Greek Chicken Stew With Cauliflower and Olives

Spring’s here, and she demands parsley. This stew is healthy and easy and colorful and aromatic, light enough for the sun streaming in your kitchen window and rich enough to stave away any pesky winter winds asserting their waning presence. Kalamatas would be sublime; the green manzanillas I used were just dandy.

Make it with free-range chicken and you won’t regret it -I swear their liberty seeps merrily into the broth, saturating the cauliflower with wild chickeny depth you’d never squeeze out of cardboard-y 10-packs of pechuga.

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Greek Chicken Stew With Cauliflower and Olives
adapted from The New York Times.

extra virgin olive oil
1 large red onion, chopped
4+ garlic cloves (to taste), minced
1 giant free-range chicken breast on the bone. Or thighs, or whatever – use your judgement here.
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes, with juice
1/2 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cauliflower, cored, broken into florets, and sliced about 1/2 inch thick
about 15 manzanilla olives (or kalamata if you got ‘em), rinsed, pitted and cut in half (optional)
small handful chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 to 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (optional – I didn’t use it, but it would be a welcome addition)

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat in a large, deep, heavy lidded skillet or casserole and brown the chicken, in batches if necessary, about 5 minutes on each side. Remove the pieces to a plate or bowl as they’re browned. Add the vinegar to the pan and scrape up all the bits from the bottom of the pan.

2. Add the remaining tablespoon of the olive oil to the pan, and turn the heat down to medium. Add the onion and a generous pinch of salt and cook, stirring often and scraping the bottom of the pan, until it is lightly browned and very soft.

3. Add the garlic and stir together for a minute or two more, until the garlic is fragrant, then add the tomatoes and their juice, the cinnamon, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a simmer and simmer 10 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the mixture is reduced slightly and fragrant.

4. Return the chicken pieces to the pot, along with any juices that have accumulated in the bowl. If necessary, add enough water to barely cover the chicken. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat, and simmer 15 minutes.

5. Add the cauliflower and olives and simmer for another 15 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender and the chicken is just about falling off the bone.

6. Take chicken out of pot, remove from bone, shred, and re-incorporate. Simmer just a minute more, stir in the parsley, taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with grains – black rice is nice – with feta sprinkled on top if you like.

Intentionality, Illusion, and Turning Down The Contrast

This one’s massive, and much more personal-introspective than I tend towards on this blog. I’m happy with it, though, and I’m willing to share if you’re willing to read.

It all started when I bought myself a slick set of speakers. Here, set reading this post to the same beats I did while writing it, preferably on your own bitchin’ set of cans.

Cilantro-Almond Pesto

Needed pozole yesterday (did you know it comes from the Nahuatl word for “foamy”? also, that it used to be made with human flesh? mine was, uh, chicken), so clearly required a heap of cilantro to crown it. The bunch was slightly mangy-looking even last night, thus necessitating immediate use – and what better than spicy cilantro-almond pesto on which to base an afternoon mexi-feast?

It’s rare that I cook beef, not due to any particular dietary concern but rather based on heavy veggie and fish preferences. Upon hearing my pleas for meaty advice, the carnicería guy across the street suggested lomo de entrecot, which I think refers to entrecôte cut from the sirloin. I rubbed it with a healthy coat of Evansville Magic Dust and let it come to just about room temperature, then seared it in a cast iron skillet with just a smear of olive oil. While I was supremely happy with the crust that developed, the center was reduced to a light pink – much too done for my taste. I had the heat cranked, the cut was perhaps 1/3 inch thick, and I did the first side 2.5 minutes and flipped for another 1.5 – will try shaving off a minute next time. Still mad delicious with the spicy, nutty pesto.

I modeled the salad after the constant accompaniment I remember from Cuautla, where you just dip a whole cucumber into chile powder and bite into crunchy spiced bliss. Today was cucumber slices and halved cherry tomatoes sprinkled with chile powder, cayenne, lime juice, and salt – not a bad facsimile.

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Cilantro-Almond Pesto
slightly adapted from Simply Recipes.

2 cups cilantro, large stems removed
1/2 cup blanched almonds
1 small roughly chopped red onion
1/2 chopped and seeded serrano chile – next time I’d add the whole thing, but I’m a spice masochist.
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil – I used a bit less, I think. Added it by the teaspoon until the consistency looked right, and it tasted like I never wanted to stop eating it.

1. In a food processor – or with an immersion blender if you must (and I must) – pulse the cilantro, almonds, onion, chile, and salt until well blended.

2. With the food processor/immersion blender running, slowly add the olive oil in a steady stream.

Makes about 1 cup. Whatever you don’t use, you can freeze. Line a ice cube tray with plastic wrap and fill in the individual cube spaces with the pesto. Freeze and remove from the ice tray, put in a sealed freezer bag for future use.

Fotopost: Birkenfeld, Germany

Friend Sevi invites me and two other amigos to her home in Birkenfeld, Germany one January weekend. Fireplace and food is promised.

Birkenfeld is teeny, but the house is sprawling and immaculate.

The white sea of walls is frequently interrupted by a spectrum of oil paints and book spines.

This is a place apart, a world unto itself.

Magic abounds here, whether in the form of glittering golden crowns –

– or German bread breakfast. Salty croissants pair best with avocado, cool sliced cucumber, and tomato-pesto tapenade.

We are at ease here. Everyone settles into their element. Morning light floods gently over crisp country air; we bask and read, stirring little.

Until the beat strikes us, of course.

Adventure out means a Trier afternoon. The sun loves us.

And we love it right back.

Dining is organic, a take on ratatouille with polenta bathed in thick, tart tomato.

Trier is pleasingly German in architecture, a breath of fresh Deutsch air away from Spanish aesthetics.

The town cathedral is appropriately, imposingly gothic.

The outing is capped by ice cream sundaes and iPhones. We deal with it.

Our hosts are as generous as they are photogenic. We can’t stop thanking them for their overwhelming kindness shown in not only opening their home to us, but tending to our every possible detailed need –

– such as smiley face crepes in the morning.

A jaunt around Birkenfeld is sleepy, chatty, and intriguing in a distinctly small-town-Germany way. Sevi insists there’s naught to be seen, but each coat of paint on wrought iron grating is new to us.

There’s a quiet retro-beauty here, old and calm, far from glamorous. To call it quaint would diminish; we find it comfortable. It’s an escape, an invitation into an unagitated life for the briefest of stays.

We have a beer, or two, because it’s Germany and we must.

The Hunger Games: Spiced Lamb Stew with Dried Plums, Tomatoes, Almonds, and Sesame

I will admit inspiration from The Hunger Games.

Lamb’s natural flavor is so strong that it can support a serious amount of spice, hence adding a pinch of practically everything in your cupboard followed by hours of simmering. It fills every nook in your house with scents, warm cinnamon and nutmeg and cardamom, then sweetens the deal with engorged plums that melt their sticky way into the broth and wine. Chile flakes and slivers of mint alternatively lift and cool, and a sprinkled nutty crunch of crushed almonds and sesame seeds completes the panorama. Make no mistake, stewed lamb meat is the focus here – the symphony of additional elements simply serves as suitable tribute.

The flavor profile is Turkish in inspiration, but completely adaptable to whatever you’ve got on hand. This is an over-the-top Impress dish, best served with a spread of brown jasmine rice and hunks of fresh crusty bread.

Spiced Lamb Stew with Dried Plums, Tomatoes, Almonds, and Sesame

1 1/2 yellow onions, sliced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 inch ginger, minced
1 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 leg of bone-in lamb – mine clocked in just shy of a kilo, or approximately 2 lbs – removed from the bone and cut into 1′ pieces

2 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes (or more…)
1 tablespoon Galician honey
1 tablespoon molasses
zest of 1/2 lemon
salt to taste

8-12 dried plums, pits removed and roughly chopped
28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes in their juice
1 1/2 c dry red wine
stock – I used chicken

cooked brown jasmine rice, for serving
crushed almonds
sesame seeds
torn mint leaves

1. Sautée onions, garlic, and ginger in butter over low heat until onion softens.

2. Mix in pieces of lamb, then spices, honey, molasses, lemon zest, and salt.

3. Add dried plum pieces, tomatoes and their juice, red wine, and 1 cup stock, plus the reserved lamb bones; bring to a simmer.

4. Let simmer for at least three hours, adding stock as necessary and occasionally skimming the surface of the accumulated fat. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

5. Remove bones and cinnamon sticks. Ladle atop fresh brown jasmine rice and serve sprinkled with crushed almonds, sesame seeds, and torn mint leaves.