I  don’t cook with sumac very often but when I do, I make this dish and it’s been quite popular among chicken lovers. Sumac is a wonderful Middle Eastern spice, it enhances the flavor of the dish without altering its taste. Sumac is a little tree whose leaves turn red in fall somehow like maple trees and produces little round balls which contains little brownish grains.

I usually serve it with curried Israeli couscous and it makes an excellent combination with Middle Eastern flavors. Sumac is very used in Middle Eastern cuisine, it has a tangy flavor and is used somehow like lemon. If you are vegetarian, chicken can be replaced with white fish and it works beautifully too on light flavored fishes. This spice is one of the most delicate spice I know because of it’s subtle flavor, it will not overpower your dish like curry or cumin would but give it a very fresh and elegant after taste.

Ingredients for 4

• 1.5 lb chicken tenders or breasts cut in strips
• 2 tsp sumac
• juice of one lemon
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• cayenne pepper
• 3 tbs mint
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Cut chicken in small strips. Add sumac, cumin powder, cayenne, salt and pepper and let it marinate for about one hour or so.

In a small mixing bowl, mix lemon juice and olive oil.

Grill chicken in a grill pan. When grilled on the outside and still juicy in the middle, remove from pan, add olive oil/lemon juice mixture. Coat well. Sprinkle with mint and serve hot.

I had a conversation with my mom this morning, she told me she made passatelli, suddenly I got the irresistible urge to make them too. When I lived at home, I was never a fan of them, probably because that soup was served way too often. Between my grandma and my mom, we ate passatelli maybe once a week. When you eat something all the time, the excitement goes away. I guess tastes change when you grow up and move out of your country.

This is a regional soup very common in Romagna and Marche regions of Italy, it’s traditionally made for some festive occasions, but then people end up making them when they feel like it. It’s another peasant dish made basically with breadrumbs, parmesan, eggs, nutmeg and if you want lemon peel (I like it better without it, I think the lemon is too strong).

The original recipes is made with a chicken or beef broth (or sometimes a combination of both). I like it also with just a vegetable broth. Here, the broth has been enhanced with chards and carrots “en julienne” (cut in tiny strips), so you get a little texture and color and of course the benefits of eating vegetables.

I always ate broth made with hen instead of chicken, hen is fatter and takes hours to cook, so it’s mainly used in broths. Nowadays people use chicken in their broth, probably because it takes less time to cook. It’s important to “degrease” the broth from the deposits and fat the meat produces (if you’re using meat) while cooking, so you’ll get a clear and healthy broth. When making passatelli usually, you eat the boiled meat along with the soup called “lesso“, I have never been a fan of it, and remember my dad pouring tons of black pepper and olive oil on top of his meat.

You need to have that particular kind of potato masher (schiacciapatate) like this one, to make those little round and long threads (not sure how to describe them).  There is another tool used to make passatelli but I don’t think it’s available in the US.

I like to make my own breadcrumbs with old and hard baguette or what is called “Italian bread”, I grate it and get great quality crumbs. The ones you buy already made in stores tend to have an unpleasant taste, and for the passatelli home made crumbs work much better and hold the paste together well, so when you drop them in the broth, they don’t break.

Ingredients for 4

For the broth

• 4 cups or more of water
• 1 leek
• 1 carrot
• 2 celeri stalks
• 1 turnip
• 1 onion with 4 cloves
• 1 bay leave
• 1 thyme sprig
• 1/2 hen or chicken, or beef
• salt and pepper

For the passatelli

• 250 g parmesan, finely grated
• 250 g breadcrumbs
• 3 tbs flour
• 4 eggs
• nutmeg
• lemon peel (optional)
• salt and pepper

Preparation

For the broth

Using a large pot, mix ingredients with water and let it simmer for a while at least an hour. If using hen, it might take over 2 hours. Regularly, remove the deposits you get on the surface of your broth (especially, if you are using a meat based broth).

When the broth is cooked, remove all the vegetables and residues and drain it through a sieve to get a clear broth. Add carrots and chopped chards, and let it cook for a few minutes, until the carrots are cooked.

For the passatelli

In a mixing container, mix, breadcrumbs, parmesan, eggs, flour, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix well and let it rest for about an hour. You need to have a hard enough mixture, but not too hard or it will not go through the potato masher.

Fill the potato masher with the dough mixture, bring the potato masher on top of boiling broth and squeeze to produce the passatelli, then cut the base with a knife. The passatelli will drop on top of your pot. Cook for one minute or so. Remove from the stove, sprinkle wit olive oil and serve hot.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2009/12/the-poor-soup-passatelli-revisited-with-chards-and-carrots/feed/ 20 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2009/11/no-i-did-not-miss-you-roasted-chicken-thighs-with-lemon-herbs-olives-and-sunburst-squash/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=no-i-did-not-miss-you-roasted-chicken-thighs-with-lemon-herbs-olives-and-sunburst-squash http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2009/11/no-i-did-not-miss-you-roasted-chicken-thighs-with-lemon-herbs-olives-and-sunburst-squash/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:59:58 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=5075 Non, tu ne m’as pas manqué -  Cuisses de poulet rôties aux herbes, citron et olives à la courge

Since I don’t really eat meat, I know my blog lacks meat recipes, I figured that when I cook for some non-vegetarian people who do eat meat, I take the opportunity for putting up the recipe on the blog. I look at those chicken thighs and it reminds me of my cute and sweet parakeet and I really have to think about something else or I won’t be able to cook them. Sometimes, I have to detach myself from things that bother me, or I won’t be able to do anything.

I love fresh herbs, all of them! When I first moved to California, I was amazed to see tons of houses with bushes of rosemary as a decoration plant. I thought that was funny, I was wondering if people used it for cooking or if it was just as a decoration…and still I have no answer to that. I used to live on a street where almost all houses had huge rosemary plants bordering them and coming all the way on the sidewalk. Sometimes, when I was out of rosemary, I would help myself. I know it’s not very appropriate but at the time, I thought it was not a big deal especially considering the size of the rosemary spreading in a public zone.

This chicken is very flavorful and mainly due to the tons of herbs I use in it. Sometimes I marinate it overnight so it gets infused with herbs and you get a wonderful roasted chicken. You can also use pearl onions instead of yellow onions.

Squash being in season, I figured I would use it, but some other vegetables like potatoes, carrots, turnips, etc…would work as well. If you have guests over, and want to spend time with them rather in your kitchen, roasted chicken is the key, you just need to baste it once in a while and that’s it. It’s like the kid that doesn’t need any attention, you just give him a toy and he keeps himself busy.

You might need to cover the dish with some aluminum foil for about 20-30 minutes, depending on how your oven cooks, then removing the foil to let the chicken brown. I am still trying to figure out how my oven works with the circular heat.

Ingredients for 4 people

• 4 chicken legs
• 1 whole butternut squash, cut in large pieces
• 2 tbs green olives
• 1 tbs strong Dijon mustard
• 3 rosemary sprigs and chopped
• 3 thyme, sprigs and chopped
• 3 tarragon sprigs and chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 5 lemon slices
• 4 tbs chicken broth
• chili flakes
• salt and pepper

Preparation

You can marinated the chicken overnight with herbs, garlic, mustard and onion, but it’s optional. You can get a fragrant chicken even if you don’t marinate it.

Keep some herb sprigs, chop some of it. Mix all ingredients together in a mixing container except chicken broth and mustard. Place chicken in a oven tray, add herb mixture on top of chicken and coat chicken with it. Spread mustard on both sides of legs.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 30 min, then add broth and regularly baste chicken with it.

Add squash, salt and pepper, and cook until chicken is well roasted and squash tender.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2009/11/no-i-did-not-miss-you-roasted-chicken-thighs-with-lemon-herbs-olives-and-sunburst-squash/feed/ 13 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2009/06/just-a-little-plate-and-thats-it-spicy-chicken-balls-in-curry-coconut-milk-and-minty-green-beans-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=just-a-little-plate-and-thats-it-spicy-chicken-balls-in-curry-coconut-milk-and-minty-green-beans-2 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2009/06/just-a-little-plate-and-thats-it-spicy-chicken-balls-in-curry-coconut-milk-and-minty-green-beans-2/#comments Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:06:34 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=2495 Un petit plat et c’est tout! – boulettes de poulet épicées au lait de coco et curry, haricots verts à la menthe

In France we say that to stay thin, you cannot have more than one serving and we believe that if you can resist temptation, and only go for the first round, you will stay thin and healthy. On ne se sert qu’une fois (you only get served once). This dish is a part of a lose weight program and the one dish meal with one serving.

Chicken balls are part of the big meatball family, every country has its own traditional recipes of meatballs.  You can make them flat, roll them in flour, in breadcrumbs, in nuts or any way you like.  Instead of serving those with rice, I serve them with green beans, you can add rice on the side if you want or rice noodles, but if you are on a non-carb evening diet, green beans are a perfect as accompaniment. 

Those chicken balls have somehow a exotic flavor and bright yellow color that matches the green of the beans. I think food is like clothes, they need to have a matching color and look pretty in a plate. 

The green beans are dressed with a lemon-mint-garlic vinaigrette, are very refreshing and deliciously tangy. 

Ingredients for 2

• 1 large chicken breast or 2 small ones
• 2 tbs cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 4 tbs light coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp mild curry powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbs mint, chopped
• 1/2 lb green beans
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 tbs sliced almonds

Preparation

Ground the chicken breasts in a mixer. Add cilantro, cumin powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. using the palm of your hands, make little round balls, the size of a walnut. 

In a pan heat olive oil, add onions, ginger and garlic. Mix well and cook for about 3 minutes. Keep stirring so it does not stick to the pan. Add curry powder, coriander powder, cumin powder salt and pepper. Mix well all the spice mixture. Add chicken balls and cook for a few minutes. Add tomatoes, stir for 5-7 minutes, then add coconut milk. Cook until the chicken is cooked all the way through and until the sauce has reduced and has thickened.

For the green beans vinaigrette, mix 1 tbs olive oil, 1 tbs mint, 1 garlic clove chopped, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Bring water to a boil, add salt and green beans. Do not overcook the beans. Drain beans and pour mint vinaigrette on top.

Serve with green beans topped with 4 chicken balls, sprinkled with sliced almonds and chopped cilantro.

I haven’t posted anything lately…I was tired and sick for about a week, let’s not pretend the San Francisco summer weather has nothing to do with it. It’s been muggy, foggy and obviously very gloomy, and that really does not help with the low energy level. But that’s enough, I will not let anything come in between me and my cooking experiments, and let’s not dwell on the weather…but still when I think that in the South Bay, starting from the San Francisco airport, they get the sun and a real summer, it makes you wonder that maybe life in the suburb is not that bad.

So for those gloomy San Francisco days, you need something fresh, flavorful and exciting to keep your spirit up.

Since I bought silicon molds last time I went to France, I fell in love with them. They’re wonderful in all their aspects. Whatever you make in them cooks very quickly, they’re so easy to use and even go in the dishwasher and they don’t take much space. So if you don’t yet have silicon molds, go and buy some. You’ll love them and become addicted to cooking with them.

Lately I have been in the mood for green vegetables, probably to color my days, and I realized that if it’s not green, it will not be eaten. It needs to be green, delicious and healthy.

I never made asparagus flan before, I did not add too many spices, I wanted them to keep their natural and delicate flavor. I think asparagus have this very special and refined taste that it’s a pity to kill it with spices. The flan is enhanced with a fragrant herb coulis. 

You can serve those flans with chicken but with white fish also, they go perfectly well with any fish or white meat.

Ingredients for 6

For the asparagus flans

• 1 bunch asparagus
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbs heavy cream
• salt and pepper

For the chicken

• 4 chicken breasts, cut in large cubes
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs
• 2 tbs sesame seeds
• 2 tbs fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• salt and pepper

For the herb coulis

• 1/2 bunch flat parsley
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 bouillon cube

For the side dishes

• 4 asparagus
• 4 tomatoes, peeled, seedless and diced
• Rock salt

Preparation

For the flans

Wash asparagus, set 4 whole asparagus aside to use later. Cut the tips of the other asparagus and cook in boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove and place in a bowl with cold water to keep their green color. In the same water, cook the rest of the asparagus, cut in pieces. Cook for about 5-10 minutes until soft. Mix in a blender to produce a purée. Add cream and eggs, salt and pepper. Mix well. Add tips of asparagus at the end, and mix carefully not to break them.

Place the mixture in silicon molds and cook in the oven for about 25 minutes at 375F. If you don’t have silicon molds use other ceramic molds but they need to be buttered or the flan will stick at the bottom.

Slice the 4 asparagus left aside with a potato peeler, making thin slices of asparagus. Cook in boiling water for one minute and place in a bowl of cold water to keep the green color. Pat dry before serving on the plate.

For the chicken

Cut chicken in squares about 2 x2 inches. Add salt and pepper on all sides. Dip in flour, then in egg, then in the mixture made of breadcrumbs, thyme, sesame seeds, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Cook in the oven on broiler mode, do not place chicken too close to broiler or it will burn, place mid oven.

For the herb coulis

In a small pot dilute bouillon cube with 1/3 cup water, bring to a boil. In a blender, mix herbs, olive oil and some of the broth you made with bouillon cube. Blend for a while to get a nice green mixture. Add lemon juice and adjust with salt and pepper if needed. The bouillon cube has salt in it, so you might want to check to taste if it needs additional salt.

Serve with a flan, add some sliced asparagus on the side, two pieces of chicken, add one tbs of tomatoes topped with rock salt, and drizzle with herb coulis.