and Yogurt Dill Dressing

February 27, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Whenever I have leftovers I try to think of creative ways to use them. I had two chicken thighs from the Moroccan Chicken I made the other day and I decided to make a pulled chicken sandwich out of the leftovers. I recently made some Moroccan yogurt and dill dip and it seemed like it would go really well on a sandwich too. To give the sandwich some extra flavor I added some roasted red peppers which provided a nice pop of color as well. Overall the sandwich was a tasty way to use leftovers. The savory flavors of the chicken paired nicely with the roasted peppers and fresh yogurt dressing.

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Mushroom Ravioli with a Balsamic Butter Sauce and Toasted Walnuts

February 25, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

This mushroom ravioli is really easy to make if you don’t have time to make your own ravioli from scratch. Unfortunately I don’t have the tools (yet) to make my own pasta so hopefully I will be able to enjoy this recipe from scratch eventually. This is actually my boyfriend John’s recipe (he ate a lot of this during his bachelor pad days). He definitely did better than most bachelors with this delicious and easy to make recipe. The balsamic to butter sauce ratio is important as there needs to be enough butter to tame the bitterness of the balsamic vinegar. The sauce should be a medium brown color and not have a lot of bite to it. I let the sauce simmer on very low heat to let the balsamic vinegar caramalize a little while the pasta was cooking. The walnuts and sauce are perfect with the woodsy flavors of the mushrooms. The only thing I wish I did was get a good rind of parmigiano reggiano for this recipe.

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Baked Moroccan Potato Fries with a Yogurt Dipping Sauce

February 23, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

I have found myself taken with the flavor of Moroccan seasonings for a while now and I’m always trying to figure out new ways to use them. Since I regularly make my Moroccan chicken I try to mix things up a bit with side dishes. This time I tried a Moroccan style french fry with a yogurt dipping sauce. The fries were so good and had just the right amount of crispiness on the outside. Baked potato fries are a lot healthier than regular french fries as they are simply tossed in olive oil and roasted in an oven. I sprinkled a little ginger on them along with a little harissa chili paste which brought a nice heat to them. Then I drizzled honey and lemon over the fries and baked them for an hour or so. This allows the inside to get tender while its baking at a lower temperature. The secret to getting a good crispy outside is to broil the fries for about 10 minutes at the very end. The broiling process helps caramelize the outside and evaporates any extra lemon juice on the pan. The dipping sauce was the perfect accompaniment to cool down this spicy and sweet Moroccan side dish.

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Moroccan Yogurt and Dill Dip

February 22, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Recently I made some sweet and spicy Moroccan potato fries and I wanted something to offset the spiciness of that dish. I came up with a cooling yogurt dip with dill and anise seed. Do not be fooled by its similar appearance to ranch dressing. It’s closer in flavor to the Greek tzatziki than ranch dressing. The combination of dill and anise almost give it a minty taste that is very refreshing. This dip cooled down the spicy fries very well, and I’m sure I will be using this recipe again on other Moroccan dishes!

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Farfalle with Preserved Lemon and Sun-dried Tomatoes

February 17, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

I have a lot of preserved lemons now that they are ready to use. I thought that a nice pasta dish would taste great with those lemons and this is what I came up with. It came out pretty well and all the flavors tasted good together. The sun-dried tomatoes, lemons, olives, and capers were delicious. I was originally going to use diced tomatoes but when John suggested sun-dried tomatoes I had to try it. I didn’t add any cheese but I think this recipe would be great with a little feta or parmesan on top.

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Cochinita Pibil Tamales with Roasted Tomatillo Salsa and Queso Fresco

February 13, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Tamales are a great traditional Mexican dish that is made with masa (corn flour), and stuffed with a meat or bean filling. They are then wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves and steamed. For the filling, I decided on a nice pork shoulder that I seasoned with savory annatto seeds, cumin, and allspice–the same recipe for the Cochinita Pibil Tacos. I made Chicken Tamales before, and I wanted to try pork. I decided to use a roasted tomatillo salsa and queso fresco again since salsa verde is so good with pork.

This dish is labor intensive and requires some planning–about 2 days. The first day is to get all the ingredients together and cook the filling. The second day is assembling the tamales and steaming them and of course eating them! When the tamales are in the steamer all you have to do is wait. Once the wait is over it is time to unwrap and enjoy some tasty tamales.

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Cochinita Pibil (Puerco Pibil)

February 11, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

I recently made some pork tamales with tomatillo salsa. The pork filling I decided on was a recipe for Cochinita Pibil, a traditional mexican recipe consisting of ground annatto seeds, cumin, allspice and sour oranges. The pork is sweet and fragrant and roasted on low heat so it’s extra tender. Then the pork is shredded and can be added to tacos, sandwiches, quesadillas, or in my case tamales! The pork is wrapped in banana leaves (found at Latin grocery stores), but foil works fine too. The recipe sounds daunting but it’s actually pretty easy to make, especially if you have a spice/coffee grinder. Using whole spices is key as it produces the freshest flavor. The recipe calls for sour orange but I used a blend of juice oranges and limes and that produced a good sweet and sour flavor. The nice thing about a recipe like this is that you can put it in a variety of different sandwiches or mexican foods. I will be making this again in some way or another.

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