January 13, 2012

Moroccan Preserved Meyer Lemons

Every year around this time, I begin to hoard Meyer lemons.  Unless you’re lucky enough to have a backyard citrus tree, Meyer lemons start appearing in stores in January.  You’ll continue to see them in February, and maybe even early March, but one day, all of a sudden, they’ll be gone, and you’ll have to wait a whole year to see them again.  Hence, I’ve decided that the only sane thing to do is to buy them every time I see them, and preserve them in every which way I can think of.

What’s the big deal, you ask?  Well, every year around this time, winter starts to take it’s toll on me.  One of my saving graces is the fact that citrus fruits are in season, and perhaps most notably, Meyer lemons.  I don’t know how I’d make it through these colder months without something brighter and less wintery than, say, a parsnip.  Meyer lemons are sweeter and thinner-skinned than a normal lemon, and are scented with notes of orange blossom and tangerine.  The aroma alone is enough to shake me from my winter doldrums, moving me to a warmer place.

Ever since our visit to Morocco this past summer, I’ve wanted to make preserved lemons.  Our first night in Casablanca, when every smell and color seemed brand new, the mister and I, and two very good friends shared a meal in the middle of the garden-surrounded patio of a Moroccan restaurant.  Looking through the menu, I tried to decode the few French culinary words I knew from cooking shows and Julia Childs’ cookbooks.  With Karissa’s help (the only French speaker in the bunch), I finally decided on the chicken tagine, which arrived falling off the bone tender, perfectly seasoned, and braised with salty tart perserved lemons and green and black Moroccan olives.

In formulating an action plan on how to use as many Meyer lemons as possible before they disappeared, I thought back to that first night in Morocco, and that intensely flavored chicken tagine.  In my search for a recipe for preserved lemons, I came across Paula Wolfert’s method on Epicurious.  Wolfert is the go-to woman for authentic Moroccan cooking.  In her notes, she states that Meyer lemons are closer in taste to the lemons found in Morocco, and work the best for preserving.  Perfect.

My lemons are in process right now. So far, 2 jars for me and one for a Karissa sit on my counter top, adding a little sunshine to my dreary and sometimes whiny winter temperament.  I can’t vouch for their success yet, but wanted to share the recipe with you while Meyer lemon season is still in full swing.  In 30 days, we should be making tagines, tossing bright little slivers with vegetables, and making preserved lemon aioli, among other concoctions.  The moment is fleeting, and the time is now!  Hoard some Meyer lemons with me, before it’s too late!

Preserved Meyer Lemons

Adapted from Epicurious, originally from Paula Wolfert’s book Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco

Makes 1 pint

Regular lemons may be used if you can’t find Meyer lemons, but be sure to use organic, as you’ll be eating the rind.  Wolfert says that the Safi spice mixture will give the lemons a true Moroccan flavor.  When removing lemons from the jar, make sure to use a clean wooden utensil to avoid contaminating the jar.   

  • 5 organic meyer lemons, plus
  • freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice from about 3 lemons, as needed (do not use processed lemon juice here)
  • 1/4 cup kosher salt, more if desired
  • Safi spice mixture (optional)

Equipment needed:  a 1-pint mason jar and lid for each batch of lemons

Optional Safi mixture:

  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 3 cloves
  • 5 to 6 coriander seeds
  • 3 to 4 black peppercorns
  • 1 bay leaf
1. Sterilize the mason jar by placing it upside down in a steamer basket, and steam for 10 minutes.  Remove the jar from the steamer  with tongs, and set it sideways on a clean folded kitchen towel to dry.  Boil the lid for 5 minutes, and remove it to a towel to dry.
2.  Wash the lemons thoroughly and dry them.

3. Quarter the lemons from the top leaving 1/2 inch of the bottoms of the lemons intact. Sprinkle salt on the exposed flesh, then reshape the fruit.

4. Place 1 tablespoon salt on the bottom of the mason jar. Pack in the lemons and push them down, adding the remaining salt, and spices (if using) in between the layers. Press the lemons down to release their juices and to make room for the remaining lemons.  Add enough freshly squeezed lemon juice to cover the lemons (I juiced about 3 extra lemons). Leave some air space before closing the jar.  After 2 to 3 days, add extra lemon juice to cover the lemons if needed.

5.  Allow the jars to sit in a warm place for at least 30 days before using, shaking once a day to distribute the salt and juices.  At this point, refrigerate and use as needed–the lemons will keep for up to a year.

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December 31, 2011

Avocado Eggrolls with Asian Ginger Slaw and Sweet Chile-Lime Dipping Sauce

Staying in for the night with your honey, watching Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve in your favorite spot on the couch?  There’s an app for that.  Going to a party at a close friend’s house for some New Years shenanigans?  There’s an app for that.  Hosting a party with small bites to be nibbled on throughout the night, accompanied by a bubbly cocktail?  I’m pretty sure there’s an app for that too.

Earlier in December, the mister and I hosted a pre-Christmas get-together for a small group of friends. I always make enough food to feed not only a small battalion, but an entire brigade as well (a trait directly inherited from my mother.  I don’t quite have mom’s Martha Stewart-like ability to tszuj a table yet, but that will come with time.)  We had coconut crusted gulf shrimp, bacon-wrapped dates, tortilla chips and homemade canned summer salsa, tortilla española with romesco aioli, and these avocado eggrolls, with sweet chile lime dipping sauce.  Oh–and this list doesn’t include the tasty assortment of apps that each guest brought.  Yes, I’d say we went a bit overboard.

The mister and I are going out dancing for New Year’s Eve this year, but I couldn’t resist making these eggrolls again this week, this time to be eaten as a meal over asian slaw.  My decision was partially inspired by the ending of holiday appetizer party season, and the fact that avocado season is in full swing–three for $1, anyone?    I was inspired to create these after I saw Elissa’s beautifully photographed avocado eggrolls on 17 and Baking.  Hers are absolutely delicious, but I decided to create my own version, packed with tangy lime, ginger, scallion*, and cilantro, with a sweet chile dipping sauce.  Kind of like an asian guacamole fried in a wrapper until crunchy and golden.  I always like eating fried foods with something fresh and healthy to balance out the texture and heat. This time, I tossed cabbage and carrot with a simple ginger-rice vinegar dressing and a squeeze of lime.

In the summer, there are barbeques to be held, and spring will be time for much lighter fare.  This, my friends, is prime time for hot, flavor-packed small bites, to bring people around the table.  Remember, there’s an app for just about anything, so I hope your New Year’s Eve is filled with tasty food and good company.  I’ll see you in 2012!

Ginger-Scallion Avocado Eggrolls with Sweet Chile-Lime Dipping Sauce and Asian Slaw

Makes 8 large eggrolls

The best eggrolls are served golden, crisp and hot, and these are no exception.  Plan on serving them immediately after frying, lest they lose their crispness.  The filling can be made a few hours ahead of time–just be sure to spread a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the avocado mixture to avoid browning.  Oh, and one more thing– Avocados take on a funny taste when over-mushed, so mush gently!

For the Eggrolls:

  • 5 large avocados
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
  • 2 scallions, chopped (1/4 cup minced red onion works too)
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
  • 8 eggroll wrappers
  • Small dish of water, to seal
  • Canola or vegetable oil, to fill a medium pot (not nonstick) or dutch oven to 2 inches

Cut each avocado in half and remove the seed.  With a butter knife, score the inside of the avocado (kind of like tic-tac-toe), and scoop out the flesh with a spoon into a medium bowl.  With a fork, gently mash the avocado together with the lime juice and salt, leaving some texture.  Gently fold in the remaining ingredients until evenly combined.

To fill the eggrolls, lay out one wrapper with a corner pointed toward you, and place 1/4 cup of filling in the center.  Fold the corner over the avocado mixture.  Fold the left and right corners toward the center and roll. Dip a finger into the water, and trace it over the inside edge of the last corner, then seal it onto the eggroll.

Fill a medium pot to 2 inches with oil, and heat over medium-high heat until hot.  Test the heat of the oil by dropping a small piece of eggroll wrapper in.  The oil should immediately bubble, and the wonton should float to the top.  Working in batches of 2, gently lower in the eggrolls, and fry, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 2 minutes.  Remove the eggrolls to a paper towel lined plate to cool slightly before serving.  Serve while hot with sweet chile dipping sauce.

*When I made these to photograph, I had forgotten to buy scallions, so I subbed red onion, which is what you see pictured…no harm done!

Sweet Chile-Lime Dipping Sauce

Really, just a slightly doctored up version of the pre-made Thai sweet chile sauce we all love.  Thanks, Epicurious!

  • 3/4 cup Asian sweet chili sauce*
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Asian Ginger Slaw

  • 2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage (from about a quarter of a medium red cabbage)
  • 2 cups thinly sliced green cabbage (I used regular green cabbage, but napa would be good here as well)
  • 1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned or grated
  • 1/4 cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar
  • juice from 1/2 lime
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
  • 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoons salt, to taste
  • 1 tablespoon peanut or canola oil

Place the cabbage and carrot in a medium bowl.  In a separate small bowl, whisk the rice wine vinegar, lime juice, ginger, salt,  and oil together until combined.  Pour into the bowl with the cabbage and carrot.  Stir and toss well until well coated.   Let stand for about 30 minutes to allow the flavors to develop.  Toss again and serve.

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December 25, 2011

Christmas Greetings!

I decided that this Christmas, I wouldn’t stress out about things like shopping, and traffic, and traveling around from house to house making sure to spend time with each branch of the Mister and I’s families.  But, predictably, I did stress.  Always overly ambitious and un-organized, I was wrapping up the last edible gifts and putting the finishing touches on hand-sewn gifts up until the very last minute–right before packing up the car to go to celebrate with the fam.  I made super-hero capes for nephews, sewed parchment paper bags to hold hand-crushed mulling spices.  I’d started steeping  bottles of vanilla extract way back before Thanksgiving, and have been roasting cinnamon-cayenne candied almonds almost daily to pack into cellophane bags tied with bows.

The holidays come with so much fuss; so many things to buy, and places to go.  I was so wrapped up in all the things needing to be cooked, created and shopped for, that I almost lost track of why I was cooking, and making, and buying.  When Christmas Eve arrived, I thought, You know what?  I’m pretty lucky to have so many people to share with, travel to, buy for, sew for, receive from, cook for, eat with, converse with, laugh with, clean up with, and care about.

So here I am, finally with a moment to sit and write, and happy to report that I spent the past two days doing all of the above, and hoping that you found time to share with the people who matter most to you in the midst of all of your holiday projects.   Merry Christmas from my busy kitchen to yours!

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December 11, 2011

Honey-Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup

Sometimes when I can’t think of anything to write, I don’t write anything at all.  I could expound upon my writers block, but instead, I thought I’d just start writing. I have grand plans of things to share with all of you for the holidays; food gifts I’m planning to give, appetizer party fare, and general bustling in the kitchen.  I don’t blog as much as I would like, mostly because I am simultaneously right-brained and perfectionistic.  I’m like a kid with a handful of confetti.  I throw all the pieces up into the air, fancy free, and then, through the process of creating the recipe, experimenting with photography, and fussing over what to write, I slowly tie up the pieces into blog entries.

The perfectionism creeps in at different places during the process, and I use the term “perfectionism” loosely, as this mostly means I wait until it feels right before moving onto the next step–it could be looking for the “perfect” recipe idea, or the photograph that helps an ingredient shine, or the perfect subject to write about.  I don’t want all the potential of holiday food blogging to pass me by just because I’m overwhelmed with wrapping my ideas in neat little packages.

This sweet potato soup, as is typical for me, was born out of a scribbled idea in my food-writing journal, and came together on the spot, for a last minute dinner with the mister and the mother in law.  I envisioned a silky smooth soup, honey-laced, smoky and sweet, with slow-building chipotle spice. I debated over how to incorporate the chipotle into the soup, finally deciding to toss the sweet potatoes, onions and garlic in the adobo sauce and chopped chilies and roast it all up in the oven, as is my default in the winter.  I whirred it up with some homemade vegetable broth, and served with a drizzling of olive oil and a scattering of toasted pepitas.  We could taste each component of the soup, from the sweetness of the honey-infused sweet potato puree, to the smokiness from the chipotle chiles.  The roasted onion and garlic lent depth in flavor, and rounded out the sweetness of the potatoes.

I hereby resolve to lasso a little more of my confetti this holiday season.  How about you?  Do you need more lassoing, or could you use a bit more confetti in your life?

Honey-Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup

Makes 6-8 servings

Using a whole can of chipotle chiles yields a moderately spicy, but still balanced soup.  (Update:  Some readers found a whole can of chipotle chiles to be too spicy.  Feel free to adjust the amount of chiles according to your tastes)

3 1/2 pounds orange-fleshed sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 large onion, peeled, trimmed, and cut into 1 inch wedges

8 cloves garlic, peeled

3 tablespoons canola oil

3 to 4 tablespoons honey, divided

1 can (7 ounces) chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (to taste, according to level of heat desired.)

kosher salt

6 to 8 cups vegetable broth

3/4 cups pepitas (pumpkin seeds), toasted

Extra virgin olive oil, to garnish

Preheat the oven to 425˚F.  Finely chop the chipotle chiles, reserving the adobo sauce.  In a large bowl, combine the sweet potatoes, onion, garlic, cloves, the adobo sauce, chopped chiles, canola oil, 3 tablespoons honey, and 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt.  Toss well to coat.  Spread in a single layer on two foil-lined baking sheets.  Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes, trading the position of the pans halfway through, until the potatoes are soft and are dark golden in spots.

Put the roasted vegetables into a large saucepan.  Add 6 cups of the vegetable broth and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.  Puree the soup using an immersion blender, or in batches in a normal blender.  Be careful if blending hot soup in the blender–do so in small batches and hold the top on with a kitchen towel to avoid an eruption.  Add the remaining 2 cups of broth as needed to thin out the soup.  Season to taste with kosher salt, black pepper, and an additional tablespoon of honey if desired.

Garnish with a swirl of olive oil, a scattering of toasted pepitas, and a grinding of black pepper.

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November 24, 2011

Slow Cooker Mulling Spiced Applesauce


Every Sunday, I get out of bed earlier than the mister (teacher schedules are hard to break, even on the weekend!) and pad across the hallway, in my slippers, into the kitchen.  I delight in these morning hours, using the time to read cookbooks, write, and experiment in the kitchen.  When I found a recipe for applesauce in one of the best slow cooker books I’ve come across thus far, I thought, now why didn’t I think of that?  Ever since then, like clockwork, I buy twelve apples on Saturday, and wake up Sunday to begin my new weekly ritual.

Step one:  I always daydream, if only briefly, about having an apple peeler–you know, one of those that winds the apple around a little metal loop, sending ribbons of peel into neat little piles on the cutting board.  I don’t have one, but the truth is, I like the process of peeling around the stem while turning each apple in my hand, and the satisfying chk chk of the peeler.  Being the band geek and music teacher that I am, I get a cheap thrill out of the rhythmic thwaps of multicolored apple pieces flying all over my butcher block all disorganized and random, some faced up, some down.

Now, if you’ve ever read a Cook’s Illustrated recipe, you know that they are obsessed with repetition and variation–trying every possibility, even the slightly ridiculous, to eventually arrive at “the” recipe.  For the past four weekends , I’ve been making like a CI test kitchen.  There have been Granny Smiths, Galas, Fujis and Honeycrisps, sprinkled with granulated sugar and raw sugar, cooked on high and on low, spiced with cinnamon only, and, most recently, (and deliciously might I add), mulling spices–both mixes of whole spices, and those in tea bags.

The process happens like this:  Peel, core, and cut your apples into big chunks.  Stick ‘em in the slow cooker.  Toss with sugar, turn on the slow cooker (seems obvious, one would think), and do something else for 6-8 hours. No use adding the spices until the apples collapse and give you some liquid to nestle them into.  Let the mulling spices steep for a while, then coax the apples into a sauce by smooshing and smoothing the apples against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon until you have your desired texture–I like mine with soft little chunks of apple remaining.  Add more sugar and ground cinnamon, and you’re good to go!  Ever so complicated, I know.

There are still infinite possibilities to be tried, but my favorite variation (so far) tastes just like the applesauce that grandma always used to bring to Thanksgiving in a big pot (hi grandma!), and tastes like a mug of mulled cider.  I like it warm, just out of the slow cooker, or when cold, atop my favorite potato-apple latkes.

I hereby pass my weekly ritual to you.  Happy fall, and happy Thanksgiving!

Mulling-Spiced Slow Cooker Applesauce

Makes 8 Servings (2 quarts)

Adapted from Art of the Slow Cooker by Andrew Schloss

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

4 Granny Smith apples

8 large tart-sweet apples, such as Gala, Fuji, Braeburn, or Honeycrisp

2 to 4 tablespoons sugar (I like to use raw sugar, but granulated works just as well)

1 tablespoon mulling spices, tied in cheesecloth or tea bag*

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste

Mix the vinegar and one gallon cold water in a large bowl. Peel the apples and place them in the vinegar water as soon as they are peeled.   Cut the apples in half lengthwise and scoop out the core with a melon baller.  Put the cut apples back into the vinegar water until needed.  When finished coring, remove the apples from the water (discarding the water), cut into 1-to 2- inch chunks.  Toss the apples in the slow cooker with 2 tablespoons of sugar.  Cover the cooker and cook the apples on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours, or until the apples are completely tender.  Stir the apples with a wooden spoon–they should immediately collapse and form a chunky sauce.  Nestle the mulling spice satchel in the applesauce, cover, and cook for an additional hour.  Remove the mulling spices, and smash and smoosh the apples against the inside of the pot until the sauce is your desired texture.  Add cinnamon and additional sugar to taste.

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