recipe – Page 3 – Alice the Cook

September 3, 2013September 3, 2013

Moroccan Tangine Chicken

This was one of our more popular shows this weekend. Tangine cooking uses a cone shaped ceramic pot that bastes the food as it cooks. For those who travel, the ceramic pots would not hold up, so cast iron pots were often used instead. We used a cast iron pot and the results were delicious. Traditionally, lamb, goat, and camel were used in tangine cooking. We used chicken in this particular recipe.

Ingredients
6 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tbsp kosher or sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 large Spanish onion, grated (about 1 cup)
2 tbsps canola, grapeseed or olive oil (not a heavy olive oil)
1 to 2 preserved lemons, depending on size
8 chicken thighs, with bone and skin
Stems from the parsley and cilantro, tied with twine
1/4 tsp powdered saffron or 1/4 tsp powdered turmeric and 4 strands saffron
1 cup pitted green Moroccan or Greek olives
1/2 bunch Italian parsley, about 1/4 cup chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, about 1/4 cup chopped
Optional: Tomatoes and/or red peppers, coursely diced

In a large bowl, mix the garlic, cumin, ginger, paprika, salt and pepper, 1/2 cup grated onion, and the oil.

Rinse the preserved lemons, and remove the pulp. Reserve the lemon peel for later use.

Add the lemon pulp to the mixing bowl. Add the chicken. Mix everything together and place in a large plastic bag to marinate overnight in the refrigerator. (Twenty-four hours really gives the chicken the best flavor.)

In a large Dutch oven or casserole, place the chicken and marinade; add the stems of the parsley and cilantro, the rest of the grated onion, the powdered saffron and 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat, turn down to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for 30 minutes.

Remove the cover, stir the chicken and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes or until the chicken is tender.

Remove the chicken to a serving dish and cover with foil to keep warm. Keep sauce on stove and begin to reduce.

Slice the preserved lemon peel into thin slices and add to the sauce along with the olives, parsley and cilantro. Reduce until the sauce is just a little thick. This shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes at most.

Uncover the chicken and remove the skin from the chicken. (It doesn’t look pretty and who needs the extra fat.) Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

September 2, 2013September 3, 2013

Middle Eastern Themed Curry Egg Salad

During shows, my assistant and I encounter leftover items that we do not want to throw out. During the Siouxland Renaissance Festival in 2006, we encountered post-breakfast issue of having leftover hard boiled eggs and rice porridge. By combining them with chickpeas (garbanzo beans), spices, and other vegetables, we came up with this tasty dish that tastes great served with some pita bread.

This past weekend at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, we altered this traditional recipe and used leftover couscous instead and it was a favorite!

This dish is especially good made in bulk and used for lunches at work. It’s cost effective, healthy, and tasty. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
6 hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced into disks
1 cup of chickpeas/garbanzo beans
2 cups of cousous (as in photo)
3 green onions or 1 large leek, diced or 1/2 red onion or 2 shallots
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 – 1/2 TB yellow curry powder
1 TB cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp of sesame or olive oil
2 TB cilantro
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
* A dried pepper powder may be added if you need more spiciness.

Blend all together in a single bowl wooden or ceramic. Let sit for an hour and stir again. Serve in some pita bread. DO NOT PREPARE THIS RECIPE IN A METAL BOWL!! The metal bowl will affect the flavor of the salad.

It should be a very mild curried egg salad. If you require more spice, feel free to add peppers or chili oil at will. I encourage experimentation.

September 1, 2013

Oven Roasted Potatoes

When my assistants and I are performing demonstrations at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, we will often whip up soemthing to see what happens. We have lots of successful (experiments) and a few failed ones. This one was a popular success.

Oven Roasted Potatoes
1 lb of baby red potatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp of fresh rosemary, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp black pepper
½ tsp sea salt

Optional ingredients:
chopped bacon
green onions, diced
red peppers, diced

Wood-Fired Roasted Potatoes

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a ceramic dish, add your uncut baby potatoes (very small potatoes). Drizzle the 3 tbsp olive oil on top of the potatoes and stir until they are completely covered. Sprinkle the rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper and stir the potatoes again.

Place inside the oven and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, stir the potatoes and place back into the oven for another 10 minutes; repeat until the potatoes are tender. Remove from the oven and let cool 2-3 minutes before serving.

August 26, 2013August 26, 2013

Crumpets, Lemon Curd and Clotted Cream

Despite this past weekend’s heat at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, my assistants and I made some beautiful wood-fired crumpets, lemon curd and clotted cream. They are all fairly easy to make, but require some patience and time.

Crumpets
4 cups of white bread flour
1 tsp of salt
2 oz of butter
1 cup of milk, warmed
1 tbsp of dried yeast
Corneal or flour
2 tbsp sugar

Put the flour and salt into a large bowl and rub in the butter. In a separate bowl, stir in the warmed milk and yeast and add the sugar. Wait two minutes before adding the yeasted milk into the flour. Mix together to form a soft dough. Need for 10 minutes until soft and silky.

Crumpets with lemon curd and clotted cream

Put the dough in a large clean bowl and cover with a damp cloth and let it rise for two hours until it has doubled in size.

After the dough has risen, roll it out until 2.5 cm thick and cut out the dough in
2 -3 inch circles. Cover with a damp cloth for another 30 minutes and bake at 350 degrees.

These should only bake for 350 degrees. First side bakes for 3 minutes. They are flipped and baked for another 4-5 minutes until they are golden brown. Serve warm.

Lemon Curd:
3 eggs
1 cup of white sugar
1/3 cup of lemon juice
¼ cup of butter
2 tsp of lemon zest

Whisk eggs, sugar, and lemon juice in a double boiler over simmering water until mixed well, then continue to stir until thick, 7 to 10 minutes.

Drain through a mesh sieve to get rid of lumps. Fold in butter until well incorporated. Mix in lemon zest. Cover curd and chill in the refrigerator until it has thickened, about 4 hours.

Clotted cream:
1 cup heavy cream, room temperature
1/3 cup of sour cream, room temperature
2 tbsp powdered sugar

Using a whisk attachment on the mixer, whip heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Remove from mixer, and hand whisk in the sour cream and confectioners’ sugar until just joined. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

June 18, 2013

Meatball Stew

Several years ago, I wrote an article for Renaissance Magazine (issue #74 on meatloaf and how recipes could be traced back to ancient Roman cooking. Back then, meatloaf was prepared in sheep stomachs like the Scottish haggis or in upper intestines like sausage and the meatloaf would be baked in a large oven.

Similar recipes have existed for meatballs and have been discovered in German, Belgium, and Holland cooking. In Europe, they use pork, beef, and/or horse meat. In Asian cooking they would use pork, fish or seafood. Unlike meatloaves that had to be shaped and then cooked, meatball recipes were more versatile – could be baked, boiled or fried.

The meatloaf and meatball recipes add various fillers including bread, rice, or oatmeal to chopped, minced or ground meat, and would allow anyone could stretch a small amount of meat to feed others. My mixing the meat and the fillers, cooks could use their hands or spoons to drop the meat in boiling water, hot oil, or bake and choose to serve them immediately, use in another recipe or wrap up to be eaten at a later time. Because of its size, it was very portable and could be used when traveling.

Modern eaters are accustomed to seeing the meatball used in Italian dishes and can be used in other recipes or eaten as a snack. The meatball stew recipe below is simple and is a great people pleaser for the fussiest of palates. It can be adapted for any guest and any ingredient and travels well to potlucks and family dinners.

Meatballs
2 lbs. of ground beef (or turkey)
1 cup of raw oatmeal or breadcrumbs
2 eggs

Mix all of the ingredients together. Form 1.5” – 2” balls and bake for 20 minutes in the oven at 300 degrees. These may be frozen for future use or used in the recipe below.

Meatball Stew
2 lbs of meatballs (Can be pre-prepared or home-made)
4 cups of beef broth (use chicken or turkey broth with ground turkey)
1 cup of baby carrots or regular carrots thickly chopped
One medium onion, coarsely chopped
10 green onions, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup of rice
1 sprig or rosemary
1/2 tsp of thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: red potatoes, turnips (peeled), green beans, pea pods, or sweet potatoes (peeled)
Serves 3-4

In a cast iron Dutch oven, add the meatballs, broth and add enough water to covered the meatballs. Cook on stovetop or open flame for 20 minutes and add the onions and garlic and let cook for another 20 minutes. Add the carrots and stir occasionally.

If water is getting low, add more water so the meatballs remain covered. Continue cooking for 10 more minutes and add rice, rosemary, and thyme. Stir it up and the rice will settle near bottom to cook. Add optional ingredients. Keep an eye on the pot to make sure the rice doesn’t burn. Cook for 20 – 30 minutes and when rice is done. Garnish with the green onions and serve hot.