Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Sound-Off!

Here are a few more entries from the Cookbook Challenge #1

Uniflame
Grilled up some Casablancan summer roasted vegetables with couscous.

forever0lost
Stewed up some pumpkin, rice and cinnamon soup.

Starshine Whirls Reloaded 
Griddled some scrummy Moroccan pancakes.

Gnoe
Brewed up some Cinnamon lentil stew with chickpeas.

Dear Cooks,

Thank you so much for participating!  And stay tuned for the next installment.  If anyone would like to host a cookbook challenge, let me know.

Chicken Tagine with green olives and preserved lemon.

Swap-bot swap: Cookbook Challenge #1
I swap with Swap-bot!


I am so excited that I finally got to try one of the recipes from our cookbook.

It took me two days, and two trips to the grocery store to get all the ingredients I needed.  I chose the Chicken Tagine because the ingredient list was relatively short.  I thought I had saffron, but it turns out I only had "Saffron Powder" which looks more like ground galangal than saffron.

 I started the preserved lemons back in January, and they have been gracing the pantry ever since.  This was the first time I had checked them in a long time and I was happy to note that they were mold-free.  When I opened the jar, a tidal wave of lemon-fresh-scent assaulted my nose, it was almost unreal (and reminiscent of dish soap).  I started at 3:30 in the afternoon, I couldn't get my youngest son to go to sleep, so he was around, keeping me company.  I was hoping to have it done by 5, for dinner.  It took me a long time to gather the ingredients, and I kept forgetting to pull things out.  Besides the saffron, I also didn't have the fancy "cracked green olives" so I had to make do with the pimento-stuffed olives from the corner likker store.  I did have some sorry-looking leeks that needed to be used, so they got thrown in the mix, too.


I also don't have a tagine, so I used this blue enamel roaster from IKEA.  The recipe called for a "heavy flame-proof casserole with lid".  This bad boy should fit that bill.  I also didn't have the patience to "shred the onions" so I used the immersion-blender food processor attachment.
Left-inside, Right-outside

All ready for the simmer!
The recipe calls for two "rubs"-- the cilantro-garlic-lemon-juice-salt combo that goes in the cavity, and the onion-saffron-ginger-pepper rub that goes on the outside of the chicken.  This was a tedious step, but the food processor made it a bit quicker than otherwise.  I didn't get the chicken in the pot for another hour (I got a phone call from a good friend).  Plus, it had to "rest" for a half hour.  In the future, maybe I'd do that the day before.  Sitting around for a half hour was kind of lame-- but junior and I did get a few minutes of yoga in.  The chicken came trussed, so I left it that way.

 Once I got it simmering, the directions say to "turn the chicken occasionally".  I did not do this, I was a bit mystified as to how I would do this with boiling stock and a big old chicken.  After the prescribed hour, I reduced the liquids, and popped it into the 300 F oven.  The house was full of a wonderful aroma of cinnamon, chicken and lemon, which was delightfully yule-tide-ish.

Boiled Chicken or Tagine Fail?
Usually, to brown a chicken, recipes call for a 400-450 F oven.  I thought 300 was quite cool, but I did it anyways.  When I pulled it out, the leg was quite pink.  I don't have an IR thermometer, but it did not look done!   I was very disappointed, and I shoved the bird back into the liquid and onto the stove.  Perhaps this was a mistake, but rubbery, pink chicken is gross.  By this time, the kid's bedtime was approaching, so we put them to bed.  When they were down, we reevaluated what was becoming a chicken-disaster.  It probably simmered another 30 minutes.  This time, it was boiled chicken-- the skin did not have the nice browning the chicken in the photograph did.  I served it with couscous, and the liquid was still quite runny.  It was quite good, Joe said it was "delicious" (what a sweetie!  If he had said anything else, I would have burst into tears.)  Surprisingly, the lemons were edible and very good!  They almost tasted candied (but I never added sugar to them).  Even the dorky cocktail olives were tasty.  I didn't get around to sampling the stuffing, but Joe reported that it was very garlicky and yummy.

Plated and um... I won't win any awards for this.


To sum up

My prep+cooking time-- about four hours.  Not a good weeknight pick.
Would I do it again?  Maybe-- I have a few more lemons to use up.
Tweeks-- BROWN THAT DAMN CHICKEN!  Forty-five minutes of simmering should cook a normal chicken.  I don't know what went wrong here, besides the fact that the recipe tells you to "add water up to the middle of the chicken".  Maybe next time I'll just bake it with the lid on.
The leftovers look glorious-- I am going to resurrect it tomorrow night as a lemony chicken soup.

PS.  Here is a link for baked chicken times at 350 F


Thursday, January 3, 2013

Cookbook Challenge #1


Swap-bot swap: Cookbook Challenge #1
I swap with Swap-bot!

Here are the selected recipes from our challenge cookbook, Modern Moroccan by Ghillie Basan. 

If you are participating in the swap, this is your chance to drool check out the recipes I have chosen (there are so many delicious ones that I had a hard time narrowing it down). If you have your own copy, feel free to pick one I didn't include.  I was looking for recipes that I could make, with what I could find in San Francisco.  I realize not everyone lives near middle eastern or international groceries, so feel free to adjust the recipes to your dietary needs and/or availability of ingredients.  When you write your blog entry, remember to tell us about what you substituted and how it turned out.

I picked this cook book out a number of years ago off the remainder table at Border's (wow, that dates me!) and I was seduced by the beautiful photography (which I didn't include because I was trying to make these recipes easily reproducible on your home printer) and intimidated by some of the exotic ingredients.  Now I am a bit older, and more organized and these recipes don't seem nearly as intimidating as before.  If some of the writing looks hard to read, don't worry-- once you download the files and print them out, they should be readable.  If not, please email me and I will try to get a better copy.  To print from a PC, try double clicking to go to the image itself, then right-click and select "save a copy"  Now you can print it directly from your computer.

 




















 

Beautiful Food Postcard #1


Swap-bot swap: Beautiful Food Postcard #1
I swap with Swap-bot!

This is our first swap.  I love using Postagram and Instagram together to make lovely food posties.  Check it out!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

¡Bienvenidos!

Welcome to Gastronomery, the home of the swap-bot group Gastronome, a band of brave cooks who have come together to eat and share stories.