Chicken with Tomatoes and Honey

This recipe is found in the Morocco section of the book "Around the World in 450 Recipes" which belongs to holyfigtree. I guess that's where our blog name came from - just realized that now.

Ingredients: Serves 4
2 Tbsp sunflower oil
2 Tbsp butter
4 chicken quarter, or 1 whole chicken, quartered
1 onion, chopped finely
1 garlic clove, crushed and chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
good pinch of ground ginger
3-3.5 lb tomatoes, peeled, cored, roughly chopped
2 tbsp clear honey (we used much more than that)
1/3 c blanched almonds
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
salt and pepper
fresh crusty bread, to serve

1. Heat butter and oil in large casserole. Add chicken pieces and cook over med heat for 3 min until chicken is lightly browned.
2. Add onion, garlic, cinnamon, ginger, tomatoes, and seasoning, and heat gently until tomatoes begin to bubble.
3. Lower heat, cover and simmer gently for 1 hr, stirring and turning chicken occasionally until completely cooked through.
4. Transfer chicken pieces to plate and increase heat and cook tomatoes until sauce is reduced to thick puree, stirring frequently. Stir in honey, cook for a min, then return chicken to pan and cook 2-3 min. Dry fry almonds and sesame seeds or toast under grill until golden.
5. Transfer chicken and sauce to warm serving dish and sprinkle with almonds and sesame seeds. Serve with fresh crusty bread.

We overcooked the chicken a little but the overall dish was quite good, with the honey complementing the tomatoes well. We did add a lot more honey than was said in the recipe.
*To be continued*

Cream of Sweet Corn Soup

I know it looks a bit like grits, but it really did taste good! If you like sweet corn, and it has no cream. This recipe comes from "The New Vegetarian Epicure" by Anna Thomas.

Ingredients: Serves 6-8.
9-10 freshly picked ears sweet corn (7 c kernels)
1 large sweet onion
1 large clove garlic
3 Tbsp butter
4 c milk (We used almond milk)
1 tsp salt, more to taste
Pepper to taste

Garnish: chopped chives or cilantro leaves
1. Husk and clean the corn, ad slice the kernels off into a big bowl with a sharp knife. Scrape the cobs to release as much juice as you can. You need at least 7 cups of corn kernels.
2. Chop the onion and garlic and cook them in 2 tbsp of butter until they are soft and golden, about 10 min. Combine the corn kernels, the onions and garlic, about about a cup of the milk, and puree in a blender in batches.
3. Combine the puree with the rest of the milk in a soup pot, add the salt and the remaining butter, and simmer for 15-20 min. Taste and correct the seasoning if needed.
4. The soup can be run through the blender again at this point if the texture feels too rough for you. For an absolutely silky texture you can go a step farther and press it all through a sieve, which will reduce the quantity a bit.
5. Serve the soup hot and sprinkle each serving with chopped chives or cilantro.

*In this recipe, we didn't have the garnish, and did not put the soup through a sieve. The soup was sweet and had a nice texture for chewing on.

Tomato Mushroom Risotto

I stole the recipe from the Vegetarian Epicure book that my roommate had. Two of my roommates are vegetarian. Even though I'm not, I love vegetarian meals because they're much easier to prepare, easy to clean up after, and makes me feel clean and less guilty. Mushrooms were added to the recipe for more variety. One flaw with the dish was how the rice stuck to the bottom of the pot.

In the picture, the toast had shaved Parmesan that melted and a sprig of parsley for some color.
This recipe is also courtesy of "The New Vegetarian Epicure" by Anna Thomas.
Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp butter
salt to taste
6 c vegetable broth
2 c summer tomato sauce, or
2 lbs ripe tomatoes
1 additional Tbsp olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 c Arborio rice
3/4 c dry white wine
1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

garnishes: additional Parmesan cheese
slivered fresh basil
toasted pine nuts

Steps: (shortened)
1. In a large non-stick pan, saute the onion in olive oil and butter, with a dash of salt, until turning golden. In separate skillets, heat vegetable broth and tomato sauce, and keep them both just below a simmer.
2. If starting with fresh tomatoes: scald and peel them. Chop or process them for a few seconds. Heat a tbsp olive oil and saute chopped garlic for 2 min, then add tomatoes and cook down for 15 min.
3. Add rice to sauteed onion and stir gently in pan for about 2 min. Pour white wine and stir as it is absorbed.
4. Add soup ladle of heated broth and stir, keeping mixture just at a simmer. Keep stirring until broth is nearly all absorbed into rice, then add a ladle of tomato sauce and chopped herbs, and stir until all is nearly absorbed. Continue this way, alternating broth and tomato sauce until sauce is used up. Then carry on with broth until rice is al dente. Process takes about 25 min, and at the end a creamy sauce will form around rice grains.
5. When rice is no longer crunchy, stir in last ladle of hot broth and grated Parmesan. Serve immediately. Scatter garnishes as needed.

*We also added sliced crimini mushrooms to add more variety to the dish.

Raspberry Cobbler

I got this recipe while working at an organic family farm last summer in Hoopa, CA. I tried my first fruit cobbler while there and fell for it immediately. I only ate it once while there, and today was the first day trying out the recipe. It felt like a success after positive reviews from roommates, but next time I'll probably add less lemon juice because part of it felt a bit too tart, and maybe a little less water.

The crust is pretty amazing because of the whole wheat flour though.

Ingredients:
4 cups berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Batter:
1 c sugar
6 Tbsp butter
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c unbleached flour
1 1/4 c milk
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Topping:
1/4 c sugar - this amount of sugar can vary depending on taste.
3 T flour
2 1/2 c water (boiling - add at the end)

1. Put berries in deep dish and sprinkle with lemon juice.
2. Cream butter and 1 c sugar.
3. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Add with milk to make a batter.
4. Spoon batter over berries.
5. Mix 1/4 c sugar and 3 T flour and sprinkle over batter.
6. Pour 2 1/2 cup boiling water over the sugar and batter.
7. Bake at 375 degrees for about 1 hr or until crust is done. This may be made with other berries or fruits.

Tabouli

Ingredients:
3 bunches of parsley
1 c bulgur wheat
2 tomatoes, diced
3-4 persian cucumbers, diced
1-2 bunches green onions, finely chopped
1-2 bunches mint leaves, finely chopped
Salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice to taste

1. Soak bulgur wheat in water. Cook 1 c bulgur wheat with 1 c water until water absorbs.
2. Process parsley. Mix with other ingredients and add seasonings to taste. Having a food processor is excellent for ease of finely chopping parsley. Otherwise it can be a nightmare to chop by hand, or by magic bullet - not worth the effort.

Quinoa-Tahini Salad

Courtesy of holyfigtree:

Quinoa is a grain-like seed known for its high protein content.
Ingredients:
1 c dry quinoa
2 c water
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 c red onion, diced
1 of ea. yellow, green, red bell pepper diced
2 bunches of cilantro, finely chopped

Tahini dressing:
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1/3 c Tahini (stir before measuring)
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin powder or seeds
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1. Bring 2 c water to boil, add quinoa and cover at low simmer for 15 min. It's ready when seed's germ becomes a tiny curl. Drain.
2. Combine quinoa, garbanzo beans, bell peppers, onion, and cilantro.
3. Mix in Tahini dressing.

Couscous Salad

Ingredients:
1.5 c dry couscous
4 Persian cucumbers, diced
cooked garbanzo beans
sliced kalamata olives
1-2 tomatoes, diced
feta cheese

Cook couscous with 1.5 c water. Set aside to cool. Mix everything together and drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt to taste.

Some tantalizing pictures

Shrimp Fettucine with Lemon Sauce and Arugula


Taiwanese Night
Beef Noodle Soup

Dumplings



Indian Night
Dinner Plate


Table setting: Chicken Tikka Masala and Lentil Daal



This is a quick rekap of what we've done together as a cooking club - I hope to find the time later (probably summertime) to post the recipes and stories behind them if I can still remember.

Oatmeal Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

My roommate found this recipe from her magazine, and it was sweet of her to think of my egg allergy and baked them one weekend in January. They are very addicting, mainly because I love the fibery bites of rolled oats mixed with chocolate chips. I should try this recipe with raisins instead of chocolate chips next time, but chocolate is irresistible.

Recipe (courtesy of magazine - not sure of the title)-makes 40 small cookies

2 c walnuts
3 tbsp canola oil (I used grapeseed oil - currently anti canola oil)
1 c light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c oat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 c rolled oats
1 1/2 c chocolate chips

1. Blend the walnuts in a food processor. When ground into fine meal, add oil and continue processing until mixture has tendency of peanut butter. Scrape down sides of processor periodically to ensure even processing. Transfer to bowl.
2. Whisk sugar and 1/2 c water in saucepan and bring mixture to boil. Pour brown sugar mixture into walnut butter, add vanilla and stir until no lumps remain.
3. Process 1 1/2 c instant oats to make oat flour (if oat flour is unavailable). Whisk oat flour with baking soda, salt, cinnamon. Stir oat flour mixture into walnut mixture and cool for 10 min. Fold in oats, then chocolate chips.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
5. Shape cookie into 2 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Flatten cookies with bottom of drinking glass dipped in water. Bake 8-10 min or until cookies begin to brown and tops look dry.
Cool 3 min on baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

I don't have wire racks and just leave them on the baking sheet. It seems to work fine. The only flaw that might be with the cookies is that they fall apart easily, but I prefer them to be undercooked and crumbly.

Vegetarian Spring Rolls

I had made this with a friend before, but tonight I just made them by myself. While it is a simple procedure, I still find it takes longer to do than desired, but that's how it is with any homecooking.

Basic recipe:
Red leaf lettuce
Dill
Mint leaves
Sliced green onion (1 inch pieces)
Persian cucumber, sliced
Cilantro
Other ingredients you can add: chives, sliced carrot, vermicelli
Roll them up in rice paper (dipped in warm water for 2-3 seconds) as you would a burrito.

Peanut dipping sauce:
1/2 c peanut butter
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp soy sauce (I used Bragg's aminos which almost taste the same but have less sodium content)
1/4 c water
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp - 1 tsp chili garlic sauce

Mix the ingredients and microwave for 30-40 seconds. I had microwaved the sauce for almost a minute and it looks a bit dried out. It was still good though, just looked darker.

Rolling evenly sized, symmetrical spring rolls is still in the works, as you can see. Whether they are lumpy or not, they still taste refreshing. The extra dill and cucumber made a nice garnish.

Marinara Veggie Pasta

Date of Completion: St. Patrick's Day 3/17/10
Recipe (for 6-7 people):
Pasta
12 oz. whole wheat spaghetti pasta
1 green bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 bunches of scallions, chopped finely
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 white onion, chopped
2 tbsp. grapeseed oil
1 jar marinara sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Bring salted water to a boil. Add pasta until al dente, drain. Heat oil in pan, add garlic first. When garlic is fragrant, add other vegetables until tender. Pour in marinara sauce and simmer. Toss in cooked pasta and mix. Toss in raw spinach leaves to wilt.

Salad: Trader Joe's spinach, cranberry, blue cheese and raspberry vinaigrette, all in a bag!

After a leisurely beach bike ride, we stopped by my place to use up all the veggies that needed cooking. It was an easy recipe for a weeknight, healthy, and tasty.

TJ's Trail Mix

No, I did not invent a new trail mix but with a little improvisation with Trader Joe's products, I created an addicting new snack great to take to school. Starting off with the basic Omega 3 Trail Mix, I also break a 100 calorie dark chocolate bar into small pieces and top it off with Roasted Plantain Chips. Yum! When I get my camera back, a scintillating picture will be here.

What inspired this mix was a number of factors: the lack of healthy foods at the student store (my only orders are Doritos and/or a Strawberry milk popsicle from Helados, a Mexican brand - which is really quite delicious), a ridculously early lunch time (and lacking self restraint to ration food throughout the day), and bringing only 1-2 fruits a day at most which doesn't fill me up. Most days I go for about 5-6 hours without any food, and I often come home feeling like there's hungry black hole in my stomach, needing to be fed. It has on multiple occasions, kept me from going to the gym after work because of exhaustion/pigging out at home.

But now, with the flavorful morsels of cranberries, pine nuts, almonds, pecans, chocolate bits and roasted plantains rolled into one, combines the needed heaviness of the nuts with the chocolate endorphins and addicting plantain chips (infinitely better than potato chips)... the sweet, sour, crunchy wholesomeness, hunger can be satiated! With much less guilt.

Friday Night Delights

Welcome! This is officially the start of a newly established cooking blog, started from three high school friends, who during a cliffside hike, decided to start a weekly cooking club. What began as a craving for Thai food (pad thai and curry) blossomed into an exciting endeavor for 3 recent college graduates united by a passion for good food, the art of cooking and appreciation for enjoying a long meal filled with lively conversation and perhaps a game of Taboo afterwards.

This blog is to keep a record of the recipes, including any modifications, and results of the meal. We hope over time we can make our way around the world with themed cooking nights. The disclaimer is that we do not claim to have invented any of these recipes, since they were gathered from other websites or cookbooks. We are compiling the recipes on this site so we could revisit any recipe or let friends try them out. We will acknowledge to the best of our abilities the source of the recipes.

With that said, onward to the recipes and good times!