shakshouka and pita!

a recent trip to israel means many yummy food posts to come. a good place to start is the celebratory meal i cooked when i got back: shashouka and pita bread! i wanted to use the spices i brought back with me, paprika and za'atar right away.

so the deal is that there are a lot of ways to make shakshouka. i'm sure everyone has their preferred method. i went for something quite simple to keep things easy but also to let my newly acquired paprika shine. i looked up a bunch of different articles online and just used them as a guide to go at it myself. this is one of those dishes that is quite hard to mess up. really, no matter what you do, it's going to taste good.

the pita bread was surprisingly easy to make. especially considering i was making it while doing loads of laundry...i'm sure i messed up somewhere along the way. and yet, delish.

shakshouka

• 1 28-oz can tomatoes
  
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1/2 large red pepper, chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon paprika
  
• salt
• pepper
• parsley, chopped
• feta cheese
• 6 eggs
• olive oil

• add a couple of tablespoons to a large pan
• add garlic, onion, red pepper and cook until softened
• add tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, paprika
• cook until sauce slightly thickens, about 15 minutes
• make 6 indents in the sauce and crack eggs onto top of sauce
• cover and cook until the whites set, about 5 minutes
• top with parsley and crumbled feta
  

pita bread
adapted from mark bittman's how to cook everything and the mollie katzen's new moosewood cookbook

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
  
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
  
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 3 cups flour (i used spelt)

• mix yeast into warm water and let sit for a few minutes. it should foam.
• mix oil, salt, sugar, honey into water
• add flour and mix, 1 cup at a time. by the end, you'll probably need to use your hands.
  
• knead a bit and form dough into a ball. cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1-2 hours (or less, if you're rushed).
• punch down dough. cut into 6 pieces and cover. allow to rest for 15 minutes. apparently this helps them puff...
  
• flatten and roll each ball so that they're about 1/4-1/8" thin and somewhat circular. cover. allow to rest 15 minutes.
• bake on a baking sheet 5-10 minutes, flipping once, until lightly browned on both sides.
• good warm. or cold.
  

latino brunch and a photo shoot

when i heard that the studio was lit, the only thing that made sense to do was cook and document! friend/colleague mel was generous enough to host and shoot this shindig. and what a shindig it was. i was *pleasantly* surprised to be introduced to this social network that resides in jersey city. as i cooked, a number of friends drifted in and out and soon enough the 6 of us were sitting down to a feast. the feast was a combination of the impressively vast amount of food mel had on supply and a few supplemental materials we picked up at the local deli. on the menu: arepas, guacamole, pico de gallo, eggs, bloody marys and flourless chocolate cake.

let's talk about flours. you've got to have arepa flour, not cornmeal or other corn based flour substances. look at your local latino market or the latino section of large supermarkets. it's pretty common.

arepas with eggs, guacamole and pico

make the arepas:

• once you have arepa flour, just follow the directions on the package. it will be a simple mix of the flour, pinch of salt and warm water. i suggest adding some grated cheese at this point...
• flatten a small handful of dough in the palms of your hands, and fry on the stove top in a decent amount of heated oil until browned on both sides.
  

make the guacamole:

• 2 avocados
• 1 small tomato, finely chopped
  
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, finely chopped (optional)
  
• juice from 1 lime
  
• salt and pepper

• mash the avocados with a fork and add salt to taste
• add tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice. mix well.

make the pico de gallo:

• 2 tomatoes, chopped
  
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• small handful cilantro, chopped
• juice from 1-2 limes
• salt and pepper
  
• 1/2 jalapeno, finely chopped

• combine all ingredients in a bowl, allow to sit for a few minutes. you might want to add a tiny drizzle of olive oil...

once you have the components (arepas, guacamole, pico) i suggest layering them with over easy eggs. and more cheese.

flourless chocolate cake
from epicurious

my general rule: the simpler the recipe, the better. nothing fancy required. it's a little bit of a labor of love but totally worth the effort and will blow everyone away.

• 12 ozs bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 12 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• preheat oven to 350°F. butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan. line bottom of pan with parchment paper or waxed paper; butter paper. wrap outside of pan with foil.
  
• stir chocolate and butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. remove from heat. cool to lukewarm, stirring often.
• using electric mixer, beat egg yolks and 6 tablespoons sugar in large bowl until mixture is very thick and pale, about 3 minutes.
  
• fold lukewarm chocolate mixture into yolk mixture, then fold in vanilla extract.
  
• using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another large bowl until soft peaks form. gradually add remaining 6 tablespoons sugar, beating until medium-firm peaks form.
  
• fold whites into chocolate mixture in 3 additions. pour batter into prepared pan.
• bake cake until top is puffed and cracked and tester inserted into center comes out with some moist crumbs attached, about 50 minutes. cool cake in pan on rack (cake will fall).
• using small knife, cut around pan sides to loosen cake. remove pan sides. place 9-inch-diameter tart pan bottom or cardboard round atop cake. invert cake onto tart pan bottom. peel off parchment paper.

or, just make this cake in whatever buttered pan you have. it might not be as beautiful but will be absolutely delicious. and this cake definitely does not require a glaze. i recommend a nice sprinkle of powdered sugar.

solstice brunch

subtitle: continuing the backwards holiday march


this particular brunch was made specifically for solstice (part II) but there's no reason it wouldn't work for any other time--special occasion or not. an indulgent king crab leg meal the night before yielded many more leftovers than we thought possible. the perfect thing to pair with those leftovers? eggs! well, eggs and quite a number of other things. hence the necessary trip to whole foods. the shopping trip left us with ingredients for the following: crab quesadillas with guacamole and eggs and a citrus fruit salad.

i love citrus, so this salad gives it something a little bit extra but pretty much just hangs onto the integrity of the fruit. and it's incredibly festive. to make it even better, you really can't go wrong with crab, cheese, guacamole and eggs. it's a match made in heaven (the perfect thing to share).

citrus salad

• a mix of citrus (we used grapefruits, navel oranges and blood oranges), segmented
• honey
• chopped mint
• champagne vinegar (champagne)
  

• whisk together honey, mint and vinegar. start with about a tablespoon of each and adjust to taste.
• mix with citrus.
  

crab quesadilla with guacamaole and eggs

• eggs
  
• 2 corn tortillas per quesadilla
  
• small handful of cheese per quesadilla (something mild), grated
  
• crabmeat
  
• 2 avocados
  
• 1 small tomato, finely chopped
  
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, finely chopped (optional)
  
• juice from 1 lime
  
• salt and pepper

• make the guacamole: mash the avocados and add salt to taste. add tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice. mix well.
• heat both sides of the tortillas in a pan. once warmed, put cheese and crab in between tortillas and heat until cheese melts and tortillas brown. keep warm while you make the eggs.
• make eggs any way you like (i prefer over easy)
• assemble: place quesadilla on a plate. top with guacamole then eggs.
  

glorified grilled cheese

when is grilled cheese okay for breakfast? when it has an egg on it! (or all the time). in any case, a wonderfully crusty spelt loaf and aged cheddar were beckoning and i couldn't wait until lunch.

i topped my sandwich (instead of stuffing it) with an egg, heirloom tomato slice and a ginormous basil leaf, because i was really looking for a grilled cheese vehicle and wanted to keep my cheesy goodness purely intact as possible.

if you're gonna go this route (extra toppings or not), there are very few ingredients involved so quality is crucial. i mean it! do no skimp. save your wonder bread and american cheese for something else. and as we transition to the fall season, read up on your heirlooms, if you haven't already. i must say, they were absolutely out of control at the santa monica farmers market a couple of weekends ago.
glorified grilled cheese

• cheese: a nice aged cheddar made me happy
  
• bread: crusty, please!
  
• nice thick slice of tomato
• a couple of basil leaves
  
• fried egg: over easy, lots of yolk, please

• combine as desired. in my case, this involved buttering two slices of bread, frying them butter side down with cheese on top, cooking until the cheese melted , sticking them together and topping them with the rest of the ingredients.

weeknight dinner: eggs in purgatory casserole

there are certain things that don't have immediate appeal to me. casseroles are one of these things. and it undoubtedly has to do with what was cooked in my house when i was growing up. (lots of spaghetti but never ever meatloaf. got it?)

so when i received my march issue of bon appetit and saw a casserole feature, i first flipped straight past. until the pictures distracted me and i realized how delicious they looked. these weren't your standard tuna noodle casserole (no, i've never had one). and although i wanted to make them all, there was one that particularly caught my eye: eggs in purgatory. a of all, it featured many things i like (eggs, artichokes and parmesean) and b of all, it seemed pretty straightforward. a perfect weeknight meal, if you will. or even better, a perfect roomie meal entree. this is exactly why i file away recipes for later use.

and even though this dish incorporated things i'm not so fond of (okay, one thing: potatoes) it allowed me to knock off some more of those csa potatoes. yes, they're still around. in a nutshell: comfort food at its finest. yum yum.

eggs in purgatory
from bon appetit

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• coarse kosher salt
• 1 8- to 10-ounce package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed, drained
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice (preferably fire-roasted)
• 8 ounces red-skinned or white-skinned potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons drained capers
• 8 large eggs
• 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  

• heat olive oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. add onion, thyme, and red pepper; sprinkle lightly with coarse kosher salt and sauté until onion is tender and golden brown, about 10 minutes. add artichokes and minced garlic; stir 1 minute. stir in diced tomatoes with juice and bring to boil. reduce heat; cover skillet and simmer 15 minutes to allow flavors to blend.
• meanwhile, cook potatoes in small saucepan of boiling salted water just until tender, about 8 minutes. drain. add potatoes and capers to tomato-artichoke sauce; cover and simmer 5 minutes. season to taste with coarse salt and pepper.
• preheat oven to 375°F. pour tomato-artichoke sauce into 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. using back of spoon, make 8 evenly spaced indentations in sauce for holding eggs. crack 1 egg into each indentation in sauce (some of eggs may run together slightly in spots). bake until egg whites and yolks are softly set, 12 to 16 minutes. carefully remove baking dish from oven; sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over and serve.
• serves 4 very hungry roomies
  

the incredible edible egg (polenta and eggs)

subtitle: when i fell in love with the nytimes dining section

i still have the nytimes clipping of the article shoved into a binder with recipe tear outs. these days, i generally browse the nytimes online but there was a time when i had a job where the best part was the nytimes daily delivery. this was my first formal, regular introduction to the wednesday dining section.

you may have heard of such books as alone in the kitchen with an eggplant or what we eat when we eat alone, where the entire concept rests on some secretive meal that we each have to make when we're on our own. now, i have made this particular meal for others but i'm just not sure if it's appreciated as well in a group versus curling up alone in a couch corner after an exhausting day.

everyone's heard of putting a fried egg on top of almost anything as an added bonus to a dish. however, when i read this article, i never had. it sounded so good that i decided to go home and make it that very night. with that, i concocted my own comfort food. by that i mean that this is not something my parents ever made for me when i was younger (i have some of those too but that's a different story). this is something i independently discovered, and have made my own. granted, i did have to be of age enough so that i could appreciate an over easy egg and how the runny yolk seamlessly combines with just about any other flavor and adds a comforting richness to it. once i discovered this, there really was no stopping the endless combinations and possibilities. and each one tastes just as good as the last.

the recipe below is the first one i saw using this concept (polenta, eggs and dark leafy green) but now i put eggs over almost anything: various grains (rice, quinoa, pasta) and any vegetable (don't stop with dark leafy greens). it's the ultimate meal: quick, easy, affordable, tasty and comforting.


polenta, greens and eggs for 1 (adapted from melissa clark, nytimes)

• 1-2 eggs (depending on how hungry you are. sometimes i make 2 eggs just so that i can have the two yolks)
• polenta
• lots of grated parmesean cheese
• dark greens (my favorite is spinach but above you might be able to see that i used csa bok choy)
• garlic
• red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper
• chicken stock
• butter

• i usually make the greens first since they can sit for a little bit without any trouble. heat olive oil in a pan, add lots of minced garlic and greens. cook over high heat until wilted. stir in red pepper flakes.
  
• make the polenta: contrary to nytimes advice, i use quick cooking polenta (not quite instant but not the slow cook kind). bring 3 cups of chicken stock to a boil, reduce heat and add polenta, start whisking. once the polenta has started to thicken, stir in salt and pepper, parmesean cheese, and some butter. keep whisking until the polenta starts to pull away from the pot. cover to keep warm.
• fry eggs in some olive oil. the olive oil helps the whites get all crispy. the runny yolks are downright necessary, so sunny side up or over-easy are best.
• spoon polenta into a shallow bowl, top with greens and eggs. top with additional parmesean cheese.
  

baked eggs with kale (december csa)

i had promised my csa pickup partner (you try carrying 15-20 pounds of goods by yourself in the freezing cold, it ain't fun) brunch as a thanks for helping out. as i was searching for a dish that would celebrate the fresh bounty, i came across baked eggs.

one of my favorite csa items that i get are eggs. although the eggs from my farm aren't not currently certified organic, they are pastured and from free-range chickens that are grass-fed without hormones or antibiotics. once you try them, you won't go back to your standard supermarket fare, i promise. however, if you are trying to buy a better quality egg at the store instead of a local farmer's market, there are a variety of label factors and some really don't quite matter. i could go on and on about this as it really gets rather complicated but this article sums up some key differences nicely. and if anyone has some information to shed here, please, fire away.

we sauteed some kale with olive oil and garlic until it got soft, then placed it in the bottom of a ramekin, topped it with an egg, parmesean cheese, salt and pepper and baked in the oven at 375 degrees until white of the egg set. the part that got me was making sure the whites of the eggs were cooked without overcooking the yolks. with these amazing farm fresh guys, the last thing you want is rubbery, overcooked eggs. you can really throw anything in here with the guarantee that it will be delicious!