Food – Alice the Cook

October 17, 2013October 3, 2013

Cod Hash

Sometimes when performing cooking demonstrations, we need to alter our plans due to supplies, weather, or other situation that is thrown our way. This past year, we ran into an issue with supplies. We decided to do an improvisational recipe and it was a tasty success! This was a change to a traditional dish and I liked it immensely and I hope you do too.

Ingredients

2 lbs of cod, cut into 2 inch by 2 inch cubes
1 medium onion or 1 leeks (a mild onion flavored vegetable), diced
1 lb of carrots, thick julienned (size of twig or finger, but not matchstick sized)
1/4 lb of sweet potatoes, peeled and thick julienned
1 lb of red potatoes, thick julienned
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 sprig of rosemary
Kosher or sea salt (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)
2 tbsp of olive oil

Over medium heat add the olive oil. Once hot, add the garlic and onion or leek to flavor the oil. Once sweated (becoming transparent), add the vegetables and stir constantly for 6 – 8 minutes. The vegetables should be nearly tender and add the fish; the fish will not take long to cook. The dish is ready when the carrots and potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and let it set for 2 minutes before serving.

September 19, 2013

Hummus & Pita

This is one of my favorite recipes. If you do not have a wood-fired oven, you can make this on a cast iron fry pan that is well heated. Our hummus was chunkier than the store bought versions as we mashed them by hand.

Pitas:
2 cups warm water (115°F)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp active dry yeast
5 and 1/2 cups to 6 and ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Add ¼ cup of the all-purpose
flour. Stir. With a whisk and let sit for 10 minutes to give the yeast a chance to react. Add the sale and enough flour to the dough so it can be hand kneaded. Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface until smooth and bouncy. Let it rest for 5 minutes to relax the gluten. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each one out so that it is 6” in diameter and 1/8” thick. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle some cornmeal on it and place it in a very hot oven it should sear on one side and turn it over. Pull out when done.

Hummus:
1 cup dried chickpeas
5 cups of water
6 bay leaves
3/4 cup chopped onion (shallots make a great substitute)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsps lemon juice
3/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp sea salt

Sort and rinse the chickpeas and soak overnight. Drain them; add 5 cups of water, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook for approx. 1 and half hours, or until the peas are soft. When cooked, drain the beans and blend the chickpeas with the rest of the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Serve.

September 13, 2013

Tabouli & Coucous

Although Tabouli and Couscous are delicious, the couscous is very tricky to make because if it is too humid, you end up with large clumbs than desired.

Tabouli:
1 cup water
1 cup fine cracked wheat
1 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
1/2 cup minced fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
3 tomatoes, diced
2 cucumbers, seeded and diced
3 tbsps olive oil
3 tbsps lemon juice, or to taste
1 tsps sea salt

In a large mixing bowl, pour the water over the cracked wheat and cover,
let stand about 20 minutes until wheat is tender and water is absorbed. Add the chopped herbs and vegetables and toss with the mix. Combine the oil, lemon juice, and salt in a separate bowl. Add to wheat mixture and mix well. Chill. Serve and enjoy.

Coucous:
1 quart semolina (chickpea flour may be used instead)
1 pint water
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
Salt to season
Olive Oil

In a large bowl, add a cup of semolina, a pinch of salt and a few drops of water. Mix with fingertips in circular motion until small balls form. Drizzle more water as necessary.

Move the mixture to tamis (or drum sifter or similar fine mesh sifting device) to remove the fine semolina.

Reserve the larger couscous to another bowl.

Add the fine semolina dust back to the mixing bowl and repeat step 1 until there’s no semolina left.

Pick out the large pieces. In a couscousier (or steamer basket) fitted with cheesecloth, add 1 cinnamon stick, 2 bay leaves and 2 tbsp salt to the water. Bring to boil.

Steam couscous for 5 to 10 mins.

Season with olive oil and steam for 5 to 10 more minutes. Serve immediately.

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 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.