KValley
08-30-2004, 10:47 AM
I debated about posting a separate thread for each recipe, but decided that since they are all from Slow Mediterranean Cooking and combined to make a wonderful meal, I'd toss them into one review.
I love love love this cookbook- one of those I can curl up with and read like a novel. Each recipe is prefaced briefly with an anecdote about the dish, its ingredients, preparation, cultural traditions. The recipes are deceptively simple and use few ingredients. The 'slow' part is not in the preparation- most of which is done well in advance-but because many dishes require long marinating or slow cooking. It spans the entire Mediterranean diaspora- Saturday night took us to Anatolia and North Africa :cool:
Menu:
Garlic and Lemon Marinated Chicken Kebabs
Lemon Tabouli with Tender Romaine
Melt in Your Mouth Green Beans
Pita
California Pinot Noir (Very fruit forward and berry-rich, but more tannic and spicier than an Oregon PN- went so well with the MIddle Eastern spices and herbs- the cinnamon, mint, garlic)
Plum Buckle Real Simple, September '04 Using Italian plums from our trees- delicious. To drink we had a Powers (Washington State) Muscat
Garlic and Lemon Marinated-Chicken Kebabs
A leisurely wait in a mellowing spiced mayonnaise marinade makes this an easy dish to ready for last minute grilling. This is an excellent summer dish - everything can be prepared in advance except for the final quick grilling of the chicken.
Serves 4
1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts
4 large garlic cloves
2 pinches Middle Eastern spices; or substitute a pinch of ground cinnamon and a pinch of ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1. Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. You should have 3-4 dozen pieces.
2. Pound the garlic with the salt until pureed. Add the spices, pepper, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and oil and whisk until smooth. Roll the chicken in the mayonnaise mixture to coat. Cover, refrigerate and let marinate for 3-4 hours.
3. Preheat the broiler or light a hot fire in a barbeque grill. String the chicken on 4 long metal skewers. Broil or grill, brushing with the marinade, turning and basting, until well browned and cooked., 8-10 minutes. For safety, stop basting 3-4 minutes before the chicken is fully cooked.
NOTE: PLease follow the timings here as marinaded chicken is tricky- marinate too long and the flesh may turn mushy; marinate too briefly and the flavors won't penetrate.
My notes Okay okay, I LOATHE mayonnaise- it gives me the heebie-jeebies. I used FF Sour Cream. This chicken was so tender, juicy, flavorful. The preparation is a easy as it gets- we had friends over for dinner and I started the grill when they arrived- dinner was on the table in 20 minutes with very little in-kitchen time during those minutes!
Lemon Tabouli with Tender Romaine
Serves 6; makes 4 cups
1/2 cup fine grain #1 bulgar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cups finely diced tomatoes
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
2 pinches of ground cinnamon
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons slivered fresh mint leaves
Tender romaine leaves
1. Place the bulgar in a fine sieve, rinse under cold running water, squeeze dry, and soak in the lemon juice for 45 minutes. Use a fork to fluff the bulgar.
2. In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, scallions, cinnamon, and a few pinches of salt and pepper. Drizzle on the olive oil and toss. Fold in the bulgar, parsley, mint and mix well. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally.
3. Taste and correct the flavors with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve with crisp inner leaves of romaine lettuce for scooping up the salad.
My notes: This is a classic tabouli, though I learned something new: soaking it in lemon juice instead of water makes for such a bright, delightful flavor! I used bulgar sold in bulk at grocery store- don't know what grain it was, but probably less fine than called for. I needed a bit more liquid.
Although recipe specs 6 servings, this served four- we scraped the bowl clean!
Melt-in-Your-Mouth Green Beans with Turkish Pepper
Since you need patience for this green bean recipe, I advise using an electric slow cooker. The longer the beans remain in contact with the flavorings and oil , the more deeply they will absorb these flavors and the more delicious they will become. If you like your green beans crunchy, this recipe isn't for you. But if you want to try them the Mediterranean way, not overcooked by luxuriously mellow in texture, you'll be very pleased.
Served at room temperature, these beans will melt in your mouth, yet oddly they aren't particularly soft to the touch
Serves 6
1 1/2 pounds thick green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup peeled, seeded, chopped canned tomato or 1 large, juicy, tomato, halved, seeded and grated
1/4 Turkish red pepper flakes (I used regular red pepper flakes)
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt
Lemon Juice
Place everything in the clay insert of an electric slow cooker (? I just used the regular slow cooker pot Add 2 tablespoons water, cover with a small round of crumpled parchment, and set on the lid. Cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 3 1/2 hours, until the beans are very tender. Taste for salt. Allow to mellow overnight. Servwe cool with a few drops of lemon juice to taste.
My notes: I put this together Friday night for Sat. night's dinner. We had a friend over Friday night, and after a few glasses of wine and late conversation, I left DH to do the dinner dishes while I took a bath and went to bed, forgetting entirely about the beans, which had been on low since 5:00 p.m. Got up the next morning at 5:00 a.m. and remembered the beans! No worries- they were gorgeous and the house was infused with a heady scent of garlic and onions (not SO great at 5 am). But they were exactly as the description promised- velvety smooth but still had definite structure. Gorgeous.
I love love love this cookbook- one of those I can curl up with and read like a novel. Each recipe is prefaced briefly with an anecdote about the dish, its ingredients, preparation, cultural traditions. The recipes are deceptively simple and use few ingredients. The 'slow' part is not in the preparation- most of which is done well in advance-but because many dishes require long marinating or slow cooking. It spans the entire Mediterranean diaspora- Saturday night took us to Anatolia and North Africa :cool:
Menu:
Garlic and Lemon Marinated Chicken Kebabs
Lemon Tabouli with Tender Romaine
Melt in Your Mouth Green Beans
Pita
California Pinot Noir (Very fruit forward and berry-rich, but more tannic and spicier than an Oregon PN- went so well with the MIddle Eastern spices and herbs- the cinnamon, mint, garlic)
Plum Buckle Real Simple, September '04 Using Italian plums from our trees- delicious. To drink we had a Powers (Washington State) Muscat
Garlic and Lemon Marinated-Chicken Kebabs
A leisurely wait in a mellowing spiced mayonnaise marinade makes this an easy dish to ready for last minute grilling. This is an excellent summer dish - everything can be prepared in advance except for the final quick grilling of the chicken.
Serves 4
1 1/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts
4 large garlic cloves
2 pinches Middle Eastern spices; or substitute a pinch of ground cinnamon and a pinch of ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1. Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch cubes. You should have 3-4 dozen pieces.
2. Pound the garlic with the salt until pureed. Add the spices, pepper, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and oil and whisk until smooth. Roll the chicken in the mayonnaise mixture to coat. Cover, refrigerate and let marinate for 3-4 hours.
3. Preheat the broiler or light a hot fire in a barbeque grill. String the chicken on 4 long metal skewers. Broil or grill, brushing with the marinade, turning and basting, until well browned and cooked., 8-10 minutes. For safety, stop basting 3-4 minutes before the chicken is fully cooked.
NOTE: PLease follow the timings here as marinaded chicken is tricky- marinate too long and the flesh may turn mushy; marinate too briefly and the flavors won't penetrate.
My notes Okay okay, I LOATHE mayonnaise- it gives me the heebie-jeebies. I used FF Sour Cream. This chicken was so tender, juicy, flavorful. The preparation is a easy as it gets- we had friends over for dinner and I started the grill when they arrived- dinner was on the table in 20 minutes with very little in-kitchen time during those minutes!
Lemon Tabouli with Tender Romaine
Serves 6; makes 4 cups
1/2 cup fine grain #1 bulgar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cups finely diced tomatoes
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
2 pinches of ground cinnamon
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons slivered fresh mint leaves
Tender romaine leaves
1. Place the bulgar in a fine sieve, rinse under cold running water, squeeze dry, and soak in the lemon juice for 45 minutes. Use a fork to fluff the bulgar.
2. In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, scallions, cinnamon, and a few pinches of salt and pepper. Drizzle on the olive oil and toss. Fold in the bulgar, parsley, mint and mix well. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally.
3. Taste and correct the flavors with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve with crisp inner leaves of romaine lettuce for scooping up the salad.
My notes: This is a classic tabouli, though I learned something new: soaking it in lemon juice instead of water makes for such a bright, delightful flavor! I used bulgar sold in bulk at grocery store- don't know what grain it was, but probably less fine than called for. I needed a bit more liquid.
Although recipe specs 6 servings, this served four- we scraped the bowl clean!
Melt-in-Your-Mouth Green Beans with Turkish Pepper
Since you need patience for this green bean recipe, I advise using an electric slow cooker. The longer the beans remain in contact with the flavorings and oil , the more deeply they will absorb these flavors and the more delicious they will become. If you like your green beans crunchy, this recipe isn't for you. But if you want to try them the Mediterranean way, not overcooked by luxuriously mellow in texture, you'll be very pleased.
Served at room temperature, these beans will melt in your mouth, yet oddly they aren't particularly soft to the touch
Serves 6
1 1/2 pounds thick green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup peeled, seeded, chopped canned tomato or 1 large, juicy, tomato, halved, seeded and grated
1/4 Turkish red pepper flakes (I used regular red pepper flakes)
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt
Lemon Juice
Place everything in the clay insert of an electric slow cooker (? I just used the regular slow cooker pot Add 2 tablespoons water, cover with a small round of crumpled parchment, and set on the lid. Cook on low for 5-7 hours, or on high for 3 1/2 hours, until the beans are very tender. Taste for salt. Allow to mellow overnight. Servwe cool with a few drops of lemon juice to taste.
My notes: I put this together Friday night for Sat. night's dinner. We had a friend over Friday night, and after a few glasses of wine and late conversation, I left DH to do the dinner dishes while I took a bath and went to bed, forgetting entirely about the beans, which had been on low since 5:00 p.m. Got up the next morning at 5:00 a.m. and remembered the beans! No worries- they were gorgeous and the house was infused with a heady scent of garlic and onions (not SO great at 5 am). But they were exactly as the description promised- velvety smooth but still had definite structure. Gorgeous.